I invite you to open your Bibles this evening to the Acts of the Apostles, the book of Acts, to chapter 2. Chapter 2, that's on page 1158 in the Pew Bible. We're going to pick up the reading at verse 32, and we're going to read through the end of that chapter. We're going to give our attention primarily to verses 42 to 45, and even of that primarily to 42 and 43. Before we read that, because I don't want to lose that as we move into it, I have the introductions a little lengthy, but I need to set the stage here a little bit. In 2010, a poll was conducted that found that nearly three-quarters of Americans reported that they are really more spiritual than religious. Now, if by religious they mean heartless tradition or formalism, as we discovered was Cain's religion this morning, then we might have to agree. But in general, that's not what people mean when they say I'm really more spiritual than I am religious. This attitude is really a shorthand that grows out of our age that considers truth to be relative. There's nothing absolute. And if nothing's absolute, then the exclusive claims of religion, in particular biblical religion, Christian religion, can't bind me. Doesn't even really interest me. So long as I feel I'm spiritual, and I can define that however I like, I have no need for religious doctrine or the practices that belong to a church. I may choose one, I may choose some, I may choose none. That's up to me for my own good purpose. That's kind of the attitude. Because I'm really more spiritual and religious. Three quarters of Americans. Now, we might expect this attitude outside the church, but we need to understand that in that very same study, two-thirds of the people they asked considered themselves to be Christian. Now, that's a broad stroke there, but they called themselves Christians, and the researchers described them this way, that most of them are just indifferent. The more precisely you try to measure their Christianity, the fewer you find committed to their faith. They just, I'm a Christian. I grew up Catholic. I know what this means. That's just why I associated myself. You see, this indifference is not without consequences. This indifference bears fruit. And in a study done a few years before that, they found that seven out of ten Protestants, again, a fairly broad brush, seven out of ten between the ages of 18 and 30 who went to church regularly in high school said they quit. Attending church by age 23, 70%. Now, I didn't know these numbers, and you probably don't know these numbers either, but we're not blind, we're not unaware that more and more young adults raised even in this congregation and in congregations that we know are missing. And it's a great concern to us, and rightly so, and the question is, where have they gone? What can we do to bring them back? What can we do to keep them from going? Important questions. Hard to ask, harder to answer, it seems. But for all that, it should lead us to a deeper question. It's not so much where are they going, but why are they leaving? What is it they think or believe they're leaving behind? The search for answers to these kind of questions have given rise to a lot of studies over the last 10 years. There's a shelf full of books. that have looked at this phenomenon. And they've made some observations that we need to know. I could list many, but I'm going to list a few. Contrary to popular opinion, teenagers conform to the religious beliefs and practices of their parents to a very high degree. Parents matter most, more than their teachers, their grandparents, their youth leaders, their ministers. The vast majority of U.S. teenagers are incredibly inarticulate about their faith, their beliefs, their practices, what it means, where it fits in their life. They either don't know how to talk about it, or they don't have anything to talk about. And if it sounds like I'm picking on young people, I'm not. They're not alone in this struggle. They seem to be barometers of a bigger shift, a broader shift, a theological shift that is passing through this country that's moving towards us being spiritual without being religious, a theological position that helps us feel good about ourselves, helps us to be nice people, helps us to acknowledge God without really depending on Him for anything, unless we get in a pinch. It's good to have around. This is the American religion, and I know that you've seen it. I know that you know those who have it. You might even be infected yourself. I don't know. Now, we're tempted to think that this problem arises because we're not doing a very good job of teaching our children. We're not doing enough to teach our children. Well, the studies seem to suggest that we're actually doing a really good job of teaching our children. A really good job of teaching them what we really believe. What our children grow up to believe is most powerfully formed by the functional theology, the day-to-day theology, the day-to-day doctrine that we live in our lives, especially how we act and speak toward the church of Jesus Christ. That's more powerful to form what they believe than what we teach officially in the church. Officially tonight we confess that we believe there's only one Catholic or universal church to which all believers are duty-bound to join. wheresoever God has established it. Invisible churches, local congregations that bear the marks of belonging to Jesus Christ. We believe and confess that to be not only good advice, but a necessity, as we'll see from our text tonight. Functionally, the American religion has dumbed down what it means to be part of the church so much that it seems like nothing. It's just another thing that we have to fit in that calendar that's already too full. This is another, it's like a social club. We go when we want, we get what we want, we do what we want, and we disengage when we want. That's how the American religion sees the church. It's a not-too-religious Christianity. And it's the fruit of a false gospel that declares an antichrist, a false Christ. You see, what I think these statistics are showing us across the board is that young people may be growing up believing this nonsense, believing it's the gospel, believing it's Christianity, and when they discover it's bankrupt and it's a sham, who wouldn't walk away? The statistics show that the young people in this nation are actually very hungry for substance, for truth. For the very gospel that we're hungry for. I can guarantee you the very gospel that we officially maintain. They need what we all need, the gospel of Jesus Christ. And where is that gospel? That gospel has been entrusted to the church. It's not been sent to city hall. It's not been sent to family homes. It's not been sent to the school. It's been sent and given to the church to guard it, to dispense it, to proclaim it freely, generation by generation. Now, it may show up in all those places, but it wasn't given to those places. It was given to the church. And the church is where the Holy Spirit applies and creates true faith in those who hear that gospel, and it's the place where Christ equips His people to not only be spiritual, which we certainly, evidently, all want to be, but also to be religious in the way that the Bible would have us be religious. When we're joined to Christ through faith, we are joined to his church. This invisible church we discussed tonight, the universal church, we're joined to that church forever. We can't be separated from it. But we're joined to it now. Here and now, while we're in the world and we're joined to it and we show that joining by joining ourselves to that church where it is, where it's visible. And we show ourselves to be set apart from the world so that we can bear witness to the world that Jesus Christ loves His church and He's provided for His people. The way forward seems unclear, but as is often the case, the way forward is found by looking back. And tonight we want to look to Acts chapter 2, to the establishment of the church visible, to the very first local congregation in the church of Jesus Christ, and to see how the Lord worked there which has informed how the church has worked all along and should inform us how the church should work today going forward. We need to look back in order to go forward. And so now we do turn to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2, verse 32, we pick up in the middle of Peter's sermon, a sermon inspired by the power of the Holy Spirit, where he says, this Jesus, referring back to Jesus of Nazareth in verse 22, the man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs, this Jesus, verse 24, whom you crucified and you killed by the hands of lawless men, this Jesus, God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, But he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. But all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified, convicted of sin, convicted of sin and in fear of God's wrath, the people cry out for mercy and Peter delivers to them the gospel. Their only hope for salvation, their only hope for rescue, their only hope to come out from under the wrath of God. And he says to them, in verse 37, Now then, now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brother, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. and with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them saying save yourselves from this crooked generation the free offer of the gospel that's what the church has what the church presented that day and on that day there was response and that response involved two things and you need to listen carefully to verse 41 so those who received his word were baptized and there were added that day about 3,000 souls those who received his word were baptized in other words those who believed the gospel and we know from the rest of scripture that to believe the gospel is to be united to Christ by faith they're already members of the church universal invisible those who received the word they were baptized they were moved from standing outside to inside visibly, publicly known to all men that they no longer belong outside the church. They belong inside the church. And so he goes on to say that they were added that day about 3,000 souls. They were added to what? They were added to the church. They were added to the congregation. They were added to the visible manifestation of the church in Jerusalem that was known by all. To borrow an expression from Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 these spiritual persons, these persons given life by the Spirit, these spiritual persons were marked off from the world and added to the church through the visible sacrament of baptism to officially be entered into the religious life of God's people. We're going to unpack that. In fact, Luke does in verse 42-47, and we'll read the rest of that and then we'll proceed. They now and they, that's referring to these 3,000 souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and the prayers. And all came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with gladness and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. Those who received His word were baptized. They were added to the church that day and they were brought into the devotion, the religious life of the church. And we see in verses 42, through 45, the church visible, set apart from the world in this corporate, this body, life, and worship. Now, I've come to understand that when I use the word corporate, the phrase corporate worship, that confuses some people. It doesn't need to be confusing. A corporation is the way we describe a single body that's made up of lots of parts. IBM Corporation has lots of businesses. Your body, a corporus, has lots of members. The church, There's only one that's made of many members. It's corporate. It's a body thing. This one church has many members. And whenever we gather together for worship, as we have here tonight, as we did here this morning, we see the body of Christ in our presence. And we're it. Whenever we function together using our spiritual gifts for the good of one another, for the communion of saints here, we see the corporate body life of the church. And so we're looking at this corporate community in Jerusalem. And verse 43 shows us the church is being set apart in a miraculous way. It was Pentecost, remember. It was the most openly Spirit-filled day in the history of the church. There was no denying the presence of God in Jerusalem. This wasn't a secret thing. This wasn't a private ecstasy. This was the power of God manifest to a city and everyone knew. And His presence there was overflowing with extraordinary wonders and signs that were being worked through the apostles and it brought fear on every soul. Now our ESV talks about awe and that's appropriate. But I think it hides something from us. Fear came upon everyone. The presence of God brought fear as it always will. Now that word fear has a lot of meanings. It can mean anything from scared to death, terrorized, to awed and overwhelmed by someone or something that humbles us and puts us in our place. It's a broad spectrum for that one word, but both were present in Jerusalem that day. For those who did not believe in God, the presence of the power of God and the Holy Spirit was terrorizing. Not a lot of ink is given here in the text about that, but we read through Acts. The church enjoyed this incredible season of no persecution. In the text, it lasts five chapters. How long it lasted, I don't know. He says in verse 47 that they found favor with all the people. Well, if you're the new kid on the block and you've got the biggest pit bull on your arm, you're going to find favor with all your neighbors. People were back in awe. The church. We see it in chapter 5, verse 13, that because of the signs and wonders that they were doing, Many were coming to faith, but those who didn't come to faith didn't dare come into their assembly. That's pretty strong language. The power of the Spirit was present. Unbelievers were struck with terror and set aside. But those who were granted faith to believe were not terrorized. They were awestruck. And they were drawn near to God. They were drawn near to His church. We think about this powerful spiritual presence of God acting in Jerusalem. And if we look at that through the lens of today, the American religion, what would we expect to happen? What would we expect the people to do when they got all this spiritual power and they didn't want to be religious? If you've ever been to a, what shall I say, an unrestrained Pentecostal experience. That's what spiritual power does without any religiosity. You just chase the feelings, you chase what you want, you chase the power, you want the experience, and you do what it takes. And that's what we would expect to see in Jerusalem that day. If that were true, that we need to be spiritual without being religious. But what do we see? According to verse 42, these 3,000 new spiritual persons who had been given life by the Spirit, what did they do? They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and the prayer. We do not see them being spiritual by casting off all restraints, by casting off all religions and devoting themselves to the signs and wonders. They didn't become groupies. They didn't follow around the apostles to see what miracles they'd do next. What did they do? They devoted themselves to the teaching, the breaking of the bread, to the fellowship, and to the prayer. They were less concerned with feeling awed than drawing near to God in these ways. What we see is spiritual persons being spiritual by being religious, devoting themselves to the ordinary things that God has given to His church. Does that sound wrong to you? Does that sound insufficient? Does that sound old-fashioned, not fit for the times? If it does, I would challenge you to believe the Word of God over the American religion. Their devotion to God, their being spiritual, their spirituality, their spiritual life found expression through being religious, devoting themselves to four particular and ordinary things, things given to the church, things to which they invested time, effort, energy, purpose, regularity, commonality. And what were these things? The apostles' teaching, the fellowship, The breaking of the bread and the prayer. Man, that's not very exciting. No technicolor. I want to look at those with you briefly just to be reminded of what they are, what Luke is telling us about. First and foremost, these new believers joined with other believers in their devotion to the apostles' teaching. They devoted themselves to apostolic doctrine. They exposed themselves to the truth as God has revealed it in His Word. that came from the Old Testament through the prophets, inherited by the apostles and the endorsement of Jesus, and on that very day was starting to be laid down what would become what we know as the New Testament. All that Jesus had taught them for three years in ministry, all that the Holy Spirit, who had just been poured out, started to bring to their remembrance that they might teach the people. Apostolic teaching. Doctrine. We have it right here. It will not be added to or taken away from. Spiritual, being spiritual in the Holy Spirit sense is to be devoted to this. And to be devoted to it in the context of the church where it is proclaimed to you, it's taught to you, it's explained to you, it's opened for you. Not because the minister is some hot shot, but because the Holy Spirit has promised to use this means through my mouth, Reverend Gordon's mouth, another preacher's mouth to your ears, to your heart, to change you. It happens here in ways that it cannot happen at home, on your iPod. This is the faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints. This is the good deposit that Timothy was to guard, that we've received, that we're to guard, and that we're to give to the next generation to guard. It's the foundation upon which this visible church continues to be built. It was started in Jerusalem, went to Judea, went through all Samaria, went to the four corners of the known world, and today it's in Escondido. It is the religious doctrine that's profitable. It's beneficial for teaching and reproving and for correcting and for training in righteousness so that the man of God, we might say the spiritual man, may be completely equipped for every good work. They're devoted to the apostles' teaching. Second, these new believers devoted themselves to the fellowship. The fellowship with other believers. This is a tough one in our day. Union with Christ through faith transcends time and space. It can't ever be broken. It can't ever be lost. And through faith in Him, all the saints from past, present, and future are joined to Him. Heirs of the promise, co-heirs of Christ. But this union is manifest now. It's visible now. This invisible spiritual reality finds religious expression in the church, in the visible body of Christ, in the fellowship of the church by you being here tonight. It's not about the minister. We all look in one direction. I understand that. But the reality is we are here together as members of a body making manifest in this world the body of Christ, the fellowship, the koinonia, the communion of the saints that we confess tonight in the Apostles' Creed. They devoted themselves to that. And you see, this devotion to the fellowship, this devotion to this body life flows from devotion to the teaching because that's what the teachings tell us. We need what God's provided, how he works, why he's equipped us with gifts, why we need other people, So we can mourn with those who mourn and weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. That's what he's given us to each other for. It's the fellowship. It's not the same as a cup of coffee. It's not the same as a chat after service. It's his fellowship. This is communion with Christ and his body. And we find this fellowship most clearly expressed in the breaking of the bread. The breaking of the bread, the third thing Luke mentions. Now, in the Bible, breaking bread is very often used the same way we use it, and that's to sit down with someone for a meal. It's an appropriate understanding. Luke uses it that way in verse 46. He talks about they were visiting house to house, breaking bread together. But in this verse, this expression not only can refer to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, I'm convinced that it does because Luke has gone out of his way to emphasize that this is the breaking of the bread. and he's included in a list of three other very definite things. The apostles' teaching, the prayers, and the fellowship. He's using technical language for important things. This table next week will be the Lord's supper. We will gather together, Lord willing, to hear the apostles' teaching in the fellowship and to share in the breaking of the bread. Jesus instituted this sacrament for the visible church here and now. We won't have it in glory. We won't need it in glory. It's for you here. It's for you now. And he gave it to the church to celebrate regularly, to remember what he did for us and to remember that he's coming back for us and to sustain us in the meantime on this very ordinary, not even a meal. He instituted a religious sacrament, A religious ceremony as a visible sign to direct everyone to the religious doctrine that Jesus came to die for sinners. And it's also a visible seal that guarantees to believers who partake of this meal through faith that we partake together as the body. That we really partake in the power of the Spirit on the body and blood of Jesus Christ. That we really participate with Him and we really participate with one another. There's a spiritual reality that's not only demonstrated in the Supper, but is experienced in the Supper, in this religious sacrament, being spiritual and being religious. And lastly, new believers devoted themselves to the prayers. Now, it's a profound privilege to have the freedom to talk to God and to know that we will be heard. This privilege was purchased by the blood of Christ. It's empowered by the inward dwelling of the Holy Spirit. It's mediated through Christ, our priest in heaven. It's our privilege. It's our individual privilege. It's our body privilege. It's our corporate privilege. Jesus taught us to pray just as he prayed. He often prayed by himself, and he taught us to pray by ourselves where? In the closet. It's not for anybody else. It's between you and God. But he also prayed in the presence of his disciples publicly, formally, corporately. And most prominently comes to mind is the high priestly prayer in the upper room the night before he was betrayed. And he offered a prayer there where he prayed for the apostles and their teaching and he prayed for you, that you would believe through that teaching and that you would be changed by that teaching, that you would be brought close to him and you would be built up in the faith. And it seems clear from our list, these particular things that Luke is listing, that he's having this call to mind the prayers offered in the church. And the church is assembled for worship. It takes work to pray in the church, especially if you're not the one speaking. But we pray together as a body in the church. Every time the minister leads in a congregational prayer, that's a body prayer. That's a corporate prayer. It's a prayer that's being uttered on behalf of us all. And we are to devote ourselves to grow in grace. We devote ourselves to really getting engaged with that prayer. Listening to what's being said. Giving our assent to what's being asked. Being mindful of those for whom we're praying. Trusting that God will hear. This is not a formality on the checklist of the liturgy that we check out for five minutes or so. Because we don't have anything to do. We have a lot to do. it's a gift to you and to me as a body of Christ. And when we take all these things together, these four things together as Luke presents, and these four things describe the basic elements of what constitutes a corporate worship service. And I hope during this sermon you've thought for a moment here or there about, well, that sounds like our liturgy. We do that. Yeah, we do that. Pentecost has come and gone, the signs and wonders that were done that day have ceased. The apostolic teaching has been set. Here it is. No more need. But the teaching continues to direct our practice, our religious practice, in such a way that it gives expression to and forms and develops and matures our spiritual life. Our liturgy is not by accident. Like I said, it follows these basic elements. And many of you don't know we have a church order. I'm not going to read it to you. Don't panic. But we do have one. We have a list of articles that we as a church agree to live with with other churches that we believe faithfully express the application of things like this. How we live in the church. The visible church. And I just want to highlight a few so you know that they're there. When the consistory calls the congregation together for corporate worship twice each Lord's Day. We're calling the congregation together for the fellowship. It's for you. It's not for the elders. It's not for the minister. It's for you. And when we come together for worship, the central place is given to the preaching of the word, in particular the preaching of the gospel. The apostles' teaching is what we live and work around. And in that worship service, we make confession of sins, we offer praise and thanksgiving and songs and prayer, and we give gifts of gratitude, which are all manifestations of the prayer. It's what we offer to God out of gratitude for what he's given to us. And the consistory shall ordinarily administer the Lord's Supper at least every three months, if not more often. The breaking of the bread. We do this in obedience to the word of God. Not because we have to. But because like these new believers who've been given spiritual life, we want what the Lord has promised to give us in this simple, simple way. As we've seen, many in our day give no place to the religious expression of a spiritual life. They don't go together. It's like oil and water. You can't be spiritual and be religious. Word of God says otherwise. And as we look back to it in order to go forward, we must not overlook or discount the most extraordinary work that was done that day. The most extraordinary work that continues to be worked today. The most extraordinary work that we can ask of God to do in us. And that is the work of the Holy Spirit within the hearts of people to give us a life that desires these things. That desires what He wants to give us. That desires the growth that He promises. That desires a life that is spiritual, alive, but not somehow disconnected from His church. You see, in our flesh and in our culture, we want something more. What we really need is something powerfully less. We want the extraordinary. What we need and what God has given is the ordinary. What we want is the miraculous. What He has given and what we need is ordained. Now, we need to know that if we pursue being spiritual by being religious in this way not in the way of our own devising not in the way of our own wisdom knowing better than God if we pursue our spiritual well-being through these religious ways as God has laid them out it cannot lead to the American religion and it cannot lead to an empty formalism or tradition. That doesn't mean that those aren't dangers. But if we devote ourselves by the power of the Spirit, confidence of faith, to these things, expecting God to work through these things, He will not disappoint. Turn in your Bible just for just a second. This came to me just as I was reading the call to worship tonight. Hebrews 10, verses 24 and 25. I want you to see something there. It's the same thing that happens in our text tonight. So just keep your finger there. In our text, in one verse, Luke has set forth to us the religious way to practice our spiritual life. And in verses 44 and 45, he shows us what that leads to. It's not an empty orthodoxy. It's not a cold, frozen, chosen. It's a vitality that leads to life, a life in the church. And we read in 44 and 45, and all who believed were together notice that, were together and had all things in common and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. What I want you to see here is the flow from 42 and 42 in particular as they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, to the fellowship to the breaking of the bread and the prayers. 44 all who believed were together and had all things in common, and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. They were moved from faith to love. They were moved from knowledge to action. They were moved from devotion to God and His people in worship to devotion to God's people in life. Hebrews 10 verse 24 An exhortation says, and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good deeds. How do we stir one another up to love and good deeds? Verse 25 tells us, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. There we see the author of Hebrews putting together the fellowship aspect of what Luke has told us and how it shows that's what stirs us up. That's what gives us life. That's what gives us purpose. That's what gives us power. Verses 44 and 45 aren't a description of communism or socialism. I don't have time to explain that all to you, but if I ever preach on the next chapter, I will. Ananias and Sapphira set that all straight. What we see here is an expression of Christian love and charity. I want you to see. Charity is not necessarily just writing a check and dropping it in the bag. Love and charity. Making sure that there is no needy person in our midst. Giving of what God has given to me for the benefit of others. It's the kind of love that Jesus Christ showed us, his church. When he came and he died, he was buried, he was raised. He came for us, that we might not have need. It's the kind of love that Jesus commands of his church. And we need to know that if we learn nothing else out of this chapter, we need to know that if we love Jesus, we love his church. And if we love his church, we love his people. And if we love his people, we give ourselves for his people. and they will know that we are Christian by our love. You see how this folds out and rolls out. This kind of love is spiritually developed through the religious means given to the church. This doesn't happen by accident. It doesn't happen by self-exertion. It doesn't happen by special seminars. It doesn't happen by any other means than the means of grace that God has given to His church which is happening in the visible church. It's here that we learn from the Apostles' teachings. It's here that we're prepared by the fellowship. It's here that we see our unity displayed in the Lord's Supper. And it's here that we pray for one another. Being spiritual and being religious is not a phase that we need to go through to get to someplace better. It's not a phase that we need to leave behind when we get mature enough. It's the way of the Christian life. It's what God has designed for us to be. He's given us His church to prepare us for that work. And if we'll devote ourselves to it as they did in Jerusalem, we can be certain that we too will bear witness to a watching world, that the church visible is the earthly home of God's people here and now. And we can trust that God will continue to add to her numbers until she's filled up, Christ comes again to bring us home. Maranatha, come Lord Jesus. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the revelation we see from Pentecost of your work in the world in the church that you've established on Jesus Christ, the cornerstone, and that you continue to build on the foundation of the apostolic teaching. Lord, forgive us for our unbelief that the means that you've given to the church, the means for which you equip us to be devoted by your Holy Spirit, the means that you have promised to use to build up your church, to create faith in those who don't believe and to strengthen faith in those who do, to prepare us and to groom us and equip us to love one another as we've been loved by you. We pray, Father, that you would forgive our pretension, our self-deception to think that we are wiser than you. And grant us, Lord, contentment with your ways. And above that, not only contentment, but a desire, a drive, a devotion to give ourselves to these beings as the way to have our spiritual life develop and grow and mature and show forth in a way that cannot be denied by a watching world. And it brings glory to your name and the name of Christ and strengthens the body of Christ in this place the Escondido United Reformed Church. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.