You will remember that Paul writes these words, having not yet been to Rome, but he has heard about the church there. And it's very clear in the epistle that he's received quite a bit of information regarding the health and the welfare of the people of God there. You can go back to chapter one and the verse number eight and following, he says there, first, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken off throughout the whole world. There's a sense in which this has become an exemplary church, not without problems, but certainly a church that is remarkable for its faithfulness in such a challenging place like Rome. He continues, Again, he's heard about this church and the knowledge he has, has stirred up within him a desire to meet with them and to bring blessing to them. He's enough knowledge to remark upon their maturity. We notice that in chapter 15, verse 14, that they are filled with all knowledge. They're able to admonish others. They're full of goodness. Language denoting their maturity. And so he anticipates his time in Rome and expects his visit with them to be a time of mutual encouragement. His desire is to come and as it says in chapter 1 verse 11, to impart unto them a spiritual gift. He wants to come and be a blessing to them. But he also expects the church in Rome to be a blessing to him. In chapter 15 verse number 24, that verse ends But the phrase, again, that you'll appreciate has been somewhat challenging to translate. It says, if first I be somewhat filled with your company. And you'll see the word company there is in italics in your authorized version. It's been supplied by the translator to give a sense of the meaning. It ends with that sense of the word filled. Filled with your, filled with what? Well, your company, your presence. The word filled here refers to something that satisfies. If you're filled, and you may have eaten well this past week, and if you were filled, you were satisfied with the enjoyment of the good gifts of food and refreshment. In fact, it's used five times in our New Testament. The other four all have some reference to food. It's used regarding the disciples in John 16. And the Lord says, the disciples, when they were filled, to gather up the fragments that remained when they were filled, nourished, satisfied. Not just feared, but satisfied. That sense of contentment, they've had enough. You know, you can be feared, and you can be feared. And this sense of filled is the fullness of that idea of being fed. And so his desire is that when he comes to be with Rome, in Rome and with the people there, he'd be fully satisfied in the enjoyment of their company and their fellowship. And in that sense, he used the word in verse number 32, refreshed. That when he comes to them, not only will he be filled with their company, he'll be with them refreshed. This also is another interesting word. It's used regarding sleep. Not sleep, but the effect of sleep. The idea of being refreshed after a really good night's sleep. And some of you, that's a memory from the past. You find hard to sleep. It's so difficult to get a good rest. Well, remember those days when you could sleep and perhaps you were a teenager and you slept through well into the morning, you woke up and you just felt so refreshed. That's the word here. That sense of renewed vigor. Paul anticipates his Rome, his time in Rome, sorry, to be a time of refreshing. That's a good thing. It's how it should be. You compare that with his visit to Corinth, the proposed visit to Corinth. He's concerned there, and we'll see it later on. He's concerned that he'll go there with grief and heaviness. But he anticipates going to Rome being a time of fullness, satisfaction, and refreshment among a healthy, mature company. Not sinless, but still mature and spiritually vibrant. Would we not all desire such spiritual health? I just took some time to reflect upon that this week. That when people are in my company, I'm of such spiritual health that they will leave my company feeling they've had a good sleep. They're not wearied by my company, but refreshed by it. I'm putting that personally because I can't speak for you right now, but I expect that's your desire. You want to be someone who brings freshness and vigor into someone's spiritual life, not weariness to their souls. That's what Paul anticipates, that they would be a means of encouraging him in the challenges he faces. This expectation is a partial motivation to his request for their prayers. He wants their fellowship. I'm going to remind you of the outline. I put it back into the bulletin here. The outline in this section is really the gift for Jerusalem, the planned journeys, and now the expected joy in Rome, that joy that is enhanced by this enjoyment of Christian fellowship. You want to be coming to the house of God on the Lord's day and leave feeling spiritually refreshed. You might feel weary physically, mentally weary, but refreshed spiritually. And so as he considers this anticipation of fellowship that would be of mutual benefit to him and to the church, he closes the body of this letter. And these last two verses really do close the body of the letter. What follows after, very important things, but they're almost like a postscript So he closes the main substance of the letter with these words, that I may come unto you with joy by the will of God and may with you be refreshed, and may the God of peace be with you all, amen. He wants to come with joy. That's his burden, that I may come unto you with joy. And he wants them to know peace. Perhaps just when I have your attention, you'll appreciate verse number 33 when he prays, for the God of peace be with you all. That is a prayer that they would know peace. The term the God of peace is used here as to what God can do with his presence in their lives. The same language used over in verse number five, the God of patience and consolation. Remember, we thought of those terms, the God of patience, the God of consolation. Those titles are used because what God can do. God grants enduring grace. God's able to give comfort and consolation. And so when it says the God of peace, it is really Paul praying that they would know the presence of the God of peace with the result that they themselves would know peace. That's the point of the prayer here. So really what you have is he's going to pray for them and ask them to pray for him. I want to take Paul's example here very, very personally. I thought this was providential. The end of a year, the beginning of a new year is always a time of reflection. I think it is for all of us. We reflect upon our various responsibilities and duties, and we think of the years gone past and the years to come. I want to ask you very, very personally, that as we approach and come into 2025, that I would come unto you with joy. I want you to pray that. I'm asking you, I'm begging. That you'd pray that it's not that I come into Rome, but as I come before you, Lord's day by Lord's day, I would come unto you with joy. As I ask you to pray that for me, I will pray by God's grace that the God of peace with you. Now this could be a personal thing for us as a congregation at this point. That you pray for me and I'll pray for you. You pray what I'm asking for, and I'll pray what you need, the God of peace. Let's begin then with this issue of joy in the ministry. The ministry of the gospel should be marked by joy. In all seriousness, I'm really asking you to pray this. This is not some pretense or form. When I reflect upon this passage, I really believe this is the necessity of the ministry. Not just for me, but for other ministers that you pray. Again, across our denomination, you pray for various people. Pray that they would know joy in the ministry. You see, it's interesting when you ask the question, what is Paul's desire in his ministry? What does he want his ministry marked by? So if you like, is someone's writing Paul's a big jury? What would his burden be? And I believe when you, and we'll see some of this today, when you review his own description of his ministry to Rome, to Corinth, to Philippi, to Thessalonica, there's a consistency of theme. He wants to be known as an apostle marked by joy. That's his burden. And that's not the only thing. But in terms of his heart, in terms of his grace and his spirit, he wants his ministry to be marked by joy. And I hope you'll see that by the time we close this area of our study. He's going to come and teach, give instruction. He's going to bring rebukes and exhortations and challenges. He's going to do all the things we see in his epistles. But all of that is marked by the spirit of joy. And that is a clear biblical principle of every ministry, not just the apostle, but every ministry. When you turn across Hebrews chapter 13, Hebrews 13, and you'll see this, this is much more than just an exhortation of an apostle for prayer. It is Paul's understanding of the nature of the Christian ministry. Hebrews 13 in the verse number 17, in one verse describes what a healthy church should look like. That those under the oversight of godly elders, they are told to obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls as they that must give account. That they may do it with joy and not with grief. for that is unprofitable for you. So here likely Paul is writing this and he's bringing about this exhortation that's coming from his own experience and his own heart that a healthy church has a ministry marked by joy and not grief. And a joyful ministry is for the benefit not just of the minister or the pastor or the elders, but it's for the benefit of the congregation. That they may do with joy, not grief, for that is unprofitable for you. And so really, what I'm asking you to do for it, if you pray that I will come with joy, you're praying for your own benefit. You're praying for your own goods. That if by God's grace, I can come to you Lord's day by Lord's day, Wednesday by Wednesday, and any other time in the middle of that, if I can come to you with joy, that will be for your spiritual benefit. Which ponders a very, very big question. Why? Why? Okay, we get the point, but you've got to dig beneath the point and say, well, Paul, you want to come with joy. You're telling the Hebrews here that they ought to live in such a way they produce joy in the minister. But why is that so important? Well, I have three words to leave with you and I'll develop each of the three words, vitality, integrity, and maturity. First of all, my burden to come with you or come to you with joy is a recognition that my joy would imply personal spiritual health or vitality. It's a great word. It's got different meanings. It has this idea of sustaining life, but also this idea of being strong and active and energetic. You know, Christian joy is a mark of spiritual vitality and vigor and energy. We are told to rejoice in the Lord, that command, and thus the failure to know joy on a personal level is a failure to obey the command of God. So if I feel to come to you with joy, I'm failing to obey the command of God and I'm guilty of sin. Every time I stand before you without knowing Christian joy, I'm coming into the pulpit and I'm guilty of sin. The Bible tells us to rejoice in the Lord always. That means every single time I'm involved in ministry in my life, I've got to come to you with joy. And so I'm asking you to pray for that, that that spirit of vitality would mark the preaching of the word of God and the ministry generally in this place. You see, we are told to rejoice in the Lord. You see, joy is not the same as happiness. Joy can exist with heaviness, 1 Peter 1. Paul himself says that he is sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. So this joy is not that I come to, you know, like a Joel Osteen pretended smile. I'm not saying he's pretending, but a big smile and say, I can't do that. I'm sorry, my face doesn't work that way. It's not that we come with a giddiness and a triviality. It's come with the stubbornness, but a spiritual joy that marks the ministry. That's so very, very important. And so we must rejoice in the Lord. Let me place to you as well. Let's just go beyond myself personally here. When we rejoice in the Lord, we have the right focus. An absence of joy is often a result of looking at life and not the Lord. It's when we look at those things that cause us heaviness and sorrow, and they dominate our focus. We see all the things that cause us to feel down and despondent, and we stop looking at the Lord. We've lost our right focus. And then we lose our joy. If rejoicing is in the Lord, that must therefore be our dominant focus in our lives. That even when we consider those things that cause us sorrow, we look through the sorrow to the Lord. You can do that. How do you do that? Because you've got this thing that's causing you sorrow in front of your eyes, but you look through that and you see the Lord behind and above and beyond all of those things, and you see the goodness of God even in your sorrows, and you're still able to know joy. That's the focus that's right. It's also a faith that is right. You see, joy comes not just simply knowing the truth of the gospel, but knowing that in our very deepest recess of our souls, that we know that in our hearts, that the gospel, it dominates our thinking in such a way that yes, we know it, but we can say, I believe this. Nothing can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus. I believe that. I believe that when God gave his son, he will also give with him all things. I believe that. I believe that all things work together for good. Those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. We sang the words of Romans chapter eight for that reason, that the gospel, it thrills our souls. That's rejoicing the Lord. A right focus and a right faith. Such joy is vital for a healthy spiritual life. Vital for vigor and energy in the Lord's work. So Paul rejoices, yes. He desires this vitality in the Lord, but also in the work. In Acts 20, he refers, he's speaking to the elders in Ephesus, and he says to them, Acts 20, verse 24. He wants to rejoice in the work. He wants this spiritual vitality that he's coming to them with joy, personally in the Lord, also in the work. He wants that to be his experience. We get to do something angels don't. You get to preach the gospel to your fellow man. Want that joy in the work of God, that vigor and excitement in the Lord's work. Why is this for your good? What's he praying for? I want to come unto you with joy. What does that imply? It implies vitality, spiritual vigor. He's got a right focus, a right faith. He's on fire for God. Why is that for your good? You do not want a hypocrite in the pulpit. That's not for your good. You do not want someone preaching the gospel to you that does not believe the gospel. Not for your good. You don't want someone in the pulpit living a life ignoring the commands of God to rejoice in the Lord. You don't want that. You want the ministry marked by energy and vigor. You can set your own pace for your service to the Lord this year. You've got to do that personally. I'm asking you to pray that I would come to you with energy and vigor. By all my physical or spiritual abilities, I want you to pray for this. vitality in the Lord's work. There's another reason why this is for your good. The second word is integrity. Paul's desire to come to joy is not just referring to his own personal spiritual life. It's also referring to how he conducts himself in the ministry, his integrity in the ministry. Again, turn across to 2 Corinthians 1. Be very careful, I'm not making these things up just for convenience. These are things revealed by Paul himself and his ministry. 2 Corinthians, the opening chapters, they ring with this theme of joy in ministry. Joy in the people and joy in the apostle. He's referring to the afflictions and the troubles. And they're not ignorant. Verse number eight. We would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble. So much so the sense of death upon them, verse number nine. And so he's describing the troubles and the burdens of his ministry. Again, the Corinthians, they were suspecting Paul's integrity. They were going to false apostles and they had doubts regarding Paul's, even his very truthfulness. You say later on, verse number is 18, or word towards you was not yea and nay, they were doubting him. And so in verse number 12, he says this, for o'er rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world and more abundantly to you, Lord. Even Paul says, I want to come with joy, And you tie that alongside these words here in 2 Corinthians, you're seeing that he finds joy in a good conscience of ministering with integrity. He's not ministering as a charlatan. The word simplicity is actually used with regards to financial generosity and giving. He's referring to him ministering to them in simplicity with the idea that he is not worldly minded, not carnally minded. He's not in the ministry to make that fast buck and gain financial prosperity in this world. That's not what he's about. He's coming as one who's willing to spend and be spent. To give himself for the glory of God, for the people of God. That's what is for your good. Simplicity, godly sincerity. So that as he says, verse number 13, we write none other things unto you than what you read or acknowledge. He's describing the sincerity as ministry. Again, no pretense here. Sincere in the world and in the word in the church. It's for your good. I'm asking you to pray that I would come to joy with a clear conscience regarding my own personal integrity and ministry in the world and also in the church. Thirdly, as Paul prays that he would come unto them with joy, it is that his joy would be in their maturity, in the church's maturity. I'm gonna just very quickly go through some verses here and note with you how consistent this idea is of the minister or the pastors or the apostles joy being in the progress of the people of God. 2 Corinthians 2, you're there already. But I determined this with myself that I would not come unto you again. So I have not come again to you in heaviness. He doesn't want this to mark his ministry. He wants joy to mark his ministry. And he's going to deal with their discipline of an individual and the idea of restoration and recovery. and they need to hear and heed his exhortations and therefore he's seeing their maturity as they apply the word of God and that brings him joy. The principle. They hear the word, they respond to the word and therefore he rejoices. You've got also Philippians chapter 2. Turn across there. Philippians chapter 2 and the verse number 2. Paul says, fulfill ye my joy. That ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind. Again, he's grieved in his soul by the disruption in the church in Philippi. He gives instruction and he says, fulfill ye my joy. That my joy and delight will be as the word of God is taken in your souls and applied properly in your lives. The burden for maturity in the churches. 1 Thessalonians 2. Again a church in a healthier state in many ways so problems of course with the ideas of the second coming but 1st Thessalonians chapter 2 verse number 19. For what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ that is coming for ye are our glory and joy. He's referring to the end of the age, the return of Christ Jesus. And he's referring to the fact that he desires to find joy in the maturity and the perseverance of the saints there and doesn't like it. That's his burden. You've got it also over in chapter three in the verse number nine. The verse number nine. Joy. in the church's development. He sees many good things in the Thessalonian church, and yet he wants them to abound more and more. One last reference is 3 John. And so here right side, of course, in the writings of Paul, it gives again insight into this pattern of ministry. 3 John 4, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. You see, if I know something of the mind of the Lord, and if the Spirit of God works in my life, then my joy in this congregation is not going to be the pews filled with people living ungodly, carnal lives. It could easily come into a pastor's mind. Oh, I just want to see the place full. And there's a place for that. You want to see unconverted people coming and being saved. What you really want to see is the people of God growing and maturing in their Christian faith. A pastor longs to see fruit. That's the idea again, isn't it, in Hebrews chapter 13? We give an account, but we want to give an account with joy. And that sense of giving an account with joy is that we see fruitfulness in the ministry. Certainly conversions, we all desire to see conversions, but we long to see members in whom the Word of God is working. As I think through the sermons preached in the past year, we long to see signs of the Word of God impacting the hearts of the people of God. Signs of spiritual grace and maturity. love and grace towards each other. We've preached to Romans 12, 13, 14, and now 15, that all highlight the way that we deal with each other with tenderness and care and love, loving our neighbors ourselves. You want to see that sign of spiritual growth, that the word of God is not going in one ear and out the other, but by the spirit of God, it's really impacting the hearts of the people. That's what you want to see as a pastor. That's what gives joy. You want to see signs of a hungering for the word. a hungering for the place of prayer. That's what you want to see. Joy, in my heart, is seeing and beholding God working in your souls. Not through me, not by my power. I have no power. But that the Spirit of God applies the Word of God, and we see signs of development and growth among the people of God in maturity. Signs of consistency in godliness and service. People walking with God humbly and uprightly. So I'm asking you, please pray that I would come with joy. In those three areas, in terms of my own personal vitality, in terms of my integrity in how I minister the gospel in this place, but also in terms of your spiritual maturity. You're praying that I come with joy. And as you do so, I do assure you, by God's grace, I'll pray for your peace. Back to Romans 15, verse number 33. May the God of peace be with you all. Amen. I'm gonna use the same three words. Different senses, but if you look at your bulletin and you see your repetition, that's not an error, that's deliberate. Vitality, integrity, and maturity. You see, a desire for them to know peace. And again, I remind you, this prayer, now that God of peace be with you, is a desire that they be marked by the grace of peace. Spiritual health. The idea of peace here is drawn from the Jewish greeting shalom. It's a desire that God would bless by his presence with wholeness or wellness. You get some of these venues now that offer holistic care, wellness centers. And the idea of a wellness center is that they will help you physically, emotionally, spiritually. There'll be no gospel necessarily, but it's an idea of wellness and wholeness. Well, that's the word shalom, but with God's grace involved in it. This idea of completeness, spiritual vitality in a complete sense, is not so much a prayer for peace as in unity, that's elsewhere. It's not so much a prayer for peace as in the enmity with God removed, that's also elsewhere. It's a prayer for believers to be marked by spiritual wellness. If you are marked by peace, you are spiritually healthy. And the abs of peace is a mark of spiritual illness. That's the idea involved here. You see, what is this peace again? Again, of course, by the gospel we're brought into peace with God. That's our justification and our reconciliation. This is the peace of God. And I remind you of what we study in John 14. Where Christ says, peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth giving unto you, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. So the absence of peace is a heart that is troubled and that is afraid. And a troubled heart and a fearful heart is a heart that's not marked by faith in the goodness and the faithfulness of God. We are told to fear not for I am with you. And therefore, if our hearts are marked by fear and trouble, thus the absence of peace, it's an indication that we're not well spiritually. You may be upright and doing all manner of good things, but if your heart is all in turmoil, you've got some spiritual problems. And I tell you that having self-diagnosed this, several times in my life of ministry. When my heart is troubled and I'm marked by fear, I'm not in the right place with the Lord. It's a serious thing not to know this peace. The same, of course, is implied by Paul in Philippians chapter four, be careful for nothing. That overwhelming thoughtfulness of anxiety Then to pray over those things with the promise that peace of God will keep your hearts and minds. That certainly implies that this peace is not automatic. It comes in degrees. There are times when we'll know more of this and less of this. But when our hearts are overwhelmed with troubles and we lack this peace, again, it's a thermometer of our spiritual well-being. We're not what we ought to be. You see the peace of God, the God of peace, verse number 33, is a God who's marked by supreme tranquility and calmness. Nothing terrifies God, nothing alarms God. God's heart is never ever troubled. He's always at peace. And so a prayer for the God of peace to be with you is to have the God of peace in you. and therefore work in you and grant you this spiritual experience of peace, a resting in God, an assurance that though you do not know your future, God does, an assurance that God is able to keep you. Paul's prayer here is this wholeness, this spiritual vitality. Things enter into our lives and test us, they will do also in 2025, I guarantee you. You just don't know what tomorrow's gonna bring. Things come out of nowhere. Can God handle your troubles in 2025? If your answer is, I'm not so sure, you don't know this piece. If your answer is, I hope so, you don't know this piece. This is very harsh. I'm not being harsh. I said to you, all right, these things come in degrees. There are strengths and weaknesses in a Christian life, but calling a spade a spade, as we'd say back home, I'm telling you, if you cannot trust God for your future, you don't have this piece. So it may be the case you say, well, I have it in part, but I want more. Praise the Lord for that, ask for more. Can you trust God in your troubles next year? So he's praying for their spiritual vitality. We should desire this for ourselves and for others. Peace. It's also a prayer though, for their integrity. Now the God of peace be with you all is an implied prayer for the integrity of the people of God there. Please give yourself a shake, follow with me here in terms of the reasoning here. Peace is revealed to us in the word of God as one of the nine fold aspects of the fruit of the spirit of God. It is the spirit of God that works in us, producing love, joy, peace. And thus, this prayer is a prayer that implies the people of God would live in a way that will not grieve the Spirit of God. Turn across to Galatians 5, of course, where this reference to the fruit of the Spirit comes from. Galatians 5, 22, is again, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace. Paul's burden that the God of peace with them It's really a burden that they'd be marked with an increasing measure of the Spirit's work in their lives, producing this fruitfulness of peace. But note the context. Verse 16, this I say then, walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Verse 25, if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. And so the point is very, very clear. Those who know the presence of the God of peace, who are therefore themselves marked by peace, are also marked by sincerity and integrity in their Christian conduct. And so you see, the flesh lost against the spirit. And the works of the spirit are there. Verse 19, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, disloyalness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, revelings. When I'm praying for you to know the God of peace, I'm praying that you won't grieve the spirit with these things. It's not consistent. To say you know peace and yet delight in all this wickedness, wickedness of attitude and action. You cannot know the fruit of the Spirit in your life to peace and live in a manner of carnality. You don't come together. So as I pray this prayer for you, and I'll pray for myself, that the God of peace with me, I'm really praying that we're marked by this spiritual integrity in actions and attitudes. A false peace can be contrived, but this true spiritual peace that delights in the will of God is a peace that we mark by general integrity of conduct, putting to death the deeds of the body. and putting on Christ integrity. Thirdly and finally, this prayer for the God of peace is a prayer for maturity. He's praying for believers here. As I said, he's heard much about this church in Rome and he acknowledges them. He expects to come to them and be refreshed in their presence. He expects to be filled with their company. He expects to go there and be encouraged and edified. He sees them as those who are full of goodness. They're full of knowledge. And yet he still prays for this grace, a mark of increasing maturity. And here's where I trust the BAM will come after the rebuke and the exhortation. Life is tough. It brings things into our experience that we don't anticipate. And our futures are often unknown. But a measure of our Christian maturity is in the ability to still know peace in the midst of our storms. God deals with every believer differently. But one thing I've certainly seen, and I believe it's true, in general, God allows us to be tested with increasingly severe storms. It's unusual for the first test of our faith to be the worst test. I'm not saying never, but in general terms, the Lord trains us in dealing with the trials in our lives. And each storm that comes is an opportunity for us to prove the grace of God and to know peace even in the worst of storms. That's what God does. And we grow in maturity as he gives us more and more of the Spirit of God in our lives. That's why I say this prayer for peace is the same as the prayer for joy. It's going to mark vitality in your lives, integrity, but also increasing maturity. Paul is writing here under inspiration. He's writing to those who've been justified freely by his grace. to those who've been sanctified by the Spirit of God, to those who are wrestling with remaining sin and indwelling sin. They're those who want to know more and more of God's glory and He prays for them. He sees the importance in their lives of the ministry of the Word and the health of those who pastor their souls. He also sees their need to continue to trust in God. Just because you're justified doesn't mean you don't need the God of peace with you today. So we praise, and we must pray for each other. This church will go forward to glorify God, it must be in the spirit of prayer for each other, that Christ be glorified in our lives. Let's bow together in prayer. Eternal God and Father, we thank you that you've given us insight into the heart of a spiritual man, a man of God. I pray, O God, that as we learn from the apostle here today, that we would take these lessons upon our hearts, that we would know, O God, the solemnity and the importance of them. And you'd help us, O God, to pray for each other. Pray for joy and ministry. Pray for renewed joy, for renewed zeal and vigor. Pray for the elders here. I pray you grant them grace, O God, also to oversee the flock of God with joy and not with grief. Pray for every member. O God, may we all know your presence as the God of patience, consolation, and here today as the God of peace. Be with us, O Lord, and work these things out in our lives. we pray in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen.