Paul's Praise and Prayer for the Ephesians part 1

Well, let's take our Bibles. Let's turn back to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. Now, when I said that we were looking at this second section of chapter 1, verses 15 to 23, some of you might have had a panic. I'm not going to try to cover all those verses. We're just going to cover a couple. We're going to look at verse 15 to 16. Now, I will go ahead and tell you I'm going to reference a few other verses. I'm going to read a few other verses. Rarely do I get you to turn to different places, because I want you to follow me. And if I give you a verse that resonates with you, you write that down.

And as always, if you need help in taking notes and getting all that we're studying, we'll be able to help you. I'll be able to help you because our desire is not just to come and hear a sermon. Isn't that right? We want to take in all that the Lord would give us. And that does entail us sitting and listening, but it also requires us to study on our own. So if we need help, we'll be glad to help you. Now, for several weeks, we have been digging out what I have been calling the bountiful blessings of God's grace that Paul has given us in verses three to verse 14.

But I want us to see that we saw more than God's blessings of grace in Christ from eternity past all the way into eternity future. We saw more than God's master plan for the salvation of man. Besides grappling and wrestling with some of the most wonderful spiritual truths and mysteries found in the scriptures, we saw the heart of this man Paul. We did. We saw the heart and we need to see the heart of this man Paul. In these verses, Paul gave us a glimpse of how he felt spiritually about all of these things. And if we look at a few verses, we will see that Paul was spiritually moved here in a great way.

He was moved to offer great blessings to God. These are praises to God. This is all centered around worship. I want to call your attention to a few of these places. I've done this before. Look at verse three, the beginning of verse three. What does he say? Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ. What is he doing? He's blessing Christ. He's praising Christ. He's worshiping Christ. And then as he is unfolding these great blessings, we see Paul Paul's here and notice verse six. To the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved.

He's just praising and worshiping as he is unfolding these great blessings. We see the same thing in verse 12. And we also see the same thing at the end of verse 14. And I think that if you read these verses and if you meditate on these verses, you will see it. You'll see Paul's heart here. You'll say, "Yes, pastor, I do see the teaching, but I do sense what you're talking about. I feel his heart here. I see how he was moved in the verses." Now, listen, church, there are two things that I want us to see here. And this is where I think some can miss it. We cannot divorce the great teaching here in verses three to 14 from certain things.

First and foremost, all that is taught here cannot be divorced. It can't be separated from the living Christ. If we divorce these truths that are found here from our personal relationship with Christ, we end up with empty religion. If we divorce the teaching here from the living Lord Jesus, then this teaching really just becomes religion. It becomes empty religion. It's not biblical Christianity if that's the case. And as Paul unfolded all of these great blessings of grace, his teaching was pregnant with the living Christ. That is why he worshiped as he did. That's why he worshiped as he did.

Paul didn't give us this great spiritual teaching, these deep doctrinal truths, and he didn't just sit back with his theological merit badges. He didn't sit back after teaching all this and brag about his theology and brag about his great stacks of theology books. No. And listen folks, that's where so many people miss it here. We have to guard against allowing our Christian intellect to grow while allowing our spiritual hearts to grow smaller. That's where some people make a mistake. We cannot allow our Christian intellect to grow by studying these scriptures and then allow our hearts, our personal hearts to shrink more and more.

But the second thing, all that is found in these verses can't be separated from the heart of this man, Paul. It was the apostle Paul that was called of God and equipped of God to give these great spiritual truths. Not only was his teaching important, but his heart and his personal walk here as it is revealed and will be even revealed more. This is very important. I guess I can summarize what I've shared here by saying it like this. These truths and this teaching that we've spent so much time on must be anchored in Christ Jesus, which moves us to worship.

But these things must be anchored to the apostle Paul as well, which should have an effect on us as Christians in our day more than you know. Now it was not that Paul provided all that is here. No. This is God's word, not Paul's. We see his personality. We see how he was moved, but we know this is God's word. But Paul, he was the one commissioned by God to reveal these things. He was God's man used for God's purposes here, and we need to see the heart of this chosen man of God in this teaching. Now as we transition into verses 15, on down to verse 23, we will see Paul in a similar way, but yet a different way.

Starting in verse 15, we begin to see Paul offer two things in this letter. First he gives praise to the Ephesians, and then second he gives a prayer. He offers up this wonderful prayer on behalf of the Ephesians. That just leads us right to the title of the theme of the message. This is what we will study this morning and next week. This is what I'm calling Paul's praise and prayer for the Ephesians. It's easy for you to remember, and I think that you'll see that this really does capture what we will see in the verses. Now I want us to go back and read the verses. I know that sometimes I get us to read the verses several times.

I call you to come back and look at a word, a phrase. It's just because I want us to be focused on the scriptures, folks. I do. Let's look at verse 15. For this reason, he's transitioning from verses 3 to 14. "Because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers." So that leads us to the first thing I want us to study this morning. Number one, we see that Paul praises them. That might surprise some of you. Paul actually praises the Ephesian church, these Christians, these believers there in Ephesus. And we see this in verse 15.

Now we can say what Paul is doing here really two or three different ways. He is writing back to the Ephesians, and he's giving them a praise. He is thanking them. You can say it in our language like this, he's bragging on them. And he's doing this for a few reasons. Now before we see why Paul is praising them, I want to ask a question here. If Paul had ministered in Ephesus for so long, then why does he need a report? We know that he stayed in Ephesus for some three years. If that's the case, why does he need a report from someone else to know what is going on there?

This is where some scholars use verse 15 as evidence that this was a circular letter. They say that this points to the fact that this wasn't personal, that this was a circular letter. Some say that if the letter was meant for the Ephesians, Paul would have been more personal. He would have known more about them, and we would have seen that reflected in his writing. But let's examine the circumstances. Scholars also tell us that it's been about four years since Paul was there in Ephesus.

By now, Paul was writing in a Roman prison, from a Roman prison, and through letters and personal relationships, Paul was able to hear what was going on with this church and other churches. We know that he wrote those prison epistles out of that contact. In any news that Paul received was very, very difficult for him to get. In their day travel was very difficult. It was even very dangerous to travel. News and correspondence took time to reach its destination. So for Paul to be disconnected from this church after four or so years from being away from them, that was not out of the ordinary. Now what's my point?

Paul dearly loved this Ephesian church. He loved these people. He had spent some three years there ministering in a very, very great way. And he welcomed the information that was brought to him. You could say it like this. He really reconnected with the Ephesian church and these Ephesian believers. And through this report, he then was able to turn around and minister back to the Ephesian church by writing to them. So Paul received the report about the Ephesian church. And from that report, we see that Paul praised them. He bragged on them for two reasons. Look back at the verse.

Because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards the saints. So I want us to examine this praise. First, the first reason Paul praised them or bragged on them, it was for their faith in Christ. Isn't that what we see in the verse? It was for their faith in Christ. Now the emphasis here is on a true faith. The emphasis here is on a saving faith. He is not talking about some type of a cultural Christianity or even a superficial faith. And there are two things with the language that help us see that fact. First, there's was an inclusive faith. There's was an inclusive faith. Our English translations read your faith.

In the original, it reads the faith among you. Simply, this points to this inclusive faith. Paul wasn't singling out one or two believers there in the church. And he definitely wasn't saying that all of those among the church were certainly Christian. No. No doubt there could have been some who did not have a true faith. That's normal and common. But Paul was being very inclusive. He was talking about a true faith that was prevalent in the church. I guess if I could say it like we would in the south, is it okay to take scripture and put it in southern language?

If we could say it like we would in the south, Paul was saying, "I have heard all about y'alls faith. I have heard all about y'alls faith." Then second, there's was a lordship faith. There's was a lordship faith. Jesus didn't simply say they had faith in God, although that would not be wrong. He said their faith was in the Lord Jesus. His point was that Jesus was not only their savior, but Jesus was their Lord. It could be said this way, Jesus as Lord was the object of their faith. Yes, he had saved them from their sin, but he was the Lord of their life. He was the Lord of their faith. So who Jesus was, was the object of their faith.

What he could do or offer them was not the object of their faith. And there most definitely is a difference. And if you think about that, I think you will see that. Now notice what we've seen here. Just with a small portion of scripture. Jesus was praising this church through Paul. Paul was being led of the spirit of Christ and he was praising this church for their true and genuine faith in Christ. Christ Jesus had saved them, yes. Christ was their Lord. And this true faith was prevalent in that church. But I want to take a step back here and I want us to look at a broader picture here with Paul. I want us to see one of Paul's habits.

If you study his writing, you can see that he had habits. He points out the faith of certain individuals often in his letters. And these references can be overlooked unless we really pay attention. Now let me give you a few. We see this in the letter to the Galatians. Galatians chapter 5 verse 6. Paul says, "For in Christ," he loves that phrase, "in Christ," that would be true Christians. "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything." Now let me pause there. What is he saying? "In Christ it doesn't matter if you're Jew or Gentile. It doesn't matter who you are.

Nothing counts for anything but being in Christ." And what does he say? "But only faith." Let me go back and read that. "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything but only faith." Now what is Paul saying? It's your faith that matters. It's your faith that matters. Not your previous religion. Not your Judaism. Or not your culture. It's your faith that matters. In 1 Thessalonians 3, 6, Paul is writing to the church there at Thessalonica and he mentions our old friend Timothy. We've talked about Timothy quite a bit here. And what does he say?

"But now that Timothy has come to us from you and has brought us the good news of your faith." What does he say? "You've heard about your faith, your true faith that is among you." And then one more, Titus 2, verse 2. Paul tells Titus here, "Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in the faith." Now I've just rushed through a few references there. What do we see? Paul's referencing the faith, the sound faith, the true faith, a real faith, a saving faith. So notice what we have here. Paul had received a report. He had heard of their faith in the Lord Jesus.

And get this, no doubt many of them had come to faith in Christ when Paul was ministering their in Ephesus. We know that he spent quite a bit of time there. And now he is hearing that they are continuing in the faith, a genuine faith, a faith in the Lord Jesus, a faith that many of them truly possessed. I said earlier that this faith was prevalent there in the church. Now there are several things that we need to see here that apply to us today. First of all, first of all, for us as individuals, we must be known for our personal faith.

We must be known for having come to Christ and being converted to Christ and our family and our coworkers, our neighbors and our friends should know us as a true Bible Christian. You should speak of how you came to faith in Christ, your past life prior to Christ and how you're walking with Christ. And they should see that in your life, not just your words, but how you live. So as individuals, we should be known for our personal relationship with the Lord. But there's a bigger lesson here. One we really need to see.

Paul said, "I have heard of your faith." Again, going back to our southern dialect, Paul would have said it like this, "I have heard of y'all's faith. I've heard of y'all's faith. It was told to me. I got a report." See the question must be asked of us right here at Grace Life Church in Brookhaven. When others give a report about us, what do they say? When others give a report about us, what do they say? Those who really know us, those who really spend time with us, when they give a report to others, they should be able to say, "Oh, I know those folks at Grace Life Church. I know them. Those people have a true and genuine faith.

They are truly born-again people. That church is full of real Christians." And I don't know if you realize that people give a report about us often. It goes on all the time. I remember quite a few years ago, I was at a church that had quite a few problems. Churches have problems. Churches really have problems. What matters is how you handle them. You've got to handle them biblically. But I was involved in a church that really didn't handle some problems biblically. And I was around a group of men who were not converted. They were not Christians. They were not churchgoers.

And oh, all of a sudden, one of those men began to describe everything that went on at that church. He began to name names. He talked about who did what. He talked about who did what, when and where. And I had been in those Deacons meetings. I knew. I thought, "Wow, was he there and I didn't know?" And he looked at me and he looked at the crowd and he kept making comments. He looked at me. He looked at the crowd. I didn't say anything. He was giving a report. He was giving a report. Now, what's my point? Paul was giving a report. Paul had been given a report about these Christians. Now why do I take the time with this one phrase?

We have so many churches that cannot give this kind of report. There are so many churches that do not have the ability to get a report like Paul gave this Ephesian church. Listen church, listen to your pastor. Many of you call me your pastor. You have to be a church that can have this kind of report. What does he say? "For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards the saints." Now let's continue. The second reason that Paul praised them was for their love for one another. This just comes right out of the verse. The second reason that Paul praised them was for their love for one another.

Now the emphasis here is on love. This is an emphasis on Christian love. This is not a physical love. We would know that. And this is a brotherly love, but this is more than a brotherly love. This speaks of an agape love. Now an agape love is a God-like love. Christ was the perfect example of agape love. And there are two specifics about this love that we need to see. First their love was specific. Their love was specific.

All of the translations that we study used the word "saints." The New American, the English Standard Version, it uses the word "saints." Now we learned what this word meant back in our first message in the series, back when we covered verse 1. And we learned that this is not referring to some kind of a cultural sainthood. We know that. Biblically, the word "saint" simply means to be set apart. It means to be set apart and it means to be holy. Well these believers there at Ephesus were set apart. They were set apart as belonging to God. They had been converted to Christ and they belonged to Christ. They were set apart. They were His.

They were holy. They were saints. And here Paul is praising them for their love, for each other, for the saints of God there in the local church. But not only was their love specific, their love was inclusive. We see the inclusivity of their love with one word, "aw." Look at your copy. Doesn't it say "aw?" Paul said that they loved all the saints. Now you might not realize it, but this is very pregnant with meaning as well. Because within the church at Ephesus there were the Jews and then there were the Gentiles. And oh, the Jews and the Gentiles did not always get along.

And I think you know that because I've taught you that through the years. There were tremendous cultural and religious differences that from time to time would manifest itself with problems between Jews and Gentiles in the church. But what is Paul saying? Not with you. You love all the saints. You saints there in Ephesus, you love all of the saints. You love the rich. You love the poor. You love the Jew. You love the Gentile. You love the imported and the ones who were seemingly unimportant. You love all the saints. But you know this can be more here. Paul was not limiting their love to just their church. All the saints.

Paul said you loved all the saints. You even loved the saints of God who might visit your church, those traveling evangelists and missionaries. They loved the saints of God like Paul and his companions. They simply loved all of God's people. You see, they simply loved all of the saints. So notice what we have seen here. Paul had received a report. He had heard of their love. He had heard of their love for each other. Not their love for their small group. Not their love for the fellow saints that look like them or talk like them. Not their love for their little close circle of friends. Not even their love just for their local body.

Paul was praising them for their love for all the saints, all the saints. Now an application for us, we must ask a few questions here. Right off the top here. We must ask and we must examine, do we love the saints? Do we love all of them? Do we love the saints of God? And to answer that question as we should, we really need to go a little further. I have two other portions of scripture that I want us to examine. And I want us to see and examine and ask, do we truly have this type of love? Now the first scripture I want us to look at comes out of Galatians 6.10. And I want us to see first, we should love the saints first and foremost.

You're going to be surprised by this. Paul writes to the Galatians and he says, "So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone." Oh, we can embrace that. Can that feel warm? So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are of the household of faith. Now what is Paul saying? Paul is saying that yes, we should love our neighbors. We should do good to those that we meet. But he is saying the priority should be the saints of God. We should especially love and do good to those who are in the church, the household of God, the saints of God. You see?

So the saints come first and the world comes second. Listen to the verse again. So then, as we have opportunity, in other words, when we can, let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are of the household of faith. But the second verse I want us to look at that will help us is in John 13, two verses, verse 34 to 35. And what we see here is that we should love the saints like Christ. We should love the saints like Christ. Many of you know these verses. Jesus is preparing his disciples for his departure, getting ready for the cross. What does he say?

"The new commandment I give you that you love one another." Now he doesn't just stop there. "That you love one another just as I have loved you." Now he had just washed his disciples' feet and he was about to go to the cross. And what does he say? "You love one another just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." And notice this. "By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you love one another." See there's the report. See Jesus was preparing his disciples for the cross and his departure. And he begins to explain to them what he expects of them. And the number one thing he expects is that they love one another.

And this was no ordinary love. This was no ordinary love like we see with family and friends and co-workers. No, he was calling them to love each other as he had loved them and would love them. He was calling them to a sacrificial love, a love that he had modeled for them and he was about to model for them all the way to the cross. So for us, we must understand God's expectation of his people. Yes, he expects us to do good as we can within the world. As the Spirit of God leads us, but the priority are the saints of God, the priority are the saints, the local church. And this love is to be a Christ like love, a sacrificial love.

And listen folks, this is not a natural love. You can't love like this. You cannot. There's no way you can love like this. This is a supernatural love. It comes from God. It comes from the Spirit of God within you. But when you are born again and when the Spirit of God comes to live within you, this supernatural love becomes a natural love. So this natural supernatural love naturally comes out of you. I've said this to you a thousand times and I'll continue to say it as long as I'm with you as your pastor. Listen, when I came to faith in Christ, I didn't know all of the religious language. I barely knew New Testament from old.

I didn't know how to be religious. I didn't know how to be superficial. And look, when I came to faith in Christ, I walked into the doors of Highland Baptist Church in Laurel, Mississippi. And there was this supernatural, unnatural love that I did not have before that was placed in me. I loved all those people. I didn't know them. They knew me. They'd been praying for me for years. And I had a love for the people. I had a love for my pastor. I had a love for whoever taught me Sunday school. I came to church because I loved those people and I loved God. There was this love that was put within me that was greater than me.

And then when God called me into the ministry, oh, I went to First Baptist Church, Alice Field. That love was just transferred over there to those saints. And then when God called me to Brookhaven and I served at East Haven Baptist Church, oh, that love was just transferred over there to those saints. And then when God put me at Nola Baptist Church, that love was transferred over to Nola Baptist Church. And as we moved and became Grace Life Church, that love's just been transferred here. I just love. It's not a natural love. It didn't come from me. It comes from God within me.

Now in wrapping up Paul's praise for the Ephesians, notice what is in the report. Go back to the verse for this reason, because I have heard. See the report? Paul tells them those two spiritual characteristics dominate the report. It dominates their lives. First their love for God and second, their love for each other. Basically you have this, the two dominant spiritual characteristics that this church, the Ephesian church had, were the two top marks of genuine Christianity. They loved God and they loved each other.

And listen church, if your life is distinguished by these two spiritual characteristics and you cannot quite understand these deep spiritual mysteries that we studied in verses three to fourteen, how all of that fits together. Well, you are worthy to be bragged about. You are worthy to receive the praise of Paul. You need to hear that again. If your life is distinguished by these two spiritual characteristics and you cannot quite understand or articulate the deep spiritual truths that we studied and how all of that fits together, well, you are worthy to be bragged on by Christ. You are worthy to be praised by Paul.

But if you can explain all of the mysteries found in verses three to fourteen, if you can clearly articulate all of those theological categories, those titles, those phrases found there in the verses, but your life is not clearly and emphatically marked by a love for God and a love for the saints, you are not worthy of Paul's praise. You are a hindrance to the work of the church. You are a hindrance to the work of the saints and the work of God. And look, if that's you, you turn over into Revelation two verses four and five and you see how God feels about it. Now let's move on to the second major truth I want us to see.

We've taken our time here with the first part of the report, Paul praises them. But then number two, I want us to see that Paul, he prays for them. We see this start in verse sixteen and this will be a little shorter. Paul, he prays for them. Notice the transition. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. Now Paul had been offering praise to the church, to the Christians. He was bragging on them for loving God and loving the saints. But now Paul begins to show how he responds to what he heard.

Now we know he wrote, but now we see how he continues to respond. Now we need to make sure that we remember Paul's circumstance. He is four years removed from this church. Scholars tell us that when Paul wrote this letter, he was in a Roman prison. He received the report about the Ephesian church and then he does two things. The obvious first, he writes the letter and then second, he tells them that he prays for them. Now if we know the verses, we know that verses sixteen on down to twenty three is all about Paul's prayer. But if we break the verses down, I want us to see the first part in verse sixteen, it's more of a general prayer.

But then the second part starting in verse thirteen, verse seventeen, it gets very specific and it gets really deep. Now this morning I just want us to look at verse thirteen, this more general prayer. Three details here. First Paul was continuous in his prayer for these Ephesians, the beginning of the verse, I do not cease to give thanks for you. Now the meaning here is very simple. He never ceases. He never stops praying for them. He prayed without ceasing before the report. Isn't that what you see?

And now he prays without ceasing in light of the report and he will continue to pray for them and notice how this continuous prayer takes shape. Second Paul was thankful for them. Paul didn't simply have a thankful heart in prayer. He was thankful for this church, these believers and their spiritual condition. Paul was thankful for their love for God and their love for one another. So this report moved him, this report moved him to have a greater heart of prayer for these people. And he expressed his heart of prayer in thankfulness, thankfulness to God. And then third Paul was specific in prayer.

Now I know I said this is more general, but we will see that Paul does get a little specific here with this prayer and we will see that it gets more specific as we continue. But here Paul says that he remembers them in prayer. Now this word remember, it means to mention, it means to call to mind, it means to recall from memory. One commentator said that this implied that Paul was remembering specifics about specific people in prayer, that he was really naming people before God. So notice how Paul transitions. He praises them, he brags on them for their love for God and for their love for the saints.

Then he is moved to continue in prayer with great thanksgiving for these people in prayer. He has been praying for them and then with this new information that he received when he gets the report, he is moved to prayer and more prayer and he prays a prayer of thanksgiving to God for them and maybe he did remember some of them by name. And listen folks, an application for me, for you, for us, our love for each other, our love for each other must grow in maturity to the point where we truly pray for one another like we see here. And listen folks, it is a great thing to meet physical needs among the saints. It is.

It is a great thing to meet physical needs among the saints. It is a great thing to serve and even sacrificially give to the saints. And we should do those things, but it takes a very mature love for the saints to consistently and without ceasing pray for the saints. Let me say it another way. A mature love for the saints is marked by this type of prayer for the saints. You see? And continuing to apply what we have just studied, not just this portion on prayer, but all of it. Maybe we should write down a sentence like this. Maybe we should write down a sentence and say, our church life is marked by blank and you fill it in. Think about that.

Maybe we should write it out. Our church life is marked by blank and then fill it in. Is our church life marked by loving the saints? Loving the saints? Oh, we love God, so therefore we love the saints. Is our church life marked by sacrificially loving the saints? We give sacrificially. We do things sacrificially, many times where no one sees. And is our church life marked by praying for the saints? Is our church life marked out by sacrificially and without ceasing praying for the saints? I've known people who had to write something like this. Our church life is marked by mean people. I've known people who had to say something like this.

Our church life is marked by worldly people, sinful people. I know people who have had to write something like this. Our church life is marked by people who are just really hard to please. We don't see that in the Ephesian church situation here. Now I want to close by going back to Paul's heart and I want you to see something that might surprise you. Notice that we see a pastor's heart here. Yes, Paul was an apostle. Specifically he was the apostle to the Gentiles. And that meant he was the apostle to this church. But we see a pastor's heart. Now I'm not going to turn there. This is one of my life verses. First Peter 5, verses 1, 2, and 3.

Now you know who Peter was. He was an apostle as well. Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles and Peter was the apostle to the Jews. Now what does Peter say there in those verses? Peter and I'm paraphrasing, he says now you elders, you shepherd the flock of God that is among you. He says now as an apostle I operate as an elder and I'm a fellow elder. In other words he says I had to serve like you. And he says now as a fellow elder I tell you elders you shepherd the flock of God that is among you. Well what do we see here? Paul is shepherding this flock. Paul is pastoring these people. And get this wonderful fact.

Paul was pastoring this church from a great distance even while he was in prison. And what does he do? He praises them for their great love for Christ and their love for the saints and he prays for them. And what does he say? Even though I'm in prison I have not ceased to pray for you. And even with this new report, oh I'm motivated to pray even more and I'm praying this great prayer of thanksgiving for you. And then as we get into the rest of the verses next week we'll see some great and wonderful specifics that Paul does pray for. So what do we see? And I think we'll continue to see it. We see Paul's praise and prayer for the Ephesians.

Let's pray and let's commit this to the Lord as we always do and let's ask God to seal it in our minds and in our hearts to convict us, to change us and to mold us. We want God's Word to form us into the people he wants us to be. So let's pray.