- All right, hello, church family, those of you guys tuning in from home, I pray that you're doing well. And what a blessing it is to be able to, even like this, be able to study the scriptures together. And we do again ask that just efforts be made to have some type of interaction where you can discuss your findings and your observations about the passage, and also your personal reflections and applications as well so that you can mutually encourage each other.

So we're going to jump into our Bible study. We do pray that you guys are following along in the study, and also in terms of announcements and updates that you guys are being informed through the website and our Facebook pages. Now before we begin the study, I do want to make a quick shout out to our sound booth volunteer.

I just want you to know you can't see him, but we are together alone in the massive sanctuary and this is going to be a blessed experience. And as a benefit to him, I'm going to be preaching directly at him. All right, well, take a look at our passage in Ephesians chapter two, starting from verses 19 through 22.

Before we get there, we always do have to look at the passage in context. And so we want to review for a moment the things that happened already in chapter two. Remember that in chapter two, we were reminded in part one about the amazing truth of the gospel, that although previously we were absolutely dead in our transgressions and sins, that God made us alive together with Christ.

And this he was doing to show his surpassing riches of the grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. And then in the section immediately after part two of chapter two, verses 11 through 22, we notice that he was revealing the relational reconciliation aspect of the gospel. And so this in your packet is a blank for you there to jot in that God was showing within this passage, the relational reconciliation in which, although we were incredibly far, although we were separate, although essentially we were without hope and without a God in the world, through Christ he has brought us near.

And what an incredible privilege that is. And as a matter of fact, that to us then is our greatest gain, that we have access relationally to God the Father. Now one thing to highlight, this portion today, verse 19 through 22, is the ending portion of that long, long paragraph.

It was just one long paragraph that we split into because there was so much there. And so with that said, we want to then go into looking at our passage. Here I'll read it for us, starting from verse 19. It says, "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit." Let's all take a moment to pray, to ask God to bless the study of his word.

Lord, we want to thank you, God. Father, your truth, scripture says, is unshakable. Though many things fade, especially we as humans, Lord, in generations we fade, God, your scriptures last forever. And we thank you, God, that you are giving to us your word, your precious word, and God, that you are teaching us your incredible gospel.

We pray, Lord, with both appreciation, gratefulness in our hearts, we will continue to learn of you. We thank you in Christ's name. Amen. Now, taking a look, let's see, here, into the very first section, what I like to do is just go through the questions, the study questions that I had laid out, and one by one go through the questions and answer them, and that's how I'll review the passage for today.

Now, in question one, I asked this question, in verse 19 through 22, what is the relationship with this portion, with the previous section of scripture, as it's supposed to belong together, in what way does it do that? Well, recall again, that if the section was saying that you were dead, and then you were made alive, and if in chapter two, we were being taught that we were far off, but now we're being brought together, here, in verse 19 through 22, we are being shown the ramifications of those gospel truths, that as Christ is working the gospel, meaning working out salvation, this has then ramifications about what it means for us, what we become, who we are, and that begins already in the previous section.

Here, if you notice the PowerPoint, I highlight for you the ramifications that the passage is already teaching us, that Christ, in doing so, in causing us to be reconciled, is making us one new man. In Christ causing us to be reconciled and brought to God, he's bringing us in one body to God, and so already we see the ramifications of what Christ is doing in salvation, and so in our section today, we're looking here, and I'd like to highlight for you, as I read this section one more time, that you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, and if you notice, I bolded the words at the beginning, so then, as a means to show you that kind of ramification, and then what's more, the second half of this portion, starting from verse 20, it says, "Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit," and therefore, we can say what salvation means for us then, is that we, as believers, are becoming these entities.

These are, yes, metaphorical pictures, but these have incredible ramifications for us, and if you notice, after each metaphor, after each picture, I placed a little arrow, because those metaphors, those pictures then have ramifications even of their own, that this is what the church should be. This is what every single person, every believer in the church should be trying to reflect, that then we are actually emulating or fulfilling this picture that God has for us as a believer, as one body, one household, one temple, a dwelling place of God.

And so, as you think about this, primarily, in chapters one through three of the entire book of Ephesians, there is a movement. There is a movement from personal salvation and the ramification of what that means for the church, the body. And so, as a matter of fact, the book of Ephesians has incredible, incredible things to say, teachings, instructions of how we are to both conduct ourselves within the church, but more so who we are to be.

And so, I want to give a quick, brief challenge. When we were supposed to be thinking about the blessings of God, let's not be so myopic to think just about how we are blessed as a person, but let's really think how we are blessed as a church, as a community of God, because there's so much for us within the context of what God is doing, not just for the one individual you, but for the collective church body.

Okay. So then, that's how the two passages connect, verses 18, sorry, verses 11 through 18, and then today's passage, verse 19 through 22, we are seeing the ramifications of what that means for us as a collective church. And then so, the next question is, what is the contrast between strangers and aliens versus the citizens with saints and household?

Now, I apologize when I released the previous handout, I forgot to include the word household into this question, but we see the contrast there immediately, and if you look upon the PowerPoint, I highlight the contrast for you there. He pits these two terms, strangers and aliens, against the ideas of citizenship and becoming one household together.

What is the contrast? We can just begin by saying this contrast is absolutely huge, right? And we talked about it a lot in the previous session, so I'm not going to necessarily be talking about it as much right now, but I'm going to just simply highlight what it really means to be citizen and households.

But by way of reminder, let's just recall that this contrast is so big. To be strangers and aliens meant that we were, I guess the best way to put it is, foreigners who are illegal immigrants. We're illegal, okay, aliens within this place, so to speak. And so, if you take a moment to just think about that, to be a foreigner into any place where you're not supposed to be there, it is actually very, very scary.

It causes a sense of anxiety. I mean, if you were to sneak into a theater, you know you have this anxiety like, "Oh, my gosh, I'm going to get caught and kicked out." You go into a gym and you're not a member, you can't use any other stuff. If you are not an actual citizen, then you have no rights, you have no protection, you have no provisions, no opportunities, no right to labor, you have no stake in the kingdom.

And so, we think about the contrast, okay? And the contrast is that actually he calls us citizens with the saints. Take a moment to meditate and reflect on that. If just a moment ago I said, "Think about all that it means to not be a citizen. Think about all the things that it means to be a citizen.

But think about also what it means to be a citizen, not just of any old nation. You're not becoming a citizen of a nice nation. You're not becoming a citizen of even, let's say, a great nation like the US. A powerful nation like the US. But you are becoming a citizen of a kingdom with a powerful king.

You are becoming a citizen of a kingdom in which whose kingdom has no end. The king whose power has no end, right? You have a king who has all good intentions in his heart for his people. Think about that. I remember one time watching this military movie about 12 individuals who were in Iraq and they had to traverse with Iraqi soldiers in order to go into the depths of the nation, right?

And within that, of course, they hit many moments where it's dicey. Many moments where it's dangerous and there's high risk. And what's really interesting about it is one of the Iraqi soldiers turned to the American soldier and said, "You've got nothing to worry about. You don't have to worry them and you don't have to worry us.

Because if you get hurt, your country comes after you." Now, think about that. If you are a citizen, the country has your back. And if you think then the privilege of becoming a citizen of God's kingdom, God's kingdom has then his protection, his provision, his banner over you. This is an incredible, incredible privilege.

And so we want to be able to see that contrast, to appreciate prior to you had none of this, but through Christ, now you are fellow citizens with the saints. And you know what's more? I want us to turn to a passage in the book of Romans, Romans chapter nine.

Because it's a lengthy verse, I don't have it on the PowerPoint. I would like you to turn there in your Bibles to take a look. It's Romans chapter nine, verse 22 through 24. We have to appreciate the contrast. Prior to coming to faith, we were, you can think of it like this, second class citizens.

We were not citizens at all. And so we weren't even, we have no privileges. We have to think about that contrast. Romans chapter nine, verse 22 says this, "What if God, although willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience, vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?" Take a moment to think about this.

Vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, who are they? Does that include only the wicked nations of the past, the Babylonians and the Assyrians? Or does that actually include every nation so far? Does that include every Gentile, every ethnic? You bet you. Verse 23, "And he did so to make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom he also called, not from among the Jews only, but also from among the Gentiles." Do you see that?

Now turn again in Romans chapter 11, verses 13 through 21. Again, Romans 11, verse 13 through 21. This passage continues on this thought, this amazing truth that God has not only called from the chosen nation of the Jews, but he's called then of those nations who were to be destroyed, who were subject to God's wrath.

Even from among them, God has chosen some to be vessels of his mercy. Take a look at chapter 11, verse 13. Again, Romans 11, 13. He says, "But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles." So listen up, because that includes all of us. "Inasmuch as then I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry.

If somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also. If the root is holy, the branches are too.

But if some of the branches are broken off and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. But if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who support the roots, but the root supports you.

You will say then, 'Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.' Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either." You have to appreciate the great contrast so that you would stay humble.

To believe and think, "Of course God would save us, He has to," right? Is to assume a lot. To think that it has always been, it is now, and will for always be that God's immense love would just save all of us and so be it, we're just all the entire church from before and now, we're just one lump.

No, no, no. There is a clear contrast He wants you to understand before you had nothing. And you have to feel that. And only now in Christ you have everything as a citizen and you have to appreciate that. And what's more, let's look at the concept of the household.

The household. To be called a citizen would be an immense, immense, rich, rich mercy for us. That we would be called citizens of the kingdom of God. But then, not only to be placed from an outside foreigner, to be brought into the kingdom, and then to be brought into the king's household.

Think about that. That's almost unimaginable, right? But that's what the scripture says. That we are brought into his household and that God considers us fellow heirs. That we essentially are brothers, right? That Christ would bring many brothers into his household. And so, scripture says, a passage I want to highlight for you is Galatians chapter 4, verses 4 through 9.

If you have a moment, take a moment to turn there in your Bibles. Galatians chapter 4, verses 4 through 9. "When the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that he might redeem those who are under the law, that we might receive the adoptions as sons.

Because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba, Father!' Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. However, at that time you did not know God. You were slaves to those which by nature are no gods.

But now that you have come to know God, or rather be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?" And that passage is just, asks you this rhetorical question. It doesn't even make sense that you would even desire, even for a moment, to turn away from this.

Just to have the privilege to call God Almighty your Abba Father would be to you like going from absolute oppressive slavery to freedom. How in the world would you turn back? And that's the whole question in Galatians chapter 4. So the contrast. I'm asking you, do you appreciate it?

Do you understand what it means to go from absolute stranger and alien to then citizen of His amazing kingdom and then to be a member of His household? Now because today we're talking a lot about church, take a moment to ask this question. Is it appropriate then for us to think about our church in this way, this metaphorical way, that we are a spiritual household?

And the answer is absolutely yes. Many portions of scripture, as a matter of fact, will say to those leaders of the church, teach the congregation how to conduct oneself in the household of God. And so think about this. For many people, their citizenship into a nation, to them is both their refuge, their protection, their safety.

The church in many ways should that be for the believer. And what's more, for a lot of people, their household, their household then is the cause of their sense of identity. It's a sense of their belonging. It's a sense of their mutual love. Should the church be that for the believers?

The answer is absolutely yes. Now we're going to talk more and more about how the church should be, but that challenge there is for us there in the metaphor itself. If God is conceiving us, depicting our salvation to lead to this, that by identity we would be then fellow citizens and also fellow members of the household, we have to think about the ramifications.

Now let's move forward to question number three. What is the metaphor of the cornerstone trying to communicate? And so again, what is the metaphor of the cornerstone trying to communicate? And so in thinking about this, let's take a moment to look at the passage, okay? Take a moment to look at the passage where it says, "Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the spirit." Now what I'd like to do for you is highlight several key terms.

As we ask the question, what is this metaphor trying to communicate and teach us? I want to highlight for you something. Notice how there are certain verbs that I circled, which is this household of God is depicted as being built. This building of God is being fit together, and this temple of God is being built currently.

So right now, we have to get our mind into the mode of construction, into the build. And what I'm talking about is many other portions of scripture tell us that God is building up within the church, his holy building, his holy temple, his holy household. For example, 1 Peter 2, verse 5 says, "You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." So what's going on is there is construction going on.

There is a building project going on. And just a few years ago, we were all part of it for our church building, right? And so many times throughout that process, you know what happened? There was all these inspections. There was inspections as to the integrity of the structure. We had to have structural engineers.

There was questions as to the integrity of the concrete foundation. There was questions as to the integrity of every bolt. There was questions as to the integrity of every strut and every beam in the roof. I want you to think about that because then what it's talking about is that when there is a build going on, there is a question to the structural integrity.

How sound is this building? And when the passage says, "Christ himself is the cornerstone," you then have to understand there is a question about how is this being built? And the answer is we have a sound, unshakable, absolute, precious, and costly foundation that is sure, that is certain. This building is amazing, essentially is what we're saying.

If Christ is a sure foundation, then we have a strong foundation that will last, unshakable. Basically, the way I want to put it is like this. Typically, when anybody builds a building, they start going through the cost, right? Even, you know, Jesus, when he did in parables, like, nobody begins a building project and not count the cost.

You always check your budget. And then the thing about it is in an ideal world, you would have just an endless budget, but we don't. But I want you to take a moment just to think about what I just said. What an amazing fantasy it would be, right? What an amazing fantasy it would be if the next time you were thinking about your home remodeling, if the next time we were thinking about our church building, that there was no cost spared.

Why? Because we had an endless budget. We used all of the highest, not just good stuff, not just medium stuff, not just safe stuff, but we used all the highest, most quality material to build. And when the inspection came, it was like, "Wow, you spared no expense for this." I want to highlight for you an interesting passage.

Isaiah chapter 28, verse 16. The scripture says, "Therefore thus says the Lord God, 'Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed.'" Think about that. I mean, just think about any kind of structure.

You put the walls in, you put the foundation in, and then you put its load, you put its weight on there, and it doesn't creak, crack, or it doesn't even move. Christ has said he's going to establish his church. And Christ, he is the one who created this world.

And you will notice, as Apostle Paul talks about the beauties of the church, all of a sudden, randomly, just randomly within the context of the passage, he'll say, "Who created everything?" Think about that. This Lord of all is establishing his church. And so figuratively, Christ being the chief cornerstone is everything to the church.

He is the chief cornerstone who sets the parameters, who sets the weight, who sets the direction. Everything is set upon Christ, the firm foundation. And he is the precious, costly stone. And earlier, what I said is the church is going to be tested. There is going to be a weight.

There is going to be a stress test. And I want to turn to an interesting passage where Apostle Paul describes this. He says in 1 Corinthians 3, verse 9, 1 Corinthians 3, verse 9, "For we are God's fellow workers, and you are God's field, God's building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder, I laid a foundation, and another is building on it.

But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident, for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire.

And the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are." Wow, what a powerful passage. Let that resonate with you. There is so much good teaching here of how the churches should be built. As a matter of fact, I mean, sometimes people ask us like, "What's your model of discipleship?

What's your model of church building? What's your philosophy of ministry?" Now in some sense it's difficult because seasons change, our congregation may look different, right? We have different struggles through different stages of our growth. But there's a sense in which church philosophy is easy because it's already set for us in Scripture.

You guys know so many times in church history and now, even for our leadership, people have all sorts of opinions and ideas about how church should be done. I mean, there are so many ideas and criticisms, and then sometimes there are not only criticisms, but there's praise. Sometimes there are all sorts of things that come out of our way that kind of pressure us on one side or another to do something about the church, to grow it in a certain way.

There have been people who want to essentially try guinea pig with the church. The church has become sometimes a lab rat for people who like building stuff, entrepreneurs, and all that kind of stuff. It's going to get burned. It'll be tested. And we're not about that. Sometimes people want us to try different business models.

And there has even been a movement in recent church history called the Emergent Movement, which was essentially to say, "Let's redefine church." There is a meta-narrative, and that narrative is ever-developing, they would say. That the church story is ongoing, and therefore, it must be developing and changing. And to that, we just say, "No, that's not what the Scripture says." No.

We don't get to just say there's this big, grand story that we think is going to be developing about the church. Our Lord, God, Christ our Savior, He is once and for all delivered up for us. And He has become already the chief cornerstone that has already set the trajectory of the church.

And by Him, He is going to determine whether this has been built correctly or not. The book has been already written. He's going to come, and He who holds the seven stars in His hand is going to judge every church for the content of its build, for the quality of its foundation, for the fruit of what it's been investing in.

And so for us, we have to have all that in mind when we think about Christ being the chief cornerstone of our church. It must be that Christ is the sure foundation. And so I ask you, if for you, what you hope that the church would become, like what you think of the church when you think, "Oh, this is a really good church." If it doesn't have the character of Christ in it, if it doesn't have the structure, if it doesn't have the foundation, and if it doesn't have the purpose of Christ in that picture, you have to radically redefine what's happening here.

We radically define our interpretations. Lastly, let's move on to question number four. What else does this passage teach us about the church? We're asking the question a lot about what does this passage really teach us about the church? Well, let me give you some things here. As we take a look at the passage again, I'll read it for us, and it says, "In whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into dwelling of God in the Spirit." Now again, I think it's pretty amazing that Apostle Paul, without specifically using the term church, he's given now such a vivid, a vibrant picture of what the church should be.

But amongst this picture, obviously we see that he is emphasizing and repeating the idea that the church should be the temple, the holy temple, which is a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. So take a moment to reflect upon that. It's not just us. God is working. God is active to cause us as a church, a Berean community church, to be holy for himself.

And he desires that his very presence should all the more be evident within our church, right? So the church should truly be a place where the presence of God is more transparent because we are actively exercising our faith, because we as Christians are emulating and mimicking his character of holiness, because we as Christians are mimicking and emulating his love, his great patience, all the stuff that we do in faith, in likeness of our God, should make the character of our God more transparent.

We should see it. That's my point. We should see it. And so the church is being built up. And what's more, I want to highlight this point, that the church is in the process of being built up, right? The church is in the process of emulating, is radically changing, it's being transformed, all the weak joints are being strengthened, and that's what I want to highlight for you.

And so I'd like to say again, when we think about the church, and perhaps in the process of the build, we get frustrated, right? We get very frustrated because it's like, "Ugh, it's just not what I think it should be," you know? Do we have that thought that's rolling in our heads, and that's the context.

God is working to cause us to be holy, reflecting his character, but this is a process of the build where he's fitting many pieces together. And if we've never been a part of any kind of process that takes many years, a long time, it takes time where sometimes we think people should be here, people should be there, people should be in certain maturity, and sometimes that maturity doesn't happen, are we going to be frustrated and say, "Ugh, forget this then"?

Are we going to say, "Scrap this then"? Maybe the plan is wrong, maybe God had a silly idea. No, no, no, we don't get to say that. But in humility, our interpretations have to know that God is building this church. And in as much as it might not seem like it's working, it might not seem to be going as fast or developing like the way that we want it to be, we have to humbly invest ourselves into this build.

And so let me ask you, was there ever a time where you just fed up with the church? Was there ever a time where you just disappointed, just flat out disappointed? Was there ever a time where you critiqued the church? And on the flip side, was there ever a time where you just said, "You know what, this is fine, I don't want it to change.

As a matter of fact, I like it the way it is, let's not change anything"? Do you see what I'm saying? On both sides of the spectrum, whether you want the church to radically change because you're just fed up with it, or you want the church to stay the same because you don't want it to move, or you don't want to adapt to the changes, we recognize the church is in the build according to the plan of God.

And so finally, I want to just give you some takeaway thoughts. From today's passage, we recognize, wow, the church is vitally important in the current program of God. That should be an immense takeaway from you. If God is saying that the church carries with it the significance of citizenship in a kingdom, that's huge.

I mean, you have no idea how important citizenship really means. There are people literally lined up for years. There are people who have signed up for US naturalization, it took them 12 years. In certain countries, I just did a little bit of research, there's a country called Qatar. There's an individual who's been waiting 30 years to become a citizen of that country.

And as a matter of fact, pretty much, unless both your parents are citizens of that country, your chances are slim to none. I mean, if God is putting into the church such a value because He sees it that way, because He wants it to be this, that He's putting the value of His household.

Think about how vitally important the church should be in our attitude, in our perspective. And so what's more, when we think about the church and its program, it is so, so important. But I want to give you this encouragement. It's not just to be like, "Okay, let's hold it up here." The church is precious, but be encouraged.

As each and every one of you, we learn to use our gifting personality and everything we have to the glory of God. Why? Because by you doing that within the church, God wants to reveal aspects of His own character. God wants to make more manifest His very presence. You playing your role as the arm, as the feet, as the nose, whatever it may be.

You applying your faith. You exercising greater self-discipline, your desire to grow in holiness and righteousness. Do you understand that God is using every piece of that to make sure He is more evident, especially within our fold? And especially in this session, I mean, just recently, I hope that you guys saw Pastor Peter's post of how because we're not able to meet right now in person, in many ways, it causes us to even appreciate and long for fellowship all the more.

And I know every single one of you can resonate with that. And especially during now, when I see people volunteering in the midst of when it's difficult to volunteer, in the midst when we have to weigh the options of do we do this and do we not, I'm so much so just thankful.

Because we're not able to meet right now and because we're not able to physically be together, it's all the more long, there's all the more longing. And I hope that even especially given this passage, when we think about the value that God places into the church, then we all the more say, "Yes, Lord, we hope to be a part of this great build that you are doing." Let's take a moment to pray.

Heavenly Father, we do thank you, God. We recognize, Lord, that every angle, every need that we have, you have thoroughly blessed us. Through the study of Ephesians, you have already tended to the greatest need that we have, which was, Father God, we had no life without you. We were dead, Lord, and so far.

God, you have already met those needs. And as our Heavenly Father, you also meet the needs, Father God, that we have. And what's more, as our good God, you use us in your kingdom. And what's more, Father, you use us for your glory. And for all of that, Lord, we thank you.

I pray, then, that God, as we study, we would learn to appreciate and then buy into what you are doing. Help us not to resist. Help us not to have our own agendas. Help us, Father God, not to have our own depiction of what we would like this thing to be.

But God, help us to realize, Lord, you are piecing us together, and you're building us up in Christ. That, God, we would be a holy temple, a pleasing dwelling place for you. We thank you, God. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.