You know, we come this morning as those purchased with the blood of Jesus. The Lord had us, through the Holy Spirit, really focus on His blood this morning, and I could not help but think of our souls.
The problem with our souls is that they are marred by sin. In fact, they are not only marred, but defiled—defiled to the point that God had to have a place to deal with souls so defiled, so far from His own thought and heart. He created hell not only for the angels, but for these souls.
But, brothers and sisters, we are here today because God also had a plan of salvation for lost souls. One drop of blood from the precious Lord Jesus Christ could obliterate the sin of your soul and begin the healing process through the work of the Holy Spirit and the continual efficacy of the blood in your life. Our souls can be restored and accepted before God the Father.
Today, we are not going to hell. Our souls have a different destination because of the blood of Jesus Christ. May we always remember that. May we never forget it. Daily, may we remember it.
Lord, as we come to Thee, we come to the Precious One. We come to the One who shed His precious blood.
Lord, You considered the souls of men precious and went to the extent of pouring out Your own life on Calvary’s cross. Lord, You spent three hours in darkness and separation from the Father, as our brother shared this morning—three hours out of all eternity. Three hours, Lord, that You had to spend there because of us.
But Lord, we are those who have been purchased by the blood of the Lamb. We come today, Lord, because of Your great mercy.
Lord, as we come this morning, we want to have our eyes opened to see God. We want our eyes opened to see who You really are, and to understand and know Your ways, Lord, for they are higher than our understanding. Open our eyes as we search Your Word and consider the life of Abraham. What we are really doing, Lord, is looking for You.
We ask that You would reveal Yourself to us through Your Word this morning. May You bless the hearing. Lord, may it become reality in our hearts. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Well, we have been considering the life of Abraham in our quest to know God—that God would reveal Himself through His Word. We find that He reveals Himself through men as well.
Abraham, by way of slight review, was an idol worshiper in the land of Ur of the Chaldees. It was a land of idols, and he was there. In fact, history declares that his father was most likely an idol maker; that was his profession.
But God took this one who was involved in the making of idols and, by the grace of God, looked down and chose Abraham. Abraham was to become the father of faith. Now, that does not mean that faith originated with Abraham; faith originates with God Himself. It is His nature and character. The way of faith is from God.
But Abraham is the father of faith in this sense: God worked very uniquely and with great purpose in this man’s life to demonstrate that His way—the way in which His people would live—would have to be the way of a life of faith.
God did a special work in Abraham, not only for Abraham’s sake, but for our sake as well, that we might learn the life of faith. That is the way in which we, as His children, must live before Him.
The Word declares that the Father of glory appeared to Abraham. That means God revealed Himself to Abraham. It was not merely that somebody told Abraham there was a God. He knew there were many gods, but he had never encountered the God—the only God—because the rest of the gods are man’s imagination and are not real.
But this God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of glory, appeared to him. Brothers and sisters, if you know the Lord Jesus Christ in reality, it is because God has revealed Himself to you. He is the Lord of glory.
I think of Peter. When the Lord first called Peter, he was a fisherman. He left his boat and began following the Lord, but then we find that he went back home for some reason. I think, as he followed the Lord, he realized it was impossible to live with this Man. I mean, He was a righteous Person. Perhaps Peter became discouraged.
But then the Lord met him. He asked Peter if He could use the boat, and He took the boat out. Remember all the fish? That was when Peter saw that this Jesus, whom he had been trying to follow, was the Son of God—the Christ, the Sent One.
Peter had followed Him before, probably hoping that He was the Messiah who would overthrow the Roman Empire and establish the Jewish kingdom on earth. But that day, Peter saw the Lord of glory. He recognized that He was the Son of the living God—indeed, not only Messiah, but God Himself.
Brothers and sisters, may the Lord of glory touch our hearts. May He reveal Himself in such a way that we are captured. Peter had his problems and failures, but from that point on he was captured because the Lord of glory had appeared to him.
God called Abraham with a holy calling. That means it is a calling God has placed upon his life, and it is a calling to glory. One day we will see Him in all of His glory. It is a glorious calling.
In that calling, there were things God required of Abraham. He required that Abraham leave that land, leave his relatives, leave everything behind, and go to a land he did not know.
When God calls us, when the God of glory appears to us, He calls us to leave all and follow Him. Sometimes we try to follow Him without leaving all, and we find the Christian life very difficult to live that way. There comes a point where we finally say, “Lord, I have to leave it all behind.”
In other words, Abraham had to separate himself from his old way of life. He could not continue to follow the Lord and still live the old way of life. God called him to the promised land, and we know that the promised land ultimately speaks of Christ. Christ is your and my promised land.
Abraham obeyed; he went out. But his obedience was not perfect, was it? It was imperfect obedience—partial obedience—because he did not leave the old life totally behind.
We find that Terah, his father, and Lot, his nephew, came with him. These were strong family relationships. Indeed, it was not the Lord leading Abraham at that point, but Terah, his father, who led him out. Terah had not received a revelation from God. He had only heard what his son had shared, but God had not touched him.
As Abraham went on, this became a real problem. When they got halfway to the promised land, his father decided that this was a good place to catch their breath. They ended up staying there—we do not know how many years, but it could have been twenty, thirty, or forty years.
Abraham was no longer progressing in the life of faith or toward the promised land. He was falling short of God’s purpose and God’s holy calling upon his life.
Brothers and sisters, everyone here has a holy calling upon his or her life. But we can come to places in our lives where we settle down and say, “This is enough.” While they were there, they gained much cattle, sheep, and other things. Life was good there.
But God initiated something. God had mercy on Abraham. He could not leave Abraham in that condition, or Abraham would have stayed there until he died. What happened was that Terah, the old man—the father—died.
Terah was the old man, and the old man in your life is your flesh. It is self; it is the “I.” As long as self and “I” are in control, we are not going to go all the way with the Lord. We will fall short of God’s purpose and glory.
But God had mercy, and He dealt with it. Brothers and sisters, He has dealt with our self-life on the cross. If we yield to that, then we can progress in this race toward the goal of the glory of God in our lives.
God took the initiative. Terah died, and Abraham finally made it, probably many years later, into the promised land. He ended up staying in Shechem, in the land of Moreh. Shechem means “shoulder,” and Moreh means “teacher.”
It is as if God were saying, “Abraham, you are in the land. Now lean on Me. You need to learn to lean on Me—not follow your own ways or your own thinking, but lean on Me. Lean not to your own understanding, but lean on Me. If you are going to live the life of faith, you will have to learn to lean on Me, not yourself. I will teach you.”
We have the Holy Spirit. We have the anointing within to teach us, and He is our Teacher.
Abraham received a little surprise when he got there, though. The Canaanite was in the land. Those who would become his enemies were there, and he was taken aback by this.
So the Lord appeared to him and promised that he would have descendants as the dust of the earth and that the whole land would be his. Abraham’s faith was strengthened, and Abraham built an altar.
That altar, of course, speaks of the cross. Abraham had to submit to the Lord and say, “Yes, Lord, I believe You.” The altar is also the place of communion. Brothers and sisters, there is no way to commune with God except because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. No man can come to the Father except by the Son, and it takes His sacrifice to do that.
Then Abraham moved on. I am almost through with the review. He came to a place where he pitched his tent between Bethel and Ai. Bethel means “house of God.” Ai means “rubble” or “a heap of stones.”
God gave Abraham a hint concerning His eternal purpose. Our brother shared about the city: Abraham saw a city which had foundations. Here the Lord gives him a hint. He shows him Bethel, the house of God.
We know that the house of God today is made of living stones built together—a spiritual house made without hands, built on the sacrifice of Calvary. But there is also Ai. Ai is a contradiction. It is stones, but they are not built together; they are merely a pile of stones. God considers it rubble.
We cannot simply be individual stones, even piled together. I have always struggled with the word congregation. To me, it is merely people congregating. But a house is something built together—built together.
Now we come to Genesis 12:10. Let us turn there. I will get as far as we are allowed this morning in Abraham’s life, but I need to read a good bit in order for you to understand the story.
And there was a famine in the land:
and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there;
for the famine was sore in the land.And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt,
that he said unto Sarai his wife,
Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon:
and it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee,
that they shall say, This is his wife:
and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister:
that it may be well with me for thy sake,
and that my soul may live because of thee.And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt,
the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.
The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh:
and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.And he entreated Abram well for her sake:
and he had sheep, and oxen, and he-asses, and men-servants,
and maid-servants, and she-asses, and camels.And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues
because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.And Pharaoh called Abram, and said,
What is this that thou hast done unto me?
Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?
Why saidst thou, She is my sister,
so that I took her to be my wife?
Now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.And Pharaoh gave men charge concerning him:
and they brought him on the way,
and his wife, and all that he had.And Abram went up out of Egypt,
he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him,
into the South.And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.
And he went on his journeys from the South even to Beth-el,
unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning,
between Beth-el and Ai;
unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first:
and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.
Abraham’s life of faith was about to receive a great test: there was a famine in the land, a very grievous famine.
You have to remember that Abraham was to be a man of faith. This famine was totally contradictory to what Abraham probably thought. He thought this was going to be a land of milk and honey. Surely God’s blessing was on this land, and when he arrived it would be a life of ease, with all the grapes and everything he needed.
But instead, he encountered a famine. Brothers and sisters, have you ever had that happen in your life? Perhaps you have just come to the Lord, or perhaps you have been away and have returned. You think, “The Lord is really going to bless me now. I am in His will. I am doing His will.”
The Lord does bless us; there is no doubt about it. But, brothers and sisters, blessing us is not the Lord’s main ministry. It is not God’s main work. Christ, our High Priest, works in us through the Holy Spirit today to bring us into that life of faith—the life that lives by faith.
That takes experience. Experience often does not come because we are blessed, but because of trial. Here was a great trial in Abraham’s life: a famine. God immediately began to train Abraham in the life of faith.
Habakkuk 2:4 says, “The just shall live by his faith.” At the end of Habakkuk, it says:
For though the fig tree shall not flourish,
neither shall fruit be in the vines;
the labor of the olive shall fail,
and the fields shall yield no food;
the flock shall be cut off from the fold,
and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
That is a life of faith. Complete destitution, complete famine, and yet Habakkuk said, “I will rejoice in the Lord.” But Abraham’s faith was not yet very strong. God was working with him, so this famine was a test for Abraham.
I think one of the main failures in Abraham’s life at this point was that his expectation got in the way of faith—got in the way of what God was after. He did not yet see God’s way in his life or understand God’s ways. This famine contradicted his thinking.
He thought, “I should be blessed,” and suddenly there was this great famine. So what did he do? He did a very natural thing: he leaned on his own understanding. He looked to his soul, his mind, to figure out what to do.
There is no indication that he went back to the altar or sought God as to what he should do. He simply said, “I think I can figure this out. There is famine here; there is not famine in Egypt. The thing for me to do is go down to Egypt and get the food I need.”
Brothers and sisters, Egypt always represents the world in the Bible. Egypt is the world. It represents the ways of the world and the things of the world. Egypt was the rich nation, always associated with worldliness.
Abraham was actually going back into the world. He was leaving his supposed life of faith—leaning on the Lord and trusting in the Lord. He was saying, “The world can supply what I need.” That is what he was really saying.
That is not only a failure in our personal lives, but a failure in the church down through the centuries, as it has turned to the world and the ways of the world. It becomes a destitute, vile thing in the Lord’s eyes because it has gone back to trusting in the world and not in Him.
As Abraham entered Egypt, we can tell he was not on the right track because the first thing he did was begin telling lies—or at least half-lies, half-truths, white lies, as we call them—about his wife. Sarah was his half-sister, but Abraham used that truth to save his life.
Abraham was not where the Lord wanted him to be. He was not where the Lord told him to go. He was out of the Lord’s will, and he was not seeking the Lord.
But, brothers and sisters, once again the Lord took the initiative in Abraham’s life. I want you to remember that. How many times have you gotten yourself into situations because of your own way of thinking, because things in your life were not being blessed, and because you decided to go back into the world? Then you become hooked there.
Yet the Lord calls you back to Himself. Somehow, through your circumstances, He calls you back. He takes the initiative in this life of faith. Abraham’s faith had drained away so much at this point, but the Lord took the initiative.
What did He do? He plagued Pharaoh. You would think He would plague Abraham, would you not? But perhaps God knew that if He plagued Abraham, Abraham would not figure it out. Abraham had not learned God’s ways yet.
Pharaoh figured it out. They had many gods, but apparently Abraham’s God somehow revealed to Pharaoh that these plagues came because God was angry with him for taking Sarah, who was really Abraham’s wife.
Pharaoh was angry, and he basically told Abraham to get out. He could take everything he had and get out of Pharaoh’s presence. Abraham had gained a lot from Pharaoh—cattle, gold, silver, and many goods.
I am amazed that Pharaoh did not kill Abraham. Abraham had offended the king. But that was God’s mercy. Most kings would have killed Abraham for that transgression. Somehow, I believe Pharaoh realized that this plague had come from the God Abraham believed in, and he was not about to offend Abraham’s God.
If you read the story at face value, you might say that it looks as though God rewarded Abraham for his transgressions, his failure to lean on the Lord, and his lack of faith. He ended up leaving with all these worldly goods—silver, gold, servants, and other things.
But this is a problem, brothers and sisters. The Lord was trying to teach Abraham in this life of faith that, as far as the world is concerned, he was a stranger and pilgrim. The New Testament says they were strangers and pilgrims in the land of promise. Abraham had not learned that lesson yet.
All these worldly goods that Abraham gained while he was in disobedience to the Lord—the Lord allowed him to keep and use them—but they actually became a hindrance to him.
For instance, one consequence of his going into Egypt was that he obtained a handmaid there. Her name was Hagar. We know the history: Hagar became the mother of the Arab nations, while Sarah became the mother of the nation of Israel.
Who has been fighting one another for thousands of years? These two nations: the Arabs and Israel. There are consequences. Yes, Abraham disobeyed God’s will. He was out of God’s will. God, in mercy, spared Abraham and restored him to Himself, but there were consequences to his straying away from the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, when we are out of God’s will, it is always a dangerous time. God will go to extraordinary measures to draw you back to Himself, just as He did with Abraham. He used Pharaoh in an extraordinary way to bring Abraham back to the place of faith and following the Lord.
He will do that with you. I do not care how far you may have strayed, how far you have gotten from His presence, from His life, or from living for the Lord. He will use circumstances, family, jobs—many things—to draw you back.
It is humorous, in a way: Pharaoh had to kick Abraham out. Abraham was not going back on his own; Pharaoh had to send him away. Thank the Lord, He spared Abraham from continuing completely in the way of the world. Abraham was saved, but there were consequences for being outside the will of God.
We need to be clear about this: the Lord will forgive us, brothers and sisters, but sometimes there are consequences. David committed great sins of adultery and murder. God forgave David, but there were serious consequences in his life. He lost his first child through Bathsheba.
The consequences the Lord allows because we have been away are not for punishment, but for discipline. Discipline is not a bad thing. Punishment can be bad, but discipline brings you to the place God wants you. It is for the purpose that you might learn your lesson, not do it again, live the life of faith, and not go back into the world.
And Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents.
And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together:
for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.And there was a strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s cattle
and the herdsmen of Lot’s cattle:
and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt then in the land.And Abram said unto Lot,
Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee,
and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen;
for we are brethren.
Is not the whole land before thee?
Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me:
if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right;
or if thou take the right hand, then I will go to the left.And Lot lifted up his eyes,
and beheld all the Plain of the Jordan,
that it was well watered everywhere,
before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah,
like the garden of the Lord,
like the land of Egypt, as thou goest unto Zoar.So Lot chose him all the Plain of the Jordan;
and Lot journeyed east:
and they separated themselves the one from the other.Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan,
and Lot dwelt in the cities of the Plain,
and moved his tent as far as Sodom.Now the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners against the Lord exceedingly.
And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him,
Lift up now thine eyes,
and look from the place where thou art,
northward and southward and eastward and westward:
for all the land which thou seest,
to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth:
so that if a man can number the dust of the earth,
then may thy seed also be numbered.
Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it;
for I will give it unto thee.And Abram moved his tent,
and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron,
and built there an altar unto the Lord.
Another consequence of Abraham’s trip to Egypt was that Lot, like Abraham, became rich in cattle and possessions. There were so many cattle and sheep that there was not enough grazing land for both of them, and the herdsmen began fighting over the land.
Abraham said, “No, we cannot have this. We are brethren.” The Canaanites and Perizzites were looking on. What a testimony that would have been! Abraham knew they needed to separate.
Abraham did an amazing thing. He did not tell Lot that he had to leave and return to Ur of the Chaldees, though he could have. Abraham was the uncle and Lot was the nephew. He had that authority and right.
But he did not do that. He said, “Look around. Whatever part of this country you want, you can have.”
Lot, brothers and sisters, represents a worldly Christian—a Christian who wants the things of the world, who desires the things of the world more than the things of God.
In fact, Lot was what I call a secondhand Christian. Even his relationship to God was secondhand. He only knew about God through Abraham. He had not had the God of glory appear to him. He had not received that revelation.
Everything was secondhand to Lot, and he was worldly. He loved the things of the world, and he took the worldly way. When he looked around, he saw the best grazing land and said, “That is what I want.”
He also liked that grazing land because Sodom was down there. Sodom was a very worldly city, and Lot had an inclination toward those things. At first, he did not move into Sodom; he only moved close to it. But, as we know, eventually he got in there. That is the way the world does, brothers and sisters.
Consider what happened in the life of faith in which God was training Abraham. God had told Abraham that the land was his.
Faith said, “I do not care how much I give away. The land is mine. God has told me it belongs to me and my children.” Abraham did not have to grasp at the land.
Do you remember that the Word of God says that Christ did not grasp at His glory? He did not grasp at His place on the throne, but He left it and came down to the cross of Calvary. He took the humble place, humbled Himself even unto death on the cross, and died for our sins.
Christ considered the glory and the position He was leaving, but He chose to leave. Here we see the great lesson Abraham was learning in his life of faith: we do not need to grasp at the things of the world. God has promised that we will have all that we need.
I do not know how much that means to each of us individually. Brothers and sisters, we do not always know what we need. In fact, some of the things we get become problems to us. But God knows what we need, and He has promised that we will have all that we need.
We do not need to have a life of grasping, particularly for the things of the world. Abraham’s faith had strengthened because of his previous dealings with the Lord. He said, “God has told me this land is mine,” so he simply let Lot choose what he wanted.
God appeared to Abraham in response to his faith. Once again He said, “Look, Abraham. Look north, south, east, and west. As far as you can see, it is all yours. It is for your seed. Your seed will be as the dust of the earth.”
God came in to strengthen Abraham’s faith still further. God was responding to faith. Brothers and sisters, this is a great lesson for us as His children: God responds to faith.
The children of Israel could not enter in because of lack of faith—because of unbelief. Unbelief, not trusting and leaning on our Lord, is one of the greatest dangers to the Christian life. It is like putting a tremendous hole in the boat of faith, if you want to call it that. It is so easy to fall into.
Abraham could have stood on his right as the uncle and told Lot what he was going to give him, or even sent Lot completely out of the land. That was his right. But Abraham gave up that right and trusted in God.
God strengthened and increased His promise to Abraham because Abraham gave up his rights and trusted in God. He gave up his rights as Lot’s uncle and as the older one in that situation.
We, as a nation, stand on rights. We fight for our rights. Particularly in America, we are taught about rights, and there are precious things we have been given. But when we turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, we are to become His love slaves.
Do you know what that means? It means you have no rights. A love slave is one who gives up all his rights to follow God, to follow the Lord. “Lord, I give up my rights. I just want to follow You. You take care of me. I am simply going where You are going. I give up all my rights, even to my own will.”
Interestingly, the Lord told Abraham to walk through the land. He said, “I want you to walk through this land, for I am going to give it to you.”
To me, this is exercising faith. Everywhere Abraham walked was his. He was not yet in possession of it, but by faith he had to take it. This walk through the land was Abraham saying, “This is mine because the Lord has given it to me.”
Was he in actual possession of it? No. As a matter of fact, he never possessed it in actuality, except for the grave where he and his wife were buried. But he was looking for a city which had foundations, brothers and sisters. He could see beyond the physical thing that God was doing.
The lesson is that faith takes it first. What is the application? Jesus Christ, on Calvary’s cross, has died to set us free. We have been crucified with Him. We have been made new creations in Him.
We need to walk through the land. We need to say, “Lord, this is what You have done on Calvary’s cross. I have been set free from the power of sin because of Your work on Calvary’s cross. I believe it, Lord.”
You will come into possession of it, but God requires faith first. Faith must lay hold first, and then we receive the actual possession.
Abraham moved his tent to Mamre, which is in Hebron. Mamre means “strength” or “fatness,” and Hebron means “alliance.”
To me, brothers and sisters, that means Abraham was back in alliance with God. He set up an altar there and worshiped God. He was back in communion with the Lord. He had been strengthened in his faith, and he had this alliance with God.
Fatness speaks of the glory of God in the Word—the glory of God. What a place to be. Brothers and sisters, Abraham gave up his rights, and he gained everything. Praise the Lord.
One other thought, and perhaps I will have to close with this one. As I read this, the verse that came to me was from Romans:
And we know that to them that love God
all things work together for good,
even to them that are called according to His purpose.
All things work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. Abraham was experiencing that.
Abraham did love the Lord. He made mistakes. His obedience was not always complete. But he was called according to purpose, and God was moving him in this realm of faith because God’s purpose in his life could only be fulfilled through faith.
When Abraham was called, remember that God told him to leave his family. He did not do that. Terah led him out, and Lot, his nephew, came with him. Terah was the reason they ended up settling short of God’s purpose for so many years.
Lot, his nephew, was always a hindrance because he was a secondhand Christian. He was always thinking the worldly way and desiring the things of the world. It became a real problem to Abraham.
But God used even the abundance of cattle they had. It was a problem, but God used that problem finally to separate Lot and Abraham—to separate Abraham from his tie to Lot.
The Lord does not condone our mistakes, brothers and sisters. He does not reward us for our mistakes or our lack of faith. Sometimes we have to suffer the consequences of our lack of faith.
But it is amazing. God can turn all this mistake, lack, and problem to good. I do not know how God does it. He does not condone the mistake, and He does not reward the mistake, but He turns it all to good.
We see this final separation that God had originally asked for. Abraham could not do it. He could not leave his father, and he could not leave his nephew. But God finally did it in his life.
The old man was gone. The worldly one who clung to Abraham and kept trying to pull him in the wrong direction was gone. God did it. It was God’s initiative.
That is what God does in your life, and that is what God does in my life. Brothers and sisters, we should be a people of faith, but sometimes our faith is weak. Sometimes our faith fails.
But God intervenes, has mercy, and does what we sometimes are unwilling to do. When there is faith, when we respond in faith, God comes in. God responds to faith.
I think I had better stop there. The next matter I was going to share is the battle of the four and five kings, and it is the place where it says Abraham believed God, and God counted it to him for righteousness. We see faith becoming such an issue in his life.
Lord, we come to Thee today. What can I say about my own personal life? Lord, You have delivered me from so much—from the many places where I was wrong. You pulled me out of them.
Lord, even in things that I did, You were merciful. I got myself into situations I could not get out of, and in mercy You pulled me out.
But Lord, You have not given up. You have not given up on anyone in this room. You have not given up on anyone who may hear this message. You simply will not give up.
Lord, You are about the business of teaching us to live by faith. Lord Jesus, in these days that lie ahead, we pray that You will make us more and more conscious of this life of faith: leaning on God, trusting in Him, giving up our rights, and following the Lord.
We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.