Put Off and Put On

Good morning, everyone. Good morning to everyone on every campus. So good to be with you today. My name is Edward, if we've never met before. Happy Father's Day to all of the dads here. Just wanted to add my voice there. So grateful for you, for who you are to our church, to our families. What you do, fathers, what you do really matters. Really matters, matters to God, it matters to your families, it matters to our church. Maybe you're not a father, but you've been a spiritual father. Happy Father's Day to you. Thank you for what you do, and thank you for who you are to our church as well. I'm a dad to my sweet and precious daughter, Penelope Jane Perez, she's two and a half. And we also have a baby boy coming in literally in just a few weeks. So yeah, yeah, we're pretty excited. So if my wife goes into labor this morning, she's just gonna gimme a wave, and you all just read Colossians 3, all right? There you go. So I think we'll be good, but you never know. So sometimes I have to admit though, just about two-year-olds, they like what they like, and they're pretty funny, aren't they? Man, I have learned a ton in just two and a half years of being a father, especially to a toddler. And right now, the thing that is invaluable in our home right now is her princess dresses. For instance, she says, when she wakes up, "Elsa dress, daddy. No, no, no, Moana dress, daddy." And I'm like, all right, yeah, sure, you know, whatever. And then, but this is like, she wants these dresses on all of the time. And then if it's like, Hey, not right now, we gotta get going. "Okay, okay, daddy, you put it on me later or tomorrow." And I'm like, all right, all right, Penelope, no problem. But it's also quite funny when she is, when we bathe her, and maybe she's wore one of her dresses all day long, maybe her Elsa dress, and we give her a bath, and then maybe perhaps, after she's done with her bath, she wants to put that Elsa dress back on even after she's been wearing it all day. And it's like soon as she gets outta the bath, "Elsa dressed, daddy." No, not right now. You just took a bath, you're all clean. And maybe perhaps it's later in the evening and it's right before bed, and so of course she says to me, "Okay, if not the Elsa dress, cookies, daddy." And then knowing that it's late and whatnot, of course I'll go and say, all right here, just don't tell mom, right? No, I'm kidding, I don't do that, I'm kidding. I would hear about that later. I would. But of course, it's like, no, we're not going to put that dirty Elsa dress back on you because it's dirty and you are clean now. And then of course she says, "Okay, mommy, daddy, wash it for me." There you go, we'll wash it for you. We're not gonna put dirty clothes back on her after she's all clean. You know, trying to put dirty clothes back on is not something that just a two-year-olds does. The church at Colossae actually needed this warning and admonition as well. This is because there are dirty old clothes that should not be in our wardrobes anymore because we have been washed clean in Christ. So dads, this isn't a scenario where you are trying to keep that pair of socks for over 50 years, all right? Or that shirt that everyone knows should be discarded and never seen in public again, we're not talking about that. What we're going to learn today is to get rid of the old, dirty sin-stained clothes, why? Because we have new clothes. We've received new clothes for new life with Christ. We have received new clothes for new life with Christ. Let's turn to Colossians 3, and let's see what Paul says here for us, beginning in verse one. "Since then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, to where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things, for you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Now, right here in these opening verses we notice that we have been raised with Christ. And immediately this would draw us back to the previous verses that we would study here last week, when Paul was addressing the false teachers that were infiltrating the church at Colossae, whether that was legalism, or mysticism, or aestheticism, Paul wanted the church to know that they have died with Christ, and therefore they did not have to give themselves over to the false teachings and teachers that were prevalent. Just going back to Colossians 2:20 says this, "Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why as though you still belong to the world, do you submit to its rules? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch?" Did you catch it? Since you died with Christ. You see, this isn't the first time that Paul reminded this church of this truth of dying with Christ, as we can note this all throughout the book of Colossians. But why it's important here to recognize kind of towards the end of Colossians 2 and into Colossians 3 is because Paul references dying to our old selves towards the end of chapter two, so that we aren't taken captive by hollow and deceptive philosophies. And then he begins chapter three by talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and us being raised with Him. Therefore, church at Colossae, and by extension, you and I as well, we can have the power to say no to the false teachings and walk in the freedom of Christ. We don't need the legalistic decrees, you don't need special angelic visions, you don't need mediators, because the one who rules over literally everything, has raised you to life with Him. And because of this, Paul says, as we look in Colossians 3, we got a loaded text. So just make sure we're looking at it, studying it, keeping our eyes on it. Because he says, "To set our hearts on things above, set our minds on things above, knowing that our life is hidden, is secure with Christ." There's absolute security that you and I have in Jesus. So, we see just right in these opening first few verses that Christ has been raised to life, and we are raised with Him, and we're to set our hearts, and our minds, and our thoughts on Him being dead to the old, elemental, spiritual forces of the world and raised to a new freedom and security that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. So with that said, I wanna skip down though to Colossians 3:9, and listen to what Paul says here. We'll come back to the other verses. "Do not lie to each other," listen to this, "since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in the knowledge and image of its Creator. Here there is no gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and is in all." So as we look at that, we see that idea, that metaphor that Paul uses there, I highlighted that, right, where Paul says, "We have put off our old selves and we have now put on our new selves." It's a metaphor of clothing, that's what we see. And Paul says, "They have taken off the old self along with its practices and have put on their new selves." In other words, they have changed their clothes because of what Christ has done. Paul, in Colossians 3 is contrasting for us what our life looked like before Christ, and now what newness in Christ looks like in Christ. We have been washed, made clean, therefore, do not try to put on those old, sin-stained clothes any more. That's what Paul is helping, this is really just kind of the tone here of the text that Paul is helping them to understand. And by the way, clothing yourself with Christ and His life, Paul wrote about that idea to the church at Galatia. In fact, take a listen to it in Galatians 3. "So in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have," listen to this, "clothed yourselves with Christ." We've clothed ourselves with Christ. The clothes of our old selves along with its practices have been taken off of us. And the clothing of the life of Jesus has been placed onto us. We've put on the new self as we've been baptized into Christ. You see, Paul's helping us to understand what a glorious transformation, death to life. And because of this transformation, there is a new self that has been clothed upon us, that we can walk in freedom having the life of Jesus lived out through us. It's incredible. And the new self, which we have put on, let's look at Colossians 3:10. Now we're gonna jump into the deep end of the pool for just a couple of minutes. We're gonna come back, don't worry, to the shallow one, but just, we're gonna dive into the deep end here, taking our floaties off, we'll be okay. But I wanna show you this because it's really, it's helpful, when you kind of just squeeze out the text a little bit to see what's behind it. So, Paul says, "And have put on the new self, which is," this is a present participle in the Greek language, but we also see it translated here in English, the I-N-G is being, right, "the new self is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator." Why I point out the present participle here is to help us to understand that the new self that has been placed upon us is not in its final state yet. There's continual renewal, there's continual transformation, there's continual sanctification that is happening, setting ourselves apart unto Christ. That's what's being communicated here. "The new self is being renewed." It is not totally complete yet. We are continually being shaped more and more like Jesus. Also, so we see the present participle here, but also there's something in the Greek language to pay attention to, I'm not a scholar in Greek, by the way. It's not good, all right? I'm just, I'm trying. I study to be able to show you what's behind it. Now, this is also in the passive voice. It's in the passive voice. And here's why that is important. Because the passive voice tells us that the subject receives the action. The subject, the new selves that we've put on, receives the action. It's not something that the subject does by its own power or whatnot, but the subject receives the action, that's what that means when we say it's in the passive voice. So what that helps us to understand is, the new self is in a continual process of renewal, and we are receiving that renewal by God. God is doing this work in our lives. God is doing this in our hearts. That's all being communicated by the present participle and the passive voice. So there you go. But what I also wanted to to point out is, we can also see Paul writing about that idea even in 2 Corinthians 4:16, take a listen here. "Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly, we are wasting away," I love this, "Yet inwardly, we are being renewed day by day." You see, God is doing this work in our hearts and making us more and more like Christ as we cooperate with Him, as we pursue Him. Going back here to Colossians 3:10, it also says this, "The new self being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator." Now, what does that mean when we look at "Image of its Creator" here? I wanna point that out here for a second, because this has Genesis overtones to it when we start to look at "Image of its Creator." It helps us to see that the new self is not created in the likeness of the first Adam. That image has been marred and tainted by sin, which is why it needs to die. But when we come to Christ, we now bear the new self, right, and that we now bear the image of the last Adam, Jesus. And now we are continuing to be shaped and molded more into the image of our creator, Jesus, until the day that we see Him, and the scripture says, "When we see Him, we will be made like Him." But for now to grow in that likeness, Paul is helping us to understand, is to continue to deeply know Jesus. It is a knowledge, not of special angelic visions, not of these special laws, or any of those things, but it's a knowledge of Jesus Christ who is the creator of our new selves, but who is also the creator of everything. You see, that's the kind of knowledge that Paul wants for the church at Colossae to have, to know Christ, and by extension, that's what we are to have as well, to know Christ. This is because as they and we do, we are being shaped more and more like Jesus. And then for those that have been made new in Jesus, the scripture says in verse 11, "Here, there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and is in all." You see, for all of those who have been made new in Jesus, the scripture says in verse 11, that we have a new family, a new humanity, the new people of God, where there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and is in all. This is the eternal family that we belong to. Now, I've recognized that we kind of had to take a little bit of a deeper dive there for a second to grasp these truths, to know who we are, and who we are becoming more like. We're becoming more like Jesus. But now, let's get practical here, because Paul does. Based upon who we are and who we are becoming more and more like Christ, going back to the analogy that Paul used in this chapter of clothing, to refer to our old clothes for our old way of life, and our new clothes for our new way of life, what are we to do? What are the action steps that Paul tells us here, because he does give some very clear, direct pointed actions here? The first is this, "If we have received new clothes for new life in Christ, we must," first and foremost put off the old clothes 'cause they no longer fit. Put off the old clothes 'cause they no longer fit. Remember, these clothes are dirty and sin-stained, and therefore these clothes should not be put on us anymore because they no longer fit who we are in Christ. And what is characteristic of those old clothes? What does that look like? Well, let's back up to verse five and let's see what's characteristic of the old self, of the old clothes. "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways in the life that you once lived, but now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other." See, this is what we see here, right? The old has been put off and done away with. However, we still experience lingering effects from the flesh, the earthly nature. That which is within us that still wants to do our own thin, and we all inhabit bodies that have yet to be fully renewed. We groan and long for that day as we live in the already, but not yet. But we still deal with sin in our lives, hopefully not in the same way 10 or 20 or 30 years ago because we have power over it, sin doesn't rule us anymore, we're not subject to sin, but we all are still tempted. We're all in the process of healing from brokenness and pain and trauma, and therefore, we're not sin free yet as we still live in a sin cursed world. I mean, even as we've seen the past week in some of the events, the sin cursed world that we live in. And because of the sin cursed world that we live in, here's how the apostle Paul says that we are to deal with the ongoing sin that we might face. Ready? You put it to death. You put sin to death. Put it to death. Verse five, "Put to death." Put it to death over and over and over again. Do not play around with it, do not give it life, confess it to the Lord., do not allow it to rule you. Because as verse seven of our text says, "You used to walk in these ways." You used to walk in these ways in the life you once lived. Therefore, listen closely, we need to die to sin or we will be dead in sin. You know, I can remember my wife and I, we were traveling at one point and we were talking to an older gentleman who we got to know, it was some kind of storefront or whatnot, he owned his own business. But as we were talking with him, he turned out to know the Lord and love Jesus. And we were talking a little bit about who we are, what we do and whatnot. And I'll never forget what he said, it still really sticks with me to this day. He said, "You know, keep following Jesus because sin ages you." Sin ages you. Time will do that too, I know that but he was making a point. As the sayings go, which are so true, sin will fascinate then assassinate. Sin will thrill, then it will kill. Sin will take you further than you wanted to go, keep you longer than you wanted to stay, and cost you more than you wanted to pay. Therefore, we must put off and put to death sin. Scott McKnight's work, he's an author and scholar, as I was reading and studying for this message, he helped me categorize the lists that Paul gives here, verses five through nine that Paul gave, and we see all those different things that Paul's talking about in concert with our old way of life, in concert with a flesh, kinda our old nature. And he helped me categorize these lists in two ways. We see sins of desire and we see sins of disunity, that we're to put off and put to death. Let's first start with sins of desire. This is a characteristic of our old way, of the old sin-stained clothes, sins of desire. And when we look at verse five, Paul says, "Put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature, sexual morality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is a idolatry." Notice in verse five, there's a handful of sinful kind of broken desires listed there that are getting at, a lot of them are actually helping to get at what sexuality is to look like in the kingdom of God. I mean, that's a lot of what you see in verse five. Paul has stood out sexual morality, impurity, lust, evil desires, all getting at sinful sexual desires that need to be put off. You see, the church at Colossae needed to be reminded of the sexual ethic that God had established among His people, and that simply is one man and one woman in the context of a covenant marriage relationship, or single and celibate. It's a sexual ethic that you see running throughout the course of scripture, and Colossae needed to be reminded of this reminder of this truth living within the Roman world. I think, by the way, I think we need that reminder as well, to be reminded that to go outside of the boundaries and what God has established specifically within the realm of sexuality brings confusion and breakdowns and ultimately destruction. And this is why Paul says we are to put off and put to death these kinds of sinful desires. And Paul also mentions greed or covetousness, which is idolatry. And this could certainly include sinful sexual desires, certainly, but also encompasses is putting anything in our hearts that we are desiring more than God. That's what greed and covetousness, it's idolatry. Anything in our hearts that we're desiring or longing for more than God, Paul says, "Put that off, put that to death. We used to walk in those ways and we wanna be fully satisfied in who God is to us." We also see sins of disunity. Sins of disunity as we look at verses eight and nine again. Eight and nine, I could read it. "But now you must also rid yourself of all such things as these anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other." And when you look at the list here that Paul gives, we must take into account that all of these would do damage to our brothers and sisters in Christ, wouldn't they? Anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language, lying, all do damage to the relationships that we have and create disunity within the body of Christ. Paul says, maybe we used to perhaps treat people in these ways, but not anymore, especially among and toward the family of believers. These are to be put off. Sins of desire and sins of disunity, these are old garments that we are to put off, the sin-stained clothes that no longer fit who we are in Christ. These are to be put off, sins of desire and sins of disunity. These are old garments that we are to put off, the sin-stained clothes that no longer fit who we are in Christ. They should be listen closely, they should be out of the wardrobe. But we also see what Paul says here, "Put on the new clothes because they display Christ." Put on the new clothes because they display Christ. You know, I could remember I had two buddies from outta town that were coming in to stay with us. One is a Bills fan, and the other a Patriots fan. I know, I'm more loosely connected with the Patriots fan. They were both coming to see a Bills game here locally. The Patriots fan had actually never seen a Bills game here in the western New York area, so he wanted to come in and we graciously opened our doors for both of them to stay with a graciously. But I can remember, I mean, it was getting ready for the game and everything, he had, like Tom, and this is before we were like dominant in our division, he had full on Patriots gear, like Tom Brady Apparel, new England Patriots just galore. And I said to him, I'm like, oh my goodness, dude. Hey, listen, hey, I know you're wanted to have fun. I just, I have to tell you this because I care for you. I really care for you. I would not wear that if I were you. I would not even step out of my house with that apparel. Maybe just a hat, okay. Maybe Buffalonians, we can like settle with that, I don't know. But a full on hat and number 12 Patriots gear, I was like, dude, you should take those clothes off and come to the light, man, put on a Bills jersey. He didn't. That's fine. He lives to tell a tale about it too, which is good. But our clothes can display something, don't they? Our clothes can display our allegiance to a sports team. Our clothes can display where we're from, how much money we have, how we want people to perceive us. They're visible to a watching world. And because of that, the spiritual clothes that we are to put on are garments that reveal and display Jesus. Listen to Colossians 3:12-14. "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another, if any of you has a grievance against someone, forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all of these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." You see, the list that Paul here gives is very similar to the list that Paul would give in Galatians 5, and the fruit of the Spirit and whatnot, because what we see is that this isn't something that we do by our own strength. As we looked at earlier, God is doing this work in us. The new clothes has been put on us, but God is growing us into them. God is continuing to allow the new clothes to fit us so that we display Jesus. Paul talked about clothing ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ in Romans 13, listen to it, "Rather cloth yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh." So we have this wonderful list of what the new clothes look like in Colossians 3:12-14. These are the clean clothes, these are the clothes fit for new life in Jesus. You see, rather than walking through all of these attributes, there's a ton of them here. You know, a number of 'em, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience. We would be here all day, right? And I don't want to do that because we would be here all day. But I wanna focus in on what Paul did say in verse 14. What does he say? "And over all of these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." The ESV, the English Standard Version, I actually prefer that translation, which says, "Binds them all together in perfect harmony." Think about it in terms of music. I enjoy music, we're a bit of a musical family. My wife, I know she sings, and maybe I could illustrate this for you in this way. When my wife is trying to find a harmony, do you know what she'll ask me to sing? The melody. She'll ask me to sing the melody. And you should just hear our car ride sometimes, right? Singing, oh, how great is the love. You know, we'll just be singing and I'll sing the melody, she'll sing the harmony to it. But as we know, the harmony compliments the melody. You need the melody to bring the harmonies in unison or together. If all you were singing were just harmonies without the melody, the song gets lost, right? What Paul is helping us to understand is that love is the melody. Love is the melody of the Christian life. And there are harmony parts to this song of love. The harmony parts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with each other, forgiving one another are all beautiful, rich, textured harmony parts that bring the fullness of the melody of love. This is because without love, you don't have a song. Without love, we're nothing. You see, love marks the new clothes. We could say maybe this way, love is the brand of the new clothes. Love marks the new clothes, and the way of love beautifully displays our Savior, Jesus. He's the God of love. And we're to put on new clothes where we put on over all of these virtues, over all of these garments, we put on love that blends all of these wonderful things in perfect harmony. And then Paul says this to wrap up our text, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts since as members of one body you were called to peace and be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through Psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." If I were to just summarize these last few verses here, here's what I would say. Let Christ be your life because that is the ripple effect of new life in Him. We see Christ, we've been raised to life with Christ, and we see some of the theology behind that as we looked at it. And then the practical side, we were putting to death, the old garments and putting on the new garments marked by love. It's the melody that brings all of those attributes together in harmony. And then we end by talking about how Christ is our life. Because that is the ripple effect of new life in Him. His peace rules our hearts, His word dwells among us richly. We worship Him with gratitude and songs in our hearts. Whatever we do, we do for Him and for His glory because Christ is our life. So let me just ask just a couple of questions as we close, just a few questions. Here's the first, am I still trying to put on old clothes that no longer fit? Am I still trying to put on old clothes that no longer fit? And what do you need to give to the Lord? Are you still reaching for the old garments marked by an old way of life? Maybe some of those things, anger, rage, malice, sexual morality, and purity, lust, evil desire. Would you just give that to the Lord today? 'Cause old clothes and new clothes don't fit together. We wanna put off the old. Put off the old, and continue to allow God to work in and through our lives. Here's a second question I would ask. Is my mind being continually renewed with the truth of Christ? See, is my mind being continually renewed with the truth of Christ? Listen closely, the mind is a battleground. There's a reason why Paul said, "To set our minds on things above where Christ is and not on earthly things." There's a reason why Paul said, "That the new self is being renewed in knowledge, in the image of its Creator." There's a reason why Paul said in Romans 12, "To be transformed by the renewing of our minds." There's a reason why Paul said, "To put on the helmet of salvation" because the mind is a battleground. And the enemy of our souls in concert with the remnants of our flesh will speak lies, confuse emotions, and cause us to doubt the goodness of God, and if our minds are not being continually renewed, we will be conformed to the patterns of this world. Our minds are either being renewed after Jesus or conformed to the world. This is why we need to live out the new self, the newness that we have with our new clothes. And to do that, may we practice the presence of God often, continually like it's food that we cannot live without, like it's water for our thirsty souls. It's that important because He will remind us of our identity in Him, and He will help us live out His life. So fathers, let me challenge you today. Let me challenge you, fathers today, hunger after God. Let your children see you with your Bible open. Let your children see you praying for them and with them. Let your Sunday mornings be a sacred and reserved time to be among the people of God at church together, worshiping Him and among His people. If you're married, let your children see you loving their mom. Because don't think that the enemy is just after our minds, he's also after the minds of our kids. And in a world of such confusion, what a gift to our kids or grandkids to show them that we are men who are grounded in the truth of God, and that we are men after God's own heart. May that be true of us, and may that happen as we allow our minds to continually be renewed in the Lord Jesus Christ with the truth of Jesus. Let me ask you this last question, is love the melody of my life? Is love the melody of my life? Will the people closest to you say that you are wearing your new clothes well? Would they say that you're a person of sacrificial love? If not, would we allow God to love us in even deeper ways? 'Cause He will love us into loving. You know, maybe you're here today and today's a hard day. Maybe today's a hard day, given the nature of it being Father's Day. Maybe you have a strained relationship with your dad. Maybe your dad checked out on you. Maybe you never knew who your dad was, or maybe today's painful because you lost your dad. Would you allow me to say this to you, to let the melody of the father's love for you still give you a song to sing. 'Cause the Father sings His love over us. And would you allow that tune to be the song in your heart today? He's a good father to his kids. He loves you. May we be people with new clothes who live out what it means to love others as Christ has loved to us. Even if you had a great earthly dad, or you have a great earthly dad, they're still not perfect. And we all, we all need to be fathered by God into the new life, with the new clothes that we have on in Christ Jesus. Let's together be people who live out what it means to be new, new clothes, with new life in Christ. Let's pray together. If you're here, if you've never before given your life to Jesus, I would really encourage you that before you leave here today, we have prayer partners that would love to talk with you more about what it means to surrender your life and give your life to Jesus. They would love to talk with you about that. If you need prayer, maybe today's a hard day. Don't leave here today, maybe without taking somebody by the hand and receiving prayer. Praying together, there's something powerful about just praying for one another. With all prayer partners coming on forward, and if you need to give your life to Jesus and say no to that old way, sin-stained way of life, and receive new garments with new clothes because of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection, come and receive new life today. Come and get your new clothes today. They've been purchased by the blood of Jesus. But you have to receive them, you have to put them on. And would you do that? Father, I thank you for what you've said to us by your word today. And Jesus, I pray that you would continually write these truths in our hearts. God, I know we've looked at quite a bit today, but I pray that what stands out above all is that Jesus, you have allowed this to happen, that we can receive new life and we are raised with you, with new clothes to display your life in us, which is marked by love. May we be those kinds of people more and more. Pray for our dads today that you would encourage them, be strengthened in the Lord, and that we would all together depend on you because you're a good Father, we're your kids and we depend on you, we lean into you. And thank you that you father us with an everlasting love, that you sing songs over us, that you're a good Father who will never leave us or forsake us. Help us to know your heart more and more all of our days. We bless you and give thanks and love you in Jesus name. Amen and amen.