The Glory of God in His Church part 1

Well take your Bible and turn back with me to Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3. I think I said earlier in our scripture reading that I will reference some other passages in chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3. I'm going to give you a broad explanation of what some of these passages are. You can jot that down for your own study and if you have a difficult time keeping up with that I'll be glad to help you with that later. But our primary verses are just going to be verse 20 and 21. So you can leave your Bible turn right here to Ephesians chapter 3. Now I would like for everyone here this morning to write down a particular date.

I encourage us to take notes so many of us are accustomed to having a pen and piece of paper and notebook that kind of thing. I'd like you to write down October the 9th of 2011. October 9, 2011. That is right at eight years and four months ago. Eight years and four months ago I took the position I say officially because I'd been here for quite a while before that but eight years and four months ago I officially took the position as pastor of Nola Baptist Church. I think I came first in May of 2010. So you do the math. I was here for over a year really in an interim type capacity. You know that's an interesting story.

I'll never forget I got a phone call and it was from Mr. Wesley White and he asked me if I could come out to the church and preach and I came and there was eight, ten, maybe twelve people and all of that time during 2010 there would be about eight or ten on a red-letter day twelve or fifteen people and you know everybody sat right over here on my right side your left side. Everybody sat right over here. Now I'll try to recreate the way things looked in that day. There was I think two pianos right here to my right and I always said the same thing.

I said I'm not getting behind the pulpit as long as there's just people right here in this one little section. So I opened my Bible and I put my notes on the top of one of those pianos and I preached and taught my lesson and I always made the joke. You know if there's people over here on the left side I'll get behind the pulpit and I don't remember when but one day there was a few and everybody called my hand and I had to get behind the pulpit. But that's been quite a long time ago if you think about it. Eight years or eight plus years here as pastor.

If you go back and take some of that time that I was here really in an integral capacity about nine years. We've had quite a few accomplishments during all this time when the Lord really started working in my life to take the church and it really came to that point where I took the church officially. We had two business meetings back to back. We had two business meetings to discuss it and then the business meeting when I took it. But as I prayed and sought the Lord in the direction and me pastoring here the Lord really impressed upon my heart to take my time. He impressed upon my heart to preach and to preach the Word faithfully.

That's why we began immediately a Sunday night and meeting on Wednesday night. The Lord led upon led me to lead us to pray and then really the Lord led me to plan carefully just take our time. We were not in a hurry but I got a list of some of the accomplishments from all of this time. Right off I sought to establish the preaching and the teaching ministry here at NOLA and we've done that faithfully. You know that we're gonna always teach God's Word most of the time book by book chapter by chapter.

We're gonna take our time and be in God's Word on a Sunday morning if we were to meet on a Sunday night, a Wednesday night, we're gonna be in God's Word. I'll never forget a compliment from one of the men of the church. He said no matter who is behind the pulpit they are elders or elder type material and they are always teaching God's Word faithfully. I'll give you an example of how we have established and raised the bar of preaching and teaching. Most of you know that we do the nursing home ministry.

We do that in June and brother Keith leads that and one of the men of the church this summer was talking about how brother Keith was just preaching faithfully out of the Old Testament. We are raising the bar. We have raised the bar. We've established the preaching ministry here and you know no matter who is behind this pulpit the Word is gonna be taught. Another accomplishment is we have established biblical solid music ministry. We've established an expectation of biblical and solid music ministry. We know the role of music. It is to lead us in worship and we're singing truth and it all goes right along with where we're going in the Word.

The Word is the most important thing not the songs we sing, not the solos that certain people may sing and I'm not against solos. What am I showing you? We've established solid and balanced and biblically healthy music ministry and that can be really a difficult thing in the life of many churches. We've worked hard in ministering to children and other children. One of the first things we did back in those early years as we stepped out in vacation Bible school and we begin to see summer after summer the church being filled up with little boys and girls hearing God's Word.

Your children, your sons, your daughters and in that time we are teaching God's Word. On Wednesday nights we are teaching God's Word. We desire to have good solid ministry to children and then our teenagers. We work hard to teach our children teenagers at special times and one particular time in the life of our churches when we do gather them up and go to youth camp. That's a very unique time but I'll explain another accomplishment is what we do on Wednesday nights. You know we really have Sunday school on Wednesday nights. When you tell people that they kind of snicker. You know we do Sunday school on Wednesday nights.

That's just what works. We have children's classes and we have a youth class and for us we sit in here and we go through Proverbs now and we really have Sunday night worship on Wednesday night and we have adult small groups on Sunday nights. See we adults we have Sunday school at night. Now that's odd for some people too but those are very important ministries within the life of the church and we've seen lots of spiritual fruit from those ministries. I've worked really really hard to teach you and establish the standard of true biblical conversion. So many churches have lowered the standard when it comes to conversion.

You understand what the scriptures say. I've taught you that faithfully. I've taught you thoroughly through what meaningful church membership is and what that looks like. We had a major accomplishment this summer when we walked through reforming our church role bringing it back to biblical health and that is a difficult thing for many in the life of the church.

I've also taught you thoroughly about what the scriptures teach concerning church discipline and we understand that it's part of the purification of the church and and also reminding us that this thing called the Christian life in church membership is extremely extremely important and this can be tough as we have found out. I was reminded of how important this is this church discipline in church membership meaningful church membership. Just this week I had breakfast with an old friend of mine someone that I've known through the years.

He is a veteran an IMB missionary veteran and what I mean by veteran he's been on the field in some very difficult places for years seeing his wife. He's here on furlough and he's getting ready to go back and as he was asking me questions about the life of our church when I begin to tell him what we've done with meaningful church membership in church discipline he was talking about how important those two things are as they are in the mission field in the foreign land doing what the life of the church.

He commended us for how we have worked hard in those two areas and then one of the accomplishments that I want to mention is our our partnership with anchored in truth grace life church in Muscle Shoals Alabama. That's been very very good for us in many ways and we're going to talk about that more in the future. Now that's just a list of some of the accomplishments and successes that we've had in all of these years.

Again we've just taken our time doing the work of the church being biblical in these areas and other areas but now at this day and this time we are really on the cusp of one of the most important decisions in the life of the church and this is something we've been discussing. We're looking at relocating the church not a church split lots of churches split not a a goofy church start we see all types of people starting churches for all kinds of reasons most of them not biblical not really a church mess now what am I showing you this is a work that God is doing and we're on the cusp of an extremely important decision.

We as a church have come to a place where we see the tremendous need and call and our emphasize those words the need and the call to relocate as a congregation now why why do we relocate why have we been answering that question over and over especially on Sunday nights in our small group meetings why well they're really two basic reasons a pragmatic reason and a spiritual reason now there are many many pragmatic reasons but one of the things that's really come to the surface is the fact that we just don't own the land here if you do the the research in the history of this church the land really owns to the family we are really pigeonholed we can't do anything to our facility because we don't own the land and the building is really beyond repair in many ways I think I've told some of them in this it's really almost uninsurable and so those are a very serious pragmatic reasons but then there are spiritual reasons and we're gonna get into those here in a moment now more than the pragmatic reasons all the physical reasons we really must pay careful attention to those spiritual reasons but more specifically we must answer the call to be the church of God listen that we have been and who he is leading us to be I have said that over and over and over we're going to continue to be who God's forming us to be and so we must answer the call to be the church of God that he has been forming us to be and he is leading us to be now as your pastor I stand before you and I say this I've said this to the men I've said this to you on Sunday nights many times I have been diligently praying and seeking the Lord and getting wise counsel and being in the scriptures even when other minister friends push me to move faster we have been taking our time why because we want to be right with God in these matters and I stand before you at this time as your pastor and this is where I am leading us as the pastor speak for brother Keith we are the two elders I've taught you about elder ministry and what that looks like from the scriptures and we have prayed many hours we have counseled with other ministers sought the scriptures seeking God's will and that is where we are as the elders of the church leading you to this place there have been many men in the life of the church involved in this work they have been praying they've been studying the scriptures they've been seeking God's will as well they have spent hours on myself and brother Keith we've been praying and seeking God's will and those men would tell you that is where they are leading us today and so we are answering God's call to be the church that God wants us to be this relocation is simply the next chapter in the life of this church this is the next chapter if I can liken the church to a good book this is the next chapter in the book this thing called the church now this morning I want us to examine what I'm calling the glory of God in his church this comes right out of these verses verse 20 and 21 the glory of God in his church now we're really gonna hold on to this theme next week as well in some form but we're going to look at verses 20 and 21 but before we get into dividing these verses I need to give you a little context from the verses a little context or background of verses 20 and 21 now I think most all of us know that this book the book of Ephesians was written by the Apostle Paul to a particular church there in the city of us of Ephesus Paul had a long and deep history with this church we learned all about the church there at Ephesus in our Sunday night Bible study through the Sunday night Bible study by Richard Mayhew the title of that study was what would Jesus say about your church I would encourage you to keep that book handy anytime we look at a book like this or a message like this maybe you go back and refresh your memory about what we learned that is a very good work I find myself turning to it very often but here in the book of Ephesians we have six chapters they could be easily divided really right down the middle scholars describe the first three chapters is really deeply theological as a matter of fact some scholars say this is the height of what's called Pauline theology New Testament theology but then chapters four to six are really more practical now more specifically I want us to see that everything in chapter 1 2 & 3 it leads right up to verse 20 and 21 really verse 20 and 21 really the prayer here starting in verse 14 it's the climax of everything he's been saying verse 20 and 21 is the mountain peak but let me show you how this fits together if we look at chapter 1 verses 1 to 14 really it starts in eternity past it goes all the way back before time and it discusses God's redemptive plan and purpose for man and then the rest of chapter 1 gives us the characteristics of God's people how they are called the body of Christ and even the church and then in chapter 2 Paul describes the new life that we have in Christ this wonderful grace of God that has been given to us and then he goes on to discuss the unity that salvation brings about he discusses the unity between Jew and Gentile really all peoples then in chapter 3 Paul gets real personal he describes the purpose of his imprisonment and how his very imprisonment benefited the Ephesian Church and then in chapter 3 starting in verse 14 Paul reaches this great climax in what I call Paul's powerful prayer for the Ephesians now question why is this such a great climax here in verse 20 and 21 Paul gives us the place and the plan where God was to reveal his glory yes this is the place where he reveals his glory in God's plan to reveal his glory and we will see this and answer this question a little more as we get into the verses now let's let's look at our verses let's go back and look at our verses starting in verse 20 and Paul is saying here at the end of this verse most scholars call this a doxology really a doxology means an expression of praise and notice what he's saying now to him that's capitalized on my new American standard that's Christ now to him Christ who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever Amen and like I said the title of the message of the theme is the glory of God in his church now we're gonna look at five observations out of these verses I will put them before you these are rather short we will have plenty of time to get through them they come right out of verse 20 and right out of verse 21 so the first observation I want us to make this is what I see as Christ exalting praise Paul is giving us here in this doxology Christ exalting praise look at the verse now to him now that phrase doesn't seem like he's offering that much praise but this is all about him and then he goes on to say in verse 21 to him be the glory now to me I think it is very important for us to see this in Paul's expression of praise he puts Christ first in this doxology ending this prayer he's putting Christ first again the beginning of verse 20 he starts off with Christ but then notice he ascribes him great glory in verse 21 really to me Paul is just saying to Christ be the glory for all of this now what's all of this all of this is everything he said in chapter 1 chapter 2 chapter 3 you see he's saying to God be the glory for all that I have given you now let me show you how this works Paul was saying to Christ be the glory in this great redemptive plan that had its beginnings back in eternity past and Oh Church I taught you about that in chapter 1 verses 1 to 14 and then Paul is saying to Christ be the glory for the wonderful characteristics of God's people and the church being called the body of Christ and we see that in chapter 1 verses 15 to 23 then Paul is saying to Christ be the glory as this new life of Christ this new life of grace is described in this great unity that salvation brings about to Christ be the glory for this work here in chapter 2 and then Paul is saying to Christ be the glory even in my imprisonment that's what he's saying in chapter 3 he's saying to Christ be the glory because my imprisonment is for your good the good of the church and we see that in chapter 3 verses 1 to 13 and then he says to Christ be the glory in everything that I am praying for you as a people as a church and we see that prayer starting off in verse 14 and on down to verse 21 now simply what are we seeing Paul was giving Christ the glory for it all he is saying Christ deserves all praise and all glory for all that I've taught you and all that he's doing and all that he ever will do so really he is exalting Christ this is Christ exalting praise now for us we must see that this applies to us as well and what I'm showing you is this at this particular time in the life of our church we look back yes we look to the present yes and we look to the future and we must see that we have to give Christ glory and honor and praise for all that we've been all that we are now and all that we ever will be now we have to be careful because when we are engaging in the life of the church there's so many errors that people can do the church must be a word-driven church we must trust the sufficiency and the authority of the scriptures the pattern and the plan for the church it must come from God's Word and so I just simplify all of that by saying we must do the work of the church God's way for God's glory and therefore being able to exalt Christ for all that God's doing and see for us as we look back at these eight or nine years together we give Christ glory we exalt Christ we praise him why because it is God that has done this work I was paid a very very big compliment from a particular Baptist minister and he was describing the plight of the old Nola Baptist Church and he basically just said nobody wanted Nola Baptist Church nobody was going to come to Nola Baptist Church and he goes on to say if God hadn't worked in you there in the life of Nola Baptist Church it would have closed that's not all about me no I was just being obedient and I've been working hard we've been working hard to do the work of the church God's way and we look back and we exalt Christ and then we look forward and we say that in all that we do and all that will ever be we must exalt Christ that's what Paul's doing he would say oh even back to my early missionary days among you I exalt Christ so second I want us to see we have this power pack praise remember this is a doxology which is just a statement or a declaration of praise and so right here with Paul we see what I call a power pack praise now let's get back to the verses now to him that's Christ who is able and here's where it comes here's where he starts to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us now here's where Paul begins to in my eyes go higher and higher here's where he begins to show us this great depth this great breadth of this praise now notice we have two expressions here right in the verses first Paul says to him who is able to do far more abundantly we see that in verse 20 the New American reads exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask our thing now if we go back to the original language this is really unusual wording here but simply Paul is saying that God is able to do super abundantly above and beyond God is able to do and accomplish to an extent that man cannot comprehend and man cannot even express but there's even more this second expression second Paul says according to the power go back to the verse he says him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us now to me it seems like Paul could be repeating himself but he is not here Paul is speaking about God's immeasurable and infinite power that is the same power which raised Christ from the dead so to simplify what we see here he is able to do more than we can think even more than we can imagine even more than we can ask Christ has the power to accomplish more than man can ever comprehend or even man could ever express one commentator that I ran across this week said it like this God is not only unlimited in himself he is unrestricted now think about that let me say it again God is not only unlimited in himself he is unrestricted another words unrestricted in himself simply our God has no limits and so what we must need to see an application is our God is able our God is able now if we're not careful we can take a term like that and we can automatically think about some corny or unscriptural song that we might hear on Christian radio or you know these these quackadoodles that we see on TV and I use that term on purpose because that's what they are they just take the term like power-packed praise and they make it to be something that it's not now that's not what we're talking about we're talking about the fact that God is able to do what God is able to do this thing called the work of the church and see I've been faithful to teach you year in in year out about the work of the church and I think back to Matthew chapter 16 verse 18 and what did we learn there we learned that we should have a mighty expectation because Christ said it's my church and he says I will build my church and we should expect victory in the life of the church and what we see here is this Paul is praising God is saying you are more than able you have more power than I can ever imagine to do what to do all that we see in the life of the church and we look back on our past and we see that God was able to do what man said would never happen because man said that no Baptist church would never continue man said that no about this church really should close but what we see is God was able and is able and as we look to the future we must see that God is able to do more than we ever imagined and then third I want us to see this man focused praise again this is this doxology he is offering up words of praise words of thanksgiving words of adoration and this is what I call a man focused praise now look at verse 20 now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly I love that term super abundantly I ran across that this week beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us now when you say man focus there's some that can get nervous now I'm not saying that we are a man exalting now that's not what I'm saying but Paul is focusing on the people Paul is focusing on the Ephesians Paul is focusing on the men and the women in the life of this church and this great unlimited power is focused on these people it is focused on this church now to me we see this in two ways first we see this in this prayer go back to the verse now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly super abundantly beyond all that now here's the focus on man all that we ask or think he says that God is super abundantly beyond and over and over above those things that we are asking for ourselves and we can ever imagine you see that Paul is saying that God can go over and above he can go greater even than those things that we ask and imagine he is saying that God is able to do bigger and greater and more and even more than we can ever ask and imagine or think and then second still dealing with this man focused praise we see this work go back to the verse verse 20 now to him who is able to do exceedingly super abundantly I keep using that phrase beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us so here we see Paul seems to repeat himself but he's making a shift again I go back to a writer that I ran across this week he says of the power which is operative in us he is saying that this great immeasurable power which is at work within us is more powerful than we can ever think and we can ever imagine so to simplify this what do we see Paul is saying that Christ is able to do more than we can ever imagine more than we could ever think more than we can ever ask and then some Paul is saying that he has the power to work in us and then some and then some and then some this is immeasurable this is limitless and you see what I mean by being a man focused praise because he's saying God you can do these things in us now we have to be careful here I gave you the background chapter 1 2 & 3 on purpose because all of this in verse 20 and 21 is connected to what Paul is saying now we don't have time yet to go back into this prayer but this is all connected to that prayer starting in verse 14 and you can break down the heart of what Paul is praying starting in verse 16 down to verse 19 with one word sanctification it's all about a sanctifying work in them he is praying in verse 16 and 19 that they would be strengthened by the Holy Spirit in the inner man he is praying that they would be able with all the saints to comprehend the immeasurable love of Christ and then he is praying that they would be filled with the fullness of God it's not about doing it's about being it's about the work of sanctification and so we must see that we must yearn for and hunger for the work of God within us godliness within us the work of sanctification within us and listen we should see that God is more powerful than we imagine he is able to do exceedingly immeasurably a work of godliness and sanctification within us but then also this is connected to the work of the church this is man-focused praise because what is he saying he is saying our God is super abundantly above and beyond anything we can imagine able to do for the life of the church he has the power within his hands to do the work of the church and so when we look back we see the work of God and then when we look forward we must expect God to do a work in us in a work through us this isn't a hope so this isn't a gamble this isn't a just a hope it works out no this is a man-focused praise and we should expect God to work like this in us again I remind you of what we learned back in Matthew 16 18 we learned that we have a mighty expectation of the church and that's really what Paul is echoing here this is man-focused he expects a work of sanctification and the work of the church and it's power packed it's greater and bigger than we can imagine and then fourth I want us to see this church centered praise again this is this doxology this is this statement our statements of praise and Paul is giving us this church centered praise go back to verse 21 to him be the glory in the church again Paul is exalting Christ first he gives Christ glory he gives Christ honor he gives him praise above all but this praise this prayer of praise is man-focused as we have seen but it is also church-centered you see he exalts Christ but it's man-focused and it's church-centered that's why I call this a church-centered praise this is all tying together now I want us to see this bit of information from two questions where and how what are we looking at this church-centered praise well where and how where is this glory revealed and how is this glory revealed go back to the verse to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations so let's look at those two questions where and how first where we must see that this glory is to be given in him in the church let me say that again we must see that his glory is to be given to him and in the church the church is the sphere if I can use that language the church is the arena the church is the domain where God's glory is to be revealed let me use some some some very current or modern language and this is not inaccurate according to the original meaning the church is the playing field or the stadium where God's glory is to be revealed so that answers the question where but now the question how this is where it is all connected this how is in the redemption and the sanctification of man God redeems man through Christ he places them in the body of Christ and that is the work of the church and then that work of redemption and sanctification in the church God gets glory you see the where is the church that's the sphere that's the domain and the how is in the life of individual believers speaking of this where and how one scholar says it like this and I'm quoting the idea is that praise is to be given to God and his glorious perfections shown forth both in the church which is the body and in Christ who is the head of the church simply the redeemed people of God in his church who are in Christ this is an arena this is the stadium where God intends to reveal his glory this is a Christ Center church a church where Christ is the head now for us an application it's very very important to understand this because there are many many people who make a mistake that believe they believe that God can get glory in so many areas above and beyond the church I'll tell you a mistake many people make is they always want to ascribe glory in God's creation now does God's creation reflect God's glory sure God created it all things were created by him and for him but we must see that the creation is marred it is stained it is affected it is affected in marred and stained by sin it is fallen so no matter how glorious the creation may be we must see that it is marred by sin another area where people can get a little out of balance here is in the life of the family we know that God has given us the family God intended the family to be a husband and a wife a mother and a father God intended the family to be Christ centered but we must see that God can get glory in the life of the family but that is not the primary place where he gets glory there are a lot of people who get involved in Para Church ministries Para Church or outside of the church organizations Christian organizations and you know you can be a part of a non-church Christian organization and it can be good and it can do things in the culture that are good people can come to know Christ through that and you can actually do Christian works within the life of the culture but yet those organizations are not the primary place where he gets his glory so we need to see this how it is through redeeming people and sanctifying those people but that's not where he stops it is by organizing those people as the body of Christ and what the church the church is the domain it is a church-centered praise it is the work of the church on earth God redeeming people sanctifying them and them gathering together to be a biblical church as we see in the scripture that is the primary place where he desires to get glory and I'm afraid many of these other things that I mentioned and others listen are nothing more than competition and so as we look back at our past we see that we've had a we have a Christ-centered praise we praise God for what he's done in the past and we look to the future and we looked at he would do a great work among us and through us see this is a church-centered praise and then fifth or last again we're looking at Paul's doxology this the statements of praise we have what I call a people priority praise a people priority praise look at verse 21 to him be the glory in the church there's the arena there's the stadium and in Christ Jesus Christ Jesus gets that glory why because he's head of the church and then notice to all generations forever and ever Amen here we have a simple phrase to all generations in the original language it is a little bit longer in the original it reads something like this unto all generations for the age of ages I call this a people priority praise because the church is people the church is people a redeemed people a people being sanctified in Christ with Christ as their head Paul is saying may God get glory in the arena in the stadium of his church from generation to generation from age to age really throughout eternity why because his church is eternal so it is a people priority praise why because it is from generation to generation it is from age to age see for us we see in the life of our church is all about people yes it's all about people yes yesterday I think often about the yesterday Nola who the folks were 30 years ago in 50 years ago listen a hundred years ago if there were people here who loved God they were redeemed of God and being sanctified of God they were a people priority praise and see we sit here today as people people that God is redeemed we want God to work within us and we offer praise why because of the church's people and that's what we look at tomorrow we desire to be a church that's comprised of people who redeemed and being sanctified and being made more like Christ and then in the age to come generation to generation age to age all around the world impacting other churches ministering the churches that all it do exists see it's a people priority praise from generation to generation and from land to land from people to people all around the globe now here we are I said this earlier we are on the cusp of one of the most important decisions in the life of the church to be honest with you from me as the pastor here it is one of the most important decisions in the life and I use this term loosely my ministry it's not my ministry it's God's ministry this is one of the most important decisions in your life because you're pouring your life into the life of the church and you're identifying with this work and your children are here and this decision affects your children for years to come and others in the future see we are on the cusp of one of the most reported decisions in the life of the church but church to be honest with you this is much more than a relocation it is it is an opportunity to declare the glory of God here on earth in a bigger way and a greater way more than we can ask more than we can think more than we can ever imagine this is greater than the power that works within us why because he is super abundantly he is more powerful to do more than we can ever imagine you see this is an opportunity to declare the glory of God on earth in a bigger way and a greater way and here we are this is an opportunity an opportunity to display the glory of God in your personal life see if you are redeemed you display the glory of God in your sanctification your personal sanctification and see for us this is an opportunity for us to display the glory of God in our personal sanctification as a church and in you when you're growing more in your Christ likeness in years to come that is expressing the glory of God we have an opportunity to display the glory of God as we see more and more sinners redeemed and they get on this journey of becoming more and more like Christ this work of sanctification see it's rather more it's more simplistic than you know we have an opportunity in this work the work of the local church and this isn't this is man-focused yes because it is God working within us it's church-centered yes because we are the arena that God has chosen to display his glory and listen this is and it will be Christ exalting so what have we looked at the glory of God in his church and we will continue to look at this thing not just next week but in the days and weeks and years to come let's pray we'll commit these things to the Lord what we've learned and what the Lord will unfold for us not just next week not just as we make plans and pray but in the things that he'll do in our lives in our children's lives and in the years to come let's pray