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25 Oct 2020

Lessons In The Garden of Eden [Genesis 2:4-17]

Overview

God made man unique- He made man in His own image. God made man uniquely- He formed man from dust and breathed into his nostrils. And God made man a unique place to dwell in- He specifically planted the Garden of Eden and placed man in it. There is something very special about the relationship between God and man. But whilst God knew everything about man, man needs to learn and grow in his knowledge and understanding of God. Thus, God planted the Garden of Eden for man to dwell in, so that he can commune with God and learn of God. So, in a sense, Eden is like an "outdoor classroom" to teach man theology- the knowledge of God. Come and join in this very special class about our God in the Garden of Eden. Discover wonderful spiritual insights for your spiritual life from the sermon here in Genesis 2. May God help you appreciate and love God more!


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Sermon Transcript

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Hey, a very good morning to all of you and welcome to Gospel Light Christian Church, our online service this Sunday morning. I'm recording this a Sunday ahead of time so I want to greet you. I'm also looking forward to meeting some of our people on-site here at 39 Punggol Field Walk. We are thankful for this gradual reopening that we can be a part of, and we look forward to the time I could regather with all of you.

Last week, when I met with the brethren at Gospel Light Christian Church, our on-site service there, my heart was so warmed with joy. I just remember seeing the faces of Deacon Joel and KC and William as I drove in, just greeting them and saying hi to them was … was quite an experience for me as we have not been able to see one another for the past seven months.

And then seeing the young adults at our level one holding area, and then our ushers in the Shine Auditorium, and then seeing our worshipers — it was such a nostalgic but joyful experience for myself. I really look forward to seeing more of you in time to come, and may the good Lord continue to allow us to have this safe environment to resume our on-site services.

Well today, let's continue our journey in the book of Genesis. We have been looking at Genesis chapter 1 and saw … we learned about how God the Uncreated One, created all things with the power of His Word in six days. He rested on the seventh, and that is the beautiful account of the creation of all things.

Of course, the crown jewel of God's creation in these six days must be man. Man who is made in the image of God to represent Him, to reveal Him, to show forth His glory. And we learned how man was made in dignity, morality, spirituality and authority to do that.

Today, we continue in Genesis chapter 2. In Genesis 2, you read of another account of creation. Now mind you, I'm saying it's another account of creation, not another account of another creation. It's still the same creation, but now another account in a sense that it is from another perspective, another angle.

It's going to be the angle or perspective that is more centered on man. It's almost like Steven Spielberg, you know, that great director. If you were to ask him to film a film about creation, maybe according to the Bible, he will do a sweep of the six days of creation, from the earth and light to vegetation, to the stars, to the animals and so on.

It will be a quick sweep of the six days. And then now, he zooms his camera in on man and how man is created. And how he was surrounded subsequently by this garden and by the animals and so on. So it's going to be a more focused, detailed, intimate look at the creation that is from man's point of view.

So that's what we're going to look at. And we begin in verse 4; the Bible says, “These are the generations of the heavens and the earth, when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.” [Genesis 2:4]

So in this more detailed, intimate account of creation from man's point of view, or from a more man-centered perspective, we see that God now reveals Himself with a new name or new title, “The LORD God”.

Now, earlier on in chapter 1, you read about how in the beginning God, created the heavens and the earth. Now, we have the addition of the word ‘LORD’ there. I want to remind you that the word 'God' is the word, ‘Elohim’, which is a word that is rooted in the meanings of strength and power and might.

What about the word, ‘LORD’, or what about the name, ‘LORD’? Now in the Hebrew, the word, ‘LORD’ — you would see in English Bible represented as the capitalized LORD — actually, in the Hebrew, stands for ‘YHWH’.

You say, why don't you pronounce it? I say, I can't pronounce it. It's an unpronounceable word. It's an unpronounceable Name. In fact, the early Jews didn't have a pronunciation for this, and they just called it 'The Name’ or 'The Tetragrammaton'.

Tetra means four, so there are four letters that represent this name. They didn't want to pronounce it because they didn't quite know how to. And also they didn't dare to, out of reverence to God. They didn't want to pronounce His name wrongly.

So for a long time, that's the name of God, the tetragrammaton — YHWH. But later on, the Jews decided that they wanted to pronounce the name. And so they — very creatively I think — added some vowels to the consonants here. Where did they get the vowels? They got the vowels from another word, ‘Adonai’. The Hebrew word, ‘Adonai’ is the word that means Lord. L.O.R.D.

So they took the vowels of Adonai — A, O, A — inserted in between the consonants here, and that's why you get the pronunciation — Yahuwah. In Chinese we say, “耶和华” [yē hé huá ]. Today, we say God's Name is Jehovah, Yahuwah. It's actually the word, ‘YHWH’, the tetragrammaton.

Now, that is not really how you should pronounce the tetragrammaton, but that's how people have pronounced it over time and in the English Bible. Therefore, when you see the word, ‘LORD’, it really refers to Yahuwah, Yahweh or the tetragrammaton. So that's a long explanation to what this word is in the Hebrew. But what does it mean?

‘YHWH’, the tetragrammaton, is derived from a word, from a verb that means to be, to be. The Name of God means to be. That's why when Moses asked God at the burning bush, he asked Him, “What is your Name?” And God says, “My Name is, I am who I am, to be who I am to be. I am who I am.”

So the word, ‘YHWH’ or the tetragrammaton, or let's call it from now, Yahweh, or Jehovah, means that God is the self-existent One. He is the self-sufficient One. He's the sovereign One. He is. He exists. He is who He is. No one created Him. He is the uncreated God.

Now, because that name is what God revealed Himself to be when He called Moses to redeem Israel, to lead Israel out of the slavery of Egypt, that name, ‘Jehovah Yahweh’, tetragrammaton, is now a name that represents the loving kindness of God, that represents the personal relationship of God that He has with His people. So it's a name that speaks of intimacy, of a faithful, loving God. It speaks of God's loving kindness.

Now, if you put all that together, in Genesis 2:4, when God says that, “The LORD God made the earth and the heavens”, you have a beautiful balance of both the power and might of God in Elohim, and the intimacy and love of God in the tetragrammaton.

So the first word, ‘LORD’, speaks of the immanence of God, the nearness of God. And the second word, ‘God’ here, Elohim, speaks of the transcendence, the greatness of God. What a title! What a name! That God is both great and high, and yet near and dear to us.

So this is a picture of intimacy, this Genesis 2 account is a picture of intimacy. That the delivering, saving, loving God is the One who would create all things and will create man.

So we now see from a more man related point of view, that the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground. Now this is unique, because this is not spoken of for the rest of creation. But God personally, uniquely, tenderly “formed the man from the dust from the ground.” [Genesis 2:7]

Now, you will know for sure that man was not evolved from animals or from amoeba — God made man from dust. And that's why Adam, the first man is called Adam, because Adam means from the earth. He's made from dust.

Now scientifically, you and I, we are about 65 — 70%, made of water. And the rest of our body can be broken up into minerals and elements that are from the ground, from the dust. I'm told you are worth less than $10 if you're broken up into these minerals and elements. But that's what — who we are; God specifically "formed man from dust from the ground”. And then we read intimately that, “God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” [Genesis 2:7]

Now this is unique; again, the personal touch of God regarding the creation of man, not for other animals, or for the other plants, but only for men. And then the Bible says, “Man became a living creature.” [Genesis 2:7]

Now in the King James, it is translated — man became a living soul. I think that's why many people think that this is what gives us the soul. But actually, that's not quite right because in the Hebrew, it just means that we are given that ‘nephesh’ — living breath, as it were.

And this is a word that is used also for animals. So the unique thing is not that God gave us a soul this way. We were just given life this way, that would be a better way to understand this.

But what's unique is that clearly you see a personal touch, in that God formed man with the dust from the ground Himself, and then God breathed into the nostrils of man. That's all to convey the intimacy and the special, unique creation of man.

So what is unique? The uniqueness about man is number one, we are uniquely made in His image — with dignity, morality, spirituality and authority. DMSA, as we've learned two weeks ago.

And then it is unique in that God made us personally by Himself, that's Genesis 2 account.

And then number three, not only that, God made us unique in that, He then placed us in a unique place that He Himself planted, “And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden …” [Genesis 2:8] So this is not a random piece of forest. But this is curated, cultivated, designed, planted by God. He planted a garden in Eden.

Now, this is where I'm going to focus the bulk of our message. In this intimate look at this intimate creation of man, God specifically built a place, cultivated a place, planted a place, an outdoor place for man to live with God, and for man to learn of God.

You see, God knows everything about man because He is God, and He is our Creator. But the creation does not know too much about God as yet. That creation is now given this garden, this beautiful place, called Eden, which means by the way, paradise or delight.

God has given man this beautiful place, this paradise, not only to enjoy life, but through this garden, learn about God, through this life in the garden, learn about his Creator. So I'd like you to look with me in this text, as a kind of an outdoor classroom.

Eden is like a classroom where we are going to learn lessons about God. So Adam is given this privilege in this garden, to know about his Creator God. So what is he supposed to learn? What can he learn in this garden of Eden?
[1] God Is Our Generous Provider
Number one, I want to share with you, that I believe man is able to learn that God is our Generous Provider in the Garden of Eden.

Now, this is already spoken of — the provision of God for man — in Genesis, chapter 1, “That every tree is for food for the man.” [Genesis 1:29] Man can eat from the trees. Man can eat the fruit of the trees.

But Genesis 2 gives you a little bit more detail. It gives a little more intimate understanding of this when God said, “Out of the ground, the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant in the sight, and good for food.” [Genesis 2:9]

So God tells us, that in the Garden of Eden, He has furnished man with trees that are bearing fruit, that is good for food. And the trees are also pleasant to the sight, that God wants man to what …? Enjoy the beauty of God's creation.

So we see that generous provision of God for His crown jewel of creation, man. That He gives them food, and He gives them beauty, things of beauty, that … that would joy his heart. Of course, we read of how, “The tree of life is in the midst of this garden, and also the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”, [Genesis 2:9] but God provides all these things.

And not only that, we see that God provided a river, “A river that flowed out of Eden, [Eden means paradise, delight], to water the garden.” [Genesis 2:10] So this is a luscious place that would bring forth abundantly — it's a good supply of water. “And there is also gold and bdellium and onyx stone” [Genesis 2:12]. These are precious metals and jewels.

So God gave all these things; He places it all, He curates this garden, to give man and abundance of food and beauty and glorious things because God is a wonderful Provider. And later on, in verse 18, which we will study in the next week, God also provides for Adam, "a helper that is fit for him.” [Genesis 2:18]

So in this garden, imagine man is placed here, but he's not left alone. He's so blessed! He has everything that would gave him joy and delight as he holds the beauty. He has all the fruit that is good for food. He has this luscious provision of water. He has this wonderful help mate that is designed for him.

What can you say, then to realize that when God places Adam, in this specially planted garden, Adam could only exclaim, “Wow! God is so generous to give me all this.” Don't you think? I think that will be the obvious lesson.

You see, God is a generous Provider. God is very, very, very generous. He could have made this world black and white. He could have! He could have made this world all with the same kind of trees, boring looking trees. He could have just given man one fruit. He could have given man just stones, but He didn't. He made His world colorful, abundant, beautiful, glorious, because He is such a generous God. He wants us to know that He is super-duper generous.

Now I know that in life today, because of sin, our understanding of God is now colored and darkened. Deep in our hearts, whilst we wish God is generous, we don't quite believe God is generous. We think that God is stingy. We think that God is hard-fisted. We think that it is difficult for God to give.

But you know from creation — just look at this creation account, God is so generous to provide. And He, He's able to provide. It's not hard for God to provide. He made things ex nihilo, remember? Out of nothing with the power of His Word.

And my friends, I want you to know today, that as far as I read in the Bible, every good and perfect gift comes from above. Every good thing that we have and enjoy comes from God, who is very generous to provide. Now mind you, God does not give us too much that we can't handle that we may stray from our God, that we may go into pride and addiction to stuff. But whatever is good for us, God is generous to provide.

I know some of us today are struggling. You're struggling to put food on the table. You're struggling to make ends meet because of COVID, because of pandemic, because of economic uncertainties. But I want you to be reminded from this Genesis account, that God is our generous God.

Now, I'm not saying that you do not have to work. But I'm saying, you do not have to worry. You don't have to! Because God is our generous Provider. Do you know centuries later, thousands of years later, His Son came into the world and His Son told us, “Look at the birds of the air. Look at the flowers of the field. They don't stress. They don't labor. They don't get worried, but your Father provides for them.”

You don't see birds stressed out. You don't see flowers stressed out. They are beautifully clothed. They are beautifully provided. By who? “Not by their Father, but by your Father,” Jesus said. And if your Father can provide for birds and flowers, won't your Father provide for you?

Oh so often, because of sin we slip into unbelief, we fear, we are anxious, we worry. But this morning, let's remember God gives us richly all things. All things. All things that are needed for your life. You can pray this day, “Father in heaven, give me, give us this day our daily bread.” He is our generous God whom you can trust.

And He has provided you an ocean of grace. He has provided you all things that pertain to life and godliness. Today, you can live in holiness and Christ likeness, because He is our generous Provider. May we trust Him in uncertain times. Adam would have learned that, I think.
[2] God is Our Glorious Master
But a second thing, Adam can learn in a garden of Eden, is that God is our glorious Master. Now, Adam is not to just sleep and eat, and sleep and eat, and sleep and eat in the garden, because God told him you are to serve, you are to work.

“God put man in the Garden of Eden to work it and to keep it.” [Genesis 2:15] In other words, God gave a direct edict, directive to Adam. “Adam, you are to tend to this garden.” So Adam is to exercise that stewardship of tending for the garden, under the Lordship of God.

Adam is to realize, he is not here to ‘chobo’ [doing nothing in Hokkien dialect]. He is here to serve God. He's here to work for God. God is his Master and he is to reveal God's glory in the way he tends for the garden.

Now, the Bible tells us in Genesis 2 verse 5, “When no bush of the field was yet in the land, and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up, [sic: the Lord had not,] for the Lord had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground.”

So please understand, this is not saying that there's absolutely no plants at all until Adam came — that would contradict, isn't it, what we learn, that plants came first, then man? But this word, ‘plant’ and bush and so on, they are referring to cultivated plants. So they will not be in existence until man starts to labor, and starts to work. And God has given us man the privilege to cultivate the land, so that it may bring forth these cultivated plants. What a joy!

Some of you, you love gardening. I don't, not yet at least, but I know many of you do. And I know the joy you have when you see the plants blossom and, and bloom and there's satisfaction, right? There's joy when you do that.

And so man is given that privilege to work for a good Master, who has given us jobs, work that are really satisfying, at least before the fall. So man is given the task to work the ground, to keep the garden. Not only that, “God gave Adam the job of naming the animals”, [Genesis 1:19] that he would see, the birds and so on. And then, “God told him to exercise dominion, to subdue the animals, to have stewardship over creation.” [Genesis 1:28]

So, what I want to say is that God is our glorious Master. Work for God, working for the Master, working for God is a delightful task. I can imagine Adam [sic: as if,] as he sows and as he reaps, he sees the wonderful creation that God has, and it will delight his heart.

How that rose can come forth! How that durian tree can come forth! I think it must be a delight to Adam to see so many things, to see the diversity of the biology around him. And I think it would be delightful for him to see how serving God is so, so wonderful.

I think even today, even after the fall, there is a lot of delight in working. That's why people today love gardening, taking care of animals and writing and all these things. Because when you are able to contribute, add value to this world, it's delightful!

Man is made to serve God, man is made to work, and there is a delight when we do so. There's a delight that as we work, we see the beauty, the handiwork of God that is built into creation. How He has put some kind of puzzles and mysteries in all of creation that when we unlock it, it just tells us about His glory.

I'm immediately thinking about food. For example, how when you put rosemary and lamb together, it's such a delicious treat. When you put truffle and beef, it's so tasty. Well, God has put all that glorious combinations in a world today. And as men work, as men … as men labors, he unearth all this beauty. We find joy in serving Him, and we find more, find out more and more how glorious and creative God is.
[3] God Is Our Gracious Law Giver
Well, Adam learns about God being so generous as a Provider. Adam learns about how delightful it is to serve this glorious Master. Thirdly, and lastly, Adam learns one more … reality. What is it, you say?

Well, I was thinking about it, as I meditated on this passage, and because I've already started with the words Provider and Master, I wanted to end with something that has the '-ter' at the end, or '-er' at the end. I was struggling and then I, I didn't know, I just asked my … my boys, separately.

“Boys, can you give me a word that ends with er, because I'm going to preach about this story in the Garden of Eden and how God is our Provider, He's our Master? Can you tell me one more word?” And my youngest son say, “Giver?” I say, “Okay that's good, but it's already tied into the first point.”

And after a while, I thought, hey, that's, that's a good word, a giver can be used. And when I went back and asked my older son, he says, “This word that I've been thinking about, and it is this — God is our lawgiver, gracious lawgiver.”

Let me explain. Now, when we think about law in the Bible, we always think of the 10 commandments. But no, no, no, I'm not referring to the 10 commandments, because that will come centuries later, during the time of Moses.

But here in Genesis, actually God did give a commandment, did give a law. “And the Lord God commanded the man saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.” [Genesis 2:16-17] So God gave a law, God gave a command that you cannot eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Now, I want you to realize that this is actually not an unfair command at all. It will be quite difficult if it's reversed — you can only eat from one tree and every other tree you can't eat. But that's not the case! The case is you can eat every tree — mango, rambutan, lychee, durian, banana, papaya, whatever tree lah! You can eat from all trees, alright, but just don't take from this one.

And it is not even a principle or a policy that God is giving. In other words, it's something very straightforward — just don't eat from this tree. Nevertheless, God gave this one clear, simple command. Why? Because everybody understands this, to be the freedom that God gives to Adam, to exercise the choice of the will.

You see, life in a garden of Eden is not meant to be robotic. Life in a garden of Eden is to be a life of communion and let me say this — love. Trust. It's a relationship. And it is no relationship if everything is absolutely dictated and there is no choice, no freedom of choice for any of the party.

So in order for life in Eden to be one of love, God has given this one command to reveal if man will really love God, trust God, fear God, obey God. And it is a super reasonable command, “Of every tree you can eat, but just not this one.”

Will you trust Me? That's the question here. Will you fear Me? Will you love Me? Will you obey Me of your own volition? Because life in the Garden of Eden is not just about food, is not just about a task, it's about a relationship with God. And God gave an absolutely gracious command to reveal the heart of man.

So God … Adam would learn, I think, sadly, after he sinned, that actually God is a gracious lawgiver. Out of everything, only this one command, and I still went ahead to blow it.

But let's come back, what is Eden? Eden means paradise. Paradise, not just because of the fruit and because of the stones or because of the water, but paradise because it's meant to be a life that reveals the glory of God. A life that allows man to learn of God, to learn that God is our generous Provider, to learn that God is our glorious Master. Nothing better than to trust Him. Nothing better than to serve Him. And God is also our gracious lawgiver. Nothing better than to love Him. That's what Eden should be.

But sad to say, as we all know, Adam and Eve decided one day to listen to Satan, who came in a form of a serpent. They decided to trust the serpent and not trust God. They decided to obey the serpent's instruction and not God’s. They decided not to love God, not to obey Him and as a result of that, they sinned.

They were evicted, and driven out of the garden of Eden. And ever since then, they lost paradise. Ever since then, their soul is plunged into darkness. Ever since then, they lost the joy of knowing God and communing with God. And that's the sad story, where man should have learned that God is our gracious lawgiver, our generous Provider and our good glorious Master, man now runs from God because of sin. Tragic!

But again, that's not the end of the story. Thousands of years later, another Man would come into this world. He would be in an outdoor classroom, not quite like Eden, because Eden is paradise. But He will be in an outdoor classroom which is filled with pain and difficulty, because He would be in the wilderness.

This Man in the wilderness would now be tested, if He would love God, obey God, fear God or would He like Adam, succumb to the temptation of the serpent, of Satan. And we know that this story is given to us in Matthew, chapter 4, when Jesus Christ was anhungred and He had fasted for 40 days, and He is now in a worst state possible, physically speaking. And now, He faces the temptation of the devil.

The devil tells Him in effect, “Who cares about God, you can do what is right by yourself. Turn these stones into bread. Jump off this building and see if God will take care of you, send His angels to save you. And who cares about worshiping God, bow down before me today, and I'll give you all the glories of the kingdom.”

So Satan comes with full temptation, but this second Adam, this Jesus Christ, in this outdoor classroom, remain resolute in his faith, in His reverence, in His love for the Father and He would not succumb. He realized, he believes, He lives in such a way that honors God as the generous Provider, as the glorious Master and as the gracious lawgiver. He remained steadfast and loyal to God and His will.

But not only that, some years later, the same Jesus would now enter another garden. Not the Garden of Eden, but the garden of Gethsemane, where He at the garden would agonize and say, “If it be possible, let this cup of suffering pass from me.” But very quickly also said, “Nevertheless not my will, but God's will, the Father's will, be done.”

So in the garden, Jesus Christ trusted God, died to Himself and determined by God's enabling to go to the cross the very next day, where He will lay down His life to save a humanity that has lost paradise. A humanity that has been driven from the loving presence of God, ever since Adam and Eve.

And because of Jesus and what He has done, we today can be saved from our sins, we today can come back to know God, we today may have a mind that is changed to now begin to understand that God is generous Provider, a gracious Master, or glorious Master and gracious Lawgiver.

And one day … can I end this sermon with another garden? Well, today's sermon is all about a garden — a garden in Eden, a wilderness temptation, the garden of Gethsemane and one day that eternal garden, spoken of in Revelation 22:1-5.

Now, I'm not going to read everything here, but you can read it on your own, verses 1 to 5, we see that imagery of a garden. You have a city but you also have a garden, a river of water, very reminiscent of the Garden of Eden. Then you see the tree, then you see the leaves, then you see the fruit of life.

And I think God is leading us back to the motif of the garden. That because of Jesus and what He has done, we can come back to live in this eternal communion and joy with God. Maybe, in a way that is far better than how Adam would have lived with God. Because now we finally see, now because of Jesus … Jesus and what He has done, we truly understand how He is our Provider, our Master, our Lawgiver, and our Savior.

And my friends, it will be a place of amazing provisions. There'll be the tree that brings forth the fruit of life. It will be a place where there is wonderful privilege to serve. By the way, Heaven is not a place where you sleep forever.

Heaven is a place where there is delight because you serve God. You see that in verse 3, we will serve God at the same time we will reign. Again very similar to the Garden of Eden motif, isn't it? And this is a place of unmolested, eternal joy.

Well, till then or before then, I like to encourage you today, you need Jesus in your life. We are made to know God. We are made to enjoy God. We are made to serve Him. We are made to love Him. But because of sin, you can't! But that's why the Bible tells us God sent His Son to die on a cross so that you can. So that today I can, I am and I wish you will.

I wish today, I pray for you today that you will repent of your sin and come back to Jesus Christ. Believe in Him and what He has done for you on the cross. He laid down His life to cleanse you from sin and to bring you back to God. I pray you will do that to choose to believe.

And I pray brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter how difficult life is, no matter how darkened our minds may have been, I pray that the Word of God today will renew your mind. That you will believe as taught in the Bible that God is our generous Provider.

Work hard, but don't worry. Trust Him. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you. Delight in serving God, follow Jesus, understand what He means when He says, “My meat, My food, My satisfaction is to do the will of the Father.”

I believe that you are made to serve God. He is your glorious Master, and you will find joy in serving Him. And I pray today you will love Him, you will obey Him. God has given you choice — you are responsible for the choices you make. And I pray you will learn that His Word is not burdensome, but delightful. We can obey Him and enter into that blessedness of trusting and obeying Him.

I pray today, we would stay a little bit at the Garden of Eden. Learn these lessons well and look forward to the garden we will go to because of Jesus. Let's bow for a word of prayer together.

Father, we are thankful for this glimpse at this special place You have provided for Adam. A place of communion and joy and delight; paradise, that's what Eden was. And even though we have lost it because of sin, we pray this morning we would still learn theology, the understanding of God from this place. That we will learn about how generous You are as our Provider, how glorious it is for us to serve You, the glorious Master and how gracious You are, that we might learn to obey You, trust You, love You.

Once again, we thank You for the garden city that is to come, when Jesus returns for us. May we then labor in such a way that we would rejoice when we meet with you.

Dear Lord, please save souls today. Please comfort those who are struggling and please encourage us to be faithful till You return. Bless Your Word to all our lives. Build us up. Build this church up in the image of our Savior. We ask this in Jesus’ Name, Amen. God bless.

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