the necessity of prayer and proclamation

But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.

Acts 6:4

The apostles had a thorny problem to solve. Although the Jerusalem church had a heart to help the poorest of the poor (widows), an ethnic disparity had emerged in the congregation. Greek speaking widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. This was a serious problem that the apostles had somehow not seen before, perhaps in the busy work of disciple-making, disciple-care slipped through the cracks. The twelve wisely admitted the problem and addressed it quickly.

The solution was for the church to choose seven deacons to administrate these tasks that the apostles could not. And the harmony was restored. This not only solved the divisive problem within the church, but it also freed up the apostles to pour their energy into their true gifts and calling to do deeply important tasks: praying and preaching.

Not much has changed in the two millennia since the first deacons were commissioned. Churches still have needs that require hands on administration and service. Pastors still bungle ministry if they neglect the important for the urgent. When things get out of whack with these physical tasks, people will suffer and complain. I’m so glad to have a wise design here in Acts 6 help guide important ministry to all the needs of the church. This brings ministry success for the glory of God. I’m blessed to have deacons in my areas of ministry oversight.

I’ve been in church pastoral leadership for over three and a half decades. I’ve seen deacons solve problems that I could not. I’ve had them manage things better than I ever could, just like the apostles did here. It isn’t that solving problems like this are beneath me. It is that my gifts and calling require an energy that I cannot put elsewhere.

Pastors and elders MUST be men who are committed to constant and consistent prayer and the faithful ministry of the Word of God. It is a daily duty and a delight to serve God’s people in this way. Here’s how I see prayer and proclamation on a regular basis… a synopsis of most of my “work week”:

• Encourage people one-on-one. This can be an email, text thread, phone call, or a face to face meeting.
• Counseling the hurting, confused, wounded, and weary. This is well over half of any given ministry week.
• Teaching groups of people.
• Participation in groups myself. This opens my life to inspection by others in the church who are entrusted with helping me grow and learn as well. This happens in group and in personal settings.
• Sharing the gospel with a friend or neighbor.

The gospel advances in the service of saints to the church and in the ministry of leaders who will pray and preach! 

Don’t preach this!

…and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

Acts 5:40

Some men are afraid

of the power of the name

of Jesus.

They will intimidate

and then discriminate

against us.

They will persecute

and will prosecute

His people.

But God will let us go.

The world has fear and hate

for the change the gospel makes

in sinners.

The power used against us

will never stop Jesus

or expansion.

Let them rage on

His kingdom builds on

persecution!

Yes, God will help us grow!

The world wants us silent

and threatens with violent

prohibition.

The gospel will still be taught.

More sinners will still be bought

in redemption.

They scream: “Don’t preach this!”

We bravely follow Jesus

our Master.

His “well done” is what we will know.

fools in control

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”

They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;

there is none who does good.

Psalm 14:1

I do not expect to find a warm reception in a culture that is going the way of the fool as described here. The Christian may find himself the only sane passenger on a ship of fools. As I have seen secular and selfish thought prevail in the world in my lifetime, I know this ship gets increasingly more erratic as more God-denying fools man the helm. And at times their foolishness can cause even the sanest saint to question spiritual reality. The pressure to be a fool is high and even former Christian leaders have joined the fool’s crew.

But as I look at what secularism, scientism, and atheism have produced, I will gladly hold to faith. The whole world is truly corrupt. I can’t name many leaders that I truly respect. Both liberal and conservative politics employ corrupt tactics by corrupt people to perpetuate sin and oppression and further corrupt society. Every institution, sadly including the church, is tainted by the foolish choices of people who either deny God, or refuse to yield to Him.

And foolish secularism, scientism, and atheism have also done AWFUL things to people. Eugenics, genocide, abortion on demand, euthanasia, war, and hate-filled prejudice have consumed more than a century of so-called “human progress”. The answer is NOT to launch the ship of fools into space and colonize and destroy yet another planet. The solution is to change… to repent of sinful hatred of God and to bow to the Creator of the universe. Yet human abominations of increasing sinful magnitude will continue as long as fools sail this ship. I expect it to get worse… I really do.

Scripture is clear that human beings are incapable of doing good. No one can. I certainly cannot do good on my own steam. I am so unbelievably broken that even sub-consciously I seriously hurt the people I love most in life. I hate that! But you know what, nobody aboard the ship of fools is going to change that in me. I need more. I need God.

And so, like foolish, doubting Thomas, I come to believe my resurrected Jesus and cry out… “My Lord and my God.” That firm knowledge is my hope. His righteousness is my only good. I say in my heart, “There IS a God.”

rejected cornerstone

This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.

Acts 4:11

Peter reminds us that it never really did stop Jesus to reject Him. Think about it. He came to the Jews as their Messiah. Jesus preached good news. He fed the hungry. He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf, made paralyzed invalids leap up and dance, and even raised the dead. All the while He offered them a new and better kingdom of God that emphasized God as a loving Father and brought hope and joy in its proclamation. 

This truth was a threat to religious leaders who by legalistic oppression controlled the hearts of the people that Jesus came to truly liberate — not just from Roman political oppression, but from spiritual control, lies, and abuse. Those people rejected Jesus, tried Him on fake charges, and killed Him on a cross.

That rejection became the strong centerpiece of all history. In Peter’s words here quoting the 118th psalm, Jesus became the cornerstone. God laid that foundation firmly to all who believe… the center now of all redemptive history and the guarantee of our future (Isaiah 28:16)! So no one hurts Jesus by rejecting Him. They cripple themselves, stumbling into the mouth of hell as they trip over the Cornerstone.

Lying liars lie.

Everyone utters lies to his neighbor;

with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

Psalm 12:2

The adage is so true: The truth is hard to come by these days. Everything is twisted some direction or another. Advertising is a kind of lie or flattery. Politics is practically all lies and it doesn’t matter the party affiliation. There are liberal lies. There are conservative lies. And even in organized Christian organizations with human leadership there are too many lies. What are we do do about all these lies if they are all around us? Is there hope?

Psalm 12 offers perspective and great hope beyond all the human manipulation and lying. Here are some solid truths to hold off the onslaught of a pack of vicious lies…

1) Cry out to the God Who saves from godless lies (Psalm 12:1-2). He will hear our laments about lying.

2) Trust God to judge lies and liars (Psalm 12:2-5). God promises He will do it.

3) Center your hope on the perfect truth: the pure Word of God (Psalm 12:6). This is the bullseye of the Psalm, the central way we handle lies.

4) God will keep and guard His people by His power in His truth (Psalm 12:7).

God’s power and truth far exceed the worst lies! This is real hope.

foretold / fulfilled

But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.

Acts 3:18

Foretold: He would be despised.

Fulfilled: Even His disciples fled as He was mocked.

Foretold: He would be smitten and beaten.

Fulfilled: They scourged Him, beating Him with rods, whips, and hands.

Foretold: He was the Man of Sorrows.

Fulfilled: He cried out.

Foretold: He would be considered forsaken.

Fulfilled: “My God, why have You forsaken me?”

Foretold: Our chastisement fell upon Him.

Fulfilled: He was crucified between two thieves.

Foretold: They will look on Him whom they have pierced.

Fulfilled: Nailed to a cross, a spear was thrust through His side.

Foretold: He shall divide His portion among the strong.

Fulfilled: He was raised again on the third day!

sharing… not soloing

You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone.

Exodus 18:18

Moses was a flawed leader and one of the ways it showed up was in his insistence on doing everything himself. Ironically, he was filled with self-doubt at the burning bush, so God commanded him to take his brother Aaron with him to talk with Pharaoh (Exodus 4). Later Moses saw Israel defeat Amalek under Joshua’s military leadership. But Moses had to raise his hands on the hill for Israel to prevail. He tried it alone and failed. God sent Aaron and Hur to stand alongside him to keep his influence at work and to hold up his weary arms (Exodus 17). Moses’ final solo act was a huge blunder marring the end of his story. In anger he struck the rock that God told him to speak to (Numbers 20) and that failure cost him entrance into Canaan. Moses was not called to do things his own way.

Here in Exodus 18 though, Moses listens to wisdom to correct his perceived indispensability. His father-in-law Jethro wisely suggested a system of appointed judges to be placed over the people to elevate the constant stress on Moses to settle disputes. His role as solo judge was bogging down the nation. Moses was wise to listen and then create this team, sharing the load, and humbly creating margin for everyone involved.

I need to learn from Moses in this matter. In leadership it is so tempting to do ministry myself because after decades I can do it quickly with a kind of spiritual muscle memory. It is much harder to create teams short-term and help them succeed because there will be hiccups and failures. But it is much better for God’s people and the spread of the gospel to create teams over time. I have learned to be OK with development as a way to expand ministry. This saves me, like Moses, to handle bigger disputes or issues. May God help me to leave a legacy of sharing… not soloing!

Son and Spirit

Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

Acts 2:33

Exalted now

at the Father’s right hand

Jesus reigns

over where I stand

Proclaiming now

over all the nations of men

gospel truth

is where I am

God the Son ruling and reigning

set the Holy Spirit to empower this proclaiming

Flowing now

in the hearts of the holy

God’s Spirit leads us

to tell the story

Visible work

we can see among us

of lives transformed

by God’s Spirit through Jesus

God the Spirit filling and leading

those who will go where He is now leading

first steps to something new

And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

Exodus 14:22

Stepping into this dry land as the sea became a wall on the left and the right must have been the most awestruck moment of the Exodus experience. God had already visited supernatural plagues upon Egypt, culminating in mass casualties during the Passover. The Egyptians sent Israel packing, begging them to go and showering them with riches as they left, only to regret it and send the world’s most powerful army of the day to apprehend them. God kept that army at bay, split the Red Sea and now told His people to step onto dry land.

These were the first steps Israel began to a new life geographically beyond Egypt, headed to a new place, to a new relationship with God as their Deliverer. God’s grace poured out on them. His trust would be known to them. His provision would lead them through wilderness. His discipline would correct their faithlessness. His covenant would bind them close to Him.

God will always be with us to help us to obey Him. He will provide the direction for this new life that He gives to His people. Jesus makes this abundantly clear in the gospel. He has prepared the place we are going. We need only set foot upon the way that He prepares for us in faith.

You know the hearts of all.

And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen…”

Acts 1:24

Lord,

You do indeed know the hearts of all people, everywhere, for all of history. You are so aware of all that happens, even within our hearts, places we aren’t even quite sure we understand. You break through all our confusion, all our rebellion, all our ignorance, and all our motives to truly know us. And with that kind of knowledge it is amazing that the Creator of all hearts Who knows all hearts also loves them.

You know my heart. You know where I fail and when I falter. You know when faith is eclipsed by my heart’s wants.You know my struggles, my selfish leanings, my lusts and longings. You know my ambitions, my hopes, my desires, my dreams, my wants, and my needs. And in the regeneration of my broken heart through Christ’s saving work, through Your Word’s instruction, through Your Holy Spirit’s renewal, I can find that You are pleased with what is in my new heart.

Today I pray, O Searcher of my heart, that You will show me how to be holy as You are holy. I pray You will lead this heart to love deeply, to live passionately for Your Kingdom’s glory, to embrace and declare the gospel boldly, and to reflect You to my world from my heart.

Amen

Rejoicing / Praising

O LORD, in your strength the king rejoices,

and in your salvation how greatly he exults!

Psalm 21:1

Ready to see Your hand, I waited.

Enduring through the unknown, Your power I anticipated.

Jesus came to me.

Other hope I could not see.

I trusted my God’s strength and power.

Content to see You in Your hour.

I saw salvation with my own eyes.

Now receiving so much more than I realize.

God receives all my praise!

Power and strength belong to Jesus.

Rejoice in Him whose mercy saves us!

Anticipating my heavenly abode

I walk upon life’s narrow road.

Saved by strength that is not my own

I look to my future heavenly home.

Never a worry will pull me away.

God will keep me until that day!

He sees the blood.

The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

Exodus 12:13

The blood of the sacrificial lamb protected the lives of those inside the homes of the children of Israel the night of that first Passover in Egypt. Their lives were protected from loss by the death of an innocent lamb. The Lord saw the sacrifice and spared them. He saw the blood and knew they trusted Him.

“…Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed.” (1 Corinthians 5:7) Because Jesus shed His blood for us, we too can be spared because God sees the blood. It is only by the death and resurrection of Christ that hope beyond death rises up from my heart as faith in Christ carries my soul into eternity. It is not easy to remember that it took this much to save me. But every time I take part in the Lord’s Table with my fellow believers in the Body of Christ I am reminded of what it took to save me. Nothing short of the blood of Christ could cover me. God sees the blood.

Lord God,

I am before You as a redeemed soul by the blood of Your Son. You see Your only Son’s perfect sacrifice splashed across the door of my life. And by that I am truly saved. Thank You for providing my salvation!

Amen

Jesus speaks peace.

As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!”

Luke 24:36

In a secluded hiding place the disciples of Jesus huddled after His crucifixion, and struggling with reports of His resurrection, they tried to believe the impossible. His tomb was indeed empty. There were eyewitnesses to that fact. And a couple of followers of Jesus encountered their risen Master on the Emmaus road. They excitedly burst into the hidden place to share their astonishing walk with Jesus.

As the disciples were trying to make sense of their story, Jesus simply stood among them. It appears He did not enter through the door. He just suddenly was there and was recognized by all in the room.With fresh wonder they were troubled. Jesus said three words of comfort that echoed in their unsettled souls: “Peace to you!”

Jesus,

Bringer of my peace, calm my soul now, weighed down as I am with the burden of living in a broken world complicated by my own sin and confusion.

Jesus, Who is my peace,

Restore my soul as I rest in You whose death and resurrection brighten my future, forgive my past, and direct my present steps as You stand with me.

Prince of Peace,

I receive, as best I can, Your comforting peace. Help me to settle my soul in the peace of Christ!

Amen

His death / my life

Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.

Luke 23:46

This is the most important event in world history. It is what accomplished the salvation of sinners. Jesus gave His life for us in willing submission to the Father’s will. He died for our sins, taking the death that we deserve, so we could have the life that He now lives to forever give to us. And as Jesus entrusted His spirit to the Father, the satisfactory sacrifice made atonement for all sin. Nothing in world history will eclipse this.

I am a sinner whose life was redeemed by Jesus’ last exhale. This truth is also the most important part of my life. It is my life. My achievements, my service, my life only have meaning because Christ has saved me! I live for this gospel! And one day, should Jesus tarry His return, I will die headed straight to the Father in glory just as Jesus did because Jesus gave Himself in this way!

I’ll live for Him Who died for me

How happy then my life shall be!

I’ll live for Him Who died for me

My Savior and my God!

My life my love I give to Thee

O Lamb of God Who died for me

O May I ever faithful be

My Savior and my God!

captured by blasphemers

And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him.

Luke 22:65

Humanity has always mocked, ridiculed, and blasphemed Jesus. After His arrest in the garden He was dragged away, questioned, beaten, stripped, ridiculed, mocked for claiming to be a king, and even denied by His closest followers. That’s how people respond to Jesus. It is what wicked sinners do. It is how evil responds to holiness. And they don’t realize what they are doing.

If this is the way the perfect Son of God was received by His own generation, should we be shocked that Jesus and His people are so rejected by our own sinful culture? Blasphemy and persecution hurt. They are appalling. But Jesus not only endured such things… He stood silent AND confident as they happened to Him. And He died for the very rejection He received. He prayed a final prayer of forgiveness for His mocking executioners (Luke 23:34) begging His Father to forgive them for they did not realize what they were doing.

I think a Christlike response to a mocking culture should look at least something like this: 1) Expect it. The power of the gospel lies not in “winning or losing” the perceived battle. No… the gospel itself IS the power of God for salvation. It is a visibly superior message. It advances with every new convert who turns from rejection to reception. Fighting back as vigilante judges is NEVER the commission Christ gave His disciples. Preaching the good news of salvation by grace through faith despite rejection IS our call. 2) Endure it. Our culture still has Christ on trial. It still mocks. And we are up there beside Him now, taking up His sufferings. This is our privilege so don’t fight it. We are promised a crown of life as the outcome of faithful endurance in this relationship with our world (James 1:12). Stand with Jesus as He is mocked knowing You will live with Him under His reign. Let the world rage on. They do not know what they are doing.

Creator in control

Then the LORD said to him, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?”

Exodus 4:11

I see my problems

— my unique challenges

and inabilities —

— where I stutter

— feet that stagger

— mind that wanders —

and I doubt 

You will use me.

I make excuses

and miss opportunities.

I dwell on mistakes

and distrust success.

I object to being as I am

and worry about what I am not.

I waste potential

with introspection.

God, Who made me both gifted

and limping, both strong and weak,

how can I focus beyond

my weakness and find faith?

Lord of my broken life

Who showers blessing on me,

in this broken jar of clay

make Your power known!

I will trust that my shortcomings

are the place Your power enables me.

I will lean into Your guidance

as my feet stagger toward Your grace.

I will look less at me —

— more at You, Creator in control!

It is You, O Lord, Who made

me weak to trust in You.

Some will die.

You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death.

Luke 21:16

Throw a fish symbol under these words and print it on a T-shirt! I’m sure it will be quite popular - NOT. Yes these are the red letter words of Jesus, as true as John 14:6. Imagine sitting among His disciples and the crowd gathered around Him at the temple and Jesus dropped the mic after delivering this truth bomb! I can just see the nervous glances around the crowd, and then hear the slight murmurs as one by one people slip quietly away from this uncomfortable sermon. Jesus painted a life vastly different than what they thought following this Rabbi would bring.

Jesus was right to issue this prophetic reality check. That same generation in that very moment with Jesus would eventually find that even family was not safe when it comes to who hates Jesus. And all the disciples gathered around Jesus at that moment in the temple would be persecuted before they died. They would all die hated men, despised for having been with Jesus and having the audacity to proclaim His gospel. No one would escape it. The world is not a safe place for kingdom gospel mercenaries! It never has been and never will be until Jesus judges all people.

I am not shocked that cultures in this world system actively oppose the gospel. Christians are born again with targets on their backs. Jesus said it would be this way, people! I am not shocked then that Christian faith is mocked, hated, and actively opposed. It will be. This is the fatal flaw of Christendom theology… the man-centered, program-oriented false teaching that Christians will infiltrate society and turn it godly by their own power. Jesus said the response of the world will be to kill us. And that is what we should expect. I marvel instead that Jesus saves and strengthens souls that once hated Him. Case in point: the apostle Paul! By the way, every convert to Christianity is someone who once actively opposed God. I rejoice that living for Him means death to self and a life so rewarding, so new, so clearly eternal in perspective that death now is nothing compared to the life that goes on in Jesus.

Throw a target under these words and print it on a T-shirt. And then live for Jesus and let it be known that He is Lord and Savior to a lost world.

when it all feels bad

O LORD, God of my salvation,

I cry out day and night before you.

Let my prayer come before you;

incline your ear to my cry!

Psalm 88:1-2

What do I do when what I feel is at odds with what I believe? That is where Psalm 88 is a helpful companion. The psalm is a lament… basically eighteen verses of constant complaint poured out to God. But unlike every other psalm of lament, Psalm 88 is quite different. It is rough. It isn’t very “happy churchy”. The pattern in every other lament psalm is for the music to turn from compliant to an observed way in which God is trusted. Yet here we have Psalm 88 tenaciously stuck in feeling-fueled pain. It stays in a minor key. It is just one big litany of bad feelings manically gushing from a wounded heart.

Yet I find in the very first verse a reality that marks the life of a believer with mature faith: “I cry out… before you.” The psalm simply centers on this first step toward resolution: when life gets hard we cry out to God. Psalm 88 encourages us that our hurts lead to prayer… heartfelt, honest, deep, and unwavering words to God. In every pain we should pray. In every puzzling paradox we petition the God of our salvation. In the unthinkable loss or hurt we seek Him Who is undeniably reliable. We earnestly bend the ear of our Savior when life hurts!

So reading the torrent of tortuous tears in Psalm 88 DOES have a purpose for us! It may be the most realistic advice we can heed when life is suddenly and overwhelming hard. It calls us to pray and to not grow weary in a steadfast and stubborn appeal to God. It compels us to face our fears and speak our feelings with a straightforward faith that God will hear us. And that is how faith conquers feelings… it directs hard feelings to the Father Who hears and heals.

I know God knows.

And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.

Exodus 2:24-25

Sometimes I wonder if God really does take notice of what is happening in my world. I mean, there are billions of people on the planet, many in much more dire situations than I face. It would seem that one old guy in Kansas running the last segment of the race in the middle of the pack would hardly merit His attention. But then holy scripture gives me an encouragement like this one that turns my head to heaven and makes me realize how much God really does see and care not just for the “biggies” like war or disaster, but for my life and its challenges and joys. He sees what is going on in all the world. He does not look away from His people. He is never distant.

God hears. He hears my prayers. He hears my groaning and there has been a lot of it the last couple of years. Sometimes my prayers come out with groans. Maybe what are just groans to me are prayers to Him. Either way, I am assured God hears. And His answers have been so powerful!

God remembers. Just as He was faithful to His covenant with Abraham and his descendants, so God is faithful in remembering the New Covenant written in the blood of His Son for me. God keeps His promises and remembers. I know He remembers me in my distress and He has shown Himself to bless beyond my expectations!

God sees. Nothing hides from His eyes. He sees when I am suffering. God sees my trouble and my heartache and those things affect Him. God sees it all. And He provides visible new answers I never saw coming.

God knows. He not only knows facts, but motives, needs, and the solutions to the situations that make me groan. His knowledge is not just encyclopedic and factual, but redemption and actual. God’s knowledge leads Him to help bring renewal and change. God knows and HE DOES what is best! This is forever proven in the gospel by which my life is saved, redeemed, and continually being blessed until I am with Jesus forever.

cornerstone

But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written:

“‘The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone’?

Luke 20:17

Ridiculed and mocked by those in power…

Rejected by Your own people…

Humiliating display as You died publicly…

Nobody believed any life should be built on You.

Even Your own disciples tried to hide…

No one beside You as You were crucified hideously…

Darkness fell around the world as creation was in horror…

Nobody came to stop this atrocity of grace.

Yet even as Your Father turned away…

As Your body was buried in a borrowed stone grave…

This injustice seen to all would never stay that way…

Nobody was ready for the power of Your new day!

A stone rolled from death’s blocked door…

And You made from a cold tomb a warm, new life entrance…

And now in salvation full and eternally sure…

The Cornerstone, Jesus Christ, holds up the way to amazing eternal life!

universal majesty

O LORD, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.

Psalm 8:1

Truly God’s majesty is always on display. Each new sunrise puts on a show of His blazing purpose… a new day ordained by the Creator of the universe to put His glory on show for the world to know. He brings the storm to water the earth and leads us to ponder His power in the mighty winds, lightning, and pouring rain.

God raised up mountains to cause us to aspire to His higher glory, knowing His majesty rises even higher than we can climb, stands stronger, and compels our awe more than any icy Everest. God commands the seasons so our lives find the rhythm of His care all through each year. And then as year after year leads to decades of life… we have a lifetime of His faithful provision in which to see His majesty. And this increases by the billions as each human gets a sense of this kind of wonder. God is indeed majestic in all the earth.

Lord,

As the natural world, even the very fabric of the universe, worships Your majesty, so will I! And Your greatest display of Your glory is known in the love of Jesus Christ Who left majesty’s throne to die for our wayward race on that rugged cross sinners built and nailed Him upon. May the earth hear the roar of Your gracious majesty in the gospel and know the majestic Jesus, Lord of all, as Your people worship You!

Amen