Let's turn again now to this first epistle of Peter's and this first chapter and it's probable that we'll not get any further than the first five verses. I want to talk about the Lord's people as we find them pictured and described in these first five verses particularly. Now I'd like you to have the verses open on your knees so that we can make reference to them, going verse by verse through this very short portion. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers, to the strangers scattered, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia elect. according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you and peace be multiplied. In these five verses we have first of all a reference to the character of the Lord's people. We have a reference to their calling. We have a reference to their connection and to their continuance, because it says, verse five, who are kept, and in the original language the thought is, who are being kept, who are continuing moment by moment by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Now I emphasize the threefold reference to the character of the people of God. Now you know, of course, that Peter was writing to believers during times of very real persecution. These two letters of his have been called letters of fire and faith, and there have been those who have described the readers as being in the crucible of suffering. and that is undoubtedly true. The Neronian persecutions were underway at this time, and so Paul is writing to those who are suffering for the cause of Christ. But you know, this word is a fitting description of all believers, even though they may not be as tried and persecuted as were these to whom Peter was writing. Now he describes these Christians as strangers. And then he describes them as scattered strangers. And then he describes them as being dispersed throughout the then known world. Would you turn to chapter two? Don't lose your place in chapter one. but notice in verse eleven of chapter two similar language dearly beloved i beseech you as strangers and pilgrims verse one of chapter one says to the strangers scattered throughout five provinces and chapter two says i beseech you as strangers and pilgrims but here's an interesting thing the word that is translated strangers in chapter one is a different word from the word that is translated strangers in chapter two it's the same in our English language but it is a different word in the Greek language but here's something else that's interesting The word that is translated pilgrims in the second chapter is exactly the same Greek word as the word that is translated strangers in the first chapter. Now why strangers in the one chapter and pilgrims in the other? Because both thoughts are found in the same Greek word. Believers are described as both pilgrims and strangers. And those two thoughts are found in the word that is used in both chapter one and chapter two. The word is a Greek word, parapidimos, and it means an alien alongside of. That's the meaning of the word that is used here, an alien alongside of. Now what differentiates between a stranger and a pilgrim? In what way is a stranger different from a pilgrim and a pilgrim different from a stranger? Well, I suppose it would be truthful to say or accurate to say that a man's birth makes him a stranger and his destination or his journey makes him a pilgrim. And both of these things are in the mind of the writer when he uses this word in chapter one and again in chapter two. Now think about the first thought, that of being a stranger. Now every believer in this old world is a stranger. He is a person who has had a different kind of birth. And that's what I was talking about this morning. By the way, our brother Jim Tatum was preaching in the Friendship Bible Church in town here, and you know what his topic was this morning, the new birth. Now the Lord must have been trying to tell somebody something today here in Keystone Heights. It's a man's birth that makes him a stranger. And when you have the experience of the new birth, then in this old, dying and sickly world... You are a stranger because your birth is a different birth from the rest of men in this old world. In other words, you're not a native. You've had a new birth. Now a stranger's habits are diverse and a stranger's language is diverse and a stranger's bearing is diverse. Let me illustrate. Now my wife tells me I no longer have an accent. So if you were a stranger and came into the service and I was preaching, you wouldn't know that I came from Britain. You don't believe that. Well she does tell me that when she hears it me over the radio then she realizes maybe I have a tiny little bit of an accent. Of course I'm not the one who has the accent, you're the ones who have the accent, but you see when one is a stranger In a foreign country, an alien, if you will, one who really doesn't belong, who's not a native, then of course your language is going to be different. Your habits are going to be different too. I haven't really learned to eat like this. With a knife in one hand and a fork in the other to begin with. And then to take the knife and the fork and apply them, put down the fork, change over the knife, pick up the fork, and then with a fork in my right hand, eat my meal until I need to cut again, and then put it in this hand and pick up that, and then start all over. I just simply have a fork in one hand and a knife in the other, and that's how I eat. My habits are different from yours, because I was born in Britain, and that's the strange way that they eat over there. When we were going to Israel in November, I had to warn the folk that they must be sure that if they hadn't finished their meal, they must put their knife and fork crosswise on their plate. Otherwise, if they just laid them to one side, the waiter would come along and snatch away their plate, and their meal would be gone even though they hadn't finished. Those are the kind of strange habits they have in these foreign countries. When you're not a native, habits like speech... are different. And you know, if I came into your home, or if a man came into your home, was invited into your home, and when he came in, he clicked his heels, and he bent over and kissed your hand, you would say he's not an American. You'd probably think he was a Frenchman or something like this, because so many different things characterize people from different countries. Now, the Word of God describes you as a Christian, as a and it's a man's birth that makes him a stranger. He's not a native. Now, is your speech different from the speech of people around you? Are your habits different from the people that surround you? Is your bearing different? Do they know when they look at you that somehow you don't belong to this old world? Have you been watching the Olympics? Don't tell anybody, but I was watching a little today. It's very, very interesting. But, you know, this is a very, very dirty old world. And during a basketball game there, one of the players who had been penalized for a foul made an obscene gesture to the referee. And there it was for millions to see. The world, you know, is a dirty, filthy place. And the lives of men and the habits of men and the ways of men are vile, because their hearts are vile. But, you know, even the Christian can hang on to some of these things. The Word of God says, If any man be in Christ, He is a new creature. Old things are passed away. We should have done with the old speech. We should have done with the old habits. We should have done with the old manner of life. And being strangers, we should be different. Now the man's birth makes him a stranger. His journey makes him a pilgrim. As a Christian, you're not at home. You're just passing through this old world and you're on your way home. Why, we sing sometimes about it, don't we? We sing often about it, that we are on our way to heaven and so on. Heaven is a wonderful place and we are marching to Zion and so we remind our hearts we are not at home. But you know, the way we live sometimes, we certainly look like it. settle down and perfectly at ease and at home in this old world we shouldn't be. It's very easy to get conditioned. It's very easy to become tolerant toward the things that surround us when in reality we ought to realize that these things should make us uncomfortable. and make us recognize that we are just passing through. We're not only strangers and don't belong, but we're pilgrims passing through and on our way to a definite destination. Because we don't belong here, and because we're on our way there, our outlook should be different. Because our destination is diverse and different from that that the one of those that surround us. The Lord Jesus said, Crane your necks. Lift up your heads, he said, and look for your redemption, draweth nigh. So the very first thing that we have in verse one about the Christian is his diversity. He's a different kind of person to the strangers. But then it says to the strangers scattered throughout. Now there is a word that seems to breathe two things. One is privation and the other is violence. The Bible speaks about the sheep being scattered by the lion. The Bible speaks about the people being scattered by a whirlwind. and the Bible speaks about an army being scattered by arrows. There's always a thought of fleeing, there's a thought of of privation, being robbed of that which is their own, and of being violently treated. Now that was certainly true of the people to whom Peter was writing. But in a lesser measure, we are bound to find that if we are faithful to God, there will be those who have no time for us, there will be those who are prepared to ostracize us, there will be those who want if they can to cause us hurt. The thought here is not the thought of diversity, but the thought now of duress. These believers were under pressure, and in some lesser measure that's true of every believer. It's not to be thought for a moment that they who cast out the Lord of life and glory are going to be willing to fraternize with those of his people who are loyal to him. The Lord Jesus said, if they persecute you, remember that they persecuted me before they persecuted you. And doesn't the Scripture say that those that will live godly in this world will certainly suffer for their faithfulness? So don't begin to question and be resentful when you see some of these evidences. Just thank God, like the believers of old time did. You remember Paul and Silas, they thanked God that they were counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ. We really don't suffer very much, do we? In fact, I suppose we don't really suffer at all. But only God knows the future. And if the Lord Jesus tarries His coming, that may well be eventually the lot of the American Christian. And it might not be very far away. So we have the thought of diversity the Christian is to be different. We have the thought of duress the Christian has to expect to come under pressure and perhaps even to be persecuted. But the third thing is the thought of dispersion to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. Now, these believers were scattered throughout these five provinces. In fact, these Christians were called the Christians of the Dispersion. They were dispersed among these provinces. Do you remember when the Lord Jesus... was with his own before he went back into the glory. He said, I want you to go and preach the gospel beginning at Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria unto the uttermost parts of the earth. Now the believers by this time were so comfortable in Jerusalem that time went by and they forgot about Judea and they forgot about Samaria and they forgot about the uttermost parts of the earth and do you know how they finally landed in Judea and in Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth in this way they became believers scattered. Persecution was focused upon the church and those who wouldn't go willingly to Judea and to Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth were violently by persecution scattered. And so according to the will of God, they became strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bethenia. And so the will of God was accomplished. But you know this word for scattered in the Greek is a very interesting word too, just like that word for strangers. Do you know what this word scattered actually means? It's a word that is used of seed when it is sown. And so God is saying that the believers became seed that was sown. I read in Life magazine or a number of years ago about the discovery of an old, old tomb in Egypt. And I'm interested in some of these things. I've had the privilege of seeing the treasures that were brought out of King Tutankhamun's tomb and some of the other things, and they are very, very fascinating. And so I read this article with real interest. And among the things that they discovered in the tomb was a long-necked jar. There was a picture of it right there in the magazine. And when they tilted the jar, there was the blackened seed that had been there for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years in that dry tomb under the desert, and it had not rotted. It had gone black, but there it was. Do you know what they did? They took some of that seed and they sowed it. And you know what happened to it? After hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years, a little sprout came up here and a little sprout came up there and a much later issue of Life magazine showed the pictures of some beautiful flowers that came from these seeds that had lain there for hundreds of years doing nothing. Now seed is useless until it is sown. But you know seed is limitless after it is sown. Anybody with patience can count the acorns on an oak tree, but not the wisest man can count the oak trees in an acorn. And when God scattered, he sowed a seed the people of God. Why? So that there might be harvest upon harvest upon harvest. And that's exactly what happened. I'm sure that some of these Christians must have questioned their circumstances, you know. There must have been Christians whose hearts were well-nigh broken because of the persecution that tore them from each other's side and caused families to be divided and members of families to be put to death. And I'm sure in the world of today there are members of the Church of God who are languishing in concentration camps and in prisons, and their prayer is, oh, Lord, how long, and they wonder at their lot. And yet God doesn't make any mistake. When Paul was seized violently and he was taken to Rome... Why, even in the household where he was a prisoner, people were one for Christ. God doesn't make any mistakes. Things don't just happen to Christians, you know, they're planned. There's no such thing as coincidence in the life of the Christian. What did the poet write? My life is but a weaving between my God and me. I cannot choose the colors. He worketh steadily. The dark threads are as needful in the weaver's skillful hand as the threads of gold and silver in the pattern he has planned. And the poet goes on to say, when things are very hard to understand, we have to remember that we're looking at the underneath of the pattern. It is God who is looking at it topside and can see it without all the little bits of thread that have to be trimmed and so on. He's the one who sees the perfect pattern and who is working it out, not only for his own glory, but also for our good. So here are the three things that have to do with the character of the believer. His diversity, his sometime duress, and his dispersion among the people in the world. He is a seed that is sown and that can be expected to produce a harvest. I remember having a gospel campaign in Vancouver, out in British Columbia, in Western Canada. Night after the night we had the joy of seeing men and women trust the Lord Jesus. It was a campaign about which I had trembled and I suppose it was because of my fears and insufficiency and inadequacy that God came in and worked. But there was one woman who came to the meetings night after night. She would come in after the meetings started or just as it was about to start and she would hurry away as soon as it was over. One had only to look at her to realize she was a very rough kind of woman, but obviously something was happening in her life. On the very last night, upon an invitation, she left her seat, she came forward, and among others, she trusted the Lord Jesus. Her name was Mrs. Lamassier. It's a wonder that I remember it, because my memory is the thing I forget with. But if I couldn't remember her name, I'd still remember the woman. Because, you know, on the last night of that campaign she got saved. But on the first night of the next campaign, again, in another part of Vancouver, she was right there at the meeting and there at every meeting. And whereas before she had looked so unhappy and sometimes blowered at me as the preacher, now she sat there with a beaming smile and a radiant countenance, still rough-looking, but very, very obviously happy. For a week she came to the meetings, obviously happy. And then the second week I stopped to talk to and I said, Mrs. L'Amazurie, you don't look very happy tonight. What's wrong? She said, Mr. Woodhouse, I've had a very bad day. She said, I've been doing some thinking. And she said, now that I'm a Christian, there are things I think I've got to do. She said, you know, Just two or three weeks ago, I had a fist fight with a woman. I tore out her hair, and I blacked her eye, and I just somehow think that now I'm a Christian. I ought to do something about that. But I don't quite know what to do. Well, I said, I suppose at least you've got to say you're sorry. But she said, she's moved away. Well, I said, why don't you write a letter to her? Do you know her address? She said, no, but I think I could get hold of it. Then why don't you write her a letter? She said, I'll do that. But you know, the next night she was in her place with a great big smile again, she said, Mr. Woodhouse, I did it. Do you know that second campaign went on for three weeks? and before the three weeks were over excitedly one night she was just waiting for my arrival and when I walked down the aisle she she pulled me into the pew I sat down beside her and she said I just got a letter from the lady that I had a fight with and she said you know what she told me she said when I got your letter and I heard what you had done she said I got down at my knee on my knees at my table And I let Jesus come into my heart. That's how it happens. Seed when it is sown is unlimited. Unlimited. There is harvest after harvest after harvest. And God has sown us among people that we are expected to reach and be a blessing to and lead to Christ. I wonder if that's a challenge to us. So much for the character of the Christian, his diversity and duress, and his dispersion. Now I want to make a reference to the calling of the believer. It says Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect... according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Now the word I have in mind is that word elect. Now here we have a reference to the calling of the believer. The revised standard version translates the word that is used here as those that are chosen and destined. Now that is the meaning of this word elect. Chosen and destined. I just fastened onto that when I read it in the revised standard version because at one and the same time it gives us a look backward and it gives us a look forward. Chosen. That belongs to the past. And destined, that belongs to the future. And put together, they make a very beautiful whole. Chosen, there's the backward look. Destined, there is the future look. And involved in the business of this calling, making us the elect, it involved God the Father, and God the Spirit, and God the Son. I know you've seen this in the verse before. The knowledge of God the Father is spoken of. The sanctification of God the Spirit is spoken of. And the sprinkling of the blood of God the Son is spoken of. And you wouldn't be saved tonight if the triune God had not gone to work on your behalf. It speaks of the foreknowledge of God the Father. So from the past. we have been seen from an eternal past by the Father. And then when the Spirit came into our lives, he set us apart. He began to work upon us until he had drawn us away from the rest of men, and that's what that word sanctified means, set apart, and the Spirit of God did it. And of course, our salvation came about through the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. And what was God's object, whether it was God the Father, or God the Spirit, or God the Son? It says it was all untrue obedience. I've told some of you the story before. It's absolutely true. I think it bears repeating. I heard it from the man who was involved. I was staying in his home in Edinburgh. when I was preaching in Karabaski. To preach every Sunday at five little rural churches. They had staggered their services so that I had time to get from one to the other throughout the Lord's Day. So he said, this is how I spent my Lord's Day as a student. I would go to these five churches regularly every Sunday. And so he did a work of ministry five times every Lord's day. He would go from place to place by bus. He said, one day I heard, one Saturday I heard about a family in one of those congregations, and now we are talking about maybe sixty years ago. And he said, I learned that that family was in dire need. He said, in fact, my informant told me it was possible that they had not eaten for two full days. He said, I was very disturbed when I went to bed and I couldn't sleep thinking about the family. I was a student and the only money that I had was my bus fares for the next day, he said. But as I lay there and tossed on my bed, God said to me, you've got to do something about this. He said, I lay there and said, Lord, Sunday is such a heavy day for me. The only money that I have is the money to get me from one place to the other. And it isn't very much, and Lord, it wouldn't go very far. The Lord said to me, He told me, You have a good stout pair of legs, and you have time between the services to walk from one to the other. If you're willing to give up at least one meal during the day. He said, I knew I was going to get no sleep until the matter was decided. So he said, I told the Lord, alright Lord, if that's what you want, tomorrow I'll walk from church to church and I'll put these few coins in an envelope and I'll make sure the family gets them. He said, then I thought the Lord was going to let me go to sleep. But he didn't. He said, he said to me, I want you to get up and I want you to dress and I want you to put this money in an envelope and I want you to take it now. He said, I lay there in the darkness and I argued with God, Lord, this is foolish. It's more than one o'clock in the morning. It's nearly two o'clock in the morning. They won't even be, they'll be asleep. How can I possibly... Oh, Lord, why don't you let me get to sleep? I've got a busy day tomorrow and it's going to be for you. I have to get my sleep. The Lord said, get up and get dressed with the money in an envelope and take it. He said, I was three miles away from this place. But, however, feeling rather foolish, he said, I got up and I dressed. I put those coins in an envelope and I sealed the envelope. and I put it in my pocket and I walked three miles to the home of this family. And he said, when I got there I knew that I'd made a mistake because there was no letterbox. There was no place where I could leave the money. But he said, on the off chance I tried the knob of the door and the door yielded. So feeling a little bit better, I flung the envelope in, I heard it hit the floor, I closed the door, I retraced my steps down the garden path and through the garden gate and hurried home. And he said, as soon as I'd undressed and laid my head upon the pillow, I fell fast asleep. Now he said, I felt real good. When sitting in the service in one of those churches, there was the father and mother and three children on the second row. And he said, I thought about what it must have meant to them when they got up in the morning to find that little envelope and to know that God hadn't forgotten them and that somebody cared and that he was able to provide. He said, you know, I was not surprised when as soon as I'd pronounced the benediction, that man shut up from his seat, came to me and said, Mr. Laurie, I have to talk to you. He said, we went into a little side vestry. And this man said to me, Mr. Laurie, and Mr. Laurie was telling me the story. you're not going to believe this but he said today is the third day that my children have not eaten and he said last night they were crying so hard because they were so hungry I decided that they would not spend another hungry day and he said I took a carving knife and I sharpened that carving knife and I secreted it behind a clock on the mantel And he said, then I waited for my children to go to sleep and for my wife to go to bed. I was going to cut their throats and slit my own wrists. But he said, somehow my wife seemed to sense that all was not well. Midnight came and she wouldn't go to bed. One o'clock came and she wouldn't go to bed. Half-bast one came and she wouldn't go to bed. Two o'clock she said, I don't know what you're sitting here for, but I can't stay up any longer and she went to bed. He said, I put out the light and I sat there, waiting for my wife to fall into a deep sleep. He said, Mr. Laurie, this is true every word of it. As I sat there in the darkness, with the knife in my hand, I suddenly heard my garden gate click. And then I heard steps coming down the garden path, and Mr. Laurie, somebody opened my front door and flung in this envelope. And he took out of his pocket the envelope, and he hadn't even opened it. And he said, when eventually the footsteps receded, I suddenly realized, because I knew that there were coins in that envelope, that God did care. And I realized what a dastardly thing I'd been about to do. And I dropped on my knees and asked God to forgive me. D.J. Laurie told me, I never informed him that I was the man who came through his garden gate, that I was the man who opened his front door, but he said, what I did was this. I went back to my lodgings from that church, and I went into my bedroom, and I dropped on my knees, and I wet the coverlet of my bed with my tears, because I came so close to saying no to God, and little dreamed that five lives hung in the balance. And sometimes we think that obedience is not important. We never know the repercussions of disobedience. And yet so often we are disobedient. God saved us. God the Father worked, God the Spirit worked, God the Son worked in order that we might come to salvation unto obedience. What He wanted... was obedient children. I wonder whether in us he has obedient children. So we have the character of the believer and we have the calling of the believer chosen and destined say that we might be obedient. That's our calling. Then comes the connection. Now it says Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeeth not away, reserved in heaven for you who are being kept. by the power of God. Now notice that word begottenness again. That refers to the new birth. We were born again, born into God's family, and we have been begotten unto a lively hope. That's verse three, a hope in verse three, and a heritage in verse four. What fortunate people we are. What happy people we ought to be, with lives with assurance, certain hope, and a positive inheritance or heritage. You will notice that the heritage is described in a fourfold fashion, and I'm hurrying along because my time has gone. It is spoken of as being undefiled. That is, that is, it is a pure inheritance or heritage. It's not only undefiled at this present point, but it cannot be defiled. It is incorruptible. It isn't possible for any to pollute it. Not only is it undefiled and going to stay that way, but it is also indestructible. Not only is it true that this heritage of ours cannot be polluted, it is also true that it cannot be destroyed and still God hasn't finished. He says our inheritance is undefiled. He says it cannot be polluted. He says that nobody can destroy it. And also he says that he himself is protecting it for us. It fadeth not away, but is reserved for us. And he himself is the one who is guarding our inheritance for us. How wonderful. You know, there are things handed down to children that cannot be spoken of as being undefiled. There are some children that inherit fortunes. There are some children that inherit titles. However, there are some children that inherit disease and shame and so on. All heritages, all inheritances are not good ones. But ours is one that is absolutely undefiled. no one can pollute it or take it away from us because God himself is on guard over that heritage what rich people we are how much there is in store for us and why we have been begotten again to a hope and a heritage and how did it all come about by the resurrection of Jesus Christ It's true that Jesus lived, and it's true that Jesus died. Well, the thing that we rejoiced in this evening is the fact that our Savior is not a dead Savior, but up from the grave he arose with a mighty triumph or his foes. He arose a victor from the dark domain, and he lives forever with his saints to reign. Our hope and our heritage are secure because our Savior is a risen Savior. In a coming day we're going to see him. In a coming day we're going to be like him. Because we have an eternal connection with him. With the Father, with the Spirit, with the Son. And it's brought about by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the the dead. The last thing here is the continuance of the believers. Verse five says, we are kept or we are being guarded by the power of God through faith. I'm glad that I'm not trying to guard myself. And I'm glad that I've not been put in charge of you. I'm glad that your safety is not my responsibility. It's God's responsibility. And that's the reason why we are absolutely secure. I'm asked sometimes, do you believe that once a man is saved, he's always saved? Of course I believe it. When I'm born into the family of God, how can I ever be unborn again? If the Lord Jesus is the master builder and he said, I will build my church and he with his own divine hands built me as a living stone into the living building, I don't believe that having been built into that building by the master builder, I'm going to fall out of my place. You see, my security depends not upon my holding unto him or holding on to things that pertain to him. It depends upon his holding on to me. I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. I and my father are one. No man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. Do you get the truth of that? The Lord Jesus says, when a man comes to me, I put my hands around him and he's held in my clasp. Then I put my hand into the Father's hand and so he's held securely in a double clasp. That's the wonderful truth that we have in the Gospel of John. So we are being guarded by the power of God. That's why there's no reason we should look into the future with fear. That's the reason why our circumstances should not cause us any trepidation. God is in charge of the circumstances, and God has my life now and my future in his hands, and I can trust him. He says, What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. and he says our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory we have not only a divine connection but our continuance moment by moment and day by day is because we are being divinely kept every moment every hour Every day, what does the hymn say? His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me. Why, said the Lord Jesus, are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? On another occasion, he said, are not five sparrows sold for two farthings? Now, doesn't that sound like a discrepancy to you? If two are sold for a farthing, then it must be four for two farthings. No, you buy four and the vendor throws one in for nothing. They are of such little value are the sparrows. And yet not one of them falls to the ground outside of the knowledge of your Father which is in heaven. Says the Lord Jesus, are you not of more value than many sparrows? I'm so glad I'm a Christian. Aren't you? Shall we pray? Our Heavenly Father, our hearts rejoice in the realization that we belong to thee, that we are so secure in thy hand. Thou hast greatly privileged us, given to us a hope, and laid up for us an heritage. O our Father, with these privileges comes a solemn responsibility. We are believers who have been sown among unbelievers. that we might shine as lights in our neighborhood, that we might be a blessing to those with whom we rub shoulders. And we know that we are expected to be different from those who walk the broad road that leadeth to destruction. Help us to measure up our lives and then to make sure that they measure up to the standard that thou hast laid down for them. For we ask it, praying that thou would dismiss us with thy blessing, in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.