Our Perfect Provider - For Every Need - Mark 8:1-21 (Jan 21) John Tadros

Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast.

We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the spirit of the Great Commandment.

Thanks for joining us today.

I'm really thankful to be here to worship with you together, and I consider it just a real privilege and honor uh to open up God's word with you this morning.

I've had the joy as well of watching Pastor Miles faithfully serve the youth for eight years at our church.

And when that time came to a close, when it was time for him to leave, I'll be honest, in my selfishness, I wasn't thrilled about it.

It took me a while to process.

In fact, I remember specifically, I was notified on a Wednesday morning, and it was that previous Sunday, that I was sitting next to him in a meeting, and I don't even know if you remember this, but I leaned over and said something along the lines of I um I I thought that a youth ministry was was meant for a lifetime.

And he kind of just kind of laughed at it, pretended like, yeah, that no, that's not true, but also realizing that in a couple days he's gonna find he's gonna find out exactly what's gonna happen.

And and he was on the move.

And but I look back and I see what's happened in his life and his family's life and and what I hear about in this church, and I really wouldn't want it any other way than how it played out.

Not only because this is God's will, but to see the joy of people growing in the Lord brings such delight to my own heart.

I'm sure it does for you as well.

And that should just fill us with gratitude as we really witness God's provision, not only in this church, but also how God has provided for us in Redemption Durham.

And for this morning, I want to kind of carry on that theme into our service of God's provision.

As we look at a portion of Scripture in Mark chapter 8.

Mark 8 · chapter mention

And so if you're not there already, you can turn there.

And while you're doing that, you probably haven't noticed this already, but there's a little scar that's running down the middle of my forehead, and every so often my kids will ask me to share the story over and over again.

They seem to derive a lot of joy and my pain.

And I'll spare you most of the details.

But I was about two or three years old and just playfully being pushed around in a stroller by a number of people, and I'm sure you can imagine what happens at this point, but one of them pushed a little stronger with one hand than the other, and I'm still trying to figure out if that was an accident or not.

But the stroller obviously took a turn, and I ended up faceplanting in the corner of a brick wall.

And it wasn't a pleasant sight to say the least.

But I was told that the only thing I really wanted in that moment was my mom, as anyone would.

She's running down that hallway looking at me with blood streaming down my face, and I don't know who's panicking more at this point, myself or my mom, but I knew when I was in any type of pain, that's where I wanted to be.

It was a place of comfort.

A place where I had been shown great compassion and where I expected to find healing.

And certainly God had that in mind when he created that relationship.

There's a unique gentleness, as Paul says in 1 Thessalonians, of a nursing mother taking care of her own children.

There's really nothing like it.

You've experienced that in your own life.

We witness that.

And children sense that.

They instinctively know who to go to in times of need, always remembering that provision will be made.

And I wonder if we could take a lesson from children and apply it to our relationship with the Lord.

That when there is a need in our lives, we naturally go to the one who has faithfully and perfectly provided for all of our needs.

But oftentimes we don't do that.

We might have a boss that is unruly and challenging, and we end up taking matters into our own hands and we respond in our flesh.

As a parent, you know, we're walking down that hallway to deal with another blowout, and our anger is preventing us from making any appeal to the Lord.

Or there could be strife between friends or family, and even though we know what God is capable of doing in those moments, how often do we find ourselves going to Him in our times of need?

And where we find ourselves in the Gospel of Mark, the disciples are not in a good place.

They also have found themselves in great need.

Their faith is weak, their heart can be hard, and so they've resorted to fear and doubt, and they're constantly forgetting who the Lord is and the power he has to transform them and to provide for their needs.

It was even on one occasion in Mark chapter 4 that after Jesus calmed the sea, that they said to one another, Who then is this?

Mark 4 · chapter mention

That even the winds and the waves obey him.

Who is this?

They're not getting it, and spiritually speaking, they're in a hurting place.

And unlike a hurting child running naturally to his mother, they're not doing that in going to the Lord.

Believing who he is and finding him to be the provider for all their needs.

But he wants to change that.

Not just in their life, but in our life.

And he wants to remind them of three things from this passage when they're in time of need.

And he's going to teach us this lesson.

And the first one is that he is our compassionate provider.

Look with me at Mark chapter eight, and I'll start by reading the first three verses.

It says, In those days when again a great crowd had gathered and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat.

And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way, and some of them have come from far away.

The gospel writer uses this word compassion quite often to describe Jesus, but notice this is the only time where we find that Jesus says of himself that he feels compassion, and this shouldn't be overlooked.

His intention really is to make himself known to his disciples in order for them to see the fullness of who God is.

He sees the needs of his people, he doesn't want them to faint on the way, and as the word suggests, he's moved in his spirit to relieve them of this burden.

You remember the story of the Good Samaritan, of how he sees the man who had been beaten on the side of the road, and Luke uses the same word when it says that he had compassion on him, and it moved him to bow up his wounds and take care of him.

That's the sense here.

Meeting his need.

Or when the father sees the prodigal son returning home, and it says that he felt compassion on him, fell on his neck and began kissing him.

There's deep affection that the father feels toward the son, and so does Jesus towards these people.

So Jesus turns to his disciples.

He says, I feel compassion towards them.

They've been with me three days and have nothing to eat.

I want to feed them.

But it's more than that because in Matthew's account of the story, the language is even stronger.

He says, I am unwilling to send them away hungry.

As if to say that they're not going home without food.

We're going to feed them.

He cares for their physical well-being and wants to relieve them of this burden.

I think it's important for us to stop right here because as he is revealing his heart to the disciples, Jesus is wanting to reveal his heart to us as well.

And so let me ask you: are you recognizing in very practical ways how Christ is showing you compassion?

You know, in Matthew chapter 9, it says that when Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

But when you look around this room right now, even at one another, and this might be awkward, but just look around this room right now, quickly.

I know it can be strange.

But when you look around this room, this is an expression of the compassion of Christ as He has brought you together in a way that no one else can.

Among a community of believers who are here to exhort and correct and encourage and rebuke when you need correction.

Maybe you're in a small group or a youth group or some type of edifying group throughout the week, and you see it as nothing more than simply a weekly get together.

But this is a way that Christ is showing you compassion as he takes care of your spiritual and physical well-being in ways that maybe seem overlooked.

I like how one leader put it in our church.

He said that this is a place where people are genuinely cared for in terms of the overall health of an individual.

Needs are being met, lives are being changed.

That's what's happening in our midst.

And Christ in his compassion is doing that amongst a people like this.

Think of all the people in your life, in your home, outside of your home that provide care and remember that that is an expression of Christ's compassion to you.

But let me also ask you this where do you find yourself needing to grow in the area of compassion?

And certainly this can be through teaching or or exhortation, but this doesn't have to take shape in a formal ministry.

I mean, it could be after the service on a given Sunday when someone comes up to you and says, you know what, it's been a hard week.

And you can turn to them and say, Well, I hope next week's better.

Or you can look at them with the compassion of Christ and says, and you say to them, Let's get together, let me encourage you, let me be Christ to you, let me help relieve your burden in a very practical way.

It was about six and a half years ago after we had our third child.

And to be precise, it was about 371 days after we had our second child.

And and shortly after, yeah, we like to remind ourselves of that every so often.

But short shortly after my wife Anna gave birth, I came to church with the older two, and and one of the ladies came up to me and and just asked how we were doing.

And I was honest and said, you know, it's been a really exhausting week.

And she says, Well, I'll give Anna a call.

I was like, great.

Didn't think much of it.

But within a couple of days, she was over at our place and in very practical ways, just relieving burdens around the house.

Doing exactly what Christ is doing here and what he's calling us to do if we want to model the very person and character of our Savior.

It's the compassion of Christ that should compel you to be a burden-bearing community.

But I also think that as Jesus puts his compassion on display, he wants to eventually have them see that there is a need that no one else can make provision for, and that is the burden of their sin.

Because among many things, you know what compelled him to relieve us of that burden?

It was his compassion.

I'm sure you remember what Jonah said near the end of his book.

He was a prophet of God.

He didn't want to see a pagan nation come to know the Lord and was angry because they turned away from their idols.

And he says to God, He says, I knew it.

I knew that you were a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in loving-kindness.

And catch this, relenting from disaster.

I knew it.

It was your compassion that withheld from us what we actually deserve.

It's one of the many reasons why God chooses to save us.

It's his compassion.

And right here in our passage, Jesus is wanting the disciples to connect how he feels in his heart with what he's about to do so that they would ultimately see him not only as their physical provider, but a provider for their heart's greatest need, and that is salvation and deliverance from sin.

He is a God who is full of compassion, and I hope you're beginning to see that.

And as he continues to deal with his disciples, he not only wants them to see his compassion, but to remember that he is also their patient provider in times of need.

Look at verse 4.

And his disciples answered him, How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?

We're gonna stop here for a moment.

This was obviously a large crowd of people.

Verse 9 mentions that there were 4,000, but Matthew's account says that there were 4,000 plus women and children, so I read numbers ranging from eight to twelve or even fifteen thousand.

A lot of people.

So this seems like a valid question.

How are we going to feed all these people?

Unless, of course, you've been around the disciples for a short period of time because you would then have to conclude that this is an absurd question to ask.

You shouldn't be asking this, you should know better.

I want you to flip back one or two pages to chapter 6.

Once again, there's a large crowd of people, and in verse 34, it says that Jesus feels compassion upon the crowd because they were lost like sheep without a shepherd.

And the disciples feel the complete opposite towards them because it says in verse 36, send them home so that they can buy some buy themselves something to eat.

Jesus says, You give them something.

We're not sending them home hungry.

You give them something to eat.

Jesus proceeds to take five loaves and two fish and multiplies it to feed five thousand men, plus women and children, which could have been upwards to 20,000 people.

So let me ask you, you just witnessed this incredible miracle of Jesus feeding thousands of people, and a short time later you ask, where are we going to find enough bread?

Like, what's wrong with you?

You shouldn't be asking this question.

But that's not all.

I want you to see something in verse 31 of chapter 6.

Jesus says to the disciples, Come away by yourselves, where?

To a desolate place.

It's a remote place, something like the wilderness where you didn't have access to the market.

It's a secluded place.

Look at verse 32.

And they went away in the boat to a desolate place.

They knew where they were going.

In fact, they even admitted to it in verse 35 because it says, When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, This is a desolate place.

They knew exactly where this miracle happened.

Now go back to chapter 8 and we'll read verse 4 again.

The disciples ask, How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?

You think they would have remembered what happened last time in that remote area.

Being around a similar-sized group of people with the same dilemma in another remote area and in the presence of the same one who fed thousands of people.

And I think the language is not only referring to chapter 6, but to God's faithful provision throughout generations, going all the way back to other desolate places, to the wilderness.

Moses said this to the people of Israel in Deuteronomy 8.

It should be on the screen here.

It says, Lest when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who fed you in the wilderness with manna.

Like, do you not remember?

Like, why don't you get it?

My people have been faithfully provided for for generations.

And as a parent, you know, I I feel like I feel that frustration at times.

Like, how is it that you've forgotten?

I I've told you the same thing six times in the last three minutes.

Like, you need to go brush your teeth.

One of the better lines I heard was, Well, by the time I walk upstairs, I might forget again.

Well, guess what?

Like, remember.

Don't forget.

And you might expect Jesus to be done with them.

Like, I'm sending these guys home and I'm starting fresh with another 12, I'm not working with them.

But he doesn't.

And in his gentleness and mercy, he patiently asks them this question how many loaves do you have?

Even that question should have triggered something in their brains because it was worded the exact same way as in chapter 6.

How many loaves do you have?

He's trying to jog their memory back to what happened earlier in other desolate places.

And you know what we're seeing about our Lord?

Just how patient he is with them.

Because in the midst of their foolishness and forgetfulness and just lack of understanding, he says, How many loaves do you have?

In other words, I'm gonna walk you through this again.

I'm gonna walk you through this again.

This is not a time for a verbal rebuke.

There will come a time for that, but I'm gonna patiently do this again with you.

And I know we live in a day where there's so much of a need for correction and rebuke and discipline, you know, depending on those kind of relationships we have.

But let me ask you, how often have you looked at someone in their forgetfulness?

And with the compassion and patience of Christ, you say to yourself, I'm just gonna walk them through this again.

I'm gonna be Christ to them.

And in those moments, you're reminding them and yourself of just how patient Christ has been with you.

Because when I read this story, you know who I see?

I see myself.

I see myself needing to learn that same lesson over and over and over again, and seeing how the Lord has been so faithful to provide over and over and over.

And even after I've questioned him and I've doubted and become angry, he's allowed me to be in that same place because I simply didn't learn the first time, or the second, or the third, or the thirtieth, which is a demonstration of his patience as he bears with my foolishness and forgetfulness.

I wonder how many times you've been in that desolate place, that same place, and like the disciples, you become distracted by what's around you.

There's so many people, there's not enough bread, and there's no place to find any in this desolate place, this remote area.

They didn't have any answers, but they didn't realize that their answer was standing right in front of their blinded eyes.

Call on him, beg him to do what he's faithfully provided throughout generations, knowing that he won't fail you.

That should be their response, and that should be ours.

You know, I was privileged to watch the beginning of your service last week, how your pastor came up here and announced that provision was made beyond what you had asked or even thought of.

And I was thinking that just like the disciples, God delights to put us in places that seem humanly impossible, so that we look to him and say, without a shadow of doubt, that was the Lord making provision for us.

And in the end, he gets the glory for it.

It's not it's not ourselves.

He made a way.

So I just want to remind you to continue in that vein that as your family at home comes together or your church family meets together and you see a need, that you stop and say, We're gonna look to the Lord, who has been faithful throughout generations to provide.

And I'm gonna trust in him.

We're gonna trust in him as a family.

Remind yourself of his compassion and patience with you and pray specifically for your own heart that there would be this unwavering trust that he would make provision for your needs, knowing that your greatest need is to be made like him.

We need to remember in our time of need that Jesus is our compassionate provider, our patient provider, and our powerful provider.

Look with me at verse six.

And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground, and he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples to set before the people, and they set them before the crowd.

And they had a few small fish, and having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them.

And they ate and were satisfied, and he took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.

And there were about four thousand people, and he sent them away, and immediately he got into the boat with the disciples.

And went to the district of Dalmanutha.

We'll stop there for a moment.

One of the reasons why I was drawn to this passage is because I think the feeding of the 4,000 is one of the more neglected miracles that Jesus performed.

In fact, many people have even forgotten that this ever happened because it's been overshadowed by the feeding of the 5,000.

Because let's be honest, if you're going to choose one of these to put in a children's Bible storybook, it's going to be the one with the little boy in it.

It's not going to be this one.

You'll rarely find this one in there.

And skeptics have even suggested that this miracle here is actually no different than the one recorded in Mark 6, the feeding of the 5,000.

And one of the reasons they say that is because they think there's no way that Jesus can perform virtually the same miracle in such a short period of time, and the disciples still don't get it.

They're saying they can't be two different events.

But that's essentially the point.

They don't have enough faith to believe, and will soon notice that even after this miracle, they still don't understand.

But with all the similarities here, there are just as many differences between them.

This one is happening in Gentile territory rather than in a Jewish region.

And as already mentioned, it's a slightly smaller crowd.

We're dealing with seven loaves instead of five, and the seven baskets left over were fewer than the twelve, but even if even the type of basket is different.

In the feeding of the five thousand, it was small hand baskets that were filled up.

Meanwhile, the word for basket here was used of large oversized baskets, big enough for a person to fit in.

The book of Acts uses it of someone actually being lowered from a house in one of these.

These are massive baskets.

So the remaining leftovers was actually more in this one than in the previous one.

And commentators have elaborated extensively on the meaning of all these numbers, and I think there's merit to some of them.

We might get to one, but I just need to state the obvious conclusion up front.

This is undeniably a powerful working of the Lord.

No one can deny this.

What seems impossible, he makes possible, and nothing is outside the boundary of his power.

He causes the lame to walk, he raises dead to life, and he feeds thousands of people out of nothing.

And when we look back to that foolish question that the disciples asked in verse 4, their response should have been, Lord, you're able because we've seen you do this over and over, and now we're just ready to serve.

You care so deeply and are compassionate for these people, and you have the power to provide food and anything else that we need.

You are the one that we are to go to.

Paul Tripp had this to say when commenting on God's compassion and power working together.

It'll be up on the screen.

It says, Divine power plus divine compassion equals everything you need.

If God were only holy and only powerful and only sovereign and had no compassion, we would be damned.

No one would ever run to him, no one would ever find hope in him.

But his compassion means that sovereignty is exercised for your good, that power is released for your provision, that holiness is what leads him to send his son, so his holiness does not have to be compromised.

So through the life of Christ, justification and forgiveness and righteousness is given.

And on the cross, holiness and power and sovereignty and compassion meet together in salvation for his elect.

I think that's so true.

Divine power plus divine compassion equals everything you need.

Because you know what, if we're honest, when we fall into sin, just like the disciples, we doubt one of those.

Either his compassion or his power, or even sometimes both.

You get angry at someone, believing that's the only way to resolve a conflict, rather than trusting the power of God to transform that person and yourself.

You get anxious about the future because you doubt in the compassion and care of God to make provision.

We stop praying for the lost because we fail to remember that the one who has the power to save is stronger than any adversity that can cause someone to reject the gospel.

So, what's the remedy for all this?

How do we get to the point and to a place in our life where we have such confident belief in the power and compassion of God to provide for all of our needs?

Well, I want us to think about this.

The greatest demonstration of compassion and power was met where?

At the cross.

When Christ, being fully God, he came into this world, took on flesh to suffer and die on our behalf so that we can have eternal life.

And it was by his power that he destroyed the one who had the power of death.

And then in compassion to the world, he would extend forgiveness to all those who would come to him, including the very ones who would nail him to that cross.

He was crushed to make provision for our greatest need.

Would he then not make provision for the lesser needs of this life?

Paul puts it this way in Romans 8.

He who did not spare his own son.

He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

All things.

So in times of need, when you forget his power, remember the cross.

When you forget his compassion, remember the cross.

A continual remembrance of the cross will center our mind to believe that he will provide for our needs because he's already taking care of our greatest need in life.

And Jesus was trying to get his disciples to understand him by the signs, but they couldn't grasp it.

They didn't get it.

Why didn't they?

What was the problem?

And we'll answer that shortly, but Jesus first has this exchange with the Pharisees beginning in verse 11 because they wanted him to perform a sign.

Although the irony is, if you read the first seven chapters of the Gospel of Mark, it's filled with miracles and wonders and signs.

Jesus even has one exchange with them in chapter 3 when it was the Sabbath, and they wanted to watch and see if Jesus was going to heal the man with the withered hand so that they might accuse him.

And Jesus was grieved and angered over their hardness of heart.

They're not looking to believe, as verse 11 says.

They're looking to trap him.

And so Jesus is not giving them anything more than what they've already seen.

And I think the dialogue with the Pharisees is included right here because Jesus is exposing a hardness of heart in the disciples that can eventually lead to a type of hardness that is seen among the Pharisees, the religious leaders, which is why Jesus says in verse 15, watch out, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.

Be on guard for their teachings and don't take part in their evil and wickedness because their hardness of heart will lead to destruction.

And maybe you're here and you need to hear that.

God has been patient with you, He's warned you, and is appealing with you to turn from your sin.

Believing that apart from Him, you're eternally lost.

Don't think lightly on His mercy.

There will be an expiry on that.

He is patiently waiting, but there will come a time where that patience will stop.

Jesus gives the disciples this warning, but they're clueless because in verse 16 they begin discussing again with each other that they have no what?

They have no bread.

Unbelievable, right?

Like verse 14 says that they had forgotten to bring any, and they only had one loaf, and they're wondering again what they're going to do.

I mean, can you imagine that?

They've been drowning in bread for months because Jesus kept supplying bread out of nothing, and now they're at it again.

I mean, if there's one thing they didn't have to worry about, you imagine it would be bread.

Like worry about something else.

Okay?

Like assume that Jesus has the bread taken care of.

But they couldn't understand, and why not?

Why did this keep happening?

And beginning in verse 17, Jesus is now going to tell us why, and don't miss this.

Look at verse 17.

And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread?

Do you not yet perceive or understand?

Are your hearts hardened?

Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear?

And do you not remember?

When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?

They said to him, Twelve.

And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?

And they said to him, Seven.

And he said to them, Do you not yet understand?

What were they supposed to understand?

What what were they supposed to remember, as it says in verse 18?

They were to remember that Jesus is their compassionate, patient, and powerful remind provider for all their needs.

To believe in him.

But they didn't get it because in verse 18, Jesus mentions having eyes and ears, but not being able to hear.

And he says that because bracketing this entire section of scripture is a miracle right after this, of Jesus opening the eyes of a blind man, and at the end of chapter 7, of him opening the ears of a deaf man.

And both of these accounts are unique to the Gospel of Mark and are precisely here because they act as a metaphor to what must take place in the disciples' lives, but hasn't fully happened yet.

You actually don't understand because you have scales partially on your eyes, and your ears are slow of hearing.

But the good news is I can fully open them.

I can fully open them.

I have the power to not only multiply food to feed thousands of people and to meet all your earthly needs, but I also have the power to open up your spiritually blind eyes and deaf ears.

But you have to come to me.

You have to come to me.

You can't do this on your own.

You have to see me as a source of power.

That's what he's teaching them.

The language in the miracles of the blind and the deaf are so similar as it points to the truth that it was Jesus who did it.

The last verse of chapter 7 says, He has done all things well.

He even makes the deaf hear and mute speak.

He possesses the power.

And we certainly won't go through these stories, but I want to bring out one application as it's related to our text.

Because in both miracles there were people who brought these men to Jesus.

As it says there, they begged Jesus to heal them.

And I know that we have friends and we have co-workers in our lives who need spiritual healing.

And parents, we have children in our homes and outside of our homes who need saving.

And we need to call them to repentance for sure.

But along with that, I think what Jesus is teaching us here is that if their eyes and ears will be open, we need to beg Jesus to do it.

We need to plead on their behalf.

We need to go to the source of power.

So let me ask you, how often are you begging the Lord to save your lost friends and neighbors?

Fathers, let me ask you, and I'm c I'm adding myself in this.

How often are we rallying our wives and begging the Lord to save our children?

How often are we relying and putting our complete dependence on the one who saved us and the one who needs to save them?

Knowing that he alone can open up blind eyes and deaf ears.

So let's go to him in humble dependence, believing in his power to save.

And I think that the seven baskets remaining is a subtle yet obvious symbol that points us to Jesus as if to say, I always perfectly provide for your needs, physical, but more importantly, your need for spiritual sight.

You need to come to me.

You know, at the end of the Gospel of John, after his resurrection, Jesus was standing on the shore while the disciples went out fishing, and it says that that night they caught nothing.

Not a single fish.

So Jesus says, He says, Cast your net on the right side of the boat.

And it says that when they did, there was an abundance of fish.

And that's when they recognized that it was the Lord, and they immediately swam to meet him on the shore.

But when they arrived on the shore, Jesus had prepared a charcoal fire.

And you remember what was on there?

Some loaves and some fish.

And I think that was a reminder to them that as I have patiently, compassionately, and powerfully provided for your needs in the past, I will continue to do that for you.

And not only for you, but for all of my children, including us, including you and I.

That he is the source of power who has faithfully provided for his people, and he will continue to do that in our life.

And may we not forget that, but always bear that in remembrance.

Father, we're so thankful that we can be reminded of our Savior, who has patiently, with great longsuffering, with such compassion and with such power, powerful in his own life provided for our needs.

And now, Father, we oftentimes struggle to believe that you will provide for our needs now in this life.

May we not forget what you have done for us in the past so that we can trust in you for what you will provide for us right now in this place and in the days to come.

Because you are able.

We know that you are, but often we forget.

Help us to remember by your word, by your spirit, by those around us, as you encourage and correct, and you do so for the glory of your name as you make us more like Jesus, in whose powerful name we pray.

Amen.