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You know, I have a lot of faults, 
but I don't think ingratitude is one of them. So I wanted to 
express a heartfelt thank you from my wife and I to all of 
you for how you've made us feel so at home. A wonderful church 
here, a wonderful area here. We've just had a great, great 
time for these three Sundays that we've been here. So thank 
you so much, just for your kindness, very kind. Let's turn our Bibles 
for my last message in Matthew chapter 14. Now, I'm going to 
ask you to have to do something a little bit difficult, and that 
is there's a parallel passage I want you to flip there when 
I tell you to flip there. I won't tell you that passage 
yet, but it's in Matthew 14. And the thing about Matthew and 
Mark is they do seem to run parallel. Luke does as well, but he does 
in a more expansive way. So Matthew, Mark, and Luke, definitely 
have parallel passage. This one begins in verse 22 of 
Mark chapter, I mean Matthew chapter 14. I will probably say 
that, make the mistake, so bear with me. Matthew 14, this is 
the word of God. I'll begin in 22 and go to 33. 
Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go before 
him to the other side while he sent the multitudes away. And 
when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up on the mountain 
by himself to pray. Now, when evening came, he was 
alone there, but the boat was now in the middle of the sea, 
tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. Now, in the 
fourth watch of the night, Jesus went to them, walking on the 
sea. When the disciples saw him walking 
on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a ghost. they cried 
out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to 
them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I. Do not be afraid. Peter answered him and said, 
Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. 
So he said, Come. And when Peter had come down 
out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But 
when he saw the wind was boisterous, he was afraid and beginning to 
sink, cried out, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus 
stretched out his hand and caught him and said to him, oh, you 
of little faith, why did you doubt? When they got into the 
boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in the boat 
came and worshiped him saying, truly you are the son of God. Let's go over to Mark chapter 
six. The parallel passage is found 
in verse 45. He says here, immediately, he 
made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the 
other side, to Bethsaida, that would be the Sea of Galilee, 
while he sent the multitude away. And when he had sent them away, 
he departed to the mountain to pray. Now, when evening came, 
the boat was in the middle of the sea and he was alone on the 
land. Then he saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against 
them. Now about the fourth watch of 
the night, he came to them walking on the sea and would have passed 
them by. When they saw him walking on 
the sea, they supposed it was a ghost and cried out, for they 
all saw him and were troubled. But immediately he talked with 
them and said to them, be a good cheer, it is I, do not be afraid. Then he went up into the boat 
to them and the wind ceased. and they were greatly amazed 
at themselves beyond measure and marveled. For they had not 
understood about the loaves because their heart was hardened." When 
you come to this amazing portion of God's Word, we have Jesus 
walking on the water. It is, I'll use the word amazing, 
but that word just really doesn't make it. It doesn't really give 
everything of that experience of what the people saw our Lord 
walking on the water. And so tonight what I plan on 
doing is when one preaches, I'll just let you into my study, there's 
a couple of things that those that preach should be able to 
do and that is they should take a text and make it easy to understand. And I think you should have everyone 
in mind from the kids to the older ones, I'm one of those 
older ones now, to those that are in between. You also want 
it to be compelling. Preaching should be compelling. 
You must believe this of what it is that I am proclaiming to 
you. And then it should have some 
measure of a picture, if you will, of one thing that sticks 
out in your mind. Oh yeah, he was preaching about 
this, that, and the other. Just like when you look at a 
picture, if you get up close to a picture, you see a bunch 
of lines and colors and that sort of thing. But it's not till 
you stand back and take a look and go, oh, OK, that's a picture 
of my wife, whatever it may be. So that's hopefully what I will 
do tonight is to explain the context and explain the text. Now, before we get into the context 
and text, there is a reality and truth that needs to be accompanying 
us as we go through this passage. And that is fear. Fear. Before sin entered the world, 
there was no fear. There was no sickness, there 
was no sorrow, no sin, no death, and no fear. Adam, before he 
sinned, was not afraid of anything. Think about that. No pain. sickness, no sorrow, 
no death, and as a result he lived in perfect peace. After he sinned he became guilty 
before God as well as the entire family of Adam. Do you remember 
in Genesis what he said to the Lord? I heard you in the garden 
and I was afraid. Now a new emotion as a result 
of sin. And by contrast, the eternal 
state of salvation is described in Micah 4.5 in a metaphor, that 
everyone shall sit under his vine and no one shall make them 
afraid. Zephaniah 3.13, here you have 
the remnant, those that are saved, shall feed their flocks and lie 
down and no one shall make them afraid. And being afraid is common 
to everyone. Kids, you get afraid of things. I was afraid of the dark. I was 
afraid of some of my dreams. And I was definitely afraid of 
my dad when I disobeyed my parents because I knew that I was going 
to get the backside spanking. But it was a fear of love towards 
my father. These fears, which is common 
to all of us, might be fear of sickness, of sorrow, yes, of 
death, but all are afraid. Now we have our fears as Christians 
and we have our comforts as Christians, and when you come to a service, 
a church service, fear is probably the last thing on your mind, 
probably. Well, let's hang on to that for 
a minute. and let's move on now with the 
context. We are in the midst of our Lord's ministry. After 
he hears the news of John the Baptist being beheaded, he takes 
his 12 disciples and goes to a deserted place. However, many 
hear of him and go to him, and he performs wonderful teaching 
and a wonderful miracle as he feeds 5,000 men with a very small 
amount of loaves and two fish. Wonderful miracle. Then after 
he feeds them, in John's gospel, in John chapter 6, it appears 
that they're going to take him by force and make him king. Now, this was not the design 
of his miracle of feeding the 5,000 men. They were seeking 
to establish a temporary kingdom, and that was not our Lord's intention 
when he fed the 5,000. That was not his intention to 
do that. So what he does is he takes the 
12 and he sends them to go to the other side in the Sea of 
Galilee. Then he goes to the 5,000 and 
it appears that he instructs them and he sends them away. 
So, now he retreats up to the mountain by himself to pray to 
have communion with God. Now I have to stop here and say 
I find it interesting that here the Son of God The Son of Man 
found a need to pray. And as I sit in that pew at many 
times, not this particular pew, but the one down in California, praying, and I'm in need of the Lord, 
And I pray, and yet the Lord Jesus shows his dependence upon 
the Father by going to the Lord and seeking Him in prayer. All of us sitting here, when 
we do pray, when the brother prays, we are praying with him. 
We are, yes, agreeing with him. Amen. We know that God hears 
our prayers. We don't pray disbelieving. We pray believing that God will 
actually answer our prayers. He will bless our services. He 
will save our children. He will cause us to grow in grace. 
But here, our Lord goes and prays, and I will submit to you, and 
I'm just being suggestive here. He's probably praying for his 
disciples that are rowing on the Sea of Galilee, which brings 
us now to our text. And in verse 24, here you have 
a boat with 12, and they're about halfway across the Sea of Galilee, 
and they are in trouble because the wind and the waves are against 
them. Now, four of them were seasoned 
fishermen. They were used to troubles on 
the water, but right now they were having trouble. They were 
losing the battle. Some would call it Mother Nature. 
It's not Mother Nature. Losing the battle with the wind 
and the waves, being brought about by God's providence. They 
were in a battle and our translation says that they were in their 
fourth watch, in the fourth watch, which is between 3 a.m. and 6 
a.m. First watch is PM, 9 PM, second, 
nine to midnight, third, midnight to three, last watch, three to 
six. So it is late at night. It is 
dark. There's an angry sea, and there 
is no end in sight. They didn't have motors back 
there. They just couldn't call the Coast Guard for help. They 
were in trouble. And as a result, they had fears. The next verse in Matthew 14, 
25, and in Mark 6, 48, either one, doesn't matter, you can 
go to either one, you see, or I should say the Lord sees them 
straining, and because of their current danger, he goes to them 
walking on the water. The disciples, without our Lord, 
are straining and fearful of their lives. They are literally 
afraid of their lives. fearful night on a Black Sea. I don't know if any of you have 
ever been on the Black Sea, I should say. I went across a couple of 
times with my father-in-law, and there was one night, there 
was no moon, there was no stars, it was dark. We were between 
about 15 miles, we had another few miles to go until we got 
to Catalina. It was dark, and the waves were getting a little 
high. It was getting a little scary for us, and we were motoring, 
so we just, they weren't as afraid as I was. But when you're on 
a black sea, there is nothing. You look in front of you, behind 
you, above you, and all you see is black. And I would submit 
to you it's probably what they saw is nothing but black. Water potentially filling the 
boat, making them cold. Their natural reaction is survival 
out of fear. Now that's one fear. Fear for 
their lives. The next verse is 26. with their backs toward their 
destination, because that's how most people row, like this. They're not doing the forward 
one. They're probably doing the backward row. They've done this 
before. But they're back to their destination, 
weary from rowing. They've probably been rowing 
for around six, seven, eight hours. A new fear arises. Fatigued, they see their Lord 
walking towards them. But now a new fear arises. It's 
a fear of the supernatural. They look at him. They do not 
recognize him as the Lord. And they say, in the Greek, it's 
a phantasm or it's a ghost. That's how our Bible translates 
it. It's a ghost. Now their fears come to a new 
frightening level. When it's a new fear, brethren, 
it heightens quite a bit. When I had cancer, before then, 
I just knew of cancer. Oh yeah, you might get cancer 
one day, Rick. When I had cancer, they tell you the news. I have 
to admit that that was a new fear for me. Now my mortality 
came before my eyes and I was afraid. New fears right there 
seem to bring that scale up pretty high. In verse 27 of Matthew, 
Jesus brings peace by a simple word. It is I. It is I. Do not be afraid. Simple word. Do not be afraid. Our Lord knew 
that they were afraid. Amazing. He gets into the boat. Everything 
calms down. Now, in Mark's gospel, he leaves 
something out. I don't know if you noticed that 
or not, I'm sure you did. He left out Peter walking on 
water. Mark, why did you leave that 
one out? I mean, Peter walked on water. That should be something 
to write about. Well, let's talk about this for 
a minute. Why is it in some gospels things 
are omitted and in other things they are added? The four gospels Do not necessarily question everything 
or have every single solitary fact in there. The intention 
of the writer may not have been with regards to Peter walking 
on water. The thing is, is that's probably 
not the question to ask. Why isn't this in Matthew? Or why isn't this in Mark? That 
sort of thing. Remember that the writers are 
writing to a particular people to impress their souls. And so 
there is an intention of the writer when he writes the gospel, 
whether it was Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, they had an audience 
to consider, and their intention was to leave a different impression 
on their souls than someone else that they were addressing. So 
we probably should be taking up more with what is revealed 
as opposed to what is not revealed. And that's about all I'm going 
to say about that. But Peter here, going back to 
Mark, I should say Matthew 14, Verses 28 through 32 exhibits 
faith and doubt. He exhibits both. His faith is 
courageous and his doubt also exists. Look at that. He says, 
Lord, that is faith. If it is you, that's doubt, bid 
me to come on the water. That's faith. He gets out of 
the boat, walks on the water. That's faith. Then he begins 
to sink. That's doubt. Then he looks up to the Lord. 
Save me. That's faith. You see what happens there? In 
a very short period of time, faith and doubt existed with 
this believer. And these men, except for Judas, 
were believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. They believed. Peter 
believed. He cries out to the Lord to save 
him. And Matthew says he catches him. Imagine he got pretty close. And then he caught him. And then 
he says something to him. Oh, you of little faith, why 
did you doubt? I don't know if our Lord had 
a smile on His face when He said that, but I think He had kindness 
on His face when He said that. Oh, you of little faith, why 
did you doubt? Why did you doubt? Gets into the boat, and the wind ceases. Everything 
is calm. And here in Matthew's account, 
the disciples proved Jesus' deity by worshiping Him. If a Jehovah's 
Witness shows up on your doorstep, and you show them this verse, they will probably blow it off. 
And I found the best way to talk to a Jehovah's Witness is to 
talk to them about their sin. Once they're convinced of their 
sinnership, that they've sinned against God, It's not gonna be 
too difficult to show them that Jesus Christ is both Lord and 
Savior. But here, the disciples prove that Jesus 
is God manifested in the flesh by worshiping him and praising 
him, truly you are the Son of God, meaning you have the same 
nature as God, the Son of God, the Son of the living God. Now, 
while Matthew adds something, Peter walking on water. Mark 
omits this. Mark, go to 6.51 now. He adds something that Matthew 
omits. Verse 51, Then he went up into 
the boat to them, and the wind ceased, and they were greatly 
amazed in themselves beyond measure and marveled. The disciples were 
greatly amazed, it says, beyond measure. Amazed that it was the 
Lord Jesus Christ and not a ghost, first of all. They were amazed 
that he walked on water, should be, marveled. Even more so, the 
wind ceases. There's a lot going on here of 
why they would be amazed at our Lord. Their amazement went beyond 
words. When it says beyond measure, 
there's probably no Greek or English word that can properly 
or perfectly describe what went on within them. They were amazed 
beyond measure. I can't give the right words. 
We're sitting here in the cool of this building here. We're 
not on a sea that was tossing back and forth, and all of a 
sudden, everything gets calm. But why were they amazed? Why 
is it they were beyond measure in their amazement? And just, 
I find it amazing that they were amazed. Because they didn't realize 
something. They simply didn't realize something. 
They didn't properly judge something. Well, their amazement springs 
from a lack of understanding. The next verse brings it out, 
for they had not understood about the lows because their heart 
was hardened. Now think about that for a moment, 
okay? What in the world does our Lord 
feeding 5,000 have to do with their amazement that He walked 
on water and calmed the seas? By the way, this was not the 
first time our Lord calmed the seas. Earlier, when He was asleep 
in the boat, things were getting rough, they come down, don't 
you care that we're perishing? He gets up, rebukes the wind 
and the waves. Oh, you have little faith. Why 
did you not believe? This happened before. Now, if our Lord could, by His great 
power, feed 5,000 by multiplying a small amount of loaves and 
only two fish, it shouldn't be too difficult 
for our Lord to walk on water. and calm the sea, if he could 
feed 5,000, and he did. So if our Lord has that ability, 
they should have understood it. And I would submit to you that 
their thinking was lazy. They did not conclude or think 
or meditate upon what our Lord had done with the 5,000. If they 
did, you can probably conclude it wouldn't be that difficult 
since he was able to multiply the loaves and the fish to walk 
on water. They should not have been greatly 
amazed. But I think something happens here that's not in either 
of the passages. And that is, it appears that 
our Lord probably, and I'm making this suggestive in light of Matthew's 
account, that our Lord probably explained to them His deity, 
His power, His ability, Him being the Lord, because it says in 
Mark's and Matthew's gospel that they worshiped Him. It seems 
like something happened between the time that He gets into the 
boat, okay? They're greatly amazed beyond 
measure. Our Lord has to teach them and instruct them. Then 
they say, truly, you are the Son of God. Again, I'm just being 
suggestive here. But I think that's probably what 
happened. Our Lord was constantly teaching his disciples, probably 
teach them, look, if I can, if I did, and I have fed 5,000 men, 
I can walk on water. You should not be greatly amazed. 
You should believe that I am truly the Son of God. And they 
do, they do. Again, I'm just being suggestive 
there, but something had to have happened between their amazement 
to their unbelief. Now, their hardness of heart 
was not to the degree of the Pharisees. Hardness of heart is used here, 
but it's not used to the degree of the Pharisees. I preached 
against the Pharisees in the first message. We already know 
their hardness of heart. Jesus would do something, their 
heart was hard, they would not hear, they would not understand, 
they would not obey, they would not recognize him as the Messiah, 
as the Son of God. These 12, except for Judas, believed 
that Jesus was the Son of God. They were amazed. They believed. However, there was a hardness 
of heart there, and they were not able to understand our Lord's 
miracle of the 5,000. Later on, He's going to feed 
4,000, by the way. It goes from 5,000 to 4,000. They're not greatly amazed anymore. They 
are believing. They are seeing this as the work of the Son of God. Now, was it wrong for them to 
be amazed beyond measure? Well, the very fact that our 
Lord doesn't reprove them for that, but it would appear that 
he had to instruct them. So I would not lay sin at their 
door because they were greatly amazed at the Lord doing this. They were just, they did not 
properly judge what had happened when the 5,000 were fed. So let's 
make some conclusions here regarding Matthew as well as Mark. Because we want to make sure 
that we understand and we don't have hardness of heart as well. 
And here's the thing is we should be amazed at our Lord. We should 
be amazed at our Lord. We should marvel. When we read 
of his miracles in this book, in his word, And what I find 
amazing is how God has been able to preserve his word all these 
thousands of years. This didn't happen in America 
or Canada. It happened way over on the other 
side of the world. And God was able to preserve his word, have 
those words frozen on paper, and bring it to us here living 
in the 21st century. And I find it amazing when I 
read of our lords and miracles. When you read in your Bibles, 
and you should read daily, kids, Remember, when you get up in 
the morning, you should pray. Thank God for your parents. Make 
sure you read. If you're able to read, read 
your Bibles. Start with Matthew. Start with Mark, okay? And be 
amazed. Believe those miracles that our 
Lord performed. And believe those miracles. In 
one sense, let's be amazed. Let's just, oh yeah, Jesus walked 
on water. Wake me when this is over. No. 
God would have us to be exercised when we read His Word. It's not 
like you're reading the phone book. This is God's Word. God has been 
pleased to give us His Word. It is God's love letter to us. We see it. We believe it. Lord 
Jesus, thank you. for this wonderful miracle that 
I've been able to see. You weren't there. No, but God's 
been pleased to bring it home to me right here, right now. I praise the Lord for that. That 
will probably make your Bible reading a little bit different 
when you get up and do your devotions. Read believing. God also has 
intended in our reading for us to increase in faith, as well 
as increase in our faith When we come here, our faith increases, 
our hope increases, our love for the Savior increases. We will look at our Lord's miracles 
probably a lot differently when we see the beauty of the Savior. Our Savior is a beautiful Savior. There's a hymn that we sing at 
Trinity, assuming you may sing it here, it's about beautiful 
Savior. Wonderful hymn. He is. There's a beauty to our 
Lord. When you consider that He would 
take upon Himself our nature, and yet tempted in all points 
as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, He is a Savior that 
can be trusted. These disciples believed upon 
the Lord. They trusted Him. Fearful as 
they may be, Let's cut them some slack. We're probably not in 
the same boat as they are, so to speak. But what a wonderful Savior, 
a wonderful Savior. And for those kids, I would exhort 
you to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Any here that are 
not believers, if you know your sin, the good news is Jesus loves 
to save bad people. He loves to save sinners, loves 
to save disobedient children. God loves to do that. He loves 
to do that. Christ is more willing than you 
are. Keep going to Him. Keep going to Him until you believe 
upon the Savior. So He's a wonderful Savior. If 
you want to know anything at all about Jesus, I know that 
many want to literally see Him. We literally want to see him 
when he breaks through the clouds, when he breaks through the clouds 
in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God 
and do not obey his gospel. We look to him by faith right 
now, longing for him to return. But I would submit to you, we 
have him here in the pages of Holy Writ. I want you to notice 
as well of the fears relieved by these disciples. When they were alone in the boat 
straining, then they had fears. It wasn't until Jesus revealed 
himself to them that those fears were relieved. Jesus reveals 
himself in the word read as well as in the word preached. He is 
not an unknown savior to us and he gives us a peaceful word. Do remember that our Lord sent 
these 12 into a fearful, I was going to say ocean, but a sea 
is what it is. He sent them there. They were 
sent by a loving Savior. Difficulties come our way. In our congregation, we have 
many who've had sicknesses, cancers. One member had an open heart 
surgery with his heart removed and a new one put in. We've had 
a lot of difficulties in our church. When you're in a church 
for a period of time, those things happen. I'm assuming you're not 
immune to that as well. But it would appear at times 
as if God had abandoned the person. I felt abandoned, even though 
I wasn't abandoned by the Lord. But then on the fourth watch, 
it seems, then the Lord came and comforted our people in different 
areas, in different sicknesses that they had, different fears 
that they had, even though it appeared it looked this way as 
if the Lord was gone, we couldn't recognize him, yet on the fourth 
watch he brought comfort to us. Remember this, difficulties come 
by the hand of the Lord. And remember this, this is not 
original with me, but smooth seas never made a good sailor. Never did. I've competed a lot 
in sports and I would have to say that the difficulties that 
came along, the opponent that came along, that pushed you to 
a new level, I became a better athlete as a result of that. 
Now, granted in the Christian walk we have difficulties that 
come our way. We hang in there, we believe, 
we look to our Lord and it will turn us into better seasoned 
Christians. But to look to Jesus. We look 
to Him, just as Peter looked to the Lord Jesus, we look to 
Him for our help as well as for our strength. And look at this 
wonderful picture of salvation. Peter's sinking. He doesn't try 
to swim to the boat. He doesn't try to generate enough 
faith to walk on the water. He doesn't look to his friends 
to save him from drowning. He doesn't look within himself 
just The self-awareness, that's what you need. He doesn't do 
any of that. What does he do? He looks to Jesus. All he says 
is, save me. Save me. And did he turn him 
away? No. No. He even said, oh, you of little 
faith, why did you doubt? Why did you doubt? The tenderness 
of our Lord, his willingness to save, and he did more than 
that. He saved. Well. Faith and doubt coexist in the 
Christian. That's my next point here for 
application. Again, look at Peter. Lord, that's 
faith. If that is you, that's doubt. 
I'm saying all that to say that can it be that happens to us 
as well? Faith and doubt coexist within 
the believer. Not a doubting to condemnation, 
but there could be at times we doubt about our Lord's providence. Maybe we doubt His kindness. 
Those things may exist within a believer. Faith and doubt do 
indeed exist. I think this is an example of 
it right here with Peter. And these disciples had a test 
of faith. and their failure was for their 
good. Not that we're looking to fail. We want to endure. We want to grow in the grace 
and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. But remember, 
every trial that comes our way is by the hand of the Lord, and 
it's for our good, even though not everything is good. And faith 
is not hoping, oh, well, then it will be better. No. Faith 
is believing upon the Savior. Our trust is in Him. Through 
good times and bad times, we hang on to Him. Sometimes we 
feel so weak, we just try to hang on that we can, but we have 
a strong, wonderful, compassionate, loving Savior who is head of 
the church. He's the head of the church. 
Not a pastor. We're under shepherds. We're 
nothing more than slaves, and what we're trying to do, ministers, 
we're trying to get out of the way. We preach to you Christ, 
God gets all the glory, and we get out of the way because it 
is the Lord Jesus who is the head of the church, and he is 
the one that's teaching you in a wonderful way, because he loves 
his people. He has great love for his church. 
He laid his life down for his church. Just remember this, my 
brethren. No tribulations, no trials. We would get pretty fat and lazy, 
wouldn't we? Those things have to come. They 
come by the hand of a loving Father, by the hand of our loving 
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and we put our trust in Him. So, what have I done these last 
three weeks? Well, I preached to you the context 
of John 3, 16 the first time, which was Numbers 21. And as 
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son 
of Man must be lifted up, that whoever looks upon him should 
not perish, but have everlasting life. For God so loved the world 
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever bleeds upon 
him should not perish, but have everlasting life. That was my 
first week here. Took you 45 minutes times two 
to say that? Yep, sure did. Took me 90 minutes, 
maybe less, not sure. And then we had the sinful woman 
and the Pharisee. Remember that? And our Lord has 
such comforting words to her. Her sins, which are many, are 
forgiven her. And he turns to her and says, 
your sins are forgiven you. Your faith has saved you. Go 
in peace. Those are words for us. Go in 
peace. And then we have this wonderful 
passage today, this morning, with our Lord and with the command 
for us to be humble, not to be judgmental, see our sins greater, 
and see our Savior to be greater. And that's what I'm bringing 
out here right now. We have a wonderful Savior. So my exhortation to 
you is continue on in the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus 
Christ. I owe you a little faith. Why did you doubt? We believe. We cling to Him. Let's pray. 
Our Father, we thank you that you have granted unto us eyes 
to see, ears to hear, a faith to believe upon your Son, And 
we cling to you and we praise you. We give you thanks that 
you are the great God who has made the heavens and the earth 
and the sea and all that is in them. We give you thanks for 
the great honor it is to have communion with you through prayer, 
through the singing of hymns, through your word preached. We 
praise you that you are our great God. Grant unto these dear saints 
for this upcoming week, the grace to walk with you. grant unto 
the children faith to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, cause 
this church to continue to grow in your grace and knowledge, 
raise up elders to continue to minister to the flock of God, 
the shepherd, the flock of God. We give you thanks and praise 
that you've established the church for the good of your people and 
for your glory. So we pause here At the end of 
this day, we offer up thanksgiving and praise unto you, for you 
are worthy, you are worthy, you are worthy. Hear our prayers, 
do good to our souls, for we pray with confidence in the name 
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.