In the sermon 'Living A Life of Significance,' Peter Allison explores Proverbs 16, emphasizing the importance of living a life marked by righteousness and self-control. He highlights the significance of the 'silver-haired head' as a crown of glory, not merely due to age, but because of a life lived in righteousness. The sermon underscores that spiritual virtues, such as self-control and patience, surpass physical achievements and are essential for a life of significance. Allison stresses the importance of honoring the aged and how it reflects honoring God, who is the 'Ancient of Days.' He discusses the role of God's providence in every aspect of life, encouraging believers to acknowledge God's sovereignty in both major and minor events. The sermon concludes by urging believers to persevere in the path of righteousness, aiming for a life that bears fruit even in old age, leaving a godly legacy and receiving the 'crown of righteousness.'

Please turn in your copy of God's Word to Proverbs 16. Begins at verse 31. Hear God's word. The silver-haired head is a crown of glory, if it is found in the way of righteousness. He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.

The lot is cast into the lap but its every decision is from the Lord." Thus far the reading of God's Word may he write is, it's truth upon our hearts. Almighty Heavenly Father, you have given to us your Word, sending it by your angels. You have preserved your word and will preserve it forever. For though we pass away as grass, your word endures forever. Your word is truth.

Sanctify us, Father, by your word. And sanctify these lips, I ask, these sinful lips, that from a vessel of clay the riches of the glory of your grace may be proclaimed, that the glory may be yours and not man's. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, I wrestled with this, struggled with this passage, we were up to verse 31, and it seemed like the next three verses were completely unrelated to each other after having a chapter where the text was more easily seen, the connections between the passages were more easily seen, this seemed to be an abrupt change, and I could not find any connection. I struggled to find any connection between these verses, but I thought it must surely be there.

The beginning verse of this chapter and the last verse of this chapter that we read speak about the same thing. So they are like an opening and closing bookend on this text. And I was ready to begin looking at just the first verse 31 and separate from the others. When I began to realize through further study, there was a connection. Because many of us want to be respected.

We want to live a life of significance. We want to be remembered. We want to leave a godly and lasting legacy. We want to do something with our life. We want it to count for something.

And I realize that this text is telling us how to do that. That the way to honor is a life lived, walking in the path of righteousness. That to be remembered for doing something great is to conquer your spirit, to conquer your tongue and your temper, to rule over them. And that when all is said and done, our lives, every part of them, every aspect of them, rest in the providence of God that we live for His glory and that our fulfillment, our purpose in life is the glory of God. And that with these things, with this, we are fulfilled.

We have fulfilled the purpose for which we have been created. And so let's look then at this text this morning. The first verse in Verse 31, the silver-haired head is a crown of glory if it is found in the way of righteousness. God crowns the aged with a glory. You see, the honor here is not simply in having a silver-haired head.

That's not where the honor comes from. That word for silver hair or gray hair or hoary hair in the King James white hair. We all know that white hair comes with age. When you get into the 50s, your hair often begins to turn white. And there are very few men who are aged, and we'll see how the Bible defines aged, but there are very few men who are aged who don't have at least some white hair.

But the honor is not simply in the color of one's hair. As if you could get this honor by technology, by dyes, by making your hair salt and pepper to bring a distinguished look. The honor is not in the color of the hair. This word for white hair is used a number of times in the Bible, in the Old Testament, and it always refers to age. In fact, in many places, this same word that's used here in the Hebrew is simply translated age or old age.

So this, it is the aged, those of years who have this crown of glory. You see, white hair on a graceless man of age is not any glory. It is a great pity. A man who has lived for 80 years with God angry at him every day, whose body is bowed and bowed down under the weight of God's wrath, under having rejected God's offer of forgiveness, His salvation every day of those 80 years. An aged man with white hair, who does not have wisdom, who hasn't conquered his spirit, that's an object of pity.

It's even more pitiable than when we see that spirit in a young man. No, the honor here upon age is that this is found in the way of righteousness. The King James puts an if in there. I think some other Bible translators have captured the sense better if you have a good translation, the words that are added are always italicized. And so the if is italicized.

It was added to in an effort to properly translate the text. You have to add words when you translate from one language to another in order to accurately convey the text. But I think in this case, and other Bible translators have captured that sense better, the silver head hair is a crown of glory. It is found in the way of righteousness. It's a statement of where that honor and that crown of glory comes from.

It is somebody who is aged, who is in the way of righteousness. Somebody who for years has walked in the way of righteousness. And this glory is found then through this way, walking in righteousness. In other words, this is not a crown that has been fashioned by human hands, but a crown that has been fashioned by the kingdom. A crown that is placed upon our head by God's work in us as we persevere through our life, through a long life, in the way of righteousness.

In the way of righteousness. Paul told Timothy, he said, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. He was fighting as a soldier in God's kingdom. He was fighting for the glory of God. He had kept the faith that had been given to him, that deposit.

He had guarded it. He had proclaimed it. He had preserved it. He had defended it against those who attacked it. He had suffered greatly to do that.

He had sacrificed his many rights that he had for the kingdom, for the faith. He had fought a good fight. And he was now, as he told Inesimus, an aged man. Henceforth, he told Timothy, there is laid up for me, because of this, there is laid up for me, a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day. And not just to me, not just because I'm an apostle, not just because I've been called and have a special office and I've been given the gift of prophecy and have been caught up into the third heaven and seen things which no man ought to write, not just because I have been given these special gifts, But no, this is a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give to me at that day and not only me, but to everyone who has loved His appearing.

That's to you and to us. To you and to me. When we have been faithful in our life, persevered in walking in the path of righteousness, there is a crown laid up for us. It is right to remember that. God honors the agent who walk in the way of righteousness, who are found in the way of righteousness.

God honors them. We are to honor them as well. We are to honor those like Paul, who have fought the good fight, who have kept the faith, who have finished the course, and who have that crown of glory on their heads, of white hair, of age. We are to honor them. The Viticus 19.

I wrote down the wrong verse, but it is Leviticus 19. In verse 32, this is a number of commands, a number of moral commands. Remember we always say that the Ten Commandments are a summary of the Law of God. They're a summary. They're not the shortest summary.

There is a shorter summary that Jesus gave, but they are a summary that God the Father gave, speaking from Mount Sinai. But of course those commandments aren't, if they are a summary, they are not the whole of that which they summarize. And here in Leviticus 19, we have a number of fleshing out, commands that flesh out, the various ten commandments. And in verse 32, in the midst of a long list of commands that we are to do, It says, you shall rise before the gray-headed, the same word as in our text, aged. Some places I said it's translated aged.

You shall rise before the gray-headed or the aged and honor the presence of an old man, and fear your God, I am the Lord. We are also to render honor to the old. They are our superior. Age is one way that they are, people are our superiors. There are many ways as we've talked earlier, and you can go back and look at that sermon that dealt with superiors and inferiors and equals but age is one especially generational age You know three or four years obviously is not as big a deal but a generation of age is something that we are to honor.

We are to rise before the aged, before those who have great hair. Now, it's a command that is followed by this statement, I am the Lord. I am the Lord. Now what is the relation there? Well our honor of the aged Is in the Lord just like the obedience of children is to be in the Lord Children obey your parents in the Lord.

It's not and it's not an absolute obedience that even if there is a command to sin that we are, that children have to obey a sinful command. We know that. And this is also the purpose of our honoring, is to honor the Lord. It is through the honoring of those who are aged that we show our honor to the Lord. And of course this rules out ancestor worship, which is one place that this has gone to in some cultures.

We are to honor the Lord who is the Ancient of days. God is the ancient of days. He calls himself that. He is the one who has been in existence from all eternity and will continue in existence to all eternity. And He, of course, is the ancient of days.

Anything, our 80 years, 70 years, or 80 years if by reason of strength, is nothing. God is the ancient of days. And so, this honor that we render to the, that we are called to render to the aged is an honor that we are giving to the Lord. It is how we show our honor to the Lord. And fourthly, we ought to strive for this honor.

We ought to work for it. Paul said that this was this crown of righteousness which the Lord gave to him because he had kept the faith, because he was found in the way of righteousness as an aged man, was not only to him but to all those who loved his appearing." So this is something that Paul looked forward to. He said, I consider the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed to us." The prospect of a reward is held out to us in the Scriptures. The prospect of this crown of righteousness is held out to us in the Scriptures. It is something that is worthy, something that we ought to strive for.

To be found in the way of righteousness in our old age. To still be bearing fruit in the house of the Lord in our old age. The old who are of the Lord will still be bearing fruit. That should be our goal. If we want to be those who live a significant life, our goal should be to walk and to be found in the way of righteousness in our old age.

Righteousness in our old age. Now how do we show honor to those who are aged? I think that's something we need to think about. It's something we need to think about. Our culture is not good at it.

In fact, our culture in some ways has tried to do just the opposite. It's tried to remove any differences between anyone. We might call that egalitarianism. To say that there is no distinction among people. That everybody is the same.

Well, yes, we are all the same. We are equal, co-heirs, husbands and wives, co-heirs of the grace of life together. We are fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord. But the Bible also speaks about superiors and inferiors and equals. And we are, the fifth commandment is to honor our father and our mother.

And we understand that when the Bible speaks of fathers and mothers, it is speaking, it is using those words, and we have looked again at this before, I refer you to an earlier sermon for the details, but it is speaking of those who are our superiors to us in some way, That we are to render honor to them. And in that sense we need to be careful that we do not simply run to foolishness with our culture in seeking to remove any marks of honor or any marks of distinction. In our Presbytery, it is our practice and has been historically in the church that when we formally address the presbytery we address them as fathers and brothers and Every time I write that I think fathers who are the fathers these are the men who are my superior Superior may be an intellect superior in graces superior in that they have conquered their passions better than I have. The Lord has taught them and gifted them more greatly. He has given them advanced wisdom and years.

They are my fathers. It is right to recognize that. It is right to address them as fathers. If you ever see any communication among presbyters, you might see that title, Fathers and Brothers. It's a biblical title as well.

It's used in the Bible to address, as a form of address among the elders of that day. Fathers and brothers, How do we show that honor to the aged? I think one way is to respect their weakness. There is a weakness that comes, and a certain debility that comes with advanced age. If we want to honor those who are aged, if we were to rise as it were before those who are aged, we will make an effort to accommodate those weaknesses.

I remember in a series on parenting, child training, a number of years ago, the person, the couple who were leading this particular course, made the comment about showing honor, it wasn't in this context, but it was showing, teaching the little ones to show respect for others by not running in the church building because of the elderly and I didn't really understand that I remember thinking about that really really what I wasn't rejecting it but it wasn't something I could understand. I was very young in those days and had very young children. And I was thinking, well, they need to run a little bit. It's good for them to run a little bit. They've been sitting an hour or two and we always, as you, have taught our children to sit in the service and wasn't it good for them to run?

Well, yes it was. But they were bringing up a point about honoring the aged and accommodating them in their weakness of old age. And over the years, as I've talked with more old people, this is a theme that has continued to come up. That when the little children are running around around their feet. It's a concern for them It is something that makes them feel very uncomfortable And they're worried that they're gonna trip and fall on the child or the child will get in their way and trip them It's a very real concern And so I offer this is one very practical and simple way that we can show honor to the aging, and that is by teaching our little ones to respect the hallway where the elderly are walking.

As parents, to teach our children not to be running around the elderly people. It's just like if you're on the freeway, and you're going kind of slow, and you see these cars that are just zipping around you at twice your speed, in and out of the traffic. That's sort of how I think the older, aged feel when the little ones are running in and out of their legs. Respect will make an effort to ensure that noise doesn't become too loud or wearisome. As we age, noise becomes harder.

Everyone has a limit. Every mother has a limit to noise, and at some point that limit is reached and it is quiet. But as we get older that limit in some cases can become lower. It's just a debility of age. It's harder to deal with that noise.

And so to respect the aged, we will remember that and be sensitive to that they might have a lower threshold of noise. Those who are ancient may reach that limit a little more quickly. And I think another way that we show respect is in our language, in our forms of address. Old man is used today as a term of disrespect. Old man.

But that is a very term that ought to convey honor. An aged man is an honorable man. It is found in the way of righteousness. An aged people, old people ought to be honored. And it is a shame that our culture has made that a term of dishonor.

And that has made age something that is not to be honored and not to be respected. And that spirit seeps through in so many different ways. God would have us, He commands us in the fifth commandment, honor your father and mother. He would have us to honor the agent. Now the second point of our text in how we are able to lead a life of significance is that we conquer our own spirit.

He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city." Spiritual virtues are better than physical virtues. What this is saying is that Godly character is better than great feats of physical strength. Better than He who takes a city. That is, than a hero. Than somebody who has done a great public work, conquering a city, winning a war.

We think of the great generals, like George Washington, that is known as the father of this country because he defeated the British, he persevered, or other great generals who have delivered the land, or people who have done great heroic feats, feats of great strength. We have today many of our heroes, and that's what this is speaking of. It's he who rules his spirit is greater than or better than a great hero. And who does our culture make heroes of? But those who are very skilled with their body, who are skilled with great strength.

Football players, sports players, these are the great heroes often of our day, or those who have made great wealth. And the Bible says that spiritual virtues are better, they're greater than those physical virtues. Yes, bodily exercise does profit a little. Some of the greatest athletes are very disciplined, and they were disciplined. If you read about their lives, The best of the best are there because they are very disciplined.

Very disciplined. Far, in some ways, more disciplined than you and I in the regimen that they impose upon themselves, in their work ethic, in the attention that they pay to even the things that they eat. They're very disciplined. And the Bible says that that does profit a little. It's not unprofitable.

It's not wrong. But far more profitable are those character graces. Godliness with contentment is great gain. He that controls his spirit, he that rules over that tongue, that little instrument that is like the rudder on a ship that is so little but it has such a huge effect that turns the whole ship, or that tongue that's like that little spark, little fire. It's just a little spark, but once it's ignited it can burn down whole forests.

He that controls that spirit and that tongue is mightier than he that has great mastery with the sword. Gideon subdued the enemy for his country, But I think his greatest victory was the one that followed right after that in Judges chapter 8. He had just defeated the Midianites, remember with that little army, his 300 soldiers. And then he had gathered Israel and they went and pursued them and they conquered them. But the men of Ephraim got angry at him.

They said, why have you done this? Why have you pursued the Midianites? Why have you done this to us by not calling us? When you went to fight them, why didn't you bring us along? And they were upset with him, and they reprimanded him sharply.

It might have been very easy for him at that point, having just delivered the whole country, just saved them from the Midianites and won a great victory to be upset with them for being upset with him. And responded in the same way to them as they were talking with him, with anger. But he controlled his spirit. He said, What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abizar?

God has delivered me into your hands, the princes of Midian. And what was I able to do in comparison with you?" It's a soft answer. It's a gracious answer. He rolled over what surely must have been a desire to answer in kind. And the Bible says that their anger was then subdued against him.

Against him. He won a great victory there because he had subdued his own spirit. Or David had sent those messengers to the house of Nabal asking for a little bit of food on a great feast day. Asking for a little bit of a great man who had great wealth and whom his men had guarded and protected, defended his flocks, preserved his wealth. He did it without asking for anything in return at the time.

And now in there plenty, David sent some messengers asking for a little, and he was rebuffed. His messengers were sent away shamefully, and David was angry. He was very angry. He picked up his sword and as you know, he ran back with his army to utterly decimate the house of Nabal. But God intervened and sent Abigail.

And it was through her words of wisdom that David recognized what he was about to do and he ruled over his spirit. He was very grateful to Abigail for her wisdom, for her intervention. He credited her with saving him from a great folly that would have been with him the rest of his life. The shedding of innocent blood. In fact, he was so grateful to her, and so appreciative, and so moved by what she had done in coming to him and intervening, that when her husband died a few days later, he married her, took her as his wife.

You see, our spirit, if we are going to continue in the way of righteousness into our age, we must learn to control our spirit, to rule over the anger, to not be those who are quick to be angry, quick not to speak, but rather those who are slow to anger and slow to speak. This is Something that if you are like me every day, nearly every day, every week for sure, but probably every day, I am convicted of a failure in this area. But if we are to be those who persevere, who persevere in the way of righteousness and are found as old men and women in the way of righteousness, then we will be those who conquer our spirit, who rule over our tongue, who rule over our thoughts, who rule over our passions, and to bring them into submission to the Word of God. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9, we subdue our own passions, thus when we have preached to others, we ourselves should be cast away. Now thirdly, Those who desire to live a life that is significant, a life that leaves a Godly legacy, a heritage, We will acknowledge the Lord's direction in all things.

We will acknowledge the Lord's direction in the entire course of our life. God is sovereign And He governs not just the big things in our life, but even the little things. Everything is under His rule. Everything that comes to us, that happens to us, happens because God has brought it to us. He has brought it to us because He loves us.

So the lot is cast into the lap. But it is Every decision is from the Lord. The Lot is, we don't know exactly what it was in this day, But it was something like a dice or a rock or like flipping a coin it was a way of Leaving to the providence of God the outcome of a decision Leaving a decision to the providence of God And It was used in many different things. Some that were prescribed and some that were occasional. For example, the choosing of the scapegoat.

Remember there were two goats. One was sacrificed, one They put their hands on and was led away into the wilderness this scapegoat well which goat was which They cast a lot for that to determine which was which when they divided up the land as we read about, they did it by lot. That way there is no way that anybody can say, well you show favoritism. You gave him that nice piece of land because he's your whatever you know you like him better or he's your relative rather so they they divided up the land which tribe would get which plot of land obviously some were better than others some had different different natural resources, different geography. So which tribe got which land, which plot of land was done by lot.

You can read about that in Joshua 18 sometimes It was used to identify people that were causing a problem When when the Jonathan and when Paul? Saul lost to the Philistines There was a I didn't lose I guess, but there was a problem. They drew lots to see who the problem was. And it came down to between Saul and Jonathan and They drew lots and it came up to be Jonathan or Jonah when they were trying to decide Who's the person that's cause of this problem? They drew lots and the lot went to Jonah.

So it's used to identify people that were the cause of problems or the source of God's judgment. But it was also used for mundane things like the scheduling of the musicians. Which musician, Which group of musicians would get this week and which would get that week? They used lots. Why?

Because they didn't want to show any favoritism to the fathers or the young. There would be no favoritism. They couldn't say, well, you gave this more better time to your father or to them because they were more skilled. No, they wanted to remove all those factors so they chose which day they would have duty by lot. Same with the guards of Jerusalem.

Who would guard what shift and what schedule was chosen by Lot. And the division and scheduling of the priest's work was chosen by Lot. Specifically to avoid any possibility of personal choice entering into the decision. And so you read about it in three consecutive chapters, 1st Chronicles 24, 25, and 26, as they talk about the division of the duties of the priests, the musicians, and the guards even. It was all done by Lot.

When the Israelites came back from the captivity, they had to repopulate the land. Well, who gets to live in the city and who gets to live in the country? They decided that by Lot. Ten percent lived in Jerusalem, the other ninety percent lived out in the country. Who did what?

That was by lot. Who had to live in the city? In fact, God appeals to that in Isaiah 34 when he's talking about bringing the judgment on the land. He talks about dividing the land by lot and giving it to the wild beasts Jesus garment was The soldiers decided who could get it by lot so they wouldn't have to cut it, the one that was one piece. And Matthias was selected as an apostle by lot.

Remember, they picked two men who were filled with the Holy Spirit. And they were equally qualified men who met the qualifications of an apostle who had seen the Lord Jesus who had been with him in his earthly ministry. So they were two equally qualified people. Instead of having a popularity contest, instead of electioneering and saying vote for me vote for me because because I'm better. Well people don't say that but what's the basis for saying vote for me.

They chose by law not by electioneering. So the lot still has many uses. Some would say that the lot should not be used anymore today. The reason that they say that is because the canon, the scriptures are closed. And God no longer speaks through all these other ways.

Like Hebrews says, God who in diverse times and places has spoke through these many ways, now he speaks through his son. They would say, well now all these other ways are passed. But I think that there is a difference between revelation and illumination. So we're not looking for new revelation here when we cast a lot or flip a coin to decide who goes first, which order two people are going to speak in, or rock, paper, scissors, or something like that. We're not looking for revelation.

We're simply looking for a neutral choice, for illumination. So I think, I believe it is proper to continue to use lots today. They are not to be taken lightly though. They are not to be abused. As we read a couple weeks ago in our confession, a lot is something that is to be regarded as one of the works of God, as an ordinance, and it should be regarded as something holy, something that we don't profane.

We recognize that every decision, even of how a die, twists and rolls on the ground. If we knew all the inputs to it, we would say that it follows the law of gravity. But of course, who passed the law of gravity? It's God. God who passed the law of gravity.

It's God who enforces the law of gravity moment by moment. The reason we never see gravity stopping is because God is faithful. God never sleeps. He never is indisposed or away on vacation. So when we see this constancy and gravity, we are seeing the constancy and the faithfulness of the Lord Himself upholding the created order by the word of His power.

And so even the lot as the die tumbles upon the ground, That decision is from the Lord. He is actively controlling it. Of course, that means that a miracle is not God intervening As if God is somehow standing back and letting the natural order of the world go by and then a miracle is when he reaches down and changes something. Now that's a deistic view of the world. Rather, we need to understand the world as God is present, everywhere present.

He is everywhere ruling, every moment, even in how the die falls and what side turns up. A miracle is not so much God intervening and changing something, but a miracle is simply God working in a different way than He ordinarily does. When you throw a piece of iron in water, you expect it to sink. Why does it sink? Because God brings it down.

That's the work of God. It's His providence. Just like the decision of the lot is His work. And so, if the iron floats, that is no more intervention into the created order than when it sinks. It's simply God working in a different way.

And when God works in a different way, or when he brings two things together that in terms of time that you wouldn't expect to be together, then we call that a miracle. But we have to remember that yes it is miraculous, but no it's not God working in any more or less of a sense than at any other time. God is a God who governs His world every moment of every day in everything that is all around us. In everything. So, then we can say at the end of our life That we have no regrets.

We have no regrets because everything that has happened to us, even the decisions of the flipping of a coin, have been the Lord's providence in our life. The wife of my pastor growing up, from when I was 10 to 17, I had many pastors in different cities that we lived, but from when I was 10 to 17, the wife of my pastor died just a few months ago, earlier this year. She was 98, she would have been 99 this year, this August, she would have been 99. I talked to her a few years ago, just maybe two or three, and she had mentioned having over 200 living descendants. She talked a lot in that conversation, she talked a lot about her parents.

Took me a second to realize she wasn't talking about her mom and dad. She was talking about all the parents among her descendants. Her grandchildren were parents. Her children were grandchildren. So she had a lot of parents.

She was talking about those. And how she, as a mother advanced in age, prayed for them, counseled them and so forth. But one of her grandchildren interviewed her shortly before she died. And she asked her grandmother, 98 years of age, grandmother do you have any regrets? And without a moment hesitation, this mother, this matriarch said, no, I have no regrets.

Because everything that has happened to me has happened by the sovereign will of God. And God has brought it to pass, even the sorrow, and she has known, my brothers and sisters, many sorrows in her life. Many. But every one of those sorrows, every one of those trials, God had brought, and she recognized that it was God's sovereign purpose to bring those trials into her life for her own good, that she might be sanctified and made ready to meet her Savior. And so she could say without any hesitation she had no regrets in her entire life because God was sovereign over every hair that fell from her head.

And that woman has left a legacy. A legacy that in her age, in her old age, in her advanced age, as a great, great, and I'm not even sure if there were three, but I know for sure there were two, great grandmother. She was found in the way of righteousness, still bearing fruit in her old age, still testifying to the work of God in her. She lived a significant life. A significant life.

Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we do so thank you for your Word, for the wisdom that it gives to us. That we who know nothing, who are born in ignorance, even in rebellion against you, conceived in iniquity and born in sin, who go astray from the womb speaking lies. Yet you give to us your word. You have sent that word who was made flesh, who dwelt among us, whose glory we beheld.

And He is our righteousness. And He is our sacrifice. And it is His Spirit that works in us. Father, we ask for the work of Your Holy Spirit in us to build grace upon grace, grace upon grace, to add to our faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge brotherly and kindness and love. That we might not be unprofitable and unfruitful.

We ask, Lord, for Your grace that we may persevere in the way of righteousness. For we know that our sanctification is not of our own work, but it is of Your grace. It is a work of Your grace in us. So we ask that you would teach us, instruct us out of your Word, and grant to us the wisdom of your Word. That we too may live a life, a worthy life, a life worth living, and receive that crown of righteousness that is laid up for all those who love your appearing.

This we ask in Jesus' name, Amen.