The sermon by Peter Allison, titled 'Elders: Able to Rule Their House Well (Pt 8)', explores the qualifications for church elders as outlined by Paul in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. The focus is on the ability of an elder to govern his household, which reflects his capacity to manage the church. A rhetorical question posed by Paul highlights the principle of arguing from the lesser to the greater, emphasizing that if a man cannot effectively rule his home, he cannot be entrusted with the church. The sermon delineates four implications of this principle: the comparative importance of home and church, the similarity between household and church management, the home as a training ground for church leadership, and the home as a proving ground for overseeing the church. Additionally, it discusses the role of prayer, instruction, encouragement, and diligence in ruling a household well. These elements contribute to a man's suitability to shepherd the church, with prayer being particularly crucial. The sermon also touches on the spiritual importance of having faithful children and the broader implications for church leadership.

Our scripture reading this morning is in 1st Timothy chapter 3 and I would also like to read one verse in Titus that we will be looking at as well in connection with this. We will be looking primarily at verses 4 and 5, but I'd like to read the seven verses in their entirety. 1 Timothy 3, verse 1. Paul's instructions to Timothy regarding the qualifications for elders, overseers. This is a faithful saying, if a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.

A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, Temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous. One who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence. For if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God? Not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover, he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil." And then Titus chapter 1 and verse 6, If a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of dissipation or insubordination.

May His statutes be our songs in our pilgrimage. In our pilgrimage. Oh Father in Heaven, Well, We've been looking through the requirements that Paul has given here to Timothy. Timothy was his son in the faith, the one that he took under his wing early on in his first missionary journey. He would have encountered him, and then in his second journey, I believe it was the second one, he took him on as one of the members of his team and took him under his wing as it were and trained him.

And this letter is a letter of instruction to him so that he would know how to conduct himself in the church of God, the house of God. And so he's given him in chapter three these requirements for qualifications for those who would be overseers in the church of God. And we're to the requirement in verse four and five regarding a man's family. And this is the first requirement in this list of 17 qualifications. This is the very first one for which Paul provides a justification right here in the text for this requirement.

And this justification is in the form of a rhetorical question. You know, a rhetorical question is one in which you expect the person you're asking the question to already know the answer or to know the obvious answer. And it's this, for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God? That's His justification for a man who would be an overseer being able to rule his own house well and have his children in submission with all reverence. So the heart of this question, this rhetorical question, which we'll call the how will question, how will, It turns on a comparison between something that is smaller in scope, or easier to accomplish, or lesser in degree, with something that is bigger in scope or harder to accomplish or greater in degree or importance.

This type of rhetorical question, this how-will question, turns on a comparison between two things. We might call one the lesser and one the greater, although there's many different contexts or ways it could be lesser or greater. And the logic is very simple. It's arguing from the lesser to the greater. If you can't do something easy, then how could you possibly do something harder?

If you can't lift a hundred pounds, then how would you be able to do that lifting with 200 pounds? The answer is obvious. So these rhetorical questions assume this how will rhetorical question assumes that the difference between these two things that are being compared is as obvious to the to the person that you're talking to. And this type of how will question is actually very common in the Bible. Jesus uses it on a number of occasions.

He says if salt has lost its saltiness, its flavor, then how will you season with it? If a kingdom is divided against itself, how will it stand? He said that of Satan's kingdom. Satan's kingdom was divided against itself. If it was divided against itself, how would it stand?

Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3, if I have told you earthly things and you don't believe, then how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? And Jesus told the Jews in in John 5, But if you do not believe Moses' writings, how will you believe my words?" You see, he's arguing from the lesser to the greater, something that is easier in scope, something that is easier or more important, to less important and more important. And so there are some implications. I think there are three or four implications that we can draw from this rhetorical question related to the importance of this requirement for overseers. And the first one is what we just looked at.

One category here has to be smaller, easier, or lesser in some way from the other category. So ruling in the home must in some way be lesser in importance or difficulty or degree or some combination thereof compared to ruling in the church. Because Paul says if you don't know how to do it in the home, how will you be able to take care of the church? So it's not saying that the home isn't important. It's saying that the church in some way, in some way, is harder or more important or different in scope in some way, greater in scope.

So if we look at this church, we see that God promises His special presence in the church in a way that far surpasses the glory of His presence in our private communion with Him. God promises a special presence in the church corporately than he does different than he does in our private communion in Matthew 18 he promises to be present in the church in a special way when he says for where two or three are gathered together in my name gathered together in my name that's a significant point Not just two or three people gathered together, but gathered together in His name. And that's the significance of our salutation. It's to put God's name upon us that we are gathered here this morning in His name and God says I am there in the midst of them Hebrews 12 also speaks of this glorious company that we enter into in public worship. Remember the innumerable company of angels, the General Assembly, the Church of the Firstborn, the God, the Judge of all, the Spirits of Judgment made perfect, Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant.

This is where we come when we come together as the church of Jesus Christ in corporate worship. And so we can say how glorious and blessed and precious is the assembly of the church in corporate worship. And it's a glory that exceeds that of our private worship, although that's important. Psalm 87 says, the Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Doesn't mean He doesn't love the dwellings of Jacob.

He says He loves the gates of Zion more, even more. You see, the church is the pillar and the ground of truth. The home isn't, that's not said of the home. A pillar is something that supports. It's supporting.

It's not the truth, but the Lord uses it. The Lord has established it to support that truth, to proclaim that truth. To proclaim that truth. Paul said he wrote this, 1 Timothy 3, 15, He wrote this letter, the letter we are looking at, to Timothy, so that he would know how to conduct himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of truth. And it has actually been the historic understanding of the Christian church that according to the Scriptures, there is no salvation outside the church.

Now that's been horribly abused and misused, but it is a biblical truth when rightly understood. And It's been confessed from Cyprian, who lived in the third century, to Calvin. In his writings to the Belgic Confession, to the Westminster Confession of Faith, all of them acknowledge that outside of the church there is no ordinary possibility of salvation. You see, the Church of Jesus Christ exists for all eternity. The family does not.

Marriage is temporal. It's only until death parts us. And In heaven we aren't married, are we? Where the church is eternal. Our relationship to one another, brothers and sisters in the Lord, lasts into eternity.

And So indeed, the church of Jesus Christ is more lovely. It is more precious, more special, or set apart more enduring than any other earthly institution. And so if a man has failed to rule his house Well, the Lord doesn't want him running the church. He hasn't called him to be an overseer in his church. And second implication we can take from this how will question, this how will comparison, is that these two things being compared have to be similar or related in some way.

If a man does not know how to rule his own family, how will he take care of the Church of God? If the two things that are being compared aren't related or similar in some way, this comparison really doesn't work. It won't work to say that if you can't build a computer, how will you be able to build a house? Even though a computer is much smaller than a house, they're not similar things, are they? The know-how to build a computer is very different from the know-how to build a house.

So someone who may be excellent at building a house may not know very much at all about building a computer. So those are two very different things. So the comparison here implies that the know-how needed to run a home well is related to the know-how to running a church, to being an overseer in a church. And the third implication of this how-welcome question is that the home is a training ground for ruling in the church. If a man does not know how, how, know how, to rule his house, we have a word actually called know how, if somebody has the know how to do this.

If a man does not know how to rule in his own house, how then will he be able to take care of the church? See, because the experience gained in ruling a home is a necessary part of the preparation for an overseer of Christ's church. See seminary, the ivory tower, the elegant halls of eminent academies, These are not said to be the training ground for those who would be overseers in Christ's church. It's the nitty-gritty life of families, of dealing with little children, spilled milk, changing diapers, teaching children who don't know anything. It's that messiness of life that God says is the training ground for those who would be shepherds in His church.

And I would point out that the word rule in verse 5. The word rule there, you see it, if a man does not know how to rule his own house. That rule is in the Greek, that word is in a tense, it's called the aorist. And it means that the learning is completed, it's perfected. It's not something that's still ongoing.

So that implies, I think further, that this is training that has been learned in the home. Skills, experiences that have been learned in the home. But fourthly, the fourth implication of this how-will comparison is that the home is a proving ground for those who would be overseers in the church. Men who rule their homes well and show themselves to be faithful shepherds in their own families, are those who have proven themselves to have the know-how to be effective shepherds and overseers in Christ's church. Jesus said in Luke 16, 10, He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much.

He who is faithful in least is faithful in much. Do you want to have more responsibility than show yourself faithful with the little responsibilities that you have now? And you will be given more responsibility. I've seen it time and time and time again. Even by people who don't want to seek it, when they're faithful with the small responsibilities, people want to give them greater responsibility.

It's exactly what Jesus said. In the parable of the talents, you remember in Matthew 25, the Master says that Jesus told, the Master about the kingdom of heaven, The Master says to the servant who had earned five more talents with the five that he was initially given, the Master says, Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord." Or Luke 11, 16, 11, If you have not been faithful in unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

Who will commit to you the Word of God and shepherding souls you see this is the the home is the proving ground for those who would be overseers of the church. Matthew Henry said, the families of Christians should be little churches, or in other words, whenever we have a house, God should have a church in it. Wherever there is a house, God should have a church in it. See, a man's family is an example of his gifts and his graces for shepherding and for ruling. Shepherding and ruling, those two words are very closely related.

In fact, in some places The Greek or Hebrew word for shepherd is translated as a ruler. For example, in Revelation 12, she bore a male child who was to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, and her child, that's Christ, was caught up to God in his throne. That word rule is the word for shepherd, to shepherd the church, the exact same word. And there's a number of other places in the New Testament and Old Testament where the word for rule or shepherd is translated as rule. So shepherding and ruling, think of those things as fairly synonymous.

And if those are not synonymous in your mind, then they should be. Because ruling is not a harsh thing. Ruling is for the edification of those over which authority is exercised, for the edification. Shepherding is for caring for sheep or God's people. And it's something that we're to do as parents and God's elders are to do it.

And it's to exercise a care, but to shepherd is also, right? A shepherd has a rod and a staff for leading and for correcting. So shepherding and ruling, they're very closely related. And a man's family represents the fruit of his labors as a husband and a father in shepherding his family. If that example of the family, of his own family, if the example that his family is setting is contrary to the message that he's preaching, that will completely undermine his ministry.

And it makes him a hypocrite. He's preaching something that he's not practicing. And so a family that is not ruled well, is out of order, will obscure and harm the Word of God. It will harm the preaching of the Word of God. It will cause people to turn away, and rightly so, because it makes someone out to be a hypocrite.

A man whose family is not in order, is not ruled well, is unable to exhort others to greater faithfulness. If our own life is out of order, we can't exhort others in that area without being hypocrites. So a man whose children are not in submission with all reverence, whose children are not faithful or can be accused of dissipation or rebellion is not qualified, according to the Scriptures, to be a shepherd of God's church. Now, there's some difference of opinion About what faithful children means Titus says having faithful children not accused of dissipation or rebellion Faithful is there is the same word for believing. It's the word for believing.

Those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The exact same word. The noun or verb. So does this mean then that children are to be believers? Well, one of the arguments against that view that children are to be, that requiring all children to be believers, is that faith is a gift of God.

A father can't make his children believe. And therefore, their conclusion is that God would not hold someone responsible for something which they're unable to do. If they're not able to make our children believe, then how could they be responsible if they don't? Now, I don't think that this means believing children. I think it means faithful children, and there's a difference.

But it's not because God would not hold us responsible for something that we are not able to do in our own strengths. A father is to train up his children in the way that they should go and when they were they are old they will not depart from that way Does that mean that and there's and and there are some nuances there that we don't have time to get into you can get You look up my sermon on that text in Proverbs for the details there But does that mean that if children go astray when they grow up, that a father bears responsibility? Well, yes, it does. But you see, we are responsible to do many things that we are not able to do by ourselves. Who is able to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ by themselves?

Certainly not I and you either. Because no one is able to believe. It's only by the grace of God that anyone can believe, but we are responsible to believe and we're held accountable. Those who do not believe are held accountable for not believing. The same is true of our sanctification, right?

We are responsible to obey God's commandments. We are responsible to put to death the sins of our flesh and to make progress, to add to faith virtue, to virtue knowledge. We're responsible to do this. But we can't do it in our own power. And so sanctification is 100% the work of God's grace.

Grace means something that we don't deserve, something that isn't earned. It's given to us. Sanctification, our sanctification, which we are responsible for, we are 100% responsible for, is also 100% the work of God's grace in us to enable us. And you see, just like there's no room for boasting in our salvation, We can't pat ourselves on the back because we believed. It's not because we were smarter than somebody else or we were less sinful.

It's the grace of God, and so there's no room for us to boast. And the same in our sanctification. We can't boast that we are holy, because it's a work of God's grace. There's not of boasting. There's no room for boasting.

And it's the same with having faithful children. There's no room for boasting. I realized before my children reached 13 years that my sins in raising them, in relating to them, in interacting with them, my failings, my faults in training them. We're more than sufficient for them to be fully justified in walking completely away from the faith. And I realized this is only the grace of God that we can raise believing children or have faithful children.

Just like our sanctification. We can't pat ourselves on the back at the fruits that God brings. Because they're God's work in us, and they're 100% by grace. But at the same time, God uses means for bringing our children to faith. And we as fathers and shepherds in the home are responsible to use those means in the home.

And so, this is then a qualification for those who would rule in Christ's church. Now lastly, there's a very practical reason why this is important. Because if a man's family is not in order, then he's going to be burdened by significant difficulties in his marriage or in rebellious children, and he will be distracted from the ministry of the church. And by the pressing needs of his own family. I mean, when there are pressing needs in a family, it distracts people from their business work.

I've seen that happen many times. They're dealing with issues in their marriage or significant issues in their home with their children, it's distracting. So it's gonna take away from their ability to do the work in the church. All right, so We've looked then at why this is so important and why this is such a requirement. Then we want to look here briefly at what is this requirement?

What does it mean to rule well? To have children in submission with all reverence? Well, it means that they are one, they are obedient. It means they obey. I was talking with the lady last night at the center where we were singing and ministering.

And she was talking about how her child as a five-year-old would tell her no and wouldn't obey her and would squirt her with the water hose when she was trying to clean her school pots. It's a child that wasn't in submission. Children, a man who is willing well, his children are in submission. But they are secondly in submission with reverence. That means that their submission is willing.

That it's inward, it's from the heart, not just external. Third, ruling well we see means taking care of the family. Paul relates those two, right? He says if he doesn't know how to rule in his house, how will he take care of the church? So ruling and taking care of are connected in that way.

Take care of is synonymous with ruling. In fact, remember this word take care of? It's used when Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan. Remember he stopped by this person that was injured on the side of the road, and he took care of him. He got wine and oil and tended to his wounds.

And then he took him to the inn and he gave the innkeeper money and he said, here, take care of this injured person. An elder is somebody who is to take care of the church and his family. The word itself, to rule, here is a compound word. It's comprised of the word for standing, with a prefix that means before or in front of. So the concrete meaning of the word rule is to stand before or in front of or at the head of something.

And in the abstract sense, which is often how we use words, it means to exercise a position of leadership or rule or direct, or to be at the head or to have an interest in or to show concern for or to take care of, even giving aid. Ruling is also said to involve maintaining good works. Titus 3, 14. And let your people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs. Maintain good work.

That word maintain is the same word rule in our text. To stand in front of. To maintain good works. To be at the forefront of doing what is good. And ruling also carries the idea of defending the family.

Ruling is standing. Remember, it's a compound word. The word for stand and the word, a prefix that means before, pro. Before or in front of. So standing, what does it mean to stand?

Well standing has the idea of defending. Ephesians 6, 1, we're to put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. A father and a husband puts on the armor of God so that he can stand against the wiles of the devil. He is standing in front of his family against the walls of the devil. Verse 14, Stand therefore, having your waist girded with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness.

He is to stand in front of his family with his waist girded with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness." Colossians 4, Epaphras labored fervently for this church in His prayers that they may stand perfect and complete in the will of God. As a man stands perfect and complete as they prayed for the Colossian church, he is standing in front of his family. That's what it means to lead them. And so what is he going to do? Is he stands in front of his family.

What does it do if he is doing this job well? Well, it will produce this fruit that we've seen, children that are in submission, with all reverence, not accused of dissipation or rebellion. But what is he going to do? What is this ruling do? Remember this is ruling, shepherding, taking care of.

I think one of the most important things that a man does in ruling his family is bringing the word of God to them. We're to grow in grace and in knowledge. We're to add to our faith, our believing, virtue to virtue, knowledge, and so on. There's a progression leading all the way up into love, agape, which we know love is keeping the law of God. How do we love our neighbor?

How do we love one another? We keep the law of God with respect to them. We respect their property, their chastity, their good name. We respect their health and their life and so forth. And so a man who is ruling in his home well is going to be able to bring the Word of God to them.

That word is able to bring faith, right? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And Timothy received the word from his mother. I mean, this is usually, this primarily is spoken of as the work of a shepherd in the church, right? But it's also the ministry in the home to bring the Word, which is able to bring, which faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word.

And Timothy received the Word from his mother. And that from a childhood, you have known the Scriptures, which are able to make you wise in the salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. And where did he get the Scriptures from his mother and his grandmother? It means having a daily time of worship, a regular, everyday in the home, a time where you lead the family in worshiping God, where you stand at the front as you as a family worship the Lord. And we know worship includes the reading of God's Word, the explanation of that Word, it includes singing, and it includes praying.

I think also a part of bringing the word is to catechize. That word means to instruct in the basic principles. And one way to do that is questions and answers. And it's such an important aspect of the ministry of the Word by fathers and husbands and mothers too in their home that many formal catechisms have been written to help us to instruct our children in the Word. You don't have to be limited to those, but they are certainly a great place to start.

They are not the end, but they are a great place to start. There are many helps there to ensure that our children have the Word of God in an orderly and systematic way. But also, it's to bring our families under the preaching of the Word of God, in the corporate worship. And so that's why it's vitally important that if a man is ruling his house well, that he has them in the corporate worship every week, every week that they are able, every week that they're not providentially hindered, that this is a priority, that you structure your week around the worship of God, that you plan in advance if you're going to be out of town or away, that you plan to be in the worship of God on the Lord's Day. It's a part of ruling your house well, of bringing your family under the word of God and instructing them.

Secondly, it's a matter of praying. To pray with them. To go before the throne of grace with transparency and acknowledging our own needs and their needs and their dependence on Christ. And that's what we're saying when we pray. We're coming and asking for the Lord for our food.

Why? Because we depend upon Him for it. And it's a part of ruling well that our children see that not only are we depending on the Lord for these things, but they are being taught to depend on the Lord. They are being taught to intercede for the many other needs in the family. They are being taught how to Praise the Lord, because we do that in prayer.

Hallowed be Your name. Our prayers should be filled with praise as well. And acknowledgement of God's graces and gifts to us. And if we're leading our families well, then they are seeing us before the throne of grace, and they are being taught how to come before the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in their need. But we're also going to be praying for our children.

Remember, Job did this. He would regularly, regularly, it said, offer up prayers and sacrifices for His children, even His adult children. And if you have a lot of children, that means you spend a lot more time in prayer because He prays for them as individuals. But it also involves confession of sin. Just like blamelessness does not mean sinless, Ruling well or having faithful children not accused of dissipation or rebellion doesn't mean perfect children.

Elders are sinners. And their families, their wives and their children are sinners too. And there will be times that children do not obey. And there are times that we fail as husbands and fathers. And ruling well then is how we respond.

How do we deal with sin in our life or in the life of our family? Ruling well means that we respond with confession, with prayer, with repentance in ourselves and in leading others to that. Zechariah 12 describes this confession in families. In that day there shall be a great morning in Jerusalem like the morning at Hadad Ramon in the plain of Midgiddo and The land shall mourn every family by itself the family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves and the family of the house of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves and the family of the house of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves, the family of Shimei by itself and their wives by themselves, all that families that remain, every family by itself and their wives by themselves. That's confession, individually with families and as individuals before the Lord.

In a home that is run well, there will be this confession because we're all sinners. If there's no sins that we need to confess, then we're not looking with the right heart. And we need to pray that the Lord would bring a conviction of those sins. There is also intercession. Our parts of our prayer should be intercession for others.

That we're teaching them to look out not only for their own needs and their own interests, but the interests of others. And we do that by teaching them how to intercede in prayer for others. By doing it ourselves and by teaching them. I think this is one of the most overlooked areas of ruling well and home is prayer. And not only our prayers as individuals, but leading our family to pray.

But thirdly, ruling well involves encouragement. Encouraging them. Or to care for them. And think of that good Samaritan who is caring for this Jew. Somebody who despised him.

He's caring for him. He's taking care of his wounds. He's encouraging him. So we need to show praise where they have done well. We need to show gratitude for the things that they do.

We need to be those who encourage them. Fathers are told not to exasperate their children, not to provoke them to anger. And we can do that by being unreasonable. But We can also do that by failing to encourage them, to thank them, to recognize the gifts and their accomplishments, and to praise those things, to commend those things, as they do well. Encouraging them involves drawing them with cords of love, affection.

That's how God draws us, isn't it? Paul said to the Romans, Do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance and long-suffering? Goodness to them, forbearance of their weaknesses, and patience with their childishness. Do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance. We don't lead our children to repentance by harshness, unreasonableness, exactingness.

We lead them by goodness, forbearance, longsuffering. And the fourth characteristic we'll look at this morning of ruling Well is diligence. This is the fundamental underlying discipline of ruling well, which is diligence. Diligence. You hear a disruption.

You hear one of your children disobeying their mother. And you think, one more time. I'll just let it go. You know, diligence means you get up, you stop what you're doing, and you go and bring the gospel to that situation. You bring the gospel to that child in that moment because that's what they need.

And ruling with diligence is what Paul said in Moments 12, that those who lead should do so with diligence. He who gives with liberality, he who shows mercy with cheerfulness, he who leads with diligence. Diligence. Diligence in all of the things that we talked about. Diligence in the worship.

In leading the family in worship. You know, it's not convenient. You've got something else you want to do. And so you skip it. That's not diligence.

We need, ruling well is to be diligent. And bringing the word to our family, diligence in teaching them, in catechizing them, instructing them, in praying for them. Diligence in encouraging them. You know, do you think, when was the last time I encouraged this job? When was the last time I encouraged my wife?

Yes, we need to ask ourselves those questions so that we are diligent in those duties. And we need to remember then that this fruit is the grace of God. It's a hundred percent the grace of God. And so we need to Pray for it as well as be diligent in it. May God give us this grace to rule well and give grace to each one in our family as well.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your grace to us. We know that we need it. You know You have called us to present our bodies as living sacrifices to You, which is our reasonable service. And we ask, Lord, for Your grace as husbands, as fathers, as wives, as mothers, as sons, as daughters, that we may present ourselves as living sacrifices.

And that we may be in submission to those you put over us with reverence, with willingness. That we may rule well, with diligence, with humility, with a servant's heart, with an understanding heart, remembering, Lord, that You have been merciful and gracious and kind to us, and have forgiven our iniquities, pardoned our sins, and drawn us with cords of love and goodness. So, Father Lord, may our homes be as little churches, wherein the aroma of Your grace is rich and strong. Where we are transparent before You, acknowledging our sins and our failures, and depending upon Your grace and Your power to provide for all of our needs. And so, Father, we look to You this morning.

As little birds in a nest look to their mother for food, we look to You for Your grace in our lives, for Your power, for Your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.