Foretaste

Merry Christmas!  We are continuing in our Advent series, “This Will Be a Sign for You.”  Advent is a word we hear almost exclusively at Christmastime.  The word comes down to us from Latin and has the meaning of “arrival” or “coming.”  As we near Christmas, we remember and worship the Son of God for his first coming as a baby born in a stable and laid in a manger.  And so, this time can be called the Advent season.

There will be a second coming of Jesus.  This is another separate advent.  The events of Jesus’ return to the earth will be different from the first.  He will arrive as the conquering king to destroy evil forever and to take his bride, the children of God, to be with Him forever in grace and peace and joy.  This is sometimes called the Second Advent.

Jesus was promised through all of history as Messiah, the Deliverer.  The First Advent, His birth, revealed God's eternal plan for redemption and salvation.  This series examines the events surrounding His arrival.

Carl opened the series two weeks ago with a message titled “Foretold.”  In it, we looked at the opening events in Matthew and Luke particularly Mary and Joseph’s experience in their separate encounters with the angel of God preparing them to become the earthly parents of the Son of God.

Then, of course, last week church was cancelled because of the ice and poor driving conditions.  Thankfully, Tim was gracious to record the second message in the series titled, “Forerunner.”  In it, he explained how God’s prophets were forerunners, announcing the coming of the Messiah/Deliverer, what He would be like and what He would do, how His life would be an offering for sin. We focused on the portions of Luke chapter 1 about John the Baptist’s miraculous birth.  John would be the last of these forerunners.  The one who came according to Isaiah 40:3 as “the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’ ” (John 1:23)

Tim also pointed out how we talk a lot about signs around Christmastime, and both Carl and Tim’s messages included many signs or wonders or miracles.  These “signs” confirm the truth of what God is saying and doing.  And, the Bible is chock full of signs, and we’ll see more of them today.  Before we do, let’s take a moment and pray that God would be the One speaking to us through His Word.

Lord God, we pray that You indeed would be the One who speaks.  We come to You for truth because You are the only reliable One.  Any other place we seek will fail if it is not grounded in You.  Please bless these Your saints I pray in Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

I’ve given just a few more than a handful of Christmas themed Sunday morning messages like this.  And yet, you might worry whether or not you could find something new to say.  It is fascinating to find that there is always something more to be found in God’s Word.  John wrote at the end of his gospel that, “Jesus did many other things [than what John had recorded] as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” (John 21:25) And even still, with what has been written there is always something new for us to find in God’s Word.  He’s always speaking.

We talked about the word advent already, but we can also consider the word adventure.  Both words have a similar origin.  God’s Word has a spirit of adventure.  It truly is the greatest story ever told.  God wants to be found.  Think of Matthew 7:8 and Luke 11:10, “For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

God is a revealer.  Scripture is filled with examples of Him showing His people and people who do not yet know Him more about Himself.

1. Genesis 35:7 tells of how God had revealed Himself to Jacob even while Jacob was fleeing from his own brother Esau.

2. Genesis 41:25 tells of how God revealed Himself to Pharaoh through a dream for “the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:20)

3. Numbers 23 tells of Balaam and how he went to seek God.  Balaam had wrong motives.  He was paid to curse the people of God.  And yet, God did meet Balaam, and Balaam told Balak what God had said, “I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot change it.  No misfortune is seen in Jacob, no misery observed in Israel. The LORD their God is with them; the shout of the King is among them. (Numbers 23:20-21) … How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the LORD has not denounced?” (Numbers 23:8)

4. Deuteronomy 29:29 tells that the secret things belong to the Lord, but the things revealed belong to God’s people.  The “things revealed” to God’s people are the things in the Word of God.

5. I Samuel 3:21 tells of how the Lord continued to appear at Shiloh and that He revealed Himself to Samuel through His Word.

6. I Samuel 7:27 tells of how God revealed to David that He (the Lord) would “build a house” for David meaning that He would establish David and his family.  Through this, David found courage in prayer to ask for God’s continued blessing.

7. Job 12:22 tells of how God “reveals the deep things of darkness and brings utter darkness into the light.”

8. Psalm 19 tells of how the heavens declare the glory of God and proclaim His mighty works that they pour forth speech night after night.  It goes on to talk about how God’s Word is perfect, trustworthy, right, radiant, sure, righteous, more precious than gold, and sweeter than honey.

9. Psalm 98:2 tells of how “the LORD has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations.”

10. Isaiah has many examples of how God is a revealer.  Isaiah 40:5 tells that “the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all people will see it together.”  That statement is in the process of being fulfilled on multiple levels.  In Isaiah 43:12 God says, “I have revealed and saved and proclaimed--I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "that I am God.”  In Isaiah 56:1, the Lord also says, “Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed.”  In Isaiah 65:1, He says, “I revealed Myself to those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek Me. To a nation that did not call on My Name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’ ” It’s like God can’t stand it.  He’s proclaiming salvation throughout the earth.

11. Daniel too tells how the mystery of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was revealed by a vision from God. Then Daniel praised God saying, “He reveals deep and hidden things; He knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him.” Daniel then told King Nebuchadnezzar “there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.”  And that “this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than anyone else alive, but” because God wanted to reveal these things to Nebuchadnezzar.  (Daniel 2:19, 22, 28-30)

12. Amos 4:13 tells that “He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind, and who reveals his thoughts to mankind, who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth--the LORD God Almighty is his name.”

13. In the New Testament, Luke 2:26 tells how it had been revealed to Simeon by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Messiah.

14. In Matthew 16:17, Jesus tells Simon Peter, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.”  Even while Jesus was together with His disciples, God the Father was also at work revealing truth to them.

15. In John 1:31, John the Baptist explained that he did not know who the Messiah was, “but the reason I came baptizing with water was that He might be revealed to Israel.”

16. In John 2:11, “What Jesus did … in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in Him.”

17. In John 17:6, Jesus says to His Father, “I have revealed You to those whom You gave me out of the world. They were Yours; You gave them to Me and they have obeyed Your Word.”

18. Romans 1:17 proclaims, “For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed--a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’ ”

19. Romans 10:20 relays Isaiah 65:1 yet again “I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.”

20. Galatians 3:23 tells that the faith that was to come, the faith foretold in the Old Testament, has been revealed.

21. Ephesians 3:4-6 tells that the mystery of Christ, which had not been made known to people in other generations, has now been revealed by the Spirit.  That mystery is that through the gospel, the Gentiles are sharers together in the promise of Jesus Christ.

22. II Timothy 1:9-10 explains how the Lord “has saved us and called us to a holy life--not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

23. I Peter 1:20 tells that Jesus was chosen before the creation of the world as the lamb without blemish or defect, but was revealed in these last times for our sake.

I realize that’s a lot to share in rapid fashion.  Each one of those verses could be expanded upon greatly.  I wanted to share them like that because I think it helps us to see God’s eagerness.  He’s excited to show Himself to people.  He wants as many people as possible to have a relationship with Him.  And yet sadly, there will be some who won’t have that relationship.

In Luke 10:21, “Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what You were pleased to do.’ ”

God will hide some things from the wise and learned.

John 12:37-42 explains that many, even among the leaders, believed in him but some would not believe in spite of all the miraculous signs done in their presence.  Verse 39 says that some could not believe.  Why not?

God showed me something I hadn’t noticed before during a quiet time a couple of weeks ago.  It wasn’t something that I went looking for.  I just kind of dropped into my lap.  I’ve mentioned it a couple of times that I’ve been reading through the King James version of the Bible this year.  It’s been interesting, but nothing dramatic.  Mostly, I would say it’s a bit more difficult than reading a more modern translation.  I recommend reading different versions simply because it gives God’s truth a slightly different way to penetrate your heart and mind.

Anyway, my Dad always ends the prayer before a meal the same way.  It’s never bothered me, there’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just that I never had any idea that its origins were found in Scripture.  This is what he says at the end of the prayer, “Lord humble our hearts and make us truly thankful for these and all our many blessings in Jesus Christ’s Name we pray. Amen.”  With decades of practice, in a pinch, he can articulate it at a couple of hundred words a minute.

The part that I didn’t really know where it came from was the “humble our hearts” part.  I know pride is bad, and that it’s often called the original sin.  Pride leads us to set ourselves up as “gods.”  We become suspicious of God, we think we know better than God.  Praying for humility helps us avoid getting hardened toward God though I have heard some say tongue-in-cheek that it’s dangerous.  Since God is opposed to the proud and gives grace to the humble (James 4:6, I Peter 5:5), it would be wise to expect Him to answer prayers for humility.

Daniel 5 tells the story of the handwriting on the wall.  In short, King Belshazzar is having a big party.  It says there are a thousand nobles in attendance.  The king decides he can really impress his guests by serving drinks in the gold and silver goblets taken from the temple in Jerusalem.  At the same time the party-goers are drinking out of God’s dishes, they are praising their idols.  Suddenly, a hand appears and writes a message on the wall.  No one can interpret the message.  The queen mother tells King Belshazzar to summon Daniel because if there is anyone who can interpret the writing, it is Daniel.  Daniel arrives.  The king makes a ponderous speech including some silly promises.  Daniel tells the king he can keep his rewards, but he will interpret the writing.

Daniel tells why Belshazzar knew better and should have had respect for the Most High God.  Just before he explains the words of God’s judgment written on the wall, Daniel says “And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart.” (Daniel 5:22) As a result, God will take the kingdom away from Belshazzar and does it that very night.

Most versions say Belshazzar failed to or didn’t humble his heart.  The other translations say that Belshazzar didn’t humble himself.

Belshazzar didn’t humble his heart.  Humbling your heart is not easy.  I don’t think humility comes naturally.  We need help to be humble or even to attempt to be humble.  And so, it is a good thing to pray and ask God for help.

God is a revealer.  He wants us to see Him and be in relationship with Him.  At the same time, our pride is a barrier to that relationship.  You can’t have a relationship with someone when you don’t really know who they are or if you think that they are someone else. 

Today’s message has the title “Foretaste.”  I took a look at the definition at Merriam-Webster.com.  For one thing, it is a word that has been around for a long time.  The first use of the word goes back to the 15^th century.  In other words, it’s been in the English language since “modern” English came into being. 

The word foretaste can be used both as a noun and a verb.  As a noun, foretaste has two meanings.  It can mean, “a small anticipatory sample,” and it can also mean, “an advance indication.”  I think we can see both of these aspects in Scripture.

There aren’t any exact synonyms for foretaste.  There are some similar words like prospect or outlook or anticipation which also can mean the advance realization of something to come.  But, these don’t seem to quite capture a significant aspect of the meaning of foretaste.  A foretaste “implies an actual though brief or partial experience of something forthcoming.”

Let’s look at Luke 1:39.  Before these verses, the angel had appeared to Mary telling her that she would become the mother of Jesus, the Son of the Most High, who would reign over a kingdom that will never end.  The angel also told Mary that her relative Elizabeth would have a child in her old age.

At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth.  When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.  In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!  But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?  As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.  Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her!”—Luke 1:39-45

We were introduced to Elizabeth in Tim’s message last week.  Elizabeth is the wife of Zechariah.  She is much older than Mary.  Mary is likely still a teenager.  Elizabeth is old enough to be beyond child-bearing age.  The angel Gabriel who visited Mary with the news she would become the mother of Jesus had also visited Zechariah while he was working in the temple carrying out his priestly duties.

The scene is Elizabeth’s home after Mary has completed a significant journey from Nazareth in the north to the hill country of Judea.  Estimates put the distance at 80-100 miles.  The trip would not be that dissimilar than the journey she would make with Joseph when she was at full term in her pregnancy.  Bethlehem is one of the cities of the hill country of Judea.  I think we can take comfort in knowing that Mary had made the journey before perhaps as far as Jerusalem more than once and may have even passed through Bethlehem on her journey to Elizabeth.

It is not specifically mentioned, but she could have made the journey alone.  I think it unlikely that she was absolutely alone all that way, but she was not apparently traveling with family or friends.  That would have taken courage, for sure.  Mary is smart, too.  The angel had told her that Elizabeth was expecting.  He did not tell Mary to go to Elizabeth.  And yet, she discerns that this is the correct thing to do.

What happens upon her arrival is more remarkable still.  There were no phone lines, no pony express.  Elizabeth would not have known Mary was coming.  And yet, Mary suddenly appears and first, the baby who is in Elizabeth’s womb leaps for joy.  Then, Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit and understands what is happening.  What a great revealing and what a great foretaste!  The Holy Spirit is resting on Elizabeth and her child.  Jesus promised that He would send the Holy Spirit to all who believe in Him, but we see the Spirit active even before He is born.

Mary must have had such an encouraging time over the three months she spent with Elizabeth.  How much love and wisdom was given to Mary by this older sister in the Lord?  Again, I think we must take great comfort in seeing how God is preparing Mary for the many challenges and hardships she must face ahead.  How often would Mary think back to this time remembering Elizabeth’s words, “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her.”?  Elizabeth and Mary had very different journeys.  Elizabeth, the wife of a priest, was barren until her old age which was a mark of disgrace in her culture.  Mary, a teenager, was pregnant before being married.  They both faced immense pressures in those circumstances.  And yet, they are brought together by God and they bless one another.  What a beautiful and encouraging picture for us to consider and an example for us to follow.  Their responses in their respective circumstances are only possible when there is deep faith that God is working out all things to our good and His glory.  (Romans 8:28) I came across this quote yesterday while looking for another.

“An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered.”  G. K. Chesterton wrote that in a piece about the difficulty encountered during a flood and the challenge of chasing a hat on a windy day.  For Elizabeth and Mary, their challenges were no doubt beyond inconvenience, and yet those difficulties were a part of the most marvelous adventures of all time.  How do we see the challenges we face?

And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me--holy is His name.  His mercy extends to those who fear Him, from generation to generation.  He has performed mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.  He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.  He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.  He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as He promised our ancestors.”

Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home. –Luke 1:46-56

This passage is called the Song of Mary or the Magnificat after the opening phrase.  “My soul glorifies” can be translated “my soul magnifies,” and magnificat is Latin for magnifies.

More important than the name though is what Mary declares.  She too is filled with the Holy Spirit.  Before, we looked at the need for humility, and here it appears again.  God’s mercy extends to those who fear Him.  He lifts up the humble.  He fills the hungry.  This proclamation by Mary is a foretaste of what Jesus will accomplish through his life, his death, and his resurrection.  God is able to accomplish these wonderful things in us eternally because Jesus became the sacrifice for our sins and made the way for us to have an eternal relationship with Him. 

That indwelling power of God that we see displayed in both Elizabeth and Mary’s words is not limited to them.  No, it is something which God places in every believer, in every person who puts their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:23 says it this way in the New Living translation:

And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory. –Romans 8:23 NLT

I mentioned before when I gave the definition of foretaste that it can be either a noun or a verb.  However, I only talked about the noun definition.  The verb definition of foretaste is to taste beforehand or to anticipate.  We need to take the action of foretasting.

I Corinthians 2:10 explains that God has revealed things to believers which even the rulers of this age could not understand.  God did this by His Spirit.  “The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.”  Verse 12 says,

What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. –I Corinthians 2:12

This is probably going seem like a weird example, but I told God that if He would show me what to say for the Sunday messages, I would say it.  Since I work as an engineer, you’re going to get some engineering examples from time to time.  Anyway, this fall we’ve been working with some artificial intelligence algorithms to try and help our associates with some decision making.  It’s complicated stuff that I don’t understand, but it’s also surprisingly not complicated.  Basically, the manufacturing process can result in some things that don’t look perfect.  There is an automated camera that’s looking at the parts.  When it sees something weird it says, “Hey you!  Person! Is this not-perfect picture okay?”  The problem is sometimes the automated camera gets really picky.  It gets so picky that the person gets overwhelmed.  They can’t keep up with telling the “crazy computer” that yes it’s still okay.

So, there enters the thought that artificial intelligence can help.  Rather than create a precise model which deals with every contingency, can we take known anomalies and send them to the artificial intelligence so that it can answer about half of the “crazy computer” requests?

How can you teach an artificial intelligence?  Well, you give it examples, lots of examples.  In this case, tens of thousands of examples of really bad stuff, stuff that the “crazy computer” thinks might not be okay but actually is, and stuff that everybody is happy with.

It actually works surprisingly well, but about two weeks ago we were going through the final evaluation.  It turns out there were 12 images out of about 10,000 in the final test set where the experts thought the artificial intelligence was making the wrong call.  Out of that, 8 were okay.  In other words, the artificial intelligence was right and the people were wrong.  That left four where the people were right and the artificial intelligence was wrong.  Three of those were kind of borderline.  They could have gone either way though we preferred the people’s evaluation over the artificial intelligence.  But there was this one picture where we were stunned.  It was obviously bad, but the artificial intelligence thought it was okay.  The AI wasn’t crazy about it, its uncertainty was close to the limit, but it had been more uncertain about some of the other pictures than that one.  What was going on?

This week, the experts came back with the explanation.  There was one picture in the tens of thousands of training pictures that looked a lot like that one “really bad picture” but was labeled good.  It turns out that one misclassified training image had allowed the artificial intelligence to be completely wrong in a stunning way.

Maybe you’re thinking what does that have to do with spiritual truth?  Well, we have all sorts of input coming at us.  We get to make a lot of decisions about things we’ve not exactly encountered before.  With the artificial intelligence, it only took one wrong image to fool it completely.  It could make ten thousand decisions right, but in one serious case, it made a decision that could only be described as foolish.  Why?  Because it had one piece of bad information.

What about us?  How much bad information do you have rolling around in your heart and mind?  How many bad examples have you seen?  How many times have you walked down the same old path having the same bad reaction?  We can only respond to our circumstances with what we’ve got inside of us.

This is where the magnificence of our God shines like the dawn.  Our God says, “Look, I get it.  You guys are broken.  You don’t know what to do.  You don’t know how to live anymore, at least not how to live in love and peace with one another and with Me.”  First, He gives us His Word, the Bible.  He says, “Do the stuff in the book, and you’ll be great.”  Well, there’s a problem.  We can’t do that stuff on our own.  Even when we know the right stuff, we still can’t follow through.  Sometimes we can do the right things, but a lot of the time we can’t do the right things.  Having the right instructions is not enough.

God doesn’t abandon us as we might abandon ourselves.  Instead, He sees our need.  He knows that we can’t be reconciled to Him and to one another on our own.  Romans 3:10 says there is no one righteous, not even one.  So, God sent His Son Jesus to set things right.  Not only that, when Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, He sent His Holy Spirit to fill us, a foretaste of the glory that is to come.

Romans 8:5-7 says it this way in the New English translation …

Those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit.  For the outlook of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace, because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so. –Romans 8:5-7 NET

God gives us His Spirit.  He instructs us to be filled.  Let us then draw near to Him, His Word, and embrace the adventure that He has for each of us.  It won’t look like what the world says is most important or most valuable.  But it will be glorious.

But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. – Jude 1:20-21

Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. –Romans 8:18

You show that you are a letter from Christ … written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. –II Corinthians 3:3

The prospect of the righteous is joy.  –Proverbs 10:28

It’s probably not much of a surprise that the word foretaste most of all makes me think of a song, a hymn, in particular.  The hymn is “Blessed Assurance” which was written by Fanny Crosby.  At least, the lyrics are by Fanny Crosby.  The music was composed by Phoebe Palmer Knapp.  It turns out they were friends and even went to the same church together in New York.  Fanny Crosby wrote more than 8,000 hymns and gospel songs, and she has been called the “mother of modern congregational singing in America.”  Phoebe Knapp wrote more than 500 hymn tunes the most well-known being the tune to “Blessed Assurance.”  Maybe that is an encouragement to some of you to do some creative things together for God’s glory.

These are the words of the hymn …

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine;

Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!

Heir of salvation, purchase of God,

Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

Refrain:

This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my Savior all the day long.

This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my Savior all the day long.

Perfect submission, perfect delight,

Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;

Angels descending, bring from above

Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

Perfect submission, all is at rest,

I in my Savior am happy and blest;

Watching and waiting, looking above,

Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

When I was riding the shuttle bus from the airport terminal to the parking lot, one of the airport employees was riding the bus, too.  The whole time we were on the bus, he was quietly but audibly singing praise to God.  As we were getting off the bus, he let all the passengers get off first.  As I passed by, I looked at him and said, “If you don’t praise Him, the rocks are going to cry out.”  (Luke 19:40) He smiled and I passed by.  I went and paid the parking fee at the ticket machine and got on the elevator.  As it turned out, the singer walked around the corner and jumped on the elevator as the doors were closing.  He looked at me and smiled again and declared, “Ain’t no rocks gonna do my praising for me.”  We laughed, and then he sang a beautiful song based on Psalm 51.  His voice was phenomenal.  It was such a blessing just to hear him sing.

I haven’t started regaling people with Scripture songs though I have sung a few to people at particular moments in the past.  May we be so filled with God’s Spirit and so excited about the foretaste of His glory that we have received that we continually seek the opportunity to share our joy with others.  Let’s pray.

Lord God, we pray that You would glorify Your Name in and through us Your children.  Enable us to be Your lights shining like stars (Philippians 2:15) in this dark world (Ephesians 6:12).  Help each one here to always carry anticipation of Your return.  Thank You for coming for us in Jesus’ Name.  Amen.