Will you please turn to the Gospel according to Matthew? Matthew 24:14.
And these glad tidings of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole habitable world for a witness unto all the nations; and then shall the end come.
The same book, Matthew 6:10.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.
Hebrews 12:28.
Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, whereby we may offer service well-pleasing to God, with reverence and awe.
Finally, Revelation 12:11.
And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, as we continue in Thy presence, we just wait to hear what Thou hast to say to us. Lord, we are Thy bondservants, waiting to hear from Thee, our Master, our Lord. Speak; Thy servants hear.
May Thy word be living and operative in our lives, enabling us really to be vessels of Thy testimony, to bring in Thy kingdom and Thy righteousness. We commit this time into Thy hand, trusting Thy Holy Spirit to reveal Thy mind to us. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
My assignment is the church and the kingdom. Yesterday morning, we spent some little time trying to define what we mean by the church, and what is the kingdom that we are talking about.
The church is not what is commonly understood by people. Sometimes we say, “Well, I forgot my umbrella in the church,” and by that it shows that we think of the church more in terms of a building where God’s people worship.
But strictly speaking, the church is ekklesia: those who are called out of the world and gathered together into the name of our Lord Jesus.
The church is not where God’s people gather together under any other name—either under the name of a famous Christian, under the name of a truth, or under the name of an organization. That is another church.
The church is where God’s people are gathered together unto only one name, and that is the name of our Lord Jesus. Brothers and sisters, this is not just a question over a name. It is a question over who is the sovereign under whose sovereignty we gather together.
It is true that the church has two aspects: the universal aspect and the local aspect. The universal aspect is where all the spiritual principles are given; the local aspect is where, locally, we who are still on this earth, being limited by time and space, work out all these spiritual principles.
As you read the Bible, you find the way of building the church is through building these local churches. In the book of Revelation, chapters 2 and 3, we find the seven churches in Asia; and there, in the midst of them, is our Lord Jesus as the great High Priest ministering to His churches.
Our Lord Jesus today in heaven is ministering to His church. He is trying to see whether He can find Himself in the church. If there is any lack, He is going to apply the oil so that we may burn brightly, shining for the testimony of Jesus.
It is through the building of these local assemblies that, eventually, when you come to Revelation 21 and 22, you find the New Jerusalem—the church universal. So, brothers and sisters, it is very important to see that the building of the church is through the building of the local church. This is where our responsibility lies.
We have also mentioned the kingdom. The kingdom is the sovereign rule of our God, of our Lord. From eternity to eternity, God rules. This is the kingdom of God.
There is nothing in heaven or on earth that is not under the sovereign rule of our God. But unfortunately, we find that there was rebellion—first among the angels and then, later on, in man.
Because of all these rebellions, people try to get out from under the sovereign rule of God. But God never gave up. He has His wonderful plan, and His plan is to have Someone who is a little lower than the angels destroy the work of the enemy, so that God’s purpose may be fulfilled.
Yesterday morning, we mentioned something about how the kingdom builds the church. The Lord Jesus said:
Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
Immediately following that, the Lord said that He would give the keys of the kingdom of heaven. So, brothers and sisters, we find that it is the kingdom of heaven that opens not only the door, but also builds up the church.
Now, in what way? Who is going to build His church? This work God has not given to any one person, or to many people. This building of the church belongs to our Lord Jesus. He said, “I will build My church.”
How is He going to build it? He will build it upon that one foundation, which is the Lord Himself. He will build this building with the material that comes out of His life.
So He said, “You are Peter. You were formerly Simon, but now you are Peter, because there is a new element that has come into your life. It makes you a living stone, even though a small stone; yet it is a part of that Rock.”
The Lord Jesus said, “I will build My church upon this Rock,” using this material. So, brothers and sisters, we need to realize that the building of the church is not just building you and me as natural men.
No two persons can really be one. But praise and thank God, in each and every one of us we have the same life, and that life is the building material.
Because of this, you find something absolutely necessary: ourselves. If we ourselves, if we in the natural, if our flesh, if all Adam, are still there, you find it is the largest obstacle to the building of the church.
Oftentimes we think Satan is our greatest enemy. But, brothers and sisters, more and more we realize that our greatest enemy to the building of the church is we ourselves.
I remember Martin Luther once said, “I am not afraid of the pope. I am not afraid of all these cardinals. I am not afraid of all these dukes and counts. But I am afraid of the old Adam in me.” Brothers and sisters, that is true.
In our Christian experience, I believe that after we have believed in the Lord Jesus, the first awakening that comes to our life is that we begin to realize that even though there is the life of Christ in our spirit, and He is telling us and urging us to move heavenward, at the same time we begin to sense that there is still that old Adam life in our soul.
These two are at war. As the Bible says, the Spirit lusteth against the flesh, and the flesh against the Spirit. This is a common experience to all believers.
Do not be disappointed, because when we are in that civil war, we will feel that most of the time we are defeated instead of victorious. Even though sometimes we do have a heart to follow the Lord, the will to do is in us, but the doing is not in us.
Just like the Apostle Paul in Romans 7, how he cried out:
O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?
If Paul could not do that, how about you and me? Are we able to deliver ourselves from ourselves? We can do many things, but there is one thing we cannot do: we cannot leave ourselves. It is beyond us. We are the problem, brothers and sisters.
Not until we realize that, in the building of the church, the real problem is ourselves—unless we are willing to let go of ourselves, unless we are willing to allow the Lord Jesus by His love to constrain us so that we are willing to let go—there is no hope for the building of the church.
Sometimes we hear people say, “Where can I find a perfect church?” And the answer is, “If you find it, do not go there, because you will make it imperfect.” So, brothers and sisters, you can see how hopeless we are.
Have you given up hope in yourself? Do you still trust in yourself, relying on your iron will? If you are, you will go through more conflict.
So, dear brothers and sisters, thank God He arranges so many different kinds of circumstances. We call it the discipline of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will arrange our life.
We who are the Lord’s, thank God, have Someone who is in charge of our life. He is the all-wise God. He knows just exactly how to break us, how to deliver us, and how to bring us into this Body of Christ. With His wisdom, He will arrange our everyday experience.
This may not be true with unbelievers, but so far as believers are concerned, brothers and sisters, be assured that you have Someone who is taking full responsibility for you.
Even your very hairs are numbered. We often say, “Nobody knows how many hairs you have.” Nobody knows how many hairs fall out in the morning when you comb yourself. But our Lord Jesus not only knows the number; He even numbers every hair.
So this morning when you combed your hair, a certain number fell out, and He noticed it. Now, if Someone can notice you in such a way, do you think He will neglect you? Do you think He does not know what is going on in your life? Do you think that He is not trying to perfect you?
So, dear brothers and sisters, be assured that we have the Holy Spirit in charge of our lives. He will so arrange our circumstances. Whom are you going to meet today? What is going to happen today? Everything is under His control.
If we do not fight against that or murmur against God, but yield ourselves to Him, then He will be able to work out His full salvation in our life. This is the way that the church is to be built, and it is all being built by the principle of the kingdom of the heavens.
Now this morning, we would like to go the other way. We would like to share together this matter of how the church will bring in the kingdom.
As we know, when our Lord Jesus first came into this world, the message was, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh.”
For four hundred years, God was silent to His people. Malachi was the last voice in the Old Testament—not because God did not want to speak to His people. Even from the very beginning, when you look in the book of Genesis, when God put man in the Garden of Eden, He did not just leave him there, but you find He came to visit him. In other words, God always is looking after us.
But because His people did not hear, after He had sent prophets again and again into their midst trying to remind them, they were so stubborn in their hearts. They refused to listen. They wanted to go their own way, and eventually they drove God to silence.
Brothers and sisters, it is a terrible thing if we drive God to silence. If He could not speak to us again, where would we be? We are lost.
But after four hundred years, the Lord could not contain Himself. He spoke again. He sent a messenger before the King. John the Baptist came, and his message was, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh.”
Brothers and sisters, we usually think of repentance in connection with our sins. But here you find repentance is based upon the coming of the kingdom of the heavens. It is positive.
Why do you need to repent? It is because the kingdom of the heavens is coming. If the kingdom of heaven arrives, where will you be? Will you be able to be in the kingdom of the heavens, or will you be outside of that kingdom?
That is something for us to repent about. It is more than just repenting of your sins; it is even repenting of your goodness, of your confidence, and of your self-righteousness.
Everything that is not of God in our lives must go, because the kingdom of the heavens is nothing but the sovereign rule of our God.
When our Lord Jesus was sent into this world, He began His ministry with the same preaching: “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh.” Even after He was resurrected from the dead, during those days He was with His disciples, He was still talking to them about the kingdom of the heavens.
The apostles took up the gospel. When you read the words spoken by Peter and the eleven on the day of Pentecost, it is the gospel of the kingdom of the heavens, because the One whom you have rejected has now been anointed as Lord and as Christ. That is the message of the kingdom of the heavens.
Even when Paul was in that hired house in Rome, waiting to be judged, you find at the end of Acts that he was still preaching the kingdom message and teaching about the Lord Jesus.
So, dear brothers and sisters, this is the gospel that has been committed to the church. It is the responsibility of the church to continue to preach the kingdom of the heavens.
Why? Because, as we already read in Matthew 24, the message of the kingdom of the heavens shall be preached throughout the whole earth to all the nations, and then the end shall come.
This message of the kingdom of the heavens has been entrusted to the church. Why is it so? Because only when that message is not only preached, but believed and experienced, then you find the end has come.
When our Lord Jesus left His disciples and ascended to heaven, He promised He would come again. During the first century, God’s people were looking forward to His return.
In all these centuries—twenty centuries before us—those who love the Lord have all been waiting to see the coming of the Lord in their lifetime. They are not mistaken, because the Lord can come at any time if His bride is ready.
The reason why His bridegroom has not come yet is that we are not ready. Oftentimes, I think, we are anxious for the Lord to come. We wonder why He does not come. But, on the contrary, our Lord is anxious to return and receive us to Himself, but because we are not ready.
Usually, in a marriage, you find the bridegroom is already there, anxiously waiting for the bride to come. He wonders why the bride delays.
But, so far as I know, there was one occasion when the bride was waiting for the bridegroom. That was Hudson Taylor’s great-grandfather. He was a young man—careless, free, not religious, so to speak.
On the day he was going to be married, when he woke up in the morning, he suddenly realized, “I am going to be married. That is a great responsibility.” So he went to the field to pray. He prayed and prayed and prayed, and he forgot the time.
When he awoke, suddenly he realized that it was the time of his marriage, because the bride was already there waiting for him. Everybody was wondering where he had gone. So he rushed to the church building and was married.
But something happened that very evening. He asked his wife to kneel down and pray. It was a surprise to his wife, because they used to be a happy couple. They liked all these amusements and dances and everything, and suddenly she found that she had married a husband who was a Methodist.
But he had her kneel down and pray. After that, for generations, the Taylor family served God. They came to China, and we are ever grateful for what had happened.
So, brothers and sisters, usually it is the husband who is waiting for his wife. But in our case, it is just the opposite. The Lord Jesus has been waiting and waiting. Why? Because the bride is not ready.
He cannot marry a baby, a teenager, not fit for the Bridegroom. He has to marry a counterpart, one like Him. Just like Eve came out of Adam, she was part of Adam; therefore, they could be united into one. That is what our Lord Jesus is waiting for.
Brothers and sisters, it is more than a personal matter. It affects the eternal purpose of God. So how we need the kingdom and the kingdom truth to build us up, that we may really be grown to the full stature of Christ. Then He is able to come back and receive us to Himself.
When our Lord Jesus first came into this world, He began to preach the gospel of the kingdom of the heavens. He said it was drawing nigh. Why? Because the King had already come.
He was going to establish His kingdom upon this earth—this rebellious earth, which is under the control of Satan and the evil spirits of the air. So He came to build His kingdom in such an environment. He was alone.
So He said, “The kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh. The King is here, but where are My people?” He began to preach, and thank God, there were some who responded to Him. They became His disciples. They followed Him.
Because He began to have disciples around Him—people who were willing to leave everything to learn of Him, to be transformed by Him, and to be conformed to His image—the process began. It is a long process, but that is the beginning.
Therefore, in Matthew 11, He began to say that the kingdom of the heavens is taken by violence, and men of violence take it by force. In other words, the kingdom of the heavens is here now. The Lord is here. His disciples are here. So you find that the kingdom of the heavens is on earth now.
The way to enter into the kingdom of the heavens is to seize it by violence—not doing violence to other people, but doing violence to ourselves. Put our body under, put our flesh away, and allow the life of Christ to grow and mature in us.
But even so, though the kingdom of the heavens is already on earth, it is hidden. So far as the world is concerned, it is hidden.
You remember in Matthew 13, the Lord used seven parables about the kingdom of the heavens. In other words, so far as the appearance of the kingdom of the heavens today is concerned, it is still hidden.
He used the parable of the treasure. A man discovered a treasure, hid it again in the earth, and went and sold everything he had to buy that field in order to get that treasure. What is the treasure?
Then He followed it with another parable: the pearl. A man was looking for one pearl of great price, and when he found one, he sold everything to get that pearl.
The kingdom of the heavens today is also like a mustard seed that has grown abnormally into a big tree, and birds of prey settle upon it. That shows the outward form of the kingdom of the heavens in the eyes of the world.
In the eyes of the world, the kingdom of the heavens is Christendom. Wherever the influence of Christianity is, there is the kingdom of the heavens. But the kingdom of heaven is supposed to be very small—a mustard seed. It belongs to the plants, not to the tree, which is another species.
Yet it grows into a tree, and the birds of prey—that is, satanic power—come into it. Or it is like a woman putting leaven into the meal, and everything is leavened. That is what Christianity is today.
I believe it has become abnormally big. Inwardly, it is not only morally but spiritually corrupted. But thank God, in spite of all these outward things, there is something hidden there. There is some reality there.
That reality is in two aspects. So far as the treasure is concerned, it speaks of the truth of the kingdom of heaven. So far as the pearl is concerned, it speaks of the experience of the kingdom of the heavens.
There is a reality there. There are some people, throughout the twenty centuries up to our time, who are real ones—people who really do violence to themselves, willing to take up the cross and follow the Lord, deny themselves, and allow the Lord to build His life within them.
They literally are living in the kingdom of the heavens. They literally are living under the dominion of our Lord Jesus. They are hidden. They are just a little flock so far as the world is concerned, but brothers and sisters, this is what the kingdom of the heavens is today.
There is the kingdom of the heavens here on earth today, but the world does not see it. Unfortunately, sometimes even God’s people do not see it.
Are we really living today in the kingdom of the heavens? Positionally, yes, because He has delivered us out of the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.
Positionally, every believer is supposed to be daily living in the kingdom of the heavens today, even before it is publicly manifested. But, brothers and sisters, how very few are truly living in the kingdom of the heavens.
How very few people really let the truth of that kingdom of the heavens sink deep into their hearts, transform them, and enable them to experience the kingdom today. They are really under the sovereign rule of our Lord Jesus.
God’s purpose is for the whole church—for everyone who is saved, everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus—to be in the kingdom of the heavens and to inherit that heavenly kingdom. That is the will of God.
But sadly speaking, throughout the centuries, thank God, we have seen those who really exhibited in their lives that they are literally living in the kingdom of heaven. For instance, John, when he was exiled to the island of Patmos—why was he exiled? For the kingdom.
Throughout the centuries, we thank God for these people who were willing to follow the Lord to the very end. In every century, you find many hidden ones. The world may not know them, but God knows them. They are literally living in the kingdom of the heavens today.
The church has the responsibility to spread the news of the kingdom of the heavens.
Unfortunately, even the truth of the kingdom of the heavens has been hidden for many centuries. We often speak of the Dark Ages. There were several centuries when Christianity entered into a dark age.
Even the very simple truth, the basic truth of salvation by grace, was forgotten. During that period, the Bible was chained and was not allowed to be read.
People thought they could go to heaven only by accumulating merit. If you had enough merit, you went to heaven. If you did not have enough merit, then you had to go to purgatory to be purged until one day you were totally purged; then you could go to heaven.
They even tried to speed it up and said you could buy indulgences. If you paid a certain amount of money, then you would get out of purgatory quicker. Brothers and sisters, all the truth you find in the Bible was lost—not to speak of experience.
But thank God, since the sixteenth century, when God raised up Martin Luther, John Calvin, and people like that—the Reformers—they tried to bring back an open Bible. They insisted upon salvation by grace, not by merit.
Since then, we find century after century, God has been recovering all the truth that had been lost throughout the centuries. This kingdom truth was recovered in the nineteenth century.
Brothers and sisters, we have a responsibility because the Bible says that when the message of the kingdom of heaven is preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to the nations, then the end will come.
When I first came to this country in the fifties, I was even warned by people not to talk about that, because they said that if you talked about that, they would consider you a heretic.
But thank God, today you can talk about it, and people begin to realize that the gospel is more than just grace, because grace brings us to the kingdom. So it has to be preached. How can we experience it if we do not even know about it?
Thank God, today it seems as if people are ready to know that unless we allow the kingdom of the heavens to work in our lives, then when the kingdom of the heavens appears publicly upon this earth, we will have no part in it.
That does not mean that we will not be saved. We are still saved. But we have not grown up. We have not been disciplined enough to grow.
Most likely, during the kingdom age of a thousand years, instead of reigning with Christ in glory, we may be cast into outer darkness to repent and to go through discipline, because God’s will cannot be defeated.
Thank God, once He sets His eyes upon us, He will never let us go, no matter what. So there is a blessed hope there.
So, brothers and sisters, it is the responsibility of the church to preach the gospel of the kingdom of the heavens, and then the end will come. Number two: we are not only to preach about it; we need to pray about it.
In the Lord’s Prayer we are taught:
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
This is a prayer that God has committed to His people. Sometimes we do not know how important prayer is. We may repeat the so-called Lord’s Prayer without really knowing what it means.
Brothers and sisters, it is a commitment. It is the Lord who is asking us to pray in this way, because this is how He wants His kingdom to come. It is delayed and delayed and delayed because His people are not praying.
I remember, in 1904 and 1905, there was a great revival in Wales. The instrument God used was a young man, Evan Roberts, a miner. How he prayed and said, “Lord, bend the church and save the world.”
He was greatly used by God during that Welsh revival. Then he became hidden for years. When he came out again, they asked him, “What have you been doing during these years?” He said, “I am praying the kingdom prayer.”
Brothers and sisters, do you have the burden to pray for the kingdom to come? Or are you afraid to pray that way? Suppose the kingdom should arrive publicly today. Will you be there? Are you ready for it?
Can you go in and rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years? Many of God’s people are afraid that the Lord shall come today because they are not ready.
Do we really mean business when we pray, “May Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”? I hope that we will make this prayer much more real to us from now on. We have a responsibility to pray about it.
Not only that, we need to work for this everlasting kingdom. How we need to serve with reverence and fear.
Our service today is a preparation for our service in the future. All our service today is probation. God uses this time to train us, whether we are really serving the Lord out of our heart, whether we are really serving Him according to His will. It will be shown at the judgment seat of Christ.
We need to serve Him with reverence, and that is, serve Him according to His will.
How I can recall in my youth, when I first got saved, I tried to serve Him. But I served Him according to my will. I thought that was what He wanted. I told Him where I would go to serve. I made all the decisions with zeal.
My brothers and sisters, until one day the Lord took all these away. Just as the Bible says, many will say, “I preached in Your name. I performed miracles in Your name. I cast out demons in Your name.” But the Lord said, “I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.”
Brothers and sisters, are we serving according to His will? Are we serving in the power of His Spirit instead of our own intellect and our own energy? We need to serve Him with reverence and fear.
It is true: perfect love casteth out fear. That is true. But the fear there is the fear of a slave. There is a holy fear that should always be with us. We are afraid that we may not please Him. That is a fear that we need to have all the time.
If we have that kind of fear, brothers and sisters, we are safe.
The Lord wants everyone whom He has saved to be in that kingdom. But unfortunately, we find only a remnant.
Just as in the Old Testament, you find that remnant principle. When the twelve tribes of Israel departed from the Lord, thank God, there were always some, a few, a remnant. They were faithful to the Lord.
When they were talking one to another, as you find in Malachi, the Lord recorded their conversation. They shall be His own possession.
On the one hand, we do realize that it is not the will of God for only a remnant to be in the kingdom. God’s will is for all of us to be in that kingdom when it shall publicly appear, and for all of us to reign and rule with Him for a thousand years. That is our inheritance. He has promised to give it to us.
But unfortunately, because of our own weaknesses, we have to accept the fact that not only in Old Testament times was there the remnant principle; in New Testament times, there are the overcomers.
When you come to the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, you find that to the seven churches in Asia, the call is the call to overcome.
It seems as if, so far as the church as a whole is concerned, it has lost its testimony. In other words, Christ cannot find Himself in the church.
I often remember the dream that A. J. Gordon dreamed. He was a young man, a famous pastor in Boston. He had a big church, with pipe organ, choir, and everything—very successful.
One day he dreamed a dream. Before he began to deliver his sermon, he was sitting on the platform, and he saw a man coming in. He did not know that man, but an usher brought the man to the front.
Somehow, his attention began to focus upon that man. When he got up to speak, he was wondering what that man would say to his service—whether that man would approve the big pipe organ they had, whether the man would approve the choir they had.
So he decided that after the sermon he had to meet that man. Usually, after the sermon, the pastor goes to the door to greet everyone who is coming out. He was trying to catch that man, but when he arrived at the door, the man was gone.
So he asked the usher, “Who is that man?” The usher said, “Do you not know Him? He is Jesus.”
A. J. Gordon realized that the pipe organ had to go, the choir had to go, and everything had to change. From that time onward, the Lord greatly used him.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord today is looking for overcomers. Now, who are these overcomers? They are not some special people. They are just like one of us.
They are not perfect. They have their failures. But thank God, they overcome. How do they overcome the accuser? Satan is the accuser. He is always trying to accuse us—right or wrong, true or false—he is accusing us.
You know Martin Luther was greatly used by the Lord, but one day he dreamed a dream. He saw Satan coming to him, showing him a scroll. On the scroll was written the sins of Martin Luther, written both inside and outside, full of sins.
Satan accused him, saying, “How dare you do the work of reformation, such a sinner?” Martin Luther took up a pen and wrote over it, “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from everything.” And Satan disappeared.
These overcomers are just normal Christians. They trust in the blood of the Lord Jesus. Dear brothers and sisters, the more you grow in the Lord, the more you feel the preciousness of that blood. Even the very tears of our repentance need to be washed.
Thank God for the efficacy, the power, of the precious blood of the Lamb.
They overcome because of the word of their testimony. Do you have a testimony to bear? Because they live out their testimony, when they speak it, there is power behind it.
You remember Acts 19, the seven sons of that Jewish high priest, Sceva. They tried to cast out demons, and they tried to use the name of Jesus. They said to the demons, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.”
The evil spirit answered, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?” The demon overcame them, and they fled naked.
Brothers and sisters, to say, “Jesus is Lord,” is not easy unless you are moved by the Spirit of God. When you say, “Jesus is Lord,” then truly His lordship will be manifested. This is the word of their testimony.
They loved not their lives, their self-life, even unto death. That is how, by the grace of God, they overcome.
So, dear brothers and sisters, it is our prayer that in God’s sovereign mercy He has gathered us together at this time to hear about the King and the kingdom, to prepare us to meet Him face to face.
Are you looking forward to seeing Him? Are you afraid to see Him? May the Lord really apprehend each and every one of us and make us ready.
I always feel, whenever people ask me, “Are you ready?” I say, “Ever ready, never ready.” This is our attitude, and hopefully, by the grace of God, He considers us ready.
Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, we praise and thank Thee because Thou art the only One who can prepare us, ready to meet Thee face to face. So, Lord, here we are. We give ourselves totally over to Thee.
May Thy Spirit touch each and every one of us. Do not let us go, but work in each and every one of us constantly, persistently.
Lord, if we resist, wait until we turn back. We pray, Lord, that Thou wilt apprehend each and every one of us here this morning and make us ready to meet Thee face to face.
We worship Thee in Thy precious name. Amen.