Thank you for sharing, Andre. It’s always good to see Andre and what God is doing in his inner life in Santa Barbara. And the outward is matching the inward. So great. Timothy, thank you for your testimony. I watched that summer when things were degrading before our eyes. And I remember the Lord told me before it happened to start praying for Timothy because he’s in trouble.
And so I’m thankful. I get reminded of how God confirmed that Santa Barbara was the place for him. We did a tour there when we were still asking the Lord for direction. And we saw this incredible tree on campus. And Matthew 6 came to mind that God cares for the birds of the air and the flowers of the field and how much more he cares for God’s children.
And that was when the Father was telling me, Timothy is mine. You can hand him over to me. I will take care of him. And now I see God’s faithfulness in his life unfolding. So praise God for what he’s doing in all of our lives. Please turn with me to Matthew 25. We’ll read the text that I briefly mentioned last Sunday.
I apologize for the sound. We will have a backup speaker always with us so that we don’t run into this. Matthew 25 verse 31. When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, and he will sit on his glorious throne, before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink.
I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you or naked and clothe you?
And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? And the King will answer them, Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. And he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
For I was hungry and you gave me no food. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not welcome me. Naked and you did not clothe me. Sick and in prison and you did not visit me. Then they will also answer, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you?
Then he will answer them, saying, Truly I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Okay, let’s pray. Father, we surrender to you. These are not easy words to hear, especially for those of us who live in America in abundance.
Even the poorest of the poor here cannot compare to the poor in other countries. Lord, we pray that you give us understanding, pray that you address things in our heart that we are not aware are there, so that you can prepare us for a future life of ministering to those in need. Pray that we can understand your heart, Lord, during this time for us and for this world.
In Jesus’ name, amen. I know there’s many ways to interpret Matthew 25. It is a chapter about the end times and it can, we can interpret in such an abstract way that we don’t read what it says literally. And I would say before we go to the judgment of the nations and that kind of a high level picture of what this text is saying that will happen at the end, I always like to struggle first with what does it say literally.
So we’re going to talk at that level. I had a hard time summarizing the text that the Lord was bringing to my heart, so I’m just going to start with seven statements about the Christian life and I don’t know what the Lord will highlight or if we will even get to all seven of these, but let me just start with the seven statements.
First a Christian is someone who loves God and loves neighbor. Number two, a Christian is someone who is humble enough to warmly and enthusiastically receive a child. Number three, a Christian is someone whose life and schedule is sufficiently surrendered to the Lord and who notices people in need and serves them, in particular believers but also non-believers. Number four, a Christian shares a heart of God which is a heart of mercy.
Number five, a Christian understands the mercy they have received and is eager to extend that same mercy to others. A Christian, number six, serves the body of Christ out of a heart to serve, receive, adore and worship Jesus because the two are inseparable. And number seven, a Christian sees people and situations from God’s perspective. The title for today is a ministry of mercy.
A ministry of mercy. I think the bulk of our sermons we talk about loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, the first and greatest commandment, which is right. We should emphasize that one. All of that we understand in Christ we can love God our Father in this way. But I think we don’t do so well about the second greatest commandment which is to love neighbor as ourselves.
In Luke chapter 60 verse 20 it says, Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. We know that Matthew’s version of the sermon on the mount is poor in spirit but in Luke he chooses to say blessed are the literal poor, the materially poor in this world. And so we understand that God’s heart is for the poor.
God’s heart is with the poor. We may not understand that as people who are relatively rich it is going to be so difficult for us to inherit the kingdom of God. But those who are poor when they receive the gospel they receive it with such open arms and God’s heart is for the poor. We see that clearly in Luke 6 verse 20.
Mark chapter 9, we’ll circle back to Matthew 25 at the end. Mark chapter 9 is the section verse 33 to 37 where the disciples are arguing about who is the greatest in the kingdom of God. And so this is people who like Peter who have a very high view of themselves and he’s arguing with other people who have a high view of themselves and they’re all comparing and arguing, I am greater than you, I’m better than you and I think we understand this mindset very well.
And to address this Jesus brings a little child and he says whoever receives this little child, these children in my name, receives me. And so we’re beginning to understand this principle of receiving. The gospel of God is equal to receiving Jesus himself. And I would say this is connected to Matthew 25. If we think of a little child and you are a puffed up person who has a high view of himself, you’re going to look at a little child and say they have nothing to offer.
They can’t buy me lunch, they’re probably not going to write me a thank you letter, they’re probably not going to be able to take me out for a meal. There’s nothing this little child can offer to me and so in our eyes as a proud person, we can look upon them and say they are the least. They are so unimportant.
And so we have churches where children are not invited to the main sanctuary. They’re not welcome to worship with parents. We shuffle them off into a corner and you either have a professional youth pastor take care of the children or you just have volunteer circulating through the children’s ministry taking time with the children because they are that unimportant because they can’t be interrupting the adults when the adults are worshiping.
We see this even in how churches are structured. Children are not important. The adults are important because the adults have money and adults give tithe and children are nothing. And Jesus, he is saying the children are precious and I think one reason why we know the children are precious is because all of the children are saved. From birth, just the fact that they are in a, before the age of accountability or the fact that they’re in a Christian home covered by the parents, all children I believe are saved.
It’s as they grow up and they have independence and they choose to leave God. That’s when God holds people accountable. But I think all children are saved. And so if we look at this world, the most unimportant people are children. We see this in our laws. We see this in the abortions. We see this everywhere in society.
Children are the object of satanic attack because Satan knows they’re all gods. They’re all innocent. They’re all precious in God’s sight. And if we had God’s perspective, we would protect the children. We would minister to the children. We would spend time with the children. They would not be the least of our concerns. I think this can happen even in families.
Your children can be the least to you, dad, mom, because you’re busy with work. You’re busy with your ministry and you neglect the children because in your eyes they’re not important. The least could be your child. The least could be your spouse because they are so familiar to you, so boring, so uninteresting. That’s not how God sees it.
God sees the children as so important that you should, when it says receive, you should be enthusiastic. You should receive them with this warm reception. We understand this. If you’re a worldly person and you meet another successful person, you’re very enthusiastic about meeting that person. You’re very whimsical. You’re very enthusiastic. You try so hard to impress them because you want something from them because you’re a person of standing.
They are above you and you’re receiving them warmly. But if you look at somebody in the lens of this world, other people are lower than you. So if you encounter such people, they’re not worth your time. The way you interact with them is so different. Think about anybody you admire. Think about your favorite pastor, your favorite whatever, your boss.
Think about how you are with that person. And you compare that version of you with somebody who is not in your eyes, not worth your time, who is somewhat annoying to you. And see what version of you comes out in that context. I would say it’s so different. We show such a positive side of us to somebody we admire, we respect, we value their input We want something from them because we’re still in the world system.
And then somebody like a child, somebody like even your own child who might annoy you as they’re growing up into the teenage years, you might look at them with contempt, with like not this warm reception. I think Jesus is addressing how we receive people. And Jesus says, if you receive a little child, don’t you know you’re receiving me?
So if Jesus was here in our midst, how would we treat Jesus? With warm enthusiasm, with humility, with Lord Jesus, how can I serve you? We come to Jesus with that kind of a heart. And then we take one of his little ones and we don’t treat them the same. Jesus says, it’s the same thing. You don’t treat that person as if you’re disrespecting me.
Jesus doesn’t separate the two, the children of God, the brothers in Christ, sisters in Christ, the least in God’s kingdom, versus Jesus himself, you’ve got to treat me and my people the same. This principle is described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 11 when it talks about the Lord’s Supper. We can’t imagine what kind of church this is because we live in America.
There are no poor in America, not in California at least as far as I can see. There are so many programs. There are so many handouts. The person who’s on the street is because they either chose that for themselves or they’re bound by an unclean spirit or they’re addicted to drugs. They’re using that for themselves and they’ve made a lot of bad decisions and they end up there.
And they cannot be helped in some sense. There are no poor in America because the programs are available. That if you want help, if you are in need, there are resources for you as long as you are sincere about wanting to be helped. But in other countries, and I think the first century shows this, it is a church where you have rich people who show up on a Sunday and the Lord’s Supper was an actual supper, a full-on meal.
And some in the congregation came a little bit later and this is probably the only meal they’re going to have that day. And the richer people came early and on time. They ate up all the food. They came later and they could not have any food and they left the church and that Lord’s Supper meal with a hungry stomach.
And Paul says, the Holy Spirit communicating through Paul, that the richer brothers and sisters are not discerning the body, Jesus’ body. And because of that, that’s why they’re sick. That’s why some of them are asleep. And because they’re partaking in the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner. We don’t even understand in America what it’s like to read a section of Scripture like 1 Corinthians 11 because it’s so far out of the realm of what we experience in life.
But there’s a direct connection. If you have disregard for the body, Jesus says, I see it. I see it. It’s like you’re doing it to me. It’s like I am there in that brother who’s starving, who shows up on a Sunday and you disrespected them because you stuffed your face, not leaving, going for seconds and thirds, not being considerate of the brother or sister who was late.
It’s like you did it to me. The passage that Brother Abraham referenced last week, Ezekiel 16, it says in verse 48, As I live says the Lord God, this is about Sodom and Gomorrah, neither your sister Sodom nor her daughters have done as you and your daughters have done. Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom.
She was a woman of the world. She was a woman of the world. This was the iniquity of your sister Sodom. She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness. Neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy and they were haughty and committed abomination before me. Therefore I took them away as I saw fit.
And could this ascribe the church in America? We are full of food. We have so much abundance of idleness. We are proud. We have no regard for the poor and the needy. And of course the famous passage, Luke chapter 10, the Good Samaritan. It is a Jewish lawyer and this is not a lawyer like we think of lawyers today.
This is a theologian. He is an expert at Old Testament law. And this Jewish lawyer is trying to ask Jesus questions and he answers right. What are the greatest commandments? To love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Love neighbor as yourself. And then he is trying to justify himself. Who is my neighbor? And Jesus gives him this parable.
And it’s a man, and we presume it’s a Jewish man, who is traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. And this Jewish man was ignored when he was abandoned, I mean when he was beaten by robbers and he was left for dead on the side of the road. And as a Jewish man, a fellow Jewish priest ignored him because he is busy, because he has things to do.
This comes with a high view of yourself. You have a schedule. You have things that you view as important and unimportant. And the train is moving and you are just moving on the train. There is no time for someone like a Levite, a professional priest to notice a person in need. That’s not my problem. That’s not my ministry.
That’s somebody else’s problem. I am too busy. And just whatever rationale that he has, he left that man for dead and kept going. And only a Samaritan stopped. A priest did not stop. A Levite did not stop. Only a Samaritan who was hated by the Jews, only that person took care of him, nursed him back to health, showed him mercy.
And of course we know that this parable is about Jesus toward us. He is the Good Samaritan. He is the good Samaritan. He is the one who is rejected and hated by even his own people, the Jews. And he came to save. And that is the high level abstract lesson that you can draw, the same way that you can draw a very high level abstract interpretation from Matthew 25 about serving the least of these, my brethren.
But we must struggle with what it says literally. Like literally on a practical day-to-day basis, as you see needs, do you just look the other way? Because you are a VIP in your own eyes. And they are not worth your time. That’s somebody else’s ministry. I can’t bother with that. I am not equipped for that. Should we at least start struggling, brothers and sisters, with what does it mean to have God’s heart?
For the poor, to have a desire to be involved in some type of ministry of mercy to people in need, to start opening up our eyes? It’s not everybody. We can’t do everybody. We can’t end homelessness and poverty. That’s unrealistic. And we can’t meet everybody’s need. We’d all be bankrupt if we did. But we are at least on a case-by-case basis.
We’re asking the Lord, do you want me to be involved with this? We can’t address all the children who are being murdered and abandoned and whatever. But should we start struggling with, well, as a Christian with resources, should we start praying about adopting children? That would be one way of solving it. You’re not solving the problem, but at least you’re solving the problem for one person.
And that’s what we’re asking the Lord. You’re not solving the problem, but at least you’re solving the problem for one person. You can’t solve homelessness or poverty, but maybe you can solve it for one person. You take them in, a stranger, they become part of your family. That kind of a mindset. We have to start struggling with this heart that easily looks down on others.
They’re not worth my time. They are a bottom system to me. We even do this with people our level. They’re not a real Christian. We judge them, we label them, we say we put ourselves above them, and then we read passages like this, and we don’t struggle with the literal meaning of these verses. Like, am I the priest?
Am I the Levite? Who I see things, the situation is there, but I choose to look the other way. What kind of a heart is this where there’s no mercy there? I think that’s how the Lord wants us to struggle. What’s the heart behind me thinking I have all these important things to do? Am I surrendered to the Lord even?
So if he brought a situation right to my doorstep, would I struggle with wanting to meet that need, showing mercy? Or is my heart just closed off because I have so many things to do? They’re not worth my time. I am a VIP. I only warmly receive other VIPs. I don’t receive children. They’re bothersome, they’re noisy, they can’t offer me anything.
Like, if we do ministry to college, let’s say, would we have to put a system in so that the college graduate stays with us? That kind of a system. Or would we just bless them in Jesus’ name? And then they go off after graduation. There’s nothing in it for us in some sense by doing college ministry that way, or doing ministry to the poor.
They have nothing to offer us. The homeless person has nothing to put in the offering basket. But isn’t God looking for that kind of a heart? To show mercy and love when there’s no string attached. They can give me nothing. That’s how much I’ve lowered myself. There’s nothing in it for me, I understand. The Lord just wants me to do it.
And by me doing it, Jesus says, you’re doing it to me. Of course we want to serve Jesus. Of course we want to minister to Jesus. Of course we worship and adore Jesus. And Jesus is with the poor. And if you do it to them, you’re doing it to him, he says in his word. Matthew chapter 10 verse 40 it says, He who receives you receives me.
And he who receives me receives him who sent me. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, surely I say to you he shall by no means lose his reward.
So Jesus is looking at the disciples. He says whoever receives you, because I sent you, they’re actually receiving me. And then on the other receiving side, if you receive a prophet, a righteous man, somebody who is thirsty, you receive them, you give them a cup of cold water, you have a reward waiting for you. So I would say the emphasis on our mercy ministry, it starts with the church of God.
It starts with the church. If there are people in the church, a church of our size, of course we can know everybody. I don’t know how larger churches solve this issue, but they’re supposed to know the actual needs of every single person who shows up on a Sunday. And they’re supposed to start with meeting the needs of the fellow brothers and sisters, because those with more will offer generously to those who don’t have.
And again I say in California, in America, we have a real hard time understanding, but in other countries you gather on a Sunday, there are sections of the body of Christ who are hungry, who don’t have a second pair of clothing. And I pray at some point we would be involved in missions for this type of ministry.
And we would see this with our own eyes, that with all the resources we have, is it just to enjoy nicer things, or is it to give, maybe not because we can’t find anyone here in California, maybe it’s to give on the other side of the world, somebody who is truly poor and hungry. I think the emphasis starts with the household of faith.
We see this also in Galatians 6 verse 10. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. And again, same thing in James chapter 2, verse 15. If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, depart in peace and be warmed and filled, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?
Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Galatians chapter 6, James chapter 2, the focus is the body of Christ. So if all of our needs here are met, which I think they are, are there brothers and sisters on the other side of the world who have actual needs, and will the Lord at some point connect the dots, and will we go there and say, okay, we have resources, we want to bless you, brother, sister, in Jesus’ name, and we’re doing it actually not unto you, we’re doing it unto Jesus.
And then it says in Luke chapter 6, verse 27, And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be blessed with a good life.
And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? You will receive nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore, be merciful just as your Father also is merciful. So clearly here in scripture, there’s also a call to give and to show love and to do good to non-believers.
It is quite easy to give and to receive one another and to love one another and to be generous to one another here, because generally we’re all pretty lovable people. Like you give love, I’m probably going to receive love. And so we have that kind of an arrangement here, because we’re all good people. But to the world, who just robs you, who strikes you, who steals from you, can you still do good when there’s nothing in it for you?
That’s what God wants to see. All the love that we do for our family, for our church member, to our community, in our workplace, do we love, do we do good to these people because there’s something in it for us? There’s some return on my investment. They’re going to treat me well. They’re going to pay me back in some way.
They’re going to pray for me. They’re going to look out for me. We’re in this together, which is not a bad thing. But if that’s all that you have, how do you know what motivates you? Is it genuinely? I’m doing it out of reverence for Christ. I’m doing the will of my Father. Out of a heart that is genuinely merciful.
I understand that I was an enemy of God. I understand that I was that person who was left for dead on the side of the road. And Jesus, my good Samaritan, saved me. I understand the mercy that my Heavenly Father showed me in Christ. And I have this mercy. It just comes out. How do we know? You know when you’re in these situations, do you look the other way?
Or do you spend time? There’s nothing in it for you. It’s to the world. It’s a waste of your talents. It’s a waste of your time. Like UC Berkeley as a college, someone thinking about college. UC Berkeley is worth my time. I am that kind of a person. UC Merced is at the bottom. I’m not going to even apply there.
Even in college admissions, something in our heart gets revealed. How do we know, brother or sister, that God doesn’t want you at UC Merced? How do we know? You don’t know. You have to ask the Lord. Is it such a bad thing that as a person with outstanding talents, you want to serve people who maybe in the world’s eyes are objectively below you?
It’s a training of humility. Is that such a bad thing for somebody in college to think that way? Because that’s the kind of heart that the Lord wants to cultivate. I’m not putting people in hierarchy. They’re above me, so I’m going to warmly receive them. They’re below me. I’m going to ignore them. Going back to our main text, Matthew 25.
Of course, there’s a very abstract judgment of the nations. Nation of Israel, Gentile nations. There’s that type of abstract, high-level interpretation which is true and valid. But we must first struggle when you come to scripture. You must first struggle with what it says literally. Jesus says literally, you either did these things to me or you didn’t. You either fed me when I was hungry, gave me drink when I was thirsty, you clothed me when I was naked, you visited me when I was in prison or when I was sick at home.
You did these to me or you didn’t. And when it says, if you didn’t do it to the least, the word for least is small, seemingly weak, unimportant to you. But to God, they’re important. The poor child who is struggling to survive because they don’t have the calories, God’s heart is for that person. And when it says the least of these, again, in the worldly eyes, they are the least.
They are the weakest. They are the smallest, the most insignificant. But to the God’s eyes who brings a child to the least, they are the least. They are the weakest. They are the smallest, the most insignificant. But to the God’s eyes who brings a child and says, here is the greatest in the kingdom. Become like this child.
Receive this child. Why are you arguing about greatness? Think of the heart surgery that the disciples have to go through to understand the heart of God toward them. And the least of these is the same least that is talked about in Luke chapter 16. He who is faithful in the least, in the very little, will also be faithful in much.
Also, Luke 19, well done, good slave, faithful servant, because you’ve been faithful in the least of very little. For us in America, I think we eventually want to get to what does it practically mean to serve the least? I think we want to struggle with that. But the least to you could be your actual neighbor in your household.
You think it’s a small thing to care for your spouse. It is not small to the Lord. You think it’s a small thing to invest in your children even when they are disrespecting you and they’re a teenager and there’s all this immaturity. And so you don’t want to deal with them. And to you they’re the least. They’re not the least to God.
So I think the first homework is who is the least in your life? Let’s first examine the people in our household. Let’s first examine the people here. And then when our heart is sufficiently humble, because we might have blown them off and said, that’s so lowly of a thing for me to invest in. It’s like, you’re annoying to me.
You’re kind of boring to me. Let me do something that’s much more exciting like my job or like my church ministry or a mission trip. That’s exciting. That’s new. But this person who is by my side, who is giving me a hard time, and that could be a parent to a child, that could be a child to a parent.
It goes both ways because we’re all children of God. So you have to receive parent. You have to receive your child in Jesus’ name as if you’re receiving Jesus. Child also receive your parents as you would Jesus. You’re receiving your parents in Jesus’ name. It goes both ways. Spouse to spouse, it goes both ways. For fellow church brothers and sisters, I don’t think it applies here, but there are churches where people are annoyed with certain brothers and sisters.
And yet they’re on the mission board and they want to serve the least. They can’t even serve the fellow brother sitting next to them in a pew. They’re so annoyed. So is God pleased with that person who’s serving mission board and they’re not even dealing with their own heart of annoyance at this person who’s still a child of God.
He’s still the brother and sister that God cares for and you just want to ignore them. You want to slander them, gossip against them. Is God pleased? So we have to go through just the people around us, the neighbors, the friends, the peers, the people in our community. From there I think it expands. Step by step there is an order.
Let’s start with the household. Let’s start with the household of faith and then beyond that what it means to receive the least as if it’s Jesus himself. I think at some point God was going to connect the dots for us and send us perhaps to do a ministry that we would not have chosen for ourselves. Okay, let’s pray.
Let’s pray. Father forgive us for our pride. Our lack of surrender. Our busyness. The abundance of idleness. We’re full on food. We’re so out of touch with large segments of the body of Christ. We don’t have a roof over their head. We go to bed hungry. We don’t understand the atrocity of the abortions. And your heart grieves over all the children in this world who are suffering.
Suffering in slavery, sex trafficking. I can’t even imagine the horror in this world, especially against the children, the most vulnerable. Father we take literally what you say in your word. Whatever we have not done to the least of these, your brethren, we haven’t done it directly to you. We are beginning to understand that there is an inseparable link between loving Jesus who is the head of the body and loving the body itself, discerning the body.
We’re beginning to see that we can’t stop at loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. And never think about loving a neighbor as ourself. Starting with our own spouses, our children, parents, people in our community, in our neighborhoods, those on the other side of this world. Stretch our hearts Lord. Father your heart is described, your described as having a heart of mercy.
We want to have that same heart Lord. We want to have mercy. You’ve shown us mercy, we want to extend that to others. First starting in the body of Christ and then extending beyond that to the world. Holy Spirit we pray that you search our hearts. Who is the least to us? Who do we diminish? Who do we ignore?
Who are we annoyed by? Who do we have disregard for? Who do we have contempt for? Show it to us so that we may love Jesus in that person. Treat them as a little child, warmly and enthusiastically receive them. Care for them as if we’re doing it directly to Jesus. Thank you Lord Jesus for allowing your body to be broken and your blood shed.
We want to consider the larger body of Christ. And the abundance with which you’ve blessed us with is for a purpose. May we discern not just the body of Christ here gathered locally but around the world. What do you want us to do Lord with our resources? How can we meet the needs of our brothers and sisters in other countries?
We don’t have answers to these Father so we ask for your direction. We want to be obedient to your word in Matthew 25. Help us Lord, help us Lord in Jesus name, Amen. We can say when did we clothe you, when did we feed you, when did we give you something to drink? We want to pray for you Lord.
And that we can hear well done on the last day. Thank you Lord for this message and in Jesus name we pray, Amen.
