Introduction
[01:48]
Well, today's passage is one that I hold near and dear to my heart. It is one that has been impactful for me in the way I view my spiritual life and my ministry, and my hope and my prayer is that it will help us consider the road map ahead as a church that we will remain faithful to God in His gracious plan for us as a church.

The Secret Trick to Building the Church

Let me begin with a question. Have you ever seen these video titles or advertisements before? “10 steps for big arms” or maybe “the secret to getting abs in one month”, maybe even this “three exercises that will get you ripped in one week”. Well, I think most of us have seen these ads. They promise a fitness level beyond your dreams and a body that will finally make you happy. Well, these are enticing, not only because they promise a body that looks good but you know it's better than that. It is a secret trick, a sure-fire method that will get you there. Whether this work or not is disputed, not sure about that, but what if I told you that the Bible gives a sure-fire way to build the body, 100% no joke. We will get the body that we want and I hope by now you know I am not talking about our physical bodies.

Well, the Bible speaks of the church as the body of Christ, Christ as our head which is the source, who is the source and the nourishment for us, and it also talks about the body needing to be built up, not just numerically, but it needs to be built up in a way that God wants. So, today my little cheeky sermon title is this “The Secret Trick to Getting Ripped (as a church)”. So, not about body building, not about those guys who want the big buff bodies. No, it's about body building as a church. So, what does the… what does God want in a church? What is a body that God intends and what is the trick for us to get there?

Context of Ephesians and Unity in the Church

Well, today I'm going to do this is I'll bring you through the text, hoping to convince you from Scripture that this is what God really says, not just what I think. And if you could have your Bible open that would be very helpful as well, so you know I'm not just making things up as I go along. Right, but because we're dropping in a new book, Ephesians, not sure how many of you would have… are familiar with the book. Let me provide some context for us so you know I'm not just twisting, plucking this passage out of context to say what I wanted to say. Well, in Ephesians, Paul wants them to know God's powerful plan in Christ so that they are able to walk according to their calling, so there is the need to know God's powerful plan in Christ for them and for us so that we can walk according to God's calling amidst the spiritual battle that we face. See, in the first half of Ephesians, chapters one to three, Paul has established the need to know God's powerful plan, how it applies to us as Christians. Christ is now seated in the heavens as King over all things.

And now we come to the second half, what does it mean to walk in accordance with God's powerful plan? In fact, right before this passage, we see in verse… [chapter] four verse one, Paul begins the application part by saying this, he says, “I therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,” [Ephesians 4:1]. And from verses two to six, he goes on to emphasize the need for unity in the church, just as we have one Lord so we should be one body united, just as there is one faith so we need to be united in it. Unity is needed in the church.

So, flowing out of that unity he now tells us in today's passage about Christ's desire for the church, he begins like this in verse seven, says, “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.” [Ephesians 4:7]. So, we are looking at a certain gift that Christ has given to the church and this gift is what enables us to walk worthily. But before diving into the gift itself, we see that Paul now begins with how we got the gift. It's not just about the gift itself but about the giver.

1. Origin of the Gift: Christ’s Victory

So, let's look at number one, the origin of the gift. The Origin of the Gift. Well, verse eight reads like this, “Therefore it says, ‘when he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.’” [Ephesians 4:8]. Well, in this verse, Paul quotes from the Old Testament. He quotes from Psalm 68 and Psalm 68 is a celebration song. It celebrates God, the divine Warrior, who has marched out to battle, vanquished the enemy of his people, and returned blessing his people. It gives us this image. It's an image of a victorious military procession where the triumphant king and his army marches back into the city with the cheers of the people all around him, and behind him is the conquered enemies in chains. You see, this highlights the immense victory that they have won by showing the shameful defeat of his enemies. And Paul is saying this, he is saying that Christ is the fulfillment of Psalm 68. Christ is the triumphant divine warrior who has ridden out into battle, who has defeated the enemies of his people and have given spoils to them.

How has this happened? Well, we see it's none other than in Christ's ascension into heaven. Paul goes on in verses nine, nine and 10, “(In saying, ‘He ascended,’ what does it mean but that he had also descended to the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who [also] ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)” [Ephesians 4:9-10]. What this means in simple terms is this: Paul is saying Christ has fulfilled this prophecy of the divine warrior through the gospel. And maybe you're new with us here, you're not… or maybe you're not familiar with the gospel just yet. This is the gospel. The gospel is the message that Jesus, the Son of God, died on the cross for our sins, descending into earth in his burial, not only that but he was raised to life on the third day conquering sin, death and hell. Beyond that, he was taken into heaven. He has ascended to the throne as King over all things as God has planned. And now anyone who places their trust and faith in Christ will be saved from their sins and saved from the coming judgment. You see, the gospel is the great message of God. The gospel is why we gather here today and this great victorious gospel is what Paul begins this passage of with. You see, by filling our minds with the victory of Christ, he lets us know that actually this gift is of great benefit to us. Yes, the gospel brings salvation, forgiveness, those are wonderful, those are foundational, those are the basics and cherished ones. But Paul says that Christ has also given to the church this other gift, he not only says that Jesus fulfills the Old Testament but he shows us that this gift is so glorious because the ascended Christ has given to us.

2. Orientation to the Gift: Ministers of the Word

But the question remains now, just what is the gift? And we see the answered in number two, orientation to the gift. Well, we will start by going through what this gift is. Admittedly, Paul doesn't really spend that much time defining but because of how this passage has been taken and interpreted in various different ways that are often conflicting. It is helpful for us to gather and see what Scripture has to say about it, because if you get the gifts wrong, well, the functions don't really make that much sense in the coming verses. Again, this is to show us the context what Paul means, not what we think it means.

So, let's begin. We see what the gift is in [chapter] four verse 11, “and Christ [he] gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,” [Ephesians 4:11]. Now, before I dive into what the gifts are, let me first say what the gifts are not. He is not saying that Christ gave the gift of apostleship, the gift of prophecy, the gift of evangelism, of shepherding and teaching. He is not saying that Christ gave abilities to everybody, that's not what he's saying. Notice he refers to groups of people, not apostleship but he says the apostles, not prophecy but the prophets, not evangelism but evangelists. Get what I'm saying? So, it's not the abilities, not the gift in and… in us but it is a certain group of people to all of us as the church. Why is this important? Because when we come to this passage, we often take it as a spiritual gift list. You know those lists and we'll go, hey, which one are you? Do you think you are an evangelist or are you a shepherd? Are you a teacher? That's not what we are saying here. What Paul is saying is that he gave this group of people to the church, so not all of us will be gifted in this, will not… not all of us will have these abilities. It is a group of people that are given to the church. Yeah, I thought it's helpful to clarify because it could be easily read wrong. Now, let's look at this. If we look at the gift here, we see that the underlying common factor is that they are ministers of the Word of God. They are the ones who teach, who give out the truth of the gospel. Let's dive in really quickly to these.

Firstly, we begin with the apostles and the prophets. Well, these are the ones who have received the revelation from God themselves, for God himself to give out the message of the gospel to all believers. How do I know this? Early in Ephesians, he says this, he tells the Ephesians, "When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, …” or the gospel, “…which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations…”, so not Old Testament prophets, “…as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit” [Ephesians 3:4-5]. So, you see here that what he means by apostles and prophets are a certain class of New Testament people who were tasked to reveal the gospel to all men and this has been accomplished in the Bible. So just clarify, no more apostles today.

Well, next we see the evangelists, these are the ones skilled and given the task of bringing the gospel to the lost in a greater capacity than the rest of us. Some people just have that knack, able to share the gospel super well, super concisely, and people turn to faith.

And finally, we have the shepherds and teachers, we might know them more familiarly as pastors or elders. Notice how these two are slightly different than the rest… It connects… they are more tightly connected than the other three. You see, Paul intentionally groups them together unlike the rest. But why? Well, because there is a certain closeness in their functions. A shepherd in God's church can only do so rightly by teaching. You can't be a shepherd without knowing the Word, so you can't, you have to teach. And a teacher of God is meant to shepherd His people, not by coercion, not by guilt tripping you, not by saying, "Hey, everyone's doing this, why don't you do this?” No, a teacher is to show you, convince you from God's Word, why we should follow God's Word. I've run through this really, really quickly so let me summarize just here.

What is the Gift?
So, what is this gift that the victorious Christ has given us? Well, it is “The Ministers of the Word of God, The Ministers of the Word of God”. These are the ones who teach, who preach the gospel as revealed by God in the… by the Spirit and in the Bible. These are the ones committed to serving the church through defending the faith against falsehood, through feeding everybody through the preaching and teaching of God's Word. This is the gift that the victorious Christ has given to the church. Now as I said at the start, the main point of the text isn't to know just what these are but to know how they function within the church. After all, it's a present for the church, so we need to know what they are for. Well, it doesn’t mean that the pastors are supposed to do all the work in the church. Does it mean maybe we should stop all ministry? Just get Pastor Jason, Pastor Chee Kin to serve everywhere until they burn out? No, that is not what we are saying here.

3. Objective of the Gift: Equipping the Saints

We see the function of the ministers of the Word of God in number three, the Objective of the Gift. Well, Paul sheds light on how the Word ministers’ function. He says in verse 12, the word gift ministries are “to equip the saints for…” what? “…for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ” [Ephesians 4:12]. The Word ministers are meant to equip the church or the saints for body building. See, God's design for the church isn't that Word ministers do everything but that all of us who are Christians, who are part of a local church, that when we listen, when we internalize the Word of God, we are equipped to serve one another. See by listening to God's Word, we not only grow our own knowledge and our faith but we extend our hand to help, reach out and encourage one another.

For those who were here last week, my older brother Luzene preached and he mentioned how as brothers, we have the privilege of serving in a church together but did you know that we also have a younger brother. Well, recently in our Cheng family there has been an unprecedented thing where all of us and I mean all of us started exercising, never heard of before. And well, as a physical trainer, my little brother, Gaelan, became the go-to guy for fitness advice. You will see our group chat light up with… Gaelan, how do I do this? What's the best way to exercise this way? How long should I need? Should I rest? This and that… And because he is trained as a physical trainer, he has the know-how and the knowledge to teach us, to equip us to exercise well. So you see much like how my little brother is the family trainer, I can say that… A way to think about the Word ministers, they are like the trainers for the church. They know the truth best, they spend more time studying the truth, diving into Scripture and so they are able to train us with what the Bible says, and what it means for our lives. They are the ones who train, they are the ones who equip us to serve each other well, to build the body up.

You see, Church isn't just about showing up to Sundays, it isn't about ticking some religious fulfillment, religious checklist. Well, church is about training and equipping for service. The Sunday sermons, the trainings, the Bible studies are meant to equip us with the knowledge and know-how to serve one another. See, the people on your left and right, we all are facing certain struggles. We will come to a point where we are facing struggles. The people on your left and right might be facing afflictions that you don't know about. They might be struggling with strong temptations that you don't know about, difficulties in their life as life goes long and hard, things happen and they lose sight of the gospel. You see, we need one another in the church to support each other, to encourage, to remind, and even help out materially for those struggling. You see, God's loving intention for us is to be committed to a church, to serve others and to be served. Sometimes I'm going to struggle and I need someone alongside me. Sometimes you're going to struggle and you need someone alongside you. That's the reality of the church and God's benevolent, loving plan is for all of us Christians not to live lives as a solo Christian, but to be deeply connected to a church for encouragement. If you're not yet committed as a member of a local church, let me take this chance to encourage you to do so, it is God's loving intention for every Christian to be part of a church.

What is the Objective of the Gift?
Back to the text, let's summarize this point. What is the objective of the gift? Well, we see the objective is to equip the saints to serve, to equip Christians to build the body. But is that the end goal of Christianity? I learn then I serve, serve, serve, serve, serve. Well, no, there is a point for the serving. It is not just mindless serving to no end.

4. Outcome for the Church: Maturity in Christ

We see that in our next point, the outcome for the church. The Outcome for the Church. Well, we've all seen pictures like this, haven't we? Before and after photos. Well, what happens is they place two photos side by side, one clearly a picture that you don't want to be and one that you do. Well, what is communicated is this, if you don't want to look like the left side, join the workout program to look like the right side. This before and after picture communicates a certain outcome that we want. Likewise, in this point, Paul presents two pictures side by side to show us the ideal outcome for a church. What is the ideal outcome? Well, he begins firstly with the after photo. So, recall with me the victorious Christ has given gifts to the church. The word gift ministers are supposed to equip us to build the body and now we see the outcome. Verse 13, “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,” [Ephesians 4:13]. See, by listing these things like this, Paul isn't saying that these are three goals that we hit but he is explaining one goal in three different points and we see, to summarize these three, the goal of the church or the outcome that the church should have is maturity in Christ likeness in our understanding.

But hang on, what about unity of the faith? That doesn't really sound like knowledge, does it? Well here in this passage, he isn't talking about generic unity. Remember earlier… in the earlier passage he has already covered that the church needs to be united. And notice with me that it is not united… unity in the faith but it's unity of the faith. So… so complicated. What does it mean? There is something about our faith that we find unity in. It is the contents of the Christian faith that we are united around, or another way to put it is this, it means a united understanding in the church about the faith. And more than the goal, notice who are involved? Is it just my CG [Care Group] leader, my DG [Disciple Group] leader? Is it just my pastors? No, the goal is for who? “Until we all attain” the whole church attaining this maturity. So, Paul has given us the after photo.

Now comes the question, what is the before photo that we want to avoid. Well, verse 14 tells us, “so that we may no longer be children, …” or no longer be infants “…tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” [Ephesians 4:14]. The image he paints to us is that of a helpless baby before the large storms in the ocean. Well, a few months ago we saw this headline, “China wants people under 50 kgs to stay indoors amid strong wind alert as they may be ‘easily blown away’.” And as a Singaporean, this was super baffling. When we first read it, we are like, wha… in Singapore, we are just wishing the winds will get stronger. Please blow away the humidity from us. And can winds really get so strong, right? Oftentimes when a little breeze comes, we are already so thankful. But the reality is, the winds do get that strong. If you are under 50 kg, it is a trap to you. It did get me thinking. If someone under 50 kg is at risk of being blown away, what more a tiny little baby less than 5kg? What hope does that baby have? Will be utterly helpless, blown away by strong winds to its eventual doom. Likewise, when a church is not full of the gospel, when a church is not mature in our knowledge and understanding of Christ, we are just like that tiny baby at the mercy of the strong winds of the world's deception.

We may be a big church but in reality, we could just be a tiny little baby at the mercy of winds and waves. Is it really so bad? Is Paul just being dramatic here? Can it really be so “Jialat” [means terrible in Singlish]? Well, think about it, just recall your last week. Think about the things that you have watched, you have read, you have talked about with other people. Well, chances are 90% of it are things of the world. And whether we realize it or not, there are deceptions slipped into this. Whether we realize it or not, we are either being swayed by the world or convinced by the gospel. And maybe not just from the world outside, online sermons are a big thing now. Being connected to other so-called Christian speakers are so easy right now but also false teachings from Christian circles and Christian teachers. You see, if a church isn't firmly rooted in the gospel, if we don't know the gospel well enough, we will not unify in our understanding and mature. Well, we will be easily influenced like that little baby swept by the winds and waves away to our doom. So, we see here a scary and sobering reality of a before picture. Well, just to show us the before and after picture. Before; helpless infant hood. After; strong mature man.

Well, let's recap what we've seen so far. Well, firstly, we saw the origin of the gift that we have a glorious gift given to us by the victorious Christ in the gospel. Next, we saw the orientation to the gift, that the gift are the ministers of the Word, and what's the objective of the ministers? Well, they are to equip the saints for bodybuilding that all of us build up the church not just the ministers, and the outcome for the church is maturity in the knowledge of Christ. The strong man against the winds and not the tiny little baby swept away.

5. Outworking of the Church: Speaking Truth in Love

Well, if you don't want to be that helpless infant before the wind and waves, the question is left, what does body building practically look like? Paul gives us the answer in the final point, in the outworking of the church. The Outworking of the Church. What does the church need to be doing in order to be building the body? We see it in verse 15 and 16, “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” [Ephesians 4:15-16]. So, how does a church grow and reach maturity? How do we no longer stay an infant? Well, Paul tells us it is by speaking truth in love but does this mean we just have to always be honest with each other. Is this speaking truth talking about honesty? Honesty is the best policy and all that. Not lying, well, we should not lie to one another, definitely. But this speaking truth goes a little deeper than just honesty.

Well, it is the gospel truth. How do I know this? Well, because in Ephesians, Paul often uses the term truth as referring to the gospel. Look with me to Ephesians 1:13, he says this, “In Christ [him] you also, when you heard the word of truth, …”, what is it? It is “…the gospel of your salvation…” [Ephesians 1:13]. So, the point he's saying is this, a church that is building itself up is one that is constantly speaking gospel truths to one another, to the people on our left and right, the people in our CGs [Care Groups], the people in our ministries. See, it's not just the pastors, not just the preachers, not just the elders or the CG [Care Group] leaders. Paul actually says is every single one in the church. Look at the language used here, he says it is the whole body, it is joined together by every joint and when each part is working properly, he is saying you and me, all of us play this role. True body building takes place when everyone who is part of the church is speaking gospel truths to each other.

But isn't that so awkward sometimes? When I come to Sunday, do I really want to walk in the door and say, “Hey, how's your walk with God going?” Well, there are a couple of reasons why people don't really want to do that these days, right? It can feel awkward sometimes, or maybe you're an introvert like me just shy to do it, or maybe some people, I just want to go home, it's been a tiring week. Well, for those who want to, well, maybe you can take this sermon as an opportunity. Ephesians [chapter] four says, if you speak the truth in love, so hey, let's speak some truth in love right now. But the reality is that speaking the truth in love is tough. It is difficult at times but it is so, so important. Just like working out, I don't like exercise but I do it because it's good, and this is of greater importance than just physical exercise. This is the health of all of us here in the church. So, just to push that point one last time, body building takes place when we are speaking the gospel truth in love regularly and constantly to each other. Think about it, when we are constantly speaking the truth of God, we are constantly made aware, our minds are being renewed as Roman says and we grow into maturity able to discern what is deception from the world and what isn't. We will be a church strong in faith, strong in maturity against the waves and winds of the world.

The Secret Trick to Getting Ripped (as a church)

So, what is the secret trick to getting ripped as a church? Well, Ephesians [chapter] four tells us it is by speaking the gospel truth to one another. The truth that is accurately taught by the Word ministers, the pastors, the preachers, the elders in order that we may grow into maturity. Well, as Singaporeans, we all like to see a nice diagram so I've put a diagram together for us in this Ephesians four.

So, this passage will look like this as a church, we start with the “Victorious Christ”, the victorious Christ who gave gifts to the church and we saw that this gift is the “Word Ministers” who teach the Word, who equip all of us, to do what? To build the body, to build the church. The chief way is by speaking truth in love to the end goal of maturity in knowledge and as we are mature, we grow back into the image of the victorious Christ.

Well, for our guests and friends, and for those who are here, admittedly this sermon is one more for Christians, part of local churches. But I do hope that in this sermon, we… you consider why is this gospel message so important to us as believers, not just our first timers but maybe you've been here for years, or months, or weeks, and you have not yet known Christ well.

The gospel is the great message of all time. It is why Christians gather. It is how we are saved. The gospel speaks of Jesus, the Son of God, who is the good giver of good gifts. The most foundational of the gifts, more than the Word ministers is the forgiveness and salvation of ourselves. You see, the Christians on your left and right, we are not better than you. We are not better than each other. What makes us Christians is that we are forgiven, that we are given this righteousness that is foreign to us which only comes from Christ, and we only did this through faith and trust in Jesus. You see, Jesus, the Son of God, came and lived a perfect life and died on the cross as the sacrifice for your sin. He paid the punishment for your sin and mine, and he rose back to life, and he's seated in heaven as King over all things, and one day he is coming to judge us again. Now, anyone who trusts in Jesus, well, you will be forgiven of your sins, you will receive eternal life with him, you will receive a relationship with the holy God that every one of us have… have rebelled against. My urge for you if you have not yet trusted in Christ, would you take up this offer of Jesus Christ? It is an offer of salvation from judgment, it's an offer of salvation from punishment, it's an offer of forgiveness from your sins. Well, if you'd like to find out more and maybe you've been here for a few years, and you are not certain, and you are not yet a believer, please speak to someone. We will be happy to journey with you through the gospel and show you why Jesus is the answer.

The Importance of Engagement in the Local Church

But now, what does this mean for Gospel Light Christian Church? Well, today's passage tells us that being growing into a mature man that body building as a church is the way we fulfill our church's mission. The victorious Christ has given us a gift to equip all of us to build the body. I said these many times, just on a hammered in. But let me ask you one thing and I want you to consider this from the sermon. How are you engaged in the life of your local church? For those who are part of Gospel Light Christian Church, how are you engaged in the life of Gospel Life Christian Church? For those of you part of another local church, maybe those watching online, how are you part of your local church? See, are we coming to tick off a religious checklist or do we realize that being part of a church it means I need you; you need me. Each of us need to be speaking the gospel truth in love to one another. Are we showing up ready to speak the gospel truth or are we showing up ready to fight for car park spaces downstairs?

You see, today's passage affects many things and I encourage you to go back and meditate on the passage what it might personally mean for you. But hear me out, if speaking the truth in love is the way we grow to maturity as gospel light, it should be our focus in how we engage with one another, with how we show up on Sundays, with how we show up on CGs [Care Groups], with how we serve. I'm not just showing up to clock in to my weekly Christian to-do lists. I'm showing up because my brothers and sisters need me, and I will need them. Well, imagine what we will look like when every one of us are doing this, when we are eager to show up, to speak truth to one another. We are a struggling believer, well, you find encouragement in the gospel. Whether… maybe the tired parent finds reminders of joy and help. Where the person who is struggling with loneliness, well, they find encouragement in gospel fellowship and unity. We will be a mature church. We will not let the lies of the world infect our minds and take root in our hearts. We will not be that baby tossed by the waves but we'll be standing firm in gospel truth as the strong man against deception, and we will really be a church that fulfills our mission to lead generations into a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ.

What does it mean for you? Well, maybe for some of you it means to initiate conversations that go beyond what is secular into what is spiritual, more than how's your job, that's important, more than how's your family, though that's important as well. Actually, hey, how's your walk with Christ? And I'm not saying that to judge you, I'm not saying that to compare. I'm saying that because I want to make sure that you are enjoying the relationship with Christ, that you're standing firm against the ways of deception.

Maybe for some of you it means to reach out to someone you know around you who is struggling, who is lonely, struggling with temptation, struggling in sin, and to walk alongside them, encouraging them in the gospel. Maybe for some of you it means to choose a ministry to serve in, one that is actively involved in speaking the truth in love to others, areas of service like CG [Care Group] leading, Children Ministry. But no matter who you are, one thing is sure, all of us, we need to remember the origin of the gift, we need to remember Christ, the victorious Christ seated on high. Why? Because it is not going to be easy to always be body building. It will get tiring when I'm struggling, how am I supposed to be engaging like that? Well, when I'm struggling, I will need you. When you're struggling, you need others. See, the church to build each other up in love is that constant speaking of gospel truths to the point that we are saturated and strong in the gospel. We will struggle but we can rely on the strong, powerful, victorious Christ for help in these times. Join me as I pray for God's help to build our church.

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have given us the sweet, sweet gift of salvation. The forgiveness of sin. We also thank you for the sweet, sweet gift of fellowship and unity in the church. No matter how we feel, we know that we as believers, we are all united with one another to Christ because of what Christ has done on the cross.

So, God, would you be merciful and gracious to us that you would show how magnificent Christ's victory in the gospel is, each and every one of these days of our lives. God, would you be with our church that we may be loving one another more than ourselves, that we will be intentionally speaking the truth in love to those around us. God, may Gospel Light [Christian Church] grow into a mature church full of the gospel, guard us, protect us from being helpless against the waves of this world.

And God, I want to pray for our friends and guests around us, and those who have not yet trusted in Christ. Would you show them the glories of Christ in the gospel? Would you show them how marvelous the gospel is that the perfect God would send His blameless and perfect son to pay the price for our sins, that anyone who believes in Him will receive salvation, forgiveness and a relationship with you. Father, please be gracious to them. Please use us to indeed shine that light to many more around us. Be with your church. Be with your people. We love you. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

[41:28]