Here we are again. It's the Lord's Day. We're gathered back together today and there are many good reasons that we're here today. But we are here especially today because the Lord's Day is Resurrection Day. It is the first day of the week. It is what we at every week begin to honor God about as we gather together as the people of God. You know Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all four Gospels, present the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And in a magnificent summary in Revelation 1, verse 18, the Lord Jesus said concerning his resurrection, I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. You know the gospels in the book of Acts? Record for us twelve appearances that we know of from those records of the Lord Jesus Christ after He was resurrected before 512 eyewitnesses before His ascension into heaven. Just as Luke wrote in Acts chapter 1, verse 3, when he said, to whom also He showed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen for 40 days and speaking of things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And as Revelation 118 says, in the words of Jesus, I am he that liveth and was dead, but am alive forevermore. We had traveled about two hours by train out into the countryside in Ukraine to a small little farm village, went into the farmyard of a house there, and there were rough-hewn benches set up for a gathering of Christians, but more important, for a gathering of the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And as the Christians began to play on their musical instruments, people began to gather in from that village. I could see them walking up the main street and filing in, and I turned to one of the brothers there. I said, are these all believers in this? Oh, no, these are not believers. These are not Christians. They gathered in. They filled the benches. The believers quoted poetry. They sang hymns. They played musical instruments. They quoted more poetry. And then the first preacher got up. This is the way they do it. He preached for about 15 minutes. And he got done. They did more hymns, more singing, more instrumental music, another poem. The second preacher got up and preached for 15 minutes. And they again did what I just described. And then it was my turn. And so I preached my sermon for 15 minutes. And that was the miracle of the day, that I preached that sermon for 15 minutes. And you're all saying amen. I got finished preaching and just as I got finished preaching, a whole other group of people began to file in to that farmyard and stand behind the last the set of benches, there was no place to sit. And I turned to the young man who was interpreting for me, and I said, should I preach another sermon? And that felt very good to ask that. And he said, oh yes, go ahead, preach another message. So I turned to the parable of the sowers, and I preached the gospel of Jesus Christ, and from the back of those benches came a tall guy, full white hair, a young guy, prematurely white haired, gray haired. He literally, well over six feet, well over 200 pounds, came and literally fell on his knees about three feet in front of me, lifted his hands and looked up to heaven and began praying in Ukrainian. And I had not a clue what he was saying, but I had an idea something powerful was occurring. And I turned to the young man who was interpreting and asked him, what's he saying? He's calling on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. I am he that liveth. I was dead, but I am alive forevermore." Here we are, in a village, out into the country, in Ukraine, an American preacher, can't even speak the language, never been there before, nobody knows me. But Christians knew that young man. Christians brought him from another village. Christians had been witnessing to him for over a year. and the living Jesus Christ made him a new man that day in that hour. I was really very reluctant to go to Camp Patmos on Kelly's Island in the middle of Lake Erie. My mother had become a believer And I'm telling you, my mom was a fervent believer, is a fervent believer to this day. And I mean, she never let up on me. I mean, she made me sit down. We were from the north. She made me sit down and listen to her, Oliver B. Green on the radio. Y'all know who I'm talking about? Okay. And I mean, she just, my mother prayed for me and prayed for me. I estimate I heard about 900 sermons. From the time I was 12 years old until I was 17 years old, I'd gotten sick. I was recovering pretty much over my illness. It was a multi-week thing, and I consented to go to this Christian camp reluctantly. And on the second night there, in the middle of a revival of Christian young people who were praying and crying out to God for their families, their brothers, their sisters, their parents. These were relatively newly converted young people who'd been saved through a ministry in public schools there in the city where I lived in the north. And they're praying and seeking God. And this hard-hearted rebel had the light of the face of the glory of God shine into my heart. And the darkness was dispelled. And he that liveth and was dead and is alive of more, forevermore, transformed me in an instant. He not only saved me, men and women, he called me to the ministry at that moment. That was 46 years ago. I stand a believer. I believe. I believe in the living Jesus Christ, He who is alive forevermore. And I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me in the life that I now live. I live by the faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. He is alive as a validation. a divine validation of his saving work on the cross. He is alive as proof that he is God. He is alive as the great assurance to us of his grace and strength to empower us to do the good works which God has foreordained that we should do as his workmanship in Christ Jesus. Behold, Jesus said, I am alive forevermore, amen. Now how does that matter for you today? What way does it matter for you that he is alive forevermore for you? My brother read the passage in Revelation chapter one, verses nine through 20, and I invite you to open the scriptures and turn your attention to this. It's where this passage is that I've quoted numerous times already. But this passage from nine to 20 in Revelation chapter one unfolds for us how this mattered for John. And it unfolds for us how The fact that He is alive forevermore matters for us. He is alive forevermore and it matters for those that are in trouble in the will of God. There's a beautiful statement in Psalm 46 verse 1 where the psalmist says, God is our refuge and our strength. a very present help in trouble. And there's a really interesting translation of this from Hebrew. It goes this way. God is our refuge and strength, an abundantly available help in tight places. That's actually what this means. You see, good people Good people get into tight places. They get into trouble, don't they? In the will of God. Verse nine says, concerning John, who was a brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. In what way was John in a tight place? Well, he was on this place called Patmos. He was on this 13 square mile rock that was sitting out in the middle of the Aegean Sea, about 40 miles from the coast, 10 miles long, five miles wide, barren, rocky, a Roman penal community where there were marble mines. And there he was, sometime near the end of the first century, put there for his life. He was an old man. He had been exiled there. Hard things. Lonely, no doubt feeling useless, no doubt to some extent feeling very limited, but he was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. And why was he in trouble as he was there in the Spirit on the Lord's Day? Why was he in this tight place? He was in the tight place for the kingdom. He was committed to it. He was advancing it. He was in the tight place. Because of his patience, the text of scripture says, he'd endured in it. He had not renounced the Lord Jesus Christ in spite of the persecution that has come his way. He was there in that tight place for the word of God. He believed it, he practiced it, he proclaimed it. He was in that tight place for his testimony. a personal witness for Jesus Christ. And so you're in a tight place with time pressure, with money pressure, with spiritual pressure, with family pressure. You're not in an unusual place. And you're in these places, in the will of God, as a Christian. Jesus says, if you let your eyes go down the passage to verse 17, the latter part of the verse, right here in the section that we're looking at, notice it, would you please. He says, do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. He's saying, I was with you at the start of this. I'll be with you at the end of this. Do not collapse. I'll bring you through." Men and women, He is present. He is paying attention to you. He is the great promise giver. He is the powerful one. And He is poised to help in response to the cry of faith, in response to your personal Very real desperation. You know, the Lord Jesus is alive forevermore for those that are in a tight place, a troubled spot in the will of God, for good churches who get in a tight place in the will of God. Look again, would you please at verse 11? The Bible says, and I am the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. And what you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. These are seven churches in the area of Asia Minor, modern day Turkey. And these are churches that were established either directly by Paul or indirectly as a result of his missionary activities. and they are representative of the body of Christ, the church today, in every era and today, the characteristics and qualities of these churches. And when you look at chapter 2 and chapter 3, what you find is something really fascinating. seven letters, one to each of these seven churches, each of them commending, either containing commendations or condemnations for things that were going on in these churches. In most of the cases, the letters contain both, commendations and condemnations. In these commendations, you find the Lord Jesus praising them for their faithfulness in the proclamation of the gospel and the work of the gospel. You see him praising them for their faithfulness and endurance in the midst of intense persecution, for maintaining purity in the midst of terrible corruption in the first century, which was the Roman culture, the Roman society. But you also find the Lord Jesus uttering words of condemnation, correction for doctrinal infidelity, for following wrong leadership at times, for misplaced priorities in these churches, for spiritual lukewarmness. And you come away and say, well, there are no perfect churches because there are no perfect people. and imperfect people make up churches. And Jesus not only sent these letters to the churches, but at the conclusion of every letter, he says what? To you who have ears to hear, let him hear, let her hear. He makes this a very personalized application for the individual believer as well as for bodies of believers. Bodies of believers, churches should always be islands of hope. They should be light places in darkness. They should be a place of calm in the raging storms of life. And many, like Calvary, are those kinds of churches. They're dynamic. They're prospering. And that's not without a price because Calvary, like every church and all churches, are in the midst of the reality of the world, which is not cooperative. In fact, stands in opposition in its laws, in its attitudes, in its cultural mores to who we are and what we are. The reality of Satan himself who seeks to defame, diminish our testimony. The reality of people. non-Christian people, but Christian people, believers, who struggle with the flesh and fail and can be disagreeable. You know, for years as I was teaching classes in the university in Bible theology, I would ask my classes, virtually every class, I did this for almost a quarter of a century. Man, that sounds ancient. Let me put that another way. I did it for a few years, okay? What was amazing to me is that every time I would ask this question I got virtually a 100 percent response rate in the affirmative. I would ask how many of you have ever been in a church where there was a serious problem even a split or you firsthand directly know of a church like that from a family member that you're close to, 100%. Men and women, because of the realities I'm expressing, because we are not in heaven yet, because we are not glorified, because we are not delivered from sin, of course there are problems. Of course there are tight places. This is just the way it is. And it's this way everywhere. There's no greener grass on the other side of the fence. There's no better place to go. In fact, I might hazard to say to you, we're just about in the best place we could possibly be. Hallelujah. Because the Lord Jesus is alive forevermore, and the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 16, 18, I will build my church. Now look, please, with me at verse 12, where John says, then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me, and having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the seven lampstands, one like the son of man, clothed with a garment, down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. Now, this gets very interesting. Go right to the end of the passage we're looking at, to verse 20, and we're gonna see what we just read, explained by John. The mystery of the seven stars, which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, or messengers of those churches, and the seven lampstands, which you saw, are the seven churches. And where it says the seven angels, as you look at the letters in chapters two and three, and you see that the letters are actually addressed to the angels of the churches, this term, in the language of the New Testament, means messengers as well as angelic beings, and it really is likely, most likely, referring directly to them. the pastors. And so we have these seven stars, these pastors that are in the hand of the Son of Man, Christ. We have Him in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, in the midst of the churches. He's there. He's here. I read the headline of an article one time, the title of an article one time Will the church survive? There's an answer to that question by giving a question. Will Christ survive? He is the builder of the church. He is the protector and sustainer of the church. He is alive forevermore. He is present, he is paying attention, he's the promise giver, he's powerful, and he is poised to hear the prayer of faith of the people of God, always, forevermore. The resurrection has great implications for us as the people of God, as a church and individually. It has great implications for those that are in trouble, in tight places in the will of God. But it has also wonderful, wonderful implications for those that are fearful about themselves. Now I want your eyes again to go to verse 17. And would you notice how John reacted to the vision that he saw of the Lord Jesus in this case? I'm taking you to the end of what 12a through 17a describes, and I'm giving you, first of all, John's reaction. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead, but he laid his right hand on me, saying to me, do not be afraid, I am the first and the last. Initially, you know, your reaction might be that that's a bit of a peculiar reaction. He fell at his feet as if dead. What causes that kind of reaction in us to the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, who and what we are compared to him can really cause that reaction, can't it? Think about it. How could he love us? How could he use us? Why did John react this way? He saw the absolute authority of the ascended high priest who was at the right hand of God the Father. And he was overwhelmed by the reality of what he saw. The almighty ascended perfect one. How could God ever use me? He saw God. He saw the Lord Jesus. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. By Him all things were made. He saw Jesus, the Son. Who the writer to the Hebrews said in 1.8, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. Who the writer to the Hebrews in 1.13 said, You, Lord, have created all things and laid the foundations of the earth. This God, this high priest ascended at the right hand, left John overwhelmed with fear. Why did he react this way? I think he did because of the sinless purity of this holy God. Look at verse 14. Verse 14 says, his head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes like a flame of fire. Here is white hair, white head, absolute wisdom. and understanding of the right choices always, always the right thoughts, perfect and complete wisdom. And his eyes were as a flame of fire and John saw those eyes looking at him, a gaze that terrified him. Now, you've experienced that before. Some of you have had fathers who, I had a father, you know, who would sit me down, and all he had to do was gaze at me. That scared me to death. My wife was chuckling a little bit and commenting last night, my dad's 90 years old, and she said, you know, he can be scary at times. Yeah, I know, even at 90. I had a boss, my actually first employer at Bob Jones, His name is Dr. Edwards. Some of you may know Dr. Edwards. I want to tell you, you didn't want to go in Dr. Edwards' office. First thing Dr. Edwards did was he would just, you'd come in and you'd sit down and then he'd just look at you. And you just started confessing no matter whether you had anything to confess or not. I'll never forget the time he called me in there. I could not believe it. It's the first year I was a teacher, part-time. And I'd fallen in love with Sandy, and we were beginning to date, and I went in and sat down, and he looked at me. I thought, oh boy, here we go. I was a grown man at that point, you know? And he looked at me, and he said, Steve, he had a funny way to talk. I can't imitate him very well. Steve, I understand that you've been over in that fine arts building, and you've been kissing Sandy in the fine arts building. Is that true? Well, I got divinely imparted boldness at that moment. I never experienced it again with him before or after. I said, no, I haven't been kissing her in the fine arts building. And he believed me. And I was thankful. But you know the gaze? But this is the real deal. This is the gaze that knows all things, that sees and perceives and understands. And this was frightening. And he had feet like fine brass as they were burned in a furnace, the verse says. Feet that always went on the right path for the right thing. Beautiful feet that carried the good news. Perfect path. Perfect walking. Why did he react this way? Well, just keep looking and you understand how the fear begins to mount and build. Verse 15, his feet were like fine brass as refined in a furnace and his voice as the sound of many waters, his complete power as the sovereign God communicated by the sound of His voice. You've been by Niagara? You've been by a huge waterfall or heard the roar of the waves of the ocean? It's deafening. You can't even hear. It's so strong. This is what He's facing. And then the Scriptures tell us that out of His mouth proceeded a two-edged sword. He had in his right hand the seven stars, out of his mouth, verse 16, went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was like the sun, shining in its strength. The word of God, you remember Hebrews chapter 12, the word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the joints and the morrow, the soul and the spirit, and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. And then this countenance, that is like the sun. The sun is a magnificent body in the heavens, and it gives light, and it gives warmth, and it gives life, but it also brings drought, and hardens the earth, and can bring death. When you consider our condition as weak and frail men, disobeying, You really can empathize with John, can't you? You really can. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. But then, what is our hope? What is our hope? We see what the causes for this reaction are, but the hope we have is found in the latter part of the verse. where the Lord says, or actually the text says, but he laid his right hand on me, saying to me, do not be afraid, I am the first and the last. Yes, he has the authority of the high priest, but listen to the description of this all-pure high priest who stands at the right hand of God the Father from Hebrews 4, 15 and 16. We have not a high priest which cannot. be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Yes, he is the pure and sinless God in a white robe with white hair. with pure feet. And yet it's this Jesus who in John 17, 17 prayed for us. Sanctify them by thy truth, Father. Make them holy by thy truth. Thy word is truth. It is the promise we find in 1 Thessalonians 5, 23 and 24 where the Scriptures say, and the very God of peace sanctify or make you holy, faithful is He that calleth you who also will do it. And so when we have the command of the Lord from Leviticus 19, quoted in 1 Peter 1, verse 16, be ye holy as I am holy, we know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the one that is for us. This high priest is with us. This high priest is alive forevermore to help us attain to this. We need not fall down in fear. over who He is, but rejoice in who He is for us. And the Scriptures are so encouraging to us because we know that it's He who has complete authority and complete power as the sovereign ruler and the sovereign God with that powerful voice and that face, that light that shines with countenance And we hear the words of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 28, 18. After his resurrection, just before his ascension, when he'd gathered disciples together and he was ready to give them the Great Commission, he said, all power, authority is given unto me in heaven and on earth. And lo, I am with you always. even unto the end of the age, go ye therefore and preach the gospel, make disciples of all nations, teaching them, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." this great power, this Word of God we have, this light that we have in Him is the very thing that should motivate us, should energize us, because it makes it possible that we can in fact see people transformed by the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is alive forevermore for us, for people in tight places. He's alive forevermore for us in our weak condition and our failures. And thank God that he is. Because every one of us at best is a forgiven sinner. a cleansed sinner. I mean, this is the God who took David in his fear as an adulterer and murderer and put his hand on him and said, fear not. This is the God who took Paul, who was a murdering Jewish leader, and put his hand on him and said, fear not. I will make you a testifier, a witnesser to kings, to leaders, to the Jews and the Gentiles." This is the God who said to Peter, the leader of the disciples, who denied him out of fear, "'Feed my sheep,' he said. shepherd my flock, he said. I will be with you and I will use you. You know the greatest thing that's the overwhelmingly encouraging thing about the fact that he was, he is alive, he was dead and is alive forevermore? As it is alive forevermore to address the greatest problem in the world. the most horrific problem in the world. Oh, you hear it all the time from the cynics. You know, if God is so good and God is so powerful, why is the world so full of tragedy and so full of evil? I say in response to that, He is present. He is paying attention. He is the promise giver. He is powerful. He is poised to respond to the prayer of faith. The cynic is not reckoning on one very important concept or fact. He is alive forevermore. And with Him, a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as a day. And He will set it all right, men and women. He'll set it all He has the keys of death. He will unlock this unspeakable chamber and release every man and woman. And I'm thinking of the glorified, the saved, the redeemed who will be glorified. He will release from the chamber of death all those that have died, that have gone, that have been lost. I've seen firsthand the works of death. I've seen it rob parents of little children. I've seen husbands robbed of their young wives by death. I've seen men and women robbed of their lifelong partners. Yes, Satan. is the one who has had the power of death. He has. And you know, that finality of death is a very, very hard thing. You look into that still face of a loved one, family member, friend. That is hard. That finality is difficult. But it, in reality, is just a little while. It is just a little while. Listen to the triumphant words from 1 Corinthians 15, 22, for as in Adam all died, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Oh, I love the words of Hebrews 2, verse 14 and 15. Listen to them as I read them to you. Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself also partook of the same, that through death he might render powerless him who hath the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who were through fear of death subject to this slavery all their lives. We've been freed from the slavery of a fear of death, from the end of life. Oh, there'll be decline, there'll be difficulties and problems. Yes, but men and women, there is no finality to death. It is but a moment. Death is a door. The deliverance has been done. Jesus was the firstfruits, the primary and chief one of the resurrection to bring resurrection to every man and to every woman and deliver us from this great challenge and plague of death. But it even gets better because we face the great problem of evil in the world and it has brought death. But our Lord Jesus also has the keys of hell. Yes, he does. One day, he will shut the false prophet, he will shut the antichrist, and he will shut the evil one up in hell, turn the key, and throw it away once and for all. But you know, he has the keys of hell also in another sense, and I think it's very important for us now. The Lord Jesus has the ability to slam shut the yawning doors of hell and snatch those who are ready to plummet off the broad way into the lake of fire and eternal damnation. He can shut that door and lock that door and rescue people. And He does it. He does it every day. He does it over and over and over again every day, all over the world, in all the nations, with people by the thousands. Let's keep perspective that our Savior is doing this very thing as the one who has the keys of hell. I'd been preaching in the morning service and got to the end of the service in Columbus, Ohio one Sunday, and I invited people to trust Christ as their Savior, and in the back, I saw a man lift his hand. And at the end of the, I invited him to come and see me, meet with me and the pastor afterwards, and he did. And Mallory trusted Christ. Some six months later, I was back in that area preaching at a men's breakfast, And one of the men that were there at the breakfast stood up and introduced Mallory as the man he had been discipling. And Mallory, when he was there that Sunday morning, men and women, he had just gotten out of prison. He'd just gotten out of prison. He'd been snatched from the doorway of hell. The door shut. When I sat down with Dr. Tsu and his wife after preaching for a week at a family camp in the back of the church after the morning service when everybody had come home, this dear Asian man who was a researcher in the National Institutes of Health and Cancer Research in the nation of Singapore with his wife humbly said, I'm in sin. I know I have sinned. I can't free myself from sin. I need Christ." And he had himself snatched from the gate of hell. He trusted Christ and his wife. Our Lord Jesus has a plan for the future to right all wrongs, to rectify everything that has ever been done that was hateful and despising of God and His work and evil in its nature. Let me ask you this question. Do you tire of the prosperity of the wicked? Do you cringe at and find your own soul tortured? by the iniquity that abounds in the culture around you, as you see it on the airwaves, as you hear it. Well, men and women, Christ is the great high priest in Revelation chapter 1. He's the head of the church in Revelation 2 and 3. He'll deliver the individual Christian from all his iniquity and will make it able so you can obtain mercy and find grace. He's the head of the church and He will purify His church to present her a flawless bride for His glory, as Ephesians chapter 5 says. And He will ultimately as the great chief justice of the universe, as Revelation chapter four, all the way through chapter 8, 19, meet out justice on the iniquity and the wrong in the earth, all things will be made right, and ultimately there will be a great white throne in Revelation 20, and all men and women, small and great, will stand before God and the books will be opened. and the Book of Life. And those not written in the Book of Life will be judged out of the other books according to their works. It'll all be made right. All of it. The problem of evil will be remedied. And all that will remain in the new heaven and the new earth is no more sin, no more sorrow. Only the Savior, the saints, an unhindered service forever. He is alive forevermore to accomplish these things for us as men and women, as people of God. He is alive forevermore for those in the tight place in the will of God, those that are fearful about themselves. Those facing the greatest problem in the world, which we all face. We live in it. This world is not our home. We are just a passing through. This world is no friend to grace to lead us home to God. But there is coming a day. There is coming the unending light. There is coming unending freedom and relief from burden. And to that we can say, as a people of God, hallelujah, he is alive forevermore. We can say, I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. We can heed Colossians 3, verses one and two, which says, if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, not those things on the earth. We can reaffirm our focus and commitment to the risen living one. We can be confident that he is with us in the tight places. We can be confident they'll help us with our fears, confident that he will ultimately set all things right. We need not be bitter. We need not be angry. We need not be frustrated. We need not be despairing. We need only to look up because he'll make it all right. He is present. He is paying attention. He promises. He's powerful. And he's poised to help us, everyone. He's alive forevermore. today, for you. And you say, Brother Steve, I believe, but as the man in the gospels, help thou my unbelief. You ever find yourself in that place? I believe, but help thou my unbelief. I'd like us to stand to our feet, please, each and every one of us. This morning you're saying in your own heart, in your own soul, I believe. Lord, help thou my unbelief. You want to encourage your brothers and sisters in Christ. The Spirit is at work in you. You have an arm, a hand. You can say, I believe, help thou my unbelief. I believe you're alive forevermore, do you? I believe, help thou my unbelief. Is that your testimony? To encourage your brothers and sisters around you? I believe, help thou my unbelief. You are alive forevermore. Amen. I knew that's how you'd respond. Why don't we pray a prayer together this morning? It's gonna go something like this. It's going to be, O Lord, renew our faith. O Lord, sustain our faith. O Lord, increase our faith in you who are alive forevermore. I'm going to say a line, you say a line. Let's make it a prayer together, out loud. Let's affirm our testimony this morning. O Lord, renew our faith. O Lord, sustain our faith. O Lord, increase our faith. in you who are alive forevermore.