The Word of God this morning, first from Luke chapter 9, the Gospel of Luke chapter 9, beginning at verse 18. You may want to think of Acts chapter 21 as the focus of our sermon this morning, but in Luke chapter 9 certainly we have a significant, a pertinent background to what we read in in Acts 21, so we'll hear these important words of the Lord first from Luke 9, beginning at verse 18, and then reading, first of all, through verse 33, and I'll move us along after that. But this is God's holy and inspired word, and we do well to pay attention to it. Once, when Jesus was praying in private, and his disciples were with him, he asked them, Who do the crowds say I am? And they replied, Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life. But what about you, he asked, Who do you say I am? And Peter answered, The Christ of God. And Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. And he said, The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. And then he said to them all, If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world and yet lose or forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste that before they see the kingdom of God. About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John, and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face changed and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. And two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure which was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. Peter and his companions were very sleepy but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. And as the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters, There's one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. He did not know what he was saying. And then let's move down to verse 43. All of the people were amazed at the greatness of God. You see, everyone was marveling at all that Jesus did. And then he said to his disciples, listen carefully to what I am about to tell you. The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them so that they did not grasp it and they were afraid to ask Him about it. And down to verse 51. As the time approached for Him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him, but the people there did not welcome him because he was heading for Jerusalem. And when the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to destroy them? But Jesus turned and rebuked them and they went on to another village. And then from Acts chapter 21. We'll also begin reading here at verse 3, Acts 21, verse 3, through verse 19. Of course, this also is God's holy and inspired word. After sighting Cyprus and passing to the south of it, we sailed on to Syria. We landed at Tyre, where our ship was to unload its cargo. Finding the disciples there, we stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit, they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. But when our time was up, we left and continued on our way. All the disciples and their wives and children accompanied us out of the city. And there on the beach, we knelt to pray. And after saying goodbye to each other, we went aboard the ship, and they returned home. We continued our voyage from Tyre and landed at Ptolemae's where we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for a day. Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the Evangelist, one of the seven. He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied. And after we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. Coming over to us, he took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, the Holy Spirit says in this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles. And when we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And when he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, The Lord's will be done. After this, we got ready and went up to Jerusalem. Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us and brought us to the home of Nason, where we were to say. And he was a man from Cyprus, one of the early disciples. When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers received us warmly. The next day, Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. And Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. So far the reading of God's holy and inspired word. Beloved congregation of Jesus Christ, we read it there in Luke chapter 9 that Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem to suffer and die at the hands of wicked men. But as we saw, the disciples, who had come to understand more of who Jesus was, and by the Lord's grace, had become more and more devoted to Him, in fact, absolutely dependent on Him for all of their understanding of how they ought to honor God in their lives, the disciples, hearing Jesus speak about having to go to Jerusalem to die, didn't want to have anything to do with that idea. In fact, they would do whatever it would take to persuade Jesus not to go on that course. Think about what we read in verse 21 of Luke 9. Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. Not to tell what to anyone? When they finally came to clarity, the disciples, about who Jesus was so that when they asked Him, Peter could speak on their behalf and say, You are the Christ of God. He told them, Don't tell anybody, which is strange. You'd think that Jesus would want everybody to get the message, but he could not have everybody receive that message at that time because they would force him to take his messianic throne and to exercise his power to bring Israel into the glorification to deliver them from all the oppression of the terrible Roman government. And it wasn't time for Jesus to do that. He had to go to the cross and the disciples didn't want it, but Jesus only gave them enough information to keep them off of his back. Think about what Peter said on the Mount of Transfiguration when he sees Moses and Elijah appear in glory and when he finally wakes up from being asleep and recognizes that Moses and Elijah and Jesus Christ himself are not standing and appearing in the old sin-filled and cursed and corrupted, polluted form that we all live in today, but here standing in glory, a little foretaste of the resurrection which would come someday, Peter says, well, let's have it now. Bring in the glorification right now, Jesus. I want it. But of course, Luke's comment was that he didn't know what he was talking about because he didn't understand that it was not time for Jesus to be glorified. It wasn't time for the new heavens and the new earth. Clearly, Jesus first had to go to the cross. Even though all of those around him didn't want that to happen. What about when they were actually headed toward Jerusalem and Jesus was being opposed because he was in a Samaritan village and people going on the way to Jerusalem were not warmly embraced because why would you ever want to go to that filthy city? And when he was being opposed, it would not make accommodation for Jesus. The disciples wanted to bring power down from heaven to consume anybody who would reject the Lord Jesus Christ because they did not understand that Jesus had to go to die first. And they would plead with Him and they would act around Him and with the others around Jesus as if he should not really go to Jerusalem to die. The Apostle Paul, many years later, once he had come to an end of his formal missionary activity and work, once the end of his journeys had finally arrived, he must have concluded that as he was headed down into Jerusalem, he was also going to die for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now for his part, of course, the Apostle Paul didn't really want to suffer and die when he went into Jerusalem. The real reason that Paul was going there was to deliver the offerings that he had collected among the Gentile churches when he was out preaching the gospel and collecting for the saints who had need in Jerusalem. Not only that, he was going down into Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost with those fellow Jewish Christians, his brothers and sisters who had come to faith in Christ and seen what the Lord had done before on the day of Pentecost, pouring out the Holy Spirit. So he's going down into Jerusalem to deliver the offering, to celebrate Pentecost. But Paul seems to know that it is not going to be happy times. He's gotten away with a lot of persecution, but his life has still been spared. All as he's been traveling through his missionary journeys, he's probably concluding in his own mind, though, going into Jerusalem, look, the Lord basically preserved my life because he wanted me to continue to preach among the Gentiles but my ministry has basically been fulfilled and here I am going down into Jerusalem to very likely suffer for the last time even to die for the name of the Lord Jesus. Paul wasn't blind to this. In fact, many of the people that were around the Apostle Paul in his travels had heard from the Holy Spirit that Paul was going to face very severe suffering and persecution when he went down into Jerusalem. Look in Acts 21, for example, there in verse 4. It's an interesting expression. Finding the disciples there, they're sailing on the entire, finding the disciples there, we stayed with them seven days, and through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. What does it mean? Through the Holy Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. Well, it probably means that the Holy Spirit had revealed to some of the prophets who were in the church at that time. Remember, in this time in the church, it doesn't happen today, but the Holy Spirit is speaking to God's people, some of them receiving prophecies about what is going to happen in the future. Some of the prophets in the congregation had been told, apparently, by the Holy Spirit, that when Paul goes down into Jerusalem, he is going to face very severe suffering. So through the Spirit, meaning based on what the Holy Spirit has told them, They are pleading with Paul not to go down to Jerusalem. And it wasn't just these believers at Tyre, but all of the stops along the way. Paul is meeting people who are hearing from the Holy Spirit that you are going to really suffer when you go down to Jerusalem. Now, it's important to know that we don't read anywhere that the Spirit tells anyone directly that Paul was going to die. But it seems like that's how the Apostle Paul and that's how all of these fellow Christians, many of whom came to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ through the ministry of the Apostle Paul. That's how they're interpreting this. They're saying severe suffering for Paul, that means death if you go into Jerusalem. The Spirit had spoken to Paul himself in chapter 20 from verse 22. And now Paul says, compelled by the Spirit, I am going down to Jerusalem, or going up to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. So the Spirit repeatedly, whether through the prophecy that others are receiving or whether through the visions and the dreams and the prophecies that Paul is receiving himself or his fellow apostles, he is growing in the conviction that he is going not only to suffer, but to die in Jerusalem. Think about this strange prophecy that Agabus gives to Paul. And children, I want you to pay attention to this because maybe when you go home today, if your father is nice to you, maybe he'll let you do this to him. just so that you cement this object lesson in your mind. Children, this prophet comes to give Paul a message. Look in chapter 21, verse 10. Coming over to us, verse 11. He takes Paul's belt, and it's not just a normal belt, maybe like your dad is wearing now, but it was a sash, so it was a little bit longer. So this prophet heard something from the Lord, and he's going to come and tell Paul what it is, but he's not going to just tell him what it is, he's going to show him what it is. So he takes this long sash that Paul's wearing and he ties, Agabus does somehow, I don't understand, but he ties his own hands and he ties his feet. So maybe your dad's going to have to get on the ground on all fours and get you some rope to try this. But that's actually what happened. This prophet was sent by the Lord to do this. The Apostle Paul ties his own hands and feet and says to Paul, in this way, Paul, when you go to Jerusalem, the Jews there will bind you and will hand you over to the Gentiles. So Paul all along is hearing prophecies, is receiving visions and dreams from the Lord that when he goes to Jerusalem, he's going to suffer intensely. He's hearing his beloved brothers and sisters in Christ. When he goes from city to city, they're begging him not to go down because they're telling him the Lord has told them that he's going to suffer. This strange prophet Agabus, just in case Paul didn't get the message, is showing him by binding himself that this is going to happen to Paul if he goes to Jerusalem. Maybe, you know what, maybe the Apostle Paul too was thinking about the words that Jesus spoke in Luke 9. When Jesus had resolutely set out to go to Jerusalem to die, maybe he was thinking about what Jesus said in verse 23. If anyone would come after me, He must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. If you want to save your life, you will lose it. But whoever loses his life for me will save it. Verse 26, if anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of me. I tell you the truth, some, verse 27, are standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God. Maybe Paul was putting all of this together and saying, well, it makes sense. I'm going to Jerusalem to die. Of course, the Christians, who were with the Apostle Paul at the time, and they loved him, they owed, humanly speaking, their spiritual lives to him. They were pleading with him not to go. It's clear, Paul, that you are going to Jerusalem to die. Please don't go. And some people say, well, that's odd, because if they had received prophecy from the Holy Spirit, explaining that Paul had to go to suffer in Jerusalem and even to die, then why would they stand in his way? Well, they stand in His way because they loved Him. You know, it wasn't easy even for the disciples with more clarity as time went on that Jesus would have to suffer and die. It was never easy for the disciples to be okay with that. Because inevitably they thought about what are we going to do when Jesus is gone? Who is going to instruct us in the way? And inevitably the disciples who had come to faith through the ministry of the Apostle Paul by the power of the Holy Spirit are thinking the same thing. Paul, you are the bridge from the Jerusalem church to the Gentile churches. You are the one who is expounding the Old Testament Scripture with such truth and power. Your exhortations among us keep us going in the godly path. If you go to Jerusalem and die, what are we going to do? They didn't sit here and wrestle theologically with the fact that God had revealed that He was going to suffer and what we shouldn't stop Him. No, they didn't want Him to go because they loved Him. And they were pleading with him, just like the disciples were pleading with Christ, not to go to Jerusalem to die. But no matter, even though the Apostle Paul had very much become convinced that he was going to die, he would, resolutely, like his Savior, set his face to go to Jerusalem. He makes a remarkable statement, which is at the center of Acts 21. It's verse 13. Paul answers, Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? Here it is. I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And the question that we have to ask is, how in the world can the Apostle Paul be so ready to face such bitter persecution and a lonely, painful death in the city that should embrace him as he returns? How can he be so ready? I mean, you've got to understand the magnitude of what he says by considering your own condition this morning. Well, what do the doctors tell you as you're aging? They start talking to you about cancer and they start talking to you about heart problems and they start talking to you about making arrangements. Your advisors do. Your children, your adult children start coming to you and say, have you arranged your affairs and are we making plans for you to be comfortable and to be cared for? And you think, I'm just as young as I always was, but you know it's not true. What do the economists tell us? Oh, all of the disasters around us are just looming right there to fall right on us in our society and to throw it into upheaval and chaos. We have threats, we are told, of terror that could strike at any moment. And we go through our lives facing all kinds of daily frustrations, all of it leading eventually to what? Death. In this world of suffering under the common curse, we certainly are relieved from our sufferings for a while. And if we're healthy and strong and we have enough money to provide for our basic needs and we have friends, we get a little bit comfortable. But inevitably something happens to us or our families or in our church family that wakes us up to the truth that we're all on the way to death. And when this sensation comes over us and it presses into us, This is exactly the sensation that the Apostle Paul has as he knows he's going to die. How in the world can Paul say that he is ready? How can you have the same response that the Apostle Paul has? I am ready to die. How can the Apostle Paul be so ready? Well, later, probably much later in his life, after he's already gone into Jerusalem and all kinds of things happened there and he's sent out through many Gentile lands, he finds himself in prison in Rome and he writes this in Philippians chapter 1. And you know these words. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body whether by life or death. For to me, to live is Christ but to die is gain. And if I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know because I am torn between the two. First of all, I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far. You want to know how the Apostle Paul could be so strong facing the Lord's providence, likely of his death, to say that I am ready to die for the name of the Lord Jesus? It's first of all because he knew that if he died, he would go to be with Jesus Christ. It was not a question for the Apostle Paul. He certainly, just like you and me, had all kinds of doubts and struggles as he wrestled with various philosophies going around at the time about the afterlife. You know, there's always that insecurity of the unknown that is coming. And yet, at the same time, the Apostle Paul was able to say, I know that if I die, I go to be with the Lord Jesus. Death for me is not bad. Death for me is the entrance into the presence of my Savior, Jesus Christ. Let me tell you something. If anything is weighing on you this morning, if the doctors are telling you that you're facing cancer or heart disease or that you don't have that long to live, if you, even if you're younger, starting to have concerns about the economy or our society or the upheaval and overturning of the Western world, or you're worried about your children, all things breaking down in your life, if you have stress in your home and your relationships, in the workplace, in your school, whatever it is. You know what? What's the worst that's going to happen? Let them kill you. Let something happen to you where you die. Let you contract cancer and suffer and die. You know where you're going to be? With Christ. Which is far better. It doesn't matter what comes in your life. If you belong to Christ, you may have the confidence this morning that Paul has. I am ready to die because I will go to be with Jesus. You know that's true of you this morning by God's grace. It is true of you that you have nothing to fear. Whether by your life or by your death, you will be with Jesus. Which is better by far. Now, of course, for Paul, there was a reason why he could be so confident. it wasn't just wishful thinking. The Apostle Paul could have such confidence in God because you can already hear somebody objecting to that kind of confidence. Well, Pastor or even, well, Paul, you know, isn't that arrogant to have the confidence that if you die, you're going to go be with Jesus? I mean, how do you know you've ever been good enough? How many people have you known in the church that wonderful Christian people that as they age and grow older, they start to question whether or not they're really saved because they look back over their life and they say, wow, you know, especially with all the privileges in church and Christianity and the Reformed faith that I've been given and the Scriptures, you know, I look back, I certainly haven't lived up to what I ought to have done. I mean, I maybe made a lot of sacrifices and been pretty good, but I know what the Lord's holiness required. How did the Apostle Paul in his own conscience answer those doubts and fears? Children, do you know why the Lord will accept you and take you into heaven? How you can know that He will? It's what the Apostle Paul says in Philippians 3. I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I consider everything rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ. The righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. Because the Lord has shown me my sins and my miseries. He showed me my whole life. I've never done enough. That's true. And I never will do enough. That's true. And my faith will never be strong enough. That's true. But what He showed me is that I've cried out for Christ for mercy and Christ has died for all of my doubts and sins and struggles and He's lived a perfect life for all the times that I failed and I didn't care. And I trust His perfect obedience and His blood shed for my sins and I know that Christ has saved me and I know therefore that when I die I will be with Him because I don't trust anything in myself. I'm justified. So bring it on. Bring on death in Jerusalem and you say bring on cancer, bring on any troubles because I'm justified. So it doesn't matter. So if I die, I'll be with Christ. Of course, in Jesus' case, he died in Jerusalem. And some of you are thinking, Paul didn't die in Jerusalem. Which is strange. When you're reading Luke and Acts, two volumes of one book, written by the same guy you're reading through, I mean, it just makes perfect sense that Paul is going to die in Jerusalem. but he doesn't die. Now there's reason for that. It surprises us that he didn't die. Paul's life, you see, is a symbol of Christ's resurrection. The triumph of Christ over death. That's what the end of the book of Acts is about. It's about a string of opponents rising up against the apostle Paul's very life and the demonstration of the power of Christ's resurrection preserving Paul against all of his enemies that continue to assail him time after time after time immediately once he gets into Jerusalem. We don't have much time so we're just going to point out one of the opponents and it's an interesting one that Paul faces when he goes into Jerusalem that really should have killed him. Okay, but it didn't because Paul living is a sign to you of the resurrection of Christ and of your resurrection someday. Let me show you what I'm talking about. Paul gets to Jerusalem. He reports, that's where we stopped in verse 19, He greets the elders of the church in Jerusalem and reports in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And you can imagine this reunion. And it's just amazing to the Jerusalem church because they hear about what the grace of God has done in people's lives. Try to think of a way that we could understand the joy that that would bring them. Well, think about how, just for example, a personal note for you, just think about the joy that it brings you to hear somebody stand before you and say that by God's grace, they came to learn and grow in the Reformed faith in your congregation. Somebody like myself who lived all his life religious and thought that God would accept him if he tried really hard and then realized it wasn't enough and then heard about his sin from the law and heard about the gospel through the ministry of the Reformed churches, preaching the scripture. And think about the joy that that brings you to hear the reports of people from all over the world. I mean, you have the privilege to shepherd some of the students in seminary and then they get sent out all over the place and they preach the gospel and all these people get saved and learn about God's grace and that brings us great joy. So obviously the church in Jerusalem is thrilled. Verse 20, they hear this, they praise God, Paul, it's unbelievable. But it's not long. In fact, right away the elders say, well, we've got a problem. They say to Paul, verse 20, you see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed. But the thing is, you know, all of them are zealous for the law of their fathers. They have been informed you know that's bad news when you hear that line they've been told about you Paul they have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs so ironically the first attack that the Apostle Paul receives is not from the unbelieving Jews it's not from the Gentile rulers who are living in Jerusalem and ruling over it it's from the Christians his brothers and sisters who have been told of course lies lies that Paul is teaching people not to circumcise their children Paul wasn't telling people not to circumcise their children Paul was only telling Jews not to circumcise their children if they thought that it had anything to do with the reason why God would accept them if you want to do your circumcision now as a Jewish cultural thing go ahead and do it Paul the apostle himself had Timothy circumcised for that reason but of course Paul's opponents twisted them also they said he's teaching people not to live according to our customs Paul didn't believe that at all Paul was a Jew just like the rest of them and this strange connection between Jewish religion and culture I mean this nation was formed as a church but after it was no longer the church they still had all these things that used to be religious that are now part of their culture and Paul didn't have a problem with them participating in those things in a cultural way. But he didn't want them to think that they were getting themselves right to God or keeping themselves right with God by participating in them. So anyway, their opponents of the Apostle Paul are lying about him, slandering him, and even the Christian Jews are saying, look, we're really concerned about this Paul guy. He's gone way past the line. I mean, we've learned to accept the Gentiles into the Christian faith, but he cannot trample our Jewish customs. So the elders recommend to him that he participate in one of these cultural expressions of gratitude to God. It's the Nazarite vow. And the Apostle Paul goes through it. But that could have very easily overthrown Paul. And as I said, for time we will not take the time to explain it, but if you go on in chapter 21 and the further chapters, it's not only the Christian Jews, of course they get appeased, but what happens is that Paul, in appeasing the Christians, then gets accused by the unbelieving Jews of something. and by the way, these are unbelieving Jews who have been following him from all across the Gentile lands, upset that Paul has taken people away from the synagogues unless the synagogues would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And so they follow him all the way into Jerusalem, thank you very much, because they couldn't kill him anywhere else, so they try to kill him here. Paul escapes that. Then he gets thrown into the hands of the Roman governors. They send him up for trial, and that goes on and on, all the way through the book of Acts. But they never kill Paul. At the end of the book of Acts, Paul's living in his own rented house and he's preaching to anybody who's coming to him. And the reason is because it is a symbol for us of the power of the resurrection of Christ. Even though it seems like Paul is losing, he's winning. In his own life, he's actually winning. He's staying alive. He's able to continue his ministry. And you've got to know that too this morning. That it's not just if things go bad and you die that you go to be with Jesus, but it's more than that. The end of Acts causes us to think about the resurrection. It's not like you go to be with Jesus and now your body stays in the grave for eternity. It's about the resurrection, people of God. Your body will be raised when the Lord Jesus Christ returns. And you will be glorified. You will look like Moses, like Elijah, like Jesus Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration. You will have all of your struggles and trials and the breakdown of your body and your weakness and your frailties and your inclination towards sin. All of that will be gone as you come up out of the grave. And certainly as Paul's life was preserved all the way through the end of the book of Acts, so certainly will you be raised at the last day. It doesn't matter if it looks like Satan is getting the upper hand in your life. In your church, in your community, in the world, whatever. You're going to be raised. You take heart this morning. Paul knew this. Close with his words in Philippians 3.10. I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings. Somehow becoming like Him in His death to attain the resurrection from the dead. You know, so if things are going bad and you're struggling, All it is for you is you're being conformed to the sufferings of Christ so that you'll be conformed to his glorious resurrected body someday. That's what your future is. So let all the troubles and all the trials, bring it all on. The worst they can do is kill you. You'll go to be with Christ and he'll bring you out of the grave someday. That's your future. By the grace of God in Christ. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Let us pray. Father, we do confess that when our faith becomes weak, we lose confidence and we think that Satan is getting the upper hand. We see our trials and discouragements. We see the burden of our many responsibilities. We see the people for whom we care and love deeply go astray. We look at struggles in your churches here and around the world and we don't know how it all could work out, Lord. We are in pain, some of us, physically. We're facing death, ultimately. But Father, by your grace, again, we are reminded that we are ready to die for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are ready to be with Jesus and we are ready someday, willing to be risen from the dead. and satisfied. Encourage us, Lord, and keep us in the ways that we ought to go with our eyes fixed on Jesus who has secured for us this glorious inheritance. We trust him alone for our salvation and our resurrection. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.