Biblical Name Calling

Through our study of Romans one,
one through seven. Sticks and stones may break my
bones, but names can never harm me. Sticks and stones may break
my bones, but names can never harm me. That’s what we’re taught,
right? From almost as early as we could begin to understand
language, as soon as we found ourselves on the playground and
as soon as we found ourselves the recipients of name calling,
we were taught that sticks and stones may break my bones, but
names can never harm me, right? And that is essentially true,
although they do harm us. Somewhat, they cannot harm us
physically like sticks and stones may do, but they do hurt in that
sense. They harm us. But the question
I want to put before us today, sticks and stones may break my
bones and names may never harm me that much we know, but can
they help me? Can a name help me? Can a name
encourage me? Can those words, those identifiers,
those titles by which I’m known, by which we’re known, can those
names help us? Can there be a positive influence by a positive title? None of
us likes to be mistreated. None of us likes to have epithets
thrown our way. But can a positive name, can
a positive title be given to us that encourages our hearts,
stirs us to greater service on behalf of the Lord? I believe
it can. In fact, I believe part of the
church’s problem is that we’ve begun to let go of biblical terminology,
even the word church. We don’t even want to be called
the church. Well, in Denver last week, I
stopped to grab a cup of coffee and I saw a billboard for a new
church. I’ll clean up their website.
It said God doesn’t stink, essentially. God doesn’t stink. That was the
name of their group. We’re afraid of biblical terminology. But I believe largely the church
in our day and age is being negatively affected because we don’t know. We’ve set aside, we’ve laid aside,
we’ve yielded up our name, who we are in Christ. And much of
what the Scriptures have to say has gone by the wayside simply
because we have lost sight of what the Scriptures say of us. Why do we even have names anyway? Why do we have titles? Because
they proclaim our identity, who we are. The definition of a name
is simply the distinctive designation of a person or a thing. Names
are important. They are descriptive. Sometimes
the word name is even used to represent our reputation. And
as Christians, we’ve lost sight of what a reputation even is.
Who are we in Christ? I think Paul gives us some great
help here, some incredible help that calls us back to a biblical
view of who we are in Christ. And incidentally, three terms,
three titles that have almost completely fallen out of use
in the church. If you would want your back,
if you went to Romans chapter one, verse one. We’ll look at
just the first seven verses where we’ve already spent no little
time. Paul, a bondservant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle,
set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand
through his prophets in the scriptures concerning his son, who was born
of a descendant of David, according to the flesh, who was declared
the son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead,
according to the spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ, our Lord, through
whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the
obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake,
among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ. To all who are
beloved of God in Rome, called as saints, grace to you and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The Scriptures
say that a good name is to be desired above even great wealth. And yet there are three good
names here in this passage that we have willingly yielded up
as a church, as a body, as a people. We have yielded up not just these
titles, but the great concepts that They represent, that underlie
these three terms. I’ve entitled the sermon today,
Biblical Name Calling. We certainly know that from our
childhood, name calling in and of itself is not a good thing. But biblical name calling, using
biblical terminology to refer to one another, essentially extols
and encourages with the truth that those titles represent.
I want to look this morning at three synonyms for the title
Christian. At least we haven’t let go of
that one. At least not the last time I checked. We still refer
to one another as Christians, believers. But I want to look at three synonyms
for the title Christian, all of which declare God’s absolute
sovereignty in salvation. First of all, As those who are
in Christ, Christians, we are referred to as the called. The called or more completely
here, the called of Jesus Christ, look down at verse six. Paul just says, and in the midst
really of this lengthy opening greeting, the most lengthy of
all of his greetings. He had just finished describing
his own call and his own ministry, but he points to the Roman Christians
as being among those Gentiles, among whom you also are the called
of Jesus Christ. We don’t use that terminology,
do we? We don’t refer to one another as the called. He’s called. She’s called. But it is rich
terminology. The word called emphasizes divine
action, doesn’t it? Notice, he doesn’t refer to them
as the respondents, right? The called emphasizes divine
action. In the New Testament, The concept
of God’s calling was oriented like so much else that we’ve
already seen in this short section is oriented in Old Testament
thought and terminology. It is God, the one that called
the prophets. It’s God, the one that called
the nations and particularly the nation of Israel. It is God
who is calling. Quite similar to Isaiah 49, 1. Listen to me, O islands, and
pay attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord has called me
from the womb, from the body of my mother He named me. And it’s that kind of thought
that is here in this passage. Scripture repeatedly, constantly. In fact, it’s overwhelming as
we’ll get into it this morning. Over and over again, we’re referred
to as the called. The called ones. And when Scripture
refers to us as such, the called, it denotes the effectual calling. Not just that God issued forth
a gospel call to us, but that by God’s grace we responded. And as such, we are the called.
Those that have heard the gospel and have not responded, who have
not yielded in repentance and faith, are not the called. It is those of us who have been
summoned by God and who have by God’s grace responded to that
summons. The call in Scripture has a number
of different nuances. It is a calling out of a lower
state. It is a calling, as we’ll see,
from sin to a new life. It is a calling, as it were,
an invitation to a feast, an invitation. It is a summoning
to a duty. After all, it’s God who calls. You remember that story of the
king who gave the wedding feast and he went out and he invited
guests to his son’s wedding, a great celebration. And the astounding thing was
that there were those that were too busy, had other plans, other
ideas, other things to accomplish. And that part of it, the picture
is painted as being astounding, something you would never do
to a king. You would never turn down the invitation to a king. But the point of the whole parable
is that it was God. It’s God, the one that’s representative
It’s God the one that is calling, the very one that created us,
the very one that said, it’s time to die on our behalf. We
are summoned to a duty. And the fourth little nuance
that we find in Scripture is that it gives that name that
corresponds to a character. We are the called in Scripture,
which is representative of those who have listened to God’s call,
have heeded that call and are, in essence, the obedient ones. As one commentator appropriately
said, those whom Christ has called are believers. That call is generally referred
to in the New Testament as being of God, meaning the called who
belong to Christ. The word is never in the epistles
applied to one who is merely invited by the external call
of the gospel. Did you get that? It isn’t talking
about those that attend the great rally or attend church for a
long season, many years. And yet his heart remained cold
toward Christ. The call refers to those who
are effectually called, those who are so called by God as to
be made obedient to the call, the call then cannot refer to
those who receive and disregard the outward call. You cannot
be called the called if you do not receive and hear and heed
the call of God. He goes on and he says the call
intended is the effectual call of the Holy Spirit by which the
soul is renewed and translated from the kingdom of darkness
into the kingdom of light. And the only evidence we have
of that calling, as we’ll see later, is holiness of heart and
life and a passion for Christ a hatred for sin, a yearning
to grow in grace. And so it is a call that is made
effective by the Holy Spirit. Essentially what it points to,
if you want to use the big and theological word, it points to
regeneration. It’s the work of God in the life
of a sinner that brings him to life and puts him on a path of
righteousness. As another presented, he said,
the called always refers to the effectually called as distinguished
from those who are merely externally invited. There is a twofold call
in the gospel, one external by the word, the other internal
by the spirit. It is not enough to listen to
sermons. It is not enough to read good books. It is not enough
to read a tract or to hear the gospel laid out to you. He goes on to point out that
the other call is the internal call by the Spirit. That is what
makes us to be known as the called. How are we called? By what means
are we called? The Scriptures make it clear.
Galatians 1.6 says that He called you by the grace of Christ. It is God’s grace that moves
into the life of a sinner. It is God that comes to them.
God moves first and he comes by his grace. Undeserving sinners. Unmerited favor. Does God come? 2 Thessalonians 2.14 says that
this call is made through the gospel. That is the good news. That Christ has come for sinners,
undeserving sinners. That Christ died while you were
yet sinners. It couldn’t be anything other
than grace. And you know what? Ponder this. And if you have
the means to, you might want to jot down a few of these verses
because it is so encouraging to me to study week in and week
out that this week was over the top. Do you ever look at this
passage and look at these concepts and to literally stew myself
in these truths? Listen to this. To what are we
called? To what are we called? What does
the Scripture say that we’re called to listen? First Corinthians
one nine. We are called into fellowship
with his son. We are called into fellowship
with his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, that one alone should
do it. I’ll give you some others. But
1 Corinthians 1 9, the truth that is there is enough for any
believer. We don’t need to know about heaven.
We don’t need to know about the fellowship with the saints. All
we know is, is that all of a sudden, purely by God’s grace, we are
enabled to have fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. That is enough. And it’s overwhelming
and it’s powerful. A couple of years ago, we heard
a lot about hope. We don’t hear much about hope
anymore, but Ephesians says, Ephesians 1.18 says that this
calling is a call to hope so that you will know what is the
hope of His calling. It isn’t just a passing hope
that in four years is over and done with, we pray. It is a hope
that is enduring and lasting and eternal. It is overwhelming
hope. It is the hope of eternal life
that we’re called to. As one said, the effectual call,
the urgent invitation of the gospel applied to the heart by
the Holy Spirit produces the inward call and gives and wells
up in hope. not only fellowship with Christ
and hope, true and lasting hope. First Thessalonians 2.12 says
that he calls you into his own kingdom. And that would be enough. We long to see Christ, we long
to be with Christ. But wouldn’t it be enough for
you if you were just allowed to come into the kingdom? It
would be for me to be just like Absalom was for David, just to
hang out on the fringe, out by the gate of the city. That would
be enough. I would long to see Christ and
be with Christ, but to be in the kingdom. It’s already too
much. First Timothy 6.12, as if some
of these others aren’t enough already. First Timothy 6.12 says
that we were called to eternal life. He mentions the eternal
life to which you were called and you made the good confession.
And that goes without saying that if we’re going to be with
Christ and if we’re going to be in his kingdom, it is an eternal
kingdom. Christ is eternal. We will be
with Christ. That is the eternal hope. And
he spells it out here quite explicitly. It is eternal life to which we
were called. Peter goes on in his epistle, his first letter,
he says in two nine that we were called out of darkness into his
marvelous light. Later on in his same epistle,
we were called into his eternal glory. Overwhelming truths. Profound truths. We are called by God to a Christian
society through the preaching of the gospel. And it presents
to us all of those things. We were called to all of that
when we came. When the gospel came to us, we
were called to Christ. We were called to holiness. We
were called to heaven. As one Puritan said, our calling
is the first outward effect of election. You know, it would
be nice to know that God shows us an eternity past, but if God
never did anything about it, if he never applied that truth
to our lives in the here and now, what good is it? What good
is it? But our calling means that God
steps forth in time and He calls out your name as being purposed
from eternity past. Our calling is the first outward
effect of election or the love of God to His people, not merely
the word which is common to many. Again, that common call that
goes out to a great many who never respond. but by the Holy Spirit, which
is limited to a few. Your first order of encouragement
today, even if you leave with nothing else, is that you are,
if you have placed your faith in Christ for salvation, you
are among the called. You are among those whom Jesus
himself spoke. Many are called, but few are
chosen. If you have responded to Christ in repentance and faith,
you are among the chosen. You are among the called. There’s
a second encouragement that I want to consider this morning. I said
that there were three synonyms for the title Christian, not
only the called, And all of them, as I said, declare God’s sovereignty
and salvation. As those who are in Christ, Christians,
we are referred to also not only as the called, but beloved. Beloved
or specifically here, beloved of of God, beloved of God. Look at verse seven. To all who
are beloved of God in Rome. And he’s talking to the Romans,
but he implies here that there are a great many of beloved who
are not in Rome. He narrows it down and says,
I want to talk to the beloved who are in Rome. And you talk
about a term that we have completely let go of. I mean, we talk about
it in in the airy fairy kind of terminology. Oh, God loves
us and we sing songs and sway back and forth. And we talk about God’s love,
but do we ever speak about one another as being the beloved
of God? Because if you’re in Christ,
that’s exactly what you are. That God has set His love upon
you. I remember, and this will show
my age, and that’s alright. There was a guy on the radio.
Listen, kids. Anybody under 50. There was this guy on the radio,
J. Vernon McGee. He used to be on
the radio all the time. Sometimes he’s still on. For
those of you who have heard him, he ended every radio show right.
God bless you, my beloved. And he wasn’t talking about himself
as loving so many great people. He was talking to those that
were in Christ, the beloved. And you have to admit, this puts
the Christian in some very exclusive company, doesn’t it? To be called
the beloved of God? That’s a pretty exclusive club. Since the only other person in
Scripture that is mentioned as being beloved by God is His Son,
Jesus Christ. Wow. And yet, He looks to you
and I who are in Christ And he says, God bless you, my beloved. You are my beloved. As I said, we’ve left so much
biblical terminology beside and with it so much truth. The term beloved of God points
to an intimacy and a tenderness of the love of God, the love
of the Father. The warm embrace of God’s people,
the warmth of God’s affection, to know that we are right and
one and at peace with the very God of creation. And I want you to note, too,
I want you to pause and I want you to look and I want you to
note the passage doesn’t identify us as the endeared ones. The
ones who have endeared themselves to God with their kindly little
faces, the lovable ones, the lovely. It doesn’t say any of
that, does it? In other words, it wasn’t because
of us that we were loved. It was because of God who loved
us. And again, here we get an overwhelming sense of the sovereignty
of God. It was God who loved us, even
while we were yet unlovely. As one said, it is significant
that Paul mentions not their love for God, but that which
is fundamental, God’s love for them, God’s choice of them, the
love of God for sinful men, the very basis of the love of Christians
for one another and God himself. What a great privilege, what
a great story, what a great truth to dwell on, that we are the
beloved of God. Go tell your neighbor that. Wouldn’t
that be fun? We’re called so not only because,
just like Israel, we were selected out from the great portion of
the world and given these favors, these privileges. But because
we are the objects of this incredible love that he lavished upon us,
even while we were dead in our sins. And then he brought us to life. And if you stick with me long
enough, we’ll get to absorb and meditate and rejoice in so many
of these truths. Romans, chapter eight. I don’t
know, about 2015 maybe. Romans chapter 8 says, speaking
of the love of God, what then should we say to these things?
How long until we live out the extent of God’s love? Can we
wear it out? Can we burn it out? Can we use
it up? If God is for us, who is against
us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over
for us all, how will he not also freely give us all things? Who
will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns?
Christ is he who died. Yes, rather, he who is raised,
who is at the right hand of God and who intercedes for us. Who
will separate us from the love of Christ? And the answer there
implied is nobody. Nobody. With tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
or sword. Just as it is written, for your
sake we are being put to death all day long. We were considered
as sheep to be slaughtered, but in all these things we overwhelmingly
conquered through Him who loved us. It’s not because of us. It’s
not because of our perseverance. It’s not because of our faithfulness,
our tenacity in the faith. It’s not because of our heritage.
It’s not because of what we sit under regarding teaching. It’s not because of what we’ve
read, where we went to school. None of it. It’s because of His
love. We’re the beloved. And that says it all, doesn’t
it? It says here that I came to God empty handed and still
he loved me. And how am I going to add to
that? Let me show you how graphic the picture is painted, turned
to Ephesians chapter two, if you would, Ephesians two for
just a moment. In Ephesians chapter two, and
it is one of my notorious, most notorious sermon titles. When
I preached Ephesians chapter two, I called it the hideous
carcass of sin. That’s all that was left. After
we got done with it, all there was was this rotting dead corpse. Look at verse one. And you were
dead in your trespasses and sins. He doesn’t say you were sick.
It doesn’t say you were languishing. You weren’t on the couch, propped
with a thermometer in your mouth. You were dead in your trespasses
and sins in which you formally walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
In other words, the devil didn’t stop working when he got finished
with you. Among them, we too all formerly lived in the lust
of our flesh, indulging in the desires of the flesh and of the
mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”
It was a bad, bad situation. It couldn’t get any worse. It
could not get any worse. But God. And I want you to note, it doesn’t
say that God looked down into eternity and saw that with you
and you and you and you and me, that He had a good deal, because
they’ve got a lot of potential. But God, being rich in mercy
because of His great love with which He loved us, even when
we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive. Together with Christ, by grace,
you have been saved. It wasn’t because of anything
in us. It wasn’t because of any potential. It wasn’t because
God had great hope that something might work out. It was due only
to the great love of God. And the love that he loved us
with is identified there as a great love. And it had to be a great
love because it was a terrible condition. We were in the worst
yet worst ever. But the one who loved is a great
God and. Great sinners were the objects
of his affection, as one said, the love of God. is so great
that it defies all definition. We can speak of it as intense
concern, deep personal interest in warm attachment to spontaneous
tenderness toward his chosen ones only begins to touch it.
It is unique, spontaneous, strong, sovereign, everlasting and infinite. That is the love of God. Over
and over again in the New Testament, we are referred to Believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ are referred to as the beloved of
God. Ephesians 5.1, be imitators of
God as beloved children. Colossians 3.12, as those who
have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of
compassion. 1 Thessalonians 1.4, knowing,
brethren, beloved by God, His choice of you. Paul isn’t suggesting to the
Romans for a moment. Paul isn’t laying claim to this
magnanimous feeling for the Romans. It’s not the love of Paul towards
the Romans. It’s the love of God that he’s
pointing to. As one pastor said it, beloved of
God in opposition to the rest of mankind. He says that if you
are in the beloved, you are in a very precious group of people. Beloved of God in opposition
to the rest of mankind, whom God has left in unbelief in the
corruption of the world. Here, then, is the electing love
of God placed first in order. It is that love where which he
loved them when they were dead in sins. It is the greatest love
that God can show to man being everlasting love, which originates
with himself. It does not spring from the foresight
of anything worthy in those who are its objects, but it goes
before all that is good in the creature. I pray that you would add that
to your encouragement today as you go out. A new name. A recovered name. A name that we have lost and
left aside. But you, if you are in Christ,
you are not only the called, you are beloved of God. Thirdly,
thirdly, The third synonym is a title
for the Christian or synonym for the title Christian, which
declares God’s sovereignty and salvation. Not only as those who are in
Christ are we referred to as the cold and beloved, but we’re
referred to as saints. We’re literally here called as
saints. Now, we’ve got a whole lot of
work to do to recover the biblical idea of saints. Because so much
of our understanding has been really tainted. The word was
stolen and almost given up for lost if it weren’t for God’s
faithful people that return to the Scriptures and see this word
and refuse to let the Roman Catholic Church co-opt
it. We refuse it. I’m not going to give up this
word. This is a Bible word. I’m not going to let them define
it. I’m going to let Scripture define it. It is recorded that Pope John
Paul canonized, declared as saints almost 300 people. Canonization
is the final step of becoming a saint. There were there are three technical
steps to it. First, one becomes venerable,
which is a frightening word. Then you are declared blessed
and then a saint. Are you kidding me? Here’s how it works, the venerable
person is First deceased. It’s one of the requirements
of becoming a saint in the Catholic Church. See, I told you you got
a good deal today. The deceased person is recognized
as having lived heroic virtues to be recognized as a blessed
and therefore beatified, canonized in addition to personal attributes
of charity and heroic virtue. One miracle. Better get out and
get busy. One miracle acquired through
the individual’s intercession is required. Canonization requires
two, though a pope wouldn’t you almost knew this caveat was coming,
though a pope may waive these requirements. And so it is estimated that after
two thousand years, of ministry, which it sometimes has nearly
choked off all other efforts of the gospel. The church in Rome is able to
boast of a mere 10,000 saints. 10,000. Let’s look at what the Bible says.
I don’t want to I don’t want to belabor what Rome says about
the Saints. It’s an unbiblical approach.
The Scriptures points to those that are called holy ones, set
apart ones, sanctified ones, that’s what the word means. And
in almost every epistle, Paul wrote. Either Paul was confused
or there were saints in every city to which he was writing.
And there were plentiful. And in fact, Paul uses it synonymous
with the word church or Christians. Romans 1.7, call the saints.
Romans 16.5, greet all the saints. 1 Corinthians 1.2, they are saints
by calling. 2 Corinthians 1.1, 2 Corinthians
13.13, all the saints greet you. Did Paul go… I mean, it almost
gets to the point of being absurd when you begin to read in the
Catholic paradigm over this word. Did Paul go around to all the
surrounding districts, gathering greetings from all the saints
so that he could write that with a clear conscience to the Corinthians? Paul to the Ephesians wrote,
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God to the saints
are in Ephesus. Does that mean he was only writing
to a select few? Does it mean that the apostle
Paul had somehow gathered all the saints there in Ephesus? Philippians 1.1, Paul and Timothy,
bondservants of Christ Jesus to all the saints. Same thing.
Did they suddenly pack up and move to Philippi so that Paul
could write them there? No. Not at all. The word essentially
sometimes means sacred, sacred or set apart, set apart to a
holy use in the New Testament was regularly used of inward
purity, consecration of the soul to God. And in that sense, believers
are saints in both senses, not only are we regenerated and renewed
inwardly, but outwardly we are dedicated to God through Christ,
aren’t we? As one described it, the word
signifies clean, pure, morally consecrated, especially applied
to God, holy, worthy of reverence. The people of Israel, their land,
their temple are called holy and separated and devoted to
God. The term holy is applied to the
people of God under the new dispensation includes this idea. They are
saints because they are a community separated from the world and
consecrated to God. But it is a separation that is
not merely external. Believers are assumed to be really
separated from sin that is clean and pure. When you come to Christ,
you’re saying, yes, I want to be separated. I wanted to be
set. I want to be separated apart
to God, apart from sin. I want to walk away from that. And as I said, the basic root
meaning meant to be marked off separate, withdrawn from an ordinary
use. It’s no common calling to which
we come. In the pagan world that surrounded
Israel, Israel was separated apart, a holy people. But the term holy as it applied
to Israel, expressed, as one said, the fact that they were
God’s special people. Their holiness derived from God’s
gracious choice, and it involved the obligation on their part
to be and to do what was in accordance with the revealed character of
their God. And it’s no different for us. If we take the name saints
to ourself, we are affirming that call. We are affirming that
desire to go and to be what God has called us to be, a holy people,
a people that yields in joyful obedience to His commands. Saintliness, said one, or holiness
cannot be taken here as a mere ethical equality But it is inward
purity, devotion to God. It is understood in the objective
sense, an inseparable connection with in Jesus Christ. We are
sanctified with Christ and as such. We are not only declared
righteous, but we are placed on a path of holiness. Sounds funny to a modern year,
doesn’t it? To call each other saints. That’s why I said we’ve
largely given it up. They wanted the term, they redefined
the term and we gave it up. We gave up the term the called,
we gave up the term beloved and we’ve largely given up the term
saints, but it shouldn’t be that way. We’ve allowed the Catholic Church
to take this term away from it and to turn it into an unbiblical
thing. And it should not be. But not for the Apostle Paul. To hear him greet every saint,
everyone who names the name of Christ, everyone who has come
to true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, no matter how young in
the Lord they are, No matter of the fact that they possess
a long life of good works, working with lepers, the poor, whatever.
The important truth is that they are in Christ. They have repented
of their sins, they have placed their faith clearly and only
in the Lord Jesus. And as such, by virtue of biblical
warrant. They are saints. They don’t have
to wait to die. They don’t have to wait for any
church to gather in a meeting to vote on their behalf. They
don’t have to go through any three-stage process. They are,
as Scripture declares, saints. The saints of God. If you leave with nothing else
this morning, Leave with the encouragement. Leave with the
encouragement to know that if you have placed your faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ, you know, because Scripture tells you he
called you out of that darkness. He called you out of that dead,
sinful condition in which you were in. And as such, he did so merely
because he loved you. It didn’t have anything to do
with you, and neither does your continuance have anything to
do with you. It is purely by His grace. He loved you and He loves you
still. And He looks at you as he does
all of the rest of those who have ever placed their faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not a few hundred over the lifetime
of an earthly pope. Not 10,000 over the course of
2,000 years of ministry. But every person who has ever
placed their faith in Christ, God gives to them that precious
title. Saint. You are the saints of
God. Let’s rejoice before Him. Our merciful God, we humble ourselves
before You, knowing that in a thousand lifetimes we could never have
come to You. But from eternity past, You began
to move in our direction. You set your love upon us, and
in time you did call, and by your grace alone we did hear. Father, grant us the grace that
that life that looked so good, a life of purity and holiness,
righteousness and godliness in Christ, Lord, we confess at times
we find it to be an arduous call. difficult to live up to. Grant us your grace that we would
live out our days proclaiming with our very lives as being
the called of God, beloved of God, the saints of
God. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray. Amen. I’m sure it’s true, I’m sure
it’s true I’m sure it’s true, I’m sure it’s true I’m sure it’s
true, I’m sure it’s true so so So, we’re going to go ahead and
get started. Thank you very much. So, Sittin’ on the couch, and I’m
lookin’ at her face. Oh, now she’s a good girl, and I’m gettin’ used to
it. Oh, now she’s a good girl, and I’m gettin’ used to it. And we’re
playin’ the game. Thank you very much. Thank you.