Latest / HBCWestminster / 3.5.23 Ephesians 5:1-17 Pastor Sam Porges

Transcript

3.5.23 Ephesians 5:1-17 Pastor Sam Porges · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  And this morning we're going to take a look at Ephesians chapter 5. And as you turn there, I have a question. What do you think is the most widely sold or widely read Christian book besides the Bible? Pilgrim's Progress? What do you think? Purpose Driven Life? Good guess. Someone in first service said Harry Potter. That's not a Christian book. The Lord of the Rings is a Christian book.
• 0:41
  Mere Christianity, okay. Narnia, that is Christian, indeed. What else? Any other guesses? Case for Christ, knowing God, Pilgrim's Progress, right? That's a good guess. To my surprise, I learned a year ago that a little devotional book called The Imitation of Christ is considered by many to be the most widely sold and widely read Christian book besides the Bible.
• 1:16
  This little book was written in 1441 by a Catholic monk named Thomas Akempis, who was part of a group called the Brethren of the Common Life. Brethren of the Common Life, which consisted of ascetic monks dedicated to this movement called the Devotio Moderna. Now, within that Devotio Moderna, you can hear, right, modern devotion. Devotio Moderna, this movement.
• 1:43
  was prominent in the Netherlands and in certain parts of Germany. And it focused on the inward life of contemplation. It focused on holiness of conduct and on imitation of the life of Christ. Now, the author here, Thomas Akempis, he became very closely associated with this movement. And this little book really became the flagship document for the Brethren of the Common Life and the Devotio Moderna.
• 2:12
  And this little book teaches the reader how to live like or imitate Christ. I would highly recommend it to you. It is very, very good. But the opening words of this book are these. Thomas writes this, He that follows me shall not walk in darkness, saith the Lord. These are the words of Christ, and they teach us how far we must imitate his life and character if we seek true illumination and deliverance from all blindness of heart.
• 2:41
  Let it be our most earnest study, therefore, to dwell upon the life of Jesus Christ. In this morning's passage, when we look at Ephesians 5, we're going to read this command in Ephesians 5.1 to be imitators of God. Be imitators of God.
• 3:08
  And we're going to explore a little bit about what that actually means today. And so if you've got your Bibles open to Ephesians chapter 5, if you are able, let's stand in honor of God's word. I'm going to read chapter 5, verses 1 to 17, okay? It says this,
• 3:39
  But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous, that is, an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
• 4:05
  Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not become partners with them, for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true, and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them, for it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.
• 4:36
  But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible. For anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, Father, this morning, illuminate your word to us by your Spirit.
• 5:06
  and glorify yourself in the name of the Son. We pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. Well, like I said, this passage begins in verse 1 with this command, be imitators of God. Now, what exactly does that mean? Because certainly imitating God would mean some things and not mean other things, right? Think about this. Are there ways that you and I shouldn't?
• 5:36
  Or can't imitate God? Are there ways that we can't imitate God? Like what? Can't forgive sin? Okay, omnipresent. Yeah, being everywhere at once. Omniscience, is that what you said? What else? All-knowing. What was that? One day we will, right? But not of our own power. Right, there are certain ways we can't imitate God. The omnis, right? Omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence. We can't have all power. Transcendence. God is beyond all things.
• 6:17
  What about eternality? We haven't been here forever, right? For those of you who took the foundations class, we would call these the incommunicable attributes of God. There are things that are true of God which are not true of us, right? Now think about this. Are there ways that we can and should imitate God? Like what? Mercy. Prayer. Yeah, so forgiveness, right? Compassion.
• 6:46
  Loving? Yes. There are so many ways in which we should imitate God, and you guys named a handful of them. Love, grace, mercy, justice, faithfulness, joy, holiness. When we talk about imitating God, we need to be really clear what we mean. And in verses 2 to 17, Paul provides four major ways we can imitate God. But here in verse 1, he lays this foundational truth that really sets the stage for the rest of this passage. He says in verse 1, look there with me.
• 7:16
  He says, therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children. He says, remember that God is your great father who has adopted you into his family, and you are meant to live according to your family name, if you will. Over the last three months since Hudson was born, we've been trying to figure out every month, like, who does he look more like? Does he look more like his mom, or does he look more like his dad? But regardless of...
• 7:44
  Who he looks more like? He's going to look like one of us, right? Because he's our kid. And in the same way, children of the Heavenly Father look like their Heavenly Father. People who follow Jesus, they look like Jesus. The mirror image verse of chapter 5, verse 1, right? Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children is Ephesians chapter 1, verse 5. It's kind of a cool thing to remember. So you got Ephesians 5, 1, and then 1, 5.
• 8:13
  5.1 we read here, but then in chapter 1, verse 5, it says that he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ. And so in chapter 1, verse 5, we see, okay, he adopted us. And then in chapter 5, verse 1, we see, okay, then live like you're part of that family. At the end of chapter 4 in Ephesians, in verse 24, we are told that we as believers are called to live out our new selves in Christ, which, he says here, are created after the likeness of God in Christ.
• 8:42
  true righteousness and holiness. And so this morning, with that foundational thought, right, be imitators of God. And with how many centuries the people of God have contemplated this idea, imitating Christ, we're going to look at how we can do that in four ways. We're going to see that Paul says you can imitate God by living like his son in love, holiness, light, and wisdom. And so let's look at that first one. Imitate Christ.
• 9:12
  By walking in love. Look at verse 2. He says this, You may have noticed that in verses 1 and 2, imitating God and imitating Christ are unified, right? Be imitators of God and then imitate Christ by walking in love as he did. Now, there are so many examples of God's love in the Old Testament which we could use.
• 9:40
  to give us principles for how to walk in love as the people of God. But what is the example that Paul gives here in verse 2 for our love? The cross. How do we know how to walk in love? Where do we look for our example? The cross. The cross is the greatest picture of love we could have because the person who never did anything wrong, that everyone should have loved, the person by whom the world was created.
• 10:15
  The world did not know. Instead of following him and worshiping and adoring him, they hung him on a cross. And he didn't go just because of their will, he went of his own will. He willingly submitted himself to the will of the Father to the point of death on a cross. Now, in the cross, right, in the communion table, which we just celebrated, right, there's an element there that we're not supposed to imitate. In Christ's death, what is it?
• 10:46
  We can't atone for the sins of the world, right? You and I cannot hang up on a cross and pay for the sins of humanity, but we can live sacrificially and lay down our lives for the good of other people, which is what he's calling us to here. We can be generous with our time and our resources in order to take care of others. We know that the love of God is displayed in John 3.16, which you guys know, right?
• 11:17
  For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. But here's another mirror verse. We've got John 3.16, which talks about God's love, and then we've got 1 John 3.16, which talks about the love that we should have for one another. Look at this. It says,
• 11:47
  How does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. Just as Christ's sacrifice for humanity was pleasing to God, the life that imitates Christ by living with sacrificial love is like a beautiful aroma to God. I'm sure that many of you who are reading your Bibles, maybe on the one-year Bible plan,
• 12:13
  You just got done with a lot of the law portion of the Old Testament. Lots of laws regarding sacrifices and how to worship and how the tabernacle was to be constructed and set up. And those sacrifices are often described as a pleasing aroma to God. The burning incense within the tabernacle, a pleasing aroma to God. And our lives, Paul says here, are meant to be like burning incense,
• 12:43
  The Father, the first and foremost way that we can accomplish this is by imitating God in love. And it's a selfless and sacrificial love. Our world has hijacked the word love, hasn't it? And redefined it, really not even redefined it, constrained it to be this really claustrophobic, stingy, tribal love.
• 13:12
  Between people who have the same values, the same interests, the same political agenda, right? It's I will love you if you're in here. And if you're outside, then I have no love for you. You're my enemy. But we as the people of God refuse that definition of love. We say no. We hold to an agape love. A love that is generous and open and free. That is extended to all people.
• 13:43
  So important is the love in the church that Jesus said in John chapter 13, verses 34 and 35, a new command I give you, that you love one another. As I have loved you, so you are to love one another. By this, you guys remember this verse? All people will know you are my disciples if you love one another. And there's a scary truth in that verse, and Francis Schaeffer pointed this out last century, 50 or 60 years ago. He said, that verse means that if the world looks at the church,
• 14:14
  and they don't see love, and they don't believe because of what they're seeing, it's not their fault. It's the church's fault. Because the testimony of the church is meant to be one of love. They're going to know you're my disciples if you love one another. And so when we stop loving one another and they don't believe, that responsibility is on us. And so I just want to ask you this simple question. Are you imitating Christ in your love? First with your spouse and with your kids in your own home.
• 14:50
  Is love the defining ethic? Is your home shaped by love? And then extending beyond that to your friends, coworkers, your neighborhood, are you defined by love? And then even beyond, are you just known for how you love people? This is the most foundational step in our imitation of Christ. So he says, first, walk in love. Second, we are to walk in holiness. Look at verse three with me.
• 15:30
  He says, Christ was the ultimate example of holy and righteous living because he chose righteousness every time. And you and I are called to do the same thing.
• 15:45
  In these verses, Paul hones in on three specific sins, which really would have been like specific vices in the Ephesian culture. What are they? Verse three, sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness. He's telling the church, these three things are going to be definitive of the culture in which you live, but they are not even to be named among you as the people of God.
• 16:13
  It's like you're saying if a detective came into your life or into your church and was looking for dirt, looking for evidence of unholiness, they shouldn't be able to find any. Zero evidence of unholiness. Here, sexual immorality includes any sexual sin from fornication, homosexuality, porn, adultery. Jesus would also include in this lust.
• 16:42
  Impurity simply means anything that would stain the holiness to which we are called, including impure speech. And the examples of impure speech that he gives in verse 4 are foolish talking and crude joking. It's like he's saying, the words that you and I speak as the people of God should build up. They should bring forth life, not tear down and bring forth death, including when you're joking, right?
• 17:09
  No crude joking. It's out of place. It doesn't fit, right? The unholiness described here in the life of a Christian should be like wearing a shoe that's too small. You guys ever do that? You put on a shoe that's too small and the whole day you're going, I hate this. Like, I cannot wait to take these shoes off, right? Unholy living in our lives as believers should be like that. Like, ah, it's so uncomfortable. Like, I got to get this out of my life.
• 17:38
  I've got to confess this and overcome it. It has no place here, right? This is improper. It's unworthy of my calling. In verse 4, he concludes, rather than those things, he says, let thanksgiving be your native language. Now, we live 2,000 years after the church at Ephesus. It's a long time. And I think that we are inclined to believe that we're more advanced than the Ephesian society.
• 18:05
  I mean, surely the things that Paul is calling out here, that was just part of a barbaric ancient civilization. We're past that, right? We're more advanced. Unfortunately, we're not. Ephesian culture had certain vices and so does American culture. And if I was just going to name three of American culture vices, just off the top of my head, I would say probably sexual immorality, maybe impurity.
• 18:37
  Covetousness is probably the third one that I would choose. And I'm not getting that from anywhere, right? I'm just making it up. It's just our culture, right? For those, it's the list in verse 3, okay? It turns out that we struggle with the exact same things. And when you read Ephesians chapter 5, you could go, this book could have been written this morning to America, to the American church. We struggle with the same things, and so we should receive the same exhortation from Paul.
• 19:04
  He would say to us the same as he said to them, don't even let these things be named among you, Highland. Zero evidence, not a speck. Put away your sin. Conquer your temptation. Put away porn and vulgar jokes and every impurity and pursue holiness. The world should be able to examine our lives and like I said before, find no evidence of unholiness. And although we know that this is the case, this should be the case of churches, sadly,
• 19:35
  it's not always true. I think too often the church has shown the world, like, we're going to live just like you, but just a little bit more moral. We're going to live like you, but then we're going to sprinkle Jesus on top, and then it's fine, and it's acceptable to God. But holiness is what we are called to. Set-apart-ness, if you will. There's this animal called the white weasel, or the white stoat.
• 20:05
  or ermine is one of its names. And legend tells us that there was one way to catch this weasel. A long time ago when, if you've ever seen pictures of old kings or queens and they'll have this massive white cape or a white mantle that is white with those specks of black in it, those are the tails of this animal. And legend says that there was one way to catch these. When the stoat or the weasel would leave its home, what you would do is cover its home with mud.
• 20:37
  Because this weasel was so concerned with keeping its coat white, it wouldn't return back into its hole. And so you could catch it. It would rather pay a price than get its coat dirty. And let me ask you, when we're considering holiness, is that your attitude? This might be the only time ever I would encourage you to be like a weasel, right? But is our mentality, okay, I would rather pay a personal or social price
• 21:08
  then walk in unholiness. I will not do it. Christ lived in a holy way. I must live in a holy way. You know, as it pertains to holiness, Paul gives us a warning in verses 5 and 6. Look at this. He says, verse 5,
• 21:46
  He gives us a warning here, and he says, don't fall into the trap of thinking that you can redefine morality and yet also claim the name of Christ. Like, God, I'm going to make the rules, and you're going to accept me. He says clearly, the people who say that these things would be good, right? Like, it's the folly of Isaiah 5, verse 20, when he says,
• 22:13
  Woe to those who say what is bitter is sweet and what is sweet is bitter. Woe to you. That is evil, right? You don't see clearly. Our culture is filled with people who cherry pick certain parts of Christianity that they want to follow and then disregard all the rest. Like these are the parts I want. I'm not going to stick to the scriptures or live by the letter. I make the rules.
• 22:42
  Just as in Ephesus, our culture wants to change the morality laid out in Scripture, and oftentimes many people do this in the name of progressive Christianity. Have you guys heard of that term, progressive Christianity? The mentality is, man, all these moral prohibitions in the Bible, that was for back then. They were barbaric. That's not us. And so we don't need to, I know it says don't be sexually immoral, but we're past that. We've progressed.
• 23:10
  And it sounds really good because everyone likes progress, right? Everyone likes progress. The problem with progressive Christianity is what they have progressed from is the gospel. Like, yeah, you're making progress, but it's not forward progress. You're going backward. When you progress from the true gospel, you're not a Christian anymore. And yes, it includes obedience to God. It's sad. So many that have fallen into that trap.
• 23:46
  The people here in verses 5 and 6 who would claim progressive Christianity says they're idolaters who do not worship the true God. They praise the very things that merit the wrath of God. And he says we must be careful not to be deceived by them into living the lifestyle that we promote. Right? Because if salt has lost its saltiness, what good is it? It's no good. If light is put under a basket, what good is it? It's no good.
• 24:17
  Jesus would say, let others see your holiness and glorify God in heaven. And so we must imitate Christ by walking in holiness because he is holy. And so we've got love, holiness, and then third, he says, walk in light. Look at verse seven with me. Therefore, do not become partners with them. For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true, and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
• 24:47
  While we are called to befriend unbelievers and live as salt and light, this does not mean that we participate in their sin. And Paul makes a startling statement about conversion in verse 8. Did you catch it? Look at verse 8. He says, He says, before conversion, before you come to Christ, the problem in the world is not that the evil is external from you. The problems are out there. No.
• 25:17
  He says, you were the darkness. It's not that you were walking in darkness. You were participating in dark behaviors. No, you were the problem. I was the problem. But when we come to Christ, everything is changed so that he then says, but now you are light in the Lord. It's not that we're just like the world. We just behave better. You were darkness. Now you are light.
• 25:47
  Any gospel explanation that makes us out to be victims and not perpetrators of sin is a false gospel presentation. Before conversion, our hearts had appetites for sin. We were curved inward in self-worship. And what was wrong with the world was us. But now, again, he says, you are the light. I find it fascinating that in John 8, verse 12, Jesus says to the crowds, I am the light of the world.
• 26:19
  But then also in Matthew 5, verse 14, the Sermon on the Mount, which I think we're going to study this upcoming Wednesday, Lord willing, Jesus looks at his disciples and he says, you're the light of the world. How can those two be true? Jesus is the light of the world, I'm the light of the world. You know why? It's because we have been united to Christ. We have been united to the light, and so we are the light of...
• 26:45
  The world, it reminds me of our Christmas Eve candlelight service, right? Everyone is sitting out here. We've got our little candles that are unlit. There's one candle here that is lit. And at the end of the service, what do we do every year? One person comes and lights their candle. And then they go back and they start lighting everyone else's candle, right? To the point where everyone's candle in the room is lit. What a picture.
• 27:13
  of our status as the light of the world. All of that light originated here, but then it spreads. And so if we want to be like Jesus, we have to walk in the light. Now, the idea of being children appears again in verse 8, right? We saw it in verse 1. It's here again in verse 8. He says, walk as children of light. As children of light who walk with the Father of lights, as James 1.17 says, our lives should produce things that are congruent with the light.
• 27:43
  He says in verse 9, what is good and right and true. And then verse 10 tells us, if you see it here, he says, try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Now, I don't know about you. When I read that verse, try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord, it can seem pretty daunting. Like, discern what is pleasing to God. How do I even do that? The answer is in the word. Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, Paul writes, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies.
• 28:12
  as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. And then he says, do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing, you may discern what the will of God is, what is good and acceptable and perfect. God, how can I ever find out your will? Step one, you surrender every square inch of your life to him. And then you start reading the book.
• 28:41
  And he'll make it very, very clear. Walk in the light. Now, continuing on, I appreciate verses 11 to 14 where Paul essentially tells us to call things like it is. Look at verse 11. He says,
• 29:08
  Therefore, it says, When the lights are on, we can see things as they truly are. And so, as we walk in the light, we can expose the darkness and send the shadows fleeing. Think about turning on a light switch in a dark room, right? Shadows are gone. If something belongs to the darkness, we must call it darkness. And if it belongs to the light, we must call it light. Now, there are a few applications I want to take out of these verses, okay?
• 29:38
  The first one is this. Part of exposing darkness is taking the parts of our hearts that are dark and bringing them into the light. Really, the way that happens is through confession. And not just confession to the Lord, but confession to one another. I think sometimes we fall into this trap of thinking, if people understood what I actually struggled with, if people understood who I truly was, they would totally reject me. And so we...
• 30:18
  we back off from true fellowship and go, nah, these parts, I'll just deal with it. And we keep those dark parts of our hearts to ourselves and sin thrives in the darkness. It loves it there. But how many of you guys know this to be true? When you confess, immense freedom comes in that. How many of you guys, you ever been so scared to tell someone what you're wrestling with or what you did?
• 30:48
  petrified, but then you just decide to go for it anyway. And then you confess and what you find is like this burden just falls off your heart, right? This is how God designed us to work, dragging what is dark into the light. So that's the first application. I think we need to drag our own personal darkness into the light. But then second, when the light shines, it can turn darkness into light.
• 31:15
  As the church witnesses to the gospel, some who walk in darkness and see the light will be changed. How many of you experience this? The light of the gospel shone upon you and then you were changed from darkness to light. J.B. Phillips, a commentator, says it is even possible, after all that happened to you, for the light to turn the thing it shines upon into light also.
• 31:42
  And so we can have this immense confidence in the gospel. Like, yes, not everyone will believe when I speak the gospel, but some will. The light will shine on them, and some people will become light in the Lord just like us. So we have this confidence in the gospel. And the third, we cannot shrink back from speaking graciously but truthfully about evil, whether it's social transgressions or cultural sins, government corruption, hypocrisy in the church.
• 32:13
  We have to call things like they are. We must let the light of the gospel shine forth from us. And the quote in verse 14, in fact, you'll notice, right, the formatting changes where he says, That quote was likely a combination of Isaiah 26, 19 and chapter 60, verse 1. And it was used, actually, as an early Christian hymn for the newly baptized. That's cool. What he's essentially saying in that verse is, rise and shine, Christian.
• 32:43
  Wake up. Let the light of God shine instead of keeping it to yourself. And so we are to walk in love. We are to walk in holiness. We are to walk in light. And then lastly, we are to walk in wisdom. We are to walk in wisdom. Look at verse 15.
• 33:15
  Walking in wisdom involves doing what is right and taking hold of the long tradition of biblical wisdom that has been passed down to us through the ages. I love Proverbs chapter 7, verses 1 to 4. Solomon writes this,
• 33:51
  See what he's saying? Call wisdom and insight your family. Keep them close. Walk in wisdom. And if we ever feel like, man, I'm not wise. I need wisdom. James 1.5 says that if you lack wisdom,
• 34:09
  If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask God, and God will give generously without reproach. God isn't this stingy God, like, gosh, you need wisdom again? Are you kidding me? Fine, here's a little morsel of wisdom for you. No, he says, but the storehouses of my wisdom, the wisdom of Almighty God, are available to you. Ask. But James also says, let him ask in faith, not doubting. For the person who doubts must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
• 34:39
  Wisdom is fitting with our calling and the onus in verse 15 is put on us to examine ourselves to see if we're walking in wisdom. Like there's an appropriate measure of self-judgment here. He said, pay attention to your life. Look at it precisely. Look at it closely and walk in wisdom, not in foolishness. Now, verse 16 is a convicting verse.
• 35:08
  I find it very convicting. That phrase, make the best use of the time in Greek, carries with it the sense of redeeming, buying, or purchasing. And it was used in reference to buying back a slave. And so this verse, make the best use of the time because the days are evil, seems to tell me to make time my servant. Make time your servant. Make it work for you. Take advantage.
• 35:37
  of every opportunity for wisdom. And as one man said, identify the things that fritter your time away and prioritize everything relentlessly. Make the best use of the time. Now, time management is difficult, right? It's very difficult, especially in our world of distractions and entertainment, but wisdom tells us to handle time well. I saw this video a handful of years ago where this guy just said this, imagine if every day you woke up,
• 36:05
  There was $86,400 in your account, your bank account. And you have to spend it because at the end of today, it's all gone. And then tomorrow when you wake up, there will be another $86,400 in your account. This will happen every single day. Let me ask you, what would you do with that money? Would you save it? Are you guys with me this morning? Would you save it? No, because it's gone. What would you do? I would spend every cent of that money, right?
• 36:41
  Because that's all I have for today. And then he said, you have 86,400 seconds in your day. And at the end of today, it's all gone. You can't save it. But then tomorrow you wake up with the same amount in your account. How are you spending those seconds? What are you doing with your time?
• 37:03
  What a great analogy that is. Our time is a gift from the Lord, a precious commodity that is too often wasted. But if time, Highland, is harnessed for wisdom, if time is harnessed for godliness, it will be a force of Christ-likeness in your life. It will be a force. And none demonstrated this better than Christ himself, who walked in perfect wisdom. And so, as we conclude, we saw that command in verse 1. Be imitators of God.
• 37:35
  What does that mean? It doesn't mean we become God, but it does mean we become like God. How do we imitate God? By walking like his son in love, in holiness, in light, and in wisdom. And so again, I just want to ask you one more time before we leave today, are you walking in love? Is your love claustrophobic or is it generous and open and free?
• 38:07
  Are you walking in holiness? How's your coat, right? Is it pure or is it stained? Are you walking in light? Are you exposing the darkness within your own life, not holding it back? And are you calling things as they are? Or are you letting the darkness intimidate you into silence? And are you walking in wisdom? Are you making the most of your time and seeking to live a life worthy of God? I will say this.
• 38:37
  The greatest joy that you will ever experience is when you say to Christ, everything I have is yours. I submit it all to you. It will be the greatest joy you've ever experienced. And so I would encourage you this morning, turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. And all the things of the earth, they're just going to grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Behold the Son and you shall become like him.
• 39:11
  him i'm going to close us in prayer and for my prayer i'm just going to read some verses from psalm 63 and so let's pray oh god you are my god earnestly i seek you my soul thirsts for you my flesh faints for you as in a dry and weary land where there is no water so i have looked upon you in the sanctuary beholding your power and glory
• 39:46
  Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you, so I will bless you as long as I live. In your name, I will lift up my hands. Father, be glorified. We pray your word back to you in the name of your son, Jesus. Amen.