Gospel—Wally Dear
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Interesting, uh, instructions.
Please do not fiddle with the microphone. Speak to the audience, not the mic.
That's what I would like to do tonight, and certainly we welcome each and everyone through the Gospel meeting.
As our brother Bruce said last night, we got good news to proclaim and I really enjoyed what was, uh, put on the invitation distributed around the neighborhood. For those that didn't see the invitation, let me just read what it says. You are cordially invited to the Gospel meeting tonight, 7:00 PM. Please come and hear the wonderful message of God's love.
And the salvation that is offered.
In Jesus Christ.
There will never be a better opportunity than today.
And today is in capital letters to address the question of your soul salvation with God. We look forward to seeing you and your family.
The whole knowledge, the accepted time, behold, now is the day of salvation. 2nd Corinthians 6 and two beautiful invitation, foremost word in an invitation.
Come, COME, come. And we want to thank each one for coming here tonight. Somebody said C stands for children, which I see here tonight. O stands for older people.
And I see some of those and.
N stands for middle-aged people and I see some of those, and E of course stands for everyone now.
I'd like to sing a hymn #9 starts with the word Come. What a beautiful.
Word come.
#9.
Come every so I said. A president, mercy, and our Lord.
And he must trust me in your breath, by trusting in his worker.
Oh, today's problem. Yeah, although it's hard to get it now.
You will stay here to begin the rest of the day in the future in your ground. Staying there for $2000.
00:05:08
2811 straight there was 1900 and 1900 and 1900 thousand 959.
Get all the time right after the whole day is good.
Oh great.
And all who made crowds there, I don't know who made it up and down.
Yeah, you're well said.
Today's painting and the rest of the day can you do is well, I'll say you're doing to my house.
Could we look to the Lord in prayer to seek His help and blessing here tonight?
Our God and Father, we thank thee.
That the gospel of Thy grace is still being sounded out in this world.
Be set by the sin of man. We thank Thee for the good news, the glad tidings of great joy that a Savior has been born, a Savior who is able to meet us in our desperate need as sinners. And Father, we do pray very specially here tonight.
That if there be one who is still outside of Christ.
That by Thy grace Thou will work in their heart and their conscience in convicting power, that they might recognize the peril that they are in as they put off this all important matter of salvation, where we know that now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. Father, we thank Thee for Thy wondrous love sending thy Son.
And we ask you that we might speak well of Christ tonight.
That hearts might be one for Christ, our desire might be to honor the Son. And so we thank Thee for this. Another opportunity to open Thy word and to present the way of salvation. May it be in simplicity.
And in the power that Holy Spirit, we ask this as we give thanks and the precious worthy name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. I'd like to sing another hymn #14 Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?
#14.
Are you watching the Blood on the Land?
In my soul, planting blood on the land.
All right, good garden. What's what's the name of our name? And so are you watching the blah, blah, blah, blah blah.
Are you walking daily by the Savior's life? Are you washed in the blood of the blood?
Are you washed in the blood of the land?
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I didn't watch.
The land.
A bright grown calculus will be a rugged spin in your mind in a red light against the blood.
Whenever you're so ready for the questions, right? And be watched in the blood of the land.
Are you one in the world? In the soul? When I think of the land, I want to join someone. I'm in heaven on this side. And then you want me to add snow? I see you lost in the wallahs of the land.
This summer we've had the privilege of working with children as well as older ones in the Gospel. We visited about 5 areas in Maine, New Brunswick.
And it was very encouraging to see the interest on the part of some who attended the meetings. And there were those who came to Jesus for the cleansing power.
They were saved by the grace of God and it was a joy to hear these mostly children confess the name of Jesus that they had called upon him for salvation.
And.
Year ones tonight.
Have you ever?
Called upon Jesus for salvation.
Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power? Is there some anybody here tonight still in your scene?
Because the profit could save, your iniquities have separated you between you and your God.
Iniquities are sins, and they separate from God.
But it's a wonderful truth of the gospel is this there is a remedy for sin, and God has provided it and God.
Always.
Does to perfection what he does, and when it comes to a remedy for sin.
It works because it's of God's providing, and we sang about it in this hymn. What is the remedy? It's the blood of Jesus. That's what cleanses from all sin. Well, tonight I would like to look.
In this book.
At more references to sheep and to the shepherd. And that was a subject that we took up this summer.
Somebody has referred to this as a sheet book.
Because there are hundreds and hundreds of references to sheep in this book.
It's the Bible. It's the word of God.
And the first reference that comes to mind is in the book of Isaiah.
Let's turn to Isaiah chapter 53.
Mm-hmm. Isaiah, chapter 53.
And verse 6.
All we like sheep.
Have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way.
And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Did you know that you are like a sheep?
And what characterizes a sheep is that when a sheep wanders away and is lost.
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No way.
Can't it find its way back? That sheep is helpless.
That sheep needs someone to search for it.
And this first tells us that all we, like sheep, have gone astray. There's no exception.
Is there anybody in this audience here tonight? That would be.
Uh.
To raise their hand and say that they are an exception to what we read here.
Any hands?
Well, I want to thank you because if you are honest with yourself, if I'm honest with myself.
We must admit we have all done bad.
And it's very easy to point the finger, but when we do, you'll notice I got three fingers pointing back to myself.
And that's the way it works.
It tells us in.
Romans chapter 3 and verse 23 For there is no difference for all.
Three letter words, a little small word, but it takes in the largest company. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.
That's what Cind does.
I don't think anybody here.
Could jump.
From the floor.
And touch the ceiling.
Now there would be those that could.
Jump perhaps a little higher than someone else and somebody might be able to jump halfway up, because I know we have some athletes here in this room tonight. But the fact is everyone would come short of reaching the ceiling. And, you know, every one of us have come short of attaining God's standard of holiness. And what is that? It's perfection.
Holiness of God.
Is the absence of sin and God is holy. He's a thrice holy God. Well.
You know it says later in Romans, there is no difference for the same Lord overall is rich unto all that call upon Him, and that's beautiful to consider too. The little word all shows up there, no exception. Any who call upon the Lord are going to be inundated with God's riches.
It's the grace of God.
That I can only begin in a feverless way to describe the riches of God's grace. It's so wonderful. The hymn writer put it this way. Lord, it's enough. Thy grace around us pours.
It's rich and unexhausted store in all its joy is ours all the exceeding riches of his grace Kindness.
Well.
Here all we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone. Now that word every coupled with one everyone.
Looks like it's 2 words in my Bible. It means the same thing as the three letter word. All you know scripture is written.
In such a way that it leaves you beyond a question of a doubt as to what it means.
And that's good.
How wonderful to stand on the Word of God. And you are on solid ground when you stand on the Word of God.
We were thinking about this. I stand alone on the word of God.
And we looked over and here was a little boy and he was standing.
Honest Bible.
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Well.
The question is.
Are you on a firm foundation?
You know we have a brother here.
That's.
Keenly interested in foundations.
Any engineers foundations and he makes sure that they are safe and secure. If you don't have a firm foundation, forget the building. We need to start with the foundation. And today I want to tell you something. Christ is the rock of our salvation. He is the firm foundation. And if you're on Christ, you're on solid ground. Well, it tells us here we have turned everyone.
To his own way.
And the Lord hath laid on him.
The iniquity of a soul.
And that brings me to the next, uh, reference. But I, I would just like to say this.
If we read verse 7.
We find.
That the Lord Jesus.
Is referred to.
As a lamb, because I believe this is prophetic.
Of Jesus Christ, what we read here in verse #7.
Now, when it comes to sheep.
It can be a very humbling study, although fascinating 1.
And the reason is that sheep, they do very foolish things. They do dumb things.
I read one time about a farmer. He had a flock of sheep and one of the sheep found a hole in the fence.
And, uh, the sheep thought, well, that looks very interesting, I think, uh.
A good team to jump through the hole. So just leap right through the hole, not realizing that on the other side of the fence was a dry well that the farmer was using to throw rubbish into it.
And so that sheet ended up down in the well in the pit.
There was a sheep who saw what the first one did.
And he did the same thing, jump right through the hole and now he's down in the well.
And a third sheet.
Did the same thing. You know, these animals, they're called flocking animals, and they tend to like to, you know, do the same thing.
Well, it's OK to do the same thing as the other person as long as they're doing the right thing.
But in this case it was bad and the sheep continued to jump through this hole and the farmers see what's happening. He tried to stop the sheep but apparently they just kept jumping in.
And the hole was filling up and the best thing that the farmer could do after it was all over was to get over there and start pulling out the sheep.
And he pulled them out 1 by 1.
And thankfully they all survived, though of course the ones at the bottom were almost suffocated.
But I read about another account.
There was a flock of sheep that was being transported across.
A body of water.
And a storm blew up, and the waves began to mount up, and it was a a fierce storm that developed.
And this ship apparently was bouncing around and one of the trap doors flew open.
And the same thing.
A sheep jumped out.
And then another one. And then another one and they all jumped out and I understand.
They drowned. This time they couldn't be rescued.
Well, you know these sheep.
They uh.
We're on the wrong track. They thought they're going the right direction, just like a lot of people today.
You know, the scripture says there's a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
And I trust that here tonight.
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You might realize.
That there's only one way.
To heaven, and that is through Jesus. So Lord Jesus said, I am the way.
The truth and the life, no man comes unto the Father, but by me.
But I wanted to refer to verse seven and when it speaks about the Lord Jesus as a lamb or as a sheep.
No way. Do you wanna suggest?
That there was any foolishness or folly with him.
No, He was indeed the the Son of God. He was God revealed in flesh. I believe we could rearrange those words Son of God and say God the Son. He was here and in verse seven it says he was oppressed, He was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter.
And as a sheep before shears is dumb.
So he opened it, not his mouth.
Some years ago.
In our area there was a man whose wife and they had the flock of sheep.
And the wife taught in the school.
In Vanceboro, but she invited us to come and observe the shearing of the sheep.
So we went and it was very interesting.
And you know, they would bring in these sheep and they were loaded with wool and they bring them and they begin to shear off.
The world and it just seemed like it was peeling off and then they roll them over and shear them some more and then roll them the other way and so on and so forth. And I was very much interested. Are these sheep going to say or utter a sound? And you know, I never heard a sound out of any one of those sheep. And that really, of course supported what we.
Read here that he was.
He didn't open his mouth. Lord Jesus was brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before his shears is done. He opened not as much. He could have resisted his arrest. He could have resisted. But you know, the Lord Jesus came into this world to save sinners. That's what it tells us in First Timothy one.
I believe it's 15 This is faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus is coming to the world to save sinners and if he had saved himself.
I wouldn't be here tonight and neither would you, because there would be no gospel to preach, be no salvation but the Lord Jesus, he loves you.
And he went to the cross of Calvary and I want to turn to that, but I will say this before turning the next portion.
There was one sheep.
And it was the final sheep.
And they brought that sheep, and he was making a big commotion and thrashing about and.
Just bleeding. I thought, well what makes the difference here? Every other one of these sheep was dumb in the sense didn't say a word.
You know what that particular sheet that was bleeding its head off was? A pet sheep apparently had been spoiled and didn't appreciate that kind of treatment. That's what made the difference.
But that didn't change my confidence in the Word of God.
You know, here once tonight.
The best book to read is the Bible.
There's no other book like it.
We sang this morning. Jesus loves me. This I know.
For the Bible tells me so. Now that's 5 words that we try to stress this summer too. The fiber tells me so. And if the Bible tells me so, it's the truth. You can stand on it. You're on solid ground. You don't have to question because it's the Word of God.
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And I understand.
I read this now. I saw it on a poster about the Bible. It said 2500 times. There's reference in this book to the fact that this is the word of God.
We got the best book in our hands here tonight and.
Nan has opposed it and tried to obliterate it. You take a man like Voltaire, you know Voltaire, he was an infidel, He didn't believe in God. At least that's what he said and he said in one century.
There will not be.
A Bible on the face of the earth. That's what he said he lived back in the 18th century.
You know what Wikipedia says today about the Bible? It's the best selling book in the world.
So much for Voltaire.
Or you're gonna listen to dear Ones.
We got men today.
Opposing.
The word of God, they say. How do you know it's the word of God?
How do you know it wasn't just written by man? How do you know it's not the Fables? How do you know it's not fiction?
This man would only take time to consider.
God has preserved it down through the centuries.
And I believe our brother Nick spoke about this at the camp.
And.
It has withstood the test of time. It's been said that the hammers of unbelief have been worn out on the anvil of Holy Scripture. Now the Bible has been translated into about 500 languages. That is the complete Bible. Parts of the Bible have been translated into about 2400 languages now. Is there any other book?
That's received this kind of treatment.
Of course not.
This is God at work, dear ones, spreading His word, and if we're not going to accept it, there will be those who do.
But I trust here tonight nobody is turning a deaf ear to the Word of God.
Because to do so is fatal.
And unique Christ and unique salvation, and Christ is salvation. And you need him now.
Don't wait.
I used to think the last place.
That I would want to be.
Is on a tightrope.
Stretched between a couple of buildings.
120 feet high.
Or perhaps between a couple of mountains, Or perhaps across the Niagara Falls.
You wouldn't catch me on a tightrope.
No way.
But I do believe here tonight.
That if you're in your sins, sitting here without Christ, you do not have salvation.
You're on a tightrope.
You say. What do I mean?
David said that there is but a step between him and death. One step.
That is a precarious position to be in.
And here tonight.
You need salvation.
Now for more reasons than one.
Number one.
Before this meeting ends.
The Lord Jesus.
May descend.
From heaven with a shout. I believe with all my heart the Lord Jesus is about to step out of heaven. He's coming in the air, He's coming in the clouds, and he's going to give a shout.
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And there will be the voice of the Archangel, the trump of God. The dead in Christ is gonna rise, and those who are alive and remain are gonna be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air. And if you're left sitting here in your seat.
It's all over for you, dear one.
You know, I'm not trying to stand up here and scare you, but you really should be scared.
You really should. What would happen if that were to happen tonight? That Jesus give the shout? Where would you be?
Would you be on the cloud or would you still be here on Earth, sitting in this hall, in this seat?
It's a serious matter, isn't it?
In a sense, it's like being on tightrope.
Now there's something else.
Who knows what's gonna happen when we leave the building? You know, we see accidents all the time.
We had an accident in Vanceboro the other day, 4:00 in the morning I hear a shout and that's very unusual because it's a small community.
I thought, well, what is happening? I thought maybe somebody was getting into the building or something and uh, I looked out and I saw the flashers.
Fire engine. Rescue truck.
Hey, Ambulance.
Right out on the road. So I got dressed, I went out.
And they were waiting for the helicopter because we got a helipad right across from where we live.
They were gonna airlift a young fellow.
From Vanceboro to Bangor.
It's about two hours driving time, about, uh, 26 minutes in the helicopter.
There's been a bad accident. I found out that they had already gone with life uh, line 2, uh, the site of the accident and they airlifted the driver. It was critically injured.
And now another helicopter is on its way. But these things happen, you say? I don't think it would happen to me. How could you be so sure? None of us know how long our time is. I'm happy to report that, uh.
The driver who was critically injured has made a remarkable comeback. And he used to come to the Bible hour. His name is Ryan Dyer. You might pray for him. We visited Ryan. He seemed to really appreciate the visit in the hospital.
19 years old.
The other three boys in the car with him, they survived and they're doing quite well. But you know, dear ones, life is fragile. None of us know how long our time is. That's why it's important to take God's offer of salvation now. Don't trifle. It's foolish.
And the other thing is.
The longer we reject the gospel of the grace of God, the harder our heart becomes. And that's why it's hard to reach older people.
We noticed in the gospel work, children are far more receptive, more.
Submissive and.
It's just that the older we get.
The harder the heart.
As the truth of God is rejected, so I wanna turn over to uh.
John's gospel chapter.
10.
Now here in John chapter 10, we have reference to the shepherd as well as the sheep, and you'll notice what it says in verse 11. And this is the Lord Jesus speaking. He says I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
Now we heard.
From our brother Jim.
A lovely commentary on Psalm 23 and that was written by.
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A Good Shepherd.
About.
And what is it that makes a shepherd a good one? I believe it is that the shepherd places more importance on the life of his sheep than he does on his own life.
And you know David, as he kept his father's sheep, one day he sees.
Coming to the flock.
A lion, an enemy.
And you know that lion, it tells us, took a lamb. Notice it says a lamb.
The lamb would be easy to get and, I don't know, perhaps more tender.
And I do believe that Satan, who is represented by a lion in the word of God, tells us that Satan goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, but he's after the children.
He is.
But you know David, he saw.
It tells us.
The Lion.
He had a decision to make.
Will he let the lion take the sheep back to its den?
And destroy the sheep.
Save his own life.
Or we go after the line.
Deliver the lamb at the risk of his own life now. It doesn't tell us how long it took him to make the decision.
But he did decide he wants to save the land.
There once tonight, he went after that line.
He destroyed the lion, he delivered the sheep, But then when the lion, it tells us, rose up against him.
I suppose the lion just lunged toward him. It says he took him by the the beard and he smote him. Suppose maybe he had a a stick. He smoked a lie, he killed it.
And then it tells us a Behr team and a Behr too took a land.
And David, at the risk of his own life, saved the land and killed the bear. Now we come to this portion here.
Who are we speaking about? We're.
Speaking about the Son of God.
We had today in the children's meeting, the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
And I believe that when the Lord Jesus came, he is the Son of man.
He knew.
That it would be at the cost of his life, but he came anyway. Why? Because he loves you. They're one tonight. Jesus loves you, He wants you. He wants to save you from the power of sin and Satan. And here it tells us that the Good Shepherd gives his life.
For the sheep.
How wonderful.
The shepherd is I'd like to turn over to Luke chapter.
15 Now we're familiar with these portions.
But I trust with that tire of the truth, because I believe these portions bring before us what's in the heart of God. And here in Luke 15 we find that beside a lost sheep we have a lost coin, and then we have a lost son.
And in every case.
Where the lost is found, we find rejoicing.
Here it tells us about the shepherd. He counted sheep. He only had 99, supposed to have 101 of them wandered away. He goes after the sheep that was lost, and it tells us that when he finds it.
He brings it back on his shoulders, a place of security, and he calls together the neighbors. Rejoice with me. I have found my sheep, which was lost, You know. I believe the shepherd here speaks of the Son of God. We come to the coin, and the woman is seeking the coin. She finds it. She rejoices. I think the woman is a picture of the Spirit of God. But then we come to the final story.
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And we've got a son. He's rebellious. He wants to run away from home. He takes his father's goods into a far country, and he squanders what his father gave to him.
In parting, he wasted his money. That's really what a prodigal does. He's not a good steward of money he just wasted. It ends up with nothing.
Joins himself with a citizen of that country and ends up feeding pigs.
And then?
He begins to think about his father.
And there is a change in this young man. He's thinking about his father's servants and how good his father is to the servants. You know, they have bread enough into spirit. He's out there perishing with hunger, smelling like the pigs and rags, and in ruin.
And so you know.
Makes its way toward the father's house and when the father sees him great way off, it tells us the father ran and fell on his neck and just covered him with kisses.
And then the father takes over. You know, it's so beautiful to read that story and see that the son of Simply Passive and the father brings him home and he's going to make him fit to be in the house. And so he calls for the best. Rd. puts it upon him, puts a ring on his finger, shoes on his feet. He calls for the fatted calf. There's been a calf.
Being fed, fattened for special occasions, time of celebration, Get the fatted calf, kill it. My son was lost, now he's found. He was dead, now he's alive again. And it tells us they began to be married. And you know, I think that's truly a picture of God the Father. And what?
Rejoices my heart is to realize that God.
Finds his joy and delight.
In blessing the Sinner.
Now, in connection with the sheep, it tells us that there is joy in the presence of the angels with God over one Sinner that repents.
Repentance. God looks for it. Repentance is a change of attitude.
It's a willingness to admit that God is right and I'm wrong.
And it's truly humiliating.
You. You cannot.
Be proud and repent. You cannot do that.
But I believe that when that prodigal, you know, he said, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight that prodigal was repentant.
Repentance.
Is so important. That's what the apostle Paul preached, Repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus. Well, there's many more scriptures that we could turn to in connection with sheep.
But we find that this sheep has been found, and as I think about it, what could the sheep do? Could not find its way back.
But the shepherd went.
Would not give up until he found it.
Many years ago.
There was a very famous.
Italian leader. His name was Garibaldi.
And in fact, I think some perhaps refer to him as the father of Italy. He had a great to do with the establishment or founding of that country of Italy, Geribaldi. But he had.
Troops at his disposal and one day he was going down the road.
With his troops, and he saw Shepherd and the shepherd.
Was.
Offset.
Jared Baldy asked him what the problem was. He said I'm missing a sheep.
And I cannot find it.
And Jared Waldi, he felt sorry for him, Shafi said. Oh, I'll help you so.
00:50:03
He told his men to start searching and they searched and searched.
And to begin coming back 1 by 1.
It was getting dark, couldn't find a sheep.
No sheep is lost.
Well, start to set in.
The night passed.
Gerald Baldy had never showed up.
The next morning, his men went to find.
Where he was and they found that he was still in bed and you know, that's a very.
Uh, this is not typical of that particular general to be sleeping in.
They woke him up.
And he get up out of bed and there.
Something else was in the bed. You know what it was.
Who is the lamb? The sheep?
Geribaldi He continued to search until he had found.
The sheep that was lost, all his men gave up.
But that kind of tells you something about the heart of the man.
But you know a sheep cannot find its way back.
And I believe that, uh.
What the sheep can do, if I could put it this way.
Is to bleat.
If it's in trouble, it can do that.
And.
I believe, dear ones tonight, that if you realize that before God that you are in your sins.
And that you are helpless and hopeless in your own ability to do anything about your situation. Look outside of yourself and call upon the Lord you know more than once, perhaps 3-4 times in the Word of God we read about whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, and God appreciates when we call upon Him for salvation.
Well, there once tonight.
The Lord Jesus on the cross shed his blood and tonight.
It is the remedy for.
The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleans us from all sin, and you can have salvation tonight by simply asking Him to save your soul. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. He was buried, but he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. The Bible tells me so. And today Jesus is a living, glorified Savior, waiting to hear your cry. Call upon Him.
You'll save your soul. Cleanse your heart.
Make you whole and you can have the assurance that all is well for time and eternity. You could be able to say the Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not want, whereas another little girl put it. She kind of misquoted the verse, but.
I think the thought is good. The Lord is my shepherd. That's all I want.
It's true he will provide for every need now.
I must apologize because I this was supposed to be over a quarter 'til.
I do apologize.
I was thinking an hour but.
Let's pray. Father, we thank thee tonight for the message of the gospel, and we thank Thee that the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. And dear Father, tonight we do ask that each one in this company might have the assurance of salvation, that each one might realize that they are lost, that they are perishing. And we ask that they might.
Look outside themselves.
And call upon D for salvation while there is still time, because we know that one of these days indeed, the door of mercy will be shut.
And the Father's house will be full, and we earnestly pray.
00:55:03
That the eternal address of each one here tonight might be heaven.
In that hill we ask thy mercies. Thank you, nee for thy love, dear Father, sending thy Son to be the Savior. Thank you that he's on all the way home, Shepherd, and we thank Thee to know that no one can pluck us out of his hand. So we ask thy blessing, giving you our thanks and thy precious and worthy name, Lord Jesus, Amen.