Micah McCormick: Titus chapter 2.
Micah McCormick: You can look on there in the Pew Bible if you didn't bring a Bible with you today.
Micah McCormick: Hopefully many of you have scriptures.
Micah McCormick: We've been going through this letter.
Micah McCormick: We're in chapter two as we work through this letter, and the passage for this morning comes from verses 11 through verse 15.
Micah McCormick: Titus 2, 11 through 15.
Micah McCormick: This is God's word.
Micah McCormick: For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts, and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age, while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Micah McCormick: He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people for his own possession, eager to do good works.
Micah McCormick: Proclaim these things, encourage, and rebuke with all authority.
Micah McCormick: Let no one disregard you.
Micah McCormick: Seek the Lord's help.
Micah McCormick: Again, O God, we come to you.
Micah McCormick: We come with thanksgiving and we come with prayers.
Micah McCormick: Prayers that this word we so desperately need would be a word that you make effective in us, in us all collectively today.
Micah McCormick: We pray this in Jesus' name.
Micah McCormick: Amen.
Micah McCormick: Hashtag blessed.
Micah McCormick: Most of you have seen it.
Micah McCormick: Come on, Micah, that was like 10 years ago.
Micah McCormick: You're way out of it.
Micah McCormick: There's no hashtags anymore.
Micah McCormick: How about feeling blessed?
Micah McCormick: There's a picture of a sunset by the water, and a calmly reposed person is feeling blessed.
Micah McCormick: There's a family reunion, everyone's together, and they're feeling blessed.
Micah McCormick: There's the coworkers and launching a new product and feeling blessed.
Micah McCormick: There was a song written over 100 years ago.
Micah McCormick: Count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.
Micah McCormick: It's okay to thank God for our blessings, to thank him publicly.
Micah McCormick: He's the one ultimately who provides for us every good thing.
Micah McCormick: It's not fortune or chance or anything like that.
Micah McCormick: We find a blessing right in the middle of the passage I just read, only it's not a blessing that we fully possess right now.
Micah McCormick: Look at verse 13 again in the middle.
Micah McCormick: While we wait for the blessed hope.
Micah McCormick: So we have a blessed hope that we're waiting for.
Micah McCormick: Some of you may have noticed the passage of Scripture this week is the same as the passage of Scripture last week.
Micah McCormick: I'm not trying to test you to see how well you can retain what was said by preaching the same sermon two weeks in a row.
Micah McCormick: But I said last week we focused on how the passage points us to look back to God's grace and live in light of God's grace.
Micah McCormick: And then I said this week we're going to talk about how the passage tells us to look forward to God's grace and live in light of his coming grace.
Micah McCormick: So you can see verse 11, the grace of God has appeared.
Micah McCormick: Verse 14, he gave himself.
Micah McCormick: That's looking back.
Micah McCormick: That was last week.
Micah McCormick: But here in verse 13, we're called to wait for the blessed hope.
Micah McCormick: That's looking ahead, and that's our focus for this week.
Micah McCormick: Verse 13 begins with that phrase, while we wait.
Micah McCormick: Or you might have a Bible that says waiting, same idea.
Micah McCormick: But we're kind of breaking into the flow of thought.
Micah McCormick: So let's track what's going on here.
Micah McCormick: Back in verse 11, God's grace appears and brings salvation.
Micah McCormick: And that same grace instructs us, according to verse 12, to deny godlessness and worldly lust and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age.
Micah McCormick: So that's the present, that's the here and now.
Micah McCormick: We're striving to live in a godly way in the present while we wait.
Micah McCormick: The waiting, the future blessed hope, is connected deeply with how we live in the present age, in the here and now.
Micah McCormick: I think for most of us, connecting God's past grace with how we live now is more common.
Micah McCormick: We're thankful that God has done so much for us in Christ.
Micah McCormick: He's redeemed us, he's rescued us by his blood.
Micah McCormick: We love him.
Micah McCormick: That's very common.
Micah McCormick: It's less common to look ahead to God's grace and live in the present.
Micah McCormick: It's not unique to Titus II.
Micah McCormick: It's all over the Bible, though, that expectation and connection.
Micah McCormick: And notice how all-encompassing it is.
Micah McCormick: Paul doesn't merely say here, okay, you're suffering now.
Micah McCormick: One day it'll all be over.
Micah McCormick: But he's not limiting that connection of future hope and living now.
Micah McCormick: He's not limiting it to just suffering now.
Micah McCormick: Saying yes to godliness, that's all-encompassing.
Micah McCormick: That's all of life.
Micah McCormick: That's getting out of bed in the morning.
Micah McCormick: That's stepping out your front door each day while you wait for the blessed hope.
Micah McCormick: So if last week was looking back and living now, this week is looking ahead and living now.
Micah McCormick: And I've got two encouragements for us this morning, two big encouragements.
Micah McCormick: Wait for the blessed hope and live in light of the blessed hope.
Micah McCormick: First, brothers and sisters, we wait for the blessed hope.
Micah McCormick: Verse 13 tells us what it is: it's the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Micah McCormick: That's a reference to the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ when he appears for a final time to bring his own to himself.
Micah McCormick: We'll get to that in a few minutes, but first let's think about this concept of hope.
Micah McCormick: In the Bible, Christian hope is a confident and certain expectation based on God's promises.
Micah McCormick: I'll say that again.
Micah McCormick: Hope in the Bible, Christian hope, is a certain and confident expectation based on God's promises.
Micah McCormick: So when Paul's on trial in the book of Acts, he says he's on trial because of the hope in what God promised to our ancestors.
Micah McCormick: Acts 26, 6.
Micah McCormick: When God makes a promise, there's no uncertainty about it.
Micah McCormick: It's going to happen.
Micah McCormick: Acts 23, 6, Paul speaks of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.
Micah McCormick: Paul's not saying, I wish there could be a resurrection of the dead.
Micah McCormick: He's expressing confidence that there will be a resurrection from the dead.
Micah McCormick: Romans 5, verses 2 to 5.
Micah McCormick: We have obtained access through Christ by faith into the grace in which we stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
Micah McCormick: Not only that, we boast in afflictions, because affliction produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope.
Micah McCormick: This hope, Romans says, will not disappoint us because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
Micah McCormick: Christian hope, friends, never disappoints.
Micah McCormick: Here in Titus 2, we're waiting for something.
Micah McCormick: We haven't received it yet.
Micah McCormick: That's why it's hope.
Micah McCormick: We're waiting for someone.
Micah McCormick: He hasn't returned in person yet.
Micah McCormick: That's why it's hope.
Micah McCormick: Hope looks ahead.
Micah McCormick: But it's a blessed hope because it will certainly come to pass.
Micah McCormick: Imagine you had a friend and you saw that she posted a picture of a diamond ring and said, feeling blessed.
Micah McCormick: And you called her and said, You're engaged, congratulations.
Micah McCormick: And she says, Oh no, I'm not engaged.
Micah McCormick: I happen to be in the jewelry store and I saw the diamond, and I was, I hope I get married one day, and that just made me feel really blessed.
Micah McCormick: Like, okay, um, wonderful for you.
Micah McCormick: I'll be praying for you about that.
Micah McCormick: We tend to express the blessings we have now, and our hopes are kind of wished-for hopes.
Micah McCormick: Let me give you another example.
Micah McCormick: I hesitate to use this example.
Micah McCormick: You hope, you hope the Knicks win the NBA finals.
Micah McCormick: Now, I'm afraid I might have just lost 20% of you for the rest of the sermon.
Micah McCormick: That's why I said I hesitate to use the example.
Micah McCormick: But it does work so well.
Micah McCormick: So even if I lost some of you, at least keep in mind, if nothing else, Christian hope is certain.
Micah McCormick: And that's the point of the example.
Micah McCormick: We hope for things that we want to happen, but we can't be certain.
Micah McCormick: You might have more hope now after two games than you had to start the series, but you still can't be certain.
Micah McCormick: That's not the case with Christian hope.
Micah McCormick: Christian hope is always going to come to pass because God inevitably will be victorious.
Micah McCormick: So, what is the hope that we can be so certain about?
Micah McCormick: What is this blessed hope that we're waiting for?
Micah McCormick: Verse 13 again tells us it's the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Micah McCormick: A lot packed into that description.
Micah McCormick: One of the things it shows us is that Jesus Christ is truly and fully God.
Micah McCormick: You hear the connection there, he's not a mere man.
Micah McCormick: So again, when he promises something, it's certainly going to come to pass because he has all the power of Almighty God to bring it to pass.
Micah McCormick: He's the eternal Son who in time took on human nature.
Micah McCormick: He is not a mere man, he is the blessed and only God.
Micah McCormick: Notice also, though, when Paul speaks here, he doesn't speak of Christ's return.
Micah McCormick: He speaks of the glorious appearing.
Micah McCormick: Yes, that's going to take place when Jesus returns from heaven.
Micah McCormick: But his focus here is not just on an event that will take place, it's about the glory of that event.
Micah McCormick: We're waiting for something awe-inspiring.
Micah McCormick: 2 Thessalonians 1:10 speaks of the day when Jesus comes to be glorified by his saints and to be marveled at by all those who have believed.
Micah McCormick: The same idea here.
Micah McCormick: People don't eagerly wait for Halley's Comet merely because it's rare once every seventy-six years.
Micah McCormick: I mean, the Knicks winning a championship is rare.
Micah McCormick: They wait for Haley's Comet because it's special and to some degree spectacular.
Micah McCormick: The appearing of the glory of Christ is going to be spectacular.
Micah McCormick: Long beach sunsets, northern lights, Grand Canyon, none of those spectacular things will compare with the glory of Christ when he returns.
Micah McCormick: We're going to see God in theological terms, it's called the beatific vision, the sight that makes one happy, or you could even say the sight that makes one blessed.
Micah McCormick: This is the hope of the saints throughout the years.
Micah McCormick: You see this in scripture.
Micah McCormick: We read about it in the scripture passage this morning.
Micah McCormick: Moses prays, God, show me your glory.
Micah McCormick: Psalm 27, 4.
Micah McCormick: I have asked one thing from the Lord.
Micah McCormick: It's what I desire to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the Lord.
Micah McCormick: Matthew 5, 8.
Micah McCormick: Blessed are the pure in heart.
Micah McCormick: Why?
Micah McCormick: Because they will see God.
Micah McCormick: 1 Corinthians 13, 12.
Micah McCormick: Now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, but then face to face.
Micah McCormick: Now I know in part, then I will know fully as I am fully known.
Micah McCormick: Revelation 22, 4 summarizes the future hope.
Micah McCormick: They will see his face.
Micah McCormick: R.C.
Micah McCormick: Sproul says, This is the ultimate prize, the ultimate goal for every Christian.
Micah McCormick: Yes, we're called to live godly while we wait, because the ultimate goal and hope is this experience of God that is still in some ways yet future.
Micah McCormick: Another person from church history says, This vision of the glory of God in Christ surpasses all earthly beauty of gold, of silver, of groves and field, the beauty of sea and air, the beauty of the sun and moon, the beauty of stars, of angels, surpassing all things, because from it all things are beautiful.
Micah McCormick: Jonathan Edwards, this will be the most glorious sight that the saints will ever see with their bodily eyes.
Micah McCormick: There will be more happiness and pleasure from this sight than any other.
Micah McCormick: He says this the eyes of the resurrection body will be given to us chiefly to behold this sight.
Micah McCormick: The disciples got just a small taste of this beatific vision, this blessed hope of the appearing of the glory of Christ.
Micah McCormick: They got a small taste of that on the Mount of Transfiguration, those three.
Micah McCormick: And what do they say?
Micah McCormick: Lord, it's good for us to be here.
Micah McCormick: Let's set up some tabernacles right here.
Micah McCormick: Let's just, let's just never let's just worship here.
Micah McCormick: And that is our hope for eternity.
Micah McCormick: The glory that we're going to encounter when he appears, it it ranges beyond not just visible beauty and splendor, it includes that, but there's another vantage point of this glory.
Micah McCormick: Verse 13 says, His glory will appear.
Micah McCormick: Verse 11 already told us his glory has appeared.
Micah McCormick: Look at the connection there, same word.
Micah McCormick: When Christ came into the world, we saw God's glory.
Micah McCormick: Only then it wasn't visibly awe-inspiring.
Micah McCormick: I know you see the medieval artwork, and Mary's holding baby Jesus like a halo and is radiant and light.
Micah McCormick: He probably just looked like a baby.
Micah McCormick: The scripture says there was no, to use the King James lines, there's no form or comeliness that we should desire him.
Micah McCormick: But there was still a glory, the glory of his character, showcasing the humility of God with the power of God brought together in one.
Micah McCormick: Righteousness and mercy meeting together in one.
Micah McCormick: The harmony of all of God's perfections.
Micah McCormick: And when Christ returns, it will be all these glories wrapped into one.
Micah McCormick: The visible beauty combined with the harmony of beautiful perfections all together in our Savior.
Micah McCormick: Brothers and sisters in Christ, wait for the blessed hope.
Micah McCormick: And if you don't have that hope in Christ, come to Him now, and you can have that blessed hope.
Micah McCormick: So that's the first big encouragement for us today.
Micah McCormick: Wait for the blessed hope.
Micah McCormick: And here's our second encouragement.
Micah McCormick: Now, live in light of the blessed hope.
Micah McCormick: Verse 12 tells us to do something while we're waiting.
Micah McCormick: We should deny godlessness and worldly lusts and live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age.
Micah McCormick: These are not two separate and unrelated things.
Micah McCormick: Like, wait for the hope, and while you're at it, you might as well try to do some godly things.
Micah McCormick: Like I'm waiting for my Uber driver, so I might as well play Candy Crush for a while while I wait for the Uber driver.
Micah McCormick: That's not what God is saying here.
Micah McCormick: He's connecting those two things intimately so that the gaze of our souls is fixed on this future hope, and that's gonna move us to live in a godly way in the present age.
Micah McCormick: Last week I gave you a little homework.
Micah McCormick: I said, why don't you take this passage and go home and think about how the past grace of God helps you to say no to ungodliness and yes to godliness?
Micah McCormick: How does it help me say no to the things God doesn't care for and doesn't live out, and say yes to the things that God loves and desires and lives out.
Micah McCormick: This week I'm gonna give us several specific illustrations of what it looks like to live in light of the blessed hope.
Micah McCormick: This is not an exhaustive list by any means whatsoever, but want to give you some handholds to think about and to try to show that connection for us.
Micah McCormick: So several applications.
Micah McCormick: Here's one application.
Micah McCormick: Remember that everyone you encounter has a destiny of eternal glory or a destiny of eternal judgment.
Micah McCormick: The blessed hope for believers means that when he comes, we'll be like him because we'll see him as he is.
Micah McCormick: The most annoying Christian in your life right now, one day will be revealed in such glory that you will stand amazed.
Micah McCormick: So treat them now like what they will be, not what they are.
Micah McCormick: The waitress that seems a little slow in getting to your table.
Micah McCormick: If she's not a believer, that appearing of Christ is an appearance of judgment and everlasting shame.
Micah McCormick: You don't need to add on your ungodly berating words in the here and now.
Micah McCormick: Leave that for Christ.
Micah McCormick: Here's another application.
Micah McCormick: This relates to the first one.
Micah McCormick: Be wary of a judgmental spirit.
Micah McCormick: First Corinthians 4 5.
Micah McCormick: So don't judge anything prematurely before the Lord comes, who will bring to light what's hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts.
Micah McCormick: The appearing of the glory of Christ means that he will set everything right.
Micah McCormick: That's part of the confident hope that we have.
Micah McCormick: But we don't have his infallible wisdom, so we should be slow to judge.
Micah McCormick: It doesn't mean we should never make judgments in any sense.
Micah McCormick: The Bible calls churches in some cases to make judgments.
Micah McCormick: But a judgmental spirit is different.
Micah McCormick: That's when we're just regularly Looking to picket people and find the worst in them and assume the worst in them.
Micah McCormick: Don't judge anything prematurely before the Lord comes.
Micah McCormick: Here's another application.
Micah McCormick: Be excited about worshiping God together as a church right now.
Micah McCormick: When Jesus appears, he's not going to appear for this believer or that believer.
Micah McCormick: In the Old Testament, he sometimes appeared to Moses or to others individually.
Micah McCormick: He's appearing for all of his people together to be gathered to him.
Micah McCormick: We get a little foretaste of that each week.
Micah McCormick: It's not visibly here, but he's present among his saints.
Micah McCormick: So in light of the future, great gathering at his appearing, we can worship now in the meantime.
Micah McCormick: Help one another, say no to ungodliness and yes to godliness.
Micah McCormick: This is kind of a throughout the week application of that last idea.
Micah McCormick: The grace of God in Titus 2.12 instructs us to say no and yes.
Micah McCormick: You hear that language.
Micah McCormick: The grace of God doesn't just instruct Bob or Jen or Janet or David to say no and yes, but us to say no and yes.
Micah McCormick: It instructs us while we wait.
Micah McCormick: We're all in this together.
Micah McCormick: So help one another.
Micah McCormick: Part of our church covenant for the members of this church is our desire to demonstrate a Christian lifestyle as evidenced by holiness, the fruit of the Spirit, and obedience to all of Christ's commands.
Micah McCormick: That's what we strive together to do.
Micah McCormick: Another application.
Micah McCormick: I told you I had several here.
Micah McCormick: Live as citizens of another place.
Micah McCormick: Next week, Pastor Doug's going to lead us into Titus chapter three, where we're told to submit to earthly rulers and authorities.
Micah McCormick: We can do that because we're waiting for the king of beauty.
Micah McCormick: We don't have ultimate certainty in earthly political leaders.
Micah McCormick: They're going to disappoint us, but we can submit to them because we're submitting to a greater king.
Micah McCormick: Philippians 3, verse 20.
Micah McCormick: Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a savior from there.
Micah McCormick: The same language of eagerly waiting for Christ appearing, knowing our citizenship ultimately is there.
Micah McCormick: We're New Jerusalem people, first and foremost.
Micah McCormick: He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body.
Micah McCormick: No earthly political transformation can have that kind of ultimate effect.
Micah McCormick: So we're living as citizens of another place.
Micah McCormick: I'm not saying you shouldn't be patriotic.
Micah McCormick: Some of you are looking at me very suspiciously.
Micah McCormick: It's great to be patriotic for your country.
Micah McCormick: We're coming up on the 250th anniversary of this particular country.
Micah McCormick: The World Cup is coming up.
Micah McCormick: I mean, I'm going to be flying a flag more hardly than anyone during those World Cup soccer games.
Micah McCormick: If you come to my house, don't come with another country's flag for a World Cup match.
Micah McCormick: But whatever countries you might be from, as much as you can love and enjoy and be thankful for those countries, our ultimate, I'm using that word intentionally, our ultimate citizenship, far and above those earthly loyalties and allegiances, is the kingdom of heaven.
Micah McCormick: Another example in application.
Micah McCormick: Preach as a dying man to dying men.
Micah McCormick: It's a quote from Richard Baxter.
Micah McCormick: I throw it in for myself a little selfishly, but listen to the connection Paul makes in 2 Timothy 4.
Micah McCormick: I solemnly charge you, Paul's writing to Timothy, before God in Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and because of his appearing, same connection as we see in this passage, because of his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word.
Micah McCormick: Be ready in season and out of season.
Micah McCormick: Correct, rebuke, encourage with great patience and teaching.
Micah McCormick: When you preach, it can be tempting to think you're not really doing anything.
Micah McCormick: Some of you go to work, and at the end of two days, an entire house has electricity.
Micah McCormick: You can flip on the light and boom, there it is.
Micah McCormick: It's amazing.
Micah McCormick: Some of you go to work and you make a meal, and people eat the meal and they say that was delicious, and they walk out the door and they have the rest of their day.
Micah McCormick: Sometimes when you preach, people say thanks, great sermon, and they come back the next week and it can seem like nothing really happened.
Micah McCormick: That's not very godly thinking.
Micah McCormick: You're right, it's not.
Micah McCormick: That's why I need this encouragement to preach, not merely because of any human response or lack of a response, but to preach because the judge of all people is going to appear.
Micah McCormick: And I'm I'm have to speak on his behalf.
Micah McCormick: That's overwhelming but urgently necessary.
Micah McCormick: Just a couple more here for us.
Micah McCormick: Grow in your spiritual gifts by eagerly waiting for the blessed hope.
Micah McCormick: You might think, I just I'm not that useful in the body.
Micah McCormick: I'm not preaching.
Micah McCormick: You are hopefully giving the word to people.
Micah McCormick: You can have the hope there.
Micah McCormick: But I I don't know what my spiritual gifts are.
Micah McCormick: Are you eagerly waiting for the blessed hope of the appearing of Christ?
Micah McCormick: What does that have to do with it?
Micah McCormick: Yeah, yes, I I I'm doing that.
Micah McCormick: I should do that.
Micah McCormick: How does that help my spiritual gifts?
Micah McCormick: Listen to 1 Corinthians 1:7.
Micah McCormick: So that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Micah McCormick: I I told you this connection is all over the Bible.
Micah McCormick: It's not just here in Titus chapter 2.
Micah McCormick: If you're eagerly waiting for the Lord to come back, you want to see him.
Micah McCormick: And the more you think about that, the more you'll want to serve him.
Micah McCormick: And the more you jump in and serve, the Lord will sort out your gifts.
Micah McCormick: You don't have to have an angel come and tell you precisely what your spiritual gifts are.
Micah McCormick: Look for needs.
Micah McCormick: And because you love the Lord and you love his body, see a need and jump in and seek to serve.
Micah McCormick: And the Lord will start sorting out your gifts and your passions, and others can help you in those things.
Micah McCormick: And there's a lot more we could say about it.
Micah McCormick: But wait for the blessed hope and step in now in light of that blessed hope.
Micah McCormick: Last one for us today.
Micah McCormick: View all your relationships in light of your eternal relationship to Jesus.
Micah McCormick: We have hit on that in other ways here in these applications, but all the best you have, or wish you could have, or wish was different.
Micah McCormick: There is someone coming who's described in Revelation as a rider on a white horse who is faithful and true.
Micah McCormick: It's described as the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Micah McCormick: That's why Paul can say in 2 Corinthians 11, 2 to the Church of Corinth, I'm jealous for you.
Micah McCormick: I'm jealous with a godly jealousy, because I promised you in marriage to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
Micah McCormick: Then the skies will part as the trumpet sounds.
Micah McCormick: We sing that song, hope of heaven or the fear of hell, and the bride will run to her lover's arms, giving glory to Emmanuel.
Micah McCormick: That day is coming.
Micah McCormick: That relationship is already secure.
Micah McCormick: We can begin to experience it now, but one day it will be even more glorious.
Micah McCormick: So thank God for those echoes of that relationship.
Micah McCormick: Be patient in the uncertainties or pains that fall far short of that relationship.
Micah McCormick: But we all share this glorious destiny as the bride of Christ.
Micah McCormick: That's just a small, I know I gave you a lot, that's just a small sampling of the many ways Scripture says, live now in light of the blessed hope to come.
Micah McCormick: Dear friends, John echoes what Paul says here.
Micah McCormick: When he appears, we'll be like him because we'll see him as he is.
Micah McCormick: That takes time.
Micah McCormick: Waiting takes purposed attention and focus of heart.
Micah McCormick: John Owen said, No one will ever behold the glory of Christ by sight in heaven who doesn't behold it by faith in this world.
Micah McCormick: So come to the Lord, say, Lord, I believe.
Micah McCormick: Help my unbelief.
Micah McCormick: I have that spiritual sight, but I want, I want more of that spiritual sight.
Micah McCormick: I have that hope, but I want more of it.
Micah McCormick: Take time daily to just lay aside the cares of this world, sometimes legitimate cares, but to lay those aside and say, Lord Jesus, come quickly.
Micah McCormick: And be assured, have the confident expectation, the blessing that He'll come quickly.
Micah McCormick: Let's pray.
Micah McCormick: Oh Lord, we want to spend our days in prayer.
Micah McCormick: We want to spend our days in patient labor, in a blessed hope.
Micah McCormick: Thank you for the assurance that we have.
Micah McCormick: Thank you for the freedom it gives our hearts, the freedom we have to live in the world.
Micah McCormick: Because the end of all things is certain and it's near.
Micah McCormick: And we're not merely waiting for an event, we're waiting for the sun from heaven.
Micah McCormick: Christ, we long for your return.
Micah McCormick: We long to see you face to face.
Micah McCormick: We long to be fully transformed.
Micah McCormick: We want to see the King and his beauty.
Micah McCormick: Lord, open the eyes of our hearts more now.
Micah McCormick: Open the eyes of our hearts this week.
Micah McCormick: Open our hearts as we as we, with spiritual eyes, gaze on these visible elements you've left for us.
Micah McCormick: Not glorious in comparison to the visible coming of our King, but glorious because they visibly teach us and show us much about our good and gracious King.
Micah McCormick: Give us glorious joy and peace of mind and heart as we participate together now in singing and in your supper.
Micah McCormick: In Jesus' name, Amen.