We've all been there, sitting or standing in the doctor's office getting our annual physical, and the doctor might begin with some simple questions. How have you been sleeping? How have you been eating? He might do a series of tests, blood tests. He might do a physical test in terms of eyes, ears, and mouth, and usually takes your temperature. And after all of the tests and the questions and the report comes back, the doctor or physician will make his conclusion or assessment. And he might say, you're doing great. You're in good health. Or he might say, I have some bad news. At least I have some concerns. Your blood pressure is too high. Your cholesterol level is off the charts. And even there's a concern with your PSA. All in all, it doesn't look good. You're not in a good, healthy state. That's the question we've been asking, not with respect to our physical well-being, but with respect to the church. What is a healthy church? In fact, this is the fourth time that we've asked the question, what does a healthy church look like? Well, the first time we asked the question, we gave back the answer. A healthy church will be giving priority to the Bible. It will be Bible-centered or Bible-regulated. It will give emphasis to the preached word and the taught word. Preach the word, said Paul to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2, in season and out of season. That is a mark of a healthy church. It gives priority and centrality to the preaching and teaching of the Bible. Secondly, we said a healthy church will be gospel-shaped. Or as one menace put it, it will enjoy a Jesus-centered culture. We never get beyond the gospel. The gospel, as we were reminded even in the Sunday school hour, has implications for all of life. And so we constantly need to have Jesus set before us and his cross. It never ever loses its relevance. And once we lose sight of the gospel or begin to play around with a false gospel, expect your blood pressure to shoot to the roof. Your PSA level will indicate there's a presence of cancer. And there will be all kinds of internal problems, fighting, squabbling, bickering, though we see that in the Church of Galatia, when they began to play with that other gospel, which Paul says isn't really a gospel. It's obvious there were problems within. He warns him in Galatians 5 to stop consuming one another like wild animals. The church that loses the gospel or sight of the gospel deadly turns in on itself in the worst sort of ways. A third mark or sign of a healthy church that we gave was that a healthy church is God-centered. And you remember how we developed that third point. We argued that a God-centeredness will be manifested by earnestly seeking the presence of God. It will manifest itself by a church continually being conformed to the character of God. And then a church that is God-centered will ultimately aim for the glory of God. Well, tonight we come back to that simple question, a health question. Again, taking some tests, we're going to use a stethoscope to listen to the heartbeat of a healthy church. And the first fourth mark, and again, I know anybody could give a different list of marks and evidences, but these are the ones that have been impressed upon me, but a fourth mark of a healthy church is a healthy church is a committed church. You don't find that word commitment in the Bible. You do find the verb commit and trust in several portions of scripture depending upon your translation, but the concept of commitment is quite prevalent. Commitment lies behind that faith word. Faith is not mere knowledge, but faith is trust and commitment. The word covenant that divides both old and new, or divides our Bible, there's an old covenant and a new covenant. Well, at the very heart of a covenant is commitment. The words faithfulness or faithful, that also carries the idea of commitment, steadfastness. You also have the word love. The Bible version of love is a love that's committed, the love that endures all things. It's a love that hopes all things, believes all things. Well, those are biblical words that certainly stress the idea of commitment. Tonight we're dealing with commitment to the church. And let me give you an outline as to where we want to go this evening. I have more than I usually have. This could really be two sermons. But I'm committed to trying to give at least five or six messages on what is a healthy church and not drag it out too long. So here's six areas or six manifestations or arguments for a committed church. We're going to do a helicopter ride and fly very fast. So you put your seatbelts on. But number one, the facts of nature teach commitment. Secondly, the call to discipleship teaches commitment. Thirdly, the images of the Church teach commitment. Thirdly, or fourthly, the graces and gifts given by the Spirit teach commitment. Fifthly, the duties and responsibilities given by God teach commitment. And then in the sixth place, the life of the early Church teaches commitment. So let's then consider these manifestations or arguments for commitment to Christ's Church. The facts of nature teach commitment. I would turn your attention to first Corinthians 11 first Corinthians 11. I would begin by saying we really don't even need a Bible to prove or to argue a church commitment, and I think that argument is explained here in 1 Corinthians 11. Paul writing to the church at Corinth is dealing with some very delicate matters in the church, and some of them having to do with female-male distinctives. And Paul builds his argument from creation itself. 1 Corinthians 11 verse 8, notice what he says, for man is not from woman, but woman from man. He takes us back to Genesis chapter 2, where God made Adam first. He said that's significant. The order of creation has a profound impact upon how men and women relate to each other, the functions of men and women in both home and church. harken all the way back to the created order. And then here in 1 Corinthians 11, he deals with another matter relating to distinctive masculinity or distinctive femininity. And if you read the commentators, you'll only get more confused. It's clear that they're not clear. Exactly what's in Jung here? Is it actually the length of hair? That seems to be what most believe. Verse 14, verse 15, he mentions the length of hair and is also mentioned here of a distinctive head covering. Was that separate or was that the same issue? Again, there's debate here, but however we understand the passage in terms of the specifics and the application, Paul argues from common observation or from nature itself. Notice verse 14. Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? What he's saying, is it not obvious? Is it not something that we all can observe? Don't we all see just by looking at a man and looking at a woman, there are differences in bone structure, mass, muscle mass, and hair length. Apparently hair grows a lot faster on men than it does women. You rarely see a bald woman. Again, there's difference. And it's obvious, right? You don't need to be a rocket scientist to know that. You can see it. And Paul is saying that we can take advantage of general revelation, what's observable to all, and argue for distinctive masculinity and femininity in terms of bearing and in terms of appearance. And I think that principle can be used also when we think of commitment. Does not nature itself? What organization, man-made or man-made institution doesn't have a sense of requirements or commitments. Think of a sports team. You try out for the team, you have to be committed, right? If you're hired at Little Caesars or Sam's Club, GM Ford, they expect a level of commitment to the team, to the organized agent. If you join a team, you have to be at the practices, right? If you join a company, you have to be there, what, five days a week, and it's generally frowned upon if you don't show a level of commitment. The basketball coach doesn't give a C to the captain if he doesn't show up for practices. He doesn't give a C to a guy on the team whose questionable play. He doesn't have that level of intensity. What boss gives an employee a raise if they never show up for a staff meeting or are chronically late? But that does not nature itself teach. Every organization, every institution requires a certain level of commitment, involvement, participation. It's expected. It's understood. So what's the question here? Well, what kind of commitment are we to expect in terms of church. Do we expect less? Should we be happy if we have 233 members on the church roll, but only 70 show up Sunday morning, and 35 of the 70 show up Sunday evening, and 5 of the 35 show up Wednesday night? That's becoming the norm, by the way. And so I ask the question, should church commitment be less demanding, less costly than the little league soccer team? And should we be less diligent in our church commitments than we are to our commitments to Ford Motor Company or Sam's Club or to the men's bowling team? Should we excel more or should we climb higher? Should not our commitments to Christ's church excel all other man-made institution? Should we not be more committed to Christ and His church than the ladies sewing circle, the chess club and the soccer team? Jesus said, what do you more than others? In other words, if you're a Christian, you should do more than others. I expect you to do more than others. If you're a Christian, I expect that your commitments in general will be more than others. If you're a Christian, I would hope you are the most faithful guy on the football team. If you're a Christian, I would hope that you are the best employee. They can really count on you. But let's remember, brethren, that our commitment to Christ is far more important than our commitment to even GM or Ford or the hockey team. Be faithful in all things, and we are to be faithful in all our commitments, our commitment to Christ's Church. So we don't even have to open our Bible, do we? To argue, commitment does not nature itself teach. In terms of argument for commitment, it can be argued in light of discipleship, in light of discipleship. The call to discipleship teaches church commitment. You've heard the story, I'm sure, of Vince Lombardi. His Green Bay Packers lost that football game to the New York Giants in a big, bad way. And Vince Lombardi has the men show up for practice, the team, and they all come in with their heads hanging down. expecting he's going to chew them out, and he's obviously agitated, and they're waiting for a speech to dress them down, and he picks up a football and says, this is a football. What is he saying? Let's get back to fundamentals. Are you forgotten the basics? And I sometimes think Christians today have forgotten the fundamentals. the very basics of Christianity. What's one of the very basics? Well, it's discipleship. And when Christ calls us to be his disciples, what does he say? In Luke 9.23, he says, whoever wants to be my disciple, he must follow me and he must pick up a cross. Unfortunately, the cross has been somewhat sanitized or romanticized. We sing about the cross. We wear it as a piece of jewelry around our necks or as a decorative item in our homes. But when Jesus called his disciples to discipleship and said, pick up the cross, they weren't singing about the cross. All they saw was death, suffering, dying to myself. And when you think of discipleship, you and I need to think of the cross. You're going to feel the splinters. The shadow of the cross casts its shadow over all of our lives, all of our lives. It casts its shadow over our prayer lives. It casts its shadow over our married life. It casts its shadow over our church life. It's costly to be a disciple. It requires commitment to be a disciple. There's no such thing as a non-committed disciple. If you're not prepared to pick up a cross, you're not prepared to follow Jesus. God wants every church member to live a cross-shaped life. Probably the easiest way to prove this from the Bible, that there's a cost when it comes to church membership, church involvement, is the word love. You find that word sprinkled through the New Testament. I think there are at least 12 different times we are told to love one another. And the Bible's definition of love is far different than the world's definition of love. The Bible's definition of love always has a price tag. John 3.16 defines biblical love. God so loved that he gave. He didn't take, he gave. When people walk through the church doors, they often come with the attitude, what are you going to give me? Shouldn't the attitude be, what is it going to cost me? I hear that these people love like Jesus loved. And I know love is costly. So I'm coming here, and what is it going to cost me? If this is a real church, it has to cost me. I have to pay a price. It's going to cost to love people. It's going to cost to serve people. It's going to cost to help people. You see, to follow Christ, to be a disciple, requires commitment, and certainly that applies not only to individual relationship with Christ, but also a corporate commitment. We believe in church commitment and we believe that a healthy church, I trust we do, is a healthy church, is a committed church. How do we know that? Why do we believe that? Well, the facts of nature argue, the nature of discipleship, but thirdly, and I'm going to run fast here too, Thirdly, the images of the church argue for church commitment. The images of the church. Now you might remember we started this series focusing upon the images of the church. And one of the reasons why we did that was because we need to understand what the church is, or the identity of the church, to really appreciate the church. So we looked at several images. We didn't look at them all. We only scratched the surface. But we looked at at least a number of them, graphic images or metaphors, to help us understand what the church is, or how the church functions, and what were some of those pictures. One was the picture of a flock of sheep. Acts chapter 20. Does that argue for commitment? Well, it certainly does. A flock of sheep needs a committed shepherd. A shepherd must be committed to taking care of the sheep. A shepherd must be committed to feeding the sheep, to protecting the sheep. Jesus warns, doesn't he, about hirelings or false shepherds. In John chapter 10, he says, when they see a wolf coming, guess what they're going to do? They're going to run. They're not committed. but for a shepherd to care for sheep, don't the sheep have to be committed? You can't take care of sheep who aren't there. There's a requirement. There's a commitment level on the part of the shepherd, but also on the part of the sheep. Think of the picture of a bride, Ephesians chapter 5. That's another picture of the church. Jesus loves the church as a husband so loves his wife. When you think of a marriage, you think of commitment, don't you? What lies at the very heart of a marriage? Well, it's a marriage covenant. It's vowed. Promises. When you think of a good marriage, you think of a committed husband. You think of a devoted wife. That's the picture of commitment. What about a family? The church is likened to a family. Well, isn't there a level of commitment? Dad and Mom committed to raising their children, committed to Sharing responsibilities, committed to spending time together, committed to teaching their children, nurturing their children. It's commitment. What about the biblical image of a body? That's another picture of the church, another metaphor for the church. We read about that in Ephesians 4, being fit or knit, joined together. Look at your body. Aren't you glad that all your members are committed to each other? You don't wake up in the morning and say, I wonder where the toe went this morning, or where the eye is, or where the ear is. No, they're committed. They're committed to each other. When you tie your shoes, your eyes help your hands. They cooperate. They're committed to the same task. They work together. So you see all of the images of the church, and we're not going into any great detail here, but we went through some of those images. They all argue in one way or another, don't they, for accountability or involvement or commitment. A healthy church is a committed church. How do we know that? Well, the facts of nature, the call of discipleship, the images of the church. But in the fourth place, The fourth place, a healthy church is a committed church, and that can be argued and proven by the gifts and the graces given to the church by the Spirit. If you're a Christian, you have been given the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit indwells you, 1 Corinthians 6. We are to walk in the Spirit. We are to be led by the Spirit, Romans chapter 8. And the Spirit comes and it blesses the church. Remember on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit comes to mark out the church, that it is now going to be a church, a new covenant people who have the Spirit. That wasn't true of the old covenant, but it is true of the new covenant community. That's why the church is called the Temple of God. That's where the Spirit dwells. And God, by His Spirit, has given us graces and gifts. And those gifts and those graces are not so we could live a kind of Robinson Crusoe lifestyle on a desert island somewhere. You might like to sing to yourself, but you're supposed to sing to one another. You might enjoy that grace called joy and are very happy sometimes and you rejoice in the Lord, but doesn't the Bible says rejoice with one another? God's given us gifts. And when you look at all of those gift passages of Ephesians 4, Romans 12, or 1 Corinthians 12, when Paul talks about gifts, he doesn't talk about them being used in a crass, individualistic sort of way. But they're being used. Why? Ephesians 4, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Romans 12, having Differing gifts, he says, let us use them. And then he says in verse 7, let us use them in our ministering, helping, serving others. He makes that point as well in 1 Corinthians 12 concerning those gifts. I do not want you to be ignorant then. And then he goes on to describe the diversity of gifts. But the fact that we are being given gifts, brethren, will they turn to be implemented or used for the betterment or for the good of the church. That means you've got to be there to use them. Exercise. How can anyone benefit from your gifts if you're not committed to Christ Church? The same is true of the graces of the Spirit. Humility, joy, thankfulness, self-control, love, faithfulness. Those graces are to be lived out in a context of corporate life. Where have you ever seen the greatest demonstrations of humility? I've seen them with God's people. Sometimes I see them once a night when I have see our deacons who are pretty smart guys. Engineers. And they're taking out the garbage. I sit there and I think that's an expression of humility. What about joy and thanksgiving? Haven't you found it far more enhanced in a corporate context when we rejoice with one another? What about the grace of love? Where do we see it demonstrated? Don't we see it demonstrated in a very wonderful way in a context of a church where we see that it's a love that can climb over all of those barriers, those age barriers, those gender barriers, those economic barriers? What better place to see an expression of love than when we see God's people loving people who are so different different skin color, people who are struggling financially than the poor. But the poor man can be helped by the rich man. And then the poor man can come along and put his arm around the rich man and exhort the rich man. And when the rich man finds himself in trouble, but we're ministering to one another using those gifts or disgraces that God has given us. A healthy church is a committed church. We can argue from several perspectives. This is not an exhaustive list, the facts of nature, the call of discipleship, the images of the church, the gifts and graces given to the church. But in the fifth place, a healthy church is a committed church, and that can be argued because of the duties and responsibilities given to the church. The word duty is not a dirty word. It's not a swear word. It seems when people hear the word duty, they automatically assume you're a legalist. Kevin DeYoung, in that excellent book I've recommended on several occasions, The Hole in Our Holiness, he says this, it sounds real spiritual to say God is interested in a relationship and not in rules. But it's not biblical. It's not biblical, he says, to say that or think that, because from top to bottom, the Bible is full of commands. God gives rules, lots of rules, to regulate our lives. Not to chain us, but to really liberate us. The law of God in James is called the law of liberty. It wasn't given to put us into shackles or chains, but really to help us enjoy the freedom that we have in Christ and to guide us. Why, the Apostle Paul, when writing to the churches, he has no problem quoting commandments. Notice Romans 13, the very back end of that section in Romans. Romans 13. rattles off commandments. I think there are four of them right here. Romans 13. Remember that Romans is a great gospel epistle. That's what he's opened up throughout this epistle. That's the great theme. But he's not afraid at the back end of Romans to talk about commandments. Romans 13, verse 9. For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness. The commandment. Paul writes to the Ephesians. He can even talk to the children and say, children, obey your parents. This is a commandment, honor your father and mother. It's the first commandment with promise. He could write to the Thessalonians and tell them that you need to live a pure life. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 2, for you know all the commandments. If you're going to please God, you have to obey commandments. Jesus said, if you love me, obey my commandments. And a lot of commandments that God gives, at least in the epistles, church epistles, come from the second table of the law. That is those laws that regulate human relationships. Those laws that help us see how we can love one another. And you will find those one another commandments throughout the epistles. They even begin with Jesus. He says we are to have peace with one another. Mark chapter 9. We are called upon to admonish one another, greet one another, care for one another, serve one another, forgive one another, submit to one another. Don't grumble against each other. Pray for one another, confess your sins to one another, practice hospitality to one another. Assume something, doesn't it? How can you do that? Live out those one another commandments if there's no deep involvement or commitment to the people of God. You can't. You can't. You see, church life and church commitment is bigger than showing up for a few services. A healthy church is a committed church. How do you know that? Well, I've given you five reasons. I'm going to close by giving you a final one, number six. This is really the best one of them all, at least the most convincing one. I initially had it number one, but I said I'm going to make it too easy to put it number one. So I'm going to put it number six. Number six, the life of the early church teaches commitment. Turn to Acts chapter two. That portion that was read, you might have wondered, why did he read that and hasn't made any commentary on it? Well, we're going to go there now. Acts chapter two. Here's a picture of the early church. Now, remember, when we open up our Bibles, we have lots of local churches that are mentioned. And if you think back to the last book of the Bible, Revelation, Revelation chapter 2, you have those seven churches. And when they are addressed in Revelation 2 and 3, there's some real concern. Not all of them are doing that well. Many of them appear to be quite unhealthy. He warns them of tolerating the woman Jezebel. of seducing servants who practice sexual immorality. That doesn't sound like a great church there. To Sardis, he says, I know your works. You have a reputation of being alive, but you're dead. Doesn't sound too healthy. The church at Ephesus, you've left your first love. So there are some real unhealthy churches in the Bible. But there are some that are real healthy too. I think the church at Rome was healthy. Romans 16, he says, your obedience is known to all. I believe the young church, even though it was a baby church, the church at Thessalonica was a healthy church. He could write to them and say, boy, I'm so thankful that you're growing in your faith and your love. Your love abounds more and more. The church at Philippi might have been the healthiest of all the churches. Paul could tell them, you are my joy. But another healthy church is here in Acts chapter 2. This is a living, breathing church, the church, the local church in Jerusalem. It's the first picture we have of a real church. It's almost breathtaking. It's a beautiful picture of a church, a solid family. You could say a great relationship with all the children. It's a flock that's fed well. And you note that Here, when he describes the church, he talks about several matters here that would argue it's a healthy church. It had a healthy emotional climate. Verse 46 talks about the gladness that they had. So it was marked with gladness, but there was a gravity as well. Verse 43, it was also distinguished by fear, a healthy fear of God. So it's doing well emotionally, a healthy emotional climate. It's also growing numerically. That's not always a sign of health, but it was in this case. Verse 47, the Lord added to them daily. This church was obviously penetrating the community. That's a healthy sign. Sort of like a good, solid, healthy tree. There are several branches here that we see on this tree. The branch of joy, the branch of fear of God, the branch of numerical growth. This is a sharing church. We were reminded about that this morning. How they sold their goods and they gave to those in need. This is a praying church. So everything we look at here, it seems to suggest that this is a strong church. It's marked with vitality. And you have to ask the question, well, what made it so strong? One of the one of the reasons why it was doing so well is if you look at verse 42, notice the text. And they continued steadfastly. Got a little phrase there, steadfastly, the ESV. says they were devoted. I read somewhere, I couldn't find it, but I'm sure I read it somewhere, I don't think this is in my mind, but someone used the word addicted. Addicted. They were addicted. Now, when you hear the word addicted, you tend to think something bad. Addicted to pills, or addicted to alcohol, or addicted to pornography. Well, the word addicted isn't necessarily a bad word. It simply means to give oneself in a strong way to a particular habit. They were addicted, in a good way. To capture the imperfect tense of the verb, they continually devoted themselves. Continually. When you think again of a devoted wife, a devoted father, a devoted family man, it's a positive picture. It's someone who's committed. And these are men and women who were committed to spiritual disciplines and holy activities. He mentioned several of them here. They were devoted to their Bible, apostles doctrine. They loved the truth. They were devoted to worship. They were devoted to God. They were devoted to Christ. And they were devoted to each other. Devoted to fellowship. This is a committed church, marked with steadfastness and faithfulness and loyalty. It's pretty plain, isn't it? Pretty obvious. As plain as the nose on our face, commitment is a sign of a healthy church. Why don't we see more healthy churches in our day? There's a lack of commitment. And why is there less and less of a commitment to Christ's church? Why are more people leaving churches and turning their back on churches? Why are more people even arguing over the concept of membership? Well, it's a health problem. It's a spiritual problem. It's somewhat complex. There's not just one simple reason. I think one of the reasons, probably the best reason and the best way to look at the situation, is a lot of people are afraid. I think they're afraid of commitment. It's become somewhat ingrained in the psyche of our culture. You see it when it comes to marriage. People are afraid to commit themselves to marriage. Why? Well, again, they're afraid. They've gone through a bad marriage. Maybe they've gone through a divorce. They've been burned, and so they're reluctant. We are living in a divorce culture. And so more and more people are afraid to commit themselves to marriage. You can understand why. Commitment can be a scary thing. And what we have to do is we have to remind people that marriage is a wonderful state. It really is the preferred state. We have to remind them of the blessings of marriage. In that book by Lottie Bauckham, he talks about the benefits of marriage. Health benefits. You know that? Married people are healthier than people who aren't married. Typically. He talks about the financial benefits. A couple of other benefits, I won't mention them, but he talks about a lot of benefits. And that should help people overcome their fears. Marriage is a wonderful institution. Lots of benefits. And the church is a wonderful institution. Lots of benefits. Lots of benefits. You want to be a strong Christian? You want to be a useful Christian? Then you need to get committed to a church. It's a high, noble calling. Fear is a problem. I do believe pride is a problem. People don't like accountability. People don't think they need the church. They don't realize how vulnerable they are. They don't realize how in desperate need they are of accountability. Remember, the church is likened to a flock. That's a bunch of sheep. And whenever you see a lone sheep in the Bible, you kind of say, oh, he's in trouble. And so when you see Christians who are isolated on their own, You say, my friend, you're in trouble. Fear. Pride. Another roadblock or why we are seeing what Mark Devere calls commitment phobia in our day is because of the world. The world, it influences us in a big bad way. We live in an age where vows and promises and covenants are as disposable as dirty diapers. People don't seem to understand when you enter a covenant, you make a vow. You keep your promises. We're influenced by the world and all kinds of ways, sometimes just the busyness, the extracurricular activities, the sports and the hobbies. I saw a title of a book recently. It was written with this title. You are the treasure, but there's a lot of cool stuff out there, Lord. In other words, yeah, you're the treasure, but I'm being pulled away from the treasure. Yes, God is the treasure, Christ is a treasure, the church is a treasure, but there's a lot of cool stuff that pulls me away from enjoying the treasure. So there's roadblocks, if you will, in terms of people committing themselves to Christ's church. I've only mentioned a few, but let me close on a positive note very briefly. We should also encourage people in terms of church commitment by reminding them of the great incentive. What's a great incentive to become a member of a church? Never thought of this before. To be like Jesus. Jesus, is Jesus committed to his church? He's the husband, isn't he? He loves his bride. Of course, she's committed to his church. He gave himself for his church. Every time the church gathers, he's here. I can't remember, I've been here 25 years, I can't remember him ever missing. He's always been here. When two or three are gathered in my name, I am there. It doesn't matter how small the group, I'll always be there. He's there when our singing's bad, when the preaching's bad. He's there! No one more committed than Christ! No one more faithful than Christ. He's the devoted husband. We should be the devoted wife to Christ. Let's pray, brethren, that God would help us to be healthy, to be more healthy. Let's pray that God would help us to be committed to Christ Church, to realize the privilege, the honor, the blessings of being a member of Christ Church. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we again thank you for your word. We thank you for your church. We thank you, Lord, that you have given us instructions, directives. We pray, Lord, you would help us to implement them. We thank you for this church. We thank you for the people of God here. We thank you for the high level of commitment that has been manifested by so many for so many years. Help us to continue to be steadfast, help us to continue to be faithful, bless us, strengthen us, even, Lord, increase our number. And we pray these things in Christ's name, Amen.