This is from a transcript of a sermon preached by Dr. Jack Graham on September 18, 2011
We got back from Israel this past week, about 15 of us, including 10 of our young ministers. We had an incredible time walking where Jesus walked and experiencing those sights once again. I’ve been to Israel many, many times, but it never fails to move me and to grow me in my walk with Christ. And so I am happy to announce by the way that at the end of 2012, next year, right after Christmas, on December 26 we’re going to be taking a group from our church and our friends to Israel. So you may want to write that down. Again, that’s right after Christmas December 2012.
But, getting back, we hit it running. It’s been an incredible week with the opening of our Dallas Campus Bible study Connections, with our first Connection service on Wednesday night. Had a fantastic group there! Along with all that’s going on in our Plano and our North Campus. This afternoon a generation celebration of what we’re doing at our North Campus. Dinner on the ground celebration of the beginning of construction there, an outdoor baptism. We’re going to be preaching and singing and celebrating at our North Campus. And then everything that’s going on at our Dallas Campus and right here in Plano. This is an incredibly exciting time!
We had our first Men’s Bible Study. You know, Men’s Bible Study is really critical to who we are as a church; getting our men in the Word. And one of the ways we do that is our Men’s Bible Study on Friday morning; 6:30 every Friday morning, guys. Up north Marc Rylander teaches that; right here in Plano, Neal Jeffrey, the great Neal Jeffrey, teaches that. And this past week Tony Evans launched us at our Dallas Campus. Four hundred men showed up and we had a great time. This week Jonathan Evans, Yeah, go ahead. Let’s celebrate those guys!
And Jonathan Evans this week who is a former fullback for the Baylor Bears, who are making a name for themselves this year, I might add. And we celebrate that, but Jonathan Evans is the son of Dr. Tony Evans and Lois Evans, our dear friends. He’ll be speaking this Friday morning. He is also the chaplain of the Dallas Cowboys along with David Shivers, our own Men’s minister who is with the team out in San Francisco. So hopefully, hopefully he’s going to help get us a win today. But David Shivers is there. Jonathan Evans will be teaching our Men’s Bible Study on Friday morning. And then Gary Frazier of Discovery Ministry who leads us on our tours of Israel… trips to Israel. He’s going to be talking about God’s Word and America and the future of America related to biblical prophecy. That’s also good.
It’s been a great week personally for our family. I’m excited to announce that our daughter Kelly is announcing her engagement to Jason Flores and she’s going to be married in April, and we’re very excited about Kelly’s engagement. And so yeah, you can do that! And so it’s been a great high-octane week for the Graham family, team Graham, and for the Prestonwood team as we are moving from victory to victory.
Take your Bibles, open your Bibles with me to the book of Ephesians, chapter 6. And we begin a new series today. Welcome to all of you who are watching online by the way. We have a large congregation online around the world. So we invite you to join us as well.
INVISIBLE… There’s more to life than what you see. The invisible is all around us. What we can’t see physically is real. As a matter of fact often more real, more substantive than what we can actually see.
Now we know that there are many things that are real that we can’t see: gravity is real; it is a law of creation that God has designed… the law of gravity. You only demonstrate the law of gravity, one fellow said, “I think I’m going to go up on the building, jump off and break the law of gravity.” Well, you don’t break the law of gravity; you’re broken on the law of gravity, if you jump too high. And so gravity is a real powerful force. We know there are biochemical forces in the world, even in our bodies, that we cannot see. There are all kinds of invisible experiences in life mystery kinds of experiences in life. And the Bible talks about this invisible world because it is connected, so connected to the visible world. The invisible and eternal world is vitally connected to the current temporary and physical world.
And in this world beyond, this world that is invisible is inhabited by God, by angels, by Satan and powerful demon spirits. This invisible world is a world beyond, of eternity, of the supernatural, of heaven and of hell, of life before death, life after death, it is all involved. This invisible world that we’re talking about, the life that you cannot see physically but still exists, there is more to life than what you can see. This, this invisible world lasts forever. This world as we know it… as we see it is passing away, but the invisible world… the eternal world is forever!
Now there was a time when the supernatural was really just a side to the fanciful, the fantastic, even maybe to the medieval caricatures of the past and the talk of demons and spirits and the supernatural and miracles. Many people, the mindset was to write that off! But today there is a heighten interest in the supernatural. We read it in our books, we see it in our culture, our movies, our entertainment. As a matter of fact as I was just preparing for this message I was thinking about all of the movies and television shows that have to do with the supernatural, the parapsychology- psychological and the paranormal and all that’s out there, and it’s more than just old horror stories and scary movies. There are messages that are being delivered now to our culture, and often our culture’s ideas. The world’s ideas regarding the supernatural are being shaped by our media, our music, our movies. And so I asked our guys to put together a little montage lest you think I’m exaggerating here. Just a little taste of what we’re seeing in the culture regarding the invisible and the supernatural.
VIDEO:
Now those are the kinds of movies I choose not to see. And my wife especially chooses not to see. The dark side of the world and the invisible. And it can be very frightening, of course. And yet, more than frightening, it is viewed at some degree as fantasy, and yet more and more are buying into what the world is telling us about the supernatural. Do these things exist? If they do exist what is behind all of these forces in the world?
Most importantly therefore for followers of Christ, we must think biblically and not culturally. You must think to win, you must think biblically to win life’s battles. To get our eyes open and the Bible tells us that we are to test the spirits to see if they are of God. And so a part of my purpose in this INVISIBLE series is to expose the enemy, to test the spirit and to teach God’s people of the truth and the realities of an unseen spiritual reality that is all around us. And also to warn in this message to the world of the powers of the darkness and of the enemy and how we can learn to live in the light and the glory of Jesus Christ.
So no wonder in chapter 6 of Ephesians, Paul, who often spoke of spiritual warfare and our fight, the good fight of faith; the fact that we are soldiers of the cross and soldiers of the Gospel. He writes in verse 10:
10) Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11) Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12) For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
We’re then challenged three times to stand, stand, stand against the wiles, the wickedness of the devil and this world system, of these powerful seductive forces, wicked forces that are all around us! The most important thing we can do to begin winning life’s battles, you are in a spiritual battle. If you are a believer you understand the Christian life is, you know, not just putting a flower in your hair and speaking of peace and love. We are called to a battle. The Christian ground… Christian life is not just, it is not a playground; it is a battleground. And we are in the battle! If you are a follower of Jesus, you wear a target and you are targeted by the enemy. Thank God, in Christ we can defend ourselves. We can be protected, but we need to be warned, because to be forewarned is to be forearmed!
This is why the first step we need to take in winning life’s battles is to acknowledge our adversary. So I want to take some time this morning to expose the enemy of our soul, Satan, who is very, very real. Not a Saturday Night Live skit, not a caricature, you know, a devil and pitchfork with long horns, tail on a side of a can of potted ham; not a cartoon character, but a very sinister, seductive and powerful created being who leads a revolt against Almighty God and whose desire is to cast your soul into hell!
Jesus taught us to pray deliver us from the evil one; literally, deliver us from the evil one. Knowing your opponent in war or even in football or athletic contests is important. I brought up Scott Turner at the first service. He played in the NFL for 9 years on special teams and also the defensive secondary of the Washington Redskins and the Denver Broncos and San Diego Chargers. Great young man, loves the Lord, and he plays a very violent sport. And he was telling us in the earlier service how they spent the entire week scouting their opponent. You know that’s true. You scout your opponent, the tactics, the techniques, the tendencies, the weaknesses, and so on of your opponent. Generals do that to know your enemy is essential.
And therefore, we must know our enemy. And know this about our enemy: We must never underestimate his power; he has great power. But by the same token as we’re going to see in this message, we must never overestimate his power, because to be sure, in Christ we have victory! Thanks be unto God who has given us the victory in our Lord Jesus Christ!
But there is a battle and there is an enemy. He is called in the Scripture Satan which means the adversary, the opponent, the one who comes against us. He is called the devil, which means the accuser. He’s described in the Revelation as the accuser of the brothers and sisters. Three times in the Bible the devil speaks, I mean, literally speaks. His presence is seen, the shadow of the enemy is in the Scriptures, but three times he verbally speaks and his words are recorded. One, in the Garden of Eden when he slandered God to man. He slithered, slithered into the Garden, the serpent, Satan himself, and he said, “God is holding out on you, Eve. Has God said…? God knows that if you eat of this fruit that He has forbidden you, that you will become as He is; you will become as God.” He slandered the character and the nature of God to man.
The second time that Satan speaks is in the book of Job. Remember this? When Job was living a righteous life for the Lord and Satan was given permission to appear before the throne of God and at that point he slandered man to God. He said, “Job serves You for nothing. If You take away everything that he has. Sure he lives for You! He’s got a great family, he’s got a great life, he’s making lots of money, he’s living for You and he’s living for You only because You give him all these things. Take away all of this and he’ll be gone.” And God gave Satan permission to try Job, buffet him, and he did indeed. But when he spoke he was lying and accusing and slandering the man to God. First, God to man and then man to God.
The third time that the devil speaks, the accuser of the brethren, is when Jesus is tempted in the wilderness, and Satan spoke to Jesus Himself and said, “If You worship me and bow down before me, I’ll give You the kingdoms of this earth.” This time Satan is slandering the God-Man, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He’s the accuser of the brethren. He is on the attack. He is Lucifer as we’ll see in a passage in just a moment, which means the son of the morning, the angelic being who became the angel of the night. He’s called in 1 John 5: 19, “the evil one”; 1 Thessalonians 3:5, “the tempter”; in John 12:31, “the prince of this world”; 2 Corinthians 4:4, “the god of this world”; 1 Peter 5:8, “a roaring lion”. He’s known as the serpent. Jesus said in John 8, “he was a liar, the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning.” Satan! His M.O.- his method of operation has not changed through the centuries. And that is why Paul says, “I don’t want you to be unaware, I don’t want you to be ignorant; you can’t be blindsided by the devil. You need to know his schemes, his tactics.”
So we’re going to take some time to expose him; some of his schemes, some of his methods, his operations to destroy, to divert, to deny, to twist, to mislead, to ultimately, Jesus said, to kill and to destroy! He specializes in subversion and perversion and diversion and destruction! Bottom line: he wants to destroy your soul! And with you, your family, your friends, your church, your children! And he is prepared to use every tactic he has. Every tool, every weapon in his arsenal he prepares to use.
And again, all of us are involved in this invisible war. We cannot go AWOL. We cannot sit because to sit is to be a sitting duck. You will be a target of the enemy! It is a covert operation much like a terrorist operation. It is a cosmic collision. Behind the scenes is this cosmic battle that is going on between good and evil, light and darkness, Christ and antichrist, heaven and hell, God and Satan. How did this all begin? What is the source of evil? Why is there such evil in the world? What is the explanation for evil in the world?
We take you back to eternity-past in Isaiah 14. Take your Bibles, turn to Isaiah 14. We’re going to put this on the screen for you, but it would be so much better if you opened your Bible and looked with me to Isaiah 14, and mark these verses and note them, because we get a glimpse of how it all began. I mean, little children, little first graders ask the question, “Mommy, Daddy, how did the devil become the devil?” “Why did God make the devil?” We have a glimpse, just a glimpse of what happened before time began in the eons, in eternity, in the infinity of the past. Here’s what happened, chapter 14, verses 12 to 14:
12) How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn!(Lucifer, meaning Day Star, son of Dawn) How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! 13) You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; 14) I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’
Lucifer, the son of the morning, was a created being; he was swollen with pride. He said, “I will be like the Most High.” Before there was ever rebellion on earth, there was revolt in heaven! Please remember this: Satan is not equal to God; he is a created being by God, an angelic being that was created by God… The son of the morning, the Dawn Star, the Day Star. But God, this is a mystery, The Bible speaks of the mystery of iniquity. But one thing is for sure; God gave angelic beings a choice. And Satan and his minions chose to rebel against God.
Notice the temptation in heaven was the temptation first on earth. “I will be like the Most High!” Satan ended up saying to Eve, “If you eat of this fruit, you will be like God!” His desire is to rule, always has been, always will be! This is why Jesus called him the god of this age, the ruler of this world!
But there is a clearer picture, perhaps, in Ezekiel chapter 28. This is another passage in the Old Testament that takes us beyond time, into the invisible, eternal world of the past! The first ten verses of Ezekiel 28 have to do with an earthly king by the name of the king of Tyre, or the prince of Tyre. He was a literal, physical king that existed in the ancient world. But something turns in verse 11 and obviously the writer begins speaking of something beyond an earthly presence, and earthly king. “Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me…” and he speaks of this power beyond the throne of the prince of Tyre. He speaks in terms that could only describe an eternal powerful being. Verse 12 of Ezekiel 28:
12) “Son of man, raise a lamentation (That means cry out) over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord: “You were the signet of perfection…” (This angelic being was a perfect being as created) full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13) You were in Eden… (Now we’re moving from eternity into Eden) in the garden of God; and every precious stone was your covering…” (He mentions) “sardius and topaz and diamond and beryl, and onyx and jasper, and sapphire, and emerald, and carbuncle; and created in gold with your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were (watch this) created… (Again) created as an angelic being they were prepared. 14) You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you in the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones you walked.
Ezekiel 28 described the powerful timbrel … the voice of Satan. There is indication that Satan himself may have been the leader of the angelic hosts of praise, and this is why he is so allergic to praise and the worship of Jesus today! He runs when he hears the name of Jesus in worship. That’s another message. He was a powerful angelic being and force! Paul describes him in the book of Corinthians, even now as an angel of light. He disguised himself as an angel of light.
Now listen to me… If Satan manifested himself in this room right now, right here, right now you wouldn’t go running out of the auditorium like an old horror movie! You know, remember those screaming horror movies? People went running out the doors! You wouldn’t go running out the doors, terrorized by his presence! If you saw Satan as he is right now, an angel of light, you would be tempted as even Jesus was to bow down and worship him. A powerful, beautiful, angelic being!
But something happened. He chose rebellion against God, to be like the Most High, to ascend above the throne of God! And as a result of his rebellion, God casted him out and all who followed him. Apparently one third of the heavenly hosts in this cosmic construction of history left with Satan, were destroyed… verse… not destroyed but ah… dismissed from the presence of God in heaven. Verse 15 says:
15) You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you. (Verse 17) 17) Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you.
That’s the title of this message,”Dark Angel”. He is a dark and devilish spiritual being. This means that not everything that is spiritual is good! Not everything that is supernatural is of God! We must know the enemy; we must prepare! Satan is called the ruler of this world, the prince of this world, the ruler of the world system. Second Corinthians 4:4 says this: “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers…”
You wonder why your friends do not believe, do not receive the Gospel? Their eyes are blinded by this enemy to keep them from seeing the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. [temporary frog in voice] He is personified in personal evil. His power is dark and deadly. He is filled with hate and rage and revenge and envy. He wants to capture souls. He presides over strongholds and structures even of governments, of principalities. He looks for footholds to develop strongholds on our lives; thus we have addictions such as drugs and alcohol and pornography and… and fear and anger; behaviors that are controlled by the devil!
Jesus went about doing good according to the book of Acts and healing those who were oppressed… in bondage to the devil. He is a very real, decided foe and decided fact of an enemy. You’re primary problem, therefore, is not with people, not with your circumstances; you’re primary issue, if you’re having a struggle in life, is not with your spouse, not with your kids, not with your addiction, not with pornography, not with abortion. The problem is this satanic powerful force, these sinister beings behind.
This happened with Jesus and Simon Peter. When Jesus spoke of going to the cross on the… on the heals of Simon’s great confession… [Matthew 16:16]“You’re the Christ; the Son of the Living God!” When Jesus spoke of the cross and dying on the cross, Simon began to say, “No! No, Lord, don’t do that!” And Jesus immediately said, [Matthew 16:23] “Get behind me, Satan!” He wasn’t talking to Peter! Peter was just a puppet! He was talking to Satan himself. And all the lies, the schemes, the sinful behaviors, everything that embattles us in life… this comes from the evil one. We live in a fallen, broken world where Satan provides! His province and his power is real!
Therefore, what we need to do is to expose the enemy, understand who he is, what he’s doing, protect ourselves! But first, before we put on the armor of God… we’re going to cover that the next time… we need to acknowledge our God-given authority! This is why Paul says, back in Ephesians, chapter 6:
10) Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might!
Satan is not co-equal with God! God is Almighty; Satan is not almighty. The devil cannot be everywhere as God is omnipresent and everywhere. Satan is not all-knowing as God is all-knowing; he is not God! He is created, and even now, controlled by God. And our focus should not be primarily in life on the poise of Satan, but on the power of God! Our authority in Jesus! While he is roaring, roaming lion, he is a lion on a leash! And Satan though visible in a spiritual world, though he is not vanished, he has been vanquished!
A little over a week ago I stood at the place of the cross, the skull hill of Jerusalem. You see the sockets of a skull and the nose bridge. And many believe this is the very place, I personally believe this is the place where criminals were executed there for all to see, outside the gates of the city of Jerusalem. And Jesus, along with those two thieves, crucified there. As I stood there this passed time and I was thinking about this message, and I was praising God for the victory that was won there that day, our victory over sin and sorrow and death and hell and judgment.
When Jesus died on the cross, Satan fell from heaven like lightning, the Lord said. He was defeated. We are given power over the works of the enemy because of the cross! When Jesus died on the cross, He cried out,[John 19:30] “It is finished!” The, imps, the demons of hell were shrieking and screaming, “He is finished!” But He was not finished; His mission was finished! He gave Himself to die on the cross for our sins! This is our victory! When He was buried all hell celebrated; that’s the end of that! But on the third day Jesus rolled away the stone and came out holding in His strong mighty hand the keys to life and death and heaven and hell because He is Lord! And this is our victory! A mighty fortress is our God; the great I AM is our victor and our victory, and therefore, we have authority!
Tony Evans in our Men’s Bible study this Friday morning illustrated for us the difference between power and authority. If you watch a football game there are powerful athletes on the field, running up and down. But there are some weaker men on the field, some smaller men typically who have a whistle and a yellow flag. Now they don’t have as much power as these mighty athletes, but all they need to do to stop the action, control the action, to make adjustments in the game is to throw a yellow flag. And those men, therefore, have authority over that game.
That’s the difference that we have in Christ; the difference that Jesus makes! We are not as strong as Satan. We in and of ourselves would be destroyed by the power of the enemy. But we have authority and that authority is in Jesus! This is why we say we don’t fight for victory; we fight from victory, from our victory in Christ!
I’ve illustrated for years with a silly illustration, but it’s a little vivid so you may want to hold your first-grader’s ears, alright. When I was a little boy, I wanted some Easter chickens. And down at the Montgomery Wards in our little town they were selling these little Easter chickens. They were red and yellow and blue and pink. They were beautiful. And I asked my grandfather to buy these chickens. And a grandfather can’t say no to a six year old grandson so he bought me these chickens. I loved the little chickens, made pets of those little chickens, had Easter with the little chickens. It was fun. But you know it wasn’t long till all the color had grown off those chickens and they were just big white chickens running around our yard. And we didn’t have a farm; we just had a yard!
And so one day my grandfather, Grandpa Sims, decided that we were going to have chicken and dumplings. Now to this day I’m not certain why he wanted to teach me this vivid lesson except maybe to tell this story and to illustrate this point, (thanks, Grandpa- and this is the part you close the eyes of your kids, alright?)
You know I thought about this early, I said, maybe I shouldn’t tell this chicken story. But I’ve got to because it’s such a perfect thing of what I’m trying to tell you about the devil. You know I’ve been telling you the devil is real, the devil is powerful and he is, and we’re in a battle and we are. And yet, you know, now I’m saying, we have victory in Jesus! The war is over but we still have battles to fight! Okay? But we are fighting against a dead chicken!
My grandfather took one chicken in one hand and another chicken in the other hand there in the back yard (my eyes are getting wide as saucers!) and he begins to do this: Faster than this! (Am I making my point without being too vivid?) Alright. And those chickens are now sans their head, flopping all over the yard, to my amazement! They don’t have a head, but they’re bouncing all over the yard! Blood squirting everywhere! It was amazing! Those chickens were dead and didn’t even know it!
So when I think about the devil and what Christ has done, I think about those chickens…flopping around, a lot of noise, a lot of excitement, a lot of gore, but Satan is a defeated foe; defeated in the power of Jesus! And we claim that authority when we claim the power of His name, His victory! Revelation 12:11, “They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony. They loved not their lives unto death.”
How do we win life’s battles? We claim our victory in Christ. He (Colossians 2:15) “Disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them!” Like a Roman general with a stripped down, defeated opponent, chained to his chariot, the applause, the excitement of a great victory! Back in the Roman legions, coming back home. Those enemies, those generals, those prisoners chained to the chariot! Satan is stripped of his power and his authority over us because our King Jesus has won the victory! Accept, acknowledge, appropriate your victory in Jesus!
Hebrews 2:14: “Since therefore, the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil!” Therefore, stand, stand in the face of the enemy, of the enemy! And in Jesus name claim your victory in Him! You don’t have to be the devil’s plaything! You can be strong.
Now you know I don’t believe in swagger here, you know. Don’t get your swagger on, you’ll get your head knocked off! But be strong and steady; dependent upon God! Praying with all prayer as the Scripture says,Putting on the whole armor of God. We’ll talk about that next time. And as you prepare yourself and stand in Christ and His righteousness, your victory will be assured, and the enemy has no right or authority to claim you, to control you, to corrupt you because you have victory in Jesus.
Heads are bowed and eyes are closed.
If you don’t know Jesus, you’re eyes are blinded, but God is opening your eyes today. Satan has tried to keep you from the truth and told you all kinds of lies. You have believed some of these lies and now you’re living under the power of the authority of the enemy. But you can break that power through the cross of Christ today by coming to faith in Jesus Christ and His resurrection. And He will not force you. God will not force you to come to Him; He will not coerce you. [Revelation 3:20] “He stands at the door and knocks.” He said, “Anyone opens the door, I’ll come in.” Jesus will not knock the door down into your life. But if you will invite Him in and pray a prayer like this:
Lord Jesus, I repent of my sin; I turn from my sin. I don’t want to live like I’ve been living. I invite You into my life to be my Savior, my Lord, my God. Forgive me of my sin. Change my life.
Just ask Him. The Bible says,[Romans 10:13] “Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved.” Are you saved? Are you saved? You must choose life or death! Heaven or hell! Christ or Satan! I beg you in Jesus’ name choose Jesus today! Invite Christ into your life and come forward and tell one of our ministers upstairs and downstairs that today you want to follow Jesus and you will be given power and authority over the works of the enemy in your life and you can start living in victory. You can start winning in life instead of losing at life and in eternity, because let me tell you something: if you walk out of this building without Jesus and you die, you’re going to that place that the Bible says is prepared for the devil and his angels. Don’t go away without Jesus. Don’t go away without Jesus.
I want to ask that Christians in this room… this is spiritual warfare right now. We are battling, we are praying for the souls of men and women and teenagers. Pray! This is spiritual warfare! Pray! The great preacher Spurgeon said, “We flog the devil the most when we preach Christ!” I’ve been preaching Christ; I’ve been flogging him as best I can today! Come to Jesus. Claim His name, claim His salvation, confess Him as your Lord and Savior.
Other believers, you want to belong to this church? Come forward in just a moment and make that your decision; to be a part, not of an audience, but an army that moves from victory to victory in Jesus’ name. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ!
Lord, take now this time of decision and may Your Spirit move powerfully, vanquishing the enemy, defeating the works of the enemy in peoples’ lives. We thank You for the cross and the power of Your resurrection and the new life, the transforming, triumphant life that we have in You. May men, women, boys, and girls now confess You! May they do today what they will be so glad they’ve done when they stand before You in eternity! In Jesus’ name. AMEN
