Colossians 3:1-4

Well, good morning. Thank you. Actually, Vern's gone, as you can tell. And so he left me here to keep the ship, hopefully in the right course here. And actually, I got fantastic verses. So it's going to make it pretty, you know, really a lot of fun. And hopefully you'll learn something this morning. What I'd like to do before we start is to kind of think about.

I've kind of titled this four verses, The Heavenly Nature of the Believer. And actually what we're going to see in here is that these set of verses talk about the believer's past, his present, and his future. So it's kind of a package deal here, if you will. Past, present, and future are discussed here.

But I think there's some groundwork that's probably needed. A lot of you folks probably know these things, but it's good to remind ourselves. And if you haven't, thought about these things before, it would be great. Also, I'm going to read quite a few verses, so if you have your Bibles, it would be great. I kind of copy them off onto a little sheet so I can read them from this sheet, but you'll need to look at your Bibles occasionally. So let's go ahead and kind of start with the background here. So the background is, and I used one of Hal Malloy's favorite pictures, a picture of the cross, a picture of of death and resurrection.

And so the question is, what happened here? And most of you folks would probably answer this correctly. Christ's death occurred on the cross. He died on our behalf. He was buried. And he was raised. And if you think about that, that's the gospel, really, right there, is the gospel. So that's what we have to believe to become a believer, become a Christian.

But something else happened here. So what happened to us here? Maybe the answers here won't be quite as easy. Maybe some folks will know this, some folks will not. And this is not something that's foreign to Scripture. It's something that's abundantly taught in Scripture. And I think it's critical.

So our death, our co-death with Christ, when we died, I mean when Christ died, we died. We had a death with Christ. Verne likes to say the cross was crowded that day at Calvary. And when Christ was buried, that was our burial. We were co-buried. And the words in the Greek, if you look at the Greek language and study it out, you'll see that there's a compound word. It's co-death, co-burial, and co-resurrection. So we're going to see that as we go through these four verses. Those concepts are going to be important as we look at that. Christ's death was our death. His burial was our burial. And we're going to focus a lot on the resurrection. When he was raised, we were raised.

And where are we to focus? Where is our Christian life to focus? Are we to focus on this chaotic world and try to make it right? Are we going to go out there and, I'm going to get order in this world. God says this world has a big problem. The evil one controls this world. You often wonder, why is this world such a mess? Well, scripture tells us it's in control of the evil one. So, should we expect it to be all nice and orderly?

I don't think so. But there's hope in that, and we're going to see that. Where should our focus be? The second concept here is something we also teach here at Holly Hills quite a bit. Position versus condition. Maybe you haven't heard those exact words before, but our position is our heavenly position. in Christ.

And that's basically who we are. We've actually changed addresses. We've changed ownership. We're no longer part of Adam's race. We're part of Christ's race. There's been a change. And that's an eternal change. Eternal and unchangeable. That's who we are in Christ. We're no longer who we were in Adam. Now we're in Christ.

And the second part of that is our condition. And that's our walk on this earth. How do we conduct our lives? our moment-by-moment walk. And it's temporal, it's changeable. We can walk one of two ways. We can walk in light of what we have in Christ, in light of our position, or we can walk contrary to that. And scripture is constantly telling us to walk in light of what Christ has done for us, in light of who we are in Christ. So the quick saying is our conditions should match our position. We have this wonderful, exalted position, Our Christian life should match that, but it's not capable that can be 24-7. We'd like it to be that way, but that's the potential. Okay, so now we're going to jump into the verses here.

So I'm going to kind of break them down. I'm an engineer. I like to chop things up and examine each little piece and uncover each little word. It can get tedious, but I think you learn a lot by doing that. Some people like to take you know, the broad view, and they'll step back and make broad statements. I like to look at each individual piece and then try to come to some conclusions here.

Okay, so the first part of this is, therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ. So actually, a better translation of therefore if, which seems kind of maybe clumsy a little bit, it's a conditional statement. But in this case, it's actually stating a fact. In the Greek way of looking at things. This is stating a fact. In view of the fact, and then you get the rest of that little A part.

In view of the fact, you have been raised up. You have been raised up with Christ. In view of the fact, so this is a given. This isn't, well I hope I was raised up in Christ. Remember we looked at the picture of the cross and the burial and the resurrection. This is a fact that every believer can hang his hat on, that we've been raised up with Christ. It's not something I'm hoping to happen, will happen, it has happened.

Many people don't realize that that's happened, and I think that puts them at a disadvantage in looking at scripture. Okay, so there's a parallel passage which I'd like to read, and if you have your Bibles, look at Ephesians chapter 2, verses 4 through 6. And it says, but God being rich in mercy, because of his great love, which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved. And here's a part that I wanted to kind of key on, verse 6. And raised us up, co-raised, and this is co-raised right here, I didn't mention that, this is co-raised, co-raised with him, and seated us with him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So we were co-raised with our Savior.

So there's some questions here. How, when, why? It's always good to ask questions, right? Always good to have answers, too. And Scripture provides that. It's not like I'm going to make up these answers and say, what's a how? Well, actually, this almost introduces another whole set of study of Scripture. The how part. kind of focuses back on what we studied. How many folks were here in May of this year? Raise your hand. How many folks were here in May? Do you remember what we studied in May? I had the opportunity to sub for Vern again, like two times a year.

We talked about Galatians 2.20. In that study, we talked about the idea of baptism. Do you guys remember that? I had this little bucket. I had this bucket here. supposed to die in this bucket, right? And I took the white towel and I put it in the bucket and I fumbled around a bit and pulled out the blue towel, the blue cloth.

Baptism is the how part here. We were baptized or immersed into Christ. We were united with Christ and that's a permanent union. That's not something that we hope happened. Another truth that we have, we were baptized into Christ. And if we read If you turn to Romans, Romans chapter 6, and we read verse 4, he says, Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism, this immersion or dipping, this is not water baptism, this is spiritual baptism, into his death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so that we too might walk in newness of life. So the how part of this was by baptism, our union, our being united by the Spirit of God in our Savior. And the when part, that happens to each believer when he trusts the Lord Jesus as his Savior, when he puts his faith and confidence in the Lord Jesus, he is retroactively, if you will, baptized into Christ, baptized into his death, burial, and resurrection. And the why, I read that actually in this verse four, that we might have a new life, this newness of life, new and quality life, not the old life, not the life from Adam, but the life from our Savior.

So that's the how, when, and why. Okay, so now let's go on to the B part. Keep seeking the things above. We're going to see in these verses, we're going to talk about these things above. And what I want to kind of, I haven't really got into the seeking part here yet, but I just like to kind of back away. The things above, you think, wow, what are the things above? Is that clouds? Is that harps? Angels? Is that people floating around? Is it ethereal things? Or is there really any meat? I just kind of think about way up there in the sky someplace. I just think about that, and my day is good.

Is that what he's talking about here? And hopefully I'm going to persuade you that is absolutely, if I had a little thing with a little red circle on the cross, that's absolutely not what he's talking about. He has concrete things he wants us to keep seeking the things above. The things above are definite facts about Christ and about us. They're not ethereal things, not things that we just kind of think up, oh, it'd be nice, I'll be walking the streets of gold, I'll be doing, and some things are true, but that's not what he's talking about.

So hopefully I can show you that. So the word seeking is the idea to strive after. It's the idea of earnestness. It's actually a desire. We have a desire for the things above. And the things above, like I said, are not going to be these wishy-washy kind of feel-good things. They're going to be solid truths about who we are and what's happened to us.

And actually, you don't have to turn there, but in Matthew 6.33 it says, Seek first the kingdom of God, and even though that's to the Jews, it really is kind of the focus here, we're to seek our home. That's where we are, positionally, using our position and condition thing, that's where we are, we're to seek that. And it says, and why keep seeking?

Well, one of the reasons is that's our home. We keep, you know, this is Thanksgiving. We're going to go home for Thanksgiving or be with our family for Thanksgiving. We're seeking where our home is. And it's like the idea of we're seeking to grow, to understand, to grow in grace and the knowledge of Him.

I think it was Macaulay or someone else had a word for this seeking. It's tracking down. I'm tracking down the truth about who I am. I'm going to find it. I'm going to seek after it. I want to know this so I can focus on these wonderful things above. The things above. I'm going to do a Vern on you here. Vern will kind of lead us along sometimes.

He'll ask a question, but he won't answer it. Well, I'm not going to answer it right now. What are the things above? I'm not going to answer that. I've kind of alluded to it, but I'm not going to answer it yet. We first need to look at part C of this verse. I think that will help us.

Where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Before we get to why is he seated, that little word where, I think that shows us our focus. It's in heaven, right? But it's focused on the person and where he is, right? It's focused on where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. So we're not just focused on anywhere in heaven, you know, we're focused on where Christ is and he's seated at God's right hand.

So that kind of gives us a clue of these things above and what they're going to be about. So, okay, two questions I put up there. First question, why is he seated? And that's answered if you have your Bibles, It's answered, where is it answered, Roger? Let me turn to the right place here. It's answered in Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 3. Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 3. And actually I'm just going to read the B part of that verse. Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3, the B part.

When he had made purification of our sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. So basically, why is he seated? He had completed his work. He had made purifications based on the Hebrews passage and others. He made purification for our sins.

He had gone to the cross and actually it says there in the passages that, like in the Old Testament, God said, sit at my right hand. He asked the Lord Jesus to come sit at his right hand. And in Mark it said, he was received up into heaven. to be seated at the right hand. So that's his place at the finish of his work on the cross. And at the right hand, that's a place of honor. God's right hand in scripture is often a place of honor, a place of special honor, and I don't know what I'm looking for here I can't think of. Anyway, okay, let's go on. Okay, now, what are the things above? I'm going to answer the question.

Vern would take you on for you know, 20 charts later, he'd answer this question, but I'm not going to do it. I can't produce that many charts, first of all. You know, Vern, he must think charts. Charts just come out of his fingers. You know, I have like 20 charts here. It took me, you know, I hate to say it, 15 minutes, 15, 20, I don't know, a long time per chart, a lot of time. Vern, you know, they just come out of his fingertips.

Okay. The things above. Okay. First of all, I think Based upon, we're looking at Christ, it's who is Christ? And there are two aspects, his person and his work. So the things above, part one of this is who Christ is. That's just crucial. If you don't know who Christ is, you say, well, I know who Christ is. I'm a believer. Everybody knows who Christ is. If you're a believer, you've got that made. Well, Scripture has just a tremendous amount to say about who Christ is. We can just kind of summarize that. If you look at John. John chapter 1. Just a beautiful passage. John chapter 1, verses 1 through 4. He just talks about our Savior, calls Him the Word in this passage. Gospel of John, chapter 1, verses 1 through 4. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. If you jump down to verse 14, The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. So that's a wonderful person. He was from the beginning. He is God. He's with God. So he's separate, but he's still God. He became flesh.

And if you go on into other passages in Colossians, another part of Colossians, it says all things were made by Him. They were made for our Savior. In Colossians, One, He is the image of the invisible God. So all these things were to bring to mind. We have a Savior who is in control.

He's created all things. It's to give us confidence and peace and rest. For by Him all things were created, both in heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible, with the thrones of dominions or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And so on. So they're just wonderful things to study about his work on the cross.

He died for two parts. He died for sins, plural, the sins that had been committed past, present, and future. He paid for those sins for all time. He also died for the nature that creates those sins. He died unto our sin nature to separate us from that sin nature.

So there's a person in the work. And then part two of that is who we are in him. So the things above, once again, are our focus on Christ and then who we are in Him. And there are several aspects that are living union, being baptized into Him, being identified with Him. And then lastly here, which is a big area, the riches of His grace.

And this is big. And I'm going to try to kind of capture this in several charts here. Actually, I've had some help here. Dr. Chaffer has cataloged 33 Itches of God's Grace. We have a class, actually, we teach at Sunday School that we go over these. I'm going to try to go through these, but I'd like to kind of, as a precursor to that, just kind of some groundwork for that.

These truths are not to be experienced. These are eternal truths. They're not progressive. They don't get better. You either have or don't have them. You have them because you're a believer in Christ. They are in no way related to human effort. You didn't earn these. You cannot earn these. They're impossible. They're by grace. They're God's gift. They are eternal in their character. They'll be for all eternity. They are known only through the divine revelation of the Word of God. So we only find these things out. We can't go to to some other book that man has written. We go to God's Word to understand these truths.

So now I have actually three charts on these. And actually, in this class, this is from the class we did in Sunday School, we looked at Ephesians. If you ever are wondering about, what do I have in my Savior? Start looking through Ephesians. You're going to see that these truths, almost in every verse in Ephesians, you're going to see a truth that comes out. Okay, chapter one, we possess every spiritual blessing from Ephesians 1, 3. We're in the eternal plan of God, we're chosen. We're children of God, we're sons of God. We're accepted by Jesus Christ, we're made accepted. He didn't ask us to become accepted. He says, I want you to work really, really hard and then you'll be accepted. No, you're accepted because of His work on the cross. You're redeemed.

We're going to verse 7 in Ephesians. Already these are enough to blow your gaskets, so to speak. We're forgiven all trespasses. We're in the eternal plan of God. Now this doesn't mean you can't sin. This doesn't say you're not going to sin. This says, this is what I have.

This is why we're to be focused on things above, because of all these wonderful blessings I have. This is actually to help you not to sin. You say, why would I ever even think about sinning since God has given me all this treasure I have? Why would I even consider that?

That's what grace is about. Grace is a motivator. Bless with the earnest the firstfruits of the Spirit. We're to verse 19 now. They have several categories that are grouped in the much more care of God. His love. We're children of God. He made us alive. We were dead. We've been made alive. Heavenly association.

Partnership and position. Come to this class, please. Learn about all these truths. Sign up for this. We're not teaching this this time, but next time. Actually, I think Courtney's taught it one time. Mike's done it other times. Sign up for this class.

Learn who you are in Christ. Children of God. A new creation. Circumcised in Christ. Made near. We were once far off, we've been made near by the blood of Christ. Having access to God. You know, people, it's fun though, people will just moan and wail and all, oh, I want God to be close to me. No, we have access to Him. As a believer in the Lord Jesus, you have access. 24-7. You may not feel you have access. Don't go by feelings.

You have access to God. I mean, that in itself is incredible. of the family and household of God, on the rock, Christ Jesus. OK, chapters 3, 4, and 5 of Ephesians. Of the family and household of God, vitally united to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, blessed with the earnest of the firstfruits of the Spirit, forgiven all trespasses, within the much more care of God his love, and light in the Lord. OK. Alright, so just think about that.

I wanted to make this big because I felt that just saying the things above, people go, I've got to look up at the clouds today and that's going to make me feel better. No, that's not going to make you feel better. But looking at these truths will say, wow, look what I've got. Look what I have. It's not going to change. I'm not going to do something, commit some sin and the Lord is going to give up on me. No. He has provided everything for us.

And He says, based upon this, conduct your life based upon what you have in Me. So, when you hear the things above, think about these wonderful truths that I presented here. Okay, so let's go on. In verse 2. So now, we've been given what these things are, so He says, set your mind on things above. Okay, set your mind.

Think about It's the idea to direct one's mind. Actually, I had a verse I wanted to read here in light of this. So the object here is to set your mind on the things above. And in Romans chapter 8, verse 5, it says, for those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit on the things of the Spirit.

The things I presented there, that's the things we're to focus on. We're to set our minds on those things. So it was two parts here. We first saw that we're to seek those things which are above. Now we're to set our minds on the things above. Two parts.

We seek them, we seek to know them, understand them, and then we focus on them. I mean, that's true with any wonderful thing. Once you seek to understand it, and then you focus on it. And that's what the Lord's asked us to do here. To seek and to set your mind on those things. And then he gives a contrast in that. It's not, and I read a verse like that, it's not on the things of the earth. The things of the earth are talked about in scripture. So there's a contrast here between the things of the earth and the things in heaven.

And I wanted to read here in 1 John chapter 2, it says, It says, the world is passing away, also its lusts, but the one who does the will of the Father lives forever. So the world and the things of the world are passing away. So we're going to spend all our time on the things that are passing away. You say, well, I've got to have a house, and that's true. But there's a balance there with all that. Do I spend all my time on something that's going to pass away, or do I look at eternal things and focus on that? There's a contrast here. The things above versus the things on the earth. I have my pictures here again. Okay. All right, so let's go on. So now we kind of come to the part here where we see here's why we're able.

So you say, boy, I have a tough time focusing on the things above. I just got so much going on in my life. I'm just busy. I'm just busy every second of the day. I don't have time to think about the things above. Even though they're so wonderful, I just can't make it happen. I got too much going on.

So he's going to present here the rationale for how you're able to do it. For expresses the reason for what has gone before. He says, For you have died. You've been separated. That's a fact. It's a fact. It's a fact. You have been separated. And I have a verse here for you.

It says in 2 Corinthians 5.14, it says, For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died. And if you think about death, what does death mean? What's the synonym for death?

Thank you. Separation? Good, good. So we've been separated unto God. So now we're able to focus on the things above. So, why did you die? To be separated from your sin nature? To be freed from your sin nature? It's kind of two parts of that. Before you were a believer, when you were in Adam, you were in union with your sin nature.

You had no choice. You may think that, you say, well, let's see, I did pretty good things maybe before I was a believer. I used to think before I was a believer, I said, I'm doing the best I can do. And that was very true. I was doing the best I can do. But that was only because I was in Adam. I couldn't see beyond what was different. When I became a believer, I realized that I can only do what appealed to my flesh.

So when you have died, you've been separated from your sin nature. And now you've been freed from your sin nature, so you're able to choose to follow what God has for you. When did you die? Again, it happened when you trusted the Lord Jesus as your Savior.

Okay. Now this is the cool part. And your life is hidden with Christ in God. I was trying to think of a good visual aid, and so I talked with Bonnie, and I said, well, we need some good visual aids here. And I said, hidden with Christ in God, what could I do to show that? And I thought, well, I'd get a giant blanket and cover myself with this blanket so you couldn't see me, and then talk for a while through this blanket.

It seemed kind of silly. But I get this big coat and with a hood, and I just kind of talk like this. I said, that sounds kind of silly. So I decided not to do that. But I wanted to convey that we're hidden. We're covered up. Your life is hidden. And so the question is, what life is this? What life are we talking about here? And I believe it's our resurrected life in our Lord Jesus. Our new life in Christ. What does it mean to be hidden? And this is where I got the idea for the big cover. You wouldn't see me. To cover up. To be hidden by something. And I have a picture here.

And this is kind of cool. looking at the Greek words and stuff, your life is hidden with Christ and then you're totally encompassed with God. God totally encompasses you. And I think the best description of that is in John 17. It talks about this wonderful relationship that we have with our Savior. And this is the true Lord's Prayer. Now, some will refer to the Matthew passage as being the Lord's Prayer. This is the true Lord's Prayer because He's praying for the believer. He's praying for us.

So let's read. If you have your Bibles, look at John 17. And let's go through this. This is just another one of these passages that just is so incredible. You can hardly believe He's talking about us. John 17, starting in verse 20. It says, I do not ask. So this is a prayer. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those who believe in me through their word.

And that's us. Those are us. We have believed through the word that the disciples wrote down or they preached. Verse 21, that they may all be one even as we are one. So he's praying that we be one with him. That they, that's us, may all be one as you I actually didn't read that right. Even as you, the Father, are in me, and I in you, that they, that's us again, may also be in us, so that, here's the purpose, so that the world may believe that you sent me.

So he has a purpose, and us being one with him, so that people will know that Christ came. He came, and we were saying it in Sunday School, He came in the flesh. That's so critical. We know He came as a man. He's a God-man. He came in the flesh. And then we go down to verse 22. The glory which you have given me, he's talking to the Father, I have given them, that they, that's us, may be one just as we are one. I in them and you in me. That's our picture. I in them and you in me. We're in this wonderful union.

Our brother Hal, he had this thing he'd always do, he'd take his two fingers and he would He says, I'm in union, and you cannot separate that. And Andrew Malloy, I still think this is what Hal did. He says it's not true. Andrew Malloy is his son. He was here the last couple of weeks.

At one point, he glued Andrew's fingers together like that, with super glue. And Andrew claims it wasn't for the illustration I'm talking about, but I cannot believe that wasn't the case. He said, we're in union with our Savior. We cannot separate that. So he glued his fingers together. And Lindy may have an opinion about that. She'll probably correct me later. But I thought that was so wonderful.

We are in union with our Savior. We cannot be separated. Your life is hidden with Christ in God. Entirely. And it cannot be changed. Not be separated. Anyway, okay, so let's go on here. How are we doing? Okay, good, good, good. Okay, now here's the cool part. Last verse. When Christ, who is our life, he's our life, and the most wonderful passage about talking, literally, it's Christ's life of you. We no longer, this is another incredible truth, You think, well, I have a life here. I go to work and I do this and I do that. I have a family and I do this and I do that.

Well, scripture says that your life ended. Your life ceased to be in the sense of the spiritual nature. It ceased to be. You have Christ's very life. And that's shown in Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20. Time in May we spent our whole time in that verse. I'm not going to go back and go over that again. You'll be thankful for that. How do we know that Christ is our life? Scripture tells us.

It says in Galatians 2.20, I have been crucified with Christ, and here's the key part, it is no longer I who live. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. I no longer live. Christ is living through me. Christ is doing the living in the Christian life.

You know, it takes a tremendous burden off ourselves. We don't have to say, well, I've got to be really, really nice to this person so they'll know I'm a Christian. Or I have to do this so they'll know I'm a Christian. No. By faith, you trust that Christ's life will be seen through your life.

You may not think it's being seen. But if you're walking with the Lord, in fellowship with Him, abiding in Him, it will be seen. You may not think it. I've had occasions where people come up to me and they'll say things and I'll think, well, how did you ever know that? Well, I never said anything, but by seeing your life, they knew something about you. They see where you're coming from. Now, there's also negatives there. You can do things. You can flub up. I've done them all. I've put my foot in my mouth. I do it plenty. You can flub up, but Christ's life will be seen in you.

Galatians 2.20. In Philippians it says, For me to live is Christ, to die is gain. Living is Christ. In Romans it talks about, I read that passage before.

Okay, so here's the cool part. When Christ is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. There's going to come a time, I think this is referring to Revealed is to become visible, to openly show. And I believe this is going to be at the Second Coming, when Christ comes. And we're going to come with Him at the Second Coming. We're going to be with our Savior. And we'll be revealed with Him in glory. And the passage that I chose for this, there are many passages you could choose, and it's in Revelation. Yeah, there it is. Revelation 19, verses 11 through 14. It says, I saw the heavens opened, and behold, a white horse.

And he who sat upon it is called Faithful and True. And in righteousness he judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems. And he has a name written on him, which no one knows except himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood. His name is called the Word of God. and the armies, I believe that's us, that's all believers, and the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following him on white horses.

So we're going to be, we were hidden, right now we're hidden. The world can see a little bit of who we are by how we conduct our lives. But there will come a time when we will come to this earth with our Savior that we'll be with Him, visibly with Him, clothed in white. And that's kind of cool. You know, now people say, I think this guy is a Christian. He sure acts like a Christian. You won't have any doubt, when the Lord comes, when we're with him, we're part of his armies, there'll be no doubt that we've gone from hidden to being visible, to be glorified. And that's a wonderful place.

Actually, I don't have really any great closer here. I apologize for that. But if I had to leave you with one thing, it's back to my things above. If I left one thought with you, I hope I left with you that the things above are about Christ, who He is, and about who we are in Him. Those are the things above. Those are the things that we're to focus on. That's where our life is to be focused upon. So with that, let's close in prayer then. We thank you, Father. We thank you so much for this day, Father. We thank you for the blessings we have in our Savior. We thank you that he provided all things for us. We ask it in his name. Amen.