This morning we'll be looking at two different passages of Scripture. We'll be reading first from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 19, and we'll be reading also from Romans 1. So I'd invite you to turn first of all to Matthew 19, page 1047, and then secondly to Romans chapter 1. And we'll be looking at these passages together as we continue to work through, you might say, our series on marriage and family that the elders have asked me to do over the next few weeks, Lord willing. As I mentioned last week, we also intend today on looking more specifically, you might say, at two of the issues that we're being confronted with more in our culture, that of transgenderism and homosexuality. I should be clear, that's not our normal practice. We're not trying to single out two kinds of sinners or two kinds of sins. But the elders have asked me to do this because It's unavoidable in our world today. It confronts us wherever we go. And our children are being exposed to it all around. And our culture is pushing it upon us more and more. And so it is necessary for us, as God's people, to understand what His Word says, and what we are therefore to believe and stand for. And that's our intention here this morning. What does God's Word teach? And what are we then to believe and stand for? So again, reading first of all from Matthew 19, starting at verse 1. Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, He went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. And large crowds followed Him, and He healed them there. And Pharisees came up to Him and tested Him by asking, Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause? He answered, have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female? And said, therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. They said to him, why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away? He said to them, because of your hardness of heart, Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery. The disciples said to him, if such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry. But he said to them, not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been made so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. But the one who is able to receive this, receive it." Then we turn next to Romans 1. We'll start reading at verse 16. Romans 1 starting at verse 16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him. But they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature. And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them, but give approval to those who practice them. In a sense, they're reading from God's Word here this morning. Congregation, our Lord Jesus Christ, one of the things that has really impressed itself upon me as I have been reading about and studying what the Bible has to teach us about marriage and family, is just how absolutely foundational and fundamental the book of Genesis is. Particularly the first few chapters of that book. I don't think you can really emphasize it strongly enough. When it comes to our modern day debates about gender, marriage, sexuality, abortion, and so on, it all comes back to Genesis. It all comes back to those first opening chapters where we read about God's creation of the world. And I think that tells us very clearly that as parents, as a church, one thing in our day and age that we must be absolutely certain to be clear on and to impress upon our children, therefore, are those opening chapters of Genesis. And I would argue that Jesus confirms that very idea. In Matthew 19, some of the Pharisees set out to test Jesus by asking Him about divorce. And the interesting thing Jesus does in answering their question about divorce is He takes them back to Genesis chapter 2. And when the Pharisees bring up the Law of Moses and ask why Moses said this and allowed that, Jesus makes very clear that Moses has to be understood against the backdrop of Genesis 2. Namely, it's only because of sin and the hardness of human hearts that divorce was ever permitted, but as Jesus says, from the beginning it was not so. In other words, what Jesus is telling the Pharisees is, you're starting in the wrong place. You're running to Moses and you're simply focusing what Moses says, and you should rather go to the beginning. You need to go back to Genesis. You need to understand what God's plan was, what God's intention was, and only when you grasp the real significance of what those chapters teach can you then begin to understand Moses. What must come first, what has to come first, what must take priority are those opening chapters of Genesis. And Jesus is saying, if you don't start there, you will make a mess of the rest of the Bible. That's so instructive for us, as I think you might imagine, when it comes to the matters we're considering this morning. Because Genesis reveals that we live in a God-defined world. We live in a world where identity, where marriage, where gender, where life and human sexuality have been created by God and are therefore determined and defined by God and not by ourselves. And you see, this is why the church and our culture are on an ever more increasing pathway of war and fighting and division. Because the world is on a path of defining all life according to self. Whereas the church, at least it's supposed to be on a path of living life as defined by God. And so we're butting heads and we'll continue to butt heads ever more because we are on those opposite tracks. A world defining life by itself versus the church which defines life according to its Creator. And you see, what's the inevitable result of rejecting a world defined by God is disorderly conduct. When we reject a world that is defined by and determined by God, the end result is we are consumed by disorderly conduct. And that's what we are looking at here this morning. And as we look at this together, we want to first consider an identity for the disordered, secondly, desire for the disordered, and then third, a place for the disordered. So we want to look at the identity, desire, and place for the disordered. Well, as I mentioned last week, one of the cultural issues we were hoping to address in our time together would be that of transgenderism. And while we might not think that this is really an issue we face, I would remind you that we have dealt with this already within our own congregation. And there have been roughly three cases within our very classes, Classes Michigan, where they have had to consider and engage with this sort of issue. This is here, brothers and sisters. This is here. It's already making its influence upon the church. It's being pushed on us ever more strongly. The threat is growing, and we cannot afford to be silent, and we cannot afford either, I would submit to you, to hide these things much longer from our children, but we need to teach them, to instruct them, and give them the training that they need. And that means, of course, that it is more important than ever before to have minds and hearts that are formed by God's Word. And as we consider this issue then, we want to carefully consider what Jesus teaches us in Matthew 19. Now, it might seem odd to turn to a passage that deals with divorce and marriage, but as I pointed out a moment ago, as Jesus engages that issue, he grounds his teaching in creation. in God's original plan and intention. And as Jesus does that, he makes some very important points. You might even say, in a certain regard, assumptions, or gives expression to a certain set of convictions that then speak to this transgender issue. In verse four, Jesus declares, have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said, therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. In other words, when Jesus has to speak about humanity, when Jesus addresses who we are as human beings, he takes us right back to Genesis 1 verse 27. And Jesus' conviction that comes out here in his words is that there are only two genders. There are only males and females. Jesus teaches us that this is the way it has been from the very beginning. That from the very beginning, God created males and females. Period. The end. That's it. You were either male or female. And Jesus also goes on to say that the way we've been created has implications for our life going on ever since. So contrary to what many will argue today, male and female are not opposite ends on a spectrum containing 100 or more odd other designations in between. But no, gender, human gender, human sex, is binary. You are either male or female. From the beginning, says Jesus, that is the way it has been. God created us, male and female. And furthermore, again, our being made, male or female, not only determines our gender, but it also determines the gender roles we are there for to take up. Notice Jesus makes that switch there. God makes us male and female, and therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife. One who is born a male becomes a man, and Lord willing, if it should happen, he takes a wife, holding fast to her. Although Jesus addresses divorce specifically, he is still teaching us that God makes us male or female, and the expectation is that we will honor who God has made us to be as male or female, and embrace a life consistent with that gender. If God makes you male, the expectation is you live like a male, that you are the one who leaves and who cleaves. That if God makes you female, you embrace your identity as a female, you live as a female, and you are one taken-to-be wife. Now for some that may seem a bit of a stretch when you're looking at Jesus' words here engaging divorce, but we would do well to take note of what God says elsewhere in His Word. Consider for a moment Deuteronomy 22 verse 5. Deuteronomy 22 verse 5 says, A woman shall not wear a man's garment, nor shall a man put on a woman's cloak. For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God. The Bible condemns those who would blur the distinction between males and females. The Bible condemns all those who would blur the distinction that God put within nature, that God put within mankind between male and female. In fact, that sort of blurring of the sexes is put on the same level as homosexuality. It is an abomination, says God. It is abominable when a man acts like, dresses like, seeks to be a woman, and vice versa. And before anyone would try to argue that's just the Old Testament, that's not the New Testament, we can sort of do away with that. Well, you should realize that Paul makes something of the same argument in 1 Corinthians 11. I didn't read it with you, but if you look at 1 Corinthians 11, it's that very debated text where Paul talks about how a man should not have a covered head and a woman should have a covered head and so forth. And there are a lot of arguments as to how to take that passage, but one thing that's very clear if you read it, very clear, regardless of all the other questions, what's very clear is that Paul teaches there is and there should be a distinction between the sexes. A man should not be dressed like or seem to act like a woman, and a woman should not be trying to dress like nor act like a man. Paul says there should be a difference, an obvious difference. Why? Because he says it's contrary to nature. In other words, it's a rejection of what God created, what God originally intended things to be, how God intended them to go, how God intended us to function and to live. God intended that we are born, we are male or female, and that our life therefrom is determined by our biology, by the gender we're born with, so that we live as a man if we are born a male, and we live as a woman if we are born as female. And so, in summary, even as Jesus teaches us from Matthew 19, God created mankind, male and female. Our gender is determined by our biological sex, not by our own personal self-identification. And faithfulness to the Scriptures requires us to accept our gender, to accept the gender our bodies that we're born with and the role the Bible then gives to that gender. I want to take a moment as well to address one of the questions Christians sometimes have and struggle with when it comes to this issue. Is it possible to be a man trapped in a woman's body? Is it possible to be in the wrong body? Christians are sometimes tempted to think that and to believe that because the Bible does teach we are made up of a body and soul. But yet what we need to understand is that within the Bible, It's very clear that biological processes aren't just a function of the body, and our mental functions, our mental activity isn't simply the product of our soul. Instead, the Bible views us as a unity. The Bible views man as a unity, as a souled body, as a bodily soul, so that all our actions, all our capacities, all our functions are a function of us as human beings as a whole. You can't say, well, that's just my body or that's just my soul. No, you, the whole of you is behind your activities and functions. In that way, the Bible gives no grounds whatsoever for driving a wedge between our body and soul. The Bible gives no grounds to divorcing your body from your soul as if you could be the soul in the wrong body. In fact, those who hold to that kind of idea are falling into a heresy that's known as Gnosticism, that was around even within the age of the apostles. Gnosticism teaches that your soul is the real you. Your soul is your real you, and your body is this lesser thing. You see, it's Gnosticism which says, well, the soul is the real me, and my body is something else, and so my body could be contrary even to the soul that I possess. And the Bible does not teach that, does not allow that. The body is the body of the soul. The soul is the soul of the body. And so even when it comes to a resurrection, what do we say? What does the Bible teach about a resurrection? This body is the one raised in the Lord Jesus Christ. This body perfected and made new. The Bible actually calls us to accept God's gift of our body as the real us. Of course, our bodies come with problems. It comes with many weaknesses and challenges, but there is that sense in which the Bible calls us to accept our biology, our body, the way God has made us. But what does that mean? It means that we don't get to determine our own identity. We don't get to decide who we are, much less how we are to live. Rather, God defines who we are and God determines how we are to live. And our mark of maturity, you might say, as men or women, as male or female, is to accept that and to live then within those parameters that God has placed before us. What then about those who struggle with genuine feelings of dysphoria? What about those who genuinely struggle with their identity, who have this, you might say, feeling of being in the wrong kind of body? Well, the answer is, of course, to point them to Christ. The beauty of the gospel of Christ is that in Him we have a new identity, not one crafted by ourselves, but one crafted for us by God. In Christ, we're given an identity where we are loved, where we are valued, where we, by His grace, become who He calls us to be. You see, this struggle to define ourselves, which we see with transgender, but which all of us have in our own way, we all struggle with finding our own identity. Every child has that. They go through their life, they grow up, and they get into fights with their parents. Why? Part of the reason they get into fights with their parents is they're trying to figure out their own identity. Who are they? And the Bible says what we have to do with that struggle for identity is to turn it over to Jesus. To turn that struggle for our own identity over to Christ so that we find our identity in Him. Because only in Christ can we be made complete. Only in Christ can we find peace. Because only in Christ can we find rest. Because only in Christ do we ever become who God has intended us to be. And so in our disorder, we are called to find our identity in Jesus. And the second thing we're called to find as well in Jesus is the satisfaction of our desires. That's where we want to turn next. The desire of the disordered. And in that sense, consider for a moment the matter of homosexuality. And to start, we need to look again at Matthew 19, what Jesus says there. Because not only does Jesus have this conviction He gives expression to of how God has made us male and female, but Jesus also teaches us that marriage is the binding of one man and one woman. A man leaves his father and mother, and he holds fast to his wife. And Jesus is saying, God has defined marriage. God has determined what marriage is. And marriage is one man and one woman coming together. True marriage is just that. That's the only kind of marriage there is. The union of a man and woman within that sacred institution. Remember as well what we've seen from Genesis, that the way God intended us to fulfill this mandate to fill the earth, to subdue it, and have dominion over it, God's whole intention in having us fulfill that mandate is by having men and women partner together. When it comes to that very purpose for which God made us, to glorify Him by filling the earth and subduing it and having dominion over it, God's whole intention was men and women linking together, working together towards that very end. In fact, one thing Paul teaches as well in 1 Corinthians 11 is man is not independent of woman and woman is not independent of man. There is no woman who can say, I don't need men. And there are no men who can say, I don't need women. Why? Because God has designed and intended our world to function by having men and women partner together. And therefore, when it comes as well to marriage, it is to be that binding of men and women together, jointly cooperating in the task that God has laid before them. So something like homosexuality clearly denies God's original intention for marriage and the marital union. As we turn to Romans 1, we also see something else. That homosexuality is an example of disordered, unnatural desire. In looking at the fallen world, Paul reveals that man has rejected God and His truth. Rather than acknowledge that God is the Creator, rather than worship Him as the only God, man has instead turned away from Him, made his own gods, and worships that which his own hands have made. He worships and serves the creature rather than the Creator. Instead of acknowledging the truth, man suppresses it. He fights against the truth. He denies the truth. And what is the result? What is the result of suppressing the truth, fighting against God's truth, rejecting God? Paul tells us in verse 24, Notice, a rejection of God as Creator, a rejection of God as Creator, a rejection of His truth leads to a disordered life, ends up with a disordered life, with a false understanding of what it means to be human and how we are to live as humans. And what that tells us is that the proliferation of and support for homosexuality in the culture all around us is the consequence. What we're seeing is we're seeing the consequence of our culture's rejection of God. The wide support for this, the wide promotion of this is nothing less than the evidence of just how far our culture has gone in its rejection of God. In a certain respect, this is the one sin that shows just how far we have fallen from honoring God and His Word of Truth. It's also interesting to note in this regard is how Paul in verses 26 and 27 speak of men and women and what is natural. The very terms Paul uses to speak of men and women are the exact same terms you find in Genesis 1 verse 27. In other words, Paul is highlighting the distinctiveness between male and female as God created them. in order to make absolutely clear that the union of anyone other than male and female together is contrary to nature, contrary to what God created in the beginning. Again, here, Paul is dealing with what is contra-creation, what is against God's plan and intention in forming men and women. Again, just to highlight, once again, how important the opening chapters of Genesis are. When He's dealing with this sin, look at Genesis. When Jesus is dealing with that sin, look at Genesis. Genesis has so much to teach us about who we are and how we're supposed to live. That is where we need to begin. There's one other point that we need to see here from Paul, and that is not only that Paul condemns the act, of homosexuality, he also condemns the desire. God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Men were consumed with passion for one another. You see, this reveals that the problem is not just the act, but it goes all the way back to our desires. And it proves that the fall really has affected every part of us. As a result of the fall, even our desires have become disordered. By nature, our desires are directed in God-rejecting, God-denying ways. And given, therefore, the kind of support you find or are seeing in many churches for this sort of sin, let's be very clear. The Bible gives no legitimacy whatsoever to any kind or form of homosexual activity or desire. There is no legitimacy, according to the Scriptures, for any kind of that activity or desire. It is unequivocally condemned. It is not God-glorifying. It is not an activity a genuine Christian can engage in, or much less live in. Instead, they are activities and desires that must be crucified. There is no such thing as a gay Christian. Any more than there is such a thing as a thieving Christian, murderous Christian, idolatrous Christian, or adulterous Christian. They do not exist. They do not exist. What needs to be understood is their need for Christ. And that in Christ these things are put away. They're crucified. They're to be destroyed. That those who are tempted by such things, those who have within them these sorts of desires, are to turn away from them and towards Christ. You know, so often we talk about believing in Jesus. And that's for a very good reason, because only through faith in Christ are we ever saved. So don't take me as denying that, but what I'm saying is we also need to understand that we should have a desire for Jesus. Not just believe in Jesus Christ. Yes, that. But desire Jesus. Love Jesus. Hunger and thirst for Jesus. And that's what we need to tell our world too. Desire Christ. We should all have a desire for Jesus. Remember what Jesus himself says in the Beatitudes, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. What he's saying is blessed are those who hunger and thirst for the righteousness, the holiness, the glory that I alone can give. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for me. We are to desire Christ. to turn away from our sinful desires, to renounce them and replace it with a desire for Jesus and all that He can give. See, no matter what kind of desire you may be talking about, no matter what kind of desire, desire that you all feel, sinful desires, no matter what kind of desire you're talking about, all our desire is to be directed to Jesus. that our sinful desires may be put to death and God-glorifying desire put on in its place. If we really desire Jesus, we will wage war against adulterous, angry, and unnatural lusts. If we really desire Jesus, we will not seek fulfillment in gratifying sinful pleasures, but we will instead seek fulfillment by finding pleasure in Jesus. And that's exactly it. What we are all called to do. Because the reality is, no matter how much you try to satisfy your sinful desires, it never ends. You know, the alcoholic always needs another drink, don't they? Maybe not tonight, but tomorrow, and then again, and then again, and then again. Proverbs tells us that the leech has two daughters, give and give. Because when we pursue sinful desire, it is never ever satisfied. It wants more, it wants to go further, it wants to go deeper, it wants to go further and further and further in sin. It's never enough. But when you come to Christ, that those sinful desires die, they shrivel up and they die, and in their place begins to spring up this desire for Christ, and the beauty is that when you bring your desire to Christ, you find satisfaction. That ceaseless quest for more is actually brought to an end because you have Christ in whom there is fullness of blessing. Not that we don't still struggle with sinful desires, no. But we do find a satisfaction that destroys the cravings of our sinful hearts. And that's what we call ourselves and the world to pursue desire for Jesus. And what that should say to all of us here this morning, I think, is that the church is to be the place for the disordered. Alongside of these discussions, Christians often wonder, what should our response be? How are we to treat the transgender and the homosexual? And the answer very simply is, in one sense, you treat them the same as you treat any other sinner, because all of our lives are disordered. Their lives may be disordered this way, but all our lives are disordered. We all have our own disordered desires. We have all our own disordered attempts to define ourselves. And we are to treat them the same way we treat all of us. We treat them with dignity and respect. As those who have been created in the image of God. We don't mock them. We don't spit at them. We don't treat them like garbage. We treat them with compassion as humans in need of the Gospel. As sinners in need of the Gospel. And that of course means that we do and always must call them unto repentance. And there can be no compromise here, no compromise. It doesn't matter what the world says, no compromise on the part of the church ever in this regard. No compromise in calling them to repentance, just as there's no compromise in calling you to repentance. We must urge them, yes, with all wisdom and compassion, but urge them to turn away from their sins to Christ in faith. The Bible is very clear. The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. That doesn't mean the imperfect will not inherit the kingdom of God. No. It refers to those who live in their sins, who continue to cling to their sins, those who treasure their sins more than Christ. Those kinds of people will not inherit the kingdom of God. So we call them to repent, to turn away from, to reject those desires, to reject that desire to define your own identity. We call them as a church to repent. while treating them with compassions, understanding that they are disordered just as we are disordered by human sin. But in saying that, I'd like to end our time together by challenging us, by challenging us for the very same scripture we read as our assurance of pardon this morning, that wondrous passage which declared, and such were some of you. Do you know what that means? It means the church, yes, Christ's church, Jesus' church, has within her Those who lived in homosexuality. Those who lived a transgender lifestyle. Who lived as thieves and drunks. Who were idolaters and adulterers. And those who struggled with those sins time and time again. Paul writes to the church and he says, such were some of you. And I say I'd like to challenge us with that because it does press upon us that this church too, this church, is to be a place for the disordered. This is to be a place for people who have struggled with and do struggle with every kind of sinful disorder, be it transgender or homosexuality or anything else in between. This is to be the place where they can find grace, the place where they can experience healing, the place where the sins of the past no longer define them, but only their new identity in Christ. And I say challenge because could our church be that kind of church? Could we be that kind of church where we could welcome and enfold a repentant homosexual? Could we be that kind of church which is able to unfold and welcome a repentance transgender individual? Sometimes I wonder if part of the reason why we're not more aggressive in our evangelism is because we are worried about the kinds of people that will end up in our church. Shame on me for ever thinking that. And shame on any of us if that is how we think. if our first concern is what kind of sinners might end up in our church. Because our first concern is to be the redemption of lost sinners in Jesus Christ. The grace of God. The grace of God which has appeared bringing salvation for all people. which trains us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is the place for the disordered to find grace and salvation. You should know because you're here. because you're here to find life and healing and hope in the gospel. And it should be our prayer that all sinners of whatever kind should find here a place for healing and hope and life in the gospel. There is grace for us all in the fountain of Christ's blood, grace to cleanse us of all our sins. So let us be that place where all the disordered, which includes you and me, where all the disordered may find the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that being saved from our sins, we may walk with Him in the newness of life, always to the praise, honor, and glory of Christ our Savior. Amen. Let's pray. O Lord, our Heavenly Father, as we come before You this day, we, Lord, we confess the disordering of our own lives, the sinfulness that continues to drive each and every one of us. And Lord, we as well see the great disorder of our culture and our nation. And these are matters that grieve us deeply. But Father, we see in it the brokenness. We see the great pain and hurt that so many experience in this life. And the foolishness as they try to answer that hurt and that pain for themselves. by creating an identity of their own, or by plunging themselves headlong further and further deeper and deeper into sin. Lord, we pray that Christ might be known. We pray that Christ might bring liberation to us and to the world. We pray, Father, that you would, on the one hand, help us to remain strong and steadfast in your word, that we would not compromise on declaring the truth you have taught, the truth that you have ingrained within our very being, the truth of how you made us and formed us and how you call us then to live as men and women. At the same time, Father, may we have that heart of compassion that would call sinners who reject that truth, to call sinners unto repentance and faith in Christ, that they may know His life and His healing. And Father, may we be then as well a church, a church of Christ Jesus where lost sinners may find grace, mercy, and life in the Lord Jesus Christ as they walk in repentance and faith. O Lord our God, give us a heart for the lost that we would not condemn them or revile them, but in mercy and in humility reach out that they may join us in the wonders of your salvation. So bless this word to our hearts, Father, and may we never cease to forget that each and every one of us lives only by your grace. Through Jesus Christ, your son, in his name we pray, amen.