Here now the Word of the Lord from Matthew, Chapter seven versus 15 through 20.

¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶ You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

The grass withers, the flower fades. But the word of our God endures forever. Well, today is Reformation Sunday, when we remember October 31st. That will be tomorrow. But October 31st of 1517, when about 500 years ago, the word of God was restored to its rightful place and the authority over the church throughout the Middle Ages, leading up to that fateful day in 1517, human traditions and superstitions had corrupted the church in many ways. During the Reformation, though, God began a thorough cleansing of his people, from the labors of the leaders to the day to day lives of ordinary Christians. Now, you see, that's an important issue to recognize because one of the main focal points of the Reformation had to do with reforming leadership in the church. During those days, leaders were morally given over to greed and cruelty and all kinds of sexual immorality.

Doctrinally, many of the priests at that time were illiterate, could not even read the Bible to be able to feed the people with the Word of God when they gathered for worship. And when they preach, they often told people that we are saved by a mixture of faith and good work, something we have to do even with faith mixed in. The result was that time leading up to this, the people languished. The people languished. Immorality ran unchecked. The sheep were starved for the nourishing food of God's Word. Because in the church, as in so many other places, as the leadership goes, so goes the people. And so when the reformers began a work of reformation, they turned their attention, first of all, to the leadership to try to pure the leadership of corrupt morals and to begin to preach the pure gospel that our justification are being counted righteous before God does not happen by the good works that we do at all. But it comes only by faith, alone in Christ alone and by grace. Alone all to the glory of God alone. This was a great reformation. And when this started happening, we're still bearing the fruits of this. It started a revival in a time of purification in the in the in the church that again, led to a great and fruitful revival. Now, let's be very clear. This wasn't some human made program that was able to just sort of engineer a certain kind of results.

God is always the one who gives the growth and God gave the growth. And that's something that we should rightly celebrate today more than 500 years later, as we think back to the legacy of the Reformation. And it's something that we have to think about for our own lives as we not only consider the Reformation, but we recognize that the Reformation has to continue. We must continue to be reforming the church. So along those lines, Jesus here in this passage is going to redirect our attention back to the nature of leadership in the church. And the big idea that Jesus is getting at here today is that your leader's roots will determine your fruits, your leaders roots will determine your fruits. So three parts to this sermon today.

1. The followers of leaders.
2. The fruits of leaders.
3. The fate of leaders.

The Followers of Leaders

So number one, the followers of leaders in verse 15 here, Jesus says, Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. And before we try to unpack what Jesus is saying there, let's look a couple of verses up at what came immediately before this. What is leading into what Jesus warns us here in verse 15. And remember in verses 13 and 14, Jesus warned us to enter by the narrow gate or the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction.

And those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Jesus warned us about that narrow gate and the hard way that we should go that way instead of taking the wide gate and the easy way. But he's recognizing now in verse 15 that this isn't something that we do purely individually, purely independently, purely by choices that I sovereignly make about me and that you sovereignly make about you. Jesus recognizes that leaders influence the way that we will go. And so Jesus warns us that there are leaders who will come along, who may try to lead us through the wide gate, who may try to lead us along the easy road, the way that leads to destruction. But Jesus is also recognizing that this isn't something that is a one and done decision, that we sort of have this crisis moment in our lives where we have to decide which way am I going to go? And so long as we choose the good way, then the decision is made and the rest of life just falls out before us in perfect succession. It's not like that. The problem with the Wide gate is that it is always available to us at any point. We are able to turn aside and go through the wide gate, which constantly stands ready to receive us.

Which means that life. Is filled with choices of whom we will fall. As John Calvin puts it, the church faces uninterrupted war in this world. And so what Jesus is doing here is equipping us to resist. Equipping us to resist any leaders who would want to lead us to the wide gate. So who should we resist? What Jesus says here that we need to beware of false prophets. Now, this word false prophets is one word in the original Greek, the pseudo prophets, false prophets. This is a construction of that combination of words, pseudo false, and then prophets that is used in slightly different forms throughout the New Testament. Other times we will read about false teachers. Same kind of construction. Pseudo teachers. False apostles. False brothers. False witnesses. Jesus even warns us about false Christs. In every case he's warning us about leaders and he's using and appealing to a wide variety of ways in which these leaders will appeal to us. But leaders who will appeal to us to follow them in a false direction, to follow them through the wide gate and down the easy way. So why does he focus on false prophets here? Why not false teachers or false apostles or false Christs here? Well, Jesus is zeroing in on the nature of leadership according to the Word of God. The prophets were people who were charged with declaring the whole Council of God.

So what made a prophet of false prophet? Well, you're dealing with someone who either declared something as God's Word. Thus say it the Lord, when God had not spoken it, or you're dealing with someone who fails, refuses to teach something that God has said. They either don't teach all that God does say, or they say something that God has not said in either way. False prophets would seek to lead us away from the purity of the Word of God. And what Jesus warns us is this can be a very hard thing to recognize. Jesus says that even though these are ravenous, hungry, devouring wolves, they can appear in sheep's clothing. They can appear for a time just like one of us. They can do the right things, say the right things, profess the right things. But these are people against false prophets who would lead us astray from the Word of God through a wide gate and down an easy road. Because ultimately that wide gate and easy road leads to destruction. Jesus had just warned us. The ravenous wolves who would seek to devour your soul. That's why Jesus says beware, because distinguishing these wolves for who they are is a matter of life and death. Jesus is here giving us a serious warning to evaluate the leaders that you are following. Now, earlier I mentioned that today's Reformation day, where we remember again, 15, 17 October 31st and the Reformation had a particular emphasis on the purity and the authority of the Word of God, trying to restore the word of God to the rightful place of authority in the church.

We don't want to build what we do upon the foundation of human authority or superstitions. We want to do this entirely and completely on the word of God. Now, to me, one of the really interesting things about the Reformation, as you look at the history of the Reformation from about the year 15, 20 to 1650, is that you see how they pursued this goal. One of the ways that they pursued the goal, I mean, a variety of ways, trying to incorporate Scripture more into worship, giving more emphasis to the preaching of the word, trying to teach the word in various places. But one of the big things that the reformers did was to write Confessions of Faith. Confessions of Faith. In fact, there's an article on the Ligonier website that suggests that depending on how far of a of a circle you would draw to encompass reformed people, that there would have been 40 to 50 reformed confessions written during that time. That's a that's a lot of different attempts at trying to summarize what the word of God says in a confession of faith. And beyond that, there were many more cataclysms. The catechism is a if a confession declares, this is what we believe from the Word of God, a catechism is phrased as a teaching tool in question and answer format.

Question What does man's chief end? Answer The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Question, answer, question, answer. And there are so many of these that even a lot of individual pastors would write them as a teaching tool in their own congregations, in their own catechetical, their own teaching ministry. So here's why this is so interesting to me. If restoring the primacy, the authority of the Word of God was so important in the Reformation, and that's really the fruit of the Reformation that we're still benefiting from. Why did these uninspired men write confessions and cataclysms? Why didn't they just say, Let's just use the Bible? And of course, they did point people to the Bible. But why did they put down what they believed from the Bible in confessions and cataclysms? And the answer goes to what Jesus warns us against here. They wanted to protect the flock, to protect the sheep from false prophets. From wolves. Now, this is true in a couple of different ways. The first thing is that these teachers in the Reformation now, those who are proclaiming the Word of God, wanted to be absolutely transparent about how they understood the Bible. Christianity is not a mystery religion where you will only find out the really advanced things. If you stick with us for long enough, then you will be indoctrinated enough, and then you can get into the secret, mysterious things that we're not going to bother you with now.

No, They put down a summary exposition, a summary of what the whole Bible teaches into these creeds and confessions to openly show to the people. You're never going to show up and be surprised. Here it is. Here is what we believe that the Bible teaches. They wanted people to see that what they were going to hear in the preaching was not going to be false prophetical teaching, that it was going to not be a false prophet, that it was not going to be wolves leading them astray. They wanted people to see that what they were teaching was biblical because ultimately they wanted the people to search the scriptures for themselves. I teach a class right now in Sunday school class on the Westminster standards. I'm referring to our confessional statements, the Westminster confession, the Westminster larger and shorter catechism. And one of the things I repeat in that class is that you shouldn't take my word for what you should believe. You shouldn't even believe something because it's in a confessional statement. What you should do is to be a good brilliant. That is, you should be like the Jews in Berea that we read about in Acts 17, verse 11, who were more noble minded than the Jews at Thessalonica because they searched the Scriptures daily to see if these things were true. They didn't take Paul's a word for it.

They wanted to see if this was affirmed in the Word of God. And Jesus says, That is so important. Beware of these false prophets. Only if you understand what the Word of God says will you be equipped to recognize wolves when they come to ravage your souls. We need to learn what the Bible says so that we can learn to reject false leaders when they come. Now, again, by reforming leadership in the church under the authority of God's Word. The whole church has been blessed. We celebrate the Reformation day because the Reformation was a process where the church was greatly blessed. Now we've had lots of problems since then. I'm not going to deny that. What I'm saying simply is that was a huge, really important movement in the life of the church to restore the authority of the Word of God in the church. Because what it meant that we're able to follow our leaders with confidence, especially as we consider these confessions that have come out of the Reformation. We can follow our leaders with confidence because we know that our leaders are leading according to God's word, as are summarized as are laid out in our confessions and cataclysms. That's one of the key ways that the Reformation tried to fight the problem of false teachers. Ultimately, Jesus warns us about this because the leaders we follow can mean the difference between life and death. If you follow wolves, they may look like sheep, they may lead, but they may lead you through the wide gate and the easy road because they are ravenous, leading you to your destruction.

Well, how then, do you identify when such leaders are wolves? Well, this brings us to the second section the fruits of leaders.

The Fruits of Leaders

And this one, Jesus is really getting into brass tacks of how we identify when leaders lead us astray. Because the thing is, Jesus does not intend to throw out the baby of church leadership with the bathwater of the possibility of wolves. In fact, what the rest of the New Testament demonstrates is that Christ himself has appointed leaders. Officers in the church to lead. Leadership is important. Jesus is not warning us to swear off all leaders because some might be wolves. Now, I say this with great trepidation because I realize that as a leader that can sound somewhat self-serving, but understand I'm deeply conscious of my own sins, my own failures, my own short fallings. Church leaders, including me, fail frequently. We are not perfect. We can and we do error in many ways. So I don't want to here sit here and set up a straw man or a false standard. I don't want to say we've got it right and nobody else has it wrong. I also don't want to say follow us because we're perfect. That's not at all what church leadership is about.

As a leader, my job is not to get you to follow me as a leader. My job is to get you to follow Jesus Christ. Our perfect leader. Our true leader. Which means, again, that part of being a good shepherd, a faithful shepherd in the church, means that I've got to teach you, just like Jesus is teaching us, to give you the fullness of the Word of God, to hold us as leaders to the right standard again, so that you can confidently follow when we lead well, and that you can boldly confront us when we don't lead well. So that's the challenge of what Jesus has laid before us. What then, is the right standard that leaders should follow? Well, Jesus says in verse 16 that you are going to recognize them, particularly false prophets, wolves by their fruits, the way you know true teachers from false teachers, true prophets from false prophets, true pastors from false pastors is by their fruits. Now, when Jesus talks about fruits, he's talking about what a person says as well as what a person does. It's it's what you can see on the outside of someone's life, but what you can see on the outside, what flows out of their life, flows from somewhere deep inside. And so there's a connection between the roots of a person's life and godliness and character that flows up, that leads out into the fruits of what a person says and what a person does.

And so here Jesus is talking about two ways in which a person's roots can be revealed in their fruits, what they say and what they do. The first aspect of roots deals with their doctrinal DNA. Does a leader. Truly believe the sorts of things that will lead to the right fruit being produced in their own life. So look at what Jesus says in verse 16, the second half hour grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles. Now you think about the DNA, the the genetic markers and thorn bushes and thistles. They simply don't have the encoding, the material, the genetic encoding to be able to eventually produce grapes, the fruit of grapes on thorn bushes. Thistles don't have the right doctrinal DNA to produce figs on thistles. It's a different kind of fruit altogether. It's a different kind of tree altogether that would produce vine to produce grapes and a tree to produce figs. And so what Jesus is saying, if your leaders don't know the gospel personally for themselves, aren't trusting in the right doctrines that Jesus Christ gives to us in His Word, then they're not going to bear the right fruits themselves. And you'll be able to see that and recognize these are false prophets. But it's not just the thoughts that we think in our heads. It's not just doctrine. This doctrine has to impact the rest of our souls, the rest of our character, the rest of our hearts.

And so Jesus moves on from saying that your fruits are going to reveal not only the doctrinal DNA of your roots, but also the spiritual health and the character and the genuineness of your roots. So the next thing he says in verse 17, he says, So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. If you take two fig trees, both of them may have the right doctrinal DNA, but if you have a diseased tree, it's simply not going to be able to produce good figs. And similarly, if you have a healthy tree, well, then it will produce good figs. And what Jesus says, it isn't possible to do the opposite. In verse 18, he says, A healthy tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a disease tree bear good fruit. So what Jesus is saying is, if you have leaders who are truly depending upon the gospel, the gospel that Jesus Christ is God's only son came down from heaven. Lived a perfect life for us. That He died in our place as sin. And for sinners like us. Though he was truly perfect, that by putting our faith in him, not only for the death that he died, but also for the fact that he was raised from the dead and in Jesus Christ is our sole hope in this life and the next. If that doctrine is truly working its way down into the roots of your leader's lives, and if your leaders are in a healthy way, depending on this and confessing their sins and seeking in humility to continue to grow in the Lord, and then with doctrinal DNA and spiritual health, that's going to produce good fruit.

It cannot produce bad fruit. But similarly, if something goes wrong, if you don't have the wrong doctrinal DNA, you're not going to get grapes or figs. And if the tree is diseased or rotten, you're not going to get good fruit. It's impossible to get good fruit. And so what Jesus is saying is you need to evaluate the fruits of your leaders because your leaders roots will determine their fruits. To know something about the fruit of leaders will help you to discern, to understand the fruits of those leaders. Now, one of the key insights of the Reformation is to summarise this idea, to summarise just what Jesus says here, that you cannot get to godliness without the correct kind of doctrinal DNA and spiritual health. In fact, we are a church that comes out of the Reformation and in our book of church Order. It's not always wonderfully scintillating reading, but the introduction is very good and there are some preliminary principles laid out in the fourth preliminary principle. It says This godliness is founded on truth. A test of truth is its power to promote holiness. According to our Saviour's Rule, by their fruits, ye shall know them.

Matthew seven, verse 20 Quoting this exact passage No opinion can be more pernicious, more harmful than that, which brings truth and falsehood upon the same level. On the contrary, there is an inseparable connection between faith and practice, truth and duty. Otherwise, it would be of no consequence, either to discover truth or to embrace it. Doctrinal DNA matters, spiritual health and character and godliness matters. And Jesus says, You have to look at the fruits to understand what roots are underneath that, because there is an absolute connection between truth and godliness. The outflow of what we are is going to flow out into what we say and what we do. The roots are going to flow out into roots or into fruits. So Jesus warns us about the fruits of leaders to evaluate that. But then Leon Morris and his commentary in this passage says at this point that Jesus moves from the fruit of the rotten tree to its fate. And so in the third section, we're going to now look at the fate of leaders and versus 19 through 20.

The Fate of Leaders

Jesus says in verse 19, Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits. What Jesus is saying is that if from looking at a leader's fruits. We can discern their roots, their doctrinal DNA, their spiritual health and character. And we can also look ahead and see their fate by their fruits.

And the warning that Jesus gives here is that judgment is coming for all those who do not bear good fruit, for leaders who do not bear good fruit. Jesus says that the judgment of fire is coming to be thrown into the fire is coming for those who do not bear good fruit. Now, here's where this affects you. Again, a big idea is that your leaders roots will determine your fruits. So far, we've just been picking on the leaders and talking about the fruits that they bear and the roots that go down in their soil. This is where you are enfolded in this, because Jesus elsewhere uses the same kind of image to talk about everyone in the church. In John chapter 15, Jesus says, I am the vine and you are the branches. And he says, Whoever abides in me will bear much fruit. But he warns in verse two of John 15, he says, Every branch that does not bear fruit, my father will take away, Jesus says. And then in verse six, he says, If anyone does not abide in me, and remember only for those who abide in him will they bear fruit. Because Jesus says right before this, apart from me, you can do nothing in verse five. For six if anyone does not abide in me. Thus fruitless. He is thrown away like a branch and withers and the branches are gathered and thrown into the fire and burned.

This is how the leaders you follow their roots are going to determine your fruits, their routes are going to flow out, and what they teach and how they lead in terms of conduct. And as you start to follow that, you are going to have the same kind of routes laid down in your soul and thus bear the same kinds of fruits, because everyone who follows a leader becomes like that leader. Jesus says this in Luke chapter six, verse 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone, when he is fully trained, will be like his teacher. And this is what leads us back to what Jesus said just before this passage. If our leaders lead us through the wide gate and down the easy road, remember at the end of that is destruction. That way leads to destruction. It's a cliff at the bottom of which is the lake of eternal fire. If we're led through that gate by our leaders, then we too will perish with them. But on the other hand, the inverse of this, which the whole Bible lays out, is that if our leaders lead us through the narrow gate and down the hard road, the promises that we're all going to rejoice together, if we all together bound up in this project of following Jesus through the narrow gate of faith and following him down the hard road, where by faith we follow him in obedience, faithful obedience, wherever he goes.

Then at the end of that road is life. And we're all leaders and followers alike going to rejoice together. But Jesus warns us. You will know them. By their fruits. Again, this is a matter of life and death, and specifically eternal life and death. Now, the reason Jesus puts this as a warning, we can, of course, see the flip side of this, especially that's filled out in the rest of the promises of the of the Bible. But the reason Jesus puts this negatively is a warning Don't follow false prophets. Beware of false prophets. It's because we must know about this eternal fire that is coming. We must think about where we are being led, mindful that they could be leading us if they're not leading us faithfully according to the Word of God, into an eternal fire. And the reason that this mindfulness of the eternal fire is so important is because if we faithfully follow Jesus according to his word, then we will inevitably face the fires of temporary opposition in this temporary life. And we have to weigh which fire are we willing to choose? Again, for the reformers, this is not just a metaphor for tough things in life and didn't get the right parking spot and had to walk a little bit farther. My car broke down. I had to an unexpected expense. I had an unexpected errand. I got sick in a certain way.

This wasn't just a metaphor. This was literal reality. But in the time of the Reformation, there was a man named Hugh Latimer, and Hugh Latimer lived in the early 1500s, and he was a faithful preacher and teacher of God's word in English, the language of the people they were. Some of these people were hearing God's Word for the first time, understanding what Jesus would have us do in faith and obedience. And He was faithfully proclaiming faith in Jesus Christ to all those who would be saved. There was another man named Nicholas Ridley, and they were friends, and Nicholas Ridley was a powerful defender of the faith. He would write lots of things that would declare from the Scriptures why what the reformers was teaching was true. Well, these two were arrested together in the year 1555, and during that year, they were burned at the stake under the leadership of Queen Mary. The first you may know her as Bloody Mary because of how many reformers that she murdered through her tyrannical reign. And when Bloody Mary put them to the stake under stay knew very carefully why Jesus is. Warnings of an internal fire were so important. But they also saw the flip side of this. You can see a wood cut out of the scene where they are in the middle of just logs stacked around them. And the story goes that as the flames of fire were put to these logs, Hugh Latimer turned to his friend Nicholas and famously said, Play the man, Master Ridley, We shall this day light such a candle.

By God's grace in England, as I trust, shall never be put out. That's what it's all about. Jesus is telling us, pleading with us to think about the significance of leadership, because it's going to lead to one fire or another. It's going to lead to the fires of opposition in this life as we faithfully follow Jesus or the fires of Hell forever. If we faithless slee ignore what Christ proclaims in his gospel, it's a matter of eternal life and death. So how then do we apply this? Again, Jesus is largely putting this in the negative. The rest of the New Testament sort of fills this out and gives us a larger picture of leadership. We have the warning here, but let's think about what this might look like. Certainly, it means everything that Jesus has warned us about, about considering fruits, about wearing false prophets. But in Hebrews 13, the author of Hebrews powerfully applies the positive side of this. And so I want to just consider three points as we briefly think about Hebrews 13 and what it says about leadership in the Church. The first thing the author of Hebrews says in Hebrews 13 is that we must remember our leaders. Now, that doesn't mean think fondly of them. It means to test and consider how your leaders led their own lives and how they led you according to the Word of God.

Here's what the author of Hebrews says in Hebrews 13, verse seven Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the Word of God, consider the outcome of their way of life, their fruits, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be led away. Is that language of following along a path? Do not be led away by strange and diverse teachings. For it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace. Remember your leaders by considering the outcome, the fruits of their way of life, imitate them, the faith, what is in their roots in terms of doctrinal DNA, in terms of spiritual health and vitality and character. But then I love how he says. The author of Hebrews says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. And the very next verse says Almost. Therefore, he doesn't say therefore. But the idea is therefore, do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings. If Jesus Christ is the same today, then he's not going to be different tomorrow. Continue following. Don't be led away by something new. Follow the ancient paths of church leadership. This is why we're a confessional church. Our constitutional statement of what we believe the Bible teaches and preaches and proclaims, especially about Jesus Christ, was written 350 years ago. But the Bible hasn't changed. It's still a faithful summary of the Word of God that we want.

That's sort of a confessional statement to anchor us to the Word of God so that we don't drift about in the winds of our culture. They believe, preach, teach and practice what's in our confession, just as the author of Hebrews said, and Hebrews ten, verse 23, Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. Remember your leaders test. Consider how they lead. The second thing the author of Hebrews tells us is to obey your leaders. Now, again, my job is not to get you to follow me, period. My job is to get you to follow Christ. But the way Paul puts it in first Corinthians 11, verse one is helpful. He says, Be imitators of me as I am of Christ and follow me from me. Don't follow me in the flesh. Follow leaders as they lead you to Christ. Here's what the author of Hebrews says in verse 13, Chapter 13, verse 17. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. Remember, your leaders are also men under authority. We are accountable to other people and we are especially accountable to the Lord Jesus Christ and we're accountable to you.

If you see things in our lives that don't line up with the scriptures, that don't line up with what we confess to believe, teach, preach and practice. Confront. But insofar as we lead you down the ancient paths to follow Christ, obey that, follow that God gives leaders. Jesus Christ gave gifts of leaders to his church, but He will also hold those leaders accountable. And it's because of that accountability as those who will have to give an account that the final application is in Hebrews 13, verse eight. Pray for your leaders. Our most important work in the church is prayer, and the author of Hebrews 13, verse 818 says this Pray for us. But we are sure that we have a clear conscience desiring to act honorably in all things. Your leaders. Are in desperate need of your prayers. Certainly now, but at all times, again, this is an unending unquenchable war that we face in life. And we don't want to lead you astray. We need your prayers. Rightly, handling the word of truth is hard. Seeking fruit from the preached word among the flock is hard. Shepherding firmly and lovingly when sheep go astray is hard. We are appointed, the Bible says, is stewards of a glorious treasure of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But we ourselves are weak jars of clay, brittle, able to be broken in a moment. Who's sufficient for these things? Not us, certainly. But Goddess. And that's why we need your prayers.

Because ultimately we will be held accountable for the fruit you bear. Even though we are not personally able to bring about fruit in you. We can preach the word, teach the word lead in the word, but we cannot give the growth that is always from beginning to end. God's work. We all therefore have a role to play. We need your prayers for the Word of God to have full sway and authority in this church and for the Holy Spirit to give the growth to bring about fruit in our lives. So at the end of the day, we all may rejoice together. Pray with me. Heavenly Father, we pray that in your word, according to your word, you would lead us. And we pray for strength and faithfulness in our leaders to lead us faithfully according to the Word of God, even when that takes us through the fires of this life. Because, Father, we are ever mindful of the everlasting fire that is waiting for all those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, nor obey His Gospel. And so we pray, Father. And for those sitting here that they would put their faith in Jesus Christ. Follow what Jesus warns us in this word. To follow the full teaching, the full prophetic word laid down in the Scriptures. Trust in Christ for their everlasting salvation. That when all of this is wrapped up, when Jesus Christ returns, that we will all rejoice together. It's in Christ name, we pray. Amen.