Great Day to Be Great, Part 2

Ah, it's a great day to be great. I wonder if you've had a great week. I wonder if you have been great in the sight of the Lord. John the Baptist, according to Luke chapter 1, was great in the sight of the Lord. And Jesus said that of all the men born of a woman, there is no man greater than John the Baptist. And yet he also said that the least in the kingdom is greater than John. So I ask you, are you great in the sight of the Lord? Have you had a great week? Will you have a great year? We are looking at what the Bible says concerning greatness.

And if John, the forerunner to the Messiah, was the greatest man ever born of a woman, yet those who are the least in the kingdom, and that would be us, are greater than John, how is it we understand greatness according to what the Bible says?

We began talking to you about this last week. And we want you to understand that each and every day can be a great day if you understand that number one, you need to glory in this person.

Glory in this person. That is, everything about your life is to rave and boast about the Christ. John said, he must increase, I must decrease. John the Baptist understood that it was all about the glory of the Christ. It was all about putting Christ on display. So he understood that when Christ came on the scene, he would take a back seat. His message was all about the Christ. And so he took a back seat to the glory of Jesus Christ, our Lord. And so if we are to be great, we must glory in this person.

We must rave about him. That's why the Lord said, let not the wise man glory or rave about his wisdom, or let not the mighty man glory or rave about his own riches or might, but let him that glorieth or boast or rave, let him do it about this, that he knows me, understands me, that I am the God who exercises loving kindness and righteousness and justice on the earth. For in these things, the Lord says, I delight. The mark of a Christian, according to Philippians 3.3, is that he glories in Christ Jesus.

We are the marked ones, Paul says. We are the distinct ones. We are the called out ones. We are the ones who worship God in spirit, who have no confidence in the flesh and glory in Christ Jesus. So if you're going to be great, you must glory in this person. You must rave. You must boast about the Christ. We told you last week, this is where most of us will fall short because we just can't bring ourselves to do that, to do that. We love to glory in ourselves. We love to be the prominent ones. We love to be on display, but we have to take a backseat to Christ.

Most people have a hard time doing that. And so in order for you to be great, you must glory in Christ Jesus. You must put him on display. You must rave about his beauty. You must glory in his name. It's all about the Christ and it's never about you. As soon as you think it's about you, you have ceased to glory in this person and you will have a bad day, not a great day because you will always be disappointed. But the glory in Christ Jesus, that's the beginning of a great day. Not only do you glory in his person, but point number two is you grow in his portrait.

You grow in his portrait. In other words, you become more and more like him. If you glory in him, you will grow in him. You'll become more and more like him. And with each passing day, we must become more and more like the Christ. If you want to have a great day, you must look like, act like, speak like the Christ because he is the greatest of all. And we must become more and more like him. The Bible says we are to be as holy as he is holy and we are to be as perfect as he himself is perfect.

Peter said that we are to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord. And so I want to show you very briefly how you're going to grow in his portrait each and every day. How it is you can become more and more like the Christ with each passing moment of each passing day. So you can wake up each day and say, truly, it's a great day to be great because I'm going to glory in Christ Jesus, my Lord, and I'm going to become more and more like him today, more so than I was yesterday. Let me give you just a few principles.

Number one is this, there always needs to be an application of scripture. If you're going to grow in your portrait of the Christ, there must be an application of the scripture. You must apply what God says to your life.

You can read it, you can hear it, but you must apply it to your life. The Lord God said in Matthew 5 that those who hear my word and keep it are great in the kingdom of God. So you must keep what God's word says. In other words, you must apply it to your life. The application of scripture is so important. That's why in 2 Corinthians 3.18 when Paul says, we with unveiled face behold as an emir of the glory of the Lord are being transformed from one level of glory to the next level of glory by the spirit of God.

When we open the word of God and we begin to read the word of God, study the word of God, apply the word of God, we become more and more like our God. We become increasingly more and more holy. And that's the way we should be. So there always needs to be an application of scripture. You must take it to heart. You just can't come. That's why James says be doers of the word, not just hearers only. You can't come and sit and audit church. You must actually apply church to your life. So there is the application of scripture.

Number two, if you're going to grow in his portrait, there always must be an association with the saints, an association with the saints.

We know the Bible says that that bad company corrupts good morals. And so therefore we can't associate with people who do evil things, but we must associate with people who do godly things. We must be around the saints. We must be around godly people so that they rub off on us. Your association with godly people is absolutely essential. You must be around believers who love and adore the Christ. When you are, it helps you understand the portrait of Christ. You know, when we come to church on Sunday, when we exercise our gifts, the church is a composite picture of the Christ.

Christ embodied all the gifts. And so whenever you saw Christ, you saw all of his glory and all of his giftedness. When you come to church and people exercise their giftedness, you're able to get a composite picture of the Christ. So therefore when you associate with the saints and you gather together with God's people, you get a better picture of the Christ. So you know how the portrait is to be in your life as well. I can't ever emphasize enough the importance of worshiping God on Sundays, that it's so important.

And people think that I do this because I'm the pastor, but that's not the case. I was raised this way. I was taught this from early childhood. That church was paramount in your walk with the Lord. The greatest thing you will ever do for your family is to bring them to church. How many times have I told you that? I've said it so many times, but it just seems like it goes in one ear and out the other for most people. They just never get that. A number of years ago, I was talking to somebody and they were saying to me, they said, listen carefully.

They said, you know, we decided not to come to church because we knew that there was sickness going around. So we thought that we would protect our children from the sickness. So we kept them home from church. Do you know how many young families say that? So I said to this individual, I said, you know, you really think that if you dishonor the Lord, you can protect your children? I said, you might be able to protect them maybe from getting a cold or getting the flu. I said, but their physical health is nothing compared to their spiritual health.

So what you've done is you've taught your children a very damaging, damning lesson that you can just miss church because of what might happen to your children. Believe it or not, there are so many young families say, well, there's sickness in church. I won't bring my child to church for fear that they might get sick. Can you imagine dishonoring the Lord by forsaking the assembling of yourselves together? Hebrews 10, 24 and 25. That somehow you think you can protect your children better than God can protect your children.

But those kind of conversations go on all the time with people. And yet you might hear it today and think, well, that's ridiculous, but it happens all the time. And yet the most important thing you can ever do is, I mean, there's only 52 Sundays a year, 53 this year, but only 52 Sundays a year. But you're going to blow off church because your children might get sick. You see, we need to reevaluate our priorities in life to make sure that we understand that when we associate with God's people and we come because we know the Bible says that God inhabits the praises of his people, that when we come together as a church, there is a great picture of the Christ at church.

And when we see that picture, we can become more and more like the Christ we say we adore. So if we're going to grow in this portrait, there has to be the application of scripture. There has to be an association with the saints. And listen, here's the third one.

This is really good. Listen to this. There needs to be an attention to stillness, an attention to stillness. See, what does that mean? Well, we know that Psalm 46 verse number 10 says, be still and know that I am God. In order to grow in the portrait of the Christ, there must be an acute attention to stillness. And this is going to be hard for most of you because we live in a, in a fast paced society. We drive to work. There's a fast lane, right? You watch basketball. They have what is called a fast break.

You want to go to lunch, you get fast food, right? You watch a football game. They have a hurry up offense. We live in this fast paced society. We don't want to wait for anything. And yet the Bible says, or not the Bible says, they say we're to be holy as God is holy.

And the song says, take time to be holy. But we can't even take enough time to sing all four verses of take time to be holy, let alone to be still enough to be holy. And yet stillness is an intricate part to my growing in Christ likeness. Stillness requires silence and solitude and the number one discipline that Jesus practiced while on earth was the discipline of stillness of solitude of silence.

He would always venture early in the morning to get up and get away from everyone because that time with his God was so important. And yet we don't pay very much attention to stillness. Remember what God said through the pen of Isaiah, the prophet, Isaiah 30, he said in repentance and rest, you will be saved in quietness and trust is your strength, but you were not willing. You were not willing to repent. You were not willing to rest. You were not willing to be still because to be still requires you to trust me.

And you were unwilling to do that. You see an attention to stillness means that you have to wait and trust the Lord. And we don't have time to wait for that. We've got to know now what God is doing. And yet it requires us to be still and know that the Lord God of Israel truly is the God of all to be still means three things. Okay. It means number one, I need to sit still, Naomi in the book of Ruth would tell Ruth these words in chapter three, verse number 18.

Then Naomi said, sit still my daughter, until you know how the matter turns out for the man Boaz will not rest until he has settled it today. The story of Ruth and Boaz is a story about the kinsman redeemer. And Boaz is a type of Christ because he would redeem Ruth through marriage. Christ redeems us through his shed blood on Calvary's cross. And Naomi, the mother-in-law to Ruth would give her this counsel. You have done all that you possibly can for Boaz. You must sit now still and wait for Boaz to do what he is going to do.

Translation, you have done all that you can. You've worked out your salvation with fear and trembling. You are to sit still and let God do what God's going to do. Wait for God to work. Sit still. You ever told your children, sit still in church. They have a hard time sitting still. They're so antsy or sit still in class, but Christ likeness requires that we sit still and watch and wait for God to work. Be still and know that I am God. It requires me to sit still. Number two, it requires me to stand still, stand still.

Book of Exodus, Exodus, the 14th chapter, Israel had just been released from Egyptian bondage. They find themselves moving out of Egypt. They find themselves on the brink of the sea, the Red Sea. The Red Sea is before them. The Egyptian army is behind them. There is no place to go. They feared for their lives. Annihilation seemed inevitable. They were going to die, so they thought, until Moses said in Exodus 14, verse number 13, he said to the people, do not fear, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish for you today.

For the Egyptians, Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silence. You must stand still. You must wait for God to work. You must let him do what only he can do. But see, we have a hard time doing that as hard as it is for us to glory in this person because we want to receive glory. It's just as hard for us to grow in his portrait because we will not be patient enough to sit by, stand still, sit still, be still, and let God do what God can only do.

We want to muddle everything up. We want to be involved. We want to take charge. We want to be in control. We want to know the answers and we want to know them yesterday. God doesn't work that way. That's why it requires trust, obedience, rest, quietness, waiting upon him to work. You're going to go through this year and you're going to want answers to your prayers. You're going to want to know what's going to happen next in a certain situation at work, at school, in a scenario, and you cannot sit back, sit still, stand still long enough for God to work.

But if you're going to grow in his portrait, you must give attention to stillness. You must be still and know that God is who he says he is. That requires you to sit still. That requires you to stand still. And thirdly, it requires you to lie still.

How many of you toss and turn all night? Don't answer that. But it requires you to lie still. Listen to what the Psalmist said in Psalm 3. Psalm 3, verse 4. I'll start with verse 3. But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the one who lifts up my head. I was crying to the Lord with my voice, and he answered me from his holy mountain. I lay down and slept. I awoke, for the Lord sustains me. The Lord sustains me. Chapter 4, verse number 4. Tremble and do not send. Meditate in your heart upon your bed and lie still.

Be still. In peace, I will both lie down and sleep. For you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. Have you ever gone to bed and lied still? The Psalmist said these words in Psalm 119, verses 148. My eyes are awake that thou might... I can't even read my writing. I should probably look it up. Psalm 119, 148 says this. That's why I write them down. It takes me forever to get to them. It says, my eyes anticipate the night watches that I may meditate on your word. The Psalmist said, I anticipate the night watch because in the nighttime, when I lie still, I can meditate on your word.

Lying still requires me to go to school, to search the scriptures. And so part of my Christ likeness comes because there is a supreme attention to stillness, to sitting still, to standing still, to lying still as I meditate on the truth of God's holy word. This is absolutely essential for you to grow in the portrait of Christ, that you might look like him, sound like him, act like him, walk like him. We are to walk in him. Just as you received Christ Jesus, our Lord, Colossians 2, 6, so then you shall walk in him.

We are to walk as children of the light, Ephesians chapter five, verse number eight. We are to walk in love, Ephesians chapter five, verse number two.

We are to walk in wisdom, Ephesians chapter five, verse number 15. We are to walk no longer as the Gentiles walk. We are to walk distinctly different than they are, Ephesians four, verse number 17. We are to walk worthy of our calling, Ephesians chapter four, verse number one.

We are to walk in truth, 1 John chapter three, verse number four, but we are to walk in him. To do that requires not just the application of scripture, not just the association with saints, but an attention to stillness. Number four, it requires an annihilation of sin, putting to death those things that hinder my walk with the Lord. That's why in Matthew five, the Lord God says, if your right hand offends you, cut it off.

If your right eye offends you, pluck it out. The mortification of our bodies, an annihilation of sin, getting rid of those things in our lives that cause us not to look like the Christ, a hatred for sin, an annihilation of sin. There's also the appropriation of spiritual disciplines, the discipline of, of silence and solitude, the discipline of self-denial and surrender, the discipline of scripture and supplication, the discipline of a steadfast heart, the discipline of song and service. But there needs to be an appropriation of the spiritual disciplines of my life because I need to discipline myself unto godliness, first Timothy four tells me.

And then there needs to be an anticipation of the Savior, living in anticipation of his coming again. Those six elements help us understand how we are to grow in the portrait of Christ, how we can become more and more like the Christ. Paul tells us that we are to, he told Timothy to guard, to guard his heart, his life, his doctrine. He told the Ephesian elders to be in guard for themselves and all the flock of God. Solomon said in Proverbs four 23, my son guards your heart for all of out of it flows all the issues of life.

There needs to be this protection of our heart that we might grow in Christ Jesus, that we might look more and more like the Christ. You want a great day, then you must glory in his person and you must grow in his portrait. Next point is R-G-R-E-A-T. You must rejoice in his providence. If you want to have a great day, you must rejoice in his providence. The providence of God deals with the details of how he works out his sovereign plan each and every day, how he uses people, how he uses nature, how he uses objects and things to accomplish his will so that he is glorified.

That's why the Psalmist said in Psalm 18 verse number 30, as for God, his way is blameless. His way is perfect. The way God does things are absolutely to perfection. That's why we can say we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. We know that because God's in charge. We know from Romans chapter 11, Romans chapter 11, verse number 13, these words, I'm sorry, 33. Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways for who has known the mind of the Lord or who became his counselor or who has first given to him that it might be paid back to him again for from him and through him and to him are all things to him be the glory forever.

All men. In other words, everything that happens comes from God, goes through God in order to come back to him again. And we need to be able to rejoice in this providence. This is how Paul did it in the book of Acts, the book of Acts, the 20th chapter, as he speaks to the Ephesian elders, he says, and now behold, bound in spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy spirit solemnly testifies to me that in every city saying that bonds and affliction await me.

That's all I know. All I know is that bonds and affliction await me. And then he says, but I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself so that I may finish my course with joy and the ministry, which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God. That's all I know. All I know is that I'm going to rejoice in the course that's before me. I'm going to enjoy what God has for me. I have no idea what awaits me. I know what the spirit solemnly testifies to me, but I don't know every detail of what's going to happen, but I rejoice in the providence of God because he's called me to declare his gospel.

To rejoice in God's providence is crucial. This is where John the Baptist had a hard time. That's why, as we talked last week, he sent his disciples to Jesus and said, are you the expected one? Or do we look for somebody else? Because I'm in prison. And if you're to release the captives, if you're to release the prisoners, if you're to set us free, why am I in prison? So John sent his disciples to ask Jesus. And Jesus said, blessed are all those who do not stumble over me. Or translation, blessed are all those who don't get upset with the way I do my business.

There's a blessing in understanding the providence of God and rejoicing in his providence. And John had to learn that. John had to grow in that. I love the early church. In the book of Acts, the fourth chapter, it says in verse number 13 of Acts 4, now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply.

But when they had ordered them to leave the council, they began to confer with one another saying, what shall we do with these men? For the fact that a noteworthy miracle has taken place through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But so that it will not spread any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no longer to any man in this name. And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge, for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.

When they had threatened them further, they let them go, finding no basis on which to punish them on account of the people, because they were all glorifying God for what had happened. For the man was more than 40 years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed. When they had been released, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God in one accord. These apostles had been threatened.

You can no longer speak in the name of Jesus. You can ever no longer do what you've been doing in the name of Jesus. They said, well, we have to obey God rather than men. So what do they do? They go back to their companions, having been threatened. And they, with one voice and one accord, lift their voices to God and say, oh Lord, it is you who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, who by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of our father, David, your servant said, why did the Gentiles rage and the people's devised fetal things?

The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. For truly in this city, they were gathered together against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel to do whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur. And now Lord take note of their threats and grant that your bondservants may speak your word with all confidence while you extend your hand to heal and signs and wonders take place through the name of your holy servant, Jesus.

And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness. This is how the early church responded to the threat that you can no longer speak about these things concerning Jesus. They went and they rejoiced in the providence of God and how he would use Pontius Pilate and Herod and the Jewish people to crucify his beloved son. They saw the hand of God moving among their people and they would rejoice in that.

So Lord, you take note of their threats because you know that in your sovereign plan, you providentially designed for them to give these threats to us at this particular time. So you take note of their threats, but Lord, you give us boldness. You give us the confidence that we need to stand strong, that we might speak forth the truth that brought glory and honor to God. They were able to rejoice in his providence. That's why Joseph said to his brothers, you meant evil for me, but God had been good for me.

You meant it evil, but God would override all your evilness because there's something great that happened. The salvation of a nation took place. And so Joseph had that perspective. He could rejoice in the providential working of God, how God takes the details of everyday events to bring about his glory so that he is worshipped and honored. Do you rejoice in God's providence? You want a great day? You got to rejoice in his providence because you don't know what this day holds. You don't know what's going to happen next.

This past year, they came out with a movie. The movie is entitled Greater. It's a true story about an athlete named Brandon Burlesworth, who in 1995 received a scholarship from the University of Arkansas to play football. He was a walk-on at Arkansas. He was an overweight young boy who wanted to play for the Arkansas Razorbacks. He went to high school. He was able to get a scholarship to Arkansas Institute of Technology, but he didn't want to go there. So he walked on at the University of Arkansas because he wanted to play football for the Razorbacks.

When he walked on, the coach told him that he would never play at the University of Arkansas. But not only did he not just play, he obtained a full scholarship to the University of Arkansas, and he became an All-American at the University of Arkansas, and was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts after he graduated from the University of Arkansas. And what the movie does not tell you is that not only did he receive his bachelor's of arts in those four years, he received his master's degree as well in those four years.

And 11 days after he was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts, he was killed in a car accident. And the movie is about Brandon Burlesworth, his death, and it's framed around a conversation between his brother, Marty, and this mysterious figure that's never defined, never recognized by anybody in the film, but a conversation that Marty, the brother of Brandon, who was 17 years older than Brandon, and this mysterious figure. And the whole movie is framed around that conversation. The movie begins with his funeral.

It ends with his funeral. And in between is this conversation between Marty Burlesworth and this mysterious figure. And the whole time, this mysterious figure is trying to get Marty to denounce and defy the fact that God is a loving God who truly loves and honors his people. Why would a loving, caring God take your brother at such a young age with so much promise, so many things going for him? He had not yet even signed the contract for the Colts, for if he would have signed it, he would have taken care of his mother's indebtedness.

But because he did not sign it, his mother would still be in debt, was still in debt. So why would God take him now? And this conversation goes on and on because it deals with the providential working of God in and through life's events. Just when we think everything is going great, something greater happens. And the whole theme is centered around our loss is great, but our God is greater. He's greater than our loss. It's a movie that depicts how to rejoice within the providential working of God in everyday aspects of our lives.

And by the way, Brandon was killed. Brandon was killed because every week he would go back home and take his mother, guess where? To church. He would drive home every week and take his mother to church because church in his life was a priority. Amazing. True story. Great movie. If you haven't seen it, you need to see it. Well, if I see it, you've told us everything in it. But it adds to the understanding that you need to learn to rejoice in the providential working of God. And just think about the characters of scripture, whether it's Joseph, Paul, Habakkuk, who had to learn to rejoice in God's providential working of using the wicked Chaldeans to come in and deal with his people Israel, his chosen people whom he loved.

Habakkuk had to learn to rejoice in the Lord, his God, to exalt in his God, to rest in his God, had to learn to rejoice in the providential working of God. Job had to learn to rejoice in the providence of God, that God was at work. Even though he lost his family, even though he lost his farm, even though he lost everything that he had except for his wife, he did not lose his faith. And he'd learned to rejoice in the providence of almighty God. Joseph was the same way. Abraham was the same way. He was guaranteed a son, a son of promise, but had to be still, had to sit still, had to stand still, had to lie still because it wasn't for another 25 years before that son of promise ever came.

But he had to learn to rejoice in the providential working of God in his life. So whether it's Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob, or whether it's Joseph, or Paul, or Habakkuk, or whether it's Micah, or Jeremiah, or Elisha, or Elisha, no matter who the man is, no matter how great he is in scripture, the one true characteristic of every great man is that he rejoices in the providence of almighty God because he knows that God's in absolute complete control of every single event of his life. How about you? How about you?

It's a great day only if you glory in his person, only if you grow in his portrait, only if you rejoice in his providence. And somehow my God is in complete control of everything that's happening. I have no worries. I truly can sit still and be still and let God do what only God can do. Next, the second aspect to the letter R is you need to rely on his power.

Rely on his power. As you rejoice in his providence, you rely on his power. As you glory in his person, you grow in his portrait. This is the key element to having a great day. You must rely on his power. You cannot do it yourself. That's why Paul says in Philippians 3, verse number 3, we are the circumcision, we are the marked ones, we are the ones who worship God in spirit, we take no confidence in our flesh, none. We have absolutely no confidence in what we can do. We completely trust in the living God to accomplish his work.

That's why God told Zerubbabel, it's not by your power, but it's by my spirit, says the Lord. That's why in Psalm 127, it says, unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain to build it. You cannot do it yourself. It's reliance upon God. That's why God said in John 15, 3, without me, you can do nothing. You can't accomplish anything without me. You see, John the Baptist, according to Luke chapter 1, was filled with the spirit from his mother's womb. He even would prophesy from the womb when he kicked in his mother's womb, when Mary came to her cousin Elizabeth.

So there was even a prophecy because John the Baptist was filled with the spirit from his mother's womb. Because the ministry of John the Baptist could not happen in the energy of the flesh. It had to happen because of the energy of the spirit of God and his power in this man's life. How do you think he could be so courageous and so strong against Herod and Herod's wife and call them out for their immoral relationship? Because he was filled with the spirit from his mother's womb. We have the spirit of God indwelling us when we're born again.

Then we must learn to walk in the spirit. We rely on that spirit every single day or we cannot accomplish what God has designed for you and me. The book of Daniel tells us in Daniel chapter 11, Daniel 11 verse number 32, the people who know their God will display strength and do great exploits, great things. Why? Because they know God. The key to doing great things is knowing God and those who know God rely on God. Those who know God trust in God. Those who know God believe in God. Those who know God live for God.

They love God and they are able to do great exploits for the kingdom of God. I want you to have the greatest year possible. To have a great year, you must begin with having a great day. And today is a great day to be great. But it can only be great if you glory in this on his power. May God give you a great day. Let me pray with you.

Father, thank you for today. Thank you for all that you do. We are so grateful, Lord, for your word that speaks explicitly to every one of us. And our prayer, Lord, is that you would take your word embedded in our hearts and minds that we might, through obedience, love you all the more, follow you all the more for the glory of your kingdom. Help us, Lord, to glory in you. Help us to rave and boast about the Christ. Help us to put ourselves aside, to think of ourselves as nothing and you as everything.

Help us to grow in our walk with Christ, that we might paint a great portrait of our Lord to others. Help us learn to rejoice in the providence of almighty God. Although we might not understand, although we might not get what it is you're doing, we believe that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to your purpose. To do that, Lord, we must rely upon you, trust and wait and believe in you, that we might receive the power necessary to accomplish your will.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.