The Inheritance: Appointed through Grace and Secured by Christ - Joshua 13

Well, if you'll turn with me to Joshua chapter 13 Joshua chapter 13 this week, we're gonna be

Looking at the entire 13th chapter Lord willing. We will look at chapter 14 cover chapter 14 next week, of course

Last week we we looked at studied Chapter 12 of Joshua This was a recounting of the

Kings As you recall who were who were defeated by Israel up to that point the lands that had been conquered up to that point

And as Reid pointed out last week this this chapter has an overarching theme of a record chronicling of God's faithfulness to his people

We consider God's covenant faithfulness That God does what he promises he's faithful to his people.

He's faithful to the promises that he has made Over and despite the enemies that were around the

Israelites as well as despite the doubts of his own people the failings of The Israelites themselves

God was faithful God was victorious in spite of those things

We also considered the common redemption of God's people that they were equal partakers in God's grace

This was a this was a community of faithfulness that they all benefited from God's blessings

You also considered the blessing of remembering God's works that that in this enumeration of God's victories and there was

Sometimes we can look at that and feel like it's very repetitive and it's just the same formulaic verse phrase over and over again

But in this enumeration of each one of God's victories The specific

Kings and the kingdoms that were toppled Joshua was offering specific praise and thanksgiving to God It wasn't just a generic.

Thank you Lord for all your blessings But it was a specific thanksgiving for each one of those individual victories that God had given as we considered

God's grace is Specific so to our praise and our thanksgiving should be specific

And so having considered those Kings that have been defeated up until this point God is now pointing

Joshua's attention to the work that still remains the lands that still need to be conquered That the work is not done yet And in so doing he he points to the need to lay hold of the of the inheritance

That belongs to the Israelites in and through God So again, we're starting in verse 1 of chapter 13.

I'll be reading through the chapter in its entirety Now Joshua was old and advanced in years when the

Lord said to him You are old and advanced in years and very much of the land remains to be possessed

This is the land that remains all the regions of the Philistines and those of the

Yeshurites From the Shihur which is east of Egypt even as far as the border of Ekron to the north

It is counted as Canaanite the five lords of the Philistines the Gazaite the

Ashdodite the Ashkelonite the Gittite the Akronite and the Avite to the south all the land of the

Canaanite and Mira that belongs to the Sidonians as far as Aphek to the border of the

Amorite and The land of the Gabalite and all of Lebanon toward the east from Baal Gad below Mount Hermon as far as Lebo Hamath All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon as far as Mishrath off ma 'am all the

Sidonians. I will drive from From them from out from before the sons of Israel Only allotted to Israel for an inheritance as I have commanded you

Now therefore apportion this land for an inheritance to the nine tribes and the half tribe of Manasseh Where the other half tribe the

Reubenites and the Gadites received their inheritance which Moses gave them beyond the Jordan to the east

Just as Moses the servant of the Lord gave to them from a rower which is on the edge of the valley of the

Arnon with the city which is in the middle of the valley and All the plain of Mediba as far as Diabon and all the cities of Sihon king of the

Amorites who reigned in Heshbon as far as the border of the sons of Ammon and Gilead and the territory of the

Gessureites and the Malik Mount Makathites and all Mount Hermon and all

Bashan as far as Salicot All the kingdom of Og and Bashan who reigned in Ashtoreth and in Erdrei He alone was left of the remnant of the

Rephraim for Moses struck them and dispossessed them But the sons of Israel did not dispossess the

Gessureites or the Makathites For Gessure and Makath live among Israel to this day

Only to the tribe of Levi did he not give an inheritance The offerings by fire to the

Lord the God of Israel are their inheritance as he spoke to him So Moses gave an inheritance to the tribe of the sons of Reuben according to their families

Their territory was from a rower Which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon with the city which is in the middle of the valley and all the plain by Mediba Heshbon and all its cities which are on the plain

Dibon and the mothball and Beth be all me on and Jay has and Ketamoth and Mephath and Kiriatham and Sibma and Zerath Shehar on the hill of the valley

And Beth Peor in the slopes of Pisgah and Beth Jashemoth Even all the cities of the plain and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the

Amorites who reigned in Heshbon Who Moses struck with the chiefs of Midian? Levi and Reckon and sir and her and Reva the princess of Sihon who lived in the land

The sons of Israel also killed Balaam the son of Beor the diviner with the sword among the rest of their slain

The border of the sons of Reuben was the Jordan This was the inheritance of the sons of Reuben according to their families the cities and their villages

Moses also gave an inheritance to the tribe of Gad to the sons of Gad according to their families

Their territory was Jayser and all the cities cities of Gilead and half the land of the sons of Ammon as far as a rower which is before Rabba and From Heshbon as far as Ramath Mishpah and Betanim and from Mahanim as far as the border of Debir And in the valley

Beth Haram and Beth Nimra and sucketh and Zaphon and the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon With the

Jordan as a border and as far as the lower end of the Sea of Shennareth beyond the Jordan to the east

This is the inheritance of the sons of Gad according to their families the cities and their villages Moses also gave an inheritance to the half tribe of Manasseh and it was for the half tribe of the sons of Manasseh according to their families

Their territory was from Mahanam all Basham all the kingdom of Og king of Bashan and all the towns of Jair Which are in Bashan 60 cities also half of Gilead With Ashtoreth and Erdrei the cities of the kingdom of Og of Bashan were for the sons of Makir the son of Manasseh Or half of the sons of Makir according to their families

These are the territories which Moses apportioned for an inheritance in the plains of Moab Beyond the

Jordan at Jericho to the east But to the tribe of Levi Moses did not give an inheritance to the

Lord did not give an inheritance The Lord the God of Israel is their inheritance as he had promised to them father.

We thank you that in your word We see in great detail your sovereign plan

For your people that the words of Scripture remind us

You are not a God who is distant You are not some theistic creator

Who winds the clock and then steps away and leaves the clock to its own? Devices, but you are the author you are the architect of History that you are a

God who is concerned with your people Who as we saw last week and as we will continue to see makes promises to your people and keeps those promises

We thank you father that you are very specific in your promises and you are very specific in how you deliver those

Promises and so Lord today as we consider your word as we look at it father in this passage would we see

The gospel of Jesus Christ would we see

Jesus and him crucified For our sins Then in your word, we would be reminded of the inheritance

That is promised to us through Jesus If we would be reminded once again that all of your promises are yes, and amen in our

Savior Jesus We ask this in his name Amen can be tempting as we read through passages like this to to think of them almost like a

Drake passage for the believer when we have those aspirations to read through the

Bible all the way through in a year the

Drake passage is this this strip of water or this this area of the sea that Is between the south tip of South America and in the

Shetland Islands of Antarctica It's this place where the Atlantic and the Pacific and the Arctic Oceans all meet together

It's been known as the graveyard of ships for the turbulent waters that are there

Many of us well intentioned believers who desire to read through God's Word It's in its entirety

We start strong with creation and with Noah and the Ark and the Tower of Babel and it being destroyed we read through Moses and the burning bush and Before that being drawn out of the

Nile, of course I'm leading the Israelites out of out of slavery and into the wilderness

And then we get to passages like this that can honestly read like a big long title deed

And that's because in many ways it is the section of Joshua that we've been in and that we're going to continue to be in is full of places of names of people of cities and kings and Areas kingdoms that can oftentimes seem distant

Disconnected from us and yet at the same time we know from God's Word itself that all scripture

Not just some of it not just the words that are in red Not just the parts that we'd like or that seem interesting to us.

But all scripture is Inspired by God literally God breathed and it's profitable for teaching for reproof for correction

For training and righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate and equipped for every good work

There are no idle or accidental words in God's Word in the scripture that was given

For the faith once for all delivered to the Saints So then the question becomes not how am

I going to get through this passage or why in the world is this stuff in here? But rather the question we should ask is what word of teaching what word?

For training and righteousness as God have for us in this passage and with that truth in mind

I believe that there are there are at least three things three truths three realities that God Is showing to the nation of Israel in this chapter and things that are true for us today as well

The first one we see in the first seven verses that human leaders have limitations this chapter starts off with a stark reality that we all

Can identify more and more as we become more? chronologically Experienced you might say

Joshua was old and advanced in years when the Lord said to him You are old and advanced in years.

I think we we kind of see that as we Experience more of those limitations maladies, whatever you want to call those things as you get older The Lord telling us that you you are you're getting older you're getting more advanced in years

You are becoming more and more Susceptible to the realities of living in a fallen world

And so we see here that Joshua this warrior this man who led the armies of Israel into battle was victorious over and over again he's old the time is coming when he will die is the space the the ground in front of him is is a lot less than the

Land that is in the rearview mirror so on one hand Joshua's limitation is chronological his his salad days to borrow a

Phrase from Shakespeare They're over. He's old and advanced in years and yet his other limitation is one of efficacy

Joshua has been unable to take all of the land up to this point We see in verse 1 again this reminder that he's old and that very much of the land remains to be possessed and What follows and it's helpful to see that there's there's kind of two different sections

We sometimes we read through all of this and we read Okay It's the land of the Canaanite the king and you know We kind of go through all of those verses and we treat all of this as one

Section or maybe one recounting of the land and all of these areas But if you read the context verses 2 through 7 is basically a counting of recounting of all of the land that remains to be conquered

Says in verse 2 This is the land that remains and then he goes through and lists every one of those areas

And so those first seven verses are really this this reminder that Joshua is just a man

He is human. He has an expiration date And As he becomes older he becomes less effective and less

Able to lead those armies into battle Joshua's limitation is not that of Moses the leader who preceded him

If you remember Moses as we've talked about previously was not permitted to lead

The nation of Israel across the Jordan into the promised land because of his sin against God It was actually for that reason that when we start the book of Joshua Joshua is the one leading the people into the promised land to begin with because Moses has died.

He was not allowed to cross over the Jordan So the limitation was not that of Moses but it was nevertheless a limitation that Joshua had

We see this even in our modern day in the last Six months

Two men that have meant a good deal to many of us in terms of their teaching ministries

The the books that they have authored John MacArthur and Vodie Bockham these men

Both shed their they're tired and they're worn out earthly bodies and entered the presence of God think about other pastors and scholars and and a lot of times we think that they

They seem to be larger than life as we look at their books and their writings Men like Jonathan Edwards who died at age 54 from a reaction to a smallpox inoculation

And 54 used to seem like a lot older than it does now He was a young man

Charles Spurgeon died at age 57 from kidney disease John Owen died at age 67

Most likely from complications related to kidney stones or to severe asthma. He suffered from both of those and the final years of his life

These men all had expiration dates. They are all human leaders. They all have limitations and whether it's the deaths of Leaders or a failing like Moses experience that prevented him from continuing to lead the people of Israel These are all reminders that we need a better Joshua One whose strength is not diminished by age

One who is not limited is in his power and his efficacy Jesus is that leader to whom

Joshua pointed towards and looked forward to the perfect king and warrior

Who perfectly accomplishes all that he set out to do?

This is what we need and this is a helpful reminder to us as we read through all of God's Word It is a good reminder to us as we look at leaders who disappoint us sometimes who commit failures

That we are to look Solely to Jesus the author and the perfecter of our faith that he is the one to whom we are to fix our eyes upon The second truth that we see here is that God's grace is a specific gift to specific people.

I Mentioned earlier that this section of Scripture reads a lot like a title deed and and in many ways that that is what

God is Saying here. He's giving specific land to specific people In college one of my favorite jobs was working for an engineering firm in the

Atlanta area They specialize mostly in road construction And if you've been through Atlanta before you know, that's a pretty pretty safe business to get into is road construction.

I Had what was seemingly a pretty mundane job. I was the college student. I was there for a paid internship It was during the summer and my job was to take these bankers boxes full of property deeds property records

Basically where the county had acquired land from property owners and I was to get those ready for permanent storage they were going this big cavernous room that was

Unimaginably high and all of these racks and I was getting that ready because the county had to keep those records in perpetuity

That was the that was the expectation And many of these deeds were from as I'm looking through them looking at the records making sure everything's there

These are a lot of these were deeds from property owners who bought tracts of land in the 50s and 60s when basically the price

Of land was worth what it could grow, right? How many cows you could put on it? How much? corn or whatever you could grow a

Five acre tract would easily be Two or three thousand dollars and that would be a high price at that time

By the time of my summer job when I'm working there 40 to 50 years has gone by since these houses these properties were originally purchased and What had been rural homesteads were now these distant relics that sat in between?

Dave and Buster's and Best Buy and the mall and all of these other places that were there The deeds were important because they proved a chain of ownership every time that property was sold somebody had to go back and research who it was sold to how much it was sold for and And this was the evidence that the county was paying the right person when they took a little strip off the front of that person's property to widen the road

Spoiler alert they were getting a lot more for that little strip of land and the whole piece of land when they bought it in the first place

That's what an interstate highway will do to property values

I guess But these deeds were important because they proved the transfer of ownership.

They proved that the person had a right to that property And in some cases these these deeds would be would show transfers when a

When parents had given the land to a child when they were they were about to die or they knew that was coming in in a short period of time and And the deed would have a zero dollar value in terms of the sale value of the transfer

But the legal terminology that was used in property property law is in fee simple for love and affection

That means I'm giving this to this person and it's it's because they're my relative essentially

And these verses that we read here are showing They're proving that transfer that promise transfer of ownership from the creator of the land to his people

This is what we're reading in chapter 13 this is proof of ownership that God owns this

The king of Bashan and the king of Og and all of these Canaanites may be living there right now.

They're squatting God is the owner and God is promising the transfer to his people

I thought it might be helpful to have just to kind of show a map of this area because sometimes we can read the the pages of scripture sections like this and And we can sometimes think that these places are abstract they're they're just distant

Miss the shows that the tribes with their assigned cities and the boundaries that are not abstract.

They're real places with real names Real people were to inhabit these places

And ultimately we don't know with certainty why Asher's territory was smaller than gad or why

Ephraim was landlocked why Naphtali was where it was But we can be sure what we can be sure of is that God knew the inhabitants by name

He knew the cities and the borders of each land. These were set aside Intentionally by God.

This was an account of the land being given to the tribes specifically and It's important to to notice that and to note that these

Territories were not plots of land that the tribes earned as wages These were not things that they earned because of something good that they did

The size of the territory was not related to the valiant acts of the men in battle

They were inheritances given by a gracious God to his children

Who in and of themselves were not deserving of them? we can rest assured that if God was specific and intentional in his gifts of Land to the

Israelites that he is much more so specific in his gifts of salvation to his children through Jesus Jesus Words Recorded by John and John's gospel

Tell us this that we are given in an infinitely greater sense a real adoption Jesus says in chapter 10 starting in verse 3 to him the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice

He calls his own sheep by his name and leads them out When he puts forth all his own he goes ahead of them and the sheep follow him because they know his voice

Truly truly I say to you. I am the door of the sheep all who came before me are thieves and robbers

But the sheep did not hear them. I am the door And if anyone enters through me, he will be saved and he will go out and find pasture

The thief comes only to kill and still and destroy I came that they may have life and have it abundantly

I Am the Good Shepherd a Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd

He who is not the owner of the sheep sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees Because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep

I Jesus speaking am the Good Shepherd and I know my own and my own know me

Even as the father knows me and I know the father and I lay my life down for the sheep

Did you catch what Jesus is saying here he's talking not about this Nameless flock this just bat this mass of sheep

He's talking about individual sheep individual sheep that know the voice of their shepherd

These are sheep that the shepherd knows and the sheep know the shepherd similarly

In Ephesians the letter to the church at Ephesus Paul says for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves

It is the gift of God not as a result of works so that no one may boast

For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works Which God prepared beforehand so that we should walk in them if you are in Christ if Today you have a sense of your sin and your need

For a Savior a need for the atonement of Jesus Christ, then that is not a mistake or an accident

That is not something that you just came up with on your own This passage reminds us that God calls those whom he desires to call.

He does not make any mistakes This passage is also a reminder to us that just as The Israelites were called to take the land that had been promised to them

We are also called to take hold of our inheritance Of that calling to which

God has placed us in his body in the

Bride of Christ We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, but our salvation is not of ourselves

I'll tell you I'm thankful to God that my salvation is not a result of my works Because I wouldn't have much of a salvation

It is the gift of God finally we can see here that God promises a better portion

He gives this land to Specific people to tribes he gives them specific areas specific cities

He has described the borders of these areas But God also promises a better portion relatively speaking an infinitely greater portion

In the midst of this section on these tribal allotments in the land and how it was supposed to be distributed

In the midst of the section and at the end of this chapter Joshua addresses the

Levites He mentions them twice and and I would argue that this emphasizes the importance of what

God is promising to the Levites Joshua Chapter 13 verse 14.

He says that the offerings by fire to the Lord are to be the inheritance of the Levites This echoes what

Moses recorded back in numbers 18 and Deuteronomy 18 that the inheritance of the

Levites were to come from the tithes and the offerings of the people and And then

Joshua mentions the Levites again at the end of this chapter verse 33 And this time he says that not only are the offerings to be their inheritance, but he says the

Lord Yahweh the God of Israel is their inheritance as he had promised to them.

So it's not just the offerings It's not just the the meat the the sacrifices that are to sustain them temporally

But God himself is to be their inheritance From a materialistic perspective from a purely financial economic

Perspective the Levites seem to be at a disadvantage compared to their fellow Israelite brothers

But the inheritance they received is far greater But it is also greater because it points forward to something greater that God would give to all who would follow him

If you remember back in Exodus chapter 19

Moses records God's words and this is What we can see is almost that if you want to put it in modern terms the vision statement

It is the mandate for the nation of Israel God says now then if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant and you shall be my own possession among all the peoples for all the earth is mine and You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation

These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel so the calling of Israel was to be

That of a kingdom of priests who would minister to all the nations Priests who would go out and proclaim the

Word of God The one true God to all the nations. This is why studying books like Joshua are important to us because There can be this misconception sometimes that the idea of Israel is that it was supposed to be this insular country that they weren't supposed to Interact with any other nations around them.

That's not true. And and books like Joshua are helpful to us because they remind us

God's Word was that they were to remove the Canaanites Who refused to listen to the

Word of God? But there were also plenty as we've seen that come to Come to Joshua and say we want to make a treaty with you take us under your wing there are those like Rahab and We'd read later in the

Old Testament Ruth Those Non -israelites who

God grafts into his people the nation of Israel was never to be this insular Separate group of people that were never to go out and carry the message of God to the nations

In fact, it was the exact opposite But of course as we see in the rest of the

Old Testament, we know that this is not the case more often than not The nation of Israel was influenced by the nations around them those who worshipped

Baal and Set up the Asherah the the the poles Committed their sacrifices, but this calling of God to be a kingdom of priests was not it did not go away

In fact, it was fulfilled. This calling was fulfilled in the church it's not for nothing that John says not once but refers three times in the book of Revelation in chapters 1 5 and 20 to the words of the

Saints who are offering up these praises in heaven proclaiming that God has made them a

Kingdom of priests to serve him so we might be tempted to read these two verses in chapter 13

Might be tempted to think of them as parenthetical remarks in the midst of giving out all these lands But to the

Levites he gave the offerings to the Levites. He gave himself as an inheritance instead of seeing them as Parenthetical remarks and reality these two verses are the pinnacle of the chapter

Because this inheritance is the true and lasting inheritance of God's people Peter explains how the church the

Bride of Christ is the true fulfillment of this promised inheritance That was made long ago

Peter says and coming to Jesus as a living stone Which has been rejected by men, but his choice and precious in the sight of God You also as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood

To offer up spiritual sacrifice is acceptable to God through Jesus Christ For this is contained in Scripture behold,

I lay in Zion a choice stone a precious cornerstone and He who believes in him will not be disappointed

This precious value then is for you who believe but for those who disbelieve The stone which the builders rejected this became the very cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense

For they stumble because they are disobedient to the word and to this doom. They were also appointed but you are a chosen race a

Royal priesthood a holy nation a people for God's own possession So that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light

For you were once not a people Now you are the people of God you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy

We've seen that God was specific in his calling of the people of Israel And the giving of his grace.

We've seen that God's inheritance for the Levites was himself And they're calling us priests and Peter makes this clear connection to this calling of the

Levites That when we come to Christ we are built we are added as stones to this living true temple of God the true priesthood

Where we did not have an identity as individuals Apart from Christ we are now the people of God Where we had not received mercy we have now received

God's glorious mercy Where we once walked in darkness we have now been called out of that darkness into God's marvelous light

God promises this better portion That cannot be taken away.

It is not conditional, but it is a lasting irrevocable gift of God so we've seen today that Joshua while he was a man of faith a

Mighty warrior he was still subject to the same ills and the ailments That beset us all as we read this chapter and as we think about how does this how does this apply to our lives?

This is a hopeful opportunity for us to place our faith our trust to look towards God alone

Ultimately Joshua would succumb to the harsh reality of living in a fallen world He would die he would go the way of the whole earth

Perhaps you've been troubled by the deaths of Bible teachers. Sometimes we hear this sentiment. What are we going to do now?

That that person has died And we'll do the same thing that the church has always done since Jesus instituted it

Because he is the one who built his church. He is the one who sustains his church He is the one who protects his church and leads his church

Maybe you've been disappointed by the failures of pastors by the misdeeds or Even even times when a pastor will misspeak

Our passage today reminds us that it is foolishness to put our faith in a leader no matter how stable they seem

Leaders will disappoint us They will leave us in death and we can't even look to ourselves because we will disappoint ourselves

The temporal nature of Joshua's life is a reminder to us

That we must look to God alone for our hope for our salvation It's for this reason that the writer of Hebrews reminds us that we are as we are running this race of faith that we are

To fix our eyes on Jesus Jesus who is the author and the perfecter of our faith

He alone endured the cross Despising the shame that it brought and now he sits victorious at the right hand of God.

This passage is also Gracious reminder that we are to recognize that God's grace is for each one of us specifically if we were in Christ reminded in passage today

The inheritance of Israel first it was specific. God was intentional and His allotments this was not random.

This was not something that just happened by chance There were no mistakes This inheritance was based on God's grace not on the merit or the work of the

Israelites But also implicit in this and he actually were reminds

Joshua of this That there's a there's an aspect of this that the land has been promised to them

It's been given to them, but the Israelites had to go and conquer it. You're in Christ today

If you have a sense for the first time this morning of your need for salvation Know again that this is not of your own doing

It's God's grace given Specifically to you, but there are also words of warning in this passage that we must heed

The chapter starts off with verse 1 that very much of the land remains to be possessed verse 13

We see again the sons of Israel did not dispossess the Gesherites or the Maccathites For Gesher and Maccath live among Israel until this day

We know that throughout the entire lifespan of Israel in the subsequent

Splitting of the nation the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah that the Israelites failed to remove the

Canaanites from the land In Christ were given an identity as we saw earlier in first Peter We're given a calling

Paul tells us that we're all parts of the body that have been brought together I've been brought together not randomly not haphazardly, but by the architect by Jesus Christ That God has composed this body

If you are in Christ, then God has shown grace specifically to you He's made you a specific rock in the true temple

He's made you a specific part of the body and so then we must rejoice in that calling of grace

We must rejoice in the inheritance that God has given to us We must take hold of it by faith that God has already given it to us.

He's already given us his inheritance but at the same time this ongoing work of sanctification of the mortification of sin as we run this race of faith as We continue to be conformed to the image of Christ and not conformed to the world

This is taking hold of that inheritance by faith This is the slaying of the

Canaanites that are in my heart and mind And a gracious opportunity that we have to rejoice

Again as we come to the Lord's table as we're reminded again of what Jesus has done for us

That we can rejoice in this inheritance father.

We thank you as We go through your word how gracious you are To show us on every page of Scripture Remind us that you are a

God Who is faithful to your people that even when your people are not faithful?

that when we fall back into fall into our sin of Imperfection that you are gracious and you're kind You're slow to anger

You're abounding and steadfast love Father we thank you that every page of Scripture reminds us that you are a

God who does not work haphazardly or at random But your grace is specific

It is intentional. So father as we

As we go into the world as we are surrounded by the world and the deeds of the world

As we're confronted with news of things the the works of darkness that are going on all around us in Our own nation are all across This world that you have created father.

Would you would you give us hearts that rejoice? In the grace that you have shown to us hearts that we would rejoice in The inheritance that you have given to us

That we would take hold of that by faith We would grab hold to it that we

Would anchor our hearts our minds And you the author and the perfecter of our faith

We'd be guided by the word that you have given to us Empowered by the

Holy Spirit that you have left for us as a comforter and as a guide We ask this in Jesus name