In the sermon 'Entering the Kingdom' by Peter Allison, the focus is on understanding the concept of the Kingdom of God as depicted in Acts 14:21-23. Allison differentiates between Christ's natural kingdom, which encompasses all creation, and His mediatorial kingdom, which pertains to the church and those reconciled to God through Christ. The sermon emphasizes the role of tribulations in entering the Kingdom, highlighting that believers undergo a process of sanctification, involving trials and spiritual growth. The mediatorial kingdom is described as a progressively expanding spiritual realm, distinct from earthly kingdoms, characterized by righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. This kingdom is not of this world, though its effects are felt in the world. Believers are encouraged to live in anticipation of the Kingdom's consummation, allowing it to shape their prayers and worldview. The sermon concludes by urging believers to align their lives with the advancement of God's Kingdom, seeking His glory above all.

I'd like to be looking at verse 22 primarily, but I'd like to read 21 through 23. Beginning of Acts 14, 21, Paul And Barnabas have been preaching the Gospel in Derbe, and they are about to return back through the cities that they've already visited in this first missionary journey. Verse 21, And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God. So when they had appointed elders in every church and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. Let us restrain our feet from every evil way that we may keep His Word.

Almighty Father in Heaven, please open our hearts to hear you speak this morning in Your Word. Grant us faith to believe Your Word and obedience that we may be doers of it and not hearers only. Sanctify us, Lord, this morning. Renew our thinking where it has become stained by this world. And I ask that you would sanctify my sinful lips, that they may proclaim Your grace, and that You might preserve me from error through Jesus Christ.

Amen. We've been going through the book of Acts consecutively, and taking passages and looking at the meaning of the text. And we have in general not focused on single words or phrases to the point that we lose sight of the forest. But sometimes, There are times when great themes of the Scriptures are captured in a word or a phrase. And so we also don't want to focus so much on the forest as a whole that we don't see some individual trees.

And so this, I think, is one of those occasions where we want to focus on a phrase here in verse 22, this kingdom of heaven. The Kingdom of God. It's called both in the Scriptures, the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God. It's a theme that is central to the Gospels and the New Testament and all of Scripture. There are over a hundred references to this kingdom in the New Testament alone.

And many more references to Christ's reign, His Messianic Kingdom in the Old Testament. Jesus taught us to pray for the coming of His Kingdom. Now we all know what a kingdom is. It's the dominion of a monarch. It's the sphere or region in which a monarch or king exercises authority.

And we can easily imagine an earthly kingdom with lands, and borders, and armies, and a king reigning over it. But because this concept of a kingdom is so familiar to us, it's easy to read over this little phrase here, entering the kingdom of God, without pausing to consider the implications and the consequences of this heavenly kingdom. What is this kingdom that Paul is speaking of entering? How do we enter it? Where are its borders?

Who is its king? Can we see it? Where is it? So I want to spend this morning just looking at this concept, the Kingdom of God, what it encompasses and why it is so very, very relevant to us today. What is this Kingdom?

Now, Paul said we enter with tribulation. Through many tribulations, we enter the Kingdom of God. Well, a kingdom, we said, is a dominion of a monarch. It's a sphere over which a monarch exercises authority. And since Christ is the creator of the world and sovereign over every aspect of it, Christ's kingdom is over the entire world.

There isn't one particle of matter. There isn't one iota of substance that is not under His rule and a part of His Kingdom. We could call that His natural Kingdom. As God, Jesus is God, the second person of the Godhead, Jesus is equal in all respects with the Father and the Holy Spirit. And He rules over all of creation and over every aspect of creation with a glory that is equal to the Father and to the Spirit.

And so we, along with everyone else, are already subjects of this kingdom. But that doesn't, well that's certainly very true, that doesn't explain the language of Scripture about entering the kingdom. We can't enter something that we are already in. And so there's another aspect of Christ's kingdom, and that is what Paul is talking about this morning. Paul is speaking of Christ's mediatorial kingdom.

A mediator is somebody who comes between two parties that are at war with each other, two parties that are in some way opposed to each other, having a conflict between them. Two parties that are at enmity with each other. An mediator comes between them with the purpose of reconciling them. You see, Christ as our mediator has reconciled us to the Father by appeasing or by satisfying the wrath of God against us. That is propitiation.

It's a big word, but it's an important word. It's important to understand that there is a real wrath of God against us that Christ appeases. He turns away. He propitiates it. And He did that by offering Himself as a sacrifice in our place.

We have sinned. The Bible says that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission, there is no Forgiveness of sin. And so as our priest, Jesus offers that sacrifice, the shedding of His blood that there might be forgiveness of sin, our sin. As our mediator, He also reveals to us through His Word and by His Holy Spirit, who testifies to His Word, He reveals to us how we can be saved. That's His work as a prophet.

His work as a priest is His offering of a sacrifice, His work of Himself, and in making continual intercession for us. His work as a prophet is in revealing to us this plan of salvation, how we can be saved. But Christ is also our King. He changes us. So that we go from hating Him and resisting His rule to willingly submitting ourselves to Him and serving Him.

Now some of us that were maybe saved in later years very well remember those years of hating Christ. Some to a greater degree than others. Others who maybe grew up in a Christian home and were saved before they can remember may not remember those days. But we all were at enmity against Christ, against His rule. But He as our King, He changes us.

You see, earthly rulers that subjugate people do so against their will. They force them to comply by outward means, by outward exercises of power to do what they don't want to do. But Christ as our King is very different. He's a gracious King. Because He changes us so that we go from hating Him and resisting His rule to willingly submitting to Him.

Psalm 110 says in verse 3, Your people shall be willing in the day of your power. Christ is the only King who can change the hearts of His people so that we are willing to submit to His rule. And so Christ's mediatorial kingdom is where Christ rules in the hearts of His people, so that His people willingly submit to His reign. Those on the other hand who are outside His mediatorial kingdom fight against His reign. They resist it.

Psalm 110 says that Christ reigns in the midst of His enemies. Those are people that are outside His mediatorial kingdom who are resisting His reign, who are fighting against Him. His enemies don't acknowledge His Lordship over all. But they deliberately break His commandments. They deliberately seek to destroy His Kingdom.

So this mediatorial Kingdom of Christ, we would say is equivalent or coincident with the church. And it includes all those who are led by His Spirit. Born from above and led by His Spirit. And so we have these two aspects of Christ's kingdom. His natural kingdom is founded on the degree of providence that where God governs all things and extends over all creatures, whereas Christ's mediatorial kingdom is founded on the degree of election and extends over the church, those who are in Christ, those who are new creatures in Christ, those for whom He died.

Psalm 2 describes the rage of the nations against Christ's reign. God's response to their raging against His reign is laughter. He who sits in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall hold them in derision. He shall speak to them in His wrath and distress them in His deep displeasure.

And then God says, Yet I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree. The Lord Jehovah has said to me, You are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will give you the nations of the earth for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession.

You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. To Christ belongs the nations of the earth. They are His inheritance. He's been given them.

Now this mediatorial kingdom of Jesus Christ, the scriptures say, is a present reality. The Old Testament prophesied about the coming of this kingdom, of Messiah's kingdom, and that it would be after the Roman Empire. In a vision that God gave to King Nebuchadnezzar, recorded in the book of Daniel and interpreted by Daniel. In the second chapter, Nebuchadnezzar saw an image and Daniel was able to tell him what he saw. He said, King, you saw an image with a head of gold and chest and arms of silver, having a belly and thighs of bronze and its legs of iron and its feet partly iron and partly clay.

And then Daniel said, you watched as a stone was cut without hands, And it struck this image. It struck this gold and silver and bronze and iron and iron-clay image. And it smashed it into dust. And it blew away like chaff that blows away from a threshing floor. We don't know what that's like, but you maybe can think of dandelion seeds.

You take a dandelion seed and you give it a little puff of air, and they're gone. This vision that Nebuchadnezzar saw, this image, this great, magnificent, splendid image was smashed into dust and blew away like a dandelion seed. And then Daniel went on to interpret that dream with the king. He said, you are a king, Nebuchadnezzar, and God has given you a kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar knew that.

He had power, he had glory, and he had strength. And Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom was a worldwide kingdom. Wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand and made you ruler over all of these things. And then he said, you, Nebuchadnezzar, are the head of gold. And so Daniel said this Babylonian kingdom was the head of gold in this statue representing the first kingdom.

But after Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel said, another kingdom would arise, there would be inferior, and then another, a third kingdom, which shall rule all the earth, and then the fourth kingdom, which would be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything, and like iron that crushes that kingdom, will break in pieces and crush all the other kingdoms." And in the days of these kings, and Daniel went on to say, in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up another kingdom, which shall never be destroyed. So all these kingdoms are going to get destroyed. The first kingdom would be destroyed by the second kingdom, the second kingdom would be destroyed by the third kingdom, the third kingdom would be destroyed by this fourth kingdom, which is iron, which crushes everything, but then that kingdom would be crushed by this kingdom that God would set up. And it shall never be destroyed. It shall not be left to other people.

It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms." And Daniel said that mediatorial kingdom would stand forever. In as much, Daniel said, as you saw the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands. There's no human agency involved. And that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. This dream is certain and its interpretation is sure." And we know from the rest of the book of Daniel, through other visions that Daniel saw, that while the head of gold was the Babylonian kingdom under Nebuchadnezzar, the silver was the kingdom of the Medes and the Persians, and the bronze was the Greek Empire.

And in Daniel it's given very detailed history of the fighting in the bronze Kingdom, the Greek Kingdom. And when Jesus came, Jesus preached that the Kingdom of Heaven had come. This Kingdom that was prophesied by Daniel and others throughout the Old Testament. This kingdom had come. From the time that Jesus began to preach, He said, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

And He instructed His disciples to also preach that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, that it had arrived. And Revelation also affirms this present reality of this Kingdom. Revelation 11 verse 16, And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell upon their faces and worshiped God saying, we give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was and who is to come because you have taken your great power and reigned. This was something that was present. Present reality.

And so the disciples, after hearing Jesus, declare the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, and being taught to preach that at the very end of His ministry, they said, well, now are you going to restore the kingdom? Because they misunderstood the nature of this kingdom. This kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. Not a earthly one. In John 18, 36, Jesus stood before Pilate, and He said, My kingdom is not of this world.

If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here." See, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. But they're mighty in God for pulling down strongholds and everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. But our weapons are not carnal. They are not fleshly.

They are not physical because this is a spiritual kingdom. And Paul told the Romans 14, 17, the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The Kingdom of God is not comprised of external things. It's comprised of internal, spiritual realities. Righteousness, peace, and joy.

The fruits of the Spirit. Righteousness that we have by justification. Christ's righteousness is imputed to us. The peace and joy is what the Holy Spirit gives to us. The Pharisees also asked about the Kingdom.

And Jesus said, they were not going to say, see here, it's not going to come the way you're thinking. They're not going to say, see here or see it there. For indeed the Kingdom of God is within you. So it's not of this world. It's a spiritual kingdom.

Its origin is not earthly, it's heavenly. But of course, it is in this world. It's not of this world, but it is in this world. And it certainly, effect is felt in this world. This is a progressively expanding kingdom.

It's a kingdom that as Daniel said, knows no end. Isaiah prophesied about this kingdom and its progressive expansion. For Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And what about His government?

Of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end. Of the increase, it doesn't say the kingdom doesn't end, it says the increase of His kingdom doesn't end. And peace, Because remember, the kingdom consists in righteousness and joy and peace. So the increase of peace in His kingdom, there will be no end. Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." Christ's kingdom, His mediatorial kingdom, is a progressively expanding kingdom. It will never end. And it will never be limited. And there will be no enemy upon earth that can withstand it. Now there's an interesting statement in 1 Corinthians 15.

In verse 24, where Paul writes in that chapter, the great chapter on the resurrection and its significance, then comes the end. When He delivers the kingdom to God, the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and authority and power, for He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death." You see, it's at this point that these two kingdoms that we see in two different aspects now are fully merged together. Because His mediatorial kingdom, the purpose of it was to conquer all of His enemies, all those who opposed the Gospel, all those who refused to submit, all those who disobeyed. He will conquer either in his grace, in subduing us to himself, or he conquers in his wrath.

But all are conquered. And that is the end then of His mediatorial kingdom as a mediatorial kingdom. The end comes when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father. He puts an end to all rule and authority and power. And so now He reigns forever and ever.

And there is no end to that reign. There is no end to the increase of His government and no end to the increase of His peace as these two aspects of His Kingdom are brought back together. You see, in the fall, they were man-rebelled against God, and became sinners and became an enmity against Him. And Christ's purpose as our mediator is to defeat all of His enemies and to restore creation as God intended it to be. The administration of this mediatorial kingdom then consists of four basic things.

The calling and gathering of the church. The government of the church. The protection and defense of the church against her enemies, and the glorification of the church in the last day. The calling and the gathering of His church. That's the advancement of His kingdom.

And the next chapter speaks a little bit about that in verse 14. Simon declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. And within this, the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, after this I will return and I will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen down. I will rebuild its ruins. And I will set it up so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord.

Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name says the Lord, says Jehovah, who does these things." That's the gathering of His people. Isaiah prophesied of this saying in Isaiah 55. Verse 4, "...I need I have given Him as a witness to the people, a leader and a commander for the people. Surely you shall call a nation you do not know. And nations who do not know you shall run to you because Jehovah your God, because of Jehovah your God, and the Holy One of Israel, for He has glorified you." That's the gathering, the gathering and the perfecting of His church.

There is also the government of His church. That's the ruling of His kingdom. And He has appointed earthly representatives of that rule. And we see that in the very next verse of 23. I think it's interesting that tied together with this proximity between entering the kingdom, we also have then the appointment of elders as officers who are to rule in the church as his shepherd, as Christ's under-shepherds.

There is also the protection and the defense of the church against all her enemies. That's the defense of the kingdom. God defends His people. He protects us. He preserves us.

And then there is the glorification of the church in the last day, which is the consummation of the kingdom. Sometimes here people talk about the already and the not yet, because the kingdom is here. Jesus said it's at hand. He is reigning now. But this is not the consummation of the kingdom.

We still see enemies. We still see people resisting His rule. And so this is not the consummation of the Kingdom. That day is coming. But Christ is reigning presently.

He's calling out of the world the people to Himself. He's giving them officers, He's giving them laws, He's giving them censures by which He governs us. He bestows saving grace upon His elect. He rewards our obedience, He corrects us, chastens us when we stray, He preserves and supports us in all our temptations, in all our sufferings, He restrains the wicked, defeats them, and He powerfully orders all things for His own glory and our own good, while taking vengeance on all the rest who do not know God and don't obey the Gospel. So how do we get into this Kingdom?

Paul said here that we enter it through tribulation. So how do we enter this kingdom? How are we subjects of Christ in His mediatorial kingdom? Well, Jesus said we must be born again to enter the kingdom. We can't enter in our own strength.

We can't get in our own way. There's only one way. Jesus said most assuredly, told Nicodemus, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. You need to be born from above, regenerated, having a new heart. We cannot enter the Kingdom and we can't do that ourselves.

We can't regenerate ourselves. We can't change our way of thinking. We're wholly unable to do that. That is a work of Christ and Christ alone. Matthew 18, Jesus said, "...assuredly I say to you, unless you are converted and become as one of these little children, you will by no means enter the Kingdom." It's the only way, brothers and sisters, is through Christ, through the regenerating power of His Spirit.

We must be righteous. Jesus told the people in the Sermon on the Mount, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the Kingdom. Or in Matthew 7, a little later on, the same sermon, not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven. There were lots of people that called on the Lord, that did things in His name that He didn't know. Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, But he who does the will of My Father in heaven, we must be righteous.

We must be righteous. Jesus told a parable about two sons. One son who said that he would go, he was compliant, he said he would go do what his father asked him to do, but he didn't. He didn't actually go do it. He was very deferential and agreed to do it and was respectful, but he didn't actually do what he was asked to do.

And there was another son who was disrespectful and rude and refused to comply with what He was asked. But then went and did it, what He was asked to do. And Jesus said, Which of the two did the will of His Father? And they said to Him, the one who actually Did it. The second one in that case.

And Jesus said, "...Assuredly, I say to you that text collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you." He was speaking of those in the church who pay homage to Christ, who outwardly pay homage to Christ, who give assent to the truth, but they don't practice righteousness. They don't actually obey in their hearts. But those who maybe outwardly look rebellious, who are converted and begin to obey, who actually do what God commands, Jesus says, enter the kingdom of God. Entering this kingdom is a process. That doesn't mean our salvation is uncertain or that we're not justified until some future date.

No, Not at all. We are justified when God declares us to be just and imputes to us the righteousness of Christ and takes our sin. But it does mean that our salvation is a process that occurs throughout our life. I think that's what Paul is talking about when he talks about entering through tribulation, we enter the kingdom. Paul strengthened the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying we must, through many tribulations, enter the Kingdom of God.

Our sanctification is a work of grace. It's a process. And it involves painful processes at times. Sanctifying processes. Tribulations.

Chasening. Because the Lord chastens us as seems good to Him for our own good, so that we enter the kingdom, so that we are sanctified and made ready as a bride for her husband, for the bridegroom. So Paul could say in Romans 8, 23, not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, in other words those who are believers, those who are elect, grown within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body, for we were saved in this hope. But hope that is seen is not hope, for why does one hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, then we eagerly wait for it with perseverance." See, we don't see the consummation.

We don't see our complete sanctification yet. But we know it is coming. God has promised it. All those whom He justifies, He will glorify. There's also a process that is impeded by riches.

Yes, wealth is a blessing. Wealth is good. God created it and He gives wealth to people as a blessing. But the love of money and the desire to be rich impedes entering the kingdom. Many who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition." See, it's hard for a rich to enter the kingdom.

Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 19, Surely I say to you, it's hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again, I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Now how hard is it for a camel to go through the eye of a needle? It's impossible. And the disciples recognized that.

And they said, well, who can be saved? And Jesus' answer is, well, things that are impossible for men are possible with God. So what do we learn? So what do we learn? How is this kingdom relevant to us today?

Well, first of all, it should guide our prayers. It should guide and form our prayers. The advancement of Christ's Kingdom should inform our prayers. In the model prayer, the Lord's Prayer, that Jesus gave to us to teach us how to pray, the very second petition after, Hallowed be Your Name, after acknowledging the holiness of God, is that His Kingdom would be advanced and that His Law would be obeyed on the earth even as it is in heaven. And you see, the idea that because this kingdom is a spiritual kingdom, it doesn't speak to the princes of the earth is completely wrong.

The Lord's prayer teaches us that we are to pray that God's will would be done here on earth as it is in heaven. And that means all people, kings. From kings to the lowest in the kingdom are obligated to obey the law of God. And as those who are in the Kingdom, we are to testify to the truth of God's Word and to His kingship and to His Lordship over every area of life, wherever God gives us the opportunity. This is how we should frame our world view.

There are two kingdoms at war. Christ and Satan. And when we read about some attack on Christ and His people, that should be a catalyst for our prayer. We aren't left to just hoping that things get better or that somebody does something or to just being anxious. We should pray that Christ's kingdom would be advanced, His enemies defeated and conquered, in His grace or in His wrath.

And we should work for that too, because we should be working for that which we pray, as well as praying for that for which we work. There are so many things where we see the clash of these two kingdoms, the clash of these two world views. And sometimes we may feel powerless. We may feel hopeless. That the powers that be are far greater than we could ever overcome.

And that's at that moment. That we need to go back to the Lord's prayer and pray the prayer of faith that God's will would be done here on earth as it is in heaven. And pray that we would be delivered from the evil one and from his lies and his schemes and his plans. So it should guide our prayer. It should also be the overarching influence of our life.

The consummation of His kingdom should be our expectation and the controlling influence in our life. It should be what defines us. It should be how we invest our time and our resources. The consummation of His Kingdom should be our expectation. Therefore, Jesus said in Matthew 24, stay awake, For you do not know on what day our Lord is coming." He gave that in Matthew 24.

Talks about the days in Noah when people are eating and drinking and suddenly the flood came and took them all away. He said, Watch therefore, you don't know what hour the Lord is coming, But know this, that the master of the house had known what hour the thief was coming. He would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore, you also be ready. You also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

We should always be ready. This expectation of the consummation of His Kingdom should be our expectation. It is also our hope. The consummation of His Kingdom is our hope. Paul told Titus, For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

How should we live? As those who are looking forward to the blessed hope and the appearing, the consummation of Christ, the consummation of His Kingdom. Christ who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify himself for his own special people, zealous for good works." This kingdom should be our hope, it should be our comfort, and it should be our purification, that we purify ourselves, a purifying influence. Peter told his hearers in 2 Peter 3, Nevertheless, we according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." So there's the expectation of the consummation of this mediatorial kingdom. Therefore, beloved, Looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found in Him in peace without spot and blameless." There is a, I'll say a lie, I recognize a lot of believers hold it, but that the world is going to get worse and worse and worse.

But that's not what the Scriptures say. They say that Christ's reign is going to increase. And the increase of His government, there is no end. And He's going to reign until He puts all His enemies under His feet. And that should be our expectation.

That should be our hope. That should be our prayer. And that should be our desire to look forward to these things, to be found diligent in Him, without spot and blameless. May God make it so in our lives. Heavenly Father, we thank You that you are a purifying fire.

Thank you that you are a justifying God. Thank you that you are a merciful and gracious king. We pray, Lord, that our lives might be so ordered and so governed that their overarching and controlling influence of our lives might be the advancement of your kingdom. There might be your glory and not our wealth, and not our glory. May this Lord be that which we think about all the day.

Your glory. May we be those who enjoy You, who delight in You, who wait on You, who seek after You, who long to know You more fully, who long to know you more deeply, who long to be more faithful. We ask, Lord, that you would accomplish this in us by the power of your Holy Spirit, through your grace. Amen.