I say the fame money is due today, and so see, let's just care about that, the fame money. And can I just say that after we conclude preaching, you can avail yourself or just make your way out. I'll not be at the door. If you need to speak, well then, come and speak to me. I'll be here, but I just want to be able you to get home as quickly and safely as you possibly can. We're turning to 2 Corinthians chapter 3 today, and we're going to commence our reading at the verse 7 of the chapter, so it's 2 Corinthians chapter 3, and we'll begin our reading at the verse 7 of the chapter, and we'll read to the concluding verse. of this chapter 3 to the verse 18. So we're reading 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse number 7. And here is the word of God, but if the ministration of death written and engraven in stones was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away. How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that exceleth. But if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech. and not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished, but that their minds were blinded. For until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. We all, with an open face beholding as in at last the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory. even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Amen, and as we said, we'll end just at the end of the chapter. Let's briefly unite in prayer. Let's seek the Lord. Our Father, we are before Thy open word. We thank Thee for the Scriptures. We thank Thee for Thy mercy to us in giving us a faithful translation of the Word of God. We thank Thee for the truths that are found therein. We recognize that as we enter the Old Testament, the law condemns us, but we thank Thee that grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. We thank Thee that there is a way back to God. We thank Thee for the cross, the place of bloodshedding, the place of sacrifice. And Lord, we come and we pray that we may behold Thee today We say as the Greeks did to Philip, Sir, we would see Jesus. Oh, help us to see thee. In the word, come, Lord, and take our hearts away from this world. Win our hearts to Christ. May we behold him. May we be brought face to face with our Savior. Help, Lord. Glorify Thy Son, send Thy Spirit, fill me with power and with the Holy Ghost. For I pray this in Jesus' precious and worthy name. Amen and amen. Salvation is the most transformational experience that any person or any individual can ever go through in their lifetime. One moment, we are under the condemnation and the wrath of God. The next moment we're under the fever and smile of the Almighty. One moment we're full of guilt and shame and doubt because of our sin. The next moment we're full of peace and happiness and assurance. One moment we're polluted and stained by our sin. The next moment we are washed and made clean in the blood of Jesus Christ. One moment we're a child of the devil. The next moment we're a child of God. One moment we're on the road to hell. The next moment, thank God, we're on the road to heaven. The moment we're a citizen of the kingdom of darkness, the next moment we're a citizen of the kingdom of God. The moment we were a lover of sin, a hater of God, the next moment we're a hater of sin and a lover of God. The moment we're conforming our lives to the fads and the fashions and the standards of this world, the next moment we're being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Paul speaks of this radical transformation that occurs when an individual is justified in the following way. All things are passed away. Behold, all things become new. Now while it is true that a great change does take place the moment we first trust in Jesus Christ, that is only the beginning of a lifetime of change within our lives. Because throughout our pilgrim journey in this world, God uses all that befalls us to transform us. Paul speaking of that transforming process in this closing verse, cites these words in the verse number 18, but we all with an open face beholding as in at last the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. What we have in this verse expressed is the entire work of God the Holy Spirit in reforming us, in conforming us, and in transforming us into the image of Jesus Christ. This important passage within the Word of God supplies a brief but a blessed, a blessed summary of the progressive work of grace which is wrought in the Christian by the indwelling Spirit of God. And we want to focus our thoughts upon that truth today. I want us to think about God the Holy Spirit as our transformer. God the Holy Spirit as our transformer. Now the first consideration that we want to think upon today from our text here in 2 Corinthians 3 verse 18 is the candidates. The candidates of the Spirit's transformative ministry. The candidates of the Spirit's transformative ministry. Now notice what our text says. It says, but we all. But we all, with an open face, beholding unto the glass the glory of the Lord, are changed. But we all are changed. Now we ask the question, to whom is Paul speaking off here? When he takes this little phrase, we all. You see, the previous part of this chapter refers to the apostles. Paul is writing concerning the apostles. And we could come to the conclusion that Paul is speaking here simply to the apostles who were still living. And yet I don't believe that is to be the case because I believe this statement, we all, refers to all who are in a state of grace. In other words, every child of God, every believer Every believer is being spoken of and they're being spoken of as those that are being changed into the same image from glory to glory. Now I notice that the Apostle Paul incorporates himself into this statement. He does not say, but you all He doesn't, as it were, set himself up on some spiritual pedestal in order to say, well, I have reached the stage where I do not need to be changed. There's nothing in my life that needs to be transformed by the Spirit of God. I have reached a stage of spiritual perfection. The Apostle Paul does not do that. But rather he brings himself into the statement, we all, I'm in this with you, this is happening in my life. This is what Paul is saying to these Corinthian believers. I, just as you, are being changed into the same image. Now, who was Paul? Well, Paul was a Jew. But these men and women, they were Gentiles. These were Corinthian believers. Now you think of what these individuals were like prior to them coming to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We think of those words there. concerning the membership of the church in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, be not deceived, verse number nine, be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor adulterers, idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you, but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. These were individuals who lived in gross sin and yet grace triumphed within the soul and as a result they were being changed They were being transformed, they were being sanctified by the Spirit of God. And thus we see here that this transformative ministry of God, the Holy Spirit, is that which bridges the great divide between Jew and Gentile, between Jew and non-Jew. It embraces all within the Christian church. all within the blood-bought church of Jesus Christ. Wherever Christians are found in this world, this is happening. Might be imperceptibly, invisibly, but this is happening in the blood-bought church of Jesus Christ. There is a change that is happening. This all-encompassing, this all-embracing Word all informs us that this changing ministry, this transformative ministry of the Holy Spirit is not confined, therefore, to some spiritual elite within the church of Jesus Christ. This is not a select handful of people, some kind of spiritual aristocracy, some kind of elite within the church of Jesus Christ. It's not dependent on a person's talents. It's not dependent on a person's gifts. It's not dependent on a person's spiritual maturity or their knowledge in spiritual things. But all believers, all believers, young, old, rich, poor, educated, uneducated, Jew and Gentile are being transformed by the Spirit of God. Every believer, if you're a blood-bought child of God, if you're a Christian, you should know the transforming power of God the Holy Spirit in your life as you behold the glory of the Lord. Now this term, all, we all, it stands in stark contrast to the limited, to the restricted, to the confined numbers of people who were privileged to behold the glory of God in the Old Testament. Not everyone beheld God's glory. Moses was one who did, and we read about him in the verse number seven of the chapter that we have read. Moses beholding the face, Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away. God revealed himself to Moses in the giving of the Ten Commandments, and Moses was one of the Old Testament individuals, characters that beheld God's glory, beholding God's glory in the mount, and then when he was placed in the cleft off the rock. The high priest was another individual who beheld God's glory. He beheld it once a year. He beheld it when he went in on the Day of Atonement right into the Holy of Holies. The Shekinah glory resting there upon and above the mercy seat, above the ark of the covenant. And the priest, the high priest, he was privileged to behold the glory of God. Ezekiel beheld the glory. the departing glory, and then the returning glory of God upon the temple. God showed him the glory. And so there are a number of individuals who beheld the very glory of God in the Old Testament, but they were few, few in number from the Hebrew race, and most certainly fewer outside the Jewish nation beheld God's glory. But this has all changed now. This has changed with the coming of Christ. Now Jew and Gentile from every nation and kindred and tongue are enabled to behold the glory of God. And by that transformational sight, they are changed from glory to glory. What happened when Christ died on the cross? In the temple, the veil was rent. Free access now into the presence of God. The glory of God was beheld by all within the temple precincts on that day. Every child, every child of God can behold the glory of God. I would say today that we're all candidates for this. We're all candidates of the Spirit's transformational ministry. We could be more like Jesus Christ in our behavior, in our conduct, in what we say, how we live, what we do. We could be more like our Savior in the area of love, in the area of longsuffering, and patience, and kindness, and gentleness. We could be like Him in the area of forgiveness. None we presently are. As I said to the young people last night, Macrafelt, Took a little statement there in Titus chapter 1, set in order the things that are wanting. And how we need to, may by the Spirit of God have our hearts searched by Him to set in order those things that are wanting. That the Spirit of God would change us, transform us. Make us more like our Savior. I would say to every Christian boy and girl, every believing teenager, every trusting adult, that you, you need the Spirit's transformative ministry in your life. None of us have attained to perfection. There are areas in all of our lives that need improving. There's always a besetting sin that needs to be conquered. There's always an impure motive that needs to be changed, an attitude that needs to be transformed, some thinking that needs to be brought in line with the Word of God. We all need to be changed. And so let us then seek. Let us seek to be transformed. Let our prayer be as we rise Every day, Spirit of God, change me, change me into the likeness of Jesus Christ so that I might be more like Him in my attitudes, in my conduct, in my behavior, that others would see my good works and then glorify my Father in heaven. And God, may there be no resistance on my part. When thy spirit thou dost show me what needs to be changed, what needs to be transformed, let nothing be resistant on my part, nor do that which thou dost seem necessary for my progress in the Christian life. We are all changed, we're all candidates for this. To know God's transformative ministry. But we come to another issue today, and that is the means used in the Spirit's transformative ministry, the means used. Now, we must understand that we do not transform ourselves in the sense that it's left all to ourselves. It's left to us. Is it where we pull up the spiritual bootstraps and we try to change our lives? There is human responsibility, obviously there is. But the Word of God says, but we all beholding and at last the glory of the Lord are changed. The verb change there is passive. That simply means that this change, it comes outside of ourselves. This is not something that comes from within ourselves. Now the natural tendency is that we would just want to stay the same. We get into a rut, as it were, in our spiritual eyes and we're quite content. We have reached a level that we're happy with. It's enough to keep the minister from coming to the door concerned about your spiritual welfare. But really there's no desire to go further, no desire to go deeper, no desire to know God to a greater extent than you presently know Him. And so we're quite happy in the groove, in the rut. But Paul is saying here that there is a progressive change that is to take place. We're being changed from glory to glory. You see, whenever Moses came down from Mount Sinai, he placed a veil over his face. But the glory that was reflected on his face, it soon faded away. We read of that in the chapter. We read of how the glory was to be done away, verse number seven. But the glory, our glory, it doesn't diminish, but rather it is to increase. We go from glory to glory. It is an upward trajectory, as it were. It isn't diminishing, but rather there is a progression, there is a going on, a going further with the Lord. You see, this happens by the Spirit. The lump of marble that the sculptor has before him cannot transform itself into the image that finished product in and of itself, that piece of marble is unable to sculpt and to mold and to form itself, no, rather it requires the skill of the sculptor to come along and use the mallet, to use the chisel in order to shape and to fashion and to mold and to bring it into its proper shape, and that's the same when it comes to our lives. There is an inability within ourselves to change us into the image of Christ's glory, but rather someone other than ourselves, another comes and does this transformational. ministry operates upon the soul, upon the heart, and that is done by the divine Spirit. And that's why Paul goes on to say in our text, the verse number 18, that we are changed into the same image from glory onto glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. by the Spirit of the Lord. It is the Holy Spirit that does this transformative work within our lives, making us to be like our Savior. In beholding Him, we become more like Him because beholding leads to becoming. Beholding leads to our becoming. As I thought about that this morning, the Lord brought my attention to A strange passage of God's word, Genesis chapter 30. If you want to turn there, Genesis chapter 30. Jacob is here with Laban, and you know what Laban did. Laban changed the wages seven times. Imagine if your employer did that. You wouldn't be too happy. Well, Laban was a bit of a crook. I suppose Jacob was really reaping what he had sown. where he was the crook. Now he's receiving a little bit of his own medicine because we always reap what we sow. And so here we have Jacob, verse 37, verse 37 of chapter 30. And Jacob is employed here in the farm. It says, verse 37, Genesis 30, and Jacob took him rods of green poplar and off the hazel and chestnut tree and pilled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters, in the watering troughs, when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink. And the flocks conceived before the rods and brought forth cattle. ring straight, speckled, and spotted." Very interesting passage. I don't know how it happened, but we're told that whenever these pieces of rods, they were stripped back, exposed the internal off the rods, taking off a little of the bark, And it seems to be that as these animals are before them, as they look upon these particular pieces of rod, these sticks, it seems to be that what they saw, that which they produced resembled what they saw. They were straight, and notice what it says in verse number 39, and they conceived and brought forth rods, before the rods and brought forth cattle, wrung straight, speckled and spotted. What they saw, they conceived. It seems to be that they took on the resemblance of what was before their eyes. And that's what happens. What we put before our eyes is what we become. And that's why, that's why we need to be careful what we put before our eyes. Do you wonder why there is so much adultery, so much homosexuality, so much sin and drunkenness in our nation? It is because men and women sit and place those things before their very eyes. They sit and they watch it in front of the soaps of the world. And they say, well, this is the normal run of things. This is how society operates. And they start to live out their fantasies. And how we need to be careful in what we set before eyes because we become what we behold. That's what happens. May God help us. May God help me. And so it is the Holy Spirit that does this work. But he uses a vehicle by which he accomplishes this, because we are told here that this change comes about as we behold in a glass the glory of the Lord. The glass, what is that? Well, it simply refers to the looking glass, or we would know it as the mirror. It isn't to that glass, that we are encouraged to look into. It is by looking into the glass, into the Word, that our lives will be transformed. In James chapter 1, we read about this glass. James chapter 1 and the verse number 22, but be doers of the Word and hearers only. are not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if he be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh in to the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." God's special revelation, His holy and precious word is the mirror in which we perceive and from which is reflected the glory of the Lord. This is where we behold the glory. We behold God's glory in the Word. But more than that, we behold God's glory in the incarnate Word. There is a glory to Christ. John 1 verse 14, and the Word was made flesh. and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and full of truth. And so the Spirit of God, He brings us to the Word of God to point us to Christ, the incarnate Word. And as we behold His glory, and as we see His resemblance in the Word, and as He is pictured there, then as we become like Him, as our lives are conformed to His life, then we are changed from glory onto glory. Now, think of the glory of Christ. It was a glory at His incarnation. Heavenly hosts acknowledged that. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men. There was a glory in his baptism. when God the Father descended, or the voice of the Father was heard. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, and upon whom the Spirit descended in the form of a dove. There was a glory in his transfiguration. Peter, an eyewitness to that, writing many years later in 2 Peter 1 verse 17, for he received from God the Father honor and glory When there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. There was a glory in his death, that cursed death that he died. There was an evident glory in his resurrection, having gone down into death. He now comes forth as the mighty conqueror. There is a glory in his ascension, taken up to the Father's right hand. He's in glory now. He's at the right hand of God, a glory that Stephen spoke of as he was being stoned to death. He's coming in glory in the last day to judge the world, and he's going to dwell in glory throughout all of God's eternity, and we as his children are going to become partakers of that glory. There is a glory to Jesus Christ that surpasses the glory of any other. A greater than Solomon has come. Glory of Christ! Christ's glory is seen throughout the Scriptures by way of type, by way of picture, by way of shadow in the Old Testament, and then in the fullest of His revelation, when He becomes a man, yet never ceases to be God, to live among men, to die for men, and then to rise from the dead and to enter into His glory. And as we get into the Word, we see Christ in all of His glory. because we cannot see Him with our physical eye, then we can only but contemplate Him, not with our mere imagination. We will form an image of Christ that is not biblical, but rather we behold Him in the Word. And as we look into that Word, we see the glory of God. We see it in the person of Jesus Christ. And as we look at His life, then we are changed and we become like the Son of God. Let me ask you, let me ask you to be honest. Did you look into the myrrh of God's Word today? Did you just jump out of bed and get ready for church and come along? Did you look into the Word? Did you see the glory of your Savior there? Did you behold the glory of His love to you? And suffering and dying and bleeding and living and rising for you? Did you behold the glory of His grace and His mercy and His longsuffering and His patience? Oh, to behold Him! We would be like the Greeks, sirs. We would see Jesus. Because in seeing Him, gazing upon Him, then by our beholding, we become like Him. We become like Him. It moves us to think about the pattern that we are to imitate. In the Spirit's transformative ministry, the apostle states that the Christian is being changed in our text into the same image. We've already stated what that image. I believe that image is Jesus Christ himself. That is the work of the Spirit. It is to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ, to be like him. Christ is a model after which the Spirit works, and by the Word and ordinances, providence, His own inward operation, He stamps. He stamps upon us the likeness of Jesus Christ. He stamps upon our soul the very image of Christ. We carry His image into the world. And as the ungodly look at us, they are to see our Savior. They are to see Him. Christ's ones. Is it not true that we become like those we associate with? Their language becomes our language. Their behavior becomes our behavior. Their thinking on certain issues becomes our thinking on certain issues. That's just the way we are. We are impressionable beings. That's the simple makeup of the human constitution. We are impressionable, and we become like those that we associate with. One Christian writer said, it is the law of our nature that we are molded in our moral feelings by the persons with whom we associate and by the objects which we contemplate. We imbibe the opinions, we copy the habits, we imitate the manners, we fall into the customs of those with whom we have daily conversation with and whom we make our companions and friends. Their sentiments insensibly become our sentiments and their ways become our ways. The greatest example of that in the Scripture is found in the prophet Isaiah. What did Isaiah say in Isaiah chapter 6 when he beheld God in the temple? He says, I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in a people, in the midst of a people of unclean lips. He became like the people he ministered to. If I became like you, if you became like me, I wonder what of Christ-likeness there would be about us. To have Christ before me, to ponder his person, to contemplate his character, to think upon his teachings, to meditate upon his ministry, that will lead to our conformity to him. And I suggest to you that maybe your likeness to Jesus Christ is not as it should be because you have failed to keep the Lord before you. You see, the reality of the situation is this. It is that there are believers who have Facebook more before their eyes than they do have God's book. have entertainment devices. That'd be the television, the computer, the games console before their eyes to a greater extent than they have the word of God before their eyes. They place greater value on their friend's company than they do on God's company. They have no problem in reading the farmer's journal or the farming life from cover to cover, but they struggle to read a chapter of God's word from one Lord's day to the next. They can study and they can research for weeks what they're going to do at their next holiday destination, but you can't even get them to study God's Word for five minutes. That's the reality. This is where we are in the church of Jesus Christ. It's no surprise then that such people's likeness to Jesus Christ is not what it should be. Have the world before your eyes. and you'll become like the world. Have the Savior before you, and you'll become like Him. By keeping Him constantly before the mind, dwelling on the splendor, thinking upon His glorious person and work, we come to be transformed into His image. Let us then be like the psalmist who made this resolve. He said in Psalm 16, verse 8, I have set the Lord always before me. I'm not gonna set the world before me, I'm gonna set the Lord before me. To have such an object to look onto, we can only be but the better Christian for that. May God enable us to turn our eyes upon Jesus, to look full in his wonderful face, The things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. The last thing we want to think upon is the evidence of the Spirit's transformative ministry. It's surely obvious what that evidence is. It is that of a changed life. Paul said he speaks about being changed from glory to glory. The word changed here is the Greek word metamorpho. And you young people know what that is in your biology class. We get our English word metamorphosis. I suppose we know that best when we come to think about the life cycle of the butterfly. The egg changes to the little larvae, the little caterpillar, the chrysalis, and then to the final, the butterfly, that process of change is known as metamorphosis. There is a change, a change of form, meta change, orifice form, change of form, change of shape, and this is what takes place. An evident change is taking place, and in a similar way, we are being metamorphosed. We are being changed. We're not to stay as what we were five years ago. We're not to be what we were a year ago. We're not to be even as we were last week. But there should have been a change, a change in our lives. changing from glory to glory until we get to glory. Because that's when the final change takes place. Paul speaks of that, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 51 to 53. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trump shall sound and the dead shall be raised. incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this incorruptible must put in an incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. There is a change taking place. And so we see throughout the Scriptures there are three changes. There is a change at justification. There is the change at glorification. But there is the change that comes about by sanctification. I was changed legally. My legal standing changed when I became a Christian. I was no longer under condemnation, but under the smile and favor of God. I'm now in a right standing before God. My sins in God's sight legally have been blotted out, dealt with by the blood of Jesus Christ. And there's coming a day when I shall be changed. I shall be like Him. When He shall appear, we shall be like Him. Now you understand, are you like Him now? Of course not. There has to come a change. And it's coming in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye. But as we journey towards that moment, we are still being changed. And it should be evident in our conduct, our attitudes, The things we do, the things we say, how we conduct ourselves in the house of God, how we conduct ourselves within our community, within the family. Oh, there is a change to take place, and that change comes about as God ministers to us through His Word. Yes, publicly, thank God for the public ministry, but don't rely on that child of God to be changed. Get into the Word day after day, and the Spirit of God, as He shows you, may be something that needs to be changed. Just obey Him, just obey your Savior, and you'll be changed. And this congregation will be the better for it, as I am changed and as you are changed. Let me ask you, are you being changed? It may be gradual. But there is a change. We cannot be indwelt by the Spirit of God and not be changed. Because this transformation does take a lifetime, don't become impatient. Let the change be slow. What God has commenced, thank God He will complete. Don't think that the changes are at present complete and the work on you is finished, that you're the finished article. Never get to that point in your Christian life that the work's done and I'm the perfect Christian and everyone should aspire to be like me. Never get there, child of God. You're maybe much further back than you expect yourself to be. Just because you have reached a certain milestone, you're saved 20, 30 years, don't think that there's nothing that needs to be changed. And don't be complacent, and don't be content over just a mere partial transformation that you have felt in your life. Seek Him for a greater change, a greater likeness to Jesus Christ, a greater likeness to your Savior, By nature, we are all together unlike God. And yet by grace, we are being gradually transformed into the image of God, so that whenever we reach glory, we will exactly resemble Him. Until that day comes for each and every one of us, let us submit ourselves to the transformative ministry off the Holy Spirit as he shapes us and molds us into the image of his dear Son. That is the ideal, to be like my Savior. May God help you and may God help me to be what he wants us to be, for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Let's just take a moment in the stillness of this place. Child of God, you pray, just now, here you are, before someone speaks to you about something silly. Get before the Lord, just now, in the pew, and ask him to make you like your Savior. Spirit of God, that he would work in your soul, your home, your family, Make me like my Savior. May I carry His image and His likeness into the world. Our loving Father, our gracious God, we come before Thee today and we must confess that we need the ministry of Thy Spirit. We need Him to change us. and to the likeness of Jesus Christ, to be changed from glory to glory until the moment we find ourselves in glory. We thank thee that the work begun will continue and will find its completion when we cross the river and our feet stand in the holy city. Help us not to be resistant to change. We recognize by nature we are all like that. None of us like change. We like to be what we are. We don't like the boat to be rocked. We certainly don't like our, as it were, our boundaries and our remit to change. We certainly are those that are resistant to any kind of change. We content ourselves Maybe someone in the church not as spiritual as I am. And yet, Lord, that is not the ideal. That's not the pattern. We place ourselves before the Savior. We ask ourselves, is there any semblance? Is there any resemblance of Christ in us? Help us, we pray. Search our hearts. May we be honest before thee. May the Spirit of God put within us a hunger and a thirst after God. We pray these, our prayers, in and through the Savior's precious name. Amen and amen. God bless you. Thank you.