Let's turn in the Word of God to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and the verse number 7. Just one verse here, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse number 7. A little statement that we find in parenthesis here. In brackets, I want to develop this thought as we go through the rest of this meeting. So 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse number 7, the apostle Paul, he writes, for we walk by faith and not by sight. For we walk by faith and not by sight. And with the word of God open, let's just briefly unite once again in a word of prayer together. We come now around the Word of God. We rejoice, O God, for the opportunity to come and sit under the Word. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Lord, open our ears. May we come to learn of Thee. And from my word, it matters not what the preacher says, but what the Bible, the word of God says. May we come, therefore, and find ourselves submitting and yielding ourselves to the teaching of Holy Scripture. Come and fill me with thy spirit, guide throughout this day, I pray, and save the lost, restore the fallen, and revive the church. We pray this in and through our Savior's precious name. Amen and amen. As we continue in our series relating to our walk with God, we want today to think about the subject matter of walking by faith. Writing to the believers in the city of Corinth, the Apostle Paul writes these words in the verse 7, Paul wrote these words in the context of the Christian's hope, the Christian's hope beyond this life. Although we cannot see heaven or really fully appreciate the glories of that glorious place, yet we do, by faith, believe all that God has said. about heaven's glory and about all that awaits the child of God after they pass through the valley of the shadow of death. However, I believe that these words of the Apostle Paul could as aptly be applied to every part of the Christians' walk and every part of the Christian's life. We are those who walk by faith and not by sight. We're told in the book of Romans in the chapter one that we live, we live by faith and not by sight. The just shall live by faith. When you speak about walking by faith, the Bible character that almost immediately comes into your mind, automatically comes into your mind, is most surely that Old Testament patriarch called Abram, living there in the earl of the Chaldees, Abram. was a heathen who worshipped the pagan gods of his father's and of his native homeland. That was until God appeared to him miraculously and instructed him to leave the land of his birth and to journey to a land that God would show him off. Obeying that command, Abram began to walk the walk A walk that wouldn't conclude for Abram until he found himself walking on the streets of gold in that place, that city, who hath no foundations and whose builder and maker was God. However, it's not Abram. that I want to take as our case example as we think about someone who walked by faith. Because aware that we're approaching that season of the year when we remember the miracle of the incarnation, I thought it would be profitable for us in considering the walk of faith that we would do so in light of two Bible characters that played an important, a pivotal role in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into the world, namely the earthly guardians of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Joseph and Mary. As we think about this walk of faith, I want us to learn some lessons from the lives of these two human beings who witnessed at close quarters the birth, the life, the early years, and the adult life of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we think then about this walking by faith, the first thing that we need to do is to define what is meant when we speak about walking by faith. And so consider firstly with me what a walk of faith actually is. What a walk of faith actually is. When Paul writes, we walk by faith and not by sight, what is he actually saying? Well, he simply means that when we walk by faith, we are conducting our lives We are conducting our lives in the confident expectation of present realities as well as things that are not yet seen. And yet things that are yet to come, walking by faith, is really living a life, living a life of faith with our trust firmly placed in the Lord. A walk of faith is a walk of someone who has placed their trust firmly in the Lord. And therefore, when the pathway of life takes you down into some deep valley, the Christian walks by faith into that valley, believing that God has purposed, ordained for that individual to walk into that deep valley experience of life. When some cross, as it were, is placed upon the back of a Christian, whether that cross is a cross of sorrow, Whether that cross is a cross of sickness, a cross of solitude, we really bear that cross in the full assurance that God has ordained for that burden to be placed upon us. So walking by faith really requires us to meet the challenges of living in a fallen sinful world with our confidence resting in an unseen God who has ordained all things to come to pass. by faith, faith grounded in God, faith grounded in His Word. The Christian is to regulate then their life and their conversation. Charles Simeon wrote that faith is to the Christian what a compass is to the mariner, the seafaring individual on the trackless ocean. Under all circumstances, he consults its testimony and follows its directions. And in so doing, he fears not, but that in due time he shall arise safely at his desired heaven. It was by faith that the apostle Paul lived his life and conducted his affairs. In Galatians chapter two, in the verse 20, Paul wrote, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, How did he live it? He said, I live by the faith of the Son of God. He loved me and gave himself for me. As he lay in prison, beaten, as he was shipwrecked, as he found himself trying to escape for his life from those who wanted to kill him, every point of his journey in Paul's life, he lived by faith, believing that God had ordered all things to come to pass within his life. The faith by which we live leans heavily leans hard on the Word of God and its many promises. The many promises of God are something solid upon which we can confidently lean upon because God keeps His Word. God makes good His promises. What He has spoken will always be performed in due time. As we think of the many, many Bible characters that we meet in Holy Scripture that walked a walk of faith. We can see that their walk of faith was supported, undergirded by the Word of God. Let me give you a few examples. We thought about Abram there in our introduction. It was faith, walking by faith. Faith in God and in His promises that enabled Abram and Sarai to leave their home in the ear of the Chaldeans and to make their way to an unknown land. But what undergirded their walk of faith was a word from God, a promise from God. Genesis 12 verse 1. Now the Lord which said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house onto a land that I will show thee. God spoke to Abram. And Abram stepped out by faith on the word from God. It was a walk of faith and walking by faith that enabled Moses to go in before Pharaoh and demand the release of the Hebrew children from their bondage. But what was it that undergirded the walk of faith for this man Moses? It was a word from God. Exodus 3 verse 10, God gave Moses a word. Moses stepped out on that word and began walking by faith. Walking by faith enabled Gideon to defeat the Midianites. But what undergirded the faith of this man was really God's word to him. Judges 6 verse 14, the Lord looked upon him and said, It was a word from God that enabled Peter to get out of the boat and make his way across the stormy sea to Christ. But what was it that undergirded Peter's faith to do that very act? It was a word from God, Matthew 14, 28 and 29. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if thou wilt, bid me to come on to thee on the water. And he speaking of Christ said, come, come, Peter. And on that word, Peter began walking by faith. It was A word from God that enabled Philip to leave revival in Samaria, make his way to the desert that he might speak to a man about the Lord Jesus Christ. But what undergirded that walk of faith on that occasion was a promise from God, God's word to him. Acts 8 verse 26, and the angel of the Lord speak on to Philip. In all of these examples, we see, brethren and sisters, that a walk of faith supported by God's Word enabled these individuals to then walk by faith, to do that which seemed illogical, that which seemed impossible. And yet God commanded them to do so, and they simply obeyed God and took God at his word. A walk of faith supported by God's word enabled Mary and Joseph to ignore the unfounded rumors that would have circulated in the small town of Nazareth regarding Mary's pregnancy while they were still unmarried. Put yourself in her shoes, you ladies. Put yourself in the shoes of that dear woman. An unplanned pregnancy, that was what the rumor would have been with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ and His conception and birth. Joseph and Mary had not yet come together within that bond of marriage, and thus for her to now be pregnant, what a scandal it must have been in Nazareth. What a scandal. How must she have felt? concern the worry with regard to it all. And yet you'll recall how God sent to both Mary and Joseph an angel to communicate to them individually what was happening. We're told by Matthew, the gospel writer, that the angel of the Lord appeared on to Joseph in a dream, saying, Joseph, thy son of David, fear not to take on to thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is off the Holy Ghost. We were told that Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel. And the angel Gabriel, he said to her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee. The power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Verse 35 of Luke chapter 1. Therefore, also that holy thing which shall be born in thee shall be called the Son of God." Those communications commissioned by God and carried to Joseph and Mary by angelic messengers enabled Joseph and Mary to perform the greatest task ever entrusted to two human beings, the raising of the Christ child within their home. When we come to walk by faith, Just as with Mary and Joseph, God may ask us to do something that really goes against human logic, that will see us pushed out of our comfort zones, that will cause us maybe at times to scratch our heads in bewilderment, and yet if such a task is supported with a clear directive from God's Word, then you cannot but go as God has directed you to go, if George Mueller Mary Schleser, Hudson, Taylor, Amy Carmichael, David Livingstone, Gladys Elward, William Carey. If they had have walked by sight and not by faith, none of them would have ever, none of them would have ever made it to the foreign mission field. But by faith they went forth, leaning hard on the promises of God. God had spoken and they had to obey. And so this walk of faith, this is what we mean by walking by faith. We take God at his word. We go as God directs us, as God leads us, as God directs us, as God guides us within his word. This is what it is to walk by faith. And therefore, we must know the word of God. We must abide it into our hearts. We must believe it. We must receive it. And we must see it worked out within our lives. This is what it is to walk by faith. And so let's walk the walk of faith, sustained and strengthened by the promises of God. But as we develop this thought of walking by faith, I want us to think in the second place about when the walk of faith commences, when this walk of faith commences. You see, the Christian's walk of faith begins when saving faith is exercised in the Lord Jesus Christ. The moment that we come to rest our souls upon the work of Christ for sinners on the cross, we begin then walking this walk of faith. Now, by nature, we are not those who walk by faith. Before that, we walk by the flesh. But the moment that we come to trust in Christ, the moment that we're saved, born again, converted, whatever terminology you wish to use, that moment we begin walking by faith. It only then stands to sense that before we walk by faith, we must become a child of faith. Before we begin to walk the walk of faith, we must before become a child of faith. Now, the Bible reminds us, the Scriptures, the Word of God, that all men have not faith. All men have not faith. No, the Bible is very clear that we're all born in sin, shaped in iniquity. The Bible is very clear that there is none that doeth good, no, not one. The Bible is very clear that there is no man on earth that sinneth not. No, the faith that I'm talking about is not some intellectual faith, not some kind of religious faith that's handed down from grandparents to parents to children to grandchildren, but rather the faith I'm speaking about is saving faith. Evangelical faith, the faith that unites the soul to Jesus Christ, the faith that brings a sinner into union with Jesus Christ, the faith that brings a person out of darkness into light, out of the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God's dear Son, from his unregenerate state into a regenerate state, from being unconverted to being converted, from being a child of wrath to becoming a child of God. Saving faith. Have you got saving faith? Have you saving faith in Jesus Christ? You see, faith is a gift from God. What a wonderful thing that is. For by grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. The gift of faith. is bestowed to the sinner when they repent of sin, return from their sin, and trust, rest in Christ, who has done all the work needed to bring me to God, to reconcile me to God, to bring me into a right standing before God. We become children of faith when we are born again by the Spirit of God. And only when we have saving faith can then we begin walking by faith. Mary, the blessed woman of whom we have read, was born like every other individual who's born of Adam's cursed race. Mary was one of Adam's descendants. And so the mother of our Lord was born no differently than any other human being. She too was born a sinner. And let me show you before you would balk at that, before you would maybe reject that? Because Mary says something in this chapter that we read, maybe you saw it. As you read it, along with me, you maybe saw what she said about the Lord Jesus Christ there in Luke chapter 1. Could I point you to the verse? In the verse 46, then verse 47. And Mary said, so we're in no doubt about who's speaking here. And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. Mary spoke of Jesus Christ as being my Savior. She needed a Savior. He was her personal Savior. What did she need to be saved from? Well, she needed to be saved like us all. We need to be saved from our sins. All of sinning comes short of the glory of God. And therefore, Mary referred to the unborn child within her womb as her Savior. She says, God, my Savior. And as you come to read through Mary's song here, The Magnificent as it's called, as you come to read through her song, you quickly understand that it is someone, it is sung by someone who knew God intimately as her Savior. Note the themes that she sings about. She sings about God's mercy. What's mercy? Mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve. Grace is God giving us what we don't deserve. Mercy is God giving us what we do deserve. But she sings about the mercy of God. It's on those that fear Him. She's singing from personal experience here. She sings about the mercy of Her God, verse 50, and His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to generation. She herself feared God. She herself had received the mercy of God in salvation. She knew firsthand how God had exalted the lowly and how God had filled the soul with good things, matters that she sings about in verse 52 and verse 53, and exalted them of low degree. and have filled the hungry with good things. Here's a humble sinner. She had hungered and thirsted after righteousness, after peace with God, and now she's filled. Mary in her song could have sung about many things about her God. She could have sung about how God is my helper. She could have sung about how God is my strength, how God is my wisdom, how God is my example. But she sings of none of those things. Instead, she sings that God was my Savior, her Savior. It's very evident that Mary's words and from the words that she had commenced walking by faith, a walk that commenced when she trusted in Christ as her Savior, my Savior, she said. Let me ask all mothers here today, gathered in the house of God, Have you commenced the walk of faith? See, those wee children of yours, those children that so depend on you, so dependent on you, I tell you, Mother, they need you to be a Christian mother. They need you to pray for them, to teach them in the things of God. Father, here today, I present the same question to you. Have you commenced the walk of faith? Those sons, those daughters of yours that look up to you as a role model, necessitates that you begin to walk the walk of faith. You might be asking, well, preacher, how do I begin this walk of faith? You begin it when you first walk the road of repentance and faith, a walk that will bring you undoubtedly to the foot of the old rugged cross. There, you must turn from sin. You must then believe that what Christ is doing on the cross, namely suffering for sin, that He's doing it for you, that He's dying for your sins, that He's your substitute, that He's making atonement for your transgressions and your sins. I tell you, the walk of faith doesn't begin in a baptismal font. It doesn't begin at a communion reel. It doesn't begin in some confessional box. It doesn't begin at the front of this church. It begins at the cross, the cross of Calvary. And that's where you need to get to today, Calvary, the cross. Having begun the walk of faith with the starting point at the cross, let's think about how this walk of faith continues. The tense within this verb that we have in 2 Corinthians 5, 17. We're thinking about that verse there. We walk by faith and not by sight. The tense of the verb. Now don't be getting confused and worried. The tense of the verb. You're not here for English. But the tense of the verb simply indicates that this walk of faith is to be continuous. It's not in the past or in the future tense, but rather this verb is found in the present tense. We could read the verse like this, for we are walking by faith. Not that we did walk by faith or in some time in the future we're going to begin walking by faith, but now we are walking by faith, present tense. And then the mood of the verb is in the active mood. What does that mean, preacher? That simply means that we're doing the walking. We're not passive in this, but we ourselves are walking. We are walking. Believers are walking by faith and not by sight. So we come to ask the question, am I personally walking by faith day by day? Is this my testimony? Have I begun the walk of faith and am I continuing in the walk of faith? Now very little is said about Joseph in the word of God. In actual fact, I believe that I suppose the only word that we can really decipher that Joseph probably spoke was the word Jesus. What a word it was. If that's all he said, what a word it was. Remember the angel said to Joseph that he was to call the child's name Jesus. You see, what would have normally happened would have been that the firstborn child would have taken on the name of the father. But Joseph wasn't his father. Joseph wasn't his father. Joseph was his guardian, but the Holy Ghost had come upon Mary. There was no form of Joseph playing any part in the pregnancy. And so what would have normally been, if that had been the case, he would have been called Bar-Joseph, Bar-Joseph. Bar meaning son, Joseph, Joseph, son of Joseph. You have people in the Bible like that, Bar-Thalamu, the son of Thalamu. son of Abbas. And so Christ should have been given the name Bar-Joseph. But because he was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, with the power of the Spirit of God, he is now called by a completely different name. He is called Jesus, and Joseph, I believe, would have made that known to all that were gathered there. No, the child's name is not to be Bart Joseph, but to be Jesus. Some believe that Joseph died early on in the Savior's earthly ministry. After his visit to Jerusalem at the age of 12, Joseph is no longer mentioned within the gospel narrative. And so we must leave it there. We do not know what happened with regard to Joseph. Many believe that Joseph died and Mary was left as a widow. But while not as much is said about Joseph, much is said about Mary. And what is said about Mary indicates that her early faith Her early faith in Christ, it grew, it developed, it matured as she continued to walk by faith. Permit me to show you what I mean. Never Herod saw that the wise men from the east did not bring him word again as to the location of the newborn king. He ordered that all the male children from two years old and under in Bethlehem and the surrounding area be put to death. However, before that order was implemented, the angel, and I quote here from the gospel narrative, Now, can you imagine that? I'm speaking now to the ladies in the congregation. Can you imagine that your husband comes in to you tomorrow and says, right, everybody pack up, we're heading to Spain? I'm sure you would be a bit perplexed I'm sure you would be wondering, why the upheaval? Why the trouble? But Joseph communicates this to Mary. And despite the upheaval that such a move would have entailed for, remember, just a mother with a young child, despite that upheaval, Mary and Joseph obeyed God's directive. And they moved until Herod died. I believe that such a move by Mary required Mary to walk by faith and not by sight. Why do we have to go? Why do we have to leave? I'm sure whenever news came to them in Egypt of the slaughter of all the two-year-olds and under in Bethlehem, I'm sure then Mary understood, this is why I've walked by faith. Now I understand why we've left home, and why we've come to Egypt. It eventually was revealed to her, and that's what happens in the walk of faith. God asks us to do things, and we wonder why, and we're perplexed by it, and we can't reason it out in our minds, but God simply wants us to obey Him. Eventually it will be unveiled, the reason why, and so we walk by faith. She could have, and I'm not saying that this is what ladies do, so don't be boning me at the door, but she could have dug her heels in and said to Joseph, I'm going nowhere. She could have done that. I'm going nowhere. We've just set up our home. Here we are. The nursery's all set up. Joseph, you've decorated it. You've put in the crib. You've made a bed for us. We're setting up home. I'm going nowhere. I'm staying put." But Mary didn't do that. Instead, she took God at His word and she walked in the light of that divine communication. You see, she began the walk of faith by putting her trust, but folks, it didn't end the moment she put her faith and trust in Christ. Because the walk of faith, it must continue. It's not just a profession of faith at a moment or at a mission. or somewhere, but there must be a going on, there must be a progression. And here we see this woman, maybe only new in her faith, and God has spoken, God has given light, and God has directed. And now she's saying, no, I'm going to go with God. Whatever God says, wherever God tells me to go, where He may lead me, I will go. That's what she was saying. But can I just say, as we continue to trace this through the Gospels, that Mary's walk of faith wasn't without its failings. There were times whenever her own son had to, and can I put this gently, he had to mildly correct her. Do you remember that time? I've already referred to it. He goes up to Jerusalem. Christ, he's only a 12-year-old boy about to enter into adolescent years, become a teenager, but he's up there at the age of 12 in the city of Jerusalem, And eventually they find him after three days searching. They thought he was in the company of people, but they realized he wasn't, so they had to go back to Jerusalem again. I'm sure they were frantic. I'm sure they were frantic. And Mary rebukes her son. This is what she said, son, why hast thou dealt thus with us? Behold thy father, and I have sought thee sorrowing. The Lord Jesus Christ corrected Mary's faulty thinking with regard to the identity of his father. Notice what she said. She said, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. Listen to what Jesus Christ said to her. How is it that ye sought me? Wish ye not that I must be about my father's business? My Father is God, not Joseph. My Father is God, not Joseph. And so there is, with regard to Mary's theology, her grasp of theological truth, she hasn't got it all. She hasn't, as it were, been invested with full knowledge of all the theological terms whenever she's come to faith. But brethren and sisters, that's the walk of faith. That's the maturing of faith. That's the going on with God. That's being exposed to truth. And then believing that truth as you find it within the Word of God. Do you remember whenever Mary complained that there was a lack of wine at the wedding feast in Cana? Jesus said to her, woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. The Savior's words was mild counsel for her to dismiss her fears and to put her trust in God. But let's go on to the end of the Savior's earthly ministry. Think about his death at the cross of Calvary. Mary, his mother, witnessed his crucifixion. John 19, 25, now they're stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother's sister, his auntie, married the wife of Cleopas and Mary Magdalene. Here's a woman. She's walked now for at least 30 years. This is now a 30-year walk of faith. Here's a woman who has matured in her faith. Here's a woman who's now unashamedly wanting to identify with His Son even in death, even though that public identification with Him carried with a jeopardy and peril. She's identifying with Christ. He's going to be kneeled. He is kneeled to the cross to be identified with Him, and yet she's willing. to identify publicly with Christ. That's what it is to walk the walk of faith, publicly identifying yourself with Christ and with the church and with the church of Christ and with the people of God. The last time we meet Mary in the Word of God, we find her where? At the public place of prayer. Christ is now absent. With regard to the physical body of Christ, not no longer present on earth, and yet that mattered not to Mary. That mattered not to this dear woman when it came to her walk of faith. She now walked by faith, having previously walked by sight. Acts 4, 1 verse 14 says, These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the woman, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, with his brethren. So they're at the public prayer meeting. There she is, as a woman of faith, now a woman of prayer. woman identifying with the church of Jesus Christ in the upper room. From the moment the Son of God entered the world to the moment the Son of God exited, Mary, his mother, walked by faith. And how was that walk maintained? It was maintained by fellowshipping with Christ, listening to his words. And as we see in Acts 1.14, seeking him in prayer. And brethren and sisters, that's how your walk of faith will continue, fellowshipping with God in prayer, feeding on His Word. Faith is strengthened by these means of grace. We come to find that we falter in our walk of faith when we starve ourselves of that which stimulates faith, the Word. We fellowship with God in prayer. We find our walk. We find ourselves faltering and falling. Maybe you would lament today and you would say, well, my walk of faith is not what it ought to be. Can I say to you, go back to the basics, go back to the basics of Christian living. Speak to God in prayer. Ask God to speak to you through His Word. A final brief concluding thought, and it is brief. We've thought about the commencement of faith, we've thought about We've thought about the continuation of the walk of faith. Let's think about where the walk of faith concludes, where it concludes. Journey's end. For those who walk by faith is heaven itself. In the Father's house, our faith will give way to sight. Walking by faith will no longer be required when we come to follow after the Lamb. We're reminded in 1 Corinthians 13, 12, For now we see through a glass darkling, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know as even also I am known. Or 1 John 3 verse 2, Beloved, now are we the sons of God. And it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know, we know, we know that when he shall appear, that we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. There's coming a day. And for the Christian, the eye of faith or the eye of faith will give way to sight. We'll see the King in all of his beauty. That's what Fanny Crosby, the hymn writer said. I know I shall see in his beauty. The King in whose law I delight, who lovingly guardeth my footsteps and giveth me songs in the night. Faith's walk terminates inside the New Jerusalem, but until that day we're to continue to walk by faith. Let me ask you as I close, where will your walk in life terminate? Because we're all walking through this world I speak on the spiritual level. Where will it terminate? I'm not saying, where are you going to be buried? That's just your body. This soul, this internal resident that makes you you, that makes you unique. This is only about a body of clay. Where will your soul terminate? Where will your soul be in God's eternity? When you come to take the final step, think of it, and you step out of time and you step into eternity, will your feet walk on the streets of heaven's gold or will they find no place of standing in the bottomless pit that's called hell? Where will your feet step out into? What a thought. Will your feet step on to streets of gold or will they flay? Will they flay and will they feel as it tries to find a place of standing where there is no standing, in the place the Bible calls the bottomless pit, hell itself. Now that's a sobering thought to conclude the meeting with, is it not? One that you would do well to seriously consider at the conclusion of this meeting. Where will my walk in this world terminate? It'll not be in Lover's Lane in the cemetery or some church graveyard. It'll either be God's heaven or God's hell. I pray that you know Christ. I pray that today you'll come to know him, be saved, be reconciled to God. Christ came into this world that he might save you from your sin. What a thought it is to be saved. Thank God there are people in this building today. And this will be their first Christmas that they will celebrate as Christians. Why not you? Why not you? Well, let all of us who know and love Christ, may we walk by faith, spurred on by the fact that soon, maybe sooner than we even think, that our faith will give way to sight. May God help us for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's bow in prayer together. Let's seek the Lord. Thank you for your time. We are a little over today. but we appreciate you listening. If I can help you in any way spiritually, we're here to help. Love to see you again tonight at our gospel service, our carol service. Come along and invite others to be with you even tonight. Remember the little cards there at the door on your way out. Now let's seek the Lord together. Loving Father, we thank Thee for the example of this dear lady, Mary, in Holy Scripture. We thank Thee that she began the walk of faith When she came to trust in God, her Savior, my Savior, she said, he's my Savior. Oh God, we thank thee for that. Oh God, we pray that there will be those today who will come to trust in Christ as their Savior, and that they too will be able to say, he is my Savior. He is my Lord, he is my God. And so bless thy word and part us with thy blessing. For we offer now prayer in and through our Savior's precious name. Amen and amen.