In the sermon titled 'To the Law and to the Testimony', Peter Allison discusses Isaiah 8, focusing on verses 16 and beyond. The sermon contrasts two responses to God's word: the fear of God versus the fear of man, and the testimony of the Lord versus that of spirits and wizards. Allison emphasizes the importance of binding and sealing God's word within one's heart, likening it to securing or sealing a precious item. This act of binding and sealing ensures that the law and testimony are accessible to disciples but hidden from those outside the faith. The sermon explores the role of the Torah, or God's instruction, as a guide for life, and the testimony as a witness to God's character and actions. Allison highlights how God's word, when sealed in believers' hearts, can prevent sin, provide wisdom, offer protection, and ensure prosperity. He connects this idea to the New Testament, showing how Jesus used parables to reveal truths to his disciples while keeping them hidden from others. Furthermore, the sermon critiques contemporary societal norms that deviate from biblical teachings, urging believers to adhere strictly to the scriptures. The sermon concludes with a call for believers to hold fast to God's word, asking for strength and boldness to live according to its precepts.

Our scripture reading this morning is Isaiah chapter 8. The remaining verses of that chapter beginning at verse 16. Hear God's word. Hear God's word. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples, and I will wait on the Lord, who hides His face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in Him.

Here am I, and the children whom the Lord has given me. We are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts who dwells in Mount Zion. And when they say to you, Seek those who are mediums and wizards who whisper and mutter, Should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony.

If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. They will pass through it hard pressed and hungry. And it shall happen when they are hungry that they will be enraged and curse their King and their God and look upward. Then they will look to the earth and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish, and they will be driven into darkness. May the Lord shine His face upon us, His servants, and teach us his statutes.

Father, we thank you for your word. It is life-giving. It is living, powerful and active, and we ask that it may be all of that to us this morning. And I ask that you would sanctify my sinful lips that through a vessel of clay Your word might be brought to us in the power of your Holy Spirit. Through Christ we ask, Amen.

Well, this is essentially part two from last week's message. I said last week that there were two mutually exclusive and diametrically opposed responses that are contrasted in the Lord's instruction to Isaiah here. And the first one we looked at last week, the fear of man is contrasted with the fear of God. In these verses that we've read, secondly, the testimony of the Lord is contrasted with the testimony of spirits and wizards. So This is the Lord speaking, and we saw this is the pre-incarnate Christ speaking.

And it continues in verse 16, the Lord continues, with this command, bind up the testimony and seal the law among my disciples." So the Lord previously had said that he would be as a sanctuary to those who believe, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to those who didn't. And now is the command, bind up the testimony and seal the law among the disciples, among Christ's disciples. He said, seal the law among my disciples. Now the law and the testimony in verse 16 are two of the many names given in the Old Testament for the word of God. Statutes, judgments, ordinances, precepts, promises, commandments, these are a few of the others.

And each emphasizes a different aspect of God's word. Torah, which is the word for law here. Torah is instruction. That's what it means, instruction. And it refers, Torah refers broadly to all the word of God, which is given for our instruction.

As the Catechism says, the scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of man. Good. And so the Torah is God's instruction to us regarding himself and how we ought to live in this world that he has created and placed us in. The Torah is God's direct instruction to us because it was breathed out by God himself. And so it gives us his direct instruction on everything we need to know, to do everything, to do all that he calls us to do.

God's word is also here called a testimony. It's the Torah, the instruction, and the testimony. A testimony is what a witness provides regarding the facts of a matter. So if somebody is in court If somebody is in court which exists to establish facts, they are said to testify. They provide a solemn declaration for the purpose of establishing or proving a fact.

Trials are about proving the facts, establishing the facts. And so a testimony attests to or bears witness to the truth. And the Scriptures are called a testimony because they bear witness to the character of God. They are truth. The scriptures are God's self-revelation of his character.

That's who he is. And of what he has done, his works. They are God's testimony. He's bearing witness to who he is and to what he has done. And so they are called the testimonies.

And the Hebrew word here for bind, sort of bind up, really means to press in on something or someone. To press in. And remember, since Hebrew describes and classifies things by their function, not so much by their appearance or by their the metrics that we like to use. The Hebrew root of this word has a broad range of application in the Scripture. From very concrete things to very abstract applications.

From a balm, which is something that is pressed into the skin. It comes from the same root word. To an enemy that presses into their opponent. To besieging a city where an army surrounds a city and in a sense presses in to the city, seeking to gain entrance, to press through the walls. And so to bind up the law is first to secure it so that it cannot be accessed by someone else and cannot be lost to the one who has secured it.

It has a twofold purpose. Binding up is to envelop it, to press in on it in such a way that it is secured to the one who has it and denied to the one who doesn't. The Israelites bound up their kneading bowls in their clothes when they heard they departed Egypt with their unleavened bread the night the angel of death passed over the land. They bound them up. They pressed their clothes around them.

And so these disciples are to bind up the law of God, to secure it for themselves and to prevent others from accessing it. The other command was to seal up the testimony. And to seal something up has the same effect as binding it. It's to close it up so that it is not accessible from the outside. A chaste woman is described in the Song of Solomon as a sealed fountain.

It's chapter 412. A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse. A spring shut up, a fountain sealed. It's sealed from access to anyone outside of that marriage. Job describes his sins that have been forgiven as having been sealed in a bag.

And that's a very specific thing. If you go to the Oriental Institute in University of Chicago, and you can see some of these ancient bag seals and how they sealed up something in a bag. It's much like we would can something. And so Job describes his sins as having been sealed in a bag. They have no more access to him, and they are no longer able to condemn him.

My transgression, he said, is sealed up in a bag and you cover my iniquity. And so to seal this testimony among the disciples means it is accessible to them but not by implication to those who are not the disciples, to those who are outside the fellowship. Now that's implicitly stated here, but it's explicitly stated in the next verse, where it says, and I will wait on the Lord who hides his face from the house of Jacob. You see this is why Christ spoke in parables in Matthew 13. The disciples came to him and they asked him, why are you speaking in parables?

And then we have to come and ask you what you mean by all these stories that you tell us. Why don't you just tell us? Why don't you just tell everybody? And Jesus said to them, because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven but to them it has not been given the word has been sealed up For whoever has to him more will be given and he will have an abundance. But whoever does not have even what he has will be taken from him.

Therefore, Jesus said, I speak in parables because seeing they do not see and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, hearing you will hear, and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive. For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn so that I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see and your ears, for they hear.

For assuredly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desire to see what you see and they didn't see it. And to hear what you hear and they didn't hear it. So Isaiah is commanded here to bind up the testimony and seal the law among my disciples. Now how is it bound and sealed among the disciples? Well when the word is proclaimed, when the gospel is proclaimed and sinners are called to repentance, there are two possible responses to that outward call.

When God does not effectually call a person by the work of His Holy Spirit, they either reject the truth outright or they refuse to heed it. They deny its truth and its power. But when God effectually calls someone, He opens their hearts to receive the word as the word of God. When Paul preached at the riverside on his very first Sunday in the city of Philippi, you remember from our study in Acts, Lydia heard him preach that morning. And Luke records in Acts 16, the Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.

The Lord opened her heart to receive the word and secured it in her heart so that it did not depart from her. God's word was hidden in her heart through the preaching of the word and the application of that word by the Holy Spirit. And the word word was sealed in Lydia. Practically speaking then, binding up the testimony and sealing the law in us means that whenever we read God's word or whenever we hear God's word preached, we ask ourselves this this question, what does God want me to know? And to believe about him from the testimony that has been given, what does God want me to know or to believe about him from his testimony?

And what does he want me to do? What is he instructing me to do? The law, the Torah is instruction in his testimony. So what does God want us to believe about him? And what is he instructing us to do?

Now, what is the effect then of binding up the law and sealing up the testimony. Well, when God's word is hidden or sealed in our heart, we will refrain from sin. David writes, your word I have hid in my heart that I might not sin against you. That's one of the effects when God's word is sealed in our heart. But secondly will be another effect when God's word is sealed in our hearts is that we will be ministering with the word.

We not only have knowledge, but we will have the wisdom to rightly apply that knowledge in teaching and admonishing with the word, both ourselves and others around us. Paul instructed the Corinthians in sorry the Colossians in Colossians 3, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. There's the word being sealed in your hearts in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. We're going to be able to be encouraging others with the word to it to be admonishing them, to be comforting them, to be singing with Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. And that's probably referring to three different types of Psalms in the book of Psalms.

But thirdly, when the word is sealed to a believer, the Lord will defend them against the cruelty and oppression of the wicked. It doesn't mean that we don't experience any cruelty or oppression. It means that when we do experience it, the Lord will defend us. He will carry us through it. Psalm 37, verse 31 says, the law of God is in his heart.

There it is. There's the law, the Torah, sealed up in the heart. None of his steps shall slide. The wicked watches the righteous and seeks to slay him. The Lord will not leave him in his hand.

When the word is sealed up in our heart, the Lord defends us against cruelty and oppression of the wicked. Fourthly, when the word is sealed in the heart of a believer, whatever they do prospers. The Lord makes their work to prosper. He ensures that however much of a failure it may appear to those who are looking outwardly upon it, the Lord guarantees that it is not a failure. It's not in vain.

It's not futile. Someone tells us that those who meditate on the law, there it is, that's the Torah, sealed up in the heart, are like a tree that's planted by the rivers of water. When a tree has a generous and regular supply of water, it's going to have dark, deep green leaves, won't it? And it'll have lots of leaves and lots of growth. And it will supply a very reliable harvest if it's a fruit tree.

And this in the same way, when the law is sealed in the heart of a believer, whatever you do will prosper. And so Paul can say, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain. It's not futile. It may look that way. It may seem that way But God says it's not when it's done in the Lord And when when the word when the truth of God's law is sealed in the heart it brings favor and high esteem with God and man.

Remember how Jesus grew in favor with God and man? Says he grew up in stature. Proverbs three reminds us, My son, do not forget the law, but let your heart keep my commands. There's the law sealed up in the heart of the believer, bound up. Let not mercy and truth forsake you.

Write them on the tablet of your heart, and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God in man." And lastly, The word sealed in the heart is life-giving. It's life-giving because the word of God is living. It's active, it's powerful. Do you really want to live? I mean, really live.

You really want to live a full and a worthwhile life. And Moses reminded the Israelites, set your heart on all the words which I testify, there's that testimony. Set your heart on all the words which I testify. There's that testimony. Set your heart on all the words which I testify among you today.

All the words of the law. He said, for it is not a futile thing for you because it is your life. And by this word you will prosper all the days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess. And this cross, This land, this life in the land which they are to possess. This is the eternal life.

Which Christ brings to those in whose heart his law is sealed. Well, those are some of the things we could go on. There are more more, but those are some I think of the key effects of binding up the law and sealing it among the disciples. In verse 17, though, the speaker shifts to the first person. I now will wait on the Lord who hides his face from the house of Jacob.

I will hope in him. Here am I and the children whom the Lord has given me. We are for signs and wonders in Israel. We saw last week that Christ is a speaker, he's speaking of himself. I won't cover that material again.

But I would add that this change, this sort of change from the third person to the first person, it's not unusual when Christ is speaking of himself. We have another example of that in John 17. Remember when we looked at that recently? How Jesus refers to himself in the third person at the beginning of that prayer. You remember that?

I won't turn there but if you don't you can turn there a little later. But Jesus opens up speaking to of himself. He's praying to the Father and he speaks of himself in the third person, speaks of himself as the Son. And then right in the middle of the prayer after a few verses, he switches to referring to himself in the first person, and he speaks of I and me. And he says essentially the same thing.

First it was glorify the Son, and then it says glorify me, as I have manifested my name to all those whom you have given me. And so I think this is what's happening here where Christ is the speaker shifting into the from the third person to the first person is. It's not unusual when Christ is speaking, especially speaking in the trinity, inter-trinitarian. And I think something like that is happening here. Christ says that he will wait on the Lord who hides his face from Jacob.

He's waiting until the time appointed by God when the Gospel would go to the Gentiles, when the Messiah would become a light to the Gentile nations to bring near those who were once far off from the covenants, from the blessings and the promises, Those who were once aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. See, the pre-incarnate Christ declares that he is waiting for the Lord's time for him to come in the flesh and to tear down that middle wall of separation and to preach peace to those who were afar off and and to those who were near. I. Will wait on the Lord. And so Paul says in Galatians four.

When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons. When the fullness of time had come. See, Christ is saying here in this to Isaiah that he is waiting on the Lord. And so Paul can tell us the Messiah was waiting for the time determined by the father. And that appointed time arrived on December 25th in 5 BC.

He's willing to wait because His will and the Father's will are one. They're in perfect harmony. But in this time, the Lord says that he hides his face from the house of Jacob. The house of Jacob is the Old Testament church. Is the Old Testament Church.

But in that church, in the church in the Old Testament, there were disciples in whom that law was sealed and the testimony was bound up. This was the remnant in the Old Testament church that God promised Isaiah back in chapter 6 when he told Isaiah that, remember, he would preach to a people who wouldn't listen. And Isaiah says, well, how long am I supposed to preach to people that aren't going to listen? And God essentially says to him, you're to preach until there's no one left to hear you. But then he adds, the Lord adds this promise in the last verse of Isaiah 6, when Isaiah is given this charge, he says, Yet a tent will be in it, and will return and will be consuming as a terrible tree or an oak, whose stump remains when it is cut down.

So the holy seed shall be its stump." So this is the remnant. These disciples in whom the law is bound up are a remnant in the Old Testament church. And so God is saying He's hiding His face from the house of Jacob. That implies not only domination and oppression from enemies and famines and floods and the destruction of locusts and all the other all the other judgments that came upon the land but it also means he's withholding the light of his word and the illumination of the Holy Spirit that was in implicitly stated in verse 16, where the testimony was sealed up in the disciples. So you see, just like Jesus Christ is a sanctuary to those who fear him and a stumbling block and a rock of offense to those who don't.

The word of God, the testimony, the instruction is a means of life to those who believe and a means of death to those who reject it. And so referring to their preaching, Paul could tell the Corinthians that God diffuses the fragrance of his knowledge through them everywhere they preach. For we are to God, the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing to the one to those who are being saved to those who are perishing. We are the aroma of death leading to death and to the others to those who are being saved. He says we are the aroma of life leading to life and who is sufficient for these things So even Paul in his preaching Recognized that for some the preaching of the word would be an aroma of death leading to death.

And so because God hides his face from some, we shouldn't be shaken at the hardness of hearts around us. We grieve it. It's sad. We sorrow for them. Just like Paul sorrowed for his countrymen according to the flesh.

In fact, he went so far as to say that for possible. He would rather be accursed if that meant they might be saved. But though we grieve it, we can expect it. Though we grieve it, we accept it. This is because this is the work of God.

In the meantime, while the Messiah is waiting, says that he and his disciples are for signs and wonders in Israel. It is a wonder that in the midst of this apostate nation, that there would be any believers. That's a sign and a wonder. And there And these believers, these disciples of Christ in the Old Testament were a sign and a wonder in that day, even today though, where we see God's people in nations of great oppression, where we see the church in a nation where it is persecuted, where the saints are being killed every day just for being Christians. Those saints are a sign and a wonder.

Now all through this Emmanuel prophecy or this book of Emmanuel as this section chapters 7 through 13 are called, or 7 through 12, sorry, There have been prophecies regarding signs that the New Testament attributes to Christ and claims their fulfillment in Christ. And to these signs are additional signs that were intended for the benefit of the present-day inhabitants of Israel. And they were fulfilled in the lives of the listeners. But in some cases, historical event in the Old Testament, something that actually happens in that day is interpreted in the New Testament as a type with a spiritual significance. And this is actually typical of many prophetic utterances.

Remember the birth of Abraham's two children, Ishmael and Isaac, was a historical development in Abraham's life. The first son was conceived as a result of his doubting God. Doubted that God could actually send him a son by Sarah in his old age because remember she was past the years of childbearing. But the second son that was conceived was the promised son. Those are historical events.

But the New Testament interpreted these two sons as representing two covenants. Or Noah's deliverance through the flood was a historical event. The world was covered with water, and God judged this world that perished. But the New Testament called it a type of the baptism of the Holy Spirit in which our hearts are sprinkled From an evil conscience a work that is enabled by the resurrection of Jesus Christ And so I think Isaiah here is this type of sign. He and his sons, his sons that were born to him with these names, Shir Jazm and Mahershala Hashbaz, are also for signs and wonders because the names of his children, remember, had special significance, actual significance for the nation.

Shir Jazm, a remnant will return. Mahoshalal Hashbaz, speed does a spoil hasten to the booty, that this judgment would come speedily. So I think we can see here both both aspects. Of the signs and the wonders. Well, then, Isaiah, then the Lord gets here to.

The law and to the testimony to the law and to the testimony, to the law and to the testimony, should a people not seek their God? To the law and to the testimony, if they do not speak according to the word, it is because there is no light in them. The Bible reveals the will of God for us. It teaches us everything that we need to know. It instructs us in how to do everything that we need to do.

Our duty is to listen to its instructions and obey its commandments. And I think sometimes we forget just how sufficient the scriptures are for our life, for everything that we need to know. Because David said that the Lord taught his fingers how to make war. Does that mean David just sat there? No, David studied war.

But he acknowledged it was the Lord who taught him. But did you know that even the things like baking bread, grinding flour and baking bread, the Bible says the Lord teaches us those things too. How to plant each grain, how to thresh it, and how to grind it for flour, for bread. The Lord teaches us these things. Our duty is to listen to the word of God, to its instructions and to obey its commandments.

Let's maybe think of life as one of those racing video games where you're driving down the road, you're sitting there in that still seat, but you have this image flashing in front of you. And you have to respond to all the changes that are coming in the road and the things that happen along the way. God brings to pass His own will for His own glory in our lives. And along the way, He provides for us jobs, spouses, Children, trials, tribulations. But whatever he sends along that path, his word is sufficient for everything that we need to know, to respond to everything that happens in our lives, to know what we ought to do at every intersection, every decision that we need to make in our life.

God's Word is sufficient. To the law and to the testimony, if they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no life in them, no truth in them. What does God's Word say about the family? Are men and women the same? Should women try to do everything that men do and men try to do everything that women do?

Only the foolish would try that. God's word has a lot of things to say that our nation, our culture today wants to ignore, especially about the family. But remember, if it's not according to the word of God, there is no light in it. There's no truth in it. And following it will not be blessed.

Or what about money? God's word has a lot to say about money. When I was in college, we were given, and I've mentioned this before, some of you may remember, we were given an opportunity to get a loan. It was called a career Starter Loan. In other words, here's a loan to help you get going in your career, to give you a start, to get you down the right path.

But what does the Bible say about debt? It does. It says the debtor is the servant of the lender. Is that a good way to start a career in bondage? I was ignorant at that point.

And I took those loans and ended up losing half of one in an investment. At least I didn't spend it on, if I had spent it on something, I might have enjoyed it, but lost half of it in investment. The other half made a very promising return, but it didn't make up for the loss. What does God's word say? If it's not according to the word of God, there's no truths in it.

All this talk about debt today, It's not helpful. It's not helping you to live a better life. It's actually making you a bond in a servant. Well, what about war? Is it the job of the civil magistrate to police the world?

1 Timothy 2 says, prayers, intercess, calls for prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks to be made for all men, for kings, and those who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. And That's what the word of God says. That's the purpose of prayer. Not so that we can send our young men and now even women horrifically to die in foreign countries for the goals of international bankers who are making billions of dollars in loans to these nations in order to subjugate them. Ephesians says, let him who stole steal no longer but rather labor with his hands, working with his hands what is good that he may have something to give to him who is in need.

See, the word of God is sufficient even for to deal and to answer these questions of national policy and what nations we need to fight and go to war against. Well, what about college and education? Do we need to study the pagans of destroyed cultures in order to have wisdom? The word of God says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, not what Plato said. See, our problem today is that we have forgotten so much of what the law of God says.

Now, I've picked a few sort of safe things, But what are some other things that we've forgotten that the law of God says? If any man after legal conviction shall have or worship any other God but the Lord God, he shall be put to death. That's what the Bible says. To the law and to the testimony, if it speaks not according to them, there is no light in it. If a man or a woman be a witch or has or consults with a familiar spirit, they shall be put to death.

Exodus 22, Leviticus 20, Deuteronomy 18. If any man blaspheme the name of God, the Father, the Son, or the Holy Ghost, with direct express presumptuous or high-handed blasphemy or shall curse God in like manner he shall be put to death. That's what the Bible says. Do we believe that? Do we believe that this is true?

And that those that would say otherwise, those that would say, well, that's cruel, or that's unusual, or that's Sharia, or that's like the Muslims. It's not, by the way. There's no light in that. To the law and to the testimony if they speak not according to them, there is no light in them. If any man shall commit willful murder, which is manslaughter, committed upon premeditated malice, hatred or cruelty, not necessary or just defense, or not by a mere cause against his will.

In other words, premeditated murder. He shall be put to death. Does this apply to mothers who killed their unborn babies? You know, this was something that even 10 years ago, many people in Texas would have rejected, would have been horrified at that, but that's what the Bible says. And thankfully, this is one thing where even last week or was it the week before at the convention in Houston, a majority of people recognized the truth of that part of God's Word.

If any man or woman lie with any beast or brute creature by carnal copulation, they shall be put to death and the beast slain and buried and not eaten. If any man lies with mankind as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed abomination, both of them both shall surely be put to death. Leviticus 20 13, This is what the Bible says. Do we do we. Heed this.

Or do we are we offended at it or we ashamed of it. Do we hide it to the law and to the testimony if they speak not according to them? It is because there is no light in them. If any man steals a man or mankind, he shall surely be put to death. Stealing.

See, these are some of the things of the law of God, the law of God, the law and the testimony of God that I think we have become embarrassed about. And that's to our shame, to the law and to the testimony. If it speaks not according to them, it is because there is no light in them. We can't expect God's we can't expect a nation to believe the Word of God more than the church is willing to believe the Word of God. That change in people's attitudes in the state of Texas over the past 50 years, but especially in the past 10 years, came because people were no longer ashamed of the word of God when it spoke about unborn people and murdering them.

And these other aspects that are oppressive to us today, Today we have our schools, our Conroe School just down the road in their library are all manner of abominations being taught to children. Why do we have that? Because we have forgotten the law and the testimony of God's word and have decided that there isn't light in it and that our ways are more loving and gracious and better. Should not a people seek their God to the law and to the testimony if they do not speak according to this word it is because there is no light in them. May God give us the grace, the favor to believe is where to bind it up and to seal it in our hearts.

Almighty Heavenly Father, there are many things in your word that we have conveniently ignored, forgotten and even suppressed because we have feared men, because our thinking has been corrupted by this age. And we ask that you would forgive us. We ask that you would renew a love of your word and all that it teaches us. That it might become once again the standard by which all other knowledge, by which everything else is measured, by which all the words of men are judged. We ask that you give us a boldness.

We ask that your word might be in your testimonies, might be sealed in our hearts. Father, we know that we need your Holy Spirit to open that heart. That we might receive it and not reject it. That we might love it and not hate it, that we would meditate upon it day and night. Father, our spirit is willing but Our flesh is weak.

Our minds are weak. And we are often afraid of what others will think of us or say about us or do to us. And so we ask for your strength. We might be as the righteous bold as a lion Harmless as doves gentle as doves In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.