so if you see christ on the cross the christian response that's my king that's right you can trust god when he commands you to do something why because he is good he will accomplish what he has started january is a really really exciting month for us as a church because what we do is we use january to put before you what we as pastors have been praying through have been journaling through what god has put on our heart the year before and where we're headed for the year coming and so i love this because you get to see all that's been bottled up in me for the past 12 months i get to just word vomit on you for three sermons and so it is a really really awesome awesome time we set the vision on where we want to focus where we want to head into the new year and so our vision statement for this upcoming year is a really easy pastoral good old boy alliteration gather grow go three things three things for us to remember three importances of who you're supposed to be who we are supposed to be as a church to gather together to grow together and to go together that is why we are here that is what our purpose is and that's what we're going to focus on this year as a church and so why these three words why do i believe these three words are extremely important for you and i and and so here's the kind of things i've just been working on and it's the simple fact that there is a war that is going on currently in this world and every person should say amen to that because it doesn't take much to realize that but what a lot of people don't realize and this is what i just caught myself realizing is so often we look at the war as though it is outside of us when we first must deal with the war that is inside of us you see our problem is is so often we think that the war is out there it is not in here and when you actually are honest with yourself when you look at your own life you realize that there is a war for your affections there's a war for your life going on in your own hearts and it starts at the moment your eyes open in the morning and some of us that warrior happens when that alarm goes off and we're like man i cannot get out of bed and so we must realize that the church wages war against sin and that war starts against the sin that is still present in our own hearts and if we miss that component if we miss that war component in our own hearts we will be ineffective to wage war outside of us ephesians says it this way that we west will not we wrestle we fight not against flesh and blood but against the cosmic powers of darkness that is at work in all places and so how does the church conquer how does the church win when the church is consumed with holiness when the church is consumed with the glory the majesty the greatness of god and like i said it doesn't start midday it starts at the moment of go on your day when you get to answer the question today am i going to build my kingdom or am i going to build his kingdom is my day going to be a day where i'm going to lay down everything so that he may be seen and this plays itself out in amazing ways when i go to my job am i going to be a person who is going to exemplify the glory and the majesty of christ or am i going to go through just to get my paycheck and go home so i can turn on the tv one is a waste of time and the other is a lot is is a time a moment of purpose which kingdom are we building if you have let's go ahead grab them we're going to dive right into it hebrews chapter 10 hebrews chapter 10 is going to be our text this morning hebrews chapter 10 is where we're going to hang out this morning now for those of you that are biblical scholars you're already a little upset with me because you're like dude you've got to cover the nine chapters so we can understand what's going on in chapter 10 and that's exactly why i'm leaving some time so we can do that because i don't want to throw you in the middle of the book why because we're at the climax of hebrews i love hebrews it is probably my favorite book in the whole bible because i get to see the old testament new testament come together perfectly and i get to see the answer so what is going on in hebrews why is hebrews written what is the purpose the author who we don't know we have no idea who this person is we'll figure it out in heaven the author is writing to a group of people to a church and this church is has mostly jewish believers in there with some gentiles how do we know that because there are some times when the author will explain things to the audience that every jewish person knows and has known since a child so so it's a mostly jewish people with some gentiles now what's clearly going on is the persecution has spread and is going crazy and you've got some people in this church that are starting to say i'm not sure this is worth it this is painful this is hard this is difficult and they've started to leave the church because things have gotten difficult they've seen their friends killed for their faith
they've seen themselves they've seen friends in themselves maybe beaten for their faith and they're starting to ask god is this truly worth it and god sends this glorious beautiful letter and the whole theme of hebrews is this jesus is greater than fill in the blank and so he starts chapter one he says jesus is greater than the angels just obviously because why the angels are created beings christ is the creator of all things so jesus is greater even than the angels right we saw this last week if you heard me talk about angels remember angels are not this cute little um you know glowing kind of thing it is a terrifying reflection of the holyness of god he goes on chapter 2 and beyond and so he starts to answer the question that jesus is greater than moses moses was the giver of the law christ is the fulfillment of the law moses was part of the house jesus is the builder of the house so jesus is greater than moses jesus is greater than the promised rest the promised sabbath because he is the rest right he reminds us that rest comes not from us taking a nap not from us taking a day off but from us truly worshiping seeking savoring god you can go take a nap all day and you might not feel rest but you can go serve the lord and find great rest that's a whole other sermon i don't want to get into that jesus is greater than the priest the levitical priest system he's greater than the high priest because he is the true high priest
jesus is greater than the old covenant because he has he has guaranteed the new covenant the old covenant was about separation holiness sinfulness and jesus brings the sinful into the holy by his blood jesus is greater than melchizedek melchizedek just a dude in the old testament who was a king and a priest david hundreds of years later he sees this and goes man there's going to be a day there's going to be a messiah who's going to truly fulfill the role of melchizedek so melchizedek just a dude he's a priest king jesus is the true priest king and he goes on jesus is the greater than because he is the perfect sacrifice the old covenant was very simple pastors priests what were they they're just butchers they're administering sacrifices and the blood of bulls and goats could not remove sins but christ has given of himself and he has sat down which means what there is no other sacrifice needed he is the one true sacrifice and this is where the writer of hebrews hebrews pivots and he sends us to the most important part of god's creation and that is his church
every bible believing christ exalting christian in the world thinks highly of god's church because god thinks highly of god's church and that's where we're headed this morning that's the gather part of it and of course gather grow go if we're gathering together we're growing together for growing together we're going together and if we're going together we're coming back together together it's not like i'm good at gathering but not good at going no they all work together and so we're going to really kind of see the gather but we're also going to see the grow in the go as well so i want to dive right into hebrews and i want to dive in and i want to prepare you church i want to prepare for those of you that are online where we are truly headed this morning and that is simply this that the church is the apex of god's creation it is the pinnacle of god's creation and it is the most important part of the believer's life that's a bold statement pastor let's find out what the text says would you pray with me
father god we thank you for this morning god we thank you for the church that you purchased with your own blood by your wounds we are healed and so god we just ask you to do a mighty work in our hearts as we look at the call of the church what it means to come together to grow together and to go together now church says you pray for me pray that i'll be helpful pray that god will humble me behind and beneath his cross this morning that he'll speak through me and then i will get out of the way
now church says you pray for yourself pray that god open up your ears your heart your mind for him this morning that he will radically change your heart for his glory and for his majesty
father god lift this book to our hearts we pray this because of your son's atoning work on the cross for a spirit that's alive and active within all who believe amen
so i want us to see gather grow go together and i want to put this in front of you because this is probably true this might be true for you who are in here probably true for you who are watching on line and and that is simply this that there are those who might have been hurt by the church there are those and let's just be honest here who might have had some bruises from the church and and let's even be further on so that way i'd be totally transparent with you i might have even bruised you in this room and i want to just start off this morning by saying i am sorry and this has caused a lot of people to distrust the church because of bruises that have happened by the church this has caused some anger and some frustrations when it comes to the church and i'm sorry for the pain that the church has caused you but i want us to also talk about the church the way the bible talks about the church the bible never ever ever never never ever assumes your life will be perfect and without struggle and strife in fact just the opposite suffering is on almost every page of the bible and so the bible never assumes even the church will be perfect how do i know that because i've read first corinthians think about them if you want to just look at how messed up things can get go read first corinthians and you're going gonna like dude things are going really well here glad i don't have that mess
and and so i want us to understand that the bible is actually dealing and calling to the church into further holiness and i want us to understand that part of life part of growing in life is walking through pain and walking through bruises and most people take this and they go if there is pain and there's bruises ahead of me why in the world should i ever be a part of this and i will tell you you don't you don't use that logic on anywhere else in the world but you use it when it comes to the church
why because jesus commands his church the world will know you're my disciples how how you love one another i want to put before you this morning whether you're married whether you're single to love is to risk you cannot love without risking it is impossible the people who can actually hurt you the most are who those you love and those who love you if you don't believe me just pay attention to the conversations that happen around the dinner table with your family some of the harshest things can come from who those whom you love and those who love you why because to love is to risk and also this is the training ground this is how we are grown as human beings is what through struggle through resistance because here's what i also know i also know that we can come in here together and i have never met someone that says i am perfect but yet it's funny because we often assume everyone else must be perfect and so if you're not perfect how can you expect everyone else to be perfect and so therefore we realize that god has designed the growth of the christian through one way through his church this is god's primary way in which he grows the christian as he grows us together and for those of you that have bruises for those of you that have scars can i just share with you being alone is exactly where satan wants you being alone is exactly what he wants why because if you don't have another christian spurring you on you will always always think you're doing everything right and you'll never be challenged to grow and you will wither and you will become anemic and your spiritual life will wither away into nothing so god has designed us to meet together and we're not going to be perfect but praise be to god that god's grace covers our imperfections so here we go hebrews chapter 10 starting in verse 19. what is amazing about this text i want you to see is as we look at 19 through 25 there's three moments there's three moments the author puts before us where he says let us so three let us so let us means what there is a plural it is an assumed plural let us come together not let you not let i but let us come together so here we go 19-22 therefore brothers since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of jesus by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain that is through his flesh and since we have a great high priest over the house of god let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water what i love about this verse is we got to see this in real time over the last few weeks of mark you remember how mark talks about that the curtain was torn open what is that curtain the curtain was the curtain that separated the holy of holies the dwelling place of god and the people is now torn open torn open how by the blood of christ why is this important because it is a reminder god has done what you and i could not do why are you going to heaven well because i'm a good person you can't do that the law all of your morality cannot save you
christ has done that and because he has done that he is worthy of all of our praise all of our admiration everything we own we're like here christ we want you to be exalted in our life because you have done it you have done what we could not do he was pierced for our transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities and so we see the command let us draw near this is the first command in this section let us draw near i love this text because it reminds us that the command is also a blessing isn't that great what god commands becomes a blessing for the believer why because god's commands are for your good for your joy in him not to make you little not to make you small but to make him great what god commands his people is so that he may be glorified so that he may be lifted up and you have unending joy so when you look at a command and you're like i don't like that that's a problem with you not with god right and this is the glorious truth that what god commands he uses as a blessing for you so what does it mean to draw near to god prayer the greatest benefit for the christian while they fight the war here is he allows his people to come to him without restriction remember the old way was you had to go through all of these processes you had to take a bath you had to do all these things in order to come to him and now that christ has come you can come into his presence with boldness and confidence so the first command becomes a blessing to you and to me and that is the blessing of prayer this makes a lot of people uncomfortable why because man many people talk about prayer yet few people actually do it if you ask most people where their struggle is in their christian walk i guarantee you prayer will be one of those and we often talk about it i'll pray for you it doesn't happen and this was a big one for me y'all in 2021 because i recognize how destitute my prayer life is and that's one of the two things i'm supposed to do by the way preach and pray is like my two job descriptions so i'm 50 i got a failing grade
and so the question is why do we struggle to pray answer most of us struggle to pray because we do not make a plan to pray most of us struggle to pray because we don't make a plan to pray paul tells timothy he says timothy here's how you are to be a mature christian you must discipline yourself train yourself for godliness put these things into constant practice i love that which tells us what a failure to plan is a plan to fail and so often we fail to pray because we fail to plan to pray and you know how i know this is true do you know how i can prove this to you because most christians do what before every meal pray which means what they have made a plan that before the meal they're going to pray so why wouldn't we make that plan elsewhere in our day why wouldn't we do that elsewhere in the day i still don't believe you pastor let me also prove it to you have you ever gone up to somebody who is a ferocious reader of god's word and you ask them how do you do it every single person i know who's consistent and constant in their bible reading have a slot in their day which they have devoted to the reading of god's word so if we've devoted that to the reading of god's word why wouldn't we devote that also to prayer well that seems a little bit mechanical to me that might work for you but man i'm kind of a free flower great how's that working for you how's it working because i know i know tomorrow morning my wife has to wake up before i think even jesus wakes up at 5 30 in the morning okay and i know when that alarm goes off coffee's got to get made because hebrews and then and then the next 30 minutes is just it's just time in the word just time the word why because that plan is set in our schedules and no one's messing with that because it's important because prayer and bible reading are life to the christian you do not mature outside of a constant consistent devotion to god in his word and prayer charles spurgeon says it this way bible reading bible reading is breathing in and prayer is breathing out and this is important prayer in god's word is the training ground for the war that wages in our hearts and our homes and our community in our city and our state and our country and in our world prayer and god's word is a training ground it is the practice for god's people and we know that the word of god and the prayers go hand in hand why because ephesians tells us one offensive weapon for the church the sword of the spirit and prayer there are two edges of the same sword
powerful prayers are found by praying god's word back to him so here's what's really cool i love it because we just help the church so well with this we give you a reading plan right and so as you're doing your reading plan guess what you're doing you're using those scriptures you're reading for powerful prayers in your quiet time and devotion the reason why prayer is commanded is because the most sure way in which the believer the man or woman of god is strengthened prayer and the word of god are commanded because that's how god strengthens his people so let's talk about some objections people raise when it comes to prayer objection one i prayed and god did nothing man i prayed i've been praying been i mean some people i know have been praying the same prayer for decades and they're like it's not doing anything well some of us take prayer i'm not talking about the people and praying for decades i'm saying some of us take prayer like it's a magical pill like it's a quick fix i prayed once god didn't move prayer clearly doesn't work have you ever gone to the workout gym and said man i worked out once where's my six pack i worked out once how come i'm not 50 pounds lighter where's my tone muscle everyone like that's not how that works and in the same way that's not how prayer works prayer is not a quick fix prayer is not prayer is not a magical pill we live in the culture of instant gratification i want it now not prayer buddy it's not how prayer is designed
which brings us to the next objection the next reasoning prayer is not getting stuff from god prayer is about getting god most of us use prayer to get stuff from god that's not the purpose of prayer that's an effective prayer but it's not the purpose of prayer the prayer the purpose of prayer is so that you may get more of god any person who enjoys a fervent prayer life enjoys a fervent prayer life because they are communing with god not because they're getting stuff from god if you don't believe me find those who are really prayer warriors and they will tell you that truth
prayer conforms us into the image of the savior into the image of our of christ wasn't prayer supposed to get me something well take that logic to the full extreme if prayer is all about getting stuff from god wouldn't that make him our genie wouldn't that make him our little servant but that's not how god's ever described is it he's described as that which we come and we worship we bow down we lay our crowns at his feet so what does that mean prayer is all about us coming before him and adoring him and seeing him as great that's why it says let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance to him not let us draw near so we can get stuff from him let us draw near so we can get him the living relationship the church experiences with god happens through prayer prayer is about fixing our eyes on the greatness of god our god in heaven holy your name your kingdom come your will be done the answer to that prayer has nothing to do with asking things from god but glorifying and praising him and this is why god sent his son to be crushed on that cross so that you and i may come to him and enjoy him
forever i want to see what else prayer does i want to see what else prayer does it provides assurance and the essential fight against sin you cannot fight sin without fervent expectant prayers if prayer is not part of your daily discipline you'll never be able to fight sin you will always cave to sin and here's the problem you will never ever be convicted of your own sin because god's not on the forefront of your mind you are so practically how do we walk out prayer how do we become better prayers may i challenge you in the morning before you head out for the day before you grab your phone grab that bible and start praying i'm not saying have six hour prayers i'm saying just five minutes spend time in god's word and then spend five minutes set your alarm five minutes and do this pray thanking god adoring god worshiping god don't pray anything asking him for anything just spend five minutes praising him i guarantee you your whole day will change into you thinking about how can god be clearly seen throughout my day and then what's going to happen is when you pray fervently in the morning do you know what's going to happen in the days in the in that day you're going to have those quick five-second prayers when that phone rings and you see on the caller id and you're like oh this is a hard one you're gonna say that prayer god would you please be in the middle of this
friends without prayer we will never grow as a church don't neglect even short powerful prayers when prayer becomes a pattern of life you will see god more clearly in everything in your day you can tell the people who aren't praying by how worried and concerned they are by what's going on in the world verse 23
let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful so we have seen the command to pray now we get to see as a church the command to hold fast again what i love about the bible is that all the commands are given are given and there's a blessing that comes with it and it says this without wavering now a lot of people struggle with that because a lot of people are like it says without wavering which means if i have questions about god if i have concerns if i have doubts then i must not be saved that's a dangerous place to be friends doubting happens in every christian's life it happens it's part of the sanctification process it's part of the struggle with sin if you don't believe me i encourage you just read the bible read all of the saints and guess what they struggled they battled with god's goodness god are you really there are you really doing anything so what happens when doubt creeps in we do not waver and wonder about our salvation we look to the cross and find out what we believe about jesus we look to the cross and we say to i understand that that is my hope is that my king so the question is not what are you holding on to the better question is what is holding on to you the ground of our faith when we feel ourselves doubting when we feel ourselves wavering when we feel like doubt is starting to set in where do we turn we turn to the cross the confidence the grounds of our hope is in the fact that god gave his son and that sacrifice was not a waste i want you to hear me on this this is very important the sacrifice of jesus christ on the cross was not a potential salvation but an actual salvation i want to say that again because i think you missed that the sacrifice of our lord was not a potential salvation it was an actual salvation that is important why because it reminds us that the precious blood of our savior not a drop of it was wasted all of it is used to accomplish god's purpose and so he says this he says this he says let us hold fast to the confession of our hope this hope is not like i hope you have a good day this hope is the assurance of things you cannot see this is the hope that you know for sure since christ was crushed salvation is true for me and so if you see christ on the cross the christian response that's my king that's where i will be the cross changes everything the sacrifice of christ and his cross is our hope and stay it is our firm foundation so this is why the author calls us to look to the cross
why is this important why does the author put this right in the center of this great theological point because do you realize what is at stake here if christ cannot do what he said to do god is a false god he's a liar and he cannot be trusted so that means god's whole essence his whole being is at stake so therefore you can trust god when he commands you to do something why because he is good and he will accomplish what he has started and this is the ground in which we stand versus 21 excuse me 24 and 25. great memorize memorize 24 and 25 and let us consider how to stir one another up to love and good works not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another all the more as the day draws near i love this verse and most people don't
this gives us insight that god has designed your growth your sanctification your holiness one way and that is through the church now i'm going to be a little bit harsh but let me be a little bit harsh and i'll come around it really softly because i want to answer this because we as a church have let this be said way too much without challenging it and calling it for what it is and it is nonsense you have heard it said quote i love jesus but i'm not about organized religion or worse i'm not religious but i'm spiritual okay let's start with the second one okay even satan is spiritual bro
it's nonsense what does spiritual even mean it's nonsense i love jesus but i'm not about organized religion let's find out how much you love jesus if you love jesus you love his word right who jesus is what he says goes right if you love jesus you love his word here to go matthew 18 jesus gives us directions on how we're supposed to communicate how we're supposed to work through one another when sin comes in right and what does he say go to the brother one to one if they're in sin call them out on their sin they should repent if they don't bring in a brother and a sister bring in two or three witnesses if they don't bring them before the elders if they don't put them before the church and i want you to hear what he says if he or she does not listen even to the church let them be a curse cast them out jesus loved organized religion how do we know that we just got done reading acts what did paul do when he built the church he organized the church he said you've got pastors and elders you've got deacons you've got members god organized the church still don't believe me okay cool jesus in the upper room said what the world will know you're my disciples how how you love one another how can you love one another if you're not meeting together
you can't
jesus has designed the church for your growth and for your goodness i have never met a mature christian who does not belong to a local church because they don't exist
it sounds like you're putting a work on salvation you're saying you need the church to be a christian i'm saying this you need to go home to be married
they work together they work hand in hand they're important for one another and so he says this do not neglect meaning together again here's the discipline of the church the discipline of the church is your sunday mornings are blocked out aren't they your home group nights are blocked out aren't they now again i know things come up i know sicknesses come up i know vacations come up i'm not talking about that but there is not a morning where you wake up you're like i'm just not feeling it could you imagine saying you know what i'm just not feeling like loving my spouse today or how about this i'm not feeling like loving my kids today i'm just not feeling it i'm just not going to do it doesn't make sense it cannot make sense so why do we meet together i love how the writer of hebrews just answers these questions for us why do we meet together we meet together to spur one another on to see the glory and the majesty of god you remember moses right what does he say god show it to me show me all of who you are and god says you can't handle that but here's what i'm gonna do i'm gonna hide you in the cleft of the rock he passes by put his hands over class of rock moses sees the trail end of his robe but as he passes by he says this the lord the lord a god merciful and gracious slow to anger abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness keeping steadfast love for thousands so you know how it says we spur one another on to love and good works what does that mean god has to be spurred on to anger we have to be spurred on to love god's natural reaction is love steadfastness patience kindness what's my natural reaction the opposite of that i'm quick to be angry i'm quick to judge i'm quick to get frustrated all these things i am quick to do i need to be stirred on to holiness because i naturally do wicked things i'm not sure i want you to be my pastor i'm being honest with you and anyone worth their salt standing here will be honest with you and saying i am a sinner just like anyone else who is in desperate need of the grace of god and i need you to spur me on to love and good works i need you to spur me onto these things
and here's how i know this because i know that i often want to judge people based on their actions yet i want people to judge me based on my intentions you ever noticed that you ever know that's a problem you know that that's idolatry to its max i'm going to judge everyone else by their actions but i want everyone to judge me by my intentions that's making me god and so here's what needs to happen i need people to spur me on to my intentions and to my actions and you do too
the amazing thing is god not only knows our actions but he also knows our intentions does he not and sometimes our intentions can be way out of whack can't they and sometimes our actions can be way out of whacking what does he do he's slow he's patient calling you and i to repentance he puts up with you and i even making ourselves god in our own lives and if there's anyone that can complain about the way i am acting or behaving it's god and what does he do he's patient with me and he's patient with you so what does that mean we're patient with one another stirring one another on to love and good works most of the time frustration the church comes from the fact of us thinking it's not going my way they're not doing what i want them to do no one is serving my wants no one is serving my needs let me tell you there are people and there's the one preaching in front of you who are hard to love a little extra grace required okay i got that
but it is just that that we come together and we do what is hard because god promises it will go well for you you will see me more clearly when you love that person who is so hard to love who drives you crazy nails on the chalkboard who has terrible intentions terrible actions but they're here and so we come together and we love them well this is why we gather together this is why we serve one another because god says that's how you see me
so we encourage one another to holiness and we recognize this point and this is your conviction part for the morning everyone reads this and says i know how to do love and good works it's other people that need help but what is the truth we all need to stir one another up if you ever think you're so mature you don't need stirring up it just reveals how immature you are in the lord
and so we know that our lord died for the church he gave his blood to purchase his church and the love of christ is seen through his word and through his church the word of christ commands us to the church and the church commands us to the word and god is glorified through this so gather grow how do we go how do we go first community coming together is hard work but anything worth doing is hard work there will be bumps there will be struggles there will be bruises but it will be totally worth it if you do not put a high priority on meeting together the gathering of the believer for the worship of god will feel like an option rather than a joy the church will feel like a chore rather than a privilege one of my favorite psalms i was glad when they said to me come let us go into the house of the lord even when we do not feel like it we must trust god that through obedience he will give us joy not feeling like doing something is not a good reason not to do something god promises his church satisfaction when the people meet together next be inviters and be goers be inviters and be goers invite people over for community for fellowship it doesn't mean you gotta break out your greek new testament by the way and do some sort of crazy holy thing man just hang out ask questions love one another learn about one another be invested in one another you see we as a church often look to simple things and god always uses the simple things for great things does he not when you spend time with the people of god you'll be stirred to his greatness because when christians get together we see and savor and spur one another onto him make time in your week to be in fellowship with other believers at the oasis church and that means even beyond home group finally do you have a plan for your spiritual disciplines do you have your spiritual discipline scheduled
if your schedule said you're going to work guess where you're going you're going to work if your schedule says you're going to read your word guess what you will do you will read your word send alarm on your phone don't ever think that setting an alarm is a lack of discipline it is discipline in itself that god commands failure to discipline yourself is disciplining yourself to fail and god is glorified when we do what he commands let us pray father god we thank you for this morning we thank you for this text we thank you for the church that you purchased with your blood by your wounds we are healed and we come together and we have one message to you be the glory and the majesty and the church and in christ jesus throughout all generations forever and ever amen and when we take that the whole world sees and wants it so god we thank you for the church we love you we worship your son's name praise things amen
hi i'm pastor scott pastor of the oasis church listen we are so excited that you decide to join us for the preaching and teaching of god's word we just pray that this will stir your affections towards christ but we have one encouragement we want to leave you with please do not allow this to take the place of the local body of believers we pray that you will be involved in a local congregation a local church that you can find yourself submitting under the eldership and the leadership of a local church we pray that you will find yourself stirred towards christ and that your joy in christ will be ever increasing