Advent Midweek 1, 2017 - The Means of Grace - God's Word

Luke 1:26-38 -  In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary.²⁸ And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” ²⁹ But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰ And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

³⁴ And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

³⁵ And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. ³⁶ And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. ³⁷ For nothing will be impossible with God.” ³⁸ And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  

Dear friends in Christ, it is Advent.  The time of the church year when we focus on the fact that Christ comes to us.  He is coming, his advent is near.  And for our midweek advent services this year, we will be focusing on the way that Christ comes to us, specifically in the means of grace.  We’ll be learning each week about one of the ways that God comes to create faith with us. 

There are three ways that this takes place.  Through God’s Word, proclaimed into our ear.  Through baptismal waters poured upon us.  And through participating in the very body and blood of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper.  In these three things, the Holy Spirit works to create faith in us, so that we receive the forgiveness, life and salvation that Christ so freely gives. 

This week we hear about God’s Word, and the tremendous power that it has to accomplish God’s will.  We see that first in our Gospel lesson, where an angel visits Mary to announce to her the birth of Jesus.  The Word declares to her that God will take on human flesh with in her own womb, that the almighty, all powerful, omnipresent God will grow within human flesh, and that she will give birth to God.  And how will it happen?  Not through the will of man, not though the natural way babies come about.  Instead, when the Word of God is spoken into her ear, the power of the most high comes upon her and Christ is conceived. 

IN other words, God’s word does what it says it will do for her.  The word says let the God become man to save humanity from sin, and behold Mary becomes pregnant.  It is not unlike when God’s word said, Let there be light, and there was. 

Dear Christian, God’s Word works for you what it says for you as well.  What I mean is, when you hear God’s Word, purely preached in full truth, it creates faith in you.  Paul writes this, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”  Jesus says the same thing in John chapter 17, that after his death Christians would believe through the word of God.  Yes, the Word creates faith in Christian hearts. 

The reason it does so, is because wherever the Word is, there the Holy Spirit is also.  SO when you hear the Word, it is as the angel Gabriel says, “The Holy Spirit comes upon you” to create and sustain and build faith with in you.  God’s word teaches this very idea throughout all its pages. 

So why, then O Christians, if God’s Word works such wonders, if it is one of the precious means of grace, if it is where the Holy Spirit promises to be at work in us for our salvation, why then do we so despise the word?  Why are we so unconcerned with it?  Why are we fine to take the time to watch How the Grinch stole Christmas this December, but won’t open to read the Nativity account in Luke’s Gospel?  Why do we have people who time to go to Christmas concerts, but not to Church?  Why do we struggle to read, learn and inwardly digest God’s pure word each and every day, instead thinking that since we read the bible during Sunday School decades ago, that’s enough?  Why do we think its ok to skip Bible study for football games, lunch, work, or really for any reason?  Why are the countless bibles sitting on our shelves so difficult to open and read?

Because we are sinners. 

Sinners who deserve death as just punishment for sin. 

We are unholy, unrighteous, we are guilty before God, especially for despising his blessed word. 

So Repent this Advent.  Know that God is coming to you in his Word.  Confess your loathing of his word, confess your laziness is studying it, confess and repent, and hear God’s Word come to you in this absolution.  Your sin is forgiven. 

It is forgiven by the very word of God himself, made flesh to dwell among us.  The Word that entered Mary’s ear, grew in her womb was born, and laid in a manger for you.  It was an invasion of this sinful world by the Lord God himself.  It began his travel to Jerusalem, to the cross, to death itself – all for your sin.  The Word made flesh shed his blood to forgive you your sin.  The Word allowed that flesh to be nailed to a cross for you.  The Word died so that you might be forgiven, and now forgive you are.  And that Word rose again, into eternal life, the same thing that awaits you, Dear Christian. 

And now, in that forgiveness, gladly hear God’s Word.  Or as Paul says it, “¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”  Have peace in Christ.  Dust off that bible from the shelf.  Fathers, read the Nativity account to your kids this Christmas.  Mothers, sing the Word to your children as they go to sleep.  Church members, encourage one another to be in the word, and talk about what the Word teaches each week.  And know that in that word, the Holy Spirit is creating faith in you, he is saving you, he is giving you eternal life freely. 

The Word brings you comfort dear friends, It brings you peace, thus saith the Word of God.  That word is always there, always crying out to you, always delivering the cross of Jesus to you.  It washes you with water, as we’ll hear next week.  It feeds you with the bread and wine of heaven as we’ll hear in two week.  It creates faith in you.    And so we pray along with Mary in our Gospel lesson, Lord, let it be to me according to your word.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen. 

Proper 24 - E - 2013 - The God' Breathed Word of Salvation

The Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost

October 20, 2013 - Pastor Adam Moline

Genesis 32:22-30        2 Timothy 3:14-4:5     Luke 18:1-8

Grace Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is the epistle lesson, especially this verse, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”  Thus far our text.

Dear friends in Christ.  It’s been in the news over and over and over again since October began.  The Federal Government has been shut down.  And on every news story, the Republicans are out there, telling their constituents exactly what their itching ears want to hear – that it’s all the Democrat’s fault.  And the Democrats come on next, and tell their constituents what they want to hear – it’s all the Republican’s fault.  Both of them are telling their lies, louder and louder hoping someone will believe them.  Their only goal is to tell their party exactly what their party wants to hear so that they themselves will be reelected next term.  And it’s become a huge mess. 

Our text today tells us that in this world, we too will be bombarded with different messages, and many of them will be exactly what we want to hear with our itching ears.  But in the midst of all these differing false messages, we also hear another message,

THE WORDS OF GOD’S OWN BREATH, THE MESSAGE OF JESUS FOR YOU.

But often times that message is lost in all of the competing messages of the world.  Often we hear other messages instead.  And as our text says, often these messages are really “exactly what we want to hear.”  And often what we want to hear does not agree with what God says.

God’s word says “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” But that isn’t what we like to hear about ourselves.  We don’t want to hear about how we have sinned against God in our thoughts, words and deeds, by what we have done and what we have left undone.  Instead our itching ears like to hear about our own accomplishments.  We like to hear how good we are, and how many good things we have done.  We like to pat ourselves on our back, and ignore those times where we fall short.  Our itching ears want to hear, “You’re not that bad, it’ll be fine,”  when God’s word clearly says “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”  (James 2:10)  Thus we are all guilty.

God’s word says “You shall not bear false testimony.”  This means God’s word tells us we shouldn’t speak poorly of anyone, or speak of them behind their back.  But our itching ears like to hear the gossip that floats around town.  They like to hear about other people’s dirty laundry, and to spread it around.  We like to know others problems because it makes us feel better about our own selves.  “Sure I may have sinned this way, but it isn’t even close to as bad as that person.”  But in opposition to what our itching ears wish to hear, God says in the book of Proverbs (10:32), “The lips of the righteous know what is fitting, but the mouth of the wicked only what is perverse.”  And we are often wicked in what we say and hear. 

What else does God’s word say?  “You shall remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.”  God says, “Be in church.  Be in Bible study.”  But that’s not what our itching ears want to hear.  Instead they want to hear the Vikings game as it comes on.  Instead our ears want to hear the sound of pheasants flying away on an early Sunday morning, or the sound of a trolling motor.  We would rather be somewhere else than to spend time receiving God’s gifts here at church.  We would rather please ourselves than receive from God.  But God’s word is clear about these idols we make, “You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”  (Exodus 20)

God’s word says “You shall not commit adultery.”  But we hear on TV countless couples living together in our favorite shows, casually going from sexual relationship to sexual relationship.  In addition in our own midst we have couples who are living together out side of marriage.  And we hear how we should ignore it.  We hear of homosexual marriage being pushed all around us.  How it is ok, how we should accept it for what it is, and live and let live.  But God’s word says, “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.”  (Hebrews 13:4)

Dear friends in Christ, we are guilty.  In each one of these things we truly are guilty if we are honest with ourselves.  But that is part of the problem, we are not honest with ourselves.  We do not pay attention to our sin.  We do not pay attention to what God’s word’s clearly says about our own horrible condition.  Instead we often listen to what our itching ears want to hear, the very words of Satan, “Did God really say.”  Did God really say we are guilty?  Did God really say we have to live this way or that way?  Did God really say obey these rules?  Or can we just do what we want.  Can we just live how we want?  Which is the word of God, and which is our itching ears listening to other voices? 

On our own, we cannot control our itching ears.  For our entire life here on earth, we will struggle with the competing messages, as our text says, “The time is coming,” and I would say is now here, “When people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.”  This is our world today, this is our society today.  But our text also says, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.  All scripture is God breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”  God’s word speaks a better word to you here today, than those other voices we hear.

God’s word speaks to you of forgiveness, forgiveness given to you through Jesus Christ.  Forgiveness that is earned by Jesus’ death and resurrection.   For God’s word is clear about that gift to you.  Isaiah tells us, “Surely he has born our iniquities…  he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.”  His stripes, made as he was brutally beaten within inches of his life for you.  All four Gospels tell us that Jesus was crucified, that his hands and his feet were pierced through with nails, and that he was left there to hang until dead, for you.  His blood poured out from his hands and feet and sides, to make you whole. 

God’s word tell us that he then rose again from the dead, having laid in the tomb for 3 days.  And God’s word tell us that because of this miracle, you too have promises, promises that are better than any your itching ears want to hear.  Promises that in Jesus Christ you have life and salvation.  Promises that in Jesus your sins, every one of them are taken away.  Promises that God loves you, and that he will surely be with you always, even to the very end of the age.  God makes these promises as a blood pact, in the blood of Jesus, you can be certain of them.

And in fact, today, we come to this altar to receive the very body and blood of Jesus, the Word made flesh, for our very mouths to eat. 

Yes, God’s word condemns us for all of our sin and for our short comings.  But God’s word also says to us poor sinners, “You are set free, you are mine, you are forgiven.”  Often today we do hear other voices, and they try to entice us, but they are not match for the eternal promises of God.  God’s word says to you, that because of Jesus you have this promise, “no longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and the Lamb (Jesus) will be in it, and his servants will worship him.  They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads (in baptism).  This is your promise, here in the scripture breathed out from the very mouth of Jesus, given to you.  Peace to you, promised in God’s very words.  Amen.  

Proper 15 - 2012 - G - The Word of Man or the Word of Life

Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18             Ephesians 5:6-21         John 6:51-69

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is the Gospel lesson, especially these words, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”  Thus far our text.

Dear friends in Christ, The last few weeks, Jesus has been saying some difficult teachings.  He has not earned for himself any friends among the Jews of Capernaum.  In fact, lets be honest, Jesus’ words are a little odd to us as well.  “I am the bread of life” Jesus says, eat my flesh, drink my blood, and then you will live.  Oh and by the way, if you don’t eat, you are dead.  You can imagine the response of those people that day so long ago, “Wait a minute Jesus, that sounds a little weird.  I mean we aren’t cannibals here.  We don’t go around eating people, in fact we lock those sorts of people up and throw away the key.” 

“And Jesus, by the way, what’s this dead talk?  You think we’re dead if we don’t eat you?  That’s crazy talk, and frankly, we don’t have time for it.  We don’t want anything to do with you and your cannibalistic morbidity.”  That day, many stopped believing in Jesus.  That day, many turned away from Jesus, listening instead to what their itching ears and what their reason told them to believe.

And its no surprise really is it?  I mean we do the same thing all the time.  What’s that Jesus, you think I should drink so much?  Hog wash!  What’s that Jesus, you think I shouldn’t swear or curse?  Too bad!  You say I shouldn’t commit adultery, or steal, or lie, or gossip?  That’s just too bad, because frankly, I’m going to do what I want to anyways.  I’m my own boss, and I don’t need the likes of you telling me what to do. 

And it goes beyond even what we do.  We struggle to believe the things Jesus tells us about himself.  What’s that you think your God’s Son?  I don’t know if I can believe that.  I mean you died and all, God can’t do that right?  And you think the little snack in the middle of church is your body and blood, I’m not sure I can believe you Jesus, because it just seems to represent those things.  And finally enough of this Jesus is the only way to heaven stuff.  I know that Muslims, and Mormons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses are just different understandings of our religion right? 

Dear friends, all of these things we so badly want to believe are true, but are not.  Jesus clearly teaches they are false teaching.  He is God’s Son, no doubt.  He is truly present in with and under the bread and the wine.  He is the only way to heaven, and Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses and more do not believe the truth in any stretch of the imagination.  Try as we might, believe as we may, these things are the work of Satan in our world and in our lives.  And despite our lies to ourselves, we do sin, and we need to hear it.  We want so badly to believe them though.  And when Jesus, or a Pastor, or anyone else tells us something we disagree with we grumble against them, just as the Jews do in our text.  We complain and moan, because we know in our sinful hearts, that “That’s not the way its supposed to be!”

When Jesus taught these difficult teachings so long ago in Capernaum, many people began to turn against him.  People began to stop believing in him and turned away.  We can’t believe that Jesus guy, he’s just full of hate.  We can’t believe that Jesus guy he’s a bigot and a lunatic.  We disagree with him, so we can’t be seen in public with him, or talk to him anymore, we just need to ignore that bigot Jesus. 

Jesus even wondered if his own 12 closest disciples would leave him.  He said to them, “Do you want to go too?”  But no, they had heard Jesus Powerful Word and believed.  They saw their own sin, they saw the miracles of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit worked faith in them.  Faith that trusted Jesus, faith that caused them not to doubt his word, but believe.  And So peter stands up for the 12 and says, “Lord to whom shall we go?  You are the one who has the Word of eternal life.

Dear friends, that is the truth.  Jesus has the words of eternal life.  He has the words that give you forgiveness.  He has the words that give you salvation.  He gives you those words through a poor lowly and sinful pastor, whose very job is to give those words to you.  And so when the pastor says, “This is sin” it is not the pastor’s opinion, but God’s.  He gives you those words, when the pastor says, “as a called and ordained servant of Christ, I forgive you all those sins, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  Amen.  Those are the words of Jesus, spoken through a poor pastor, to give you life and forgiveness. 

Jesus gives you the words of life in other ways as well.  He comes to you in baptismal waters, not just plain water, but the water included in God’s command and combined with God’s words of life.  “You are baptized” and thus a child of God.  Jesus gives you his Words of Eternal life as He says, “Take and eat,” “Take and drink”, “this is my body and blood”, all for your forgiveness.  Jesus gives you the words of life as you read, learn and inwardly digest his word in scripture, and as you hear it and believe it in the liturgy and church service. 

Dear friends, where shall you turn?  To your own reason?  To your own opinion?  To a friend’s opinion?  No.  Where shall we go?  Jesus is the one with the Words of Eternal Life.  And this should be no surprise to us, for he is the one who has power over life and death.  He’s the one who was bloodied and killed on the cross.  He’s the one who poured out the blood for forgiveness of all sin, and who took the punishment that brought us peace.  He’s the one who laid dead in the tomb for three days before rising into eternal life and ascending into heaven.  To whom shall we go?  Jesus has the Word of eternal life, and shares them with us all.  He speaks of the Spirit and Life.  He draws us in with the work of the Father, and he feeds us with the very bread of life. 

Dear friends, its not about your opinions.  It’s not about your feelings or thoughts.  It is all about Jesus.  What Jesus says goes.  And what Jesus says is this, “You are forgiven, so have life to the full.” Amen. 

Sermon, God's Word for you, breathed by God

Grace Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is the epistle lesson, especially this verse, "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths."  Thus far our text.

Dear friends in Christ.  Political season is upon us again.  It is only a few short weeks until the mid-term elections are upon us, and so what do we see on the TV?  Political Ads like crazy!  It almost seems like that is all we see.  And in those ads, what do we hear?  They all say about the same thing don't they?  "I will lower your taxes, and the other guy won't because he's a buffoon.  This ad is paid for by the candidate who is NOT a buffoon."  They try to tell us what our itching ears want to hear, in an attempt for us to vote for them. 

Our text today tells us that in this world, we too will be bombarded with different messages, and many of them will be exactly what we want to hear with our itching ears.  But in the midst of all these differing false messages, we also hear another message,

THE WORDS OF GOD'S OWN BREATH, THE MESSAGE OF JESUS FOR YOU.

But often times that message is lost in all of the competing messages of the world.  Often we hear other messages instead.  And as our text says, often these messages are really "exactly what we want to hear."  And often what we want to hear does not agree with what God says.

God's word says "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." But that isn't what we like to hear about ourselves.  We don't want to hear about how we have sinned against God in our thoughts, words and deeds, by what we have done and what we have left undone.  Instead our itching ears like to hear about our own accomplishments.  We like to hear how good we are, and how many good things we have done.  We like to pat ourselves on our back, and ignore those times where we fall short.  Our itching ears want to hear, "You're not that bad, it'll be fine,"  when God's word clearly says "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it."  (James 2:10)  Thus we are all guilty.

God's word says "You shall not bear false testimony."  This means God's word tells us we shouldn't speak poorly of anyone, or speak of them behind their back.  But our itching ears like to hear the gossip that floats around town.  They like to hear about other people's dirty laundry, and to spread it around.  We like to know others problems because it makes us feel better about our own selves.  "Sure I may have sinned this way, but it isn't even close to as bad as that person."  But in opposition to what our itching ears wish to hear, God says in the book of Proverbs (10:32), "The lips of the righteous know what is fitting, but the mouth of the wicked only what is perverse."  And we are often wicked in what we say and hear. 

What else does God's word say?  "You shall remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy."  God says, "Be in church.  Be in Bible study."  But that's not what our itching ears want to hear.  Instead they want to hear the Vikings game as it comes on.  Instead our ears want to hear the sound of pheasants flying away on an early Sunday morning, or the sound of a trolling motor.  We would rather be somewhere else than to spend time receiving God's gifts here at church.  We would rather please ourselves than receive from God.  But God's word is clear about these idols we make, "You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments."  (Exodus 20)

God's word says "You shall not commit adultery."  But we hear on TV countless couples living together in our favorite shows, casually going from sexual relationship to sexual relationship.  In addition in our own midst we have couples who are living together out side of marriage.  And we hear how we should ignore it.  We hear of homosexual marriage being pushed all around us.  How it is ok, how we should accept it for what it is, and live and let live.  But God's word says, "Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral."  (Hebrews 13:4)

Dear friends in Christ, This sermon could go on and on with all the different ways that we are guilty.  Each of us has problems with sin.  In each one of these things we truly are guilty if we are honest with ourselves.  But that is part of the problem, we are not honest with ourselves.  We do not pay attention to our sin.  We do not pay attention to what God's word's clearly says about our own horrible condition.  Instead we often listen to what our itching ears want to hear, the very words of Satan, "Did God really say."  Did God really say we are guilty?  Did God really say we have to live this way or that way?  Did God really say obey these rules?  Or can we just do what we want.  Can we just live how we want?  Which is the word of God, and which is our itching ears listening to other voices? 

On our own, we cannot control our itching ears.  For our entire life here on earth, we will struggle with the competing messages, as our text says, "The time is coming," and I would say is now here, "When people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions."  This is our world today, this is our society today.  But our text also says, "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.  All scripture is God breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness."  God's word speaks a better word to you here today, than those other voices we hear.

God's word speaks to you of forgiveness, forgiveness given to you through Jesus Christ.  Forgiveness that is earned by Jesus' death and resurrection.   For God's word is clear about that gift to you.  Isaiah tells us, "Surely he has born our iniquities…  he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed."  His stripes, made as he was brutally beaten within inches of his life for you.  All four Gospels tell us that Jesus was crucified, that his hands and his feet were pierced through with nails, and that he was left there to hang until dead, for you.  His blood poured out from his hands and feet and sides, to make you whole. 

God's word tell us that he then rose again from the dead, having laid in the tomb for 3 days.  And God's word tell us that because of this miracle, you too have promises, promises that are better than any your itching ears want to hear.  Promises that in Jesus Christ you have life and salvation.  Promises that in Jesus your sins, every one of them are taken away.  Promises that God loves you, and that he will surely be with you always, even to the very end of the age.  God makes these promises as a blood pact, in the blood of Jesus, you can be certain of them.

And in fact, today, we come to this altar to receive the very body and blood of Jesus, the Word made flesh, for our very mouths to eat.  In it we receive life and salvation, along with forgiveness of sins.  In this gift do we turn again to receive God's Word made flesh, that dwells among us. 

Yes, God's word condemns us for all of our sin and for our short comings.  But God's word also says to us poor sinners, "You are set free, you are mine, you are forgiven."  Often today we do hear other voices, and they try to entice us, but they are not match for the eternal promises of God.  God's word says to you, that because of Jesus you have this promise, "no longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and the Lamb (Jesus) will be in it, and his servants will worship him.  They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads (in baptism).  This is your promise, here in the scripture breathed out from the very mouth of Jesus, given to you.  Peace to you, promised in God's very words. 

Amen.