Friends for Life and Eternity - Pt. 2

This is the First Mustang Pulpit Podcast, a podcast of the weekly preaching and teaching at First Mustang.! Thank you for joining us. If you are new with us today, we have just begun last Sunday studying through this New Testament letter to the Philippians.

On Sunday evenings, we've just started walking through the book of Nahum. That will resume next Sunday at 5 o'clock. But let's get our minds back around to the book of Philippians.

There are friendships that the Lord gives to us in our life, and some of those friendships are for a short season. Some of those friendships are for a long season, and a few of those friendships may even be for a lifetime.

The truth is, though, for those who are in Christ, the friendships we enjoy truly are for eternity. It's one of the things that is such a marvelous blessing.

When you meet another believer, two people who truly believe and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, there is a bond there that even if you just met, that is real because you're a part of a spiritual family.

And the reality is, for those of us who are in Christ, we have this family, these relationships for all eternity to enjoy. But on this earth, in this life, there are friendships the Lord gives to us.

And because of life changes or stages of life or maybe moving out of state or taking a different job, those relationships may change a bit, but friendships are still some of God's great gifts to His people.

It was about ten and a half years ago when I started my work out at Master's Seminary, and I remember going out there for the very first day of our doctoral seminars.

I didn't know a soul out there. And within about three days, there was just a group of us that had forged such a friendship very quickly.

We had so much in common. All of us were believers. All of us were pastors. All of us were starting this new program together. All of us were excited. All of us were a bit anxious about the work and the demands.

And it just bonded us together. And for those three years, there was a very big group of us that were very close. That was ten years ago.

And there's only a couple of those men that I get to see with any regularity. But still, on every Sunday, including this Sunday, there's about 20 of them that I text with.

We pray for each other and pray for our churches, pray for our ministries, pray for our families. And those relationships are very dear to me. Even though I only had a very small season in my life where I would actually see them and be around them, those relationships are very meaningful.

In this church, there are people, by God's grace, that Mars and I have been able to know for 25 years, that half of our life has been with you.

Half of our life has been worshiping with you and serving with you and friendships that are so long-lasting and so meaningful.

And I've got a couple of friends from growing up in childhood that I still keep in touch with. And, you know, as the old saying goes, you can't make old friends.

You can make new friends. That's a wonderful thing. But you can't make old friends. They have to have already been there long ago. As I look at my life and I look back to my childhood and I look to meaningful seasons of my life, like our family moving here to this church or my time at TMS, all these different seasons it may be, I see relationships and friendships the Lord has brought into my life that are encouragement to me, friendships that are life-giving to me, people who have prayed for me and encouraged me and helped me and all of these kinds of things.

Friendships really are a great gift of the Lord. And I think sometimes maybe people feel guilty because you think to yourself, well, I just, I don't talk to them as much as I should.

Or, you know, you moved away from somebody and you think, well, I don't really stay in touch with them as much as I'd like to. And just understand that one of the ways that God cares for his people is to bring people into your life that are your friend and your encouragement.

And the only way is not the church, but the church is the primary way that the Lord does that. Because within the confines of the church are our brothers and sisters in Christ, people who we worship the Lord with, people that we serve with, people that we walk through all seasons of life together with.

And that's one of the reasons why I hope that you never see our church family as simply a group of strangers that you just happen to come to the same physical building as they do.

This is our family. And these are our friendships. These are our relationships that help us and protect us and challenge us and hold us accountable and encourage us and help us.

There is a gift and a blessing of being a part of a church family and the relationships that come with that that is so important and so precious.

But one of the good things about knowing each other and having people know you is you can help each other and serve each other and pray for each other. That it's not just a matter of, as a church, a bunch of individuals trying to get to the finish line faithfully.

We're trying to help each other get to the finish line. Hand in hand, arm in arm. We're not trying to run ahead of each other. We're trying to help all of us to serve the Lord and walk with Him all of our days.

I think of that because when you think of the beginning part of the book of Philippians, Paul is so aware of the blessing he has with the relationships and the friendships with the people at the church in Philippi to whom he writes, even though these are not people he gets to see regularly.

He helps to plant the church and it's now been years since he's been there. And yet these people are very, very much on his heart and in the forefront of his mind.

We're looking at this opening section here, verses 1 to 6. And last week we looked at the first point, which was a picture of the church. We saw the servants, verse 1.

We saw the saints, that's those who are set apart for the purpose of Christ Jesus in verse 1. We saw the shepherds of the church, the overseers and the deacons, and talked about what those words mean and how they function within the church.

And we looked at the picture of the church, that what we all have in common is that we are all saved by grace. We all share as Christians salvation in Christ, verse 2 taught us.

Well, the second thing I want you to notice from this opening passage of verses 1 to 6. First, a picture of the church. Second, there is a prayer of comfort. There's a prayer of comfort.

Verse 3, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

This prayer of comfort, I want you to notice first, it's prompted by joy. His prayer is prompted by joy. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.

In fact, verses 3 to 7 in the original text is just one long sentence. I thank my God. I thank my God.

This is present tense. This means this is a continual way that Paul thinks of the people of the church. He's continually thankful.

This is an abiding attitude of his heart, that he thinks of the church often, and when he thinks of the church, it fills him with joy. His prayer for the church is prompted by the joy he feels in his heart.

It's been 12 years since the church started. He's about 800 miles away as he writes this letter.

He's under house arrest as he writes this letter. And yet, he prays for them with joy.

I want to remind you and challenge you, friends, that for those who are abiding in Christ, there is a joy the Lord puts in your heart that circumstances does not remove from you.

It stays. It remains. Your heart may be heavy. Your heart may be burdened. You may grieve the loss of a friend or a loved one or a situation in your life, but there is the reality that for those who are in Christ and as you abide in Christ and walk with Him and trust in Him, there is a joy that stays no matter what.

And it's the relationships among the church, among the body of Christ, that the Lord uses to give us that kind of joy. His prayer is prompted by His joy because of His love of the church.

Now, no one's pretending that the church there or here is perfect. No one's pretending that the people of the church there or here are perfect.

It's not that everything is perfect. It's that we choose by God's grace to love each other, to care for each other, to stand by each other.

And that's exactly... I mean, just think about the circumstances. Paul, under house arrest, writes this letter to the church to help their joy be stirred up because he knew they would be concerned about his condition.

So the one who is suffering, Paul, wants to fight for the joy of the church. That's what friends do.

That's what relationships in the church are all about. How do we help each other? How do we serve each other? How do we fight not just for our own joy, but for the joy for all of us?

And we do that through relationships. Verse 4, The word used for prayer here is the word that refers to petition, lifting up our needs and requests to the Lord.

He's praying selfless prayers. Now, please understand, there's nothing wrong with praying for your own needs. There's nothing wrong with that. There's biblical teaching on that.

Lift up your needs to the Lord. Let your requests be known to the Lord. You have not because you ask not. There's all kinds of places we could go in the scripture. It's perfectly fine and fitting when you have your own needs, when you have your own sickness, when you have your own concerns, to lift those before the Lord.

Absolutely. I just want to help you with this, though. If the only person you pray for is yourself, when I say pray, I mean like really pray, really labor in prayer.

If it's only your needs that prompt you to really wrestle and labor in prayer, you're going to miss out on the joy of the Christian life.

We are to pray with joy for each other. Our joy is increased as we serve each other. Our joy is increased as we lift our eyes off of our own circumstances and care for others.

And one of the best ways you will ever be a friend to someone else is to truly, with your whole heart, labor in prayer for them. There's a lot of ways to be a friend.

A lot of good ways to be a friend. But you'll give no one a more meaningful gift than the gift of truly lifting their name up before the throne of heaven.

Not just talking about it, not just saying that you will, not just intending to, but you get up early. You stay up late. You mark off time specifically to lift your friend before the Lord in prayer.

You'll give that friend no greater gift in your lifetime than the gift of true prayer. And notice he says, not only do I pray for you all, but I'm making my prayer with joy.

Paul has his mind so trained to cultivate joy. This is the result of deliberate effort to seek God's kindness and to remember His daily mercies.

If you are right now in your life saying, I'm struggling with joy. I don't feel joyful. I don't feel peace. I don't feel these things that my soul longs for.

Just stop and remind yourself that as you cultivate the discipline and the practice of remembering the kindness of God and the daily mercies of God, that's what leads us to joy.

Remember who our God is. Life can be hard and circumstances can be sad.

They can be heartbreaking. They can bring grief into your life. But when you remember that God is good and when you remember that God is faithful and when you know that the Lord is on your side, has redeemed you, has welcomed you into His family, has called you His own, that His mercies are new every morning and great is His faithfulness, that should lead you to a joy that must be expressed by prayer.

There are some people who always look for the negative, some people who always find something to complain about, and if that were Paul, in one sense, he'd have every reason to complain, wouldn't he?

He's been faithful. He's honored the Lord. He's given his life away in ministry to the church and look where it found him.

And don't you think the enemy would love to bring that to Paul's mind over and over and over again? Paul, look how hard you've worked.

Look how much you've traveled. Look how much of your life you've given to the Lord. Look at how you've given your life away in ministry and look what it's done for you. If ever there was somebody in the flesh who we would say has reason to be indulging in self-pity and doubt and fear and anger, it's Paul.

But as you read these words, that's not even close to what you see. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.

Always in every place prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy. I love how one author put it, joy as an experience usually follows thanksgiving as a discipline.

Discipline your mind to be thankful and joy will follow. His prayer of comfort was prompted by joy because his mind was fixed on the character of God.

Number two, I want you to see this prayer of comfort. Not only is it prompted by joy, but secondly, it's about the partnership in the gospel. It's about the partnership in the gospel, verse five, because of your partnership.

This is the word many of you would be familiar with, koinia. Usually, when we think of koinia, we think of the English word of fellowship. In this context, the word is translated here as partnership.

Koinia does speak of spending time together and building a relationship together, but it also can be used to speak of partnering together. In fact, generally speaking, this word koinia that we see in the New Testament, usually it's used in one of three ways.

Either it's about a shared experience or it's about sharing your life with somebody or it's about sharing your resources with someone.

That's the idea behind the word here. It's a fellowship. It's a partnership. There's a mutuality of our lives being mixed together. And this is what the gospel does.

This is why Paul prays for them often because they're partners in gospel work. One of my favorite things to do each Sunday morning is to get to my office and pray.

I've got a little card in my center desk. I pull it out. I've got about 75 friends of mine that pastor around the world. I pray for them by name. I pray for their churches and I text them. And I do that and it reminds me that I am partners with them.

We're working together. We're laboring together. We're not competing against their church. They're not our competition. We're not trying to outshine them. We work together, labor together.

We're partners in this gospel. And each Sunday, I love to pray for our Sunday school teachers and I love to pray for our deacons who are serving and because it just reminds me we're partners together in this.

There's nobody here trying to outdo somebody else. We're on the same team and it's the name of Christ, not our own name that matters. We're partners in this and that brings a sense of unity in my heart and joy in my heart and focus in my heart.

The joy leads me to pray and the prayer fills me with joy and it reminds me of the blessing it is to have friendships and relationships in the church that we are all partnering together to do what God has called us to do.

The gospel unites us together. And it's really interesting if you think about the church at Philippi. We looked last week very briefly in Acts 16 where the church at Philippi starts.

Let me read you the words that I think really sum this up very well. He says, look at the Philippians. They don't have much in common.

Look at the founding members of the church. You had a Greek businesswoman a former demon-possessed slave girl who made her business by fortune-telling and a jailer probably made for some pretty awkward moments at the church Christmas social.

By the world's standards, these people had nothing in common. But they had one great thing in common and it's their fellowship, their partnership in the gospel.

They were united because of their commitment to the gospel. And that's what makes our church so meaningful.

That it's a place where Christ is exalted, His Word is our authority, and the result of those common commitments are friendships and relationships that stand the test of time.

And so I just want to say to any of you that you may be here every single Sunday and be a member here and be happy here, but if you don't have meaningful relationships, meaningful lasting friendships, I just want to encourage you to pray for that and invest in that and to strive for that because it is the partnership of the gospel among God's people that fills our hearts with so much joy.

His prayer of comfort was prompted by joy and it's joy because of their partnership in the gospel. And there's a third aspect of his prayer and that is for perseverance in the work.

Perseverance in the work. Let me show it to you. So he says in verse 5, because of your partnership in the gospel, watch this, from the first day until now.

So 50 A.D. the church begins. 62 A.D. he writes this letter. We're 12 years later. And Paul is saying 12 years later, you're persevering in the work of the gospel.

And the older I get, the more I admire and respect people who just keep doing the right thing over and over and over and over. I had a phone call this week with someone that works at Guidestone that helps with the retirement for Southern Baptist pastors.

We were just doing kind of a checkup of where we were with retirement planning. And he said, how old are you? I said, 52. And he said, well, you know, the first question to ask you just to make sure from their end of it, just doing their annual checkup, stuff they always ask you, you know, how long do you plan to pastor?

And I said, well, I'm not in charge of those things, but as much as depends on me, the Lord gives strength and the Lord gives health, 25 years. And he said, okay, so you've been there 25 years, but how much longer do you want to do it?

And I said, same, 25. He said, you're going to go to 77? If the Lord allows, that's, I mean, I've got no other plans. I want to do this. And he said, you know, wow, here's what he's basically saying.

Well, you'd be old if you did that. It was some young guy, you know, that's, you know, thinks he'll never get broken down. But, and I thought in that conversation, there's nothing else I want to do with my life than partner with you in the work of the ministry.

There's nothing else I desire, nothing else I seek. I mean, this, this is the, the great joy of the Christian life is to unite your heart with a group of brothers and sisters and say, let's just love each other and serve each other and fight for each other and make much of Christ and, and take the gospel to the neighborhoods and the nations.

And then when the Lord calls us home, let somebody else come and lead that work and do that work and just let the work of the Lord continue. But there, there's just nothing greater than to be a part of what God is doing.

And what you see Paul saying here is, I'm praying for you because of your partnership in the gospel and he's finding joy because they are persevering in the work.

They don't quit. You've been doing this, he says, from the first day until now. And one of the joys of being at this church for so long for my family is to see people grow and to see people develop spiritually and to see people that, I got to do their wedding, having children and to get to see people who were children that are now leaders.

And there's plenty of people in this church who were already here working and serving when I got here. There were people teaching Sunday school this morning that were already doing it here at this church before I got here.

And I look to them and I think, I want to say of you and you to say of me that we've been faithful from the first day until now.

And don't think that means everything's going to be easy. Paul writes this under house arrest. What can be harder than that? But the work continues.

Through seasons of great victory and through seasons of great difficulty and challenge, the work continues. From the first day until now.

Let the Lord find us being faithful. Every day of our life, let it be said of us that we remain faithful.

That we don't stay faithful just because it's easy or convenient. We don't stay faithful just because everybody loves and affirms us. We are faithful because the Lord has so captivated our hearts, there's just truly nothing else we'd rather do.

From the first day until now, I find my heart so blessed by people in this church that have been faithful and have persevered in the work of the gospel and just keep doing it.

So ask yourself this morning, are you persevering in the work of the gospel? Are you gathering for worship with God's people regularly?

Are you faithfully using your spiritual gifts to build up the body of Christ? Are you looking for ways to serve? Are you looking for people to encourage?

Are you looking for ways to share the gospel? Are you looking for people to train and disciple? Are you encouraging your leaders? Are you doing the things that faithfulness would be?

And I think one of the saddest things that sometimes, if we're honest, sometimes people in any church would say is, I used to do those things. I used to share the gospel.

I used to disciple. I used to be faithful to give. I used to teach. I used to gather for fellowship and to strive for friendships.

I used to encourage those who serve and lead our church. I remember doing those things. I think that's one of the saddest places to be where your faithfulness is all looking backwards.

But the scripture says, you have been a partner in the gospel from the first day until now. Present tense.

You're still striving. You're still working. You're still following. This is his prayer for the people. It's prompted by joy.

He prays because he sees them as a partner in the gospel. And he prays about the perseverance of their work. That they would stay faithful.

My dream, if the Lord gives me health, my dream would be to keep doing what I'm doing for about 25 more years and then hand it off to somebody younger and be the best church member in church history.

That's my dream. I love the church. Now, I don't need a title or a paycheck to love the church. I've always loved the church. By God's grace, I just think it's the greatest thing in the world.

I remember being six years old Saturday night, laboring to pick out when I'm going to work at church on Sunday morning. Now, that also happened last night, but I remember it when I was six.

And I would go to church and just be amazed. We'd sing the same songs and read the same word and all kinds of people would gather there and talk to each other and encourage each other.

I'm 52. I've never gotten over the thrill of being a part of the church. And it's, of course, the grace of God that makes that possible.

But humanly speaking, it's the relationships with each other that you just can't replace. There's a third thing I want you to see, and this is some of the most encouraging truth in all of Scripture.

In verse 6, we see a promise of completion. A promise of completion. You're probably very familiar with these words.

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 1.6 is one of the most life-giving, hope-giving verses in your entire New Testament. Think about verse 6 with me with these three words.

Number one, the word assurance. I am sure of this. There's something that he has great assurance in.

The word translated here in English, I am sure of this, means to be persuaded. It means to be convinced. It means that this is something he has complete confidence in.

I mean, think of this again. Paul is in house arrest. He doesn't know how that's going to turn out. He doesn't know what his future's going to be. He doesn't know what his future ministry's going to be. The only thing he knows that he can be completely confident in is what Christ has promised to do.

I am sure of this. There's an assurance. Write down a second word, and that's the word author.

Who's the author of this confidence? I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you.

His confidence is in the work of the Lord. The assurance he has is that the author of the work of salvation is the Lord.

I am confident that he who began this work, who began the work of your salvation, the Lord did. This is not your work. This is not your achievement.

This is not your good standing. This is his work. He began this work. In verse 6, he who began, that Greek word's found only two times in the New Testament.

It's found here in Philippians 1.6. It's found one other place in Galatians 3.3. Galatians 3.3 says, Are you so foolish, having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

Same word used two times. Philippians 1.6, Galatians 3.3. Both times referring to the work of God as the author of your salvation.

The work of your salvation is the good work referenced in Philippians 1.6 that God authored on your behalf.

He is assured because God is the author. Keep Philippians marked and just for a brief moment, turn back to your left to Acts 16 for just a very brief moment.

I want to show you this for two reasons. in Acts 16, we find the conversion of Lydia.

This is the start of the church at Philippi. So I'll take you back to Acts 16 to show you two things. One, the beginning of the church to whom Paul writes in Philippians.

And two, how he began the good work of salvation. So in Acts 16, we're about 12 years earlier before Philippians 1.

Verse 14, one who heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. Here, look, I want you to notice, how does the New Testament describe conversion?

The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul and after she was baptized in her household as well.

How did Lydia come to faith in Christ? The Bible tells you the Lord opened her heart. He was the author of her salvation.

The reason Paul has so much assurance is because he knows the author is God.

If your salvation depended upon your works, you should be worried. If your preservation depended upon you, you should be worried.

And yet, Paul says, I am sure of this. I am convinced of this. I have complete confidence in this. This much I know that he who began the good work in me will complete it.

How can Paul be so certain that what was started will be completed? And the answer is, because this is the work of God. And God finishes what he starts.

Church, there is a confidence confidence that should be true in the heart of every true believer. And that is, that he is the author of my salvation.

And, back to Philippians 1.6, he will complete it. He will bring it home. Those who have been justified, Romans 8 says, will be glorified.

So, he began the work of salvation. He opened my heart to use Acts 16, verse 14 language. And he's going to bring me home to glorification. He's promised at the beginning and he's promised at the end.

So, why would I, in the middle of my life, doubt the goodness and the faithfulness of God? And you say, well, maybe it's because of what people can do to you.

Well, Paul is under house arrest. You don't get much more of an enemy than that. And Paul says, the God who justified me at the start will glorify me when he calls me home.

I have every reason to trust him with every day in between because he is the author and finisher of my salvation. Amen? So, church, we are confident in this.

Let me be really clear that you may be with our church and you come from a different background and maybe you come from a time where you were taught or understood that a true Christian could lose their salvation or fall away from their salvation and you may hear me say that we can have complete assurance in our eternal security and you say, wait, are you telling me, Michael, that you think that no matter what you do, you can keep yourself saved?

And my answer is no. What I believe biblically is that Christ can't lose that which is his. My confidence is not in myself. It's entirely upon him.

He who began the good work will complete it. He has assurance because God is the author.

write down a third word. It will lead to accomplishment. The Lord will accomplish his purpose. He will bring it to completion.

He will bring it to completion. You read about the day of the Lord in the New Testament speaking of a day of judgment to unbelievers. When you think of in the New Testament the day of Christ or the day of Jesus Christ, you're talking about the glorification that awaits believers when we will be made like him.

Our future is guaranteed because the promise is rooted in the character of God. It's rooted in the character of God.

What's our hope in life and death, the song says? Christ alone. Christ alone. What is our hope of the assurance of our salvation?

It is the promise of God. What is our hope for our future glorification? It is the promise of God. Our assurance is because he is the author and he will accomplish all he has said he will do.

I am sure of this that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. you don't need me to tell you this world is unpredictable and this world is filled with known challenges, unknown challenges.

Your life can be impacted by your health, your job, your finances. Your life can be impacted by other people's decisions or other people's sin.

Your life can be impacted by all kinds of things. I mean Paul is an example of a lot of different things that can happen to you. It doesn't rob him of his joy and it doesn't steal away his hope and it doesn't make him question his present salvation nor his future glorification because it's all rooted in Christ.

So where do biblical friendships begin? Truly at the foot of the cross because in a worldly sense we look at each other and say well but you make more money than me you're better than me I've got a better job than you I'm above you I'm older than you I know more than you I've got more education than you I'm greater than you all these different ways that we kind of compare our lives and kind of jockey for position in the world but at the cross we look around and we say you know what we have all sinned we have all fallen short of the glory of God we all are deserving of death and judgment but God was rich in mercy and sent his son Jesus Christ to be the propitiation for our sin and all of us who are in Christ have been brought into Christ by grace through faith not of our works and we are saved by

God and we are held by God and we will one day be glorified by God all of our saving our preserving and our glorification all of it is about the work of God and you look at each other and say look how much we have in common you look at each other through the worldly lens you'll be shocked at how different you are than everybody else in this church but you look at each other through the lens of the gospel and you say nothing other than we have all sinned we all deserve judgment and in Christ if we're believers we have all been saved by grace through faith and God opened our hearts and God will bring us home and let's help each other live and serve with joy until the day we meet him face to face if there is a verse in the New

Testament which there is not but if there was a verse that said if you believe in Jesus you can go to heaven when you die and oh by the way you don't ever have to go to church if you don't want to if that verse were in there you'd find me here every Lord's day I trust with you too because this isn't something we have to do this is the great joy of our life to sing to give to study to pray to encourage to use our gifts to encourage each other because we want so much for every one of our friends in the family to live well to run well to finish well and to bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ what could be better than that so if you want something to be confident in this morning be confident in this that Christ holds and protects all who are his and all who have been justified will be glorified but don't take my word for that listen to the word of the

Holy Spirit from Romans 8 we know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose for those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the first born among many brothers verse 30 and those whom he predestined he also called and those whom he called he also justified and those whom he justified he also glorified verse 38 for I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord this is where our joy comes from the work of God the promise of

God the sovereignty of God and the joy that we have in our heart is shared among those whom we partner together with in the gospel we pray that we would preserve each other by God's grace persevere in the work of the!

At the end of all things we have this assurance that he is the author of our salvation and he will accomplish all he's promised to do and this morning if you don't have that confidence if you don't have the assurance of Christ as your savior I want to call you even this day to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ who is still a savior of those who would call upon his name trusting believing in his work and his work alone and asking the Lord Jesus to save you and if today he has opened your heart to believe these things as Acts 16 14 says this day for you would be your day of salvation!

and you can live the rest of your life with this confidence that he who began the good work in you will bring it to completion church we should be the most joyful people on this planet saved by grace held by grace secured by grace and one day we'll be called home by grace Lord we love you today and thank you for your word and pray that your Holy Spirit even this moment would bring understanding and clarity to our hearts and minds!

Bring conviction to those who need to repent of their sin we praise you today for your good work of saving and securing us and pray that our lives will be lived as a response of worship and joy to all that you have done we ask it in Christ's name amen I love you church family God bless you you're dismissed on behalf of First Baptist Church of Mustang we want to thank you for joining us this morning for our live stream broadcast we are so thankful for the gift of technology and that we are able to reach so many people not only across the state and in our nation but around the world and what a truly indescribable gift that is I do want to encourage you if at all possible if you are able to be here in person there is no substitute for gathering with the people of God in person so we encourage you to be here in person at any one of our services but once again if we can help you in any way please feel free to contact us and we would love to serve you in any way possible have a great day into one let's take it think like have a great name in person for me and we would all like for me other than our ones can there be

Thank you.