Awesome. Well, hey everyone great to see you all this morning. My name is John I get to serve as the executive pastor of teaching here at Peace Church Great to be with you whether you're here in the worship center over in the chapel downstairs in the family venue or joining us online Hey, we're in the middle of a series called the church never preaches on You all got to send in topics or questions you wanted to hear about and we here we are to talk about them and this morning I get to address what is the second highest voted question of the series and here it is.

Is Israel still God's chosen people?

We're going to talk about that this morning We're going to address the question that has been asked in a few different ways I want to just share with you put on the screen a few of the different ways that you all sent in this question that We're going to address this morning Here we go. Is there a difference between Israel and the New Testament Church? Is Israel part of the New Covenant? Will every Jewish person be saved? What is replacement theology? What is Israel's role in the end times? These are hard questions, but we're going to tackle them this morning, and so after this morning it can never be said, the church never preaches on. Is Israel still God's chosen people? So if you've got a Bible, would you please grab that and open with me to the book of Romans in the New Testament, Romans chapter 9. We're gonna be looking at verses 1 through 8.

If you're in one of our worship venues this morning and you don't have a Bible, there should be one right around you somewhere. Blacktop, somewhere laying nearby. Grab one of those and follow along with us this morning. Now, let me be clear at the beginning that this is a sermon. This is not a political commentary. I am not that guy. I don't have those skills.

If you're looking for a Christian perspective on politics and the news of the day, I'll recommend a podcast that I listen to on a regular basis. It's by a guy named Al Mohler. It's called The Briefing.

It's a podcast that comes out every morning. He goes through the headlines of the day and talks about it from a Christian perspective. I think it's great stuff. But I'm not that guy. I'm not an expert in the Middle East.

I'm not a military strategist. I'm not even a news junkie. But we're gonna talk about an important theological topic for the church today. Now, many of you might remember going back all the way to October of 2023 in the news, some terrible things happened to the modern day nation of Israel. They were the victims of a horrible act of terrorism in which people were murdered, raped, taken hostage, injured. That's an awful inexcusable thing to happen in our world. The anti-Semitism that we see today happening in our country is an awful inexcusable thing. But this morning, our topic is not the news of the day or the politics of the day. Our topic is theological. How can Christians think about the relationship between the church and the nation of Israel according to the Bible. So what I am is a pastor. And what I have to share with you this morning is God's word. That's what we're gonna dig in to today and answer this question, the question of many people in our church about how biblically is the relationship after the coming life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, after that, how do the nation of Israel and the church relate to each other? Are there two peoples of God or is there just one?Is there another way to be saved apart from Jesus for the Jews? Should we Christians be trying to tell the Jewish people about Jesus or should we just leave them alone? At the end, will Christians be raptured out of this world while God goes back to dealing with Israel? Are we witnessing today modern day fulfillment of prophecy and should we be expecting the end of all things at any time? Regardless of what's going on in the news I think these are questions that Christians should be asking and the Bible gives us answers to them So would you join with me in reading Romans chapter 9 verses 1 through 8 then we'll pray Then we'll get to work

Romans 9 here we go. The Apostle Paul writes...

Romans 9:1-8

I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers,[a] my kinsmen according to the flesh. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

Amen.

We're going to stop right there for the sake of time. I encourage you later this afternoon to read the rest of that chapter. Some great stuff in there, but we're going to dive into it. Let me pray for us and we'll get to work.

Father in heaven, we give you all the glory and all the praise this morning for who you are and for what you've done. God, I pray that you would be with us right now. Open up our minds, our ears, our hearts to hear what you would have to say to us. God, I pray that you would fill me with your Holy Spirit as a broken instrument to bring your word, your perfect word to your people. God may you be glorified in all this and may we be transformed more and more into the likeness of Jesus. God, we love you. Pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. All right. Well, hey, as we get into it this morning, we're going to look at three basic points walking through this text. Number one, we should have a heart for the lost. Number two, we should value God's history. And number three, God never fails.

1. We should have a heart for the lost

So would you join me in jumping into that first point, that we should have a heart for the lost. Take a look with me at the first couple of verses of Romans nine. Oh, let me read them again.

I'm speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit. I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart for I could wish that I myself were a cursed and cut off from Christ For the sake of my brothers my kinsmen according to the flesh now you might know that most of the characters in the New Testament most of our main characters that we know of the disciples of Jesus and other people in the New Testament. They were Jews. They were Jewish people the the story of the New Testament takes place in the nation of Israel.

The Apostle Paul himself calls himself a Jew of Jews. At one point in the scriptures, he was a Jewish man. He was not just a Jewish man, but he was a leader. He was a Pharisee, a religious leader, a teacher of the Old Testament and of Judaism until Jesus gets a hold of him, until everything changes when he meets the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior.

And the Apostle Paul turns and actually becomes one of the major leaders of the New Testament church after before being somebody who persecuted and killed Christians. He actually ends up and goes and writes a majority of the New Testament, part of the Bible. And in the letter of Romans that we're in this morning, at this point, the Apostle Paul has just finished a long section on how amazing it is that God's grace comes to us through Jesus. He's been talking about how you and I have been born into sin. You and I sin against God. We deserve justice as a result of our sins, but Jesus Christ, He came and He lived the perfect life of righteousness that we couldn't live. He died the death for sin that we should have died and He rose from the grave so we could have new life by putting our faith in Him. He's been telling that gospel story and he gets to Romans 9 and he reflects with sadness on the fact that most of his blood relatives have not received this Savior. He says in the passage, I have great sorrow, unceasing anguish. You hear him say that he even contemplates the idea of taking their place if that were possible. Have you ever felt that way?

Do you have somebody in your life that you care so much about and they don't know Jesus that you could say with the Apostle Paul, my heart breaks, I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish because this person that I care so much about, they don't know Jesus. Do you have a heart for the lost, the way the Apostle Paul has a heart for the lost? Our hearts should break for people who don't know and have a relationship with Jesus. Paul goes on to say that he wishes he could almost, he almost wishes he could take their place. Now you and I know that that's not possible.

The Apostle Paul knew that that wasn't possible. There's only one person who can take the place of us for our sin That one person is jesus There's only one way that we can be saved and it's by Jesus, he's the only one who lived a perfect life He's the only one who's of infinite value and can pay for our infinite sin. He died he rose There's only one person who can save us x412 says it this way. There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Whether you're a Jew, a Gentile, a Muslim, a Hindu, a Buddhist, an atheist, there is only one way to be saved, and that's through Jesus. Amen? There's not two, there's not three, there's not four ways to be saved.

There's only one, only one who can take away our sin. And the Apostle Paul knows this. This is why his heart breaks, because he knows that there's only one path to salvation. He doesn't say, hey, you know, my blood relatives out there, I'm hoping the best for them. I'm hoping they'll find their own way, their own path to God, their own route to heaven. He's not saying that. He's saying I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish because I know that there's only one way and a majority of my blood relatives have rejected it. That's why Paul's heart breaks. That's why our hearts break, right? That's why we send missionaries across the world.

This is why we spend money and send people. This is why people are willing to go across the world and die on the end of a spear to bring the name of Jesus to people who haven't heard it. Because they know that there's no other way for them to be saved.

No, there's no other path that they're gonna find. We must learn other languages, translate the Bible, send, go, risk our lives. You and I must go through awkward conversations sometimes with friends or family members trying to explain to them, hey there's only one way and you got to know it and I want to tell you about it and his name is Jesus. This is why we do this. This is why we pray day after day, week after week for people we care about because there's only one way for the lost to be saved, and it's through Jesus. So brothers and sisters, I gotta ask you a question. Who is your one?

Do you have a one person in your life that you know, that you love, that you care about, that doesn't know Jesus, and that at least three, four times a week, you're praying, Lord, please change their heart. Lord, please open their eyes, that they would see their sin, that they would see Jesus the Savior, that they'd receive him. That you're regularly trying to invite to church, that you've maybe sat many times with and poured out your heart and explained the good news of the gospel and they're not ready to receive it yet, but you keep trying and you keep praying. Who is your one person in your life? At least one person in your life. That you stay up an extra 5-10 minutes a night and pray for their heart. If you don't have a one, you need one. Every Christian should have one.

I got to be honest, for us I think in West Michigan this can be a little harder. I was raised, I grew up in West Michigan, I still live here. Many of us in West Michigan, we've got our family, we've got our close friends that we've had for years and years and years. We get plugged into a church and we serve at church, and it can be really easy for some of us, if you're new to this area, maybe this isn't a struggle for you, that's awesome, but for those of us who have been here a while, we can get that little bubble of people, our family and our close friends and people we go to church with, so that you might be actually thinking to yourself, I don't know if I have any good friends who don't know Jesus. Let me tell you something. If you don't have a good friend who doesn't know Jesus, you need another friend.

You gotta go make one.

You gotta go to the park.

You gotta go volunteer somewhere.

I mean, whatever it takes.

You need a friend in your life who you care deeply about who doesn't know the Lord. So, brothers and sisters, who is your one? Do you have a heart for lost people? The way the apostle Paul has a heart for lost people.

2. We should value God's history

Second point we're gonna see here in the text this morning is that we should value God's history, his story, history, God's story, his story. Take a look at verses four and five with me. He says, they are Israelites and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs and from their race, according to the flesh is the Christ who is God overall blessed forever. Amen. So Paul's been, I've been talking about the gospel. Then he starts to reflect on his blood relatives. And now he reflects on this sad situation and adds some reasons that it's so sad. He thinks about the amazing history of God's work with the nation of Israel. He thinks about the Old Testament.

Thinks about how amazing it is that out of all the peoples on the earth that God would choose one to be his special people. Let me just walk through this list of things that the Apostle Paul lines out. We can spend a whole sermon on each one of these, but I'm just gonna say a few words about each So look at the list with me. He says he says the adoption Do you know that God? Adopted one people out of all the nations to be his special people out Deuteronomy 7 verse 6 is it this way? For you are a people holy to the Lord your God the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured Possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth God adopted one to be his special people.

It says, the glory. The Israelites saw God's glory, didn't they? There's some moments in the history of the Old Testament that I wish I could have seen. I think about when God took his people out of Egypt, out of slavery, and remember, they come out to the Red Sea.

They've seen the 10 plagues, they've seen all these things. God's brought them out of 400 years of slavery, and now they're standing on the edge of the Red Sea, and the Egyptian army is bearing down on them with spears and swords and chariots. And what does God do?

God splits the sea. Nothing can stand in the way of God rescuing his people. And as if that wasn't enough, right, they turn around and the chariots are bearing down on them. And what does God do? God sends a pillar of fire out of the sky to stand between the Egyptian army and his people while they cross.

The Israelite people got to see the glory of God. It says the covenants, God made covenants with Abraham, with Moses, with David, the God of the universe doesn't have to, doesn't have to make promises. He doesn't have to sign contracts. And yet he comes down and he meets with Abraham. You remember the ceremony, they cut the animals in half and they walk between them.

And God essentially says, uh, so be it to me, I bet my, I put my life on this promise that I will be with you, that I will love you, that you will be my people forever. God didn't have to do that, but he does. The giving of the law.

The Israelites received the law of God. He took stone tablets and God with his own finger wrote out the Ten Commandments and gave it to them. The worship. God came down in the temple. The people could go to the temple and God's presence was there with them. That's an amazing thing. The promises. God made promises to the Israelites. He promised Abraham that your descendants will be as many as the stars, as many as the sand on the sea. Says the patriarchs, that's Abraham and Isaac and Jacob before Israel was ever a nation. They were just one family and God was with them. Says the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior, it came from the line of the people of Israel. Israel has a special place in the history of God's people. That is undeniable. It's amazing to reflect on all that God has done with them. You and I should value God's history. Brothers and sisters, we can't neglect the Old Testament.

Throughout the history of the church, unfortunately, there have been some who have neglected the Old Testament. Maybe you've heard of some of these people, some Christians have said the Old Testament, well, that's for other people, that's not for us.

That's not for us. They said, that's a different God, and now we have a new God. That was the God of wrath and justice and all that stuff, and now we have a God of grace. It's not true.

Same God, Old Testament, New Testament. God has been faithful to his people for generation after generation after generation. It didn't start with you, it didn't start with me, it didn't start with our moms and dads, it didn't start with our grandmas and grandpas.

It goes back over the course of thousands of years that God has been walking faithfully with his people. At one of the passages we're gonna look at in just a minute, we find out that if we have faith like Abraham, then we are children of God and the Old Testament is our family story.

When we look back at the Old Testament, we don't see somebody else's story, we see our story. When I go through moments of doubt in my life, when I go through hard times, and I'm thinking, is God still good? Will he be faithful?

Will he walk with me even though this is an incredibly hard time? When I have those questions, when you have those questions, one of the things that we can do is look back, not just at our own lives, but look back across the generations at stories of God's faithfulness. I think of Psalm 77, the psalmist is having one of those hard times and he asks Has God forgotten to be compassionate? Has his grace run out?

But he finally comes around and he says, I will remember the years of the right hand of the most high. And he spends the rest of Psalm 77 recounting God's faithfulness over the generations well before him.

Brothers and sisters, we should value God's history, God's story.

3. God never fails

Number three, God never fails. Now we're circling to our main question again here. Take a look at verses 6 through 8 with me. But it is not as though the Word of God has failed, for not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham, because they are his offspring. But through Isaac shall your offspring be named.

This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as his offspring. So we come back to our main question. Is Israel still God's chosen people?

I think as the Apostle Paul is writing verse six, he's probably thinking of passages like 2 Samuel 7 24, where God promises that Israel will be his people forever. Let me read it to you. And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever.

And you, O Lord, became their God. So the Apostle Paul has in his mind promises like this one. But then he's thinking about the current situation that he's just seen, where Israel has rejected the Messiah who came.

Jesus was rejected by his own people. The whole Old Testament is about Jesus. The whole Old Testament is about his coming. And finally when he comes, the Messiah is rejected. What do we do with that? I'll add to it.

We have passages in the New Testament that call the church God's people, using language from the Old Testament. This is 1 Peter 2 verse 9. It says, You are a chosen race, this is Peter writing to the church, You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. What do we do with these things? What do we do with the fact that God promised that Israel would always be his people and yet when the Messiah came, they rejected him? And that in the New Testament, the Bible calls the church, the combination of Jews and Gentiles, Gentiles, by the way, is just non-Jewish people. The Bible calls the church, the combination of Jews and Gentiles, his people. What do we do with all that?

Well, I think the answer comes in these couple of verses. And I think what these verses tell us is that scripture talks about an Israel by the flesh and an Israel by faith. I think it distinguishes between these two things. If you look at the second half of verse 6, it says, not all who are descended from Israel, okay, descended like bloodline, you know, natural generation, offspring, not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel.

The Apostle Paul draws a distinction between two references that the word Israel is pointing to. Verse 8 says it even more clearly, this means it is not the children of the flesh, children who have been born, descended down, bloodline, it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise, or those who put faith in God's promises, are counted as offspring.

Let me unpack this idea by walking through a couple of things. The first one I wanna walk through is this. I think there's a common misconception that people have, and it's okay if you've thought this. I thought this at one point. But a common misconception that people have is that in the Old Testament, people were saved by works, and the New Testament, people are saved by faith. But you and I if we think about it hard we really know that nobody can be saved by works. We think of Ephesians chapter 2 that tells us the salvation is by grace not by works. We think of passages like Romans 3 that says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Nobody can be

saved by works. We can only be saved by faith. And actually that's always been the case.

Let me let me point you to a couple of passages that say this is Genesis 15 in the Old Testament talking about Abraham says and he believed the Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness. How did Abraham get saved? Not by works but by his faith. Romans chapter 4 New Testament reflecting on this says it this way, what then shall we say was gained by Abraham our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works he has something to boast about but not before God. For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. In the Old Testament people were saved by faith looking forward. Right, the whole Old Testament is actually about Jesus.

The whole Old Testament points to man's sin and need for a savior, and that one day somebody would come who would live perfectly, who would die for their sin, who would conquer the grave.

In the Old Testament, God's people were saved looking forward to a savior who would come. They didn't know what his name was going to be. You and I, in the New Testament, we are saved looking backwards on a Savior who has already come. And we get to know that his name was Jesus. But both are saved not by works, but by faith, by God's grace. Same God, Old Testament, New Testament. Same thing is true. If you're in a garage, doesn't make you a car. If you're in a church, doesn't make you a Christian. If you have Jewish blood, it doesn't make you a true child of Abraham, the scripture tells us. Let me give you another passage. Galatians chapter 3, another really important passage if you want to study this chapter later on. I'm just going to read to you a few verses out of this. This is verse seven and a few verses after that. Galatians chapter three.

Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, In you shall all the nations be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith." What the Bible tells us is that true Israel, the children of God, God's people, are not those of a certain bloodline, but those who share the faith of Abraham. That's what the scripture tells us.

Has God's promise for Israel to be his people forever? Has that promise failed? I hope you know that the answer is no. God's promises never fail. What the Bible tells us is that it was always God's plan. It was always God's plan for that promise to be way beyond one single family, one single nation. It was always designed to go way beyond bloodlines. It was always designed to go to those who are of faith. The plan was to save everybody who had faith like Abraham, for God's people to have everybody who has faith in God's promises like Abraham, for it to be people from every tribe and language and tongue. Here's Genesis 12 verse 3. Back Back at very early in the Bible, God promises to Abraham, in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.

Revelation chapter 7, the end of the Bible, says it this way. The apostle John is having a vision of heaven and of the end of all things. He says, after this I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes, and all peoples, and all languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne it's always been God's plan to bring in people from every tribe and every nation all right now let me let me wind down by answering a few very specific questions I've got four of them.

Question #1: Has the church replaced Israel?

Number one, has the church replaced Israel? I think a much better word than replaced is the word fulfilled. We just got done saying that it's always been the plan. It's always been the plan for God's people to be so much more than a single family or a single nation, but to be of all nations. There is no denying the incredible special place that the nation of Israel has in the history of God's people. But it was always God's plan for it to go so much further.

Let me read you a couple of passages. This is Galatians 3 verse 28. It says, There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring heirs according to the promise. Most of the New Testament Tons of the arguments in the New Testament are made to explain that the Jews and the Gentiles are not two separate people But in the church, they become one people of God Ephesians 2 14 says it this way talking about Jesus He himself is our peace who has made us both one and is broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. The nation of Israel will always have a special place in the history of God's people, but it was always God's plan for him to have one people made up of many nations.

Question #2: Should we share the Gospel with our Jewish friends?

Question number two, should we share the gospel with our Jewish friends? We've already talked about the Bible tells us there's only one and it's Jesus. Nobody can be saved by following the Ten Commandments. Nobody can be saved by a sacrificial system sacrificing lambs or goats. Nobody can be saved by their bloodline. The blood of Abraham can't save anybody, but the blood of Jesus can. Salvation was always meant to be by faith in Jesus. Jesus is the Messiah that the Jews have been waiting for for generations.

And that's the message that we want to share with them. So yes, if you have Jewish friends, yes, we have a calling as Christians to share the good news of Jesus with them so they can meet the one who is their Savior, the one they've been waiting for and looking for. I think there's some passages in Scripture that maybe point to the idea that there might be a mass revival among the Jews before the end of all things happen. And I sure hope that's the case. That'd be awesome. Many Jewish people coming to see that Jesus is the Messiah they've been waiting for and turning to faith in him.

Question #3: Are current events in Israel a fulfillment of prophecy?

Number three, are current events in Israel a fulfillment of prophecy? Is the end near due to what we see in the news? Well, Pastor Ryan and I got to address that question in a couple of episodes of our podcast called That's a Good Question. It comes out every Tuesday. You can find it at resoundmedia.cc, but if you want to scroll back in that podcast back to October of 2023, we did two episodes answering that question going into details on passages like Ezekiel 38 and 39 Revelation 20, Jeremiah 30 verse 7 talking about Gog and Magog and all those kind of things. I'm not going to go into the details here. I'm going to simply give you an answer that isn't going to be as exciting as you'd like it to be. Maybe, maybe, is the end near? Maybe. Are the things we see in the news a specific fulfillment of some of those prophecies? Maybe.

But you know what Jesus said? Jesus said, I will come like a thief in the night. Jesus actually said, and I don't understand how this is even possible in the scheme of the Trinity, but Jesus said, I don't know. The Son doesn't know the day or the time of my return. Only the Father knows. Let me tell you something, if Jesus don't know, I don't know.

And you don't know, right? How do you prepare for a thief in the night? You don't know when he's gonna come, you just always must be ready. That's what Jesus told us. You can't guess the day or the hour of my return, you just need to always be ready. And that brings us to our last question. What should Christians do right now? I've got two things I want to say to you. Number one, number one, don't be proud, but be faithful and fearful. This comes from Romans chapter 11.

I think the Apostle Paul, just a few chapters after our passage of this morning, tries to apply this to the church. He says, he's talking about the nation of Israel. He says, they were broken off because of their unbelief. He's using the analogy of branches on a tree. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Those are sober words. Apostle Paul says to Christians, he says, hey, don't assume that because you go to church you're safe. Don't think that because mom and dad had faith you're safe. Don't think that because you do X, Y, or Z, or give,

or are a relatively good person in the scheme of things compared to murderers and thieves, don't think that you're safe. The only way to be saved is by a relationship with Jesus.

Christians, that's what we need to live by, faith in Jesus. Don't put our stock in a bloodline

or in something that we do, but only in Jesus. Number two, what should Christians do right now?

We should do the mission that God gave us. Before he left the earth, Jesus told us, "'Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, "'baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them. To obey everything that I have commanded you and behold. I'm with you always the very end of the age Jesus gave us a mission make more disciples go and tell go and share There is limited time For us to do the mission God gave us when Jesus returns that mission will be over. It will be done. And there's only one way that people will get to spend eternity with the Lord, and it's when they put their faith in Jesus. So you and I have something to do while we're waiting. Amen? Would you please stand with me and let's close in prayer? Let me pray for us.

Father God, we give you all the glory and the praise For what you have done throughout the history of your people God it's amazing to reflect on the history of your people and all that you have done You've been so faithful for generation after generation after generation God we praise you for that and God we thank you for Jesus the Savior who came to fulfill it all we thank you God That you have chosen to save us out of your mercy and grace.

May you use us to take that good message of Jesus to the world. It's in Jesus' name we pray. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.