Position & Practice: The Saints

Position & Practice: The Saints - 2 Corinthians 5:14-17

Are you a saint? If you're in Christ you are. But are you living up to your title?

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James: 00:03

We are continuing our series here this morning that we began last week. And, I think as we trudge through the swamp of life, and life can certainly feel like a swamp when you're mired up with all the cares of this world, that it's very easy to forget who we are. And so it's good for us to be able to be reminded of what God wants us to know about ourselves. He is, after all, the creator, and what he says about us is indeed what we are. And he tells us that anyone who is in Christ is a saint, and it is by that little word saint this morning that I'd like us to view ourselves and also others.

James: 00:47

And it's a very familiar word to us, but admittedly, it is misunderstood by most. For example, if I was to say to you, if I were to ask you if you were a saint, what would you say? Okay. Some people who are way out in front of me, but many people would hesitate for a moment. I would a little bit, and I would because I'll be a little bit afraid of answering that question because the term has been so dominated by the Catholic church's definition of that term.

James: 01:18

Catholic theology says a saint has heroic virtue by practicing Christian virtues to an extraordinary and eminent degree. And so these eminently devoted people are called saints, and they could be canonized, which simply means that they could be held up as a spiritual standard. And statues and stained glass windows are made of them, and they are to be venerated in some way, appealed to, prayed to, honored, exalted in some way. And you might see, for example, people hissing those statues or statues of those saints in various churches. You might also see people bowing their knee to those saints, or you see people bringing flowers and gifts to those saints, or just burning incense to them, or meditating on the virtues of the life of that particular individual.

James: 02:14

Now, is all done because the Catholic Church teaches that because of the extraordinary devotion to Christ that these people have in this life, that they are exalted in the heavenly life to a position of special clout with God. And the reason why you appeal to them is that they, in receiving our honor and our prayers, would intercede to God for our needs. They become intermediaries. They become intercessors for us, and we wanna stay in their good graces. And they had lived a holy life here on Earth and have special clout so they could gain things for us.

James: 02:48

So these things make us feel a bit uncomfortable with calling ourselves a saint. We don't care to be etched in stained glass. We don't care to be a statue here in the foyer that somebody kisses. All these things about sainthood make us uncomfortable, is is uncomfortable for us. However, notwithstanding all that misinformation about what sainthood is, I thought you might like to know that Paul's favorite term for a Christian is the word saint.

James: 03:21

Alright? He uses it over 60 times in his epistles, and the majority of times that when he speaks of it, he's referring to very ordinary Christians. In fact, the first verse of the book of Philippians, you know, Philippians one one, implies that everyone who's a true member of that church is a saint. You know, let me read it to you. It says, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons so it isn't just the deacons who become saints.

James: 03:51

It isn't just the overseers or the elders who become saints, but it's everyone who's a true member of that Philippian church there is called a saint. So what is the definition of a saint? Alright? The technical definition of the word is someone who is set apart or set apart ones or separated ones or sanctified ones or holy ones. Now that kinda links to what we know about God.

James: 04:16

We know God is holy. We're just singing that. And God is also separated. What does holy mean? It really means separated from sin.

James: 04:24

That seems to be one of the most distinguishing attributes of God's nature because when it's the only attribute that's repeated three times about him. Right? He is holy, holy, holy. And why is that? It's probably because it's so distinctive for God because we are sinners, and he is set apart from sin.

James: 04:42

He is utterly distinct from sin. He is separated from sin. So then what is the definition of a saint? Well, a saint is one who is separated from sin unto God for holy purposes. That's all kind of tied up there in the word saint.

James: 04:56

It's anyone who is separated unto God for holy purposes. Alright? Now you say, James, I don't know about that definition. You know? I think maybe that's the definition that maybe Paul is I can use it for everyone there at the Philippi you know, Philippian church, and certainly doesn't seem to match up with my life.

James: 05:15

I don't have to go too far back in the week to see that I'm not separated from sin. And so you kinda squirrel a little bit at that definition, but I want you to pay attention to what Paul says at the very end of his letter to the Philippians. So in the beginning, he starts off calling everyone a saint, and very at the very end, Philippians four twenty one, not the last verse, but close to it, he says, greet every saint in Christ Jesus. Alright? So it's in the sphere of being in Christ Jesus that sainthood takes place.

James: 05:49

And Dave spoke quite a bit about this last week. You know, it's that little phrase in Christ Jesus that is very common to the apostle Paul because it defines the Christian's identity. We are in Christ Jesus. Now pay attention to this. We don't just believe Christ.

James: 06:07

We do not just believe that he lived and died and rose again. We do not just believe that he purchased our salvation. We do not just believe that he is coming again. You know, we not only are believing him and believing in him, but what the Bible tells us is that we're actually in him. There's a union in life that we have with Christ.

James: 06:33

We are bonded in Christ, and Dave covered all that last week, but it's a very important thing to understand. So when we accept Christ as our savior, we are placed in Christ, and we get the righteousness of God when we are in Christ Jesus because he has affixed it to us. He has given it to us because we are in Christ Jesus. Another way to look at it is this. When we become when we are saved, we get the indwelling Holy Spirit that comes inside us.

James: 06:59

And by that, we get the life of God implanted inside us as a righteous nature. We still have our sinful earthly nature that we don't get rid of until we die in this, you know, when we die here in this life, but God now views us not by that sinful nature. He views us by that righteous nature. And that righteous nature is separated unto God for holy purposes. That's true of all of us who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as our savior.

James: 07:29

That is our position. Okay? And just to make that as clear as possible who the saints are, if you were to pick the most troublesome, sinful church to which a letter of the New Testament has been written, what church would that be? The Corinthians. Okay.

James: 07:48

Very good. Now look at these encouraging words that Paul writes to them. First Corinthians one one and two. He says this. Paul called an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God by the will of God, and Socenes, our brother, to the church of God, which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified, that means set apart, in Christ Jesus.

James: 08:14

Right? That phrase right there, we're sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling. Alright? That's where sainthood takes place. So even the Corinthians were called saints with all their failures, all their foibles, all their problems.

James: 08:29

They are saints. And Paul's glad to refer to them and remind them that they are saints because their faith has placed them in Christ. Now that is not true of other religions. People are not in Buddha. They they just believe in the teachings of Buddha.

James: 08:45

They are not in Mohammed. They just believe in the teachings of Mohammed. They are not in the Swamis or the yogi leaders or the cult leaders. That union of life is distinctively Christian. Alright?

James: 08:57

That's distinctive for Christians. And we are then distinctively separated from sin, and we're distinctively saints. So there really shouldn't be any hesitation, and we there wasn't by a few people in here, in thinking of ourselves and calling ourselves a saint. There should be no hesitation in our mind or in our heart to call ourselves self a saint. The only reluctance that you probably should have in calling yourself a saint is that you're embarrassed to say it because someone knows that you're not living the way a saint ought to live.

James: 09:34

Alright? But the title you deserve, the title is your position. Okay? Now as I just mentioned there, inherent in all that in that title is the underlying message that if you're gonna call yourself a saint, you better do everything. You better take very seriously your, you know, living up to that title is probably the best way to say it.

James: 09:57

And there's implications just baked right into the term saint there. Because we're in Christ, I think there's an expectation that we're going to be like Christ. Right? But how does that happen? Okay.

James: 10:09

So let's we'll get into that. How does that happen now? What I first wanna look at is what is the source of motivation for a saint? And this is very important, and Paul captures it very well when he talks about his own motivation here. And I want to look at I want to jump to second Corinthians, and this is kind of where I want to camp here a little bit, is second Corinthians chapter five, and I'll be looking at the next four verses, 14 through 17.

James: 10:36

Certainly, we'll be jumping around to different verses, but this is going to be the main text for us. It's a very interesting, fascinating portion of Scripture here. So second Corinthians five fourteen, he says, for the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore, all died. In other words, it is the love of God because it is the love of God it is the love of God that pressures Paul, that presses him on, that compels him, that controls him, that drives him, that motivates him to wanna live for Christ and glorify him in his own life. Because Christ had died for him, he is so compelled by that fact that he would die to himself and live for Christ.

James: 11:31

And when it says that that phrase there, for the love of Christ, he's not talking about his love of Christ. Alright? He's you know, let's get that kind of straight. He's talking about Christ's love for him. Alright?

James: 11:44

It is that and you can tell that by the context here because it just follows on by saying that having concluded this, that one died for all. So in other words, it is the love of Christ manifested in a death that so overwhelms Paul. Alright? And Paul is not overwhelmed by his own love for Christ. You know, that's not what overwhelms him.

James: 12:04

It is not saying that he's driven by his love for for Christ, and that's certainly part of it, but that's a response to experiencing Christ's love for him. What he's saying here is that he is driven out of the gratitude that Christ would die for him and that he is and and to the that he loves him so much that he would actually die for him. That is the point. That is what Paul is saying here. You know, if you look at Galatians chapter two and verse 20, it's a very familiar verse to all of us.

James: 12:32

It's really kind of a theme verse for our whole series here. He writes this. And having been crucified with Christ, he says, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. That's that new person that's inside. Right?

James: 12:45

And this life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God, and here's his motivation. Right? Who loved me and gave him and delivered himself up for me. Right? Know what he's saying there?

James: 13:02

He's saying that that that death on the cross. Is. Personal to him and it's voluntary. He sees that death on the cross by Christ as something that is personal him, who loved me and delivered himself up for me. And it's voluntary.

James: 13:21

Remember, Lord Jesus said, no one takes my life, but I lay it down on my own accord. Right. He voluntarily did that for each and every one of us. And Paul sees that in in in his overwhelmed by that kind of love. He gave himself up for him.

James: 13:39

And and it's that love that Paul says controls him, that presses him on, that motivates him, and it motivates all of us as saints. Isn't that true in our lives as well? And I think it's very important that we get that and and really understand that because that is the source of motivation for any saint. You know, Christ did not die as a martyr to show us how noble it is to die for a cause. It's not why he died.

James: 14:08

He didn't die to demonstrate kind of higher level of ethics that he could be so devoted to God that he could even lay his life down for God. He didn't do that. No. He died to be a substitute in our place. That's why he died.

James: 14:24

Galatians three thirteen says this, he was made a curse for us. And what does that mean? That means he paid a punishment that was rightfully ours. Alright? That's what he says.

James: 14:36

That is the essence of the gospel. That is that Christ died as a substitute. That is what the scripture teaches. Then Peter actually makes a major point of that. We just went through first Peter, and he makes a major point of that in first in his first epistle there.

James: 14:52

First Peter two twenty four, he says, he himself bore our sins in his own body on the cross. So he was there bearing our sins on that cross. That's what Peter is saying. And then he says in first Peter three eighteen, Christ died for our sins once for all, the just in the place of the unjust, in order to bring us to God. Now if he didn't do that, then we would have to die, and that would mean eternal death, not just one time physical death, but eternal death.

James: 15:20

But the Bible does teach us that the that he did die for us, and that is what we believe. That is what we preach. And as when you personally claim that substitution on your behalf is what places you in Christ and makes you a saint. Alright. When you personally say he was on as Paul did, he died personally for me, for my sins as a substitute in my place.

James: 15:46

When you claim that for yourself is what puts you into into Christ and makes you a saint. So I think Paul's point here in kind of looking at his motivation, I think this is his mindset here. He's saying, me, Paul, a murderer, a Christian killer, a blasphemer, an egotist of some sort because he pride himself in being a Pharisee and everything else. Right? In fact, he says he's so down on himself to some degree where he says, I'm the worst of sinners, tells Timothy in first Timothy, the chief of sinners.

James: 16:28

And I think any saint, when they're being honest with themselves, could just fill in their description where Paul had his description. But then he realizes that one man, not just. A man, but also God, namely Christ Jesus, was a substitute on his behalf to take the punishment that he deserved. Right? And overcome with gratitude, Paul said, for me to live is Christ.

James: 17:00

That is the motivation of a saint. That overwhelming recognition of his love presses a saint to want to live for Christ. Isn't that true of you guys? Each one of you, when you go back to the day when you realize you needed a savior? Isn't that the first order of importance to you as it was to all, as he writes in First Corinthians 15?

James: 17:26

You know, when you're at the breaking of bread and you see those emblems that are sitting there, you know, we we do it every week. It could become very routine. Right. But you know what those emblems are saying? Those emblems are saying, you need a substitute.

James: 17:44

And I'm that substitute. When you look upon those emblems, it says you needed a substitute. And I took that and I was your substitute. And you get emotional. Do you get emotional at times when that happens?

James: 18:00

You know, are you is your heart filled with gratitude when you're caught up in sin and you realize, you know what, I'm forgiven. You know, because Christ is my substitute. You know, I spoke at my dad's memorial this past year, and there's a lot of things I could have said about my dad. And sometimes at those memorial services, I just feel like it gets kind of superficial if you just go through a litany of things. And so I really tried to distill down my father's legacy to a singular most impactful imprint that he left on the lives of my brother and me.

James: 18:42

Right. And that took me a lot of thinking because he was a great man and a great father. But I distilled it down to a singular thing. That was the biggest impact he left on my brother and me. And that was this.

James: 18:55

He demonstrated the source of motivation that drove his life as a saint. He didn't talk about it in that way, but he demonstrated it to us as we raise up. And I'm very thankful to have that kind of father. And that made a huge impact on us. And it is from experiencing the love of Christ for us that creates this mighty energy in a life of a saint.

James: 19:20

Right? And that gets expressed in the practice of a saint. So if you go to second, the next verse here, verse 15 of second Corinthians five, Christ not only died for us and we died with him, we also rose for us and we rose with him. Look at verse 15. It says, and he died for all that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf.

James: 19:48

So our dying to Christ was just not only dying to sin, but it was a resurrection. And this is important to righteousness. Right? Because now we're alive in Christ. We have a new nature.

James: 19:59

We have the Holy Spirit indwelling us, so we no longer live for ourselves. Right? That's what Paul is saying. We don't live for ourselves, but we live for him who died for us and rose again as a substitute on our behalf. And it's a very powerful thing to realize that when we die to the sin, we rose again to live a righteous life.

James: 20:20

You know, Colossians three ten says, and having put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. And so like all true saints, all live for Christ. The question is, there's always just a question of degree to which you live for Christ. And Paul, by the end of his life, he lived to, I can't say a maximum degree that happens when you get to heaven, but he lived to it at a high degree. And this newness of life that we have in Christ is certainly a reality, but it is a process.

James: 20:58

And I kind of want to make that point here that this newness of life is a process that ever increasing understanding and expression of that newness is what sanctification is. All right. And it's progressive. Right. It goes on until goes on until we are gonna be glorified in heaven with the Lord when we see Jesus face to face.

James: 21:21

That's when the fullness of that newness of life is gonna become a reality on us. And that's what John says in first John three two. He says, beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him. Okay?

James: 21:41

That's when full completion of our sanctification occurs, for we shall see him as he is. But until that point, until his return, we are definitely a work in progress. And so sainthood does not mean there's no more sin in our lives, doesn't mean there's no more evil that we do because we're still wrestling with a sinful nature. It just means that God has planted a new nature in us with a new appetite for things and a new loves and new priorities and new values and new truths and new desires and new inclinations. And when you cultivate that and you nourish those those things, they triumph over the remaining flesh as we grow in him, and we are transformed into his image, the image of Christ.

James: 22:33

And so what is encouraging to note in that whole process is that that doesn't depend upon us, but that is something that God does in our life. It's we are God's project there. As Paul says in Philippians one six, being confident of this very thing that he who began who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. So it is a process that God orchestrates, where he takes our understanding and our values and our priorities and makes them more like his as he walks with us through life. And so I have a little photo here, I think, to make a picture.

James: 23:10

I think that one that is a good analogy of it. Here's a picture of the before and after stones on the right hand side is before after is this is the left hand side, obviously. And and before it goes into a rock tumbler, which is there in the back and it's in the rock tumbler for four to eight weeks or so, the rocks are a picture of our testimony and the tumbler is really God's discipleship program, which is our life that he takes us through. Right? And as those rocks go through that tumbler, they progressively become more beautiful.

James: 23:47

They become more polished. Right? And and they. The rough edges that you can see on the on the group to the right get taken away, and they become like gems. And I think Paul Peter must have been looking, thinking of a photo just like this when he writes the words in in in second Peter one five through eight.

James: 24:15

He says this, but also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self control. These are kind of the things that are being added as you go through the tumbler to the self control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness, brotherly kindness, to brotherly kindness, love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So Peter is sort of telling us in general, what is the order of sanctification in our life right here? It's a it's a it's a it's a work in progress.

James: 24:55

You know, when I was a young believer, I read the Bible a lot and I accumulate a lot of knowledge. And there were times when I use that knowledge to boast. And I use that knowledge to criticize. And I use that knowledge to create disunion of sort. But as I went through, I guess, tumbled through God's discipleship program, my inconsistencies, my failures, my insecurities became apparent to me, and I was in need of mercy from those who knew far less than I did.

James: 25:31

And in the process, I learned brotherly kindness in that. So perfection is a progression. It's not completed until we see him and he returns. And as Paul says in second Corinthians three eighteen, he says, but we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the spirit of the Lord. So this is a work that's done by the spirit of the Lord.

James: 26:02

We're God's workmanship. All right. And what he has in mind there, that little picture that Paul paints right there is as if you're looking into a mirror and there's Jesus standing behind you. And the first time you look in the mirror, you don't look like Jesus. Right.

James: 26:18

But as you get tumbled through life and the rough edges start coming off. Start realizing, hey, this is starting to look a little bit like Christ. And as time goes on, you look more and more like that until the time of completion. So every saint. When we are placed in Christ undergoes total transformation, And over time, that that totally overturns the way we understand and live our entire life.

James: 26:51

And that is certainly true of our worldview. And this is kinda the, you know, the final point that I wanna get to is our worldview. And I want to go back to here's our our passage here in second Corinthians five and verse 16 now. It says this. It says, therefore, from now on, we recognize no man according to the flesh, even though we have known Christ according to the flesh.

James: 27:17

Yet now we know him thus no longer. I mean, that is a very interesting verse. Right? He says, from now on, what does he mean from now on? Well, what are saying since the point that we get redeemed from the point that we are placed into Christ, we from the point that we have died and now we rose again in Christ or the point of our conversion is what he's talking about.

James: 27:40

Right? He says from the point of that, from that point on, we recognize no man according to the flesh. What is he saying? What is that exactly saying? What what he's saying there is there from the point of our conversion, we no longer evaluate people externally.

James: 27:56

Okay. That's what he's saying. No longer do we value evaluate people purely from the outside. We no longer see people purely from the physical perspective. Okay.

James: 28:06

That's what he's saying there. In fact, as believers, all our evaluations, all our judgments, all our assessments of people, which were once in light of their physical appearance or their topical, superficial behavior or their social standing or their personality, we don't do that anymore. We can't do that anymore. No more. That's the way unregenerate people evaluate.

James: 28:31

We can't do that anymore. For example, you could be introduced to someone who is a very lovely person, a very gracious person. In fact, they could be a very refined person. Everything about them can charm you. Right?

James: 28:45

But when they go away, you have this one very profound lingering question on your mind, and that question has nothing to do with their social graces, has nothing to do with the way they're dressed, has nothing to do with the job that they have, has nothing to do with the way they fit into your life. That question has to do with their relationship to who? To God. Right. Because we cannot evaluate people through by the flesh anymore.

James: 29:15

We don't do that anymore. You know, you may have a neighbor who is a very kind neighbor. There may be an illness in your family, and that neighbor comes over and does everything above and beyond the call of duty to show you kindness, to help you. And you may be very attracted to that neighbor, very affectionate toward a neighbor for what they've done for you, the way they've helped you out in that difficult time. But you'll never be content with that.

James: 29:45

Right? Because you want to know where they are with the Lord. Right? In fact, the more attracted you are to somebody, probably the more distressed you are until they get right with the Lord. And that affects you so much because you cannot evaluate them strictly by their appearance.

James: 30:06

You can't just meet someone and say, oh, that's a great person and walk away and just be, oh, that's just a fantastic person. That's not the way we value. We can't take people at face value anymore is what Paul's saying, because we are now new people, and we have a new nature, and we see people in light of eternity. We see people as eternal souls. You know that Paul used to see people.

James: 30:29

Well, you know, I'll take you just a quick example here on the other side of the social scale. So I just don't stand on that side of the social scale. But there's a a the other side of social scale, you know, you might see someone who is a derelict, I guess is a way to say it, or a bum on the street, you know, another way, for example, might be a drug addict or an alcoholic. We can't just push them away anymore and say, are those kind of people, you know, get them out of here. They're no good for society.

James: 30:58

They're only causing the problems themselves. You know, we can't see people superficially like that because you have an ache in your heart, because you know they're internal beings, and you know how their lifestyle could be affecting their eternity. We can't see people purely by the flesh anymore for what Paul's saying. And Paul used to see people that way. Right?

James: 31:16

The way he used to see himself. Circumcised the eighth day of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, zealous for the law, a Pharisee of Pharisees. Right? All those things, all those external things. But then when he met Christ and his life changed, what did he say about those things?

James: 31:34

How did he see all those things? Like, they were just dumb. So he says in Philippians chapter three. Right? Filth, garbage, rubbish.

James: 31:41

He doesn't see people, judge people. He doesn't judge himself or others according to the flesh anymore. And he writes he writes this, in Christ Jesus, there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor flee free, male nor female. And I combined Colossians three eleven and Galatians three twenty eight right there, because he spoke about it a couple times like that because he doesn't see them on the externals. He sees them in the heart.

James: 32:17

That's how he looks at people. And that takes us to verse 17. Very familiar, very popular verse. It's the one that I think many of you have memorized. Verse 17.

James: 32:29

So it's verse 17, but the same verse there. It says says there in verse 17, it says, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things passed away. Behold, new things have come. You know, after you come to this verse from the previous verses, you get the sense that Paul, what Paul is getting at here is that he's thinking, you know what?

James: 32:53

If I was the chief of sinners and I could be made new. Then any blasphemer. Any cheat on Wall Street. Any prostitute. Any drunkard.

James: 33:09

You know, any tax collector could may be made completely new if I was made completely new. So could anyone else be made completely. That's what he concludes. If that could happen to me, it could happen to anyone else. And so he concludes here in his own ministry as he lives for Christ.

James: 33:28

He says this first Corinthians two sixteen, he says, if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of. I'm under compulsion. He has to preach the gospel based upon the love that Christ has expressed to him and seeing people in this worldview that he has, he has to preach it. And he goes on, he says, Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. The saint.

James: 33:54

A saint has a completely new worldview, seeing people as eternal souls and not as external, whatever's on the outside there. And so I just want to wrap it up at that point. Maybe I'll just give a quick little summary here as we wrap up. You know, through a simple decision in your life to put your faith in Christ, you become a saint, and and now you're placed in Christ. And you become and by doing that, you become a new person because the Holy Spirit has come inside you, and you have a new new nature, a righteous nature.

James: 34:30

And now you regard no man according to the flesh because now you regard people the way Christ sees them. And that outlook will become progressively stronger as you grow in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's is something that many of us here have experienced. We're in the process of our sanctification process. But it is an exciting life because we are compelled by what the Lord Jesus has done for us and where we're headed in this life, what he's doing in our life.

James: 35:03

And that's and that's what a saint is. And hopefully now when someone asks you if you're a saint, you'll be able to know what to say to that question. Let's just close in prayer. Dear heavenly father, we just thank you, Lord, for what you do in our life. We could never have conceived of anything like this.

James: 35:24

Changing our life, coming inside your created beings, giving them new life, Lord, a righteous life, a life that you are now developing inside everyone so unique. It's so close to you, Lord. You're willing to bond yourself to us who are frail, Lord. And we just thank you, Lord, for the work that you're doing in each and every one. And we pray, Lord, that we could live a life that is worthy of the term saint, and we could be effective for you, Lord, as we look to glorify you in our life.

James: 35:59

In Jesus name, we pray.