What a Pastor Pursues
What a Pastor Pursues
Titus 1:5-9
By Pastor Jordan Hines
Good morning. If you have your bibles with you, if you can turn to First Timothy, chapter six, we'll be looking at verses eleven through 21. Or you can follow along.
Let's go ahead and stand for the Bible reading as we look at God's word. But you, o man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith and.
And lay hold on eternal life, to which you also were also called and have confessed a good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I urge you, in the sight of God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who witnessed a good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot. Blame us until our Lord Jesus Christ appearing, which he will manifest in his own time.
He who is the blessed and only potentate, the king of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwell in an unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To him be honor and everlasting power. Amen.
Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, and they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life. O Timothy, guard what is committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle battlings and contradictions on what is falsely called knowledge.
But by professing it, some have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen.
Let's pray and ask the Lord to bless us today. Dear heavenly Father, Lord, we love you. We thank you for your mercy and your grace every day.
We thank you for giving us rain, and we thank you for every time we have to come worship you. Lord, just help us to be open to your word and pray for Pastor Jordan, that you would give him strength to preach your word today. And pray that you help us have attentive hearts.
And, Lord, please help us have a restful Sunday and a good week next week, Lord, in Jesus name. Amen. Before the sermon this morning, I have a prayer request that needs to be shared.
Nathan Douglas has had to go to the hospital this morning due to chest pains. He's here almost every week. He's pretty consistent with his parents, so we just need to be in prayer for him.
So allow me to open in prayer just as we consider everything going on in that young man's life. God, we know that you are the great physician. We know that you heal and that you tenderly care for your sheep and care for your children.
We ask for a special blessing of healing today for Nathan. Help his body to endure, to continue to fight through what's going on right now, the chest pains that he's experiencing. I pray that he would feel that he is loved and know that his parents care about him and that we love him and that his church family is just surrounding him and showering him with prayer.
God, we know that you're able and capable of answering prayer and that you hear us. And it's on your behalf, on your characters behalf that we can come to you, that we can do this. I ask that as a church that we continue to remember Nathan, continue to think about him this week, that we would just be with him in spirit.
And that if there's any way we can encourage him, that we would do so. Help us to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ. Help us to love him and to love each other today as well.
In your son's name we pray. Amen. If you're just visiting today, there are a couple things you may want to be aware of.
We're toward the end of a series, and the idea of the last few series is we're trying to unite the church around our identities of who we are as a church. As the first series we did what is a church? And then we're in the middle of a series called what is a pastor? Now, a pastor is something you guys have thought a lot about, because I'm pretty new here. It's only been three or four months going on four months now.
But the idea is that as I look at the text, as I study every single week, I'm seeing what I ought to be. And you are seeing what I ought to be. But also you're going to find that as you look at these texts from one Timothy, two Timothy and Titus, that there's an awful lot that applies to just every Christian out there, that the good majority of it, 99% of it, applies just to every good Bible believing Christian.
And I pray that you're not on the sidelines this morning, that you're not looking in from the outside, but that you're thinking, what can I learn and grow from in this text? Looking into the mirror of God's holy word and seeing this is what God expects, this is what christian character looks like. And by way of review, the first week we looked at what a pastor is in the context of his relationships, in that we saw relationship with his spouse and with his family, with his church and with the outside world. And then we saw a pastor's character, what a pastor ought to be in his bones, in his character.
The big idea of that sermon was a pastor is responsible to steward his God given relationships and exercise godly character. Then last week went down a different path, and we saw what a pastor is responsible for avoiding. We saw that he's responsible for avoiding base heart issues that drag him down.
Then we saw sinful habits that harm his ministry. And then lastly we saw handicapping ministry practices that hinder his ministry from full development from full growth. As you look at qualifications for a pastor, it's a tricky thing because it's not like any other job.
One person put it this way and in this context, this illustration is for missionaries, but it's the idea of service. So what qualifies someone for a task is the question they ask. Here's a story of the testing of a candidate for missions work.
One snowy morning at 05:00 a.m. a missionary candidate rang the bell at a missionary examiner's home. Ushered into the office, he sat there 3 hours past his appointment time, waiting for his interview.
Finally, at 08:00 a.m. a retired missionary appeared and began his questioning. His first question was, can you spell? Rather mystified, the candidate answered, said, and said, yes, sir.
And then. All right. He was asked to spell the word baker, and he confidently said, b a k e r, baker.
Okay, fine. Now, do you know anything about numbers? The examiner continued, yes, sir. Something.
Please add two plus two is the next question. Four, replied the candidate. Okay, that's fine.
The examiner says, I believe you have passed. I'll tell the board tomorrow that you missionary quality. At the board meeting the next day, the examiner reported on the interview.
He said, he has all the qualifications for a fine missionary. First, I tested him on self denial, making him arrive at my home at five in the morning. He left a warm bed on a snowy morning without any complaint.
Second, I tested him on promptness. He arrived on time. Third, I examined him on patience.
I made him wait 3 hours to see me. Fourth, I tested him on temper. He failed to show any anger or aggravation.
Fifth, I've tried his humility by asking him questions that a seven year old child would answer. Would be able to answer. See, pastoral qualifications are not just a list of things that you do from nine to five.
It starts with really character driven prerequisites that are invasive of your entire life. You have to be the kind of person called to ministry by God that God works in and through. They affect every part of your life, which is why any church, when they choose a pastor, must be careful.
Today we'll see what a pastor should pursue, not what they avoid, not the negative side, but the positive side. What does a pastor pursue? But first, I want to give a little context for that pursuit. And in a lot of these passages, in one Timothy, two Timothy, and Titus, they include contrast with what the pastor rejects.
So we'll have a short section on what a pastor rejects. And that is our first point. A pastor rejects first useless and harmful conversations.
Allow me to say one more thing before we get into this. There's going to be a lot of different texts in this sermon, so I apologize for how many texts there are. But as a general rule, just keep your fingers in the pastoral epistles.
First Timothy, two Timothy and Titus. The first thing a pastor rejects is useless or harmful conversations. There are several texts on this, and it says basically the same thing in all six passages.
I'll read a couple of them. The first one is in one Timothy, chapter four, verse seven. The idea is that you are to reject profane and old wives fables.
You can go just a couple chapters later in one Timothy 620 21. Avoid the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. By professing it, some have strayed concerning the faith.
You can flip to one Timothy, actually, back to chapter two, verse 1617. But shun profane, idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodly, and their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, and there's three more, but we're not going to go to those.
The idea is that these harmful beliefs are twisted gospels, gospels that include not just the gospel, but they add in a little bit of Jewish tradition, a little bit of history, a little bit of new moons and sabbaths and festivals and feasts, and you have to be a Jew, you have to be circumcised. And all these things are kind of twisted together. And what Paul does is he wants them to be clear on what the gospel is.
And these harmful, useless, or vain conversations bring about nothing but confusion and division. And Timothy and Titus are simply to avoid these things, or to avoid these kinds of conversations and war them off in favor of the actual gospel. Another very simple thing a pastor is supposed to reject is all kinds of evil and ungodliness.
You can see this in Titus, chapter two, verse twelve. It's very clear. It just simply says, denying ungodliness.
Deny ungodliness. To deny is to hold that door shut and locked. It's bolted, it's guarded.
You're not allowed to come. Ungodliness or evil of any kind is not allowed. Last thing he's to openly reject is youthful and worldly lusts.
Two Timothy 222 says you're to flee youthful lusts. When Titus two says it slightly differently, it says, deny worldly lusts, these desires that are inordinate, that bring you farther away from goddess, that rejoice in evil, that rejoice in the depravity of man, these lusts that literally drag you away from your walk with God, that pull you away from that relationship you're supposed to be having with God every single day. So if I am to reject those things, if you, as a believer are to reject these things, what am I to pursue? Cause it's not enough just to say, I don't wanna do evil.
I don't wanna do what's wrong, what am I chasing? What am I pursuing? And by pursuing, I mean everything is set aside in order so that I can pursue this one thing. I'm actively being self controlled is the first thing. And really, we're getting into personal character first.
Personal character. And the Bible even says that the pursuit of being a pastor is a good work. It is a good thing to pursue personal character.
He is self controlled. He is sober. He is in control of his faculties.
He is not allowing the world to control the way he pastors, the way he makes decisions, the way he is a father or a husband. He is controlled by God. He pursues in one Timothy 611, as Ryan read for us, righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and gentleness.
Notice as we go through all these attributes, these are things we find true about God. We're really just trying to be like God. See, there are many people who are qualified to be pastors.
There are many people who could technically fill the office of pastor that are not called by God to be pastors. But that does not mean that they should not be walking by faith. Walking, pursuing righteousness.
To be right before God, to do what is right. Godliness. To be like God.
To be walking by faith, trusting God. To be loving, to be demonstrating the love that God has already poured into his life, to others. To be patient, to be long suffering, to be gentle.
Like in anything, if you pursue something, you have to set aside other entanglements. It may mean you have to re-prioritize what you value and care about. Two Timothy 222 says a similar statement.
It says, you are to pursue righteousness, faith, love. But it adds peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Pursue peace with people who call upon God.
Pursue that kind of relationship, that community. The pastor pursues righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness, peace. He also has good behavior.
One Timothy, chapter three, verse two, says he has a good behavior. This is idea that he is walking daily in what is righteous. That means that he is setting aside himself for what the word of God says is clean.
What the word of God says is right, good behavior. And I think we understand what good behavior is. Our conscience is pretty clear to us what is right and what is wrong.
If you have to second guess yourself, chances are you probably stepping towards sin or unrighteousness. Even the world knows some of these things as their conscience convinces them. The pastor is also zealous for good works.
This idea of being zealous is really powerful. You think of the apostles of the disciples who were zealous to follow after Jesus Christ. Are we zealous for good works? Am I excited to do what's right? That's the question here.
Am I excited to be a servant of God? That's a question we all have to ask ourselves every single day. We ought to be so excited that the God of the universe chooses to use us. The pastor is also to be hospitable.
From one Timothy three in Titus, chapter one, he's also to be gentle. He is to exercise himself towards godliness. From one Timothy four seven.
A pastor is a lot of these things that we are called to be as church members. But in this way he is different. A pastor is set aside as different and special.
In one way, he is in a position of leadership. He is a shepherdess. In that role, he is an example.
A couple texts really show this. First is first Timothy 412, as Paul is speaking to Timothy. In one Timothy 412, he's telling him, be an example to the believers as to the church, in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in purity.
And Titus gives a very similar list. He says, in all things, showing yourself to be a pattern of good works in doctrine, showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you. What a really tall task that is, what a challenge that is.
And it's humbling because as you look at your pastors, you look at the pastors in this area, none of the pastors in this area are perfect in these things. No one is perfect in these things. And yet the idea is that you pursue.
It would be silly of us to think that we can be perfect, that I could be perfect right now. If you look at someone who is running a race, who's running a marathon, and you maybe see they're just halfway through their pursuit of that finish line, you're not going to mock them and say, ah, they're not doing anything. They're lazy.
No, they're pursuing the finish line. They're working at that finish line. They haven't met the goal yet.
And by God's grace, we are completed. Not by our own strength, but we're in the process. God is still working in you, God is still working in us, working in your pastor.
And with that, a pastor is mindful of his testimony. Just a few verses later, in one Timothy 416, it's very clear that a pastor looks at his testimony, is mindful that he is being watched. And next, I want us to really see that a pastor is a fighter of the good faith.
Now, this is often something that's difficult to really understand in America, only because we are so comfortable, only because we have things so easy. But really there is a war going on, a war for everyone's soul, and we have the victory in Jesus Christ. But our job is to share the word of God so other people can have victory through Jesus Christ as well.
A couple texts here, starting in one Timothy, chapter one, verse eight, is to wage the good warfare. Initially, Paul just challenges Timothy, wage the good warfare. And then at the end of one Timothy, he reminds him.
He brings him back to this point in chapter six, verse twelve, fight the good fight of faith. He uses another analogy in two Timothy four seven, where he says, finish the race and keep the faith. Second Timothy, two three says, endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
Endure all things for the sake of the elect. That's two Timothy 210. A pastor is someone who is actively involved in this fight, actively involved in showing their faith to other people, and also actively fighting against the false doctrine, the falsehood, information of the false gospels.
And by God's grace, he is approved by God. He's an approved worker of God. Second Timothy, chapter two, verse 15, Paul brings to light the idea that Timothy needs to be diligent to present himself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
That is my prayer. As your pastor as well, I want to be diligent every single week to be studying that God might impact my life so that you can hear clearly what God says and not what I think. I want to be a worker who does not need to be ashamed of who I am or what I have done this week and rightly dividing the word of truth.
What a heavy, amazing responsibility that God would allow faulty human flesh to be a part of his divine plan for the word of God being sent out to the world. We are a church, and as a church we have a relationship as a congregation to a pastor. This personal character that we have seen so far is just one of of pretty clear direction.
This person of God pursues godly character. A pastor, especially in this context, pursues godly character. But perhaps as we turn to the more public ministry of a pastor, think about your responsibility in this.
Think about how when a pastor preaches and teaches with a nourishing word of truth, that it is your responsibility also to understand and listen and study alongside your pastor. One of the reasons I love it when everyone opens their Bible, when they read their Bible and then it's not just on the screen is because I want you to be studying the word of God with me. This is not just me speaking to you.
Is you opening your bible and seeing, is what my pastor saying true? Is this what the Bible says? And that's really where we begin with public ministry is just simply reading first Timothy, chapter four, verses 13 and 15. Talk about this says, nourish them in the words of faith, which he carefully follows. That's actually one Timothy four six.
I apologize, but the idea is that it's a caring reading of the word. It's not reading the word of God so that you can all feel bad about yourselves. It's reading the word of God so that you can be changed more and more into the image of Christ.
Because I love you. A pastor carefully follows the words of faith. A pastor loves the sheep, and because he loves the sheep, he gives them the truth.
I'm sure that you and you're lifetime have heard hard truth from people that you care about. Maybe it's from a parent, maybe from a sibling, maybe from a relative, maybe just from a friend. But the people who care about you are willing to tell you the truth, even if it hurts you, even if it stings a little bit.
People need to be told the truth, even if it's confrontational, even if it means that they're sinners and they need a savior. Especially if they need a savior. And that is everyone.
Now, the reading of truth leads us naturally to the idea of exhortations or this idea of earnest request, this earnest contention. Another thing a pastor does in multiple different contexts. But when you exhort someone, you have a basis and the foundation of truth.
But then you take that truth and you apply it. You exhort them. Let me read a few of these examples of what a pastor does, how a pastor exhorts the believers.
First Timothy four six says to instruct the brethren. One Timothy, chapter five, verse one and two. Talk about exhorting believers.
Exhort an older man as a father with purity. Exhort younger men as brothers with purity.
Exhort young men to be sober minded. That's Titus two six, actually. And then exhort older women as mothers with purity.
Exhort younger women as sisters with purity. So the idea here is that a pastor, when he exhorts, he is exhorting someone with a relationship, someone who he knows in a context of a family. He's not coming as a man who is perfect, as a man who is holy.
He's coming as a man who sincerely and purely wants these people that he loves to grow and to change because of what the word of God says. There's also an element of discipleship in exhortation. Two Timothy two two, a well known passage, says commitment.
He says that he is to commit what he has heard to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. That is, to be a teacher or a disciple maker in humility, correcting those who are in opposition. The pastor is to exhort.
He is to read scripture, to exhort with scripture, and he is to use doctrine. Now, doctrine is sort of a heavy word, but doctrine literally just means teachings. It's the teachings or the truth that we send to other people, that we share with other people.
It's what we know to be true and hold fast to be true about God. So he carefully follows good doctrine. He holds fast the pattern of sound words that he has received.
He demands that right doctrine be taught. First Timothy one three is one verse I want to highlight is that as a pastor looks at right doctrine, he demands that only right doctrine be taught, that only the correct doctrine. And that means a couple of things.
That means he has to be aware of what the right doctrine is, which means he has to have a personal understanding of what God's word says and what that means for believers. And he has to be able to tell the difference between the right doctrine and maybe a twisted truth or something that's added to the gospel. He is to teach doctrine, and perhaps in the most obvious command here, a pastor is to preach a pastor is to labor in the word.
That's one Timothy 517, to labor in the word. Second Timothy 111 talks about how a pastor is to preach the word in all circumstances with all long suffering and teaching. A pastor is to preach under every circumstance, all the time.
That's why it's a huge part of a pastor's job. In fact, when deacons or pseudo deacons were established in the church in acts chapter six, the purpose of this was so that the apostles could devote themselves to the word and to prayer, so pastors can hold fast the words of faith from Titus one nine, so they can be in the word and not be distracted. And there is also an idea of a pastor being a counselor.
A counselor, it's really a word that we kind of put in our own box. And we think that's just, he's a counselor, that's not a counselor, you know, like it's something that we often don't think of as our everyday life. But really every one of you is a counselor.
You counsel people in your daily life by your behavior, by what you say, by the advice that you give. You counsel people just by being a godly person. People read your life when they would never read a bible.
They see who you are and how are you counseling people today? What is your life counseling people to do? Is it counseling people to trust God or to doubt God? A pastor is not only responsible for a public ministry here inside this building, but a pastor also is responsible to have a testimony in the community. One of the wonderful benefits of the ministry of the north side market, which we'll have in a few weeks, is that we'll be able to have connections to the community that we didn't have before, or continue to strengthen those connections that we have already started. A pastor ought to be connected to people in the community so that he is able to, number one, share the gospel himself with other people, but also so people can see what a godly leader looks like, and they want to see that the truth is being taught.
See, a pastor often rubs off on the church and the church rubs off on the pastor. That's a wonderful relationship. And it's important as a church for us to note that we are responsible to each other to walk with God so that we can be a good testimony to outsiders.
A pastor pursues these things. And perhaps as you are sitting there, maybe it is becoming easier to just think, well, I'm not a pastor. That's your job and that is my job.
But it is your job to be a godly disciple of Jesus Christ. I think you will find as you look at these texts, there's no command given here that's going to make your life less godly. That's going to bring you farther away from God.
All of these things are going to bring you closer to your God in your walk with God. So as your pastor, I am responsible to balance my responsibilities, prioritize what is most needful for the growth of this church, to personally sacrifice my own selfish desires for the betterment of the ministry here at this church. And for you at church.
You are responsible to pursue godly character yourself so that you know what godly character looks like in your own life. It's hard to keep someone accountable in something that you're not doing yourself. Help your pastor by guarding against false teaching.
And how do you do that? You do that by knowing what the right teaching is. So, know your Bible. Study your Bible every day, read your Bible and pray every day, and labor in the ministry here with your pastor.
We are on the same team in the gospel. We are walking and we're marching in the same direction as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. And as your pastor, I ask you, I tell you that it is your responsibility to be people of God, pursuing the evangelism of this community, the discipleship of people in this church, and the personal growth of your own life.
And all this is done through the strength and grace of Jesus Christ. And to the unbeliever this morning, I say that this church and this pastor stands for the truth, and that we want you to know the truth. And the truth is that Jesus Christ died for your sins, and that that is why we stand so united.
First. Corinthians 15 three, four says, for I delivered to you first of all that which also I received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried and that he rose again on the third day according to the scriptures, Jesus died for your sins. He died so you can be saved.
He died so that you can be one with them. And so that, Lord willing, if you do accept Jesus Christ as your savior, if you're trusting in his sacrifice and his blood alone for your salvation, then you too can be a part of a local church where you grow and you thrive because you have people around you who love and care about you. See that the heartbeat behind this pastor and this church is that you would come to know this Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior.
And also know that we don't simply follow these rules or these principles blindly. We know this God and because we love this God. Because this God has changed us and saved us and made us alive in him.
We do these things out of love and service for him and his message and know that there is no perfect church. There's no church that is without sin or hypocrisy. There is no way to find a perfect human being outside of the person of Jesus Christ.
But we are pursuing God together. And as a church, I pray that we pursue God together. If you have any questions about this unsafe person, please, I will be up front after the service.
Ask the person who invited you know that you can have gospel change today, and we would love to see that. And as a church, I would pray that as you see the profile of a pastor, that you would see that your pastor is trying, that he's not perfect. Your pastor loves you and is pursuing this every single day.
Let's pray. God, you have given us such a high standard, and yet this high standard comes with grace. It comes with the equipping of the church.
It comes with responsibility on the pastor to prepare the saints to go out into the world and to be missionaries in their communities. I pray that as this church grows, as this church follows you, as we disciple one another, as we grow in our love for this community and for these people, that we would set aside our differences, unite around the gospel and pursue you alone. God, thank you for bringing us together and bringing this church to worship you today.
In your son's name, we pray. Amen. At this time, we'll do our communion celebration of the Lord's table.
And the communion celebration of the Lord's table is something that is a couple different things. It is a sad occasion in the sense that we are looking at a great sacrifice, a solemn sacrifice of Jesus Christ our Lord. And it's also a joyous occasion because that joyous that we have in Christ is through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
In order to participate today, you do need to be a believer in Jesus Christ for your sins, not in of yourself, but by the grace of God and a baptized believer who has followed in obedience and is walking with Christ today. So I ask you, if you belong in that category, if you are in that group, that you would have participate with us in communion. Paul, when he is speaking to the church at Corinth, he warns the believers to do communion well in a way that is preparing of their heart.
He says in one corinthians 11 27 30, therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks is in an unworthy manner, eats and drinks, judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
For this reason, many are weak and sick among you and many sleep. I'd ask that we just take a few moments to reflect on our own lives right now, to prepare our hearts to truly have fellowship with God in this moment and that we would do communion in a way that honors God. Let's take a moment and then I'll pray.
Father, we come before you as broken people in need of this sacrifice of your son and God. As we look back on what you have done for us, we rejoice. And yet we are sorrowful that we continue to mourn you with our sin.
God help us to look back on what you have done for us in remembrance of your great sacrifice. Help us to be propelled to walk with you with more fidelity, more faithfulness every single day as we seek to honor you and pursue you with our whole selves. Father, as we participate today, help us to be focused.
Help us to love you. Help us to do this with the right attitude and mindset. In your son's name, we pray.
Amen. Verse 23 says, for I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread.
Before we continue, allow me just to say also that this service does not impart any grace upon you. But as we do this, we're doing this out of love for our savior. Thomas, would you thank the Lord for his broken body? Lord, as we come again before you, thank you for the sacrifice you made for us so that we could know you and have eternal life with you.
We just pray that we remember that. We remember the sacrifice you made and remembered to live our lives in a way that reflects our thankfulness. I just pray you bless this service in your name.
We pray, Paul continues and he says, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat. This is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.
Let us eat. In the same manner, he also took the cup.
Jonathan, would you thank the Lord for his blood that was spilt for us? You were not worthy of his gift.
We cannot thank you again. Thank you again. Amen.
In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Let us drink Paul's final statement here.
For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Thank you. Let's ask the Lord for a blessing one more time.
God, thank you for your blood and your body that was broken. Thank you for giving us the payment that we could never pay for ourselves. And the scars that you will bear for all of eternity.
Show and echo your love for us for all of eternity. God, help us to never grow weary of who you are and what you have done for us. But help us to be thankful.
Help us to consider who we are as believers and how we ought to be living, especially in the household of God. In your son's name we pray. Amen.