Grace Gets The Last Word - Ephesians 6:18-23

Four points for us as we work through this. Let's put the next one on the screen. We pray together. This is the outline of our passage. We pray together, following verse 18. We speak boldly. We send each other verses 21 through 22, and then we stand in grace. So that's how we're gonna be working through the passage this morning. All of those we's. Paul is addressing the church plural. Almost all the commands in the book of Ephesians are to a group of people. It's not just singular. And so we're going to be working through the points that walk us through these last 7 verses of this letter. And it's worth noticing how Paul chooses to end the letter. We just he just spent 6 chapters on the church and on a war with rulers and authorities and cosmic powers, and then he signs off with a prayer request. And he signs off with a note about a friend who's going to deliver this letter, and then he ends with a blessing. But by the time that we're done this morning, I hope each of us just see the beauty of the end of this letter. I think so often we can just like pass through the 1st chapter of a book and get through all the green. Okay, Paul just wants to say, like, blessings and grace and peace to you and brothers and sisters. And then sometimes we do the same thing with the end of a letter. Okay, yeah, Alexander and take a kiss and all these people. I don't know who they are, but we just kind of cast off the beginning and the end of a book. And I hope by the end of this morning. We can just see the depths and the beauty and the encouragement behind Paul's prayer. So let's look at our 1st point. We pray together. Let's look at verse 18. Paul says, praying at all times in the spirit, with all prayer and supplication, To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. Now, the 1st thing to see is that verse 18 isn't a new subject in Paul's mind. We see the dot, dot, dot. That's because it's a continuation of the previous verse, the previous section. It's not this new verse. It's not a new paragraph. It's not a new pericope or a new thought. It's a continuation. He's been saying stand since verse 11. In fact, 4 times in the last passage, he told us to stand, stand against the schemes of the devil, withstand in this evil day, having done all, stand firm, stand therefore, and now at the very end of this, he brings us to our knees. He said, soldier, you've been standing, you've been fighting, you've been standing firm, and I think he wants to show us something, that we're meant to stand against the schemes of the devil, but we're meant to kneel before the Lord in prayer. We're meant to stand against the schemes of the devil as he comes at us with his temptations and how he twists things and gets in our minds, but we're meant to kneel before the Lord in prayer. Every one of us is going to surrender to something or someone in this life, every single one of us. So you have a choice. Life is going to force every human being to surrender eventually. The only question is whether you're going to surrender to sin or to the Savior. Will you surrender to your sin or to him? Every one of us has to surrender. And then look at how many times Paul uses the word all in a single verse, all times. Let's put that one on the screen. All times, all prayer and supplication, all perseverance, all the saints. Paul is bringing it all together, for alls, in one sentence. And look at what Paul asks for, praying at all times. Not at the right times. Not uh, at the scheduled times, like it's on my calendar, I guess. I gotta pray, you know, it's just what we do at all times. And I think that can, like, sometimes put pressure on us, like, oh, does God just want me, like, in a prayer closet? He wants me on my knees, praying at all. I guess like my entire life is going to be about prayer. But it's not putting the pressure on. It's taking the pressure off. Paul isn't telling you to spend every waking hour on your knees in prayer. He's telling us that there's no part of your day. There's no moment of your day that's off limits from prayer. He's saying, bring it all to him. Welcome him into every moment of your day. He's telling us there's no moment that's off limits. Driving to work is a prayer moment. Sitting at a stoplight, a prayer moment. Waiting in the carpool line. It's a prayer moment. Lying awake at 2 a.m. It's a prayer moment. See, prayer isn't an appointment on the calendar that we're just meant to keep. It's the air that we're breathing as we stand in the armor of God. That's the image Paul wants us to get. It's not a schedule, and I hear this all the time, like, man, I just need to pray more. And that's good, to want to pray more, but God isn't keeping this quota of making sure, well, how many hours is the right amount of hours, you know, 5 minutes is not enough, but you bump that up to 15, and then I'm happy with you. That's not what God is telling us. He's not saying an appointment to keep. He's saying it's the air you breathe as you stand with the helmet of salvation. The breastplate of righteousness, the feet of the shoes of the gospel, the sword of the spirit, the shield of faith, it's the air that you're taking in. I heard one scholar put it this way. He said, scripture is the breath we take in and prayer is the breath we give back out. That God speaks to us in his word. And then we speak it back out in prayer, that we engage with him. It's the same breath just moving in 2 different directions. So a Christian who reads, reads God's word, but never prays is like a Christian, holding their breath. And then the Christian who prays, but never reads, is like exhaling air. But never taking anything in. We've got to be breathing in God's word and breathing out in prayer. They're meant to be one breath, which is why so many of us feel winded. Because some of us aren't breathing in or breathing out, and some of us are just taking it in and not breathing out, and some of us are just breathing out and not taking it in. And we wonder why we feel so tired. And anxious and exhausted. It's because we're meant to engage with God's word. We weren't built to do one without the other. The word leads us into prayer, and prayer sends us right back into the word, 2 sides of the same breath. And notice how he says, in the spirit, in verse 18, which means we don't have to work this up on our own. Paul says it plainly in Romans 8.26. We'll have that up on the screen. Romans 8.26. He says, likewise, the spirit helps you. helps us in our weakness. For we don't know how to pray for as we ought. But the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Most scholars say, like, that's something so heavenly. There's this heavenly language that we can't even comprehend that the spirit is capable of interceding for us, even when we don't have the words. Man, I think all of us need to hear that. God doesn't receive our prayers based on the strength of our vocabulary. And we're probably all know someone who prays like this, these really eloquent prayers. We don't have to be eloquent or impressive. When all you've got is just, God. Help. That's enough. I think that's a beautiful prayer to the Father. God, Lord, just help. The spirit carries that to the Father and says everything that we couldn't say in that moment. And then Paul says, hey, keep alert with all perseverance. That's like watchman language, watchman up on the wall language. That's like soldiers stand at alert, be watchful. Be careful. The enemy might be coming, stay at your post, stay vigilant, keep watch. And I just want to confess something to you this morning. I often quit praying for things after a day. Maybe a few weeks or a few months if it really matters to me. I just quit. I move on. But I don't think I'm the only one guilty of that. Paul would say, hey, when you pray and you can't see anything happening, you don't know that God is answering, it seems like everything is actually getting worse and it's not getting better. Paul would say, that's not failed prayer. That's faithful prayer. That's like a watchman on the wall, staying at their post. They're vigilant. They haven't given up. They're praying faithfully. And even though God's not answering or intervening that you can see in that moment, he's saying, that's the work, that is faithful. That's not failure. So it reminds me almost 20 years ago, I was part of a small group at my church. It was like this co-ed, multi-generational, small group, which I loved, the young and the old, together, men and women, and I showed up at small group one week, and this older lady told me, hey, she asked me about this prayer request that I shared the week before, and I had totally forgotten about it. You know, I had shared it the week before, and she was like, hey, how did that go this week? And I was like, oh, good, I guess, I, you know, to be honest, completely forgot about that. And then she said, hey, I, um, I stayed up all night this week praying for you one particular night. And I was like, wait, time out. When you say you stayed up all night, do you mean like you stayed up late praying for me and then you went to bed and you woke up early praying for me? And she was really humble about it, she was not, there wasn't a crowd, there, she wasn't on stage, she just said, no, I, um, I felt called to pray for you. And so I stayed up all night praying for you. I had never met anyone who had ever done that. That they would stay up all night to pray for me. Like, for me, my own prayer life at that time was like, man, I prayed for 5 minutes this morning. I nailed it, right? Like, I am so good at praying. And then I met this older saint that had stayed up all night not to pray for herself, but to pray for me. It was beautiful. That dear old lady showed me exactly what it looks like to pray for a church at all times in the spirit. With all prayer and supplication, supplication, that's like asking. I'm pleading with God. I need you. Keeping alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. She showed me what that looked like. And then here's this phrase that ought to stop us, making supplication for all the saints. Look at how wide Paul draws this circle, all the saints. Because the armor from the previous passage. It's not it's not given to individuals, right? It's given to the church, to plural, to the body. It's actually the armor of God is issued to an army. And that army is the church. It's the people of God. Roman soldiers didn't stand alone. We know that. They stood shoulder to shoulder. They created this impenetrable barrier. And a shield in that line wasn't only covering the man carrying it. It's covering the men next to them. So when we pray for each other, it's like we're holding up the shield for someone else. We're interceding. We're serving. We're asking God for reinforcements for our brothers and sisters standing shoulder to shoulder next to us. And this is why at every single service, we ask you guys to pray for 3 things. Pray for yourself, pray for someone around you, that we can get out of our own bubble of circumstances, and pray for me. Pray for Pastor Dalton, that God would work through us with boldness. We're gonna get there too. That's why we ask. It's not just to fill space. It's versus 18 and 19. It's applying God's word. Now let me ask you a rhetorical question. How do we pray at all? Pray for all the saints if we don't know what's going on in their lives. How do we pray for all the saints if we don't know what's going on in their lives? This is where our life groups do something nothing else in our church can do. Think about the end of a life group. Somebody says that their marriage has been really hard. or really hanging on by a thread. Somebody says that their dad just got a diagnosis and it doesn't look good. Someone shares that their mother's been in the hospital for months and it's not getting better. Maybe you're scared about a job, a boss, a coworker. Maybe you're struggling to meet the bills, to pay the bills. And then we pray. That's Ephesians 618 happening in somebody's living room. And here's the honesty. Tyler, if I'm not in a life group, I'm really unlikely to pray for other people. I don't know about you, but if I'm not engaging with people on a weekly basis, I just don't know what to pray for. I can pray for theory in people's lives. Well, I guess there are people struggling. I guess people have problems, but God, I just kind of want you to solve mine. And if we're not in a life group, we have to live in community every single week to get outside of our own world and into the world of our brothers and sisters. Otherwise, our prayers shrink down to the size of our own circumstances. And God may ask you one day, man, if I if I answered all of your prayers right now, what else would change in this world other than you? and maybe your family. Like, what are we praying for? Are we living in community? Do we know what other people are going through? Life groups are the best way to do that. We're launching another life group. We have had 3 for the last couple of months. A 4th one is starting next week. Man, if you haven't been in a life group, come and talk to any one of us, any of the leaders, Dalton or myself, we'd love to get you plugged in. There's Sundays at two, five, and 6 o'clock, multiple locations, all in homes. Man, they're awesome. And they provide an opportunity where we can get to know each other and pray. That's what we're meant to do. Which brings us to our 2nd point. We speak boldly. Look at verses 19 and 20. We speak boldly. And also for me, that words may be given to me. Paul is saying me, in the opening of my mouth, boldly, to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare boldly, as I ought to speak. Now, let's remember where Paul is when he writes this. He's a prisoner in Rome, guarded by a Roman soldier and bound with a chain. See, Paul asks them to pray for him. And then look what Paul asks for. He doesn't ask for the chains to fall off. He doesn't ask for safety or comfort. He doesn't even ask for his trial to, like, have a good verdict. I'm going to go to court one day, guys. I'm gonna stand before Caesar and just pray that it all goes well. Like, those would, those would be good things to pray for. I don't know about you, but if I'm in Paul's, if I'm in chains, that's probably what I'm praying for. Hey, these handcuffs, they're really hurting. I've got, you know, welts and blisters around my wrists. Pray that they would fall off, pray for safety and comfort while I'm here. But he asks for boldness to share the gospel. He asked for it twice. Verse 19 and again in verse 20. Paul is praying for his words, not his wrists. Isn't that amazing? Like, that's that's incredible. Then he calls himself something remarkable. An ambassador in chains. An ambassador is a man who represents the king in a foreign land and a foreign territory. And typically, an ambassador has a lot of stuff. They're given protection. Uh, a nice house, resources, immunity if they need it. Paul's got a guard and a chain. But look at this. Paul's chains don't finish his ministry. They actually focus his ministry. He can't travel anymore. And so what does he do? He writes the book of Ephesians. He focuses his time. And the letters that he wrote from that room, chained to a Roman guard, are being preached at almost every church around the world this morning. He didn't see it as a failure. He saw it as a focus to his ministry. I was thinking about it this week. What if we get to heaven? And we're standing before the apostle Paul? And he's like, so how many people did you share Jesus with down there? Wasn't it like awesome to share Jesus with so many people? And we'd say, well, I, uh, You know, I really didn't... I really didn't share Jesus with that many people. And Apostle Paul is like, Well, did, like, I guess everyone then knew and loved and obeyed Jesus? Is that because, like, everyone already knew about him? You didn't have to share it with anyone, that would be incredible. Why not? And you say, well, you know, man, how do I put this? It was, um, it was awkward. And Paul's like, awkward. Is that like Greek or Hebrew? Like, I don't know that word. Is that maybe Egyptian, maybe a language I don't know? What's awkward? I'm not sure I know that word. And then he's like, oh, awkward, like, um, so is that like when they put you in prison, you know? Is that awkward? No, no, Paul. Um, No, it's it's, uh, it's not prison. Um, Oh, it's the stocks where they put you, your head in there and your arms in there, right? And they put you in the stocks. Is that what awkward was? Oh, no, no, Paul? No, no stocks. Oh, the lions. They must have released the lions after you. That's why you didn't share with a lot of people because the lions got to you. Is that why you're here? No, no, Paul. No lions. That would have been crazy. Oh, I get it. Bartholomew, come here, Bartholomew. You didn't want to get skinned alive. like this guy, right? For sharing the gospel. You didn't want to talk about Jesus. That's what awkward was. You didn't want to get skinned alive, like my pal here by Bartholomew. Oh, um, no, it's just... It's really uncomfortable, you know? Um, and I just don't really have the gift of evangelism. I'm more of an introvert, so, like, it's really hard to talk to anyone. Paul's like, What? Why not? So much safety? So much comfort? None of those things kept you? So, we often think that our difficult circumstances or our difficult season of life really limits our ability to share the gospel. Well, I'd share my faith but I'm like, I'm barely holding on. Like, I'm barely making it. I would share about Jesus. I talk about him more, but I'm kind of a mess right now. Like, I need to get my act together first. I got to get to the right season. We got a lot of newborns right now. But we don't ever pause to realize that our circumstances are way better than the people in the Bible ever had. And rather than limiting us, God wants to liberate us, to share him. In whatever circumstances or season we're in. Because the gospel came to us in weakness. While I was yet a sinner, Christ died for me. When I was dead in my trespasses and sin, God made me alive together with him. We never paused to realize that Paul's chains aren't a hindrance to the gospel. They're a help to the gospel. His chains are now this like visual aid to preach to the garden next to him. And now every guard that's changing rotation that's chained to Paul, has to listen to Paul all day long, talk about, you know what, these chains, these are physical chains, but I was in spiritual chains without Jesus. And now they're not a hindrance, they're a help. They're this visual aid. And Paul tells us in the book of Philippians that he let the entire imperial guard know why what he was in chains because he preached the gospel to every single one of them. So let's not think that our pain or our suffering, or our difficulty, or our busyness, or our awkwardness, or our introvertedness, is some hindrance to the gospel. It's a megaphone. It ought to be the reason why we're sharing. For me, some of the boldest witnesses I've ever seen are people in hospital beds and chemo chairs. That there's nothing to benefit. There's no light at the end of the tunnel for them. Some of y'all remember Tom Perkable. Tom was a deacon at our church for decades. And I was in the hospital with the family as he drew his last breath. And we circled 20 of us, circled around his his bed, and we held hands, and we sang his favorite hymn as loud as we could. And that entire hospital wing, heard from our singing the gospel of Jesus that day, the entire floor, every doctor and every nurse, and many of them in tears, because it came to them in weakness. Not in strength We're singing our hearts out as this man of God is dying. And let me tell you, every person in that hospital wing heard the gospel that day. It wasn't in strength and noticed what Paul wants to proclaim. He says the mystery of the gospel. On Saturday mornings. There's a group of us, a small group. Braden and Shannon helped lead that ministry with some others that goes out into our community, in parks, shares the gospel, builds relationships with people that we've never met. And some of us right now, we think, oh, that's not me. I don't have that personality or that gift. I'm not wired like that. That sounds, even if I was, that sounds terrifying. Like, I don't want to do that. I'd rather stay in my jammies and watch Saturday morning cartoons. Like, that sounds awful. But look at verse 18 or 19 again. Boldness isn't a personality type that some people have, and some people don't. It's a prayer request. It's a request from God that every single one of us needs. Paul asks for boldness. Paul. And if the apostle Paul had to ask for it, man, so should we. Now here's our 3rd point. We send each other. Look at look at verses 21 and 22. We send each other. It says so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing. Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. I have sent him to you for this very purpose that you may know who we are, and that he, Tychicus, may encourage your hearts. Now, most of us have probably never heard a single sermon about Tychicus. He's the guy that we read past on the way to the end of the letter to continue reading in our Bible reading plan. He's the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord. He's not this gifted, impressive leader with podcasts and YouTube channels. He's not some winsome stage speaker that's 1000s are flocking to. He's not someone that's just really productive with their time. Like, Tikicus gets it done, man. He's so effective. Faithful. Minister. And remember what we learned back in Ephesians 4, a minister isn't someone who's on staff at a church, a minister's, not a pastor, a minister's, not a deacon, it's someone, it's not someone who's ordained, it's not someone who has a seminary degree. Every Christian is a minister in the kingdom of God. A minister is simply someone who does the work of ministry. So what's Tikkis' job description? Three things. Three things. One, carry this letter. Paul has finished writing the book of Ephesians. It's probably on a scroll that's bound up and sealed. Take a kiss. Carry this letter. We're in Rome, you need to carry it to Ephesus. Second, tell them how I'm doing. Tell the church in Ephesus how Paul's doing. And three, encourage their hearts. That's the whole assignment. One, carry the letter to, tell them how I'm doing, three, encourage their hearts. Tick a kiss is a divinely appointed mailman. He's an encouragement to the church in Ephesus, and God puts his name in the Bible for it. A mailman. and an encouragement to a church. And for all history, the eternal word of God that will never fade away, Tychicus is in it, and he's not just here. He's in multiple letters. Think about what that trip to deliver that letter was like. I don't know, you're probably not super familiar with like Mediterranean, ancient Near Eastern and European geography, but from Rome, Italy, to Ephesus, it's near Turkey. If you go by C, it's going to take you 9 to 12 days, depending on how fast that ship goes, depending on where the port is, if you have to go land 1st and then get to another port, 9 to 12 days minimum. Any sort of inclement weather, while you're at sea, at a day. Hopefully you make it. If you're going by land, you've got to go north and then east and then back down, that could take at least several weeks, if not over a month to deliver this letter. I don't know, waking up an hour early to help brew the coffee. That's a big ask. I don't know, hand out bulletins. Man, holding a baby in the nursery. I don't know if like that's my calling in life, you know? That, I don't know if I can hold a baby for like 30 minutes. That sounds overwhelming. Ah, you know, I can sing and I can play an instrument, but getting here at 8 a.m. on a Sunday morning every once in a while. That's a big ask right now. I don't know if I can do that. Tikkis carries this letter for weeks. He makes a huge sacrifice to hand deliver this letter. Think about how Tickacus must have felt when he found out that his name was put in here. Like, he's probably so humbled that Paul put his name at the end of this thing. I belt it. I bet he felt totally unworthy of it. Like, what are you doing, Paul? Like I'm just carrying this letter. Don't put my name in there. I'm no one. I don't I didn't write this thing. Paul, you're the guy that's building churches and sharing the gospel. You're the gifted one. You can really write eloquently. But without Tychicus, we don't have this letter today. Like 5 months of preaching through it, and 5 months of life group discussion, we don't have without Tickacus. Paul had to write it, but Tickicus had to deliver it. All of it came through a man whose entire contribution was getting on a boat and not losing the mail. Praise the Lord for ticket kisses in our churches. The ones who just humbly serve and never need their name called from a stage. There are no small deeds of service in the kingdom of God. There are no small deeds of service in the kingdom of God. There's just a big, holy God and small, sinful people. And every act of service. The heavenly kingdom sees. of us can probably relate very much to the level of the apostle Paul's ministry. Like sometimes we ask that question, like, how do you think it felt to be like Paul? Like, I don't know. Paul's amazing. But every single one of us can relate to Tikicus. Which brings us to our last point. We stand in grace versus 23 and 24. Peace be to the brothers, in love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ, with love and corruptible. Four words, close this letter, peace, love, faith, grace. And look at where every one of them comes from. From God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, not from us. Not from our effort. Not from how well we did this week or how clean our homes were, how little our babies cried, how well our relationships got along, whether our boss thought we did a good job or not. Come from God. Ephesians opened with grace. Let's put the next slide up. It opened in grace with grace back in chapter one, and now he closes with grace in chapter 6. You guys see that? Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse two, chapter one. And then Paul says, grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ, with love incorruptible. And that phrase stands out to me. A love that doesn't rot. Doesn't rust. Doesn't wear out. It's a love that doesn't have an expiration date. It doesn't age. And the phones in your pockets are already slowing down. Your car that you just bought. It's gonna be in a junkyard one day. It will rust. Someone will go to it for parts. Our homes will be totally gutted and renovated one day. Maybe even bulldozed. Everything that we can see is corruptible. Everything is on a timer. But the love we have for Christ is incorruptible. It stands for all eternity. Not because of anything we've done to make it alive, to hold onto it, but because he 1st loved us with a love that's incorruptible. Romans 8 says it this way. Let's put that one on the screen. For I am sure that neither death nor life, those are big things, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, that can be frightening nowadays. What's to come, God? 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. You can't go high enough or low enough to find something that can separate you from his love. It's totally incorruptible. And love received becomes love extended. That if his love is incorruptible, and it was for you, then your love for him is incorruptible. His love for us never lets go. So I want to leave us with 4 questions. to sit with this week. Whose name is on your prayer list this week besides your own family or yours? Whose name is on your prayer list this week besides your own or your families? Who's the person I'll ask God for boldness to tell about Jesus? Just a name. You're going to say, God, I need boldness to talk to this person. I don't have the personality, I don't have the gift. I don't have the time. But God, I want to. Give me boldness. Not despite my circumstances, but in spite of them. What's one unnoticed act of service I could do for Northland Riverside, for my church? What's one way that I can step up that I can serve? What's one need that this church has? What's a time that I can show up early or stay late? How can I set help with setup or tear down or coffee or bulletins or flags out in the parking lot or an instrument on the stage or a baby in the back? There's people that huddle up and pray every Sunday morning faithfully at 9.30. Maybe it's just coming to pray. to be faithful in those moments. Do I love Jesus or do I just know things about him? Do I actually love him? Do I say he's the maker of my heart? He's the redeemer of my soul. He's the lamp to my path. He's the guide to my life. He's everything to me. Or do I just fill my mind with facts about him? Do I just sign up for Bible study after Bible study after Bible study, but I never actually spend time with him. Do I just surround myself with groups instead of actually making disciples? What do I do with my love for Jesus? Now let's read verse 241 last time. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ. That raises a question we have to answer. How does somebody come? to love Jesus in the 1st place. Because none of us started there. If you have love for Jesus, no one started in that place. Ephesians 2 told us exactly where we started. We were dead in our trespasses, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, children of wrath. But then comes the best 2 words in the whole letter in Ephesians 2, but God. Being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us. Even when we were dead in our trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ. That's the God. Jesus, the son of God. He lived the perfect life that we could not live. Then he went to that cross, innocent. He took the weight of our sin, and our shame, and our weakness, and it crushed him, and it put him in that grave, but he didn't stay there there. 3 days later, God raised him from the dead, and he walked out of that tomb alive, so that all those who trusted him who say, he's my Lord, he's my savior. I'm turning away from a sinful life, and I'm turning towards Jesus because I love him, and I want to behold him, and I want to be like him, and I want to obey him. And as I continue to look at him, I'm moving towards him in love. That's the Christian life. That's where Paul leads us. And what he asks us is it to live a better performance, he asks us to turn from our sin and to turn towards Jesus, to stop trying to earn what was meant to be a gift. So if we've never done that, today's the day. Come to Christ with the empty hands of faith and say, I've got nothing to offer, but you've got everything for me. And so I'm going to receive the gift of salvation because grace is how the letter starts, grace is how the letter ends, and grace gets the last word. Let's pray together. Lord, we thank you that grace is the final word. And that grace was purchased for us at the cross. It's not something that we've done to earn. We couldn't live a 1000000 years and get it right. But Lord, you came into our world. You entered into history. to bring us out of death and into your marvelous life and marvelous light. And because of you, we can live out of the power of sin, without being broken by it, being prisoners by it, being chained to our sin, we can live in freedom. We can be liberated from it. And so, Lord, I pray for those that haven't trusted in you this morning. They haven't put their faith in you, or maybe they have, but they've walked away. They've turned to the a life of busyness, a life of anxiety. Lord, I pray that you would meet them in those things. Or we know that you are a God that meets us in our mess. You meet us in our chaos, in our weakness, it's not in our strength. The Christian life is not a crutch for the weak, it's a stretcher for the dead. Lord, we are dead without you. But with you, God. We're made alive. For all eternity, and we're meant to live that life by the spirit, not by the flesh. And so I pray that you would help us do that this week. Help us to be dependent and weak and rely on you. And we would get the armor of God, not because we're so good, but because you are, and that we would live in close proximity to you. Help us to be a prayerful people to live in community with one another. We pray all these things in Christ's name. Amen. Did you say this?