Services/Sermon in Cokato 17.11.2019

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, let us unite our hearts in opening prayer and thanksgiving.

Our dear Heavenly Father, as you have once again granted us this grace to come before Thy holy and blessed word, to hear what Thou hast to say unto us, we simply ask, dear Father, feed and nourish us as Thou hast already done this day. We ask, dear Father, open Thy word unto Thy servants who serve You this evening, for the upbuilding and edification of Thy kingdom, to uplift and comfort those who are in a hearing of Thy blessed word.

Dear Father, we ask simply to increase our faith. Grant unto us that blessing. As we close our eyes for the last time, that we can open them there in heaven with Thee. Amen. Amen. Amen. And for all this, we ask in Thy beloved Son's name. In Jesus' name. Amen.

We heard spoken this morning so preciously, I have to say that God fed and nourished us, instructed us, reminded us. We are the ones who have been given the gift of the most important matters in this life. And in continuing with the theme of this day, to watch, I thought to read the Epistle text that has been set aside for this second to the last Sunday of the church year. Next Sunday is judgment. Next Sunday, a time when we are reminded of that last judgment that is before us.

We heard this morning from that and from those words of our Lord Jesus, reminding us, instructing us, counseling us, simply to preserve faith and good conscience. This is our time. Because as it has been from the beginning of time, the onslaught of the enemies of the soul against the kingdom of God has been powerful. And yet, we have nothing to fear. We can be bold through the living Holy Spirit. And we must be and have joy in the presence of Jesus. Amen.

In our heart for this gift that God has given us, even in the midst of battle. This text is now from the second epistle of Paul, from its third chapter. The verses that are listed here on our church calendar, I'll read these. They are verses 8 through 14, and then the last verse, 18. And these words also are in Jesus' name as follow:

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. And the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering toward usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness? Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.

We certainly know much of Peter's life, the disciple of Jesus and the apostle of Jesus, after Jesus arose into heaven. There is not much written history of the disciples, but they began to fulfill that mission command of Jesus. And the disciples, many of them had in different areas, to the Far East and so on, into the Mediterranean countries, and they went for one purpose, because God sent them there to preach the gospel message, for God knew they were seeking and searching souls in those different areas where they were all sent to.

And all of these disciples of Jesus were martyred to death. They suffered much anguish and pain, and literally, they were martyred. Their life was taken. Tradition records unto us of Peter, who felt himself unworthy. He was to be crucified on the cross, and he pleaded that he would be hung there upside down, because he felt not worthy to die in the form of the Lord Jesus.

Certainly one thing in Peter's life really comes to my mind, and it's the same thing in Peter's life. It comes to my mind often, because those words of Jesus to Peter were, they are words unto you now this evening, and unto me. Where on that Maundy Thursday evening, when they were in that upper chamber, Jesus had given the first communion, and He washed the feet of the disciples. They did not comprehend at that time what was taking place. But Jesus assured them that the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, will reveal unto you all those things that I have said and done.

And this Comforter and this Holy Spirit has guided and directed God's kingdom to this day and this moment. But then Jesus looked on Peter, and He said unto Peter, and you can fill in your name and mine. For He said, Simon, Simon, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But then He reminded him, but when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

For Jesus knew that Peter, that very evening, would deny living faith, not only once, not twice, but three times. And then the cock crowed, and those words of Jesus came to his mind. Peter had told Him, but the Bible also relates, all the disciples had said, of course Judas, Judas, Judas whose heart had left Jesus long ago, who still traveled with the disciples, carried the name of a child of God. But the Lord Jesus knew his heart. The Holy Spirit had left his, that tabernacle, his heart and his soul, because of deceit and greed.

The Bible says, the wisdom of Solomon is recorded there, that the Holy Spirit will not dwell with deceit in the same tabernacle. But Peter and those apostles, they were telling, they were telling, I mean, yeah, Peter and the other disciples were telling Jesus that, Lord, we will go to prison and to death for you.

And especially at that time, He looked at Peter again and He told him, that this night, before the cock crow, you have denied me thrice.

I often, and we often, have all manner of different thoughts. Depending on what point in our personal endeavor of living faith is, and our own personal places of watching, Satan can lead our thoughts far off. Far, far off. And we can have all manner of thoughts and doubts. And, I wonder what Peter's thoughts were there then.

But this we know, nothing has changed. Satan wants your undying soul. He wants the undying souls of every man, every person. And he wants to bring that to the world.

When you read in your Bible, if there's a preface there at the beginning, in your family Bibles, there would be. It's recorded here how, in his first letter that he sent to the believers, he encouraged them to persevere in the midst of the world. He encouraged them to persevere in the midst of persecution. Because persecution was beginning. And it lasted several hundreds of years. They tried to destroy living faith from the world. And the more that the believers were martyred, the more the kingdom grew.

The more the kingdom grew. The more the kingdom grew.

In his second letter that he now writes, his main concern was to warn them against false teachers that were already arising in God's kingdom in the early New Testament Christian believing church.

But in our text here then, he begins, for we have not followed. But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

There's a notation in my Bible here, to turn to the 90th Psalm. And when we turn to the 90th Psalm, a reference, 90th Psalm, the fourth verse. For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday. And when it is past, a thousand years when it is past, it is as a watch in the night.

God's word reminds us of our lives. We're visiting this afternoon with our 91-year-old grandmother, great-grandmother, who was rejoicing in her heart. Although there had been much difficulty even in her life and trial and affliction, she had the joy of believing and encouraged us younger ones of the blessings that we have in our life and the reason we have to rejoice and to be joyful.

God's time is not our time. But our lives. Our lives are short. When we begin to compare our life to eternity, it is as the apostles have written, as a mist in the morning which is here and disappears.

God's ways are so much higher than our ways. He is so omnipotent, so all-knowing, so all-wise, that we cannot begin to comprehend the wisdom of our Heavenly Father who created everything, not only this world and earth that we live on and all the living creatures and all the living things, but He created the universe, the millions of stars, and so on.

We are, my dear brother and sister, very small before our Heavenly Father. And it is amazing when we think about it.

Our brother alluded to it this morning, where he reminded us of those words of Jesus when He was rebuking those Pharisees and scribes.

The enemy of the soul with his deceitful ways can cause you and I to fall into grievous sin, the sins on the left-hand side of the way. Those sins, when we fall into them, there is no question, have we fallen short, for God.

Satan is so deceitful that he can cause a child of God who is living in those sins and take him into the right side of the way to become a self-righteous Pharisee. And often he does this. If one does not put those sins away, Satan causes a child of God to begin seeking justification for one's sin. It is a common tool that Satan uses.

But he continues here, he says, The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, that some men count slackness, but is long-suffering toward usward, not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance.

This is God's word that was sent to the early church, to those congregations. And as they often did, they sent those letters from congregation to congregation. And he is warning the believing children of God and reminding them of the long-suffering and patience of our Heavenly Father and how He is, He does not want one soul to be lost. And lovingly encouraging that all should come to repentance.

Why does God's word remind us here of this? That you come on, you come to repentance.

Recently was heard of those former saints from that 11th chapter of Hebrews, and it went on to list all these, many of these former saints, beginning already from Abel. And how by faith, by living faith, by preserving living faith, they obtained that eternal reward in heaven.

But when you think of that portion where the writer unto the Hebrew believers, and all the believers of that day, how he spoke of them, that all these having obtained a good report through faith, and yet had not received the promise of the coming of the Lord Jesus.

They had up until that time solely believed on that promise that God would come to them. And yet, they had not received the promise of the coming of the Lord Jesus. But God would send His Son here to save mankind. And by faith, and by preserving faith, and good conscience, they were victorious.

And he says, the last verse of that 11th chapter, it says, God, having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

And then he goes into the beginning of the 12th chapter. When these letters were sent, it was a letter. There were not verses and chapters. That was added later, and divided up.

And so the thought continues here. And listen to how he encourages the early believers, and every child of God that has lived to this day. And now this evening is reminding us. He says, wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, the children of God here that, and at that time that dwelled in God's kingdom.

And now today, the children of God, this incredible fold of the children of God here. Beautiful angels here upon the earth that are here to help me get to heaven. They are here to help you get to heaven.

But he says here, encouraging now us, he says, let us, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

It is no different than what Peter here wrote unto us, where he said, but that all should come to repentance. That we put sin away. Because if we do not put sin away, we will experience spiritual death at some point, and the Holy Scriptures reminds us, that the living Holy Spirit of God, God Himself in the third portion, will not dwell in a defiled tabernacle.

In such a child of God, who is now living in sin, not putting sin away, but endeavoring to justify their sinful life by other means. Some new understandings. New phrases dressed, and words dressed beautifully. And all it is, is a sermon of the flesh. And the sermon of the flesh is a sermon of Satan.

And it is dressed, often it is dressed, very, very beautifully. And the words appear to sound so gracious unto us. And yet, it is a sermon of unbelief.

But he says here, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up.

Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved. Now it's referring to that time of judgment day. For indeed, everything that man has created will be destroyed. Everything.

Even those, whom with the deceitfulness of Satan, who had built their own justifications in their mind over their unforgiven sin, that they're children of God. They are, as we heard this morning, they are those who have no oil in their lanterns of faith. The Holy Spirit has left. They also will be burned. They will be cast into a great pit of fire, as the Bible records unto us.

But then he says, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.

And he continues, nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.

So then God is asking here you a very personal question. Is your speech and is your heart a heart of a child of God that speaks loving words of comfort and uplifting, of upbuilding God's kingdom and for the edification of the kingdom of God?

Or is there some bitterness in your heart and in your heart? Is there mistrust in your heart? Mistrust upon those whom God has called and chosen to serve us here in God's kingdom here upon the earth.

We, as children of God, never follow man. But we, as children of God, always, always follow the voice of the Good Shepherd which speaks unto us through the living Holy Spirit.

And so if you have mistrust in your heart, maybe it's toward some speaker brother or some board member. But what that is, is mistrust toward the living Holy Spirit.

Do board members and speakers err? I'm a servant of the Word. I need to hear the Gospel every day. There's not a day that goes by in my life that I don't fall.

As we heard this morning, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. We live of the Gospel. It's the power of God unto salvation.

So the Holy Spirit, without this Gospel, we have no hope. We have no hope. No matter how Satan may have convinced us or tries to convince us that the Gospel is just reassurance unto you that indeed, your sins are already forgiven.

That is a sermon of unbelief. The Bible speaks of those sins of the past that they are forgiven through their remission, the blood of our Lord Jesus.

The Bible does not speak of future sins, other than that warning of Jesus, where He tells us, sufficient is the evil of this day, not to be concerned of tomorrow, but live of faith for this day. Trust upon His word for this day. Don't be fearful of tomorrow.

But we are flesh. Oftentimes we look far ahead and we've become worse. We've become worried, doubt-ridden and troubled. And yet, Jesus reminds us, don't do that. Believe only for this day. No, believe only for this moment. That indeed, you are a child of God. And God has preserved you in living faith to this day by His gracious, forgiving Gospel that we hear again and again and again.

The brother just recently reminded us how this Gospel of the forgiveness of sins is as the same thing in the Old Testament time when those hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of believers were traveling in that wilderness and they were gathering that manna every day.

They lived of that grace for that day. And that grace and truth and the forgiveness for that day. There were those who tried to hoard. Flesh is worried. The flesh gets worried about tomorrow and they tried to hoard that and hid them in their belongings.

And when the sun rose the next morning, there was a terrible stink. Everybody could smell that smell. And the manna was that rotting manna.

We live of grace for this day. We live of the Gospel for this day. And that's all we need. We only need that manna for this moment.

And even now, my dear brothers and sisters in living faith, live of this Gospel. Believe this Gospel that your sins and doubts are forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood.

That's the simplicity of it. That's the simplicity of it. That's the simplicity of living faith.

It is not in our understandings of justification. It's not in our understandings of different terms, the robes of righteousness. It isn't. That is not what saves us.

And thank God that we're not saved by our understanding. For I would be lost. I have so little understanding. I would be lost. And so would you.

But thank God that we're saved by the grace of God. That we cling to those new promises that God grants unto us. Grace promises. That heavenly manna that He sends here into our midst.

But in this New Testament era and time, He sends it through the lips. Through the lips of His beautiful angels here who proclaim this Gospel message unto us.

That gives new nourishment, new power, and that heart to endeavor to continue in living faith. Endeavoring to be obedient unto His will.

And that's the simplicity of faith.

And He says, Beloved, wherefore beloved, seeing that we look for such things, be diligent, that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

I ask you, my dear brothers and sisters, when sin has come, is there peace on your conscience? I know there isn't. I know there isn't. And there isn't in the heart of a child of God.

But if a child of God begins to live in sin, the conscience becomes hardened. And one is, it's easier to fall into sin again and again and again.

And especially if we do not put those sins away. It's easy for sins to add sin upon sin.

And when we begin to do this, then we seek for cover, to cover these sins. And there we are. We have become self-righteous Pharisees.

We heard how our brother related unto us of those beautiful white and sepulchres, beautiful on the outside, but inside nothing but bones of dead man.

That is what one is when one is in self-righteousness.

That speaker brother gave such a descriptive picture of that, it just stays in my mind.

That when Satan has caused us then, from the left ditch to go into the right ditch, we become mired down in the deceiving bogs of man's imagined righteousness.

And I know some of you guys have been in swamps. And as you push one foot down to get the other one up, you just go deeper and deeper into the mire, if it's the right or wrong kind of bog.

And that is how Satan endeavors to deceive us. He's a deceiver from the beginning.

And our flesh, our flesh in itself is so corrupt.

Jeremiah the prophet reminded us, I forget exactly how he wrote that, I think it's in the 17th chapter, but he speaks of our heart in this way that, how deceitful it is.

The heart is deceitful above all things, the ninth verse. The heart is deceitful above all things, or our flesh. And desperately wicked, who can know it?

And that is where those who are in unbelief are. And yet we carry the same flesh.

But we have such a beautiful guide, not a list of do's and don'ts, we have something much better.

We have the living Holy Spirit, that small, still voice of God that speaks unto us, and reminds us, and encourages us.

Puts sin away. Believe the gospel.

And when those temptations beset us, the Bible, God's word reminds us, that God will grant unto us, a way around it, or under it, or over it, or through it.

When we listen to the voice, of the Holy Spirit, that dwells within us.

And that is why we say, also, that it is, it is a battling congregation.

Because we have that battle daily, a personal battle, in our own personal places of watching, against the deceitfulness of Satan.

And yet, as the Bible reminds us, if God, if we have faith, we will have faith, we will have faith.

So we have faith.

The Bible reminds us, if God is with us, who can be against us?

So powerful is this living Holy Spirit that dwells in you, that you need not fear, be dismayed, but simply believe.

And even when the enemy of the soul, the deceitful enemy, through the deceitfulness of sin, when one may find himself in those low, dark valleys of grievous, grievous sin, even there the Holy Spirit is calling, come this way.

There is grace, and there is mercy, and there is forgiveness.

And all we need to do is humble this corrupt flesh and come to those footsteps of repentance.

Put sin away. Believe the gospel. Live of the gospel. Trust in the gospel.

And God will never leave nor forsake you.

In God's kingdom, the question never has been that who has sinned.

The question always has been, how can I, how can you help a sinner?

That is the question. That is the question. That is the question. That is the question. That is the question. That is the question. That is the question. That is the question.

We are all sinners. We have all fallen short before God, and it is solely by the grace of God that we are here today, preserved in the place of a child.

Because when that sin has brought grievous, grievous sorrow, distress, fear, and doubts, you have listened to the voice of God indeed that has spoken in you.

Put sin away. Nothing has changed. This is the sermon of God from the beginning. Nothing has changed.

We live of the gospel.

And he reminds us here, but grow in grace. Grow in grace.

You know, the Apostle Paul in that beautiful 13th chapter of Corinthians, he writes in this way that, he writes of love.

And it's so powerful for us to remember how he writes of it here.

Read the 13th chapter of Corinthians.

At the very end of the 13th chapter of Corinthians, at the end of the chapter, he asks this question.

And now abideth faith, living faith, living faith, living hope, and charity, or love. These three. And yet the greatest of these is love.

Because without love, we do not have living faith.

Love is the fruit of the womb. The first fruit of living faith.

If we don't have love in our heart toward our dear brothers in living faith, to say nothing of, as Jesus said, even of our enemies, we're lost.

And without love, we have no hope. We have no hope.

Because we do not have living faith. We are hopeless. Hopeless of all men, then.

But the Apostle Paul here writes, also in this 9th chapter, and the Apostle Paul, you've heard of the Apostle Paul again and again. You've read his epistles. You've read in the Acts of the Apostles what God wrought through the Apostle Paul, who persecuted the believers, who was taking, who was taking the believers and casting them into prison to be persecuted and martyred to death.

And he says in this way, for we know in part, and we prophesize in part, this gifted man, we know only, in part. And that's all it is.

God grants unto us what we need. Even as He has for this day. He has fed and nourished us.

It has felt so good for me to sit here this morning. The word of God is sweeter than honey. God's word is that heavenly manna that nourishes and it imprisons the body, and this will be our mother's gift of love.

And therefore I preach to you, that you need not fear.

This is so nice, and replica me, then God will always blossom into you stronger and more beautiful.

When you don't want to meet a consummate rogue, envy anyone, to the 사진 of yourself, to seek out your true God, and to feel assertive.

Together the soul that never mingles with such a large and immovable creature that is, also called self, and that pipes across TV, to the self that sia we say or grow into.

For another point, and I'll leave it to you in minutes, in ice bu LGBTQ Counseling to Look Together.

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Because we have so little understanding. We have so little knowledge.

And yet, God feeds and nourishes us and grants unto us at any given time that which we need.

He knows our hearts better than we know ourselves.

This is our dear Heavenly Father who has promised to embrace us in His love, to shelter us, to protect us from wrong teachings and wrong understandings, from wrong doctrines, from the enticements of Satan, the teachings of the flesh.

We need not fear.

And it's important, even as I was reminded today, that we have the joy of believing.

Don't lose sight of the joy of a child of God that you are here now in God's kingdom.

No matter what your trial or affliction may be even at this time, God sees and He knows your lot in life.

And He has promised. He has promised to help what is required of us.

What is required of us is faith and trust upon Him.

Where would you be if you mistrust the guidance of the Holy Spirit?

And so, we cling to this message of the Gospel. We cling to the gospel.

Jesus reminded us the gospel is preached unto the poor.

And even think of that.

Of those self-righteous Pharisees in a right ditch.

They have no need of the gospel.

They've been able to justify their life with their own knowledge and their own understanding.

And the Bible, God reminds us that the Bible is not of any private interpretation.

Past heresies has been those and even in our day have been those who say they've been given a new enlightenment.

They've read and studied the Holy Scriptures and it has opened to them.

They've been given a great understanding of justification and so on.

The Bible is not of any private interpretation.

We are totally, totally, totally dependent upon the living Holy Spirit which is God Himself to lead and to guide us here in God's Kingdom and to lead and to guide us in our own personal endeavor of faith.

That's the simplicity of faith.

And it's so important for us to remember that we remain in the place of a child and that we trust upon the voice of the Good Shepherd which speaks unto us this day through the living Holy Spirit.

You know, when the Apostle Paul, when he was lamenting to God, there was something that tormented the Apostle Paul.

There was a low place in that fence.

And he reminds us in that 12th chapter of the 2nd Epistle when he wrote unto the Corinthians from that 7th verse beginning there and he says, Unless I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations.

Think of those words.

This very gifted dear brother, dear child of God 2,000 years ago said and so that I would not be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations that God had given to him during those years of his life when he received the grace of repentance.

He spoke of himself in this way: O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death?

And here he reminds us and lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations of God that had been given to him through the living Holy Spirit.

He understood that it wasn't of himself. It wasn't of his reading and his studying and his knowledge. It was all through the living Holy Spirit that he received directly from God for this reason.

That he could testify the living Lord Jesus and of His power.

And he said that I came not to you with cunning words of man's wisdom that your faith would not be in the wisdom of man but in the power of the gospel.

He preached unto them the crucified Lord Jesus that through His blood through His name your salvation your sins are forgiven.

And he says that and so that I would not be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelation that was given unto him there was given to me a thorn in my flesh the messenger of Satan to buffet me lest I should be exalted above all measure.

It was a thorn in the flesh.

And oh how he prayed to God to take away this thorn.

And he says even here he says for this thing I pleaded with God three different times that this would be taken from me this thorn that Satan tormented him with and yet God had a purpose.

God allowed that that he could remain in the place of a child that he wouldn't begin to fall into those ways of self-righteousness that it's of my understanding it's of my reading it's of my knowledge.

And he says and then God said to me Jesus said to him my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

Think about those words of Jesus that the power the strength of Jesus is made perfect in you weak and timid and tired and weary child of God.

You who have been tormented by sin you who have had doubt in you the power of God is made great in a weak child.

And he says most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me that he could live of the gospel in the.

Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake.

For when I am weak, then am I made strong.

Have you been weak? Have you doubted? Has sin tormented you?

And that is how we weak, timid, tired, weary children live.

For the power of God is made perfect in you and in me.

The weak children of God with little understanding, little knowledge.

We are totally dependent upon the merit work of our Lord Jesus.

And we would be totally without hope.

We would be lost without that message of the gospel and the core message of the gospel.

That you can even now at this time believe all your sins and doubts forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood.

And we live of this gospel.

It is the power of God.

The salvation.

Those are my words.

Those are the words of God.

And so be free, my dear brother and sister in faith.

Be bold in the Holy Spirit.

When you see a child of God struggling, remind.

But then also there comes that time which I need to remind you.

And myself.

There is that time that comes.

Where God reminds us now in this way.

In the final pages of the letter to the Roman believers.

He says here in this way.

Now I beseech you brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them.

Why does God's word remind us in this way?

Because the deceitfulness of Satan is dressed so beautifully.

He uses the Holy Scriptures.

He uses beautiful words.

To try to entice you into a wrong understanding, into wrong doctrine, and into unbelief.

Into a wrong doctrine.

And he even speaks of those false teachers.

This is 2,000 years ago.

Nothing has changed.

It has happened in every generation, either personally or in groups, where they have left God's kingdom.

And when they leave in groups and if they are led by a false teacher, it is a heresy.

But he says.

He says here.

For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly.

And here it says.

And by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

Everything is in God's hands.

And He has promised to help and to preserve us, to serve us, to serve us.

The psalmist reminds us how the Lord preserveth the simple and how I was brought low and He helped me.

And so simply we believe and can I have my sins and doubts forgiven.

Remember us and one another in prayer.

I beg you that God would preserve us as a little child and that we would live of His grace and His forgiveness and that we would have the joy of believing and that we would be free and have peace before God and man.

And so we say in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

The Lord bless us and keep us.

The Lord make His face shine upon us.

May He grace us unto us.

The Lord lift up His countenance upon us and give us peace.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.