The Christian Grows Through Trials

I want to return to the series we have been dealing with about health and healing, about how to live radiant lives, joyful lives, triumphant lives even in the midst of tribulations and struggles. And I know many weeks have gone by because we have had so many different events and wonderful things that God has given us that we have had to postpone continuing this series.

But I want to pick it back up and continue because it seems to me that this series of messages encapsulates and brings together all the themes of the Gospel in a very beautiful way and has tremendous practical value.

We have said—and what I want to do is give a summary, and if God stops me at any point, I will deal with that—to bring us up to date; and if there is time, then I will cover new material. I will always cover new material, but in another way; and if not, next Sunday I will take up something absolutely new that has not been covered, another approach to something, all oriented toward how to live healthy lives.

But we were saying that everything we are preaching fits within the idea that God wants us to live happy lives, amen? God wants us to be joyful people, healthy people, people who reflect the values of the Kingdom of God, people who reflect the healthy and eminently balanced character of Christ Jesus.

Christ came to a fallen world ruled by darkness to wrest dominion away from the devil, who was exploiting human beings when they had no recourse whatsoever. When Christ enters history, there is no power that can effectively stand against the darkness in the world; and the Bible says that Christ, through His death on the cross, defeated principalities and powers. It says that He wrested dominion away from them and established God’s benevolent government on Earth, which has been advancing little by little through the advance of the Kingdom of God and which will one day be consummated when Christ comes in all His glory. Then He will put an end to the fallen world in which we live and establish His perfect Kingdom for all eternity.

In the meantime, through His Church, He is reclaiming portions of this world. Through the proclamation of the Gospel, God is working in societies, cultures, and individuals; and right now there is a struggle taking place in the world: the Kingdom of God laying claim to this fallen world, and the kingdom of darkness waging war against the Kingdom of God, against His Church, to cause harm, to steal, kill, and destroy, to do what the devil has always done throughout human history.

And the Church is that benevolent force advancing, proclaiming the Word of the Gospel, declaring God’s intention, bringing lives to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and preaching the Word and the values of the Kingdom of God in society. Right now, there is a struggle embodied in the world between the powers of the devil and the powers of light and life.

Christ came into this life, it says, to wrest power away from the devil. The Bible says that Christ came to destroy the works of the devil, to make sure that we do not have to live enslaved to darkness, that each one of us can aspire to be a healthy and whole person; and that when we enter the Gospel with our wounds, bondage, chains, broken marriages, and thoughts that bind us, through Christ Jesus we can receive freedom and be free and live a healthy life.

This very morning I prayed for a person who came here and asked me to pray during the time of intercession, and I saw this person trembling, and I felt called to pray for her. I asked her, “Is there anything in particular that you want me to pray for?” And she said, “For some panic attacks that I have been suffering from for two years.” Even while I was praying for her, she was trembling there, and I prayed for the Lord to heal her; I prayed for the peace that surpasses all understanding. I prayed, as the apostle Paul says, that we should be anxious for nothing, but instead make our requests known before God through prayer and supplication, and that the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our thoughts and our minds in Christ Jesus.

I declared the Word from Isaiah that says, “You will keep in perfect peace the one whose mind is steadfast on You.” I declared the Word of Christ that says, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give it to you as the world gives. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” These are words found in the Bible that tell us that we do not have to live imprisoned by anxiety, depression, panic, nightmares, or a life of distress. Christ has come so that we may have peace; He is the Prince of Peace.

And there are so many passages in Scripture that tell us that I do not have to live a life of anxiety. And many of us do—I know that we suffer from anxiety, suffer from insomnia, suffer from nightmares that poison our sleep. But brothers and sisters, I can tell you in the Name of Jesus that you do not have to live a life of suffering from those kinds of things.

And many of us suffer from many other things. We suffer from inferiority complexes; we suffer from low self-esteem; sometimes we harbor jealousy, resentment over the past, and desires for revenge in our hearts; we feel as though God has abandoned us. There are many different things that we human beings suffer from. Others of us suffer from a critical attitude toward others; we are extremely sensitive—if someone looks at us the wrong way, we immediately fill with hatred and resentment. We are violent in the way we speak; we curse and cannot control ourselves; we speak harshly to others.

There are many flaws in life, and everyone here, in one way or another, suffers from something, amen? Yes or no? We all have something; no one can say that they are perfectly happy in this life. Nevertheless, Christ has come so that in all these things we may be more than conquerors; and when we enter the Gospel, we have the right to aspire to a sound and healthy life, even in the midst of tribulations and trials.

I believe that health, blessing, and healing should not be preached without also saying that in the world we will have affliction and many other things; but in everything, the Bible says, “We are more than conquerors.” Christ has come to destroy the works of the devil, and Christ calls us to health and healing.

And we were saying—as I said, this is a summary, but sometimes we need to remember these things—we were saying that the Word of God is a practical manual for how to live a healthy life and how to be healed of the deficiencies, flaws, problems, and bonds in which we find ourselves; and how, when we come suffering from something, or tragedy comes into our life, or we receive a terrible diagnosis of some chronic illness, or something comes that threatens our happiness, a defensive wall that the Word of the Lord provides must immediately rise up within us so that we can face the adversities and problems of life, because sooner or later they will come. So we have to know how to do that; the Bible is full of it.

Never read the Bible merely as a religious book, just to recite a litany—no. Read the Bible to find in it the tools you need to live a happy and productive life. That is how I read the Bible; that is how I preach the Gospel. I do not preach it so that people will become religious—no. I preach it so that they will understand how to obtain everything God has for them, how to live within the fullness God has declared over us, and how to receive the entire inheritance God has for us. That is the Bible.

And the Bible contains many teachings. For example, there in Ephesians chapter 6, which we discussed, we are told how we must take up the armor of God when problems come into our lives—what the apostle Paul calls the evil day. When the evil days come, when marital problems come, when the diagnosis of an illness comes, when the bank account we thought had more money than it actually did suddenly causes a check to bounce, when the IRS tells us that we owe them $1,500 when we thought they were going to refund us $1,500, when the boss tells us, “We are going to close the factory, and you have just lost your job,” right? When your hours are cut, when you discover that your son is smoking marijuana or that your daughter is having illicit sexual relations.

What do you do at that moment? Do you despair, shoot yourself, turn your back on God, stop going to church, or put on the whole armor of God and say, “You know what? I am going to fight, and I am going to wrest my children away from the devil. I am going to claim God’s blessing. I am going to look for work, and I believe that God is going to open up a job for me in this city; where they say there are no jobs, God is going to find something for me. I will not lack my daily bread. I am going to pray to the Lord that my household will not lack food or heat and that my children will not lack a good suit or whatever else they need, because God is my provider.” What does the Christian do when the evil day comes? He goes to the Word and finds the tools he needs to live with sufficiency and in the blessing of God.

God has provided. For example, it says, “When the evil day comes, gird your loins with the Word of Truth”—with what God has declared, not the lie the devil wants to tell you; no, with God’s Truth. Use righteousness; use the Word of the Gospel; use the shield of the Word; use the sword—or the sword of the Word and the shield of faith; use the footwear of the Gospel; use the helmet—of what, of faith, I think? The helmet of salvation. What is the sword? The sword of the Word. All these tools, each one a piece of armor like a soldier’s. Use those weapons.

Now, that means this: look, you have to read the Bible. Brothers and sisters, ultimately, let me tell you—this is new ground that I am covering now—if you do not read the Word, you will be unarmed against the afflictions of life. Merely coming to church is not enough.

With all due respect, I leave that to your days as a Catholic. If you are a committed evangelical Christian, you must keep the Bible close to you at all times. You must read it and cling to it the way a shipwreck survivor clings to a plank. Read it to learn the rights and responsibilities you have as a child of God.

The Word of the Lord is something that gets inside you; it is alive. The Bible says that the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword. It says that it penetrates all the way to the very marrow, that it divides things, and that nothing is hidden from the Word of the Lord. If you want to have a powerful life, feed on the Bible; feed on the Word of the Lord. It is time for Christians to become thoroughly instructed in the Word of God.

Do you know why there is so much naïveté among God’s people today, why we are not prepared for the terrible traps that the devil is setting for humanity? Because there are many believers who are ignorant of the Bible, ignorant of the Word of the Lord. They do not know the difference between Abraham and Joshua, or Elisha, or Ahab; they do not know who those figures are. They do not know what the doctrine of salvation consists of; they do not know the great themes of the Bible. They do not know the difference between the Old and New Testaments. They do not know how to preach to someone about salvation; if they meet an unbeliever who says, “Look, what is it that you believe?” they cannot explain it because we do not read the Bible; we do not know who the prophets are.

Today Sara alluded to the valley of dry bones, and you say, “What on earth is that?” Read the Bible; it is in Ezekiel. Many of us Christians do not know the great themes and great accounts of the Bible. Oh, children of God, I beg you in the Name of the Lord: read the Word, because there you will find counsel for your lives.

I have always said that my mother was a woman with a very basic education, but she was the wisest woman I have ever known in my entire life because she studied the Word of the Lord. I still have her Bible, and it is a wrinkled Bible; when you open it, the pages almost crumble because they are marked up everywhere. That woman would get up in the morning; when she came to know the Lord in the 1960s in the Dominican Republic, the Gospel seeped into her every pore.

And perhaps I have told you this before: one of my fondest memories is of the mornings before I got up, when I was little, listening to my mother singing choruses in the kitchen of the house, reading the Bible and singing. And that woman knew the Word.

If you want to be a healthy and mature Christian, read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Even read the passages that say so-and-so begat so-and-so, and so-and-so begat such-and-such, and such-and-such begat what’s-his-name. Read it because it is the Word of God; something good will rub off on you, okay? Read all of it—the enumerations and the children that so-and-so and others had. Read it all; swallow it all, because all of it is the Word, divine energy that will enter your life. The Word of God is very important.

And so there are many things the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 6: the armor of God. And there are also truths that help us live healthy lives. For example: I have spoken to you about the importance of knowing that your worth resides in God and not in men, that God made you good and with good purposes, that you do not have to look for a boyfriend to tell you that you are worthwhile, no. You are worthwhile, and if the boyfriend does not come along, he missed out; that is his problem, amen? You do not have to go around feeling that you are worthless because you do not have a man; sometimes there are men who are better off far away from your life—better alone than in bad company, I tell you.

Hey, you have worth in and of yourself, and do not live with an inferiority complex or anything like that; rejoice in what God has given you. Celebrate and enjoy everything the Lord has placed in your life.

Listen to me: all of us can live creative lives, extraordinarily creative lives, if we stop complaining: ah, You did not give me this, You did not give me that, no, no. Look at what you have; see the glass as half full, not half empty, and live life positively, because God does not create garbage; God has made you extraordinarily valuable. Do not look for worth in another person, in an individual, in money, fame, or work. All of that is good, but it does not make you either better or worse; what matters is the Presence of God in your life.

So we have talked about this: hey, rejoice in who you are; do not live compulsively seeking affirmation, because all that does is make you a hostage to circumstances. If they celebrated and honored you today, oh, you are happy, glory to God. If they did not call you or send you a birthday card, you are depressed and are going to shoot yourself—no!

Whatever happens, I believe it is the prophet Habakkuk who says that even if the fig tree does not blossom, even if there is no food in the pantry, even if there is nothing in the closet, yet I will rejoice in the Lord and celebrate my God. If you have plenty of food, glory to God; if you do not have much, eat what they gave you and do not worry, because tomorrow will be better. Believe in the Lord; do not seek happiness in the world, because one day people love you and the next day they kick you out, as we say, right? Have confidence in yourself; this is very important.

Another very important principle—always remember this—say with me: God is with us and for us. Tell the person there: God is with you and is for you. Listen to me: when you get up on Monday morning and not even the lilies smell good to you, say: God is with me and for me. When you have to go out there and it is snowing, and there are four feet of snow on the sidewalk, and you are slipping everywhere, say: God is with me and for me. When your boss looks at you the wrong way, say: God is with me; greater is He who is with me than he who is in the world, glory to the Lord.

Brothers and sisters, we have to make that a guiding principle of our lives. When you undertake something difficult in life, believe that God is with you, because that is important. Sometimes we feel that we are alone, and that is why we sometimes do not dare to do great things in life.

For example, many people think: oh, I cannot change; I was born this way and this is how I will remain. No, I have already had this depression for five years. No, my marriage has no solution anymore. If you believe that God is with you, that will give you the courage to undertake new and great things in your life, and everything depends on faith; everything depends on our believing God.

I believe it is very different when a man or a woman believes that God is with him or her; that causes us to have hope about life. I do not know about you, but I feel as though God loves me in a very special way. I feel as though I am God's favorite; I do not know about you, but I hope you believe that you are too. And you know what? God has so much love that He can be equally loving toward all of us.

I always believe that God is going to bless me. I always believe that God has better things ahead of me. And I believe that when a person learns to believe that God is with them, that belief becomes a magnetic force that attracts blessing.

Have you noticed that there are positive people who always believe: no, I am going to get ahead; I can do this; I can do that—and things seem to come to them? It is because we are magnetic. If you believe things will go badly for you, they will go badly for you. If you believe people are a bunch of scoundrels, everyone is going to take advantage of you. If you believe that life is cruel and that there is nothing good in this world, make no mistake: that prophecy is going to become real in your life.

Now, if you believe that God loves you, that God wants to bless your life, and that God has good purposes for you and your children, look, in some mysterious way, to the extent that this becomes a powerful belief in your life, it will attract blessing. Think positively about God and you will live a positive life. Believe in the God who loves and validates you and has good purposes for you, and listen to me, it is as though you are going to attract it.

Have you seen E.T., when there was a little light there that lit up and you could see it through his flesh, right? That is how it happens. People who believe in God seem to have a little light; people look at them and see through their ribs, and they see a little light there. That is faith; that is God's affirmation in their lives.

But it is something that must be cultivated; it must be repeated until it becomes a reality. Underline those parts of your Bible that tell you God is with you; believe it and live it, because that motivation will then enable you to undertake new and different things, so that instead of running away from your marriage you say: no, I.

Look at Sister María, who testified at the beginning of the service, right? This woman was separated from her husband for forty-some years. She said: no, I am going to stay until God does something; and look at how God brought this couple together, because there are people of faith. When she told me that she wanted to get married again at seventy-some years of age, I said: Lord, shall these bones live? (laughter) But no, God did it in a special way. No, no, I am joking. She is a woman full of life, and so is her husband.

I always believe that Sarah—I'm joking, that is a cheap joke. She knows what I mean, right? Because sometimes we believe that the elderly, older people, cannot love each other or have physical relations. Look, the Bible says that even in old age they will bear fruit, to proclaim that Jehovah, my strength, is upright and that there is no injustice in Him.

When she told me that she wanted to marry her ex-husband again after forty-three years without seeing each other—it is a tragic story and a love story at the same time, a story of separation, adultery, and other things—but look at them there like two lovebirds. What a blessing. Because when a person believes the Lord, they can do things that people consider impossible.

I have learned that a child of God can enjoy a full life up to the very last moment of their life. God can use a person in a wheelchair. Old age can be the time of the greatest harvest in the life of a man or woman who believes that God is with them. Do you believe that God is more present with a young person than with an old one? No, not at all; God is the same toward all His children.

When a person believes that, when a person believes that God is with me, then that gives them strength to keep moving forward. When affliction and trial come, you put on the armor and say: now we are going to fight to drive this giant off the field, and I am going to cut off his head, as David said; I am going to give his head to the birds, because a child of God has great resources and that Presence of God. If God is with us, who can be against us?

Do you know that there are angels around you at every moment of your life? When you believe you are alone, God's angels are in your life. They are at your hospital bed. If you live alone in an apartment, you are not alone; God is with you. Ask the Lord to let you feel His Presence in your life. We, the children of God, always have a great cloud of witnesses around us; God's promises are in our lives. God is with us and is for us; that must be a guiding principle.

The third principle we already discussed is that, to be happy, we Christians have to detach ourselves from the world and from people, because in the world people live under the world's control, and everyone lives wanting to get money, get a job, do this, do that, keep up with fashion and physical beauty; and when those things are called into question, become fragile, or disappear, we collapse and become unhappy. And so we often live at the mercy of others. Young people live at the mercy of other young people—what they think, what they say, whether they have company or not, whether they have a boyfriend or girlfriend or do not have one.

So there are many worldly Christians who have not renounced the world, and therefore they live at the mercy of circumstances. If you want to be happy, understand that the world is not your home and that the world cannot give you anything or take anything away from you.

There are many people who do not progress in the ways of the Lord because that moment has not come when they have said “no” to the world. You know what? A moment must come in your life when you say: you know what? I am no longer going to live at the mercy of this world. I am going to consecrate myself to the Gospel; I am going to seek God.

I tell many of you who are new to the faith, who are coming to Church and seeking the Lord: look, make up your mind once and for all and surrender to the Lord now. Die, die; tell Him: Lord, today I marry You; from today on I will no longer look back; I will not seek anything from the world. The world, as we say and have already said, is not your home; your eternal dwelling is in heaven. We are only passing through here. If God gives you something, enjoy it; and if He takes it away, say: God gave, God took away; may the Lord's Will be done.

We enjoy the world insofar as God gives us the blessing of enjoying it; but if He does not, glory to God that one day every tear will be wiped from our eyes, every illness will disappear, and we will stand before the Presence of God and enjoy a perfect life.

Here in the world, all this is temporary; it is an antechamber to what is real, which is our heavenly homeland. Fill yourself with that truth, and if in the world you do not have everything you want and would like to have, do not worry; one day God will give it to you many times over in heaven. Invest in eternity and live this life here provisionally while you await what is coming, the true thing, which is that heavenly banquet that you will savor and enjoy with your Lord. Detach yourself from the world in order to be happy on this Earth.

And finally, the last other great principle that we worked on a little is this idea—and it sounds a little grim, but it is very important—that suffering is part of the human experience. Why is that important? Because all of us have to go through times of trial and difficulty.

I believe that we Pastors harm people when we preach only good things to them, when we only say: oh, all God has for you is candy and sweets, and pizza, and French fries, and we do not tell them: no, sometimes God wants to form Christ within you, and He is going to put you through the discipline of a soldier; God is going to allow afflictions to come into your life to strengthen you, temper you, and give you the attitude of a soldier.

What warrior is trained at a golf club, taking little golf swings and then being given banquets when he finishes? What warrior is formed only in a garden? No, where are warriors formed? On the battlefield. They make them exercise and get up at four in the morning; they teach them discipline; they teach them to submit to authority; they shout in their faces; they humiliate them to temper their character and teach them to obey orders; they make them listen to bullets whistling so that when the moment of battle comes, they will not run away; they teach them that the enemy is real and that they must prepare; they teach them to use their weapons, take them apart, and put them back together, because there is a war.

And sometimes God allows afflictions to come into your life. Sometimes He allows the devil to attack you and keeps him under control, but He lets you see the devil baring his teeth so that you learn not to be afraid of him, so that you know that Christ defeated him on the cross of Calvary.

Many of us, when the devil bares his teeth at us, take off running instead of confronting him. The devil must be confronted; the devil must be looked in the face and told: you are not getting through here; God is with me. Use your authority; the devil has to flee before the Power of Jesus Christ.

The Bible says that on the cross Christ defeated the principalities and powers. It says: “He made a public spectacle of them and canceled the record of the decrees that was against us.” That is a judicial fact. And sometimes God allows the devil to bark at us, and sometimes He even allows him to come close to us, but behind him there is a chain restraining him that will not allow him to go beyond where God wants him to go.

Brother: sometimes trials are going to come into our lives; sometimes tribulation will come. But sometimes God wants us to learn, and sometimes He takes away some of the sweets and abundance so that we may learn that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God. Sometimes He allows us to go through frightening situations so that we will cry out to Him and He will demonstrate His faithfulness, and we will say: wow, then I have nothing to fear, because God promised and God fulfilled His promise.

Do you know when Christians grow? When they go through trials and use the weapons of the Gospel, they emerge victorious, and then they confirm that God is faithful and God is true. A Christian who has not gone through trials and losses, and tribulations, and difficulties, and tragedies does not deserve the name Christian. Every Christian should have a few medals for having been wounded on the battlefield.

What soldier who has experienced war has not been torn up, been shot, been struck by someone, fallen into a ditch, or whatever else, or endured hardship? Every soldier worthy of the name suffers tribulation; how much more so do we, who are warriors for eternity.

There will be times of trial in your life; that does not mean that God has forgotten you or that you are not blessed. God is preparing you and allowing tribulations to come into your life to temper you, so that you will turn to the Word, so that you will seek Him in prayer, so that you will learn that this world is nothing and that what matters is your fellowship, your relationship with God, so that you will seek more of Him, so that He may break you, and so that He may form the image of Christ in your life.

If you want to be like Christ, you will have to live as Christ lived, and part of Christ’s life consisted of afflictions, trials, difficulties, tragedies, betrayals by His own people, and finally death on a cross. Paul says that he wanted to know Christ in His sufferings and in His victories, in His Power. Sometimes we want to know Christ in His Power, but we do not realize that in order to know Christ, we have to know Him in His sufferings. So, children of God, God has called us to be warriors, and for that He is going to temper us; therefore, we have to get used to the idea that we are going to suffer.

“In the world you will find affliction.” In the world we are going to suffer, and when afflictions come, do not give up and die, do not become depressed, do not go off somewhere and shoot yourself, no. Believe: God is with me, God will bring me through, this is part of my training, glory to God.

I will close with this: a person cannot be emotionally healthy and wise without having gone through great tribulations; let me tell you that. I have never known anyone worthy of being a teacher, worthy of preaching a sermon, worthy of comforting an afflicted person, who did not have their own experiences of loss, sadness, suffering, and illness in their life; I have never known such a person. Because the only way a man or a woman truly learns what love, meekness, humility, patience, and perseverance in the midst of trial are—the very things that make a man or a woman healthy—is through tribulations and trials.

If you do not go through trials, you are not worthy of the name of a follower of Jesus Christ. Trials will come into your life; when they do, put on the armor of God and stand firm until the evil day has passed, and you will emerge, as the Bible says, shining like gold, hallelujah. God sometimes tests us like refined gold; for all the ugly things in the gold to be left behind and only the pure gold to remain, it has to be melted.

When metal is impure, it has to be melted so that the impurities are separated from what is truly valuable. Sometimes we have to be passed through the fire so that the gold of God may remain.

Do not be afraid of trials. When tribulations, droughts, and shortages come into your life, say: now I am going to shut myself away with God until the trial has passed. And when winter has passed, spring will be there, ready to welcome you; God’s blessing will be there, and then you will be able to be a blessing to others. That is how to live a healthy life.

We will continue next Sunday; there are many other things. We are simply giving a summary so that you do not forget these things we have discussed. Many times, we have to hear them two or three times in different ways so that they may be engraved on our hearts and we may make use of them.

May the Lord bless you. When we leave here today, let us know that God loves us, God values us, and He gave His life for us. The Word says that He who gave His only begotten Son, how will He not also, together with Him, give us all other things?

Leave here confident that God is with you and that God values you more than you can imagine. If trials come into your life, never doubt that your Father is right there going through them with you and that He will not allow you to be tested beyond what you can bear; and know that beneath you there is a safety net that will protect you from every tribulation and every difficulty. The rivers will not drown you; the fire will not consume you. May the Lord send His angels to be with you at all times; you are precious in God’s sight.

Tomorrow, when you go to work, remember that God’s angels go with you. They will be there in your factory; they will be there beside the machine; they will be there in the office; they will be in the classroom; they will be there when you are washing the dishes and putting the clothes in the washing machine. God’s angels will be with you, with your children. No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. The Word of the Lord says: “I have given you all the land on which the soles of your feet tread. See, I command you to be strong and courageous; do not fear or be dismayed. I will be with you wherever you go.” That is God’s promise for you; I declare it in the Name of Jesus. Thank You, Lord.

Father: We clothe ourselves with Your Truth this afternoon. Thank You because we are privileged, Lord. Thank You because we already have the most important thing of all: the salvation of our souls, the knowledge of Christ, Your beautiful and useful Word with which to confront every situation in life, and a community of men and women who are brothers and sisters in the faith; and we are all on our way to our heavenly homeland.

This world is temporary, Lord, and we thank You because You have taught us that our true reward lies in the future; but while we are here, thank You, Lord, because You promise to be with us every day.

I bless this people, Father, in their struggles, their tribulations, their marriages, and their fatherhood or motherhood; in their health, financial, employment, housing, and documentation problems; Father, in their emotional sufferings, in their bondage and their inner struggles, in their sins and in the offenses committed against them, Father; in their love for You and their desire to serve You; in their spiritual pilgrimage; and as the newcomers who are here are only beginning to know You, Father, because they do not know You very well, we bless them today, and we thank You because this is a ship sailing toward the safe harbor, Lord, of Christ Jesus; it will not sink. It will not be destroyed in the midst of the sea; it will reach the shore because You have promised it would. Thank You, Lord.

Bless this community, dwell in it, saturate it with Your Spirit and with the health of God, and thank You for this day, in the Name of Jesus. God bless you, my brothers and sisters; may the peace and grace of the Lord be with you. Let us offer one final act of worship. Blessings.