Ministry Of Above International

*Psalm 16:8 ~ Set Lord always before you*

I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

What does it mean to set the Lord always before you? It means that you choose to relate everything you encounter to your trust in God. What you choose to focus on becomes the dominant influence in your life. You may be a Christian, but if your focus is always on your problems, your problems will determine the direction of your life. If your focus is on people, then people will determine what you think and do. In biblical times, the right hand was the most distinguished position, reserved for one's chief adviser and supporter. When you choose to focus on Christ, you invite Him to take the most important position in your life as Counselor and Defender.

Every time you face a new experience, you should turn to Christ for His interpretation and strength. When people insult you and mistreat you, you should seek direction from your Counselor regarding the right response. When you face a crisis, you should receive strength from the One at your right hand. When you experience need, you should consult your Counselor before you react. When you face a fearful situation, you should take courage from the Advocate at your right hand.

Everything you do is in the context of your relationship to Christ. What an incredible act of God's grace that Christ should stand beside you to guide you and counsel you and defend you! How could you ever become dismayed over your situation with Christ at your right hand? What confidence this should give you when you experience God day by day.

*UPSIDE-DOWN WORLD
Romans 1:24-25*
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to s*xual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is for ever praised. Amen.

Fantasy can be fun. Many fictional stories/plays/films/video games invite us to explore unreal worlds where important details are the opposite of what you suppose. It can be entertaining to grapple with that kind of upside-down world for a little while. But to live in it would be a nightmare. Alas, many are living that nightmare right now!

If we refuse to live in His truth, He ultimately lets us have our fantasy but will not protect us from the consequences of our wilfulness (Psalm 106:13-15) . God seeks cooperation from us in running His world. In the same way that a carpenter will not blunt a chisel by using it as a screwdriver, we need to recognise that our Creator has made us and our world to function well in ways He has designed. We are rightly concerned about corporate greed encouraging atmospheric pollution destroying the environment, but less about the pollution of our minds and emotions destroying relationships.

The Apostle Paul explained that one evidence that God has taken His restraining hand away from a community, is a public acceptance that s*xual selfishness is normal and right. S*x, which God designed to help bind a man to a woman for life, to produce children and a stable environment in which they can grow up - has primarily become a pleasure-making toy for many. Jesus stated God’s purpose and boundaries for s*xual relationship in Matthew 19:4-6, reaffirming the creation purpose of Genesis 2:24. Instead of binding people together, the pursuit of selfish s*x tears creation-bonds apart producing separation and ongoing pain.

That is what happens when we stop living in God's truth and live in a world of lies which suit our appetites. It is a devilishly destructive plan (John 8:44). When we treat any part of God's creation as something to be worshipped, instead of submitting to His wisdom in how to use and care for it, we will live in the nightmare of an upside-down world. Of course, that never stops God being God, who urges us to turn to face the truth with repentance and humble thanks. Whatever we may think we are all accountable to Him (2 Corinthians 5:10) . That is why the gospel is essential - it is the only good news about how to get out of the nightmare and find peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). Although people who are living 'upside-down' may claim to have peace, it always slips from their grasp. So, tell them about Jesus: tell them today!

Holy Father. I am glad that You know how everything ought to work, and have told us how to use your creation safely, in the Bible. I am sorry for the times when I thought I knew better than You; when I stopped worshipping You because I was worshipping what You have created. I deserve You to remove Your hand of protection, but I plead for Your mercy. Through the shed blood of Jesus Christ please forgive me, and in Your grace restore me. May I learn to turn from a world of lies to live in Your truth and obey Your word. And help me to share Your gospel with my friends and colleagues who do not know how to escape from their upside-down world. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

*EXPRESSING HUMAN NATURE
Romans 3:13-18*
‘Their throats are open graves; their tongues practise deceit.’ ‘The poison of vipers is on their lips.’ ‘Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.’ ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.’ ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’

Most of the time, people act in a socially acceptable way. They are restrained from breaking laws because they fear punishment, and controlled by social traditions because they fear being excluded. However, underneath the external niceness lie hearts which can produce poisonous speech and violent actions. That is why drunkenness is so ugly; it is not 'the alcohol talking', but the real man or woman is being displayed as inhibitions are removed. These verses quoted from the Psalms reveal that nobody's nature is good enough for God.

These eight descriptions of inherent human foolishness are quoted from Psalm 5:9; Psalm 140:3; Psalm 10:7; Isaiah 59:7-8 and Psalm 36:1. Put together they present a picture of hell. Do read them again. How well they mirror our world where people speak deadly words as they stand in for Satan and deceive others (John 8:44) . Where does bitter conflict arise which leads to violence? In our heart, our inner nature (James 4:1-3). People believe what comes out of their own mouths as being authentically ‘them’ … and it is. Jesus said, “… the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts – murder, adultery, s*xual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” (Matthew 15:18-19)

Without Christ, every heart is restless. Trying, but failing to be at peace, because no peace is possible for those who are opposed to God (Isaiah 57:20-21). But most do not think they are fighting Him. That is because they hardly ever consider that He has authority over them. So, they have no fear of Him (Psalm 55:19). They justify their words and behaviour, but ultimately they will damn them (Matthew 12:36) . Paul says that that is how God sees everybody. Which is why we need Jesus to be our Saviour.

The 'way of peace' is not through meditation or religious piety. Nor is it an emotional inner tranquillity or feeling of contentment. 'Peace with God' is the strong confidence that, although we are sinners capable of the worst crimes, God's wrath against us can be lifted: we can be forgiven through Jesus’ sacrifice and our inner nature can be changed by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:1-5) . Pray for yourself that God will show you where you are resisting Him and need to change. As for other people, we cannot change their hearts, although we might be able to modify their behaviour; but we can and must pray for them. The Lord has the power to bring us to our senses and to Jesus.

*PRAYER*
Great God, my Heavenly Father. Thank You for the piercing accuracy with which You see every human heart, including mine. Forgive me for being self-satisfied with my behaviour and content with the state of my heart. Whenever my behaviour gets out of control, help me to see that the problem is really in my heart which is not in submission to You. Help me to repent and ask for Your Holy Spirit to enable me to change so that I know the way of peace, with Jesus as my Saviour and Lord. In His Name. Amen.

Watch, listen and learn.

Let's share the Word of God together
Follow this link to join the chats WhatsApp group: https://chat.whatsapp.com/Dq78bt2KoNLL2xKm22oirK

GOD'S KINGDOM MY DESTINAT WhatsApp Group Invite

WHEN SAW WE THEE A STRANGER?

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Matthew 25:37-40

This passage is generally used to help people understand our role as Christians towards the "hungry," "thirsty, "naked," "sick," and imprisoned people in our world. It should note that everyone of these situations was experienced by Christ Himself, though at the particular moment, He is speaking prophetically. He explains that every kind of thing we do for people (in this case, His "brothers" or disciples) is the equivalent of doing the same for Christ. It is a call to us to be kind to the Christ in others, to treat others as the embodiment of Christ Himself. We might see a homeless man begging for food on the street and turn our heads when we walk by, forgetting that Christ Himself was homeless. If we knew this homeless man to be Christ, we would certainly not turn away. Jesus reminds us that the homeless man is Christ. If we take these words to heart, as well as the passage that follows them, we will change our attitude towards people in need and treat them as if we were treating Christ in need.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, help me to see everyone in Your image. When I see someone sick, hungry, or in need, let me help them as if I were helping You. Remind me everyday of this parable, so that I might never turn a blind eye to someone in need. Amen.

GOD KNOWS THOSE WHO BELONG TO HIM
Romans 2:28-29
A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.

External appearances are all that we can see. Religion, wherever it may be found, tends to accumulate external symbols, rites and ceremonies which are considered 'essential' for anyone who wants to be a part of it. That was the Jewish background too. When some Jews believed in Jesus as the Messiah, they wrongly thought the signs guaranteed their salvation.

Circumcision was one of those signs. It represented a person being ‘cut-out’ to be holy to the Lord. It was a God-given sign of the old covenant of God's love to those who loyally obeyed Him. But faithful obedience can never be created by cutting flesh. Deuteronomy 30:6 recognises that; only the Holy Spirit can change our desires so that we forsake all other gods and only serve the Lord only.

By saying, “ … a person is a Jew who is one inwardly …” Paul reflects on Deuteronomy 30:30 and anticipates Romans 11:17-24 - where he explains that God’s true people are both Jews and Gentiles who have been incorporated into the same family of God. He illustrates this by a tree stem into which a different variety is grafted. Both the original and the grafted shoots derive their life from the same source. Unfruitful original branches are cut away, but fruiting branches are kept, and the new fruiting spurs are grafted in. All who derive their life from the stem are equal. Jesus used a similar analogy saying that He is the vine stem and all who trust and obey His words are the fruiting branches. They will be pruned back to help them grow stronger, but the unfruitful branches will be removed. Their right to be in God’s family depends only on their relationship with the stem, who is Jesus (John 15:1-8).

All those who come in repentance to Jesus have already started that sort of 'heart circumcision'. External signs cannot save us: only faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). There is no external way to mark a humble and contrite heart. But God can see it... and that is enough! 2 Timothy 2:19 says, "God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: ‘The Lord knows those who are his,’ and, ‘Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness’."

Dear Lord God. Thank You that You know who belongs to You and who does not. You do not need any external body marking to identify those who have allowed the Holy Spirit to change their hearts. Please forgive me when I make judgements about people based on what I can see: I know that Your assessment is always right because You see everything. May I not rely on religious signs but on the saving power of Jesus Christ alone. In His Name. Amen.

*REFUGE IN HIM -
2 Samuel 22:21-31*

While David was called a man after God’s own heart, he was neither a perfect man nor a perfect king. So how can we account for David rejoicing that he was righteous and clean before a holy God? Examining 2 Samuel 22, David was not claiming sinlessness. Rather, David was expressing his trust in God’s promise to blot out his transgressions. The righteousness David experienced was an imputed righteousness that all who put their faith in Jesus enjoy.
I invite you to turn with me to 2 Samuel and to chapter 22 and to follow along as I read from the twenty-first verse. Two Samuel 22, beginning at verse 21.
And David sings out to the Lord,

The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands He rewarded me.
For I have kept the ways of the Lord
and have not wickedly departed from my God.
For all His rules were before me,
and from His statutes I did not turn aside.
I was blameless before Him,
and I kept myself from guilt.
And the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to my cleanness in His sight.

With the merciful you show yourself merciful;
with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;
with the purified you deal purely,
and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.
You save a humble people,
but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them down.
For you are my lamp, O Lord,
and my God lightens my darkness.
For by you I can run against a troop,
and by my God I can leap over a wall.
This God—His way is perfect;
the word of the Lord proves true;
He is a shield for all those who take refuge in Him.
Amen. We thank God for His Word.

When we read verses 20, and 21. We saw that David in the poetic section of it, verses 8–16, has been describing the dramatic intervention of God in his life, using imagery from other parts of God’s dealings with his people in the past and applying them very straightforwardly to himself. By the time you reach verse 20, he tells us that God brought him “out into a broad place,” which is the very same terminology of what happened when God, through the exodus, brought his people into a broad place. And just as he rescued them, so, says David, “he rescued me, because he delighted in me.”

David was the man of God’s own choosing. The great mystery was not that David loved God but that God chose David.
And then he goes on, in verse 21, to record his perception of himself in a way that is at least puzzling. It sounds virtually self-serving, doesn’t it—all the “mys,” all the “mes”? What he is saying is actually true. It’s not difficult to understand what he’s saying. But the real puzzle is: How is he able to say what he says? And you will look at that.
Remember that Samuel had told Saul that he was not going to be able to proceed with the kingdom because the Lord had sought out a man after His own heart. It’s a long time ago, in 1 Samuel 13. With proper study of that passage, the correct understanding of that phraseology, “a man after God’s own heart,” was the place that David had in the heart of God, not the place that God had in the heart of David. “It’s very important to recognize that, because all that we’re going to discover of David is going to challenge the idea that somehow or another, he was just full of God and preoccupied with God.” And we will agree, it is a quite amazing thought that God is the one who has called out to him, who has bypassed his other brothers, who has set His hand upon him, and who has prepared him for this particular role as king.

David was the man of God’s own choosing. The great mystery was not that David loved God but that God chose David. If you think about it, that is also true of all who are in Christ. And in choosing David, you will remember, He promised him. He promised him that he would make of him a great name, He promised him that He would establish his throne, and He promised him that even when he did wrong, He would discipline him. But then, He said, “my steadfast love will not depart from him.” The covenant love of God: “I have made a commitment to him, and I will not go back on that commitment.” And that is all contained in a prophecy that came to David in chapter 7 of 2 Samuel.

But those of us who have been following along know that Nathan the prophet came also to speak the word to David on a different day. He came to confront him, you will remember, with the sin of his adultery and of his attempt at covering it up by the murder of his friend. And so that provides for us something of a panoramic background that allows us then to come to verse 21 and say, “Wow! Look at how David sees himself.” Look at how he sees himself: “The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness … the cleanness of my hands …. His rules were before me, [I never turned] from His statutes …. I was blameless … I kept myself from guilt.” Again, 25, as in 21: “The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in His sight.”

Perhaps his keeping of “the ways of the Lord” is just another way of him saying, “I didn’t kill Saul when I had the chance.” And some of you will remember the occasions when even his friends said to him, “Take him out right now.” And on those occasions, he says, “I could not do this to the Lord’s anointed. I must act in a righteous way.” And so some say, “Perhaps this is his way of saying that was true of him,” and so on.

Now, the problem with each of these attempts at explaining how David is apparently not really saying what he’s saying is that it is perfectly clear to me that he is saying what he’s saying. I mean, you don’t have to be a genius to understand this. What he says is absolutely clear, and he makes it very, very clear. So how, then, are we to understand this?

What we need to do is we need to go back to the prophecy of Nathan back in chapter 12. And if your Bible is there, please turn to it and note as I note it with you. You remember what happens. Nathan comes to him. He tells him that little story about the man—the two men, a rich man and a poor man, flocks and herds. Remember, the one, he took the poor man’s lamb, and he prepared it for himself, and David’s anger was greatly kindled, and so on. And he said, “The man who has done this deserves to die.” That’s 2 Samuel 12:5. “He [should] restore the lamb fourfold, because he did [that] thing, and … he had no pity.” And then, of course, the devastating moment when Nathan says to David, “You are the man!” “You are the man!”
And as that hits him like a thunderbolt, he then is on the receiving end of the word of Nathan to him. In verse 13: “David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ And Nathan said to David, ‘The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.’” “The Lord … has put away your sin; you shall not die.” How is it possible, how is it right, that God would put away the sin of David?

This actually is scandalous. “This is,” as we sing sometimes, “amazing grace, this is unfailing love.” Because remember, when David says to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord,” if we step away from that for a moment and turn to Psalm 51, we’re able there to eavesdrop on, if you like, an extrapolation or an expansion of that straightforward statement by David to Nathan. “I have sinned against the Lord.” He’s not talking about what happened with Bathsheba. He’s not talking about what he did in relation to Uriah and so on. He said, “I have sinned against the Lord.” That’s the issue. That’s the issue always with sin. The Lord is dealing with his sin. David is going to have to deal with the consequences.

But when we go to Psalm 51, we hear David, as it were, in his bedroom, praying in that context. What does he pray? “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love.” Not “according to me” or “to how well I’ve been doing” but “according to your covenant love—the promise that you gave, that your steadfast love would not depart from me. Now, please, God, have mercy on me according to that.”
According to your abundant mercy,
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
… cleanse me from my sin!
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
[And] against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.

And then he goes on to say, “You know, from the very beginning of it, the whole of my human existence, I was brought forth in such a fashion that I was bent in on myself.”

His previous attempts at covering up his sin, at avoiding public exposure, had left him absolutely sick in mind and body. Let none of us be in any doubt about this: a guilty conscience is sheer misery. A guilty conscience is sheer misery. I don’t care if you’re five or fifty. David says, “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.” This is Psalm 32:

For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
[But] I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I[’ll] confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
And you forgave the iniquity of my sin.
“Let me think about that for a moment.”

See, what happened was that David trusted entirely in God’s word—that God said, via his servant the prophet, “Your sins have been put away.” Now, how could the sins of David be put away? This is where when we say to one another, “The Bible is a book about Jesus,” that’s not just a sort of way to give ourselves a quote, but it is actually true. The benefits of Christ’s death on the cross as the only Saviour were reckoned beforehand to those who lived before Jesus. There is salvation in only one person. There is only “one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” All acts of mediation by prophets, priests, and kings all the way through the Old Testament are pointing forward entirely to the mediation that is that of Christ in each of those offices—or in the one office, if you like, of Prophet, Priest, and King. The instances of salvation in the Old Testament depend as much on Christ’s death as the instances of salvation in the New Testament and beyond.

It is the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ that enables David to write as he does, to catch a glimpse of himself as God sees him.

Now, again, if your Bible is open, turn to Romans chapter 4, because I want to try and make sure that we see this in a way that helps us. In Romans chapter 4, Paul is explaining to these folks to whom he writes the wonder of salvation and the wonder of what it means to be justified by faith. Now, we can’t pause apart to note this, and then you can come back to it on your own.
He is explaining to them there that the righteousness that was the righteousness of Abraham in verse 3—“If Abraham was justified by works, he [had] something to boast about, but not before God.” Well, no. If he did it, he could say, “I did it.” He could say, “My, my, my, me, me, me.” No, no. He says no, he couldn’t do that. “For what does the Scripture say?” Well, it says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him,” credited to him, reckoned to him, imputed to him, “as righteousness.” It wasn’t his righteousness. It was a righteousness imputed to him.

And then he goes on. He says, “[Well, if you think about it,] the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but [who] believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” Then he says, “And if you want to think about it in relationship to David, let’s just do that”: “just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, … whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin."

In other words, it is the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ that enables David to write as he does. It enables David, if you like, to catch a glimpse of himself as God sees him. As God sees him. And that is true of all who are in Christ. All who trust in Christ’s atoning work, all who believe in the promise of salvation that is found in Him, are not then proceeding through life in the hope that they will manage to have enough righteousness infused in them to have sufficient to be able to present finally on that day, “Well, I did as best as I could, and I tried not to, and I tried not to,” and so on.

It’s quite amazing to me how many professing Christian people still are limping along the line of their Christian life with that perspective—because when they look on this and they say, “How could David possibly say this?” the reason is because when they look on themselves, they say, “How could I possibly say this?” Surely God could only tolerate me if He sees me in Christ. Surely only in Christ is there no condemnation. I am justifiably condemned by my actions and by my inactions. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

All we like sheep have gone astray;
[each of us has] turned … to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

The reason that David writes as he does is because he was trusting in the Christ to come, and we trust in the Christ who has come. If you are in Christ, this is your testimony—Romans 3:21. Listen: “But now the righteousness of God…”
“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested,” or revealed, or displayed, “apart from the law, although the Law … the Prophets bear witness to it.” What is this “righteousness of God”? It is “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who…” Do their best? No, exactly: “for all who believe.” Because “there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”—none of us is in any different position, as far as that’s concerned—“and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance he had passed over former sins”—waiting now, the Old Testament folks looking forward to one who would come that they did not see; we looking back to one who came, whom we have not seen. And “it was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who” does their best. No, He’s to be “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in [Christ] Jesus.”

You see, strangely and yet wonderfully, here in these somewhat daunting verses of 2 Samuel 22, we’re at the very heart of the gospel message: what God has done in Christ to reconcile sinners to a holy God. David in verse 20 says of God that “he delighted in me.” Because he sees his life as God sees his life. How did God deal with David? He dealt with him as a forgiven and a cleansed man. On what basis? On the basis of the righteousness of Christ.

And my fellow believers, if you are in Christ, that is how God sees you. That is how he sees you. In and of ourselves, under the analysis of God’s scrutiny, we still have sin. We’re still sinners. But by the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to our account, transferred to our miserable balance—all the riches of the provision of Christ, both in his passive obedience through death and in his active obedience through keeping the law—we are considered just or righteous.

How did God deal with David? He dealt with him as a forgiven and a cleansed man. On what basis? On the basis of the righteousness of Christ.

You see this double imputation? That our sins are imputed to Christ. He is forsaken that we might be forgiven, and His righteousness is imputed to us in order that we might then live to the praise of His glory.

There is nothing in us or done by us, at any stage of our earthly development, because of which we are acceptable to God. We must always be accepted for Christ’s sake, or we cannot be accepted at all. This is not true of us only “when we believe.” It is just as true after we have believed. It will continue to be true as long as we live. Our need of Christ does not cease with our believing; nor does the nature of our relationship to Him or to God through Him ever alter, no matter what our attainments in Christian graces or our achievements and behaviour may be. It is always on His “blood and righteousness” alone that we can rest.

So how can David say that “I was blameless before God”? Only in the righteousness that is provided, that it is an alien righteousness.
You will never understand, you will never love, the story of the gospel until you first see yourself as hopeless and helpless.

And the promise of the Bible is that God saves the humble. If you’re reading this today, and you have been working your way down a laborious track in the hope that you would manage to fix things yourself, then I commend to you Jesus Christ. But you will never understand, you will never love, the story of the gospel until you first see yourself as hopeless and helpless.

Let us pray:
Father, in a multitude of words may we hear your Word as we, as it were, jump off this page and seek to remind ourselves of the amazing nature of grace, it just… Most of us—in fact, all of us, by nature—we cherish the idea that if you were going to build a kingdom, you’d use really, really good people. And then we read the genealogy of Christ, and some real beauties in that. Of course. Of course. For all our acceptance is in Christ. All David’s acceptance, somehow, when one day in a new heaven and in a new earth we sit down with him—we find him somewhere in the vast company—he will testify to the saving power of the one and only mediator, Jesus Christ, the one true King, the one sufficient sacrifice, the one unerring Prophet.
Bless us, Lord, as we sing our closing song. Make it grace to us. For we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Bible verses:
1 Samuel 13:14.
2 Samuel 7:9.
2 Samuel 7:13.
2 Samuel 7:14.
2 Samuel 7:15.
2 Samuel 7:20–21.