Looking for and Loving His Appearing — Lehman Strauss

Looking for the Lord’s Appearing

Titus chapter 2, beginning with verse 11,. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. That doesn't mean it has appeared to all universally. It means it is available to all.

It's not a universal appearing to men, but the availability to all. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ.

All I want you to note now is looking for his appearing. Looking. Looking. I believe that most of the people in this church believe that Christ is coming back again. And I think if I were to ask you, are you looking for the Lord's return, you would say, sure I am.

Because the Bible says he's coming back, I'm looking for his return. Okay, let's turn over, turn back just one page in your Bible to 2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy chapter 4. I want you to listen to the testimony of a man who's about ready to die.

He knows the end of his life on earth has come. Paul knew he was going to die for the cause of Christ. And this is the last thing that Paul wrote before his death. 2 Timothy chapter 4 beginning with verse 6.

Paul’s Readiness and the Crown of Righteousness

For I am now ready. Many Christians are in the stage of getting ready and always going to get ready. Paul said, I'm now ready. I'm now ready to be offered. He's going to be martyred for the cause of Christ.

I'm now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand. That word departure is a New Testament term for going away. He's going from earth to heaven. I have fought not a good fight, literally the good fight.

It's not Christians fighting with one another. I have fought the good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. Mark those three I haves. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day.

And not to me only, but unto all them also. Now watch this. That love his appearing. Titus 2 .13 we are looking for his appearing. 1st or 2nd Timothy chapter 4 we are loving his appearing. Is there a difference between looking for Christ's appearing and loving his appearing?

Looking for Christ’s Appearing Versus Loving It

Illustrations fall flat somewhere along the line, but they do help to understand. Let me give you an illustration. My daddy was a poor man. He came from Germany. His parents brought him from Germany. And he did a number of things to supplement his meager income.

And to shoot wild turkey, fish. Learned that if rabbits were properly prepared, they made good eating. And one day dad got two rabbits, a male and a female, and he built a rabbit pen in our yard and put the rabbits in there and they multiplied fast.

Dad wanted them for food to supplement his income to feed the family. There were seven children and they all had to be fed. And one day before he went to work, he said to me, Son, today I want you to clean the rabbit pen and don't forget it.

Now when dad said don't forget it, you better not forget it. He meant business. And he used to say, if you don't listen, you're going to feel. That's an old Pennsylvania Dutch expression. In other words, if we didn't respond through ear gate, by hearing and listening, there was another part of the anatomy where dad could get through to us.

He would apply the board of education to the seat of understanding. And dad knew how to get through. Well, I went off to school and I came back and from school, mother said you better clean the rabbit pen.

Oh, I'm going to clean it, mother. I'm going out and play marbles a while with the boys. She said, do the rabbit pen first. I could usually get away with things on mother that I couldn't get away with on daddy.

I said, I'm going to clean it. I'm just going to play marbles for a while. I went out to play marbles. I forgot all about the rabbit pens and it got too dark to open the rabbit pens. Those rabbits would be long gone.

And I came in and mother said you didn't obey your father. You're going to be punished. And mother never liked to see daddy punished because I think it hurt her as much as it did us. My father used to say, son, this is going to hurt me more than it's going to hurt you.

Well, that was a bunch of baloney. I didn't believe that. But I do believe it hurt mother more than it hurt us. And I knew I was going to be punished. I didn't clean the rabbit pen. And I went over to the window and pulled aside the drawn shade and I looked up Juniata Road.

I was looking for my father's appearing, but I wasn't loving it. See the difference? I think there are Christians who are looking for the Lord to come, but they're not loving it. They can't say with Paul, I am now ready.

I'm not in the process of getting ready. I'm now ready. I'm now ready. But there are five crowns in the New Testament. And these five crowns represent the rewards to be given to or withheld from Christians at the judgment seat of Christ.

Not all Christians will receive the same degree of reward in heaven just as not all unsaved people will receive the same degree of punishment in hell. There are degrees of punishment in hell and degrees of rewards in heaven.

It has to be that way. God is fair. God is just. God doesn't have favorites. And there are rewards to be given to or withheld from Christians. And one of the five crowns in the New Testament representing those rewards is the crown Paul mentions here in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 8.

Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day and not unto me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. And what I would like to do tonight is to invite you to look at some scriptures and then you'll have to answer this for yourself.

Do I really love Christ's appearing? Am I ready to meet him? Or will I be ashamed when he comes? Will I be embarrassed when he comes? Now we're going to look at this little word love and trace it through some scriptures and see how it relates to the coming of the Lord.

Loving the Present World

In the context of 2 Timothy chapter 4 if you will move down to verse 10. Right after Paul said in verse 8, there's a crown ready for those who love Christ's appearing. He said in verse 10, For Demas hath forsaken me having loved this present world.

That's an alienation of affection. That's a divided love. No believer can love the present world and love the appearing of Christ. That's a divided affection. That's an alienation of affection. Now if the Lord would have come, Demas would have gone up.

There's no question about it. He was a believer. Hadn't lost his salvation, he would have lost a crown. He loved the present world. Now when we speak, when I was first saved back in the 1920s, worldliness was, oh, maybe going to the movies or smoking or dancing or playing cards.

There were some people who thought that playing Old Maids was worldly. Some of you don't know what Old Maids are. It's a little card game. And, you know, those things were considered to be worldly. But I think worldliness is far deeper than that, dear people.

There's a philosophy of worldliness today that's making inroads into the church. First John chapter 2, beginning with verse 15. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world, three things, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, these are not of the Father, but are of the world. Now watch. The world is passing. That's not the King James, but that's the correct translation.

The world is passing away, and the lust thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. The world is passing away. Demas loved the present. With an alienation of affection, a divided heart, Demas loved this present world.

And the Bible says love not the world system. There is a system. The devil is at the head of the system. It's his world. He's the god of this world, 2 Corinthians chapter 4. There is a system in this system called the satanic system.

It's the world system. And Christians are following the world system. They're in love with the present, and their eye is not on the future. They're not ready. Now the Christians will go up, but they're in love with the present.

The lust of the flesh, the desire. Now the flesh doesn't mean what you see that covers the skeleton of my hand. The meaning of the word flesh does mean that in some places, literally. But the word flesh doesn't mean that all the time in the Bible.

F-L-E-S-H. Drop the last letter H, and spell the remaining four letters backwards. S-E-L-F. Self. That's the meaning of the word flesh in Galatians 5. The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh.

The Holy Spirit is at war with our old selfish Adamic nature. That's the flesh. And when we live to please ourselves, we're living for the present. And we're not loving the appearing of our Lord. Demas loved the present.

And anyone who's in love with this present world will discover that that produces insecurity. If you have your roots so deeply in this present world, you are insecure because you're not satisfied. I never met a Christian who lived for the present world who was fully satisfied.

There's always a feeling of insecurity. Turn back to 2nd Corinthians chapter 4, please. I'm reading from verse 16. For which cause we faint not, we do not lose heart. But though our outward man is perishing, the inward man is renewed day by day.

Now the outward man is the body. That's perishing. The inward man is the real you, the real me inside of the body. That's the inward man. Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

Now our light affliction is just for a moment when compared with the eternal weight of glory. Eternity's a long time to be with the Lord. So the trials and the afflictions we suffer now, they're temporary.

Say, I don't see it that way. Well, it all depends where you're looking. Look at verse 18. While we look, not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. The things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Hey, which way are you looking? Do you have your eyes on the temporal things of this present world? Is that your life? Is that what you're living for? You'll go up when the Lord comes, but you'll lose a crown.

You'll lose a reward. Why? You loved the present world. Now God put the church in the world to let her light shine. But dear people, the world is eating its way into the church and dimming the light. It's dimming the light.

May God help us to love his appearing. This is a temporal world, and you've heard me say it. God may not take from us what we have, but one day he will take us from it, and we will leave it all behind.

It's not worth living for and losing an eternal reward. Just not worth it. Demas loved the present. That produces insecurity. Romans 12. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world.

Don't let the world pour you, Christian, into its mold. Galatians 6 .14, Paul said, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

Crucifixion is an ugly thing, an unattractive thing. Paul said the world is unattractive to me, and I as a Christian am unattractive to it. The cross has made the difference. Paul didn't live for the present world.

He could say, I am now ready. I wonder if there are some Christians here tonight saying, well, I know the Lord's coming back and I'm looking for his return, but I hope he holds off for a while. I still have some worldly ambitions.

Demas loved the present. That produces insecurity. Now go back to 2 Timothy and move back one chapter to chapter 3. Let's look at another love that will rob the Christian of a love for the Savior's appearing.

Loving Self and Seeking Preeminence

Now here we have a prophetic utterance in chapter 3. This know also that in the last days, the term last days is an eschatological or prophetic term referring to those days preceding the coming of the Lord Jesus.

And Paul was saying as the age runs its course and the coming of the Lord draws nigh, men shall be lovers of their own selves. Demas loved the present. Now turn to the third epistle of John, and I want you to meet a man whose name also begins with the letter D, who also had a supreme passion.

Now remember Demas, what did he love? He loved the present world. Third John, the third epistle of John. I'm reading from verse 9. John said, I wrote unto the church, but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence.

Demas loved the present. Diotrephes loved the preeminence. He had to be number one. He had to be top man on the totem pole. John said, when I would come to Ephesus, he wouldn't let me preach in the church.

He had to be the big wheel. Diotrephes, who loved to have the preeminence among them, received it not. He wouldn't even recognize me as Christ's servant. There was a little pope in the Protestant church.

Had to have the preeminence. Had to be number one. I believe he was a saved man. I don't think he could have held a position in the local church in Ephesus if he wasn't. But he left his first love. He loved to have the preeminence.

Now the word preeminence appears only one other time in the New Testament. One other time. Colossians 1, 17 and 18. That in all things, he, Christ, might have the preeminence. John 3, 30. The baptizer said, he, Christ, must increase.

I must decrease. Demas loved the present. Diotrephes loved the preeminence. By the way, there's another D in the same little book. Demetrius loved the truth. Three men whose names begin with the letter D all had a consuming passion.

Two were out of line and were not ready for the Lord's return. It would have been an embarrassing moment had the Lord come when Demas was loving the present world and Diotrephes was wrapped up with himself.

Paul said, I am now ready to be offered. The time of my departure is at hand. I'm ready to go. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day and not unto me only but unto all them also that love his appearing.

Is there a divided affection in your heart and mine? Is there an alienation of affection? Is something taking the place of the Lord Jesus Christ? Or can we say, well, I'm looking for the Lord's appearing and I believe I love his appearing.

I'm not holding back anything from him. I love his appearing. Come Lord Jesus, come at any moment. Go back now to 2 Timothy chapter 3. There's another love in this prophetic passage. This know also that in the last times, in the last days perilous times shall come.

Loving Pleasure More Than God

For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.

Nemus loved the present. That produces insecurity in any Christian. Diocrates loved the preeminence and that produces intolerance. I never met a Christian wrapped up with himself or herself who was very tolerant of other people.

If I have to be number one, if I have to run the show, I'm not very tolerant of other people. For Diocrates it produced intolerance. Now Paul is going to speak about another love here. Lovers of pleasures.

Now you have to get it in its context more than lovers of God. Now Paul is not saying that we shouldn't have any part in pleasure. That is not what he is saying. I think the Lord wants us to enjoy some of the things of this life.

I think it's good for the Christian emotionally, mentally, and even spiritually. I think it's good for us preachers to have maybe a hobby. Now I have a friend and I'm not judging. God knows I'm not judging.

I'm just telling you what is true. He pastored a church in Florida. He was a dear friend of mine. The owner of one of the fine golf courses in his community said, Now I want you to have a membership, a free membership in this club as long as you're here in this city pastoring the church.

You'll be my guest. And that preacher spent, weather permitting, five days of every week on the golf course. Now there's nothing wrong with golf. Don't go out there and say Laman Strauss condemned golf.

I didn't do that. I have nothing against golf. God bless all the little golf balls. I have nothing against golf. Before my wife's stroke, we had the time and the money, we played golf occasionally. And it was good for us.

The walking was good for us. In fact, we were playing in St. Petersburg and she got a hole in one. I never got a hole in one at any time. They gave her a trophy and wrote her up in the St. Petersburg Times.

There are some pleasures of this life that I think are good for the Christian. And we ought to engage in some of them. It would be good for some folks to get out and enjoy some of God's great handiwork and to see some things.

Good, honorable, God-honoring pleasure. Paul's not talking about that. Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. See the difference? Putting my pleasure before I put God. Which comes first? I was preaching at a missionary and Bible conference in the Calvary Baptist Church in Hazel Park, Michigan.

And Dr. David Allen was the pastor there for more than 40 years, just retired recently. And his church gave him in his retirement, I preached his retirement message, they gave him a thousand dollars for every year he was the pastor of the church.

Gift of $40 ,000. Hey, jot that in your notebook, Deacons, that's something. And I was preaching for Dr. Allen at one of his missionary conferences and a man came to church Sunday morning who never came to church except possibly at Christmas and Easter time.

He was a member of the C .E. Society. It used to be Christian Endeavor. It's now the Christmas Easter Society. And he would come Christmas and Easter, but he came this morning at his wife's pleading. And on the way out, Dr. Allen and I were standing at the door greeting folks.

It was the glorifying of the worm. And this man came out with his wife. And Dr. Allen said, I'm so glad to see you. He said, wasn't that a grand message this morning? And the man sort of grunted a little, not much enthusiasm.

Then Dr. Allen said, he kept holding on his hand. He said, I hope you'll get back tonight and hear Brother Strauss again. And the man with a rather sarcastic voice, I stood right there beside him, and a little sneer on his lip, he said, well, I might give it some thought if nothing else turns up.

To which Dr. Allen said, and I loved it. It was possibly one of my more carnal days, but I loved it. He said to the man, never let go of his hand. When the man said, well, I might think about it if nothing else turns up.

Dr. Allen said, don't bother, don't bother. I loved it. The man was back that night. You see, he wanted to see what the TV guide said before he decided whether he should come to church that night. His pleasure came first, his hobbies came first.

Pleasure is good in its place, dear people, but there are pleasures that are not profitable. And even the profitable pleasures can be overdone. Pleasures, loving pleasures, more than loving God. Loving the present, that produces insecurity.

Loving the preeminence produces intolerance. And loving pleasure more than loving God produces insensitivity. You get wrapped up in pleasure and let God out of your life, dear friends, and you soon become insensitive to spiritual things.

You lose your sensitivity for prayer. You lose your sensitivity toward Bible reading. You lose your sensitivity for witnessing. Loving pleasure more than loving of God makes us insensitive to spiritual things.

That's very costly. It hurts us. The Christian who loves pleasure more than God isn't ready for the rapture. Oh, the Christian will go up, but lost a crown. There was an alienation of affection. There was a divided love.

I remember the Pharisee who came to the Lord Jesus. The Pharisees used to sit down and ask questions, and one of the questions that they quibbled about was, which is the greatest law in the Mosaic law?

Now, they were thinking of the Ten Commandments. And this Pharisee came to the Lord Jesus, and he said, Master, Teacher, what is the greatest law in the commandment? What's the greatest commandment? And the Lord Jesus never quoted from the Ten Commandments.

He said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. Putting him first. The Lord Jesus said, That is the greatest commandment.

Loving the Lord with all heart, soul, and mind. The first and the greatest commandment. Now, there's one other love that we'll take a little time for before we close, and it goes back to 1 Timothy. Will you turn, please, to 1 Timothy, chapter 6.

The Love of Money and the Pursuit of Wealth

Now, we talked about loving the present, loving the preeminence, and loving pleasure more than loving God. Now, I'm going to talk to you where it hurts. Where it hurts. See, the offerings have all been taken now, so I don't have to be concerned about what I'm going to say about hurting anybody's feelings.

Of course, if you get your feelings hurt now, you really have a problem. You're in trouble. I want to talk about possessions. I had a professor in seminary who said, Boys, when you get out into the ministry, don't ever preach politics or about money.

I don't preach about money. I just teach what the Bible says. Now, listen to what the Bible says, okay? Here we go. 1 Timothy, chapter 6. And look at your Bible. Don't hold this against me. If you do, the Lord will zap you.

Verse 6 of chapter 6. Godliness with contentment is great gain. Now, what are you trying to gain out of life? Trying to accumulate some CDs or some gold coins or some investments in real estate? What's your gain?

What's your goal in life? What's your aim in life? The Bible says godliness with contentment. Contentment is great gain. Are you a contented Christian or are you a discontented Christian? Verse 7. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

Therefore, having food and raiment or clothing, let us be there with content. Now, he's going to say a word to those who pursue wealth. The peril, the peril of pursuing wealth. By that I mean, this is my goal in life.

I live to accumulate all that I can of this world's goods. Now, the Bible's going to speak about the peril of pursuing that, making that your goal in life. That's your aim in life. Verse 9. They that will be rich, those who live merely to accumulate wealth, fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.

For the love of money, not money. Money is a necessity. You can't live without money. It's a medium of exchange. You have to have money. You have to have money for food, for clothing, for transportation, for housing.

There's no way to get along without money. It's the only medium of exchange in our society. The Bible isn't saying that money is the root of all evil. But the love of money is not the root. The definite article is not in the Greek text.

But the love of money is a root of all evils, plural. For the love of money is a root of all evils. It is. Prostitution could not be carried on without money. Drug addiction would be unheard of without money.

It's the biggest profit-going thing in the world today is drugs. Drunkenness would not be known without money. Money is a root of all evils, which, while some covet it after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Oh, the sorrows that money causes when it becomes a root of evil. The love of money. Now, the peril of pursuing wealth. The peril of pursuing wealth. Very dangerous to make that as your gain and your goal in life.

It pierces one through with many sorrows. Now, you can learn to trust God. May I give you a little testimony? I'm not going to brag, I'm just going to give God the glory. When we were married in 1931, we decided that we would only buy what we had money for.

And in 58 years of marriage, my wife and I have never been in debt, never paid interest on borrowed money. The first house we owned was a little mobile home, and that was only 13 years ago. That's the first house we ever owned.

But it was paid for. We never went into debt. Now, you say, you can't live that way today. I'm not telling you how to live. I'm just telling you that when we got married, Elsie said, now look, we're going to trust God.

And she taught me Philippians 4 .19, my God shall supply all your need. Not all your greed, all your need. And she said, this is the way we're going to live. Are you willing? I said, let's go. I'm with you.

And for 58 years, we learned to trust God. I know what some of you are saying. Brother Strauss, you couldn't do that today in our society. Well, I'm still doing it. I'm still doing it. And I said, if I died first, nobody could come to my wife and say, your husband owes me money.

God's a great provider. You see, contentment with godliness is great gain. God has promised to provide all our needs. And God knows what my needs are better than I do. Now, my needs are oftentimes my wants.

They're selfish. I'm a very selfish person. But God knows my needs, so I just leave that with him. He'll provide my needs. The peril of pursuing wealth. Now, over in verse 17, we have the peril of possessing wealth.

Possessing Wealth and Using It for Good Works

What about those who prosper and get it honestly? Nothing wrong with that. If I were a businessman, I would want to make all the money that I can, honestly, if I were in business. Otherwise, I'd go bankrupt.

And there are wealthy Christians who have come by their money honestly. Good. I would rather see a Christian prosper than an unsaved person. And some Christians have inherited wealth. Wonderful. I think that's grand.

But there is a danger in possessing it. It's what the Bible teaches. The peril of pursuing it. Now, the peril of possessing wealth. Verse 17. Charge them that are rich. Paul, writing by inspiration, says to Timothy, Talk to those who already have it.

Rich in this world, that they be not high-minded. Oh, dear friend, if you have prospered, may I paraphrase this? Don't let it go to your head. Don't be high-minded. Whatever we have that we're holding as our so-called possession, may I say, dear friend, you are not one bit better than the poorest person in this room tonight.

Nor am I. Don't let it go to your head. You see, that's a great danger. That's one of the perils of possessing wealth. We become high-minded. Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches.

I am not, I don't know anything about economy or money matters. But I meet men. I know some bankers. I know a man who owns six banks in New York State. His daughter said, Daddy doesn't have any idea how much he's worth.

A very wealthy man. He's a Christian. He said, I don't trust in the money that God has entrusted to me. He said to me one day, don't you be surprised if you awaken some morning and find out that the American dollar is not worth the paper on which it is printed.

Now, it happened in Germany four times. It can happen here. Do you know what your dollar is worth today? This is in the congressional records in Washington. Your dollar, my dollar, is worth actually 26 cents.

Every time you spend a dollar, you get 26 cents for the merchandise. A few years ago, I bought a box of cereal for 49 cents. I bought a box here in Albany for $2 .49. Three ounces less than the 49-cent box.

The inflationary spiral continues to rise and the value of the dollar continues to decline. Mr. Businessman, tell me, how much longer can that go on? One day the false bottom in our prosperity bucket will drop out.

I think it could come. I lived through the First Depression. It can happen again. Uncertain riches. Somebody said that money talks, I can't deny. I heard it once. It said goodbye. Don't let it go to your head and don't trust in it.

We could awaken tomorrow to discover that it is not worth the paper on which it is printed. Don't trust in uncertain riches, but trust in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy. But they that do good, tell them if they have it, that they be rich in good works.

Ready to distribute. That word distribute means to fellowship, to communicate. I get a great joy out of sharing one of my highlights. I had to rebuke your pastor. He wouldn't pay any attention to me. He took me out to eat tonight and it was in my heart.

I wanted to buy his dinner. He embarrassed me in front of the check lady. I said, brother, you robbed me of a blessing. I was anticipating. Well, I guess he was more selfish than I was. He wanted the bigger blessing.

What should I do with it? Do good works. Fellowship. Distribute. Communicate. Now here's a basketball term. It's called a layup. Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come.

Laying Up Treasures in Heaven

There are two layups. They're both in chapter 6 of different books. One's in Matthew 6. Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust corrupt and thieves break through and steal. But lay up.

That's a basketball term. There's another layup. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal. Now, if God hasn't trusted it to us, it's his property.

Don't let it go to your head and don't trust in it. It may not be worth much while you're still alive and while I'm still alive. Well, let's have a little layup. Now, finally, that's the plan for perpetuating wealth.

I have it. What will I do with it? Well, there in verse 18 and 19. Communicate. Fellowship. Distribute. And when you get to heaven, you'll find that it's still there waiting for you. Good time to quit.

Prayer to Be Ready for His Appearing

I thank the Lord, his loving Father, for the holy scriptures that we have looked into these days, for the challenge they have brought to our hearts, for speaking to me during these days. I thank thee.

Lord, I want to be a better Christian as a result of these days together. And I want to say tonight, in all truth, I am now ready. And when I pray for myself, I pray for these, my brothers and sisters in Christ.