Reformed Baptist Church in O'Fallon, Missouri
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Abortion – Not a Safe Truth to Tell part 2

Sermon Transcript

The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.

Opening Prayer

[audio unclear] eventually. As you’re turning there, I’m going to pray. Father, thanks for the privilege of worshiping with the saints today. Thank you that we can gather together and that there is a community here. Lord, we thank you that we can have unity with one another because we are found in you. We thank you, Jesus, for your goodness to us, that you love us so much. I pray as we open your Word you would illuminate our minds, our hearts. Lord, that you would sanctify our thoughts, that you would change us from the inside out, Lord, to reflect you more and more and more. May your glory shine through us and upon us, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

1984 and Truths That Are Safe to Tell

All right, how many of you had to read the book 1984 in high school? All right, some of you did. How many of you are going to read it because you’re just like, I want to read it? Actually, more hands. All right. You probably have at least heard of the novel, but it depicts a—it’s actually pretty decent, probably for 18 plus potentially, but it depicts a nightmarish future society under absolute totalitarian control. So you’ve seen it referenced probably back in the days of COVID quite a bit. There’s not like two parties today. We have Republicans, Democrats—I know there’s Libertarians and some other smaller parties, Green Party—but there’s kind of two major parties in America. There’s only one party. And remember the name of the country? It’s like Oceania. There’s only one party, and there’s three slogans of that party. “War is peace.” That’s the first slogan. The second is “Freedom is slavery.” And the third is “Ignorance is strength.” And what did the people have to do over and over and over again? They had to repeat those phrases, even shout them at times. When in reality, what does war do? It destroys peace. It becomes the opposite. Slavery. Ignorance—and ignorance weakens people. In this dystopia, what is safe to say is whatever the party says is safe to say. Today, whatever is safe to say is whatever our culture says is safe to say. If you can get people to believe falsehood and then repeat it and repeat it and repeat it, and then they start to believe it, and then they start to vigorously proclaim it. [audio unclear] Slogans. Truth destroys you.

Last week I said this quote from John Piper: “There is a kind of cowardice that tells only the truths that are safe to tell.” And there’s actually truths that are safe to tell in our culture, things that probably people universally agree upon. We need to protect children. Education is important to the future. Racism is bad. No one should bully kids. These are actually truths that are safe to tell, and people say them a bit. They’re actually truths that you can tell, and they’re safe to tell in conservative churches, which is a good thing. Like, the Bible is the Word of God. Amen. Jesus died for your sins. Amen. There is forgiveness of your sins through Jesus. Amen. But there are actually truths that aren’t safe to tell in conservative churches. Listen, brothers and sisters, churches are to be the bastion of truth. They’re supposed to be defenders of it, regardless of how hard that truth is.

The Mercy of the Wicked Is Cruel

So look in Proverbs with me in chapter 12. I’m going to look at just one verse today. We’ll probably look at some other verses in the process. But in Proverbs 12, look what it says in verse 10. It says:

Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.

(Proverbs 12:10)

What’s the idea here? Well, the idea is that the righteous have a character such that not only do they have a regard for people and treating them righteously, but even with animals, they have a regard for treating them right. There’s actually laws in the Old Testament for how to treat your animals. God actually cares about how animals are treated. That’s probably like the only thing I’ll ever say that would make PETA happy, okay? But there’s laws in the Old Testament for how you treat your animals. Actually, one of the Ten Commandments, you can just listen, in Exodus 20: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.” Animals get a day off too. Exodus 23: “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him.” Now part of that is you’re looking out—it’s a love-your-neighbor thing. You’re also looking out for the animal. It goes on: if you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him. I mean, again, what’s the idea? Actually looking out for animals. Deuteronomy 22:10: “You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.” Well, why wouldn’t you do that? Because it puts a strain on the one. One is going to be stronger than the other; it puts a strain on it. The other is going to be struggling. Deuteronomy 25:4: “You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.” Again, what’s the idea? So it’s going around that wheel and grinding out the grain. It gets to eat. It gets to partake in the fruits that it’s producing. So God was concerned about the treatment of animals.

In comparison, so that’s really the point here. Like, hey, even the righteous, like they even have concern. Obviously, they have the concern for other people. They’re doing the love-of-the-neighbor thing, right? But they actually have concern for animals. In comparison, the mercy of the wicked is cruel. The righteous person’s life is characterized by living his life in a way that honors the Lord in all areas. Yes, even including how he treats animals. The wicked have no such way. There’s no moral compass that they abide by. Whatever feels good, whatever looks good, whatever seems good, that’s what they do. So we see the mercy of the wicked is cruel.

Cruel Mercy in Death and Genetics

We see the mercy of the wicked is cruel in death. You know, Canada has made it—the acronym is MAID, but it stands for something along the lines of like medical assistance in dying. And there’s been concerns and cases that this is being abused, people are being put to death they don’t want to be put to death. There was a high-profile case just last year that involved an elderly woman in her 80s. She initially requested, changed her mind, but her husband talked to the people and they went and put the person to death, this lady. Thirteen US states actually allow physician-assisted suicide. Now some of you, if you’re my age, you remember Dr. Kevorkian. That name ring a bell? Remember what his nickname was? Dr. Death. Jack Kevorkian claimed to have assisted in over 130 assisted suicides before it was legal in the US. Brothers and sisters, the mercy of the wicked is cruel.

The mercy of the wicked is cruel in genetics. You want to know the most dangerous place in Iceland to live? It’s for a Down syndrome baby in her mother’s womb. A few years ago, Iceland was proclaiming, we’ve solved the problem of Down syndrome. We don’t have Down syndrome babies anymore. And initially everyone was like, what? How is that possible? Oh, well, in the fine print, because we abort them all. Their abortion rate for Down syndrome babies is like 99.9%. Denmark is right behind them at 98%. And this only highlights one particular genetic anomaly. When you see a class of people as less than, it’s easy to dispose of them. This is the same worldview. You realize this is the same worldview that people had when it came to the Jews, right? They’re less than, so they’re disposable.

Cruel Mercy in Worship and the Faith

The mercy of the wicked is cruel, even in worship. You know what happened just a few weeks ago in Minnesota, at Cities Church, right? Protesters came into, in the middle of the service, came in and disrupted the service and started shouting. Why? Because they’re “right”—they eclipse your rights. And let me just say, I mean, Cities Church is not a very political church. It’s a good church, but it’s not like they’re out there making waves in the political realm, taking people off. But they don’t care what kind of church you go to. You understand that? To them, all churches are the same. The Trump-flag-flying church, that’s not us. But the Trump-flag-flying church is no different than the conservative church that rarely speaks up? No different to them. So this is the war we’re up against. And unless you really kind of stuck with that story, I mean the details that came out with signed affidavits was way worse than you might have heard. All right, the protesters and agitators blocked the stairs so that parents couldn’t get to their children in Sunday school. That’s horrible. And one of them told a kid, “Do you know your parents are Nazis? They’re going to burn in hell.” Listen, the mercy of the wicked is cruel.

The mercy of the wicked is cruel with our faith. Different paths don’t lead to God. That’s not a popular thing to say, to say that Jesus is the only way and the only way to heaven, and it’s only through him that you can have a right relationship with the Father. It’s not kind or compassionate or merciful to tell someone they’re going to hell, according to popular view.

The Great Physician

I had a follow-up appointment with my doctor for my shoulder surgery, and I was like, Lord, I want to share with him, I want to share the gospel with him, I want to share something with him. And so as I was driving I’m like, I’m going to share with him about how Jesus is the great physician—he’s a doctor, right? So I’m sitting there, and a lot of times it’s very interesting. He’s a great surgeon. I’d rather have a great surgeon. I don’t really care about the bedside manner so much as long as you can do the surgery, right? That’s the most important to me, right? He’s the nicest person in the world, but you cut off the wrong arm. That’s the problem, right? So not that he doesn’t have a good bedside manner, but he just sometimes is a little quick. I understand doctors are busy. They got surgeries to do. But he came in, and right at the end, I was like, hey, can we just switch subjects for a second? I just want to read you a Bible verse about Jesus. Did you know that he’s called the great physician in the Bible? And he stopped. And I’m like, can I just read you this verse real quick? And he’s like, sure. And he’s like, what verse is it? I wasn’t even going to tell him what verse it was. I was just going to read the verse. He’s like, what verse is it? And so I think I was getting my phone out to read it, but I think he actually wrote it down. So Luke 5:31:

And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.”

(Luke 5:31)

And I was just like, you know, and so a lot of people—there are a couple of different verses I just shared with them that talk about, basically reiterate this. And so people call Jesus like the great physician or the great doctor. And he’s like, I’ve never heard that before. And so we kept talking a little bit. He’s like, you know, we’ve kind of got away from going to church. My kids, you know, we got into the whole sports thing and kind of distraction. He’s like, I really, I really need to get back to that. And so I had brought with me a little Gospel of John. And so I’m like, have you ever read the book of John in the Bible? He’s like, no, and I’m like, well, I’m going to give you one. He took it. I’m like, if you just read the first three chapters—I usually try to give people like a little teaser. I’m like, if you read just the first three chapters, you’ll see what Jesus’ first miracle was. It’s going to blow your mind what his first miracle was. Who doesn’t want to read the first three chapters after hearing that? Does anyone know what his first miracle was? Water into wine. So he’s going to be reading along. I mean, that’s kind of interesting. His first miracle, like, let’s have a party. So I gave that to him and he’s like, hey, when you come back next month, let’s talk more. I mean, just, that’s just an easy way, brothers and sisters. Like, and I would have just been fine just to read the verse and I was just going to try to encourage him a little bit, right? Put a little stone in the shoe if I could, but just opened the door a little bit and the Lord really opened wide the door. So I’m going to ask him next month, you know, hey, did you read it? And we’ll talk more. I’ll get back to you on how it goes. But a lot of people don’t see that as merciful—to share the gospel and suggest Jesus is the only way. That’s not caring, that’s not kind. No, actually it is caring. Sometimes things that might not appear caring, that’s caring. If someone’s in a burning building, it’s caring to wake them up. They might not appreciate it at the time you wake them up. Anybody like getting woken up rudely from naps? I don’t think there’s any other way to be woken up, quite honestly, all right? But you wake someone up, yeah, they’re probably going to be out of it. They’re not going to be too happy at the time. But when they find out what you saved them from, they’re going to be very appreciative.

Cruel Mercy in Our Own State

God’s blessed us to live in a pretty great state. It has its flaws. But the legislature just convened recently. Do you know what the first bill to pass the House was? It was basically a Born Alive Protection Act, which is unfortunate that our legislature has to pass, but it’s necessary since Amendment 3 passed and kind of flung open the doors again. So here’s what it says. It mandates that a child born alive during or after an abortion or attempted abortion will have the same rights, privileges, and immunities as any other person, citizen, and resident of Missouri, including any other live-born child. Pretty straightforward, right? 143 people, 143 representatives voted on the bill. 40 voted against it. You can guess which party that was. The mercy of the wicked is cruel. A baby that survives an abortion—they don’t even want to protect a baby that survives abortion. That’s cruel.

Senator Nick Schroer is trying to pass a bill that would require schools to teach human development. That seems kind of basic. I mean, you got to take biology, right? You got to take health. He reported that abortion doctors packed the hearing room to oppose it. What is controversial about human development? Because what’s controversial is if children are taught the truth about human development, they might actually see how precious life is. If they see the pictures of the baby as it grows, they might actually realize that’s actually a baby from conception. So yeah, you’re threatening the golden calf of the abortion industry, and the doctors showed up overwhelmingly. The mercy of the wicked is cruel.

The Sin of Empathy

We just got done in our life group going through Joe Rigney’s book, The Sin of Empathy. Did y’all like that? They got a lot of good comments. It actually made the news this past week. Did y’all see that? Made the news. Hillary Clinton spoke out against Joe Rigney and his book. Here’s what he said. I’m just going to read him, because really this idea of empathy—and again, he makes it clear there’s such a thing as true and right empathy, right? You read the book, right? He starts it that way, he ends it that way. There’s a place for empathy. But our culture has twisted empathy into something completely different. He says, “The essential argument in my book is the way that calls for empathy frequently mask cruelty.” He goes on, “It’s amazing how much cruelty and harm you can commit in the name of empathy.” That’s part of the reason we had you guys read the book. That’s part of the reason we went through it: to see how the culture takes that term, twists it, and makes people feel bad to believe and support things that are completely against God’s Word. His book demonstrates this proverb: the mercy of the wicked is cruel. Rigney goes on, “You can murder innocent children in the womb, you can buy and sell them on the surrogacy market, you can castrate and mutilate them when they are teenagers, you can release career criminals and repeat violent offenders into the population where one of them can brutally murder a young woman on a bus, all in the name of empathy.” And if you remember that last example, Iryna, murdered on a bus, and I forget which politician or official it was, standing up and defending the criminal and calling for compassion for him. Truly, the mercy of the wicked is cruel.

Turning the Tide: Train Your Children

So how do we turn the tide in our culture? You ever thought about that? I mean, I do. You know, if every conservative Christian couple had four to five kids, we could turn this nation in about three generations. It’s true. The birth rate has dropped dramatically in the last 25 years. We’re barely at replacement rate. Some say below replacement rate. We’re almost to the point—not quite, but almost to the point—where when a nation hits like, I forget if it’s 1.8, 1.6 or something, it’s almost impossible to turn around. I have numerous friends from high school that have zero kids. Some of my other friends have one or two. I’m sure there’s a few there that have more than two. I can’t remember any of them off the bat, but I can think of my friends that have zero kids. Why? Because I see them on Facebook all the time talking about all the things they do. The rest of them are changing diapers, or trying to pay for their kids’ college, right? So guess what? A lot of the liberals aren’t having kids. They’re having, if they’re having them, they’re having one or two. But here’s what’s important. It doesn’t matter if you have one kid, two kids, three—I mean, you’re supposed to be fruitful and multiply, okay? Okay? Well, regardless of how many kids you have, you got to train those kids. And sometimes, at least in the homeschooling movement, I think it’s at least lesser these days, but I feel like even 10 or 20 years ago, it was like, you know, as many as you possibly can, but like no regard for how are you going to train them? No thought to that. They’re just like, we’re going to have kids and they’re just—it’s like they’re going to pop out of the womb being John the Baptist or something. And there was no thought to, oh, we actually have to train them, we actually have to pour into them. It was like you were godly—the more kids you had, the more godly you were. That’s not true. But you have to train them. It does no good to have five children if you don’t train them and you just let them grow up to be reprobate. That does no good. So keep the long goal in mind.

You know, I encourage you, one, be doing family devotions. And it’s very easy with family devotions to skip a day. But what you don’t realize is those days quickly add up into weeks and months and years. How many days have you skipped, and it just adds up to a lot. But I would encourage you, whatever you think are important points that you want your kids to know about God’s Word, things that they need to know about the culture—like I got a little note on my Notes app, and I just, whenever I think of something, this is something I want to make sure my kids know about, that they’re trained in, I just write a little note on that. And you know, and listen, your family devotions don’t have to be super long. Sometimes ours are just a psalm and a prayer. Now they should be at times longer, and sometimes ours have gone very long. My kids love that, by the way. No, we have very good conversations. Sometimes occasionally we might watch a little video clip and we’ll talk about it. Sometimes we’ll talk about something going on in the news and what does God’s Word have to say about that. But the point is, like, training. The training continues on.

I was thinking about this the other day. Some of you got younger kids, right? And you, in one sense, at least the physical training, I mean, the diaper has to be changed. Right? The diaper has to be changed. They have to be fed. They ain’t going to be happy. But it’s easier when our kids get a little bit older to hit cruise control. And that’s dangerous. Right? So they hit whatever that age is, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. Right? They can more manage themselves. They can dress themselves. They can feed themselves. And we’re like, oh, job done. No, not job done. Definitely not job done. Like the job isn’t over really when they leave the house. But definitely through the early teen years, and I’d say even into the late teen years. I mean, there are kids. What’s the statistic you hear? How many kids go off to college from Christian homes and they turn away from the faith? I mean, I think it’s like 80%, something like that. Were those kids prepared? Clearly not. Maybe it wasn’t best for them to go. I don’t know. That’s for those parents to decide. But if you’re going to send your kid out, make sure he’s trained first. But you’ve got to take it off cruise control. Some of us older parents were guilty of that. We’re just hitting cruise control, and we’re expecting things to continue to go. And we think, listen, this Word has power to do a lot of damage in a good way. Tear down strongholds. But if you’re trying to combat an hour and a half each week on Sunday with everything else they’re getting thrown at them through different social media and different things online, that’s going to be tough. Each one of us needs regular reminders of who the Lord is. That’s the daily quiet time, right? Excuse me. We need regular reminders of what he’s doing, regular reminders of what he’s done for us. So training, keep the long goal in mind. And it doesn’t end. Not while they’re in their teens. So keep it up. It’s going to look different when they get older, those family devotions. But even just five minutes makes a huge difference. Use those opportunities. Use sport families as you’re going to the different events to talk about—basically have a family devotion, so to speak. You’re not really calling it that. But while you’re in the car, you’ve got to talk about something. I’ve been very intentional through the years to not—and there’s a place for listening to different music and books and stuff like that, do that intentionally if you’re going to do it—but to not just have music going on and not really have a conversation. I try to make conversations with my kids. Sometimes they like it. Sometimes they don’t. Too bad, I’m driving. I’m your dad. Humor me a little bit. But all of us older people, right, would give a lot, just about anything, for our parents that have passed away to be back in that vehicle again, talking to our parent, right? True? So training them.

A Beautiful Calling

Motherhood, it’s a beautiful calling. Amen. It’s a high calling. And if you’re a woman, you should aim for it in the context of marriage. You should aim for it. And then do your best at it. But don’t believe the lies of the culture. Don’t believe the lies of the culture. There’s no better place for a woman than for her to be with her children and to raise them and train them. What are older moms supposed to do? You know, the moms that their kids are mostly out of the house or maybe all the way out of the house. Well, Titus is pretty clear about that. Titus 2:4 says, the older women are to train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. So older moms should support and help the younger moms. Like we truly are a community. Look at Psalm 78. Here’s what it says, starting in verse 1:

Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.

(Psalm 78:1–7)

I just like how it says, hey, we’re not going to hide it from our children. We’re going to tell them all these amazing things that God has done, right? We’re going to make sure they know these biblical stories and that they’re familiar with them. Right, so I mean, you’ve got three generations here. You’re training your children, but guess what they’re going to be doing one day? Training their children. Kind of scary, right? But they’re going to be doing that. What are they going to train them to do? The very thing that you’ve trained them to do. You’re training not just your kids, but your grandkids. I mean, think about that. You’re training not just your kids, but your grandkids, because your kids are only going to know what to do based on what you’ve taught them how to do. Now, some of us by God’s grace grew up in some pretty rough homes. We grew up in unbelieving homes, and God’s been gracious to train us, right? But what a blessing, what a blessing to grow up in a truly believing Christian home. Our kids might not fully ever realize that. If they do, it won’t be for a long time. That’s just the truth. The harsh realities that we’ve been able to shield them from, and at the proper time, let them become aware of the things that they haven’t had to go through, the things they have had to go through in a good way—those are blessings. If you’ve grown up with your parents and they’re believers, you’ve been greatly blessed. One of the best gifts God could ever have given. [audio unclear] I mean, that’s the hope. We’re shepherding our kids’ hearts towards Jesus. That’s what we’re training them: to glorify the Lord in everything that they do. To serve him, to know him, to fear him, to love him, to put him first and everything else a distant second.

So talk to your kids about God and his mighty works. Make sure clearly, if ever there’s a time—my mom had a rule growing up, there’s no bragging, you can’t really brag to your immediate family. Meaning, if you did something amazing at school, it was okay to talk about it. If you accomplish something great, like you should talk, it’s okay to talk to your immediate family. That’s not really boasting. So I want to kind of take that and put it in the context. Parents, as you’re getting opportunities to talk to people, or you may be in a challenging situation, your kids might not see you in that challenging situation because it happened at work, [audio unclear] walk the family through it. Amen.

Fortify Your Mind with Truth

So we push back by fortifying our minds with truth. Look at Ephesians chapter 4. [audio unclear]

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

(Ephesians 4:11–16)

That’s pretty good, right? [audio unclear] Anyone who’s like, I want to be deceived. But people are. So what does he say? We’re trying to attain mature manhood. We’re trying to attain the stature of the fullness of Christ. Have we got there yet? No. But shall we strive for it? Yes. We’re striving for this. The measure, verse 13, of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That should be our focus. We’re seeking the Lord. We’re glorifying the Lord. [audio unclear] But we want to stay grounded in Jesus so we’re not duped.

Anchored to the Rock

Now he is the rock, right? He’s the rock. All other ground? Sinking sand. So we hold fast to the rock. We hold fast to him. You guys ever been out in like the ocean? Like out in the ocean? Maybe if you’ve been on a cruise, okay, I understand. But on a smaller boat, some of the scariest moments in my life have occurred on boats, okay? That’s why I don’t like deep water so much. But you know they have those like shipping lanes, right, and there’s like these buoys that are like, I mean, they’re like taller than me, right? And somehow they don’t move around, right? Because they’re anchored. They’re anchored in the midst of all this storm and the waves are tossing about, but the buoy’s anchored. It does a good job staying in one place. [audio unclear] I mean, it’s Jesus. He’s like dusting us off. Okay, I forgive you, walk in righteousness, I will be with you. And what happens? We fall again. We get tripped up. But he’s still there with us. He walks with us. We need to keep our eyes fast on the rock, who’s Jesus. Stick near to him. Then we won’t have to worry.

Stand Fast

[audio unclear] encourages me to engage. I’m like, look at that, they worship the Lord over there. Like, what’s wrong, heart? Come on. But that encourages me to engage in worship. [audio unclear] I respect you like crazy because you’ve weathered it and weathered it well. It’s been challenging, it’s been hard, yet here you are. And God’s done a good work and you give all the glory to him. So you stand fast, that encourages other people to stand fast. That encourages other people to stand firm. You’re a witness, right? The great cloud of witnesses, Hebrews, right? It’s not just for unbelievers. A lot of that’s for us. Like I need you all walking with Jesus. You need to walk with Jesus. You need everyone else walking with Jesus. That encourages you to walk with Jesus. That’s kind of the reason church is pretty important. It’s kind of a big deal. Why? Because we need to see the witness. You see the other witnesses walking with Jesus to be encouraged to continue walking with him. Doing life together. It’s messy. It’s hard, but it’s a beautiful thing. It’s a beautiful thing. God’s been gracious to us. Amen. Let’s stand fast. Let’s stand and pray.

Closing Prayer

Father, thank you that your Son is the rock on whom we stand, and it is true, all other ground is sinking sand. Thank you that you were gracious to save us by the blood of your Son Jesus. Thank you for your Word which instructs us in all aspects of life, Lord. And I do pray we wouldn’t buy into the lies of the culture. I do pray we would see truth for what it is, Lord. Continue in us your work. Help us to see you clearly, high and seated on the throne. May your name be lifted up in our lives and through our actions, for your glory. Amen.