This is Monday morning, February 5, 1973, in Richmond, Virginia. Ministry being given by Brother Stephen Collins.
Well, we have a word of prayer.
Lord, how we do rejoice that we may gather together unto Thyself. Thou art the joy of our hearts. Thou art our strength, Thou art our worship, Thou art our praise. How we praise and thank Thee that Thou dost condescend Thyself to be with us and to receive the praises and worship of our hearts.
What a privilege, for Thou wouldst accept us. It is all because of Thy grace, Thy precious blood, Thy cross. Thou hast opened this new and living way for us.
Oh, how we praise and thank Thee. Thou art so real, so living, and nothing can separate us from Thy love, because it is Thy love for us that inspires us to love Thee.
Well, because we love Thee, we want to know Thee more. Manifest Thyself to us as Thou hast promised. And by the Word that is given, let us hear Thy voice. Lord, it is Thee, Thyself, that we desire, and nothing else.
May Thou have a greater place in our lives, Thy rightful place. Lord, we commit this time into Thy hands, trusting Thee to perfect the good work which Thou hast already begun. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Would you please turn to the Book of Acts?
Let us read Acts 9:26-27.
And when he was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: and they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.
But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that He had spoken to him; and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.
Now Acts 11:19-26.
They therefore that were scattered abroad upon the tribulation that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia, and Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to none save only to Jews.
But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus.
And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number that believed turned unto the Lord.
And the report concerning them came to the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas as far as Antioch:
who, when he was come, and had seen the grace of God, was glad; and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord:
for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord.
And he went forth to Tarsus to seek for Saul;
and when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that even for a whole year they were gathered together with the church, and taught much people; and that the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
And Acts 13:1-2.
Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers, Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen the foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
And as they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
That is all we will read for this morning.
We mentioned before that those formative years of this new vessel, called the Body of Christ—the church—are very, very important years.
Whether this new vessel, the Body of Christ, will be formed according to the heavenly pattern, thus becoming a vessel fit for the Master’s use, or whether it will degenerate into something other than God’s thought, depends very largely upon those formative years.
As we have found from Acts 6 to Acts 15, God raised up certain key men and used these men to help in the formation of this Body of Christ. We have mentioned several in the past: Stephen, Philip, Paul, and Peter.
Now, this morning, we would like to consider Barnabas, because Barnabas had a very special place in the foundation of the Body of Christ. He served as a kind of bridge, so to speak, between Peter and Paul.
You will find that he had a very special ministry in the foundation of the Body of Christ.
We see Barnabas first in Acts 4. During that time, God was increasing the number of those who believed in the Lord. All those who believed were together. They were of one heart and one soul, and they loved one another.
They were delivered from self-possessiveness. They were willing to share everything with one another. They were really one Body.
It was during that period that the members of the Body realized that there were poor people in their midst, those who were in need. They could not see their brothers and sisters in need and simply say, “May the Lord supply all your needs.”
They were constrained by the Lord to supply the needs of those who were in need. So some of them began to sell their property, and they took the proceeds of these sales and laid them at the feet of the apostles, that these might be distributed to all who were in need.
Among them there was one who stood out. Of course, he was not the only one who did it, but he was the one whom the Holy Spirit particularly mentioned as an example.
There was a man by the name of Joses, a Levite, a native of Cyprus. He sold his property and laid the proceeds at the feet of the apostles. The apostles surnamed him, gave him another name, Barnabas, which means “son of consolation,” or “son of comfort.”
Barnabas’ Jewish name formerly was Joses. We know what that name means: “He will add.” God will add. That was the name of Joses, but then you find that he had another name: Barnabas, son of consolation.
He was a Levite, but he was born and reared in Cyprus. So he was a Hellenistic Jew, not a Hebrew Jew. In him, you find a combination of not only the Jewish culture but also the Greek culture. In that sense, he was very much like Paul.
He loved the Lord, not in word only, but in deed. He sold his property and laid the proceeds at the feet of the apostles. He did all this, not independently, but in relatedness with the church.
You know, sometimes we can do good deeds. Sometimes we can do good things. But we would rather do them independently. Yet here you find, in the early days of the church, as they were moved by the Spirit of God to do certain things, they never did anything independently.
It was always in relatedness, in relation to the church. Everything came out of the church, and everything was related to the church. Even in this matter of ministering to the poor, it was related to the church. Now, that was really good.
So, after Saul was converted, when he came to Jerusalem, he was already famous there as the chief persecutor of the church. He dragged men and women out of houses and put them into prison. He was well known in Jerusalem.
Then he went to Damascus, and he was converted. After he was converted, he went to Arabia, probably for around three years, and there he was before God. After three years, he came back to Damascus. He was with the disciples for some time, and because his witnessing was so effective, he could not stay in Damascus.
You know how he escaped in a basket, being let down over the wall. Then he went to Jerusalem to seek fellowship.
But nobody believed him. Even after three years, the impression was just too deep. These believers in Jerusalem were afraid of Paul, who was called Saul at that time. Even though he came back a changed man, nobody believed.
So here you find Paul in Jerusalem, rejected by the Jews and not accepted by the Christians. He was all alone. It must have been a terrible experience for Paul.
Well, thank God, among all the disciples in Jerusalem there was one man with a big heart.
Barnabas was a Hellenistic Jew. When the persecution first started in Jerusalem, it was actually focused upon the Hellenistic Jews. Stephen was a Hellenistic Jew, and he was stoned to death. Then the great persecution began, and it was mainly against the Hellenistic Jews.
Certainly Barnabas was also a target, so he should have remembered it well. Yet you find Barnabas was a man with such a big heart. He was able to forgive the past. He was able to see what God had done in Saul, and he was able to believe in what God had done.
He had faith not only in God, but faith in what God could do in a person.
You know, sometimes it is very difficult for us to change our view of a person. Once you come to a conclusion, that is it. Very often people ask their brothers, “What do you think of this brother or this sister, of this man or this woman? Do you think there is any hope?”
Once you figure a person out, that is it. In the beginning, you do not know exactly what kind of person he is. Then you have some contact, and you begin to form an idea concerning him. Once your decision is made, that is it.
But do you believe God? Do you believe God is able to change a person, to transform a person? If you believe in God, then you can believe in that. Not that man can change, but God can do it.
All the other disciples simply could not believe it. They said, “This man cannot be changed. Probably he is just playing another trick. He is trying to find out who these Christians are by going with them, and then he will persecute them.” Nobody would believe Saul.
But Barnabas was a man of faith and of a big heart. He saw what the Lord had done in that person. So he took him and introduced him to the believers, to the apostles. That is how Paul met Peter. It was through the introduction of Barnabas.
Paul was able to be with the disciples for a certain period, until his witnessing became too strong again and he had to go away. So the church sent him away, and Paul went back to Tarsus. He spent a number of years in Syria and Cilicia.
Because of the persecution, the disciples were dispersed. As they went along the way, they went to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch. As they went, they announced the glad tidings, but to the Jews alone.
But there were some from Cyprus and Cyrene. These people began to witness to the Greeks, and the Lord began to add many, many of these Greeks to the church.
Finally, the news began to come back to Jerusalem that, in these Gentile cities, many were converted to Christ—not only Jews, but many Gentiles.
So they sent out one person, and that person was Barnabas. Barnabas was most fitting for this kind of work. He was sent out to visit all these places, as far as Antioch.
Did he go out as an investigator or an inspector? Not at all. You know, in the early church there was not any thought of one church controlling another church. There was no such thing.
Jerusalem was not the mother church and all the other churches were child churches. That was a concept that came much later.
In the early days, you find that as the churches began to spread to different places, every church maintained its independence in government. But there was fellowship in the Spirit among the churches.
So when they heard in Jerusalem that God had done something in the cities of Syria and Cilicia, they sent Barnabas out, not with a purpose of investigating or inspecting and then bringing them under their control.
They sent out Barnabas to seek fellowship, that they might be joined together in fellowship and strengthened in one another. The Bible never has the thought of mother churches and child churches, but the Bible has the thought of sister churches.
Would you like to know the scriptural basis for that? Turn to 2 John. In that little letter, you find in verse 13:
The children of thine elect sister salute thee.
The relationship between churches is the relationship of sisterhood. One church is a sister to another church. Some are bigger sisters and some are smaller sisters, but they are sisters. It is not a relationship of parents and children.
If it is a relationship of parents and children, then the parents control and rule over the children, and the children are supposed to obey the parents. But if they are sisters, you see, their relationship is one of equality and fellowship.
So, in the formation of the church, of the Body of Christ, in the most practical way, you find the Holy Spirit guiding and leading Barnabas.
He was the kind of person who had a big heart. He was the son of consolation. He was a Hellenist. So he did not go out with the thought of empowering himself over all these churches that God had raised up and bringing them under the fold of the church in Jerusalem.
That is the human way, not the divine way. The Holy Spirit had started all these churches, and then Barnabas was sent out to join all these churches in fellowship and in the Spirit, but not to bring them under the control of the church in Jerusalem.
The whole structure of the church today ought to be spiritual. On the one hand, every local assembly is independent in government, directly responsible to God. There is no one church over any other church.
Yet it is balanced by fellowship. You know, the Body of Christ is one universally, and yet in its practical working out you have to have local churches. All these local churches are local expressions of the Body of Christ, and they have fellowship one with another to show that they are one. That is beautiful.
That is the reason why Barnabas was sent. As he traveled through these places, he saw the grace of God manifested in these Gentile believers, and he rejoiced.
You know, it is very easy, when we go out and visit, to see all the faults, the weaknesses, and the shortcomings. That is very easy. If you have a very keen observation, you can go to any place and, within a few hours, see the weaknesses and the faults in God’s people.
You can go there as a judge, not as a brother. But Barnabas was such a man. When he went into the midst of these Gentile believers, instead of seeing their weaknesses, their immaturity, and looking down upon them, he saw the grace of God.
Oh, brothers and sisters, how easy it is for us to see things negatively. You do not need to look too deeply to see negative things; they are all there. But it is very difficult for us to see that which is positive, is it not? That is our fallen nature.
But here you find this man full of the Holy Spirit. He was really under the control of the Holy Spirit. So when he came into the midst of these people, he had no idea of dominating them. He had no idea of judging them. He just came as a brother ready to help.
He saw the grace of God in their midst, and he rejoiced. He could rejoice in what God had done outside of himself.
And do you know what he did? He encouraged them to serve the Lord with one purpose of heart, to abide in the Lord. In other words, his ministry was a ministry of establishing the believers.
Barnabas was not so much an evangelist. He was more like a pastor. He would come in and help them, strengthen them, and establish them in the Lord.
Because of his labor among these people in Antioch, the Lord added more to the church. It was a ministry of establishing the believers. How we need such a ministry.
As he stayed with them, he began to realize the potential in the church at Antioch. He began to realize that God would do in the church at Antioch something that he could not do by himself.
It was a work that was bigger and greater than Barnabas could handle. So he went out to Tarsus to seek Paul. Now think of it.
Usually, humanly speaking, it is always the temptation of a servant of the Lord: if he goes to a place and the Lord begins to use him, he will consider that as his own territory.
Here and there you find one person carving out a kingdom for himself, and another person carving out a kingdom for himself. You guard your kingdom very carefully. You consider the church as your personal property. That is human temptation.
This happens everywhere. When God begins to use a person, he carves out a kingdom, and he will not let anybody else touch it. “This is my territory.”
What are you doing? Are you building your own kingdom, or are you building the Body of Christ?
As missionary tactics, different missionary societies have had to come to an agreement: “You go to the east, I go to the west, he goes to the south, and the other goes to the north. We will each carve out a territory and work it. Now you do not come into my territory.”
What are you doing? Are you building your own kingdom, or are you building the Body? If it is the Body of Christ, it belongs to Christ. If it is the Body of Christ, it should be able to be benefited by all the ministries that God has given to the church.
Barnabas was a person who was not seeking his own. He did not come out of Jerusalem simply to be a king in Antioch. This was the church, the Body of Christ. It had to be taken care of.
He saw good potential in that church, and he realized it was more than he could handle. Thank God for Barnabas. There is something to be said for a servant of the Lord who can realize his limitation.
He was only thinking of the welfare of the church. He was not thinking of his position and power. If he had thought of his position, he would never have gone to find Paul.
Why? Because he knew from the very beginning that Paul was more gifted than he was. That is why he went to find Paul. He realized that this was a work he could not handle by himself.
He was able to establish them in the beginning, but he came to the limit. He would not keep the church in Antioch within his own limitation. He wanted them to be what God wanted them to be.
Thank God for that. All the servants of God today should learn this lesson.
And he went out to find Paul. Paul had been in Syria and Cilicia for a number of years already. After he could not stay in Jerusalem, they sent him away to Tarsus, and he spent a number of years in that area.
In Galatians 1, Paul said he was in Syria and Cilicia, laboring for the Lord. The people in Judea heard that the former persecutor was now preaching the faith which he once destroyed, but they had never seen him.
In other words, you find Paul working in that area for a number of years, all by himself. He was almost forgotten.
If this had continued, either of two alternatives might have happened. Either Paul would have become so discouraged that he would have faded away, and there would have been no more contact; or he would have become so infuriated by the treatment he received that he would have said, “If you do not care for me, I do not care for you. I will establish God’s work in my area, and that will be my kingdom. I will have nothing to do with the church in Jerusalem or with anybody else.”
You know, a person can go to either of these two extremes. And Paul was that kind of person. If he had not found someone to balance him, he might have gone to that extreme.
But thank God, in God’s divine wisdom, Barnabas went to find Paul. If you read that word carefully, you know it took Barnabas some effort to find him.
It was not that he knew where Paul was and simply went and knocked at his door. No, he did not even know where Paul was. He had to seek for him. He was willing to spend time in finding Paul, and he brought him to Antioch.
There Paul labored with Barnabas for a whole year. Because of their laboring together, the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
Through the joint labor of these two servants of the Lord, these disciples grew so much in the Lord. The church manifested Christ in such fullness that people began to look at them and say, “Who are they?”
Certainly they were not Judaism. In the beginning, most of the believers were Jews, so people could look at the church and say, “This is just a sect of Judaism.” But in Antioch the situation was entirely different.
Because these were mostly Gentiles, you could not say that this was a sect of Judaism, a part of Judaism. It was something entirely new and alive.
People looked at them and said they were Christians—Christ-men, those of Christ. Christ was so manifested in the midst of these people that they earned this designation: Christians.
They were able to arise as such mainly because of the love, the humility, and the labor of Barnabas.
Brother, that is really Colossians 2:19:
And not holding fast the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and bands, increaseth with the increase of God.
You know, we are to hold fast the Head, Christ. Then the whole Body is supplied and knit together by the joints and bands.
In the body, you need joints and you need bands. The joints are joints of supply. They supply the life of the Body. But you need bands too, because the bands unite together.
Just as in your physical body, you not only need the bones and the joints, but you need the ligaments. They hold the body together. With the joints of supply and the bands of union, then the Body increases with the increase of God.
Now, Barnabas was a band. Probably Paul was a joint of supply. Barnabas certainly was a great band, and without such bands the church cannot grow.
Brothers and sisters, we often emphasize the ministry of the gifts, but somehow we overlook the ministry of the bands.
We think that for the building of the Body of Christ, you need people who are like joints and can supply life. Thank God for all these joints. But there are people who do not seem to supply very much openly, and yet there is a quiet ministry going on: binding people together, binding people together, uniting people together, establishing them together.
It is just as essential a ministry, although usually these people are not seen. Usually they are neglected by other people. But without these bands, the Body cannot increase with the increase of God.
So, through the joints and the bands, you find that the church in Antioch increased with the increase of God. There you find a wonderful testimony. They were called Christians.
Such principles must be carried on. The Body of Christ is the same everywhere. Wherever the church is to be built, wherever the Body’s expression is to be manifested, you need the joints and you need the bands. You need Paul, and you need Barnabas.
Then, during that time, God raised up five prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch. Barnabas was the leading one, because you find his name mentioned first. Saul was the last one of the five because he was relatively young in the Lord.
As the five prophets and teachers ministered unto the Lord with fasting and prayer, before they ministered to the church, before they ministered to the people of God, they first ministered to the Lord. Now, that is the right order.
They ministered to the Lord first, and then, as they were ministering to the Lord, the Lord said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Paul for a special work,” an apostolic work.
Because they were so faithfully ministering in the local church, God enlarged their ministry and gave them a wider ministry, an apostolic ministry. God sent Barnabas and Paul out for that.
So, brothers and sisters, you find the way that God trains His people. You are always trained in the local church.
Very often people think, if you want to serve God, especially young people, you immediately think of a different place. That is natural. Why? Because there is a strange attraction for that.
You never think that you will serve God where you are. You are always thinking of serving God somewhere else. In order to serve God somewhere else, what do you do to train? You go to Bible school.
Now, I am not criticizing people, because I went through this. When I was young and I was on fire, I wanted to serve God. “Where should I go? Mongolia? I will go.” Nothing sounded harder than my native place.
“How should I go to Mongolia?” “Oh, go to Bible school.” Where have we come?
How did God train His workers? If God puts a desire in you to serve, serve the church. There you are. Here is the thing: it is not a school; it is the church, the Body of Christ.
There is no school where you can learn Christ and learn how to serve Christ better than the local expression of the Body.
You say, “Everybody knows you.” Thank God everybody knows you. This is where the training begins.
If you are faithful in the place where God has put you, minister unto the Lord. One day the Lord is able to set you apart and enlarge your ministry. But you find that it always begins in the local place.
If you cannot be used by God among the people whom you know, can you expect that suddenly you will be greatly used by God among people you do not know?
Many people say they cannot win any souls here, but if they go to Africa, they would be winning souls. It has to be proved to you first, and out of faithfulness God will enlarge.
So here you find Barnabas and Paul. They were set apart to go forth. Barnabas was such a man with a big heart. He was always trying to help. He was always looking for those whom he could help and build up.
Without Barnabas, we would not have Paul. Even though God had revealed Himself in such a way to Paul, yet without Barnabas, Paul might have been lost with the lost.
It was Barnabas who brought him to the fellowship of the saints. It was Barnabas who brought him into the work. Paul was actually trained under Barnabas.
Barnabas had his eye upon Paul. After several years, he still remembered Paul. He remembered that he was a young man, very promising, and he wanted to help him, even though Paul was someone greater than himself.
When God set Barnabas and Paul apart for this apostolic work, immediately you find Barnabas thinking of another young man: John Mark.
Not because John Mark was his cousin. I believe Barnabas knew much better than that. It was not because of a fleshly relationship. No, in the work of God, the flesh cannot rule.
But you find the big heart of Barnabas. He was always looking for young people whom he could help and build up to be vessels for God.
Now, you need to thank God for Barnabas. There are young people who really have a desire to serve God and who really want to learn. Who will help them? Who will remember them?
Probably older people are afraid of young people, fearing that one day the young people will displace them. But not Barnabas. When he saw the grace of God in a person, he wanted to help and build.
So he said, “Let us take John Mark.” Paul agreed with him, so it was not merely a fleshly relationship. They went out together.
If you read the Book of Acts carefully, during that period, you find that in the beginning it was Barnabas and Paul. When God set apart Barnabas and Saul, they went out as a company: Barnabas and Saul, with John Mark as their attendant.
But then something happened. Suddenly you find the Holy Spirit beginning to say, “Paul and Barnabas.” The order is now Paul and Barnabas. John Mark, instead of yielding, left.
The young man was still a man full of blood and flesh. His cousin was the leader of this group, and now Paul took over the leadership. He could not agree to that.
But look at Barnabas. What was his attitude? “I am the leader. I am leading this team.” No. He yielded himself to the dictate of the Holy Spirit.
You know, there are no fixed positions in Christ. The Holy Spirit knows who should be ahead and who should follow. In the beginning it was Barnabas and Paul, but then Paul seemed to go ahead spiritually, and the Holy Spirit said, “It is Paul and Barnabas.”
Barnabas gladly took the second place. The young man left, but Barnabas continued on with Paul. Paul came into prominence. People talked about Paul, Paul, Paul. Barnabas was in the shadow, of course.
But he took everything graciously. He did not become humiliated or resentful. Oh, brothers and sisters, how we long to see something like this today among God’s servants.
Very often God’s servants strive for position and prominence against one another, just like people strive for authority and power in this world.
If we only knew how to surrender ourselves to the Head! Whatever the Head says, that is where you should be, even if humanly it is difficult.
But here you find Barnabas was not dragging Paul’s feet. You do not find any word in Scripture that, when the Holy Spirit changed the order, Barnabas outwardly went along but inwardly was resentful. No. He was a man with open eyes, a son of consolation. That is the kind of man Barnabas was.
So that is true. When they began to decide to go out a second time, Barnabas said, “Let us take John Mark again.”
You know, John Mark had left them and returned to Jerusalem. But somehow, through the ministry there, John Mark was partially restored. Barnabas and Paul took him from Jerusalem and brought him to Antioch again.
Barnabas, being a man with such a big heart, decided that when they went out the second time, they should take John Mark. He had not forgotten John Mark completely. He saw that the young man was being restored, so he was eager to fully restore him.
But Paul felt that because, at one time, John Mark had deserted them, he had to be disciplined further. They disagreed.
So Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, and Paul chose Silas. The church commended Paul and Silas to the Lord, and they went through Syria and Cilicia.
Today, brothers and sisters, we often ask this question: Who was right, and who was wrong?
Here were two servants of God. They had labored together and were so much blessed. Now you find a great clash, to the extent that they could not be reconciled, and they had to go each his own way. Who was right? Who was wrong?
History has tried to judge the right and wrong of this incident. Usually people say, “Of course Barnabas was wrong.”
Why? After this, Barnabas was no longer mentioned very much. The history from this point on follows Paul’s way. We do not know what happened after Barnabas took John Mark and sailed for Cyprus. What happened afterward? We are not told.
It is as if the Holy Spirit says, “You had gone off,” and then Paul, with the church’s commendation, was used everywhere he went. Therefore, some people say, “How much you write here, Barnabas must be wrong.”
But, dear brothers and sisters, I am afraid God does not see it that way.
Barnabas, in this decision, may have been making a mistake. It seems to be so. But if Barnabas had a fault, it was a fault of generosity, because he had such a big heart. He failed, yes—too big.
How can they do that? It was just the sovereign wisdom of God.
It is true that through the continued help of Barnabas, even though Barnabas seemed to fade away, Mark was perfected.
Mark was perfected, and even Paul later said that he was a good helper. Mark was even able to write the Gospel according to Mark.
So here you find that, though it seems as if Barnabas died away, Mark became a man. It was a ministry of love—of love.
So we could judge that he might have been wrong, but it was the fault of his big heart. God seemed to overlook it and use it to perfect this young man.
Brothers and sisters, this is how the Body of Christ is to be built. Through the death of one person, through the dying of one person, comes the life of Christ in another person.
When this happens, you cannot judge.
I think one day, when we come to the judgment seat of Christ, we will have a different idea about Barnabas. I know not many people have a very high opinion of Barnabas, but I wonder whether one day we will change our opinion about him.
He was a man of God, and he had a very special place in the building of the Body of Christ. He was a bridge who faded away for the church.
Well, so we need to ask God to raise up more Barnabases—not only more Pauls, but also more Barnabases. We need them all.
Our heavenly Father, how we praise and thank Thee for the variety, even of Thy servants, that Thou dost give to Thy church, that Thy church may be built according to Thy divine design.
We thank Thee for Paul. We thank Thee for Barnabas. We pray that there may be many joints of supply and many bands of union, that the Body may increase with the increase of God.
Oh Lord, this is the vessel that Thou art looking for, and we want Thee to have it, that Thou, the Head, may be able to continue to do Thy work. In the name of our Lord Jesus.