Wisdom Crieth

Proverbs chapter one. Proverbs chapter one. We're going to read verses one through seven, and then we're going to jump down and begin in verse 20 and read through verse 33. Okay? Proverbs chapter one verses one through seven.

The Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel. To know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity, to give subtlety to the simple, the young man knowledge and discretion. A wise man will hear and will increase learning, and a man of understanding shall attain on the wise counsels. To understand a proverb and the interpretation, the words of the wise and their dark sayings, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction. I'm going jump down if you would to verse 20.

Wisdom crieth without. She uttereth her voice in the streets. She crieth in the chief place of concourse and the openings of the gates. In the city, she uttereth her words saying, how long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? And the scorners of light and their scorning, the fools hate knowledge.

Turn you at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you. I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded. But you have said it not all my counsel and with none of my reproof.

I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh. When your fear cometh as desolation, your destruction cometh as a whirlwind. When distress and anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer. They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me.

For that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof. Therefore, shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them. The prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But who so hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer once more. Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for your wisdom. Lord, may it penetrate our minds and our hearts. May we grow in it and closer to you that we might bring glory to your name.

May you be magnified in this service. May your word find its way into our hearts to give us understanding and direction. In Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen. Let's start out with the meaning of wisdom.

Wisdom is the ability, the skill to apply knowledge and to make decisions which are pleasing to God and beneficial to ourselves and others. It is the skill to apply knowledge and make decisions which are pleasing to God and beneficial to ourselves and others. Of course, that is the definition as we see it here in the scripture. Obviously, man has other definitions. Often, the person that is left out of the definition of wisdom is who?

Is God. Is God. But clearly, that's not the case in scripture. It is principled living, not merely living by the seat of our pants or based upon our feelings and passions. God's wisdom teaches us not to ignore our feelings and passions but to make them subject to godly principles and the guidance of the holy spirit and the word of God.

This is a major difference between the wise and the the fool as we see those two contrasted much in the book of Proverbs. The prudent and the the simple. The wise thinks and listens before he acts. The fool, not so much. The wise man learns from his mistakes and heeds good counsel, while the fool does not.

The wise acknowledges the circumstances of life and deals with it while the fool ignores the problems which surround him. In sum it up in this verse, if you'll notice on the the screen up there, there are two verse references but there is only one verse. That's because this verse is repeated two times. It's mentioned twice in the book of Proverbs. There are a few verses like that.

Maybe God is trying to doubly get our attention by saying the same thing more than once. A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass on and are punished. The prudent or the wise foreseeth the evil, the harmful, the temptation coming his way and he what? He hideth himself. He secures himself from it.

He he finds refuge in the Lord and in his word. But the simple pass on. They just continue on without concern and right smack into whatever the trouble is. Right smack into the whirlwind, the tornado, and are what? And are punished and and suffer as a result of it.

The Lord's pleads with us in Proverbs to be wise, to seek knowledge particularly from God, to open our eyes to see the temptation that's coming across our path, to make choices based on principles and knowledge and not decisions based solely on the desires of the flesh and the feelings of the moment to be wise and not foolish. In verse 20, in verse 20, it says, wisdom crieth without. The word cry there doesn't mean to weep. The word cry means to shout aloud, to plead loudly. Wisdom pleads with the masses.

She uttereth her voice in the streets. Wisdom is personified in this passage. That is a literary mechanism quite used in Hebrew in the Old Testament. In other words, it treats wisdom as though wisdom is a person. Okay?

And indeed, wisdom does come from a person. There is a connection there. God is all wise and all wisdom indeed comes from him. But he speaks of wisdom as though it is specifically a person that is trying to get people's, what, attention. Listen up.

Listen up. Wisdom crieth without. She uttereth her voice in the street. She crieth in the chief place of concourse and the openings of the gate in the city. She uttereth her words saying, how long you simple ones where you love simplicity and the scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge.

When are you going to wake up? Oh, how desperately our world today needs to wake up with some cries in the streets. How long are you going to continue in this sinful degradation? How long are you going to continue to listen to the devil? How long will you continue to go headlong into destruction on the path, the the the what, the the broad way that leads to destruction, how long will will you continue in that path when there is another way, when there is wisdom to be had.

You do not have to be ignorant. You do not have to be destroyed. If you will listen to the words of wisdom found first of all in the word of God. How long wisdom cries out? Will you continue to do this?

In verse 23, wisdom cries out, turn you at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you. I will make known my words unto you. Turn from your way. That is akin to the word repentance.

Turn, repent of the way that you are going. Turn to the Lord and to the wisdom of the Lord. In this passage, wisdom, I mentioned personified how badly indeed does humanity need the wisdom of God. We live in an age where folly rules the day because truth and knowledge and instruction are being ignored. Why?

Because it's no fun. No fun to have to be accountable and responsible and and, you know, actually learn and grow and and make wise decisions. It's a lot more fun just to, you know, do whatever feels good at the time. Truly, the mantra of the age is if it feels good, do it. That is the the mantra of the sexual revolution of the nineteen sixties and nineteen seventies.

If it feels good, do it, rules the roost. Follow your heart, they say. Well, the Bible says the heart of man is desperately what? Wicked. You wanna be careful in following your heart if your heart is not bound to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the word of God.

Do it your way or as Frank Sinatra put it, I did it my way. Don't let others tell you what to do. Behold, you are going to listen to someone or something. There is no do it my way. There is no don't let others tell you what to do because even when we think we are doing it our way, we're doing it somebody's way.

And sadly for the world, it's not God's way. It's the enemy's way. Follow your passions, your heart, and not your head. I don't know how many times I've heard that in a Hallmark movie. Oh, it sounds cute.

It's but be careful following your heart as we said because the heart is the separately desperately wicked. It is akin to what the serpent said in the Garden of Eden. You know, just look at that fruit, you know. If if you eat of it, you're just gonna be like who? God knowing good and follow your heart, Satan said, basically.

Why did it say Eve looked at the fruit and it looked what? It looked beautiful. What what what is there in it looked beautiful that had anything to do with what God said? Absolutely nothing. What was she following?

The lust of the the eyes. And a fruit to be desired to make one wise. Where did she get that? Well, it looked beautiful. So therefore, if it looked beautiful, it must be gonna, you know, I mean, said, could such a beautiful fruit be bad?

Sounds similar to something the world might say, our heart might say, wisdom cries out, Learn. Grow in knowledge. Make decisions based upon the truth. Jesus said, you shall know the truth and the truth shall what? Set you free.

The source of wisdom the source of wisdom look, if you begin at one chapter one and verse 23. Turn you in my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit onto you. I will make my known my words onto you. Yes, the writer is personifying wisdom, but clearly, the person behind wisdom is who?

Is God. And he says, if you'll turn to me, I will pour out my spirit unto you, my mind unto you. His word, if we will turn to him to receive it. He will gladly what? He will gladly pour it out.

He will gladly open our eyes and fill our mind with truth and knowledge and wisdom if we will turn turn to him. In James one five, it says, if any of you lack wisdom, let him what? Let him ask of God. God is all wisdom. God is the source of all wisdom.

He is the source of all truth. He is the source of everything because he created it all. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God. Who better to ask? Tell me.

You're gonna get on the Internet and ask chat GPT? Is is is chat GPT all wisdom? I hope that isn't your opinion. We're gonna turn on our TV and listen to the nightly news because so and so anchor has all wisdom. There are a few of them I would rather listen to than others, but even the ones I listen to, I know I have to take with a grain of what?

Salt, they have their agenda. They're not all wisdom. But there's one that we'll never go wrong listening to or crying out to. Who it says here that if we will cry out to him for wisdom, he will give it to all men liberally, abundantly, and abrade us, will hold nothing back. He'll hold nothing back.

If you truly want the wisdom of God, he will what? He will give it. Now, I'm afraid sometimes we ask for God's wisdom and we really don't want it, to be honest. Lord, will you have me to do this or will you have me to do that? And God knows as well as I know, I've already decided I'm gonna do what?

I'm gonna do this. I just need God's what? My just need God's stamp of approval so I feel good about doing this. Okay? So oftentimes, we we pray and we say, God, show me.

If you don't want me to do this, slam the door and stop me. So is that really the right way to pray? No. That's really not the right way to pray because we've already decided what it is we wanna do, and we're just asking for God's approval. If you really want God's wisdom, if you really wanna know what God wants you to do, especially in those important decisions in life, he'll he'll show you if you ask him.

He will make it clear. It it won't be he usually doesn't use, you know, you know, stoplights whether when it turns red or green or yellow. He usually doesn't use things like that. He uses the word of God, his spirit, our mind together to guide us and to show us what is the best way for us to go. That leads to life and leads to abundance and success.

If you'd really ask, if you really want it, God says, I'll really give it. I really will. I really will. He is the source of wisdom. The promises of wisdom.

If you would turn over to chapter eight. Turn if you would over to chapter eight and we'll look in verse 18 and then drop down to verse 32. So verse 18 and then drop down to verse 32. We'll read through the end of the chapter. Verse 18, riches and honor are with me.

Yea, durable riches and righteousness. Look if you would down in verse 32. Now, hearken unto me, all you children, for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the door the port post of my doors.

For whoso findeth me findeth life and shall obtain favor of the Lord. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his old own soul. All they that hate me love death. Again, it's talking about wisdom personified but wisdom who comes from a very real person, the Lord. What are the promises of wisdom?

What are the rewards for those who heed it? Blessing. Blessing. Blessing is often used in scripture to refer to good things that come from who? That come from God.

K. The blessings of the Lord. Things that are not necessarily deserved. Things that are not earned. They're just given.

Things that bring joy and fulfillment to our life, the blessings of the Lord. Life. Wisdom gives life. It leads in the way of life. As we hear the wisdom, particularly of the way of salvation and we receive the Lord Jesus Christ as savior, we receive eternal life.

But that cometh by faith and it also cometh by wisdom. Blessings in life, riches and honor. Riches and honor. It doesn't say that you will be a millionaire. But when you listen and you follow wisdom and you make decisions based upon wisdom, it does bring riches, provision into our life and honor to those who follow it.

Many in our society today that find themselves on the street and in the gutter and in great distress got there because they ignored the cry of what? Of wisdom. They chose a different path. And like Lot, they chose it again and again and again. You know, it it usually isn't just one bad choice.

It's a series of bad choices. Look at David. All these good choices David made in his life, but then he had this one little series of what? Very bad choices that he made. And it wasn't just one choice, it was followed up by another and another and another.

And David found himself doing things that David would never have found himself doing if he just hadn't been on that roof allowing the lust of the flesh to run his life and his decision making rather than the word of God and the wisdom of God, which he knew better. The rewards of wisdom, blessing, life, riches, and honor, Favor with God. What's another word for favor of God we use particularly in the New Testament? Grace. Grace.

God's grace. And then safety and peace. Proverbs one thirty three back to chapter one, but I have the verse up here. But who so hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil. When we choose the wisdom of the Lord, we choose a path that takes us away from contentions and away from distress and danger and puts us more in the way of peace and of safety.

Listening to wisdom is so so very important, and our young people today in particular are being taught the opposite. And we see the fruit that is being produced in their life often by those choices. You see, there are the promises of wisdom, and then there are the consequences for those who reject it. And these are not only for the youth, but these also apply to people of what? Of every age.

Of every age and every stage of life. If we turn from wisdom and to folly, we will suffer at least some of these consequences even as a child of God. In verse 24 of Proverbs one again, Because I have called you and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded, but you have said and not all my counsel, none of my reproof, would not listen and not turn, would not make correction. What happens when oftentimes when people rebuke us? We just we push them away.

We we hold our hands over our what? Ears, you know, not literally but metaphorically because we don't wanna hear. Our way is set. Now, get out of my way. And that's again not the way of wisdom, it's the way of the what?

It's the way of the fool. Wisdom cries in verse 26, I will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh. When your fear cometh, it's desolation. Your destruction cometh as a whirlwind.

When distress and anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer. They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me. For that they hated knowledge and not not choose the fear of the Lord. They would have none of my counsel. They despised all of my proof.

Therefore, shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices for the turning away of the simple shall slay them, the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. Turning a deaf ear to wisdom, rejecting the wisdom particularly of the Lord, leads to several terrible consequences. Death, spiritual death for those who reject the Lord of wisdom, and the only way of salvation, Jesus Christ his son. Maybe physical death even for the child of God in a manner that could have been avoided had we have chosen what? The wisdom of the Lord.

Calamity, distress, fear, destruction, anguish, rejection. This is the way this is the way of foolishness, of the rejection of wisdom. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul, and all that hate me love death and ruin. Oh, how desperately we need to listen to the wisdom and heed the wisdom of God and welcome the wisdom of God and pray for the wisdom of God and seek the wisdom of God. Our foolish heart oftentimes does not want to hear it.

Our that foolish old man keeps pulling us away from it. But we know the way of the Lord is the way of life and how desperately we need and how desperately need to impart that to others. Sadly, Satan is so active in our society today and so diligent in filling the ears and minds of our hearts of people in our society with everything but, what, but wisdom. The past three generations in our society have bought into. That's that's my generation.

Have bought into the if it feels good, do it. Do it if you want, but there's gonna be what? There's gonna be consequences. That consequences, that's what wisdom tells us. So the prudent back to this verse, the prudent man, what?

Foreseeth evil. He seeth the evil coming. He seeth the trap of Satan and he hideth himself. He avoids it. He runs away.

But the simple, they pass on and are what? And are punished. They reap the consequence. Wisdom pleads with us. God pleads with us in his word.

Please seek wisdom. I know it's a little bit harder. It takes a little more effort and it takes a little humility to go to the Lord and say, Lord, I don't know what's the right way. Lord, my I know I want to do this, but Lord, I think you don't want me to do this. Please show me the path of righteousness and then strengthen me to follow it.

Oh, how we need the wisdom of the Lord. A couple keys to wisdom we find here chapter let's look here in Proverbs. Where am I? Twenty three twelve, okay? There we read, apply thine heart to instruction, thine ears to the words of what?

Knowledge. In the New Testament, second Peter three eighteen, but grow in the grace and in the what? The knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen.

What is the key we find here to wisdom? The key is what? The key is knowledge. Wisdom, the skill to make good and right decisions, doth depend on something called knowledge. We need knowledge.

Knowledge is not bad. Knowledge is what? Knowledge is good. We should store up knowledge. We should seek knowledge.

We should we should dig for it as a treasure. Knowledge is good. It is not bad. Sometimes I think in Christian circles, knowledge gets a bad rap as though knowledge itself is something evil to be avoided. But it is not something evil to be avoided.

It is something good that we need to amass in our lives so we make decisions based upon truth and based upon facts and based upon knowledge. I had a teacher in college at Christian University. It said, all knowledge, all truth is God's truth. All truth is God's truth. And we need to be seeking truth.

We need to seek it first of all where? In the in the Bible, in the word of God. We need to seek it out in every area of life. The more knowledge we have, the better we are prepared to make the what? The right decisions based upon knowledge and truth.

Now, thank there is, sadly, a lot of stuff masquerading out there as truth and knowledge. So therefore, we also need something called discretion. Discretion to help us discern from the false and the the true. And again, what does that take? Well, it takes the Holy Spirit and the wisdom of God, and it also takes some diligent effort on our part because it's easy.

You know, if you're listening to that particular news pundit that you like, we tend to just accept everything they what? They say it is more difficult and takes more effort to say, well, you know, wait a second. I don't know if I agree with that. I don't know if that's true. Let me look that up.

What did Paul say about the church in Berea? He said they were more noble. Why were they more noble? Is that they checked on what he said with the Old Testament scriptures to make sure that what he was saying was true and accurate. And Paul did not did not admonish them for that.

He praised them for that because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge as well as wisdom. Knowledge is key. The search and reception of knowledge is key to wisdom. One cannot skillfully apply knowledge in life which one does not possess. How will you balance your checkbook or checking account if you do not know arithmetic?

How are going to do that? Probably not going to do that. And therefore, you're going to overdraw your bank account. And then you're going to get this little note in the mail that says, you now owe 30 some more dollars and maybe you owe it 4 times over because you withdrew your bank account and four checks came back and now you're a $100 poorer because you didn't know how to balance your checkbook. Thankfully, my wife knows how to balance a checkbook.

So she saves me from that. How will you know how to assemble an appliance if you cannot or will not, sometimes it's cannot, most often especially with men, will not read the instructions. Alright. And so you get the you get the thing together, the shelves that you bought, you get the shelves together and you wonder why when you put something on it, the shelf just falls over, it goes splat. Well, you forgot the importance of what?

Knowledge. Well, you had the skill but you lacked the what? The knowledge because you wouldn't read the instructions. That takes what? That takes time.

We're in too much of a hurry. Again, I'm thankful, though, to some regards missing a little bit from my patient son that sits in the sound booth back there. Because whenever we got something at the house that required somebody to read instructions, guess who read the instructions? His name is David. He's our instruction reader.

Sometimes I still call him and said, David, can you read this and tell me what it says? That takes some patience. What is it? It's knowledge and we need the knowledge to do the thing. And the same thing is true in the Christian life.

We need knowledge. Knowledge isn't bad. Knowledge is good. That's why we have the word of God. It's full of what?

It's full of knowledge and instruction which we need. One cannot apply instruction he or he or she has not received or heard. As we are told in Romans chapter 10, how shall they how shall they believe in him who have the whom of whom they have not they have not heard? If they don't know, then they don't know. They need to what?

They need to know. Somebody needs to tell them. Knowledge is is vital. Why do scriptures stress reading and meditating upon them? Because you cannot apply scripture if you don't what?

If you don't know it. Thus, Psalm one nineteen eleven, thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against God. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Joshua one eight, but this the book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. Second Timothy two fifteen, study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

First Peter two two, desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. Fools despise and reject knowledge and instruction. Wise men do what? They seek it. They heed it.

They absorb it. They meditate upon it as the wonderful treasure that it is. Let me read from you to you from Psalm one from Psalm 19 and what it says about this precious treasure we have in our hands. Psalm 19 beginning in verse seven. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever, and the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than what?

Gold. Yea, than much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is thy servant warned and in keeping of them is great reward. Knowledge is key.

Knowledge, first and foremost, given by God in his word. But knowledge in general is a good thing. Education is a good thing. Taking time to learn, digging into things before we make a decision is the what? The wise thing to do.

Key number one is knowledge. Key number two, as we finish up, the fear of the Lord. What does it say in Proverbs one seven? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom. Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

What does it say in chapter nine and verse 10? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. Knowledge and instruction alone are not enough. True wisdom is not attainable apart from what? The fear of the Lord.

If you do not feared, given reverence, acknowledged the power and the wisdom and the holiness of God, then you are not going to find true what? You're not gonna find true wisdom. The first step in making in learning wisdom, in learning to make decisions in life that will profit you and others, one of the first steps is the fear of who? The fear of the Lord. If we reject the fear of the Lord, then we will not find true wisdom and reap its rewards in our life.

It is a common phrase and commendation of the righteous in the Old Testament. Over and over again, God describes righteous people as those who what? Fear the Lord. They acknowledge his wisdom, his holiness, his justice, his love, and his power. Job, for instance, is praised by God as one who feared God and eschewed evil.

A healthy fear, reverence for the holiness, power, wisdom, and authority of God is absolutely necessary in practicing wisdom. For it is this knowledge and acknowledgment of one's accountability to God which directs us to a few things here, repentance and faith without which we would be forever, what, lost. If you do not acknowledge there is a God in heaven who created us, who who made laws that we broke, who had a will for us that we did not follow. And we need to be redeemed, and it requires repentance and faith. Repentance before the God of heaven then will be forever lost.

Therefore, the fear of the Lord is the what? The beginning of wisdom. It directs us to service and obedience for us to lay up treasure where? In heaven and not just upon the earth. It it directs us to morality and discretion through which we escape many of the traps set by the wicked one and the misery and heartache which accompanies them.

The vast world around us is suffering. They are suffering because they do not know the fear of the Lord. And they have gone headlong into immorality. Our world is drowning in immorality today. And they are suffering dearly because of it.

They need the fear of the Lord. It is the beginning of wisdom. It is the beginning of the path that will lead them out of the misery of sin and the addictions of the world into the grace and love and blessings of almighty God. It directs us to testify of the grace of God and the good news of salvation through faith in Christ which leads others to know him also. Why?

Because if they die in their sins, those loved ones that we care for will spend an eternity in hell. And because one day, we as believers who have been gifted with the gospel of Jesus Christ will give an account as to whether we did anything about it to be salt and light on the earth. Yes, we should serve him out of love. But before the love comes the what? Comes the fear.

The fear is the beginning of wisdom. It does not end with fear for fear alone is not enough. Faith and love must follow. We love him because he, what? First loved us.

But it is most definitely the beginning of true wisdom without which the world will never find redemption. After a long list, a long description by God in Romans three of the heart of man. It ends with this. Sadly, there is no fear of God before their eyes. That explains why all those other things are true because they have not chosen the fear of the Lord.

So two keys to wisdom. First, knowledge is key. You shall know the what? The truth and shall truth shall set you free. Jesus said, if you follow my words, you will have life.

That's knowledge. True knowledge is vital. And number two, the fear of the Lord. Two of the keys, not the only two, but two of the keys that we see here in the very beginning of the book of Proverbs. Once again, wisdom is what?

It's crying out to us to follow, To learn from our, what, mistakes. To follow the example of the Lord. To avoid the pitfalls of the enemy through wisdom that comes from God. And God says, if you lack wisdom, why? Ask me.

I will give it. Now, he'll use his word. He'll use his spirit. He may use a Christian friend. Just keep your ears open and also your heart and your mind and choose the way of wisdom.

And as we do each day, we will reap its reward and not the consequences of folly instead. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you, Lord, for the wisdom that you have to give and you are willing to share. For it is your desire not that we mess up so that you can chasten us, but that we might follow you in every aspect, that we might choose the wave of wisdom, that we might listen to your word as it instructs us in the way of righteousness, that we might avoid the pitfalls of Satan, that we might not reap the consequences of ignorance and foolishness. Lord, forgive us for our lack of effort in this regard.

Forgive us of the times when we chose foolishness because it just seemed easier and we knew better. Lord, give us a heart of wisdom. Help us to seek it, and then we pray, guide us, direct us, and show us the path that is right and the path that leads to peace and blessing in our lives and in the lives of others. Help us, Lord, to choose it by your grace and not allow ourselves to be caught up in the ways of the world, that we might be to the glory and honor and praise of our Lord and Savior who has given us life and truth. In Jesus' name, we do pray.

Amen.