Unsung Heroes: Tychicus

O Lord, we ask now that You would open our ears that we may hear Your voice, open our eyes that we may see Your glory, open our hearts that we may know Your truth. Show us what it looks like to live a faithful, Christian life, and even more than that, show us Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Today we begin a summer long series that we’re calling Unsung Heroes of the Faith. As you know, an unsung hero is someone worth remembering and celebrating though few people know that person. Their deeds are not sung, so you sing of your various heroes, and these are not sung because they’re little known, often forgotten, but they are worth remembering.

For example, if you know anything about the American Revolutionary War, you’ve surely heard of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton. It helps that they’re on our money. I don’t see the Franklin very much, but Washington and Hamilton. Maybe you can recall some other names, like Henry Knox, Nathaniel Greene, Horatio Gates.

But you probably don’t know anything about James Armistead. James Armistead was born into slavery around 1760 in Virginia. During the Revolution, his master gave him permission to enlist under the Marquis de Lafayette in one of the French allied units as the Marquis de Lafayette was working with some of the French to support the patriot cause. Lafayette quickly deployed Armistead as a spy, so Armistead went over to the British side, and claiming that he was a runaway slave, which he wasn’t, and having intricate knowledge of all of the backwoods and all of the roads and rivers of Virginia, which he did have, the British immediately welcomed him in, put their full trust in Armistead.

As a double agent, he moved freely back and forth between the Americans and the British camps, all the while he was feeding the American side with accurate information about the troop movements and plans of the British, and he was pretending to be a spy for the British on the Americans and he was feeding the British with all sorts of misdirection and wrong information about what the Americans were up to.

In 1781, Armistead alerted Lafayette and Washington about an approaching plan for British reinforcements, which then prompted the colonists to form a blockade, all of which proved essential for the battle of Yorktown, and if you know something of your history from way back when, that’s when Lord Cornwallis surrendered on October 17, 1781 and Armistead was absolutely critical to that effort.

There’s sort of a sad and eventually happy ending to the story. After the way, because he was a spy and not counted as a regular soldier, Armistead was not granted his freedom from slavery, which was promised to those who would fight in the army, and Congress denied it to him, but then Lafayette heard of this and petitioned Congress on his behalf, imploring Congress to grant him his freedom, which they finally did in 1787 and Armistead lived off his pension, bought a 40-acre farm, got married, raised a family, and lived for the rest of his life as a free man and he added Lafayette to his last name in appreciation for all that the Marquis did for his manumission. He died in 1832.

An unsung hero. Someone that most of us would know little about, and yet worth remembering and celebrating.

There are lots of unsung heroes in history. There are unsung heroes in this church. There are lots of unsung heroes in the Bible.

Today I want to look at a little known man named, and here’s one of the hardest parts of the sermon, how shall we pronounce his name? In Greek it would be something like Tukakis, but that’s going to be hard to say, although it is sort of fun. It’s sort of what the husband does with the wife in the kitchen, he took a kiss. But we’ll just, some people say Tychicus, we’re going to say Tychicus, Tychicus, and we’re going to read about him from Ephesians chapter 6.

So turn in your Bibles to the last chapter, Ephesians chapter 6, verses 21 and 22, these final greetings, very often overlooked after all of the great theology, doxology, practical ethics in the book of Ephesians, you have these greetings and we want to learn something about this man that Paul mentions.

Ephesians 6, 21 and 22: “So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.”

What do we know about this man, Tychicus? He’s mentioned five times in the Bible, so I hope you have your Bibles open, because I want us to look at each of these occasions. This is one of the five. And just briefly read these verses and then piece together what we can know about this man, Tychicus.

So go to Acts chapter 20, verse 4, and this is the first mention of our friend. We’ll pick up in Acts chapter 20, verse 2: “When he had gone through those regions,” that is, Paul, “and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.” And now Paul’s going to mention a number of men who are going on ahead of them, and then he’ll join them on their way to Jerusalem, “Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus. These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas, but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we came to them at Troas, where we stayed for seven days.”

So we see that he’s from Asia. Of course, when we hear Asia today, we think one thing, but here Asia is Asia Minor, what we would call Turkey today. He’s probably from Ephesus. If you turn the page to Acts 21:29 you’ll see later when Paul is arrested in the temple, Acts 21:29, “they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with Paul in the city,” and then you go back to chapter 20, the two Asians mentioned there are Tychicus and Trophimus, so we don’t know for sure but it would make sense that both Tychicus and Trophimus were from Ephesus, or at least he was from one of the leading cities in Asia, or Turkey.

He was one of several men that Paul took with him to Jerusalem. You can get lost in the chronology in Acts as they stop at various places along the way, but all of these men are going to head with him toward Jerusalem and likely one of the reasons they went to Jerusalem is to deliver relief for the famine, this collection that they had taken up.

So go to Acts 24, verse 17. It says later when Paul is recounting before Felix what had happened, Acts 24:17: “Now after several years I came to bring alms to my nation and to present offerings.” He’s recounting why he came to Jerusalem and then how he was falsely accused and how he got into this mess and they have accused him of not honoring the law. So he came with these men to Jerusalem and one of the purposes to bring alms, likely to bring relief for the famine.

So we don’t know for sure, but if we go back to chapter 20, many people surmise that the list of men here are representatives from the various regions and churches that have given money for the offering, and that’s why Luke, the author of Acts, makes note, “Well, we have a Berean, and we have Thessalonians, and we have someone from Derbe and then we have the Asians.” He’s recounting the various places that Paul has been and he’s collected an offering there. It shows how Paul wants to be very careful, because, “Okay, I have all this money and I’m going to Jerusalem, and just so you know that you can trust me with your money, I’m going to bring one of your representative men with me and we’re going to all go and we’re going to bring these alms to the church in Jerusalem.”

So if that’s the case, then we can also surmise that Tychicus must have been well-respected, capable man. He’s a leader of the church in his region, and that’s why Paul picks him. He’s not some random man or some new Christian that Paul just happened to meet along the way. He’s one of the key leaders in the region and so he comes with Paul to Jerusalem. That’s the first mention.

The second mention is the one we read in Ephesians 6:21 and 22, and it says there, Tychicus is a beloved brother and a faithful minister, and Paul has sent him to Ephesus to encourage the people, tell how Paul is doing.

The third occasion, and it’s similar to that one in Ephesians, is found in Colossians. So turn to Colossians chapter 4, after Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, chapter 4, verse 7, we read: “Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother,” we heard that, “a faithful minister,” we heard that, and now he adds one more designation, a “fellow servant in the Lord.” And then in verse 9, he says Tychicus, along with Onesimus, will tell you of everything that has taken place here.

So again, Paul has sent this man to Ephesus ahead of him and here to Colossi ahead of him. He’s a faithful, good brother, and you should listen to him and he’s going to tell us, tell you, how we are doing.

Two other times he’s mentioned. 2 Timothy 4:12, so look there briefly. 2 Timothy 4:12. This is the end of Paul’s letter to this pastor Timothy, and he’s giving a series of personal instructions, which we’ll come back to in just a moment, but notice what he says in verse 12: ” Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus.”

So this is the second time that he’s sending Tychicus to Ephesus, one to deliver the letter, Ephesians 6, and here as we’ll see to help out Timothy, which again makes sense because he’s from Asia Minor and if he’s a partner with Trophimus, he himself is from Ephesus.

And then one other occasion. Turn to the next book, Titus 3, verse 12. Paul says to this pastor/evangelist Titus, “When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me.” Again, a man in whom Paul has complete confidence, so he sends to Ephesus for Timothy and he sends here to Crete to help Titus.

So putting these five occasions together, Acts 20 verse 4, Ephesians 6:21 and 22, Colossians 4:7, 2 Timothy 4:12, Titus 3:12, what can we say about this man?

Well, Paul has some really remarkable descriptions. Remember, Paul was not a schmoozer. Paul did not write fluff to people. You can’t just say, “Well, that’s Paul. He’s always a glad-hander and a back slapper.” No, if you know the rest of 2 Timothy, he says things like, “Hymenaeus and Philetus have wandered from the truth, Alexander the metal worker did me great harm, Demas is in love with this present world… ” So Paul will call a spade a spade, and if you are doing something wrong, he might call you out, but here Tychicus is clearly doing something right and he is a dear, faithful brother to Paul.

Why? Well, first of all, we see he was an encourager: “I’m sending to you for this very purpose that he may tell you how we are and he may encourage you,” is what he tells the Ephesians. And a big part of the encouragement was certainly they want to hear about Paul. How is Paul doing? We know he came in Ephesus and he taught among us and we want to know our father in the faith. How is he doing? We’d love to get an update. The internet’s down, we’re not able to follow him online anymore, so could you please tell us in person how is he doing. So that was part of the encouragement. Was he alive? Was he in prison? We know he’s been on the run, we know he’s been persecuted.

But it’s more than that. Encourage is one of those biblical words that we’re likely to water down and we think of encouragement as almost the same thing as flattery or just a pat on the back and says “go get ’em.” A word of affirmation, feel good about yourself. And that can be an aspect of encouragement, but Paul has something more in mind. Encouragement is specifically gospel encouragement.

The Greek word is parakaleo. You can hear that word, Greek word that’s used for the Holy Spirit, the paraclete. It’s the same word used in Colossians 4:1, “As a prisoner for the Lord then I urge you,” I parakaleo you, “to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”

To encourage the brothers is to urge them, to comfort them, to counsel them, to spur them on, not just with a mutual affirmation society, “you’re great, you’re great, you’re great,” but to encourage them in their love for the Lord Jesus, exhorting them to keep going. You can do it, don’t give up on Jesus, love one another. He’s with you, walk in a manner worthy of your calling.

He’s an encourager. And he’s also trustworthy. This is the dominant theme that comes through with this man, in all of these representations of him. Paul has complete confidence in him. So Acts 20, “You’re coming with me for this delivery of the alms to Jerusalem. Okay, Ephesus, I want you to go there. Colossi, I want you to go there. I want you to go help Timothy. I want you to go help Titus.” Paul has complete confidence in this man. “Hey, Tyc, I want you to go to Ephesus again. Let ’em know how I’m doing. Get ’em up to speed. You’re my representative. You can handle it.”

And how wonderful it must have been for Paul to have someone he could absolutely depend on. Don’t you love it when you have people you know absolutely you can depend on? When they do something for you, it’s as good or better than you being there. You don’t have to wonder if they’re going to follow through. You don’t have to doubt whether they’re going to show up. Now, of course, we all drop the ball sometimes, we all make mistakes, but this man was utterly dependable, and Paul knew it.

Who’s going to teach the class? Well, Tychicus could do it. Um, we’re planning the mission trip. Well, we could have Tyc do it. Perfect. Who’s going to do PowerPoint and work sound? Well, you know, Tychicus will show up and do it.

And praise God for the many, many men and women in this church who are just like Tychicus. Hopefully, you feel encouraged and know something who you are and for those of you who are new to the church, and we haven’t yet discovered all of your Tychicus qualities, we hope to, and so show up, sign up, volunteer, and I can promise you from the church leadership, when you do something well, we will ask you to do more things. We are always looking to do more things. If you will help with the children, and do it to God’s glory and love those kids, Amy Wallace will put you into her phone, into her contacts, and want to call you. We need more Tychicuses. Absolutely dependable.

Now notice something. Okay, let’s go back and think about the 2 Timothy 4 and the Titus 3 to understand what’s happening here. So Timothy, remember, is a pastor in Ephesus. Go back to 2 Timothy 4:12, we saw that, “Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus.” Now what is he going to do in Ephesus? Well, verse 9 there gives us a pretty good indication. Paul tells Timothy, “Do your best to come to me soon.” Paul’s saying, “My son in the faith, I want to see you, I want to catch up with you, I want to fellowship with you. Timothy, would you come to me?” And Paul knows Timothy’s thinking, “Um, I got a church I got to take care of. I have people to love. I’ve got sermons to do.” So that’s why he tells him in verse 12, “Don’t worry. I’m sending Tychicus to Ephesus. It’ll be all right. You can leave things in his very capable hands and come visit me.”

The exact same thing is likely taking place in Crete. Turn the page to Titus chapter 3 again, verse 12, “When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis.” So again Paul says, “I want to see you, Titus. So I’m sending you one of the very best men to fill in while you’re gone. No need to panic. Everything’s going to be fine. After all, what else do I have to say? It’s Tychicus.”

This man is the interim pastor. Paul knows I can send him to Ephesus, it’ll be fine. I can send him to Crete, it’ll be great.

And how blessed we are when we have someone this reliable at our side. If you know someone that reliable in your life, in your family, in your ministry, in your church, take some time this week to thank them. And maybe pray sometime this week that you could be that him or her in someone else’s life.

Paul has such confidence, he’s so trustworthy, he will go and send Tychicus, interim pastor in Ephesus, interim pastor in Crete. Timothy, come to me. Titus, come to me.

But there’s one more area of responsibility we should not overlook, and that’s where we started back in Ephesians chapter 6. Verse 21 again, “So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother … will tell you everything. I have sent him to you for this very purpose.”

So very likely the one who has come to deliver this apostolic word called Ephesians is Tychicus. He’s the one knocking on the door, I’m here, I got a letter from the Apostle Paul, and at the very end of it, as he’s reading it, it says, “This man, the one reading it, Tychicus, he’s a beloved brother, faithful minister, and now that my letter is drawing to a close, feel free, Q&A with Tychicus, he will tell you much more about how I am doing.”

Tychicus delivered Paul’s letters. He’s the only one going to Ephesus from Paul, so he has to have had this letter. He was the personal representative bringing news and letters from Paul to the churches.

So there’s a critical point of application in all of this. Tychicus was as dependable in the small things as he was in the big things. He could be counted on to be the interim pastor in the church and if you need him, he’ll be the mailman.

Tychicus, I need someone to go shepherd this flock, preach the Word, fill in for these brothers. Tychicus says, “I can do that.” On other occasions, Paul says, “I need somebody to bring this and deliver the mail.” Tychicus says, “I can do that.” He didn’t consider filling in for Timothy or Titus too big and he didn’t consider being a courier too small.

Are we dependable and trustworthy in the biggest jobs and in the littlest jobs? Do you show up on time? Do you get your homework done? Do you follow through? Do you read the agenda? Are you reliable even when the task seems minor?

What task do you think seemed more exciting, more glamorous, to Tychicus? I need you to be the pastor in the church. Tychicus must have thought, “Oh, I can do it, Paul.” Just like a Golden Retriever, you can send me, I can do it. Fetch the ball. Vroom, there he goes. “I can do that. Man. You know, call home to mom, you’ll never guess, this is such a good day. I’ve been preparing for this, studying for this, I went to RTS for this, and now I get to fill in. I get to be the pastor for a while. This is great.”

And then other occasions Paul says, “I need you to deliver the mail.” Some people would think, “Really? That’s what I went to school for? You know I’m kind of a big deal, Paul. I do a lot of important things. Isn’t there somebody else who could do this?” But he was committed to be faithful in whatever avenue the Lord needed him. He had big shoes to fill so he’d do big stuff. Sometimes God wanted him to be faithful in the little things. Tychicus was a bigshot willing to do small things. What a good example for us.

I don’t know if you saw this news story, I think it came out on Friday. In a time where we don’t see many uplifting news stories, this one caught my attention, and it reflects well on Justice Sonia Sotomayor and reflects well on Justice Clarence Thomas. It’s a nice story. Sotomayor, of course, she’s on the liberal side of the Court, and Thomas is on the conservative side. Their judicial philosophies are quite opposite, probably often come down on different sides of important matters. Sotomayor was speaking at the American Constitution Society and they were obviously not sympathetic to Justice Thomas, and then Justice Sotomayor said this, and you can find this online later, “Justice Thomas is the one justice in the building that literally knows every employee’s name, every one of them. And not only does he know their names, he remembers their families’ names and histories. He is the first one who will go up to someone when you’re walking with him and say, ‘Is your son okay? How’s your daughter doing in college?’ He’s the first one that when my stepfather died sent me flowers in Florida.”

Good for Sotomayor for saying that, good for Thomas for setting an example, a bigshot willing to do the small things, to send flowers, to ask how their kids are doing, to know people’s names.

Ephesians was the first sermon series that I did when I was in East Lansing and so I preached, you know, 18 years ago on this man Tychicus when I got to the very end of the book. After I had preached on that passage, one of our deacons, godly, hardworking, humble man, would tell me often throughout the years, “I just want to be a Tychicus. I’ll deliver the mail if that’s what you need me to do, Pastor. I’ll fill in wherever you need me, Pastor. I’ll go whatever I can to help this church.” And by God’s grace, he did, and by God’s grace, we have many such Tychici in this church. I guess it doesn’t quite work like that, it’s Greek, not Latin.

But Tychicus is an unsung hero – faithful, trustworthy, encouraging, dependable, eager to help, eager to serve, ready to step in, big stuff, sign up for small stuff.

Are you raising your hand to serve Christ and His kingdom? Now, I try to be very mindful of this as the pastor that that doesn’t mean you have to do everything at the church or everything the church always asks you. It’s not that that’s the only way that you serve Christ. We want you to be able to be involved in your neighborhoods, and schools, and communities, and families, and friends, and symphonies, and sports clubs, but in whatever area you have opportunity, are you raising your hand to say, “I want to serve Christ in His kingdom?” Are you willing to work hard? I know most of your work very hard at your work. Some of you work very hard at your play. Are you committed to making a difference for the cause of Christ?

It’s an easy thing to do in Charlotte, to not actually work hard for the cause of Christ, but to be a nice part of the church, come once in a while, now you just figure you can just watch when it’s more convenient, coast along as a cultural Christian.

The story is told of George Lorimer, the pastor at Tremont Temple Baptist church in Boston at the end of the 19th century, that Pastor Lorimer met a man who claimed to be a Christian. So he asked the man in conversation with him, “Ah, so you’re a Christian.” And Lorimer said, “Are you a member of a church?” and the man said, “No, the dying thief never joined the church, and he went to heaven.” So Lorimer continue with the conversation and trying to find out if he was involved in the work of Christ in any other way.

So he said, “Do you support the cause of missions?” and the man replied, “No, the dying thief never contributed to missions, and he went to heaven.” To which Lorimer, somewhat exasperated, finally replied, “Yes, but he was a dying thief and you are a living one.”

Are you raising your hand to serve Christ, or are you like this man who says, “Well, the dying thief got in, I’ll get in, too.”

Today is Father’s Day. We don’t typically do too much with these various secular holidays, but it’s very good to celebrate moms and celebrate dads and one of the unsung heroes coming up will be Shiprah and Puah and I’ll have occasion there to talk about caring and loving children.

But today’s Father’s Day, so let me finish with a specific word to dads. Have you ever noticed in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 that Paul uses an analogy for motherhood and an analogy from fatherhood in describing his ministry? He says in 1 Thessalonians 2:11 and 12, he compares his ministry to fatherhood and he says, “For you know how like a father with his children we exhorted each one of you, encouraged you, and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God.”

Interestingly, a few verses earlier Paul compared his ministry to mothering, and there he says, “We were gentle among you like a nursing mother taking care of her children.” Now, of course, mothers can exhort and fathers can be gentle, but there is something instructive for us here.

For Paul, the picture of gentleness and tender care is what he associates with being a mom. Now notice he doesn’t assume that kids are just the responsibility of the moms. Now what’s the father to do? Well, here he associates with fatherhood exhortation, encouragement, charging.

And for Christian fathers, in particular, to exhort, encourage, and charge their children to walk in a manner worthy of God.

There are some men who know with great success how to be leaders and manly examples in the workplace and they will exhort and charge, encourage. They know how to do that on the football field or the basketball court. They know how to do it in their area of interest, to encourage, exhort, and charge.

Men, are you also doing that in the home? Are you also doing that with your children? Do your kids know that you love them, and that you love Jesus, and that you would love nothing more them to follow Jesus?

There’s a lot of different ways you can parent, there’s a lot of different styles, there’s different decisions to make, but if you can get those things, your kids know you love Jesus, they know you love them, and they know the most important thing is that you would love for them to love Jesus.

Some of you may know the name John Paton, P-a-t-o-n, or Paton, the famous missionary from the 1800s who went to the New Hebrides, Vanuatu today, and risked his life to preach the Gospel among the cannibals. People would eat those strangers who came in. It was a dangerous task, and yet he’s one of our famous missionaries. In his autobiography, Paton recalls the earthly reason he was able to live such a faithful and brave life for Jesus – his father. Quote: “He walked with God, why may not I,” he wrote.

Paton tells the story of first leaving the countryside to go to the city where he would attend seminary and he would be a gospel worker in the city, just the first step and then later he would go overseas, and he relates the tearful goodbye with his father, how they parted. He tells it very movingly, how they parted in opposite directions and each would climb one fence, or climb, walk over this dike, and they would each keep turning to glance, one look at the other, before they walked away in the distance. Paton finally says this: “I watched through blinding tears til his form faded from my gaze and then hastening on my way vowed deeply and oft by the help of God to live and act so as never grieve or dishonor such a mother and a father as God had given me. The appearance of my father when we parted, his advice, his prayers, his tears, the scene not only helped by God’s grace to keep me pure from the prevailing sins but also stimulated me in all my studies that I might not fall short of His hopes and in all my Christian duties that I might follow his shining example.”

Of course, we know that we live in a fallen world and even the best of us would quickly say, “Well, we don’t set such a shining example all the time,” and some of us have not known fathers or had good fathers. We understand that. And may our wives and children forgive us when we are not the fathers we want to be.

But fathers, as we still have opportunity, let us pray that God would help us set our children such an example of this. Every child, though they may not show it, they may not even realize it, it’s still there, they deeply, deeply want to please their parents, and I think the way God made us in particular they want to please their father. Which is why, dads, you need to say those simple and powerful words often, “I love you, I’m proud of you.” Our world is in desperate need of fathers. It’s not that it would fix everything, but it is true there is almost no significant problem in this country that isn’t at some level rooted in or made worse by the absence of fathers.

Now we can’t control what our children do. They have their own agency and they turn out the way they choose to turn out. They have wills of their own. But men, let us never think that to be a father is a small thing in life. It is one of the biggest.

What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, if he writes books, if he has a vacation home, if he has a nice car, and yet he lose his family?

Men like Tychicus, and we know nothing about his family, we don’t know if he had children, but he sets for us an example of that faithfulness, that dependability, that humility, and that hard work that is instructive for all of us and I urge you, men in particular, that it’s instructive for us as fathers most crucially.

We have not just this example of Tychicus, of course, but we have an example of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was a son to a father, was He not? And don’t we see something, of course different in so many ways, and yet was not the Lord Jesus a son who delighted to do the will of his father? A Son who says He came to do the work of his Father. A Son who lived and died and rose again to bring honor to His Father.

Jesus is a son and He’s also a servant. A servant, of course, who is so much more than a Tychicus, always trustworthy, infallibly dependable, savingly faithful. Jesus was faithful in the biggest things to die on the cross for our sins and in the little things when He took the children in His arms and He blessed them. Because Jesus was a beloved son and a faithful minister, men and women, we can be forgiven. We can be made new. And we, too, with the Spirit’s help, can grow into unsung heroes of the faith.

Let’s pray. Father in heaven, would You help us to live, that though no one may sing our songs in days ahead, that perhaps one or two may, perhaps some children, some grandchildren. If we do not have that opportunity, then children in the faith, surely. Perhaps some that we would teach in Sunday School, in the youth group. Perhaps as men and women we would not be forgotten by some who came to know the Lord Jesus Christ through us, or who received a handwritten note from us, or a card or a prayer, or a shoulder to cry on, or we’re that faithful church member in season and out of season. O Lord, how we need men, women, sons and daughters, like this Tychicus. Forgive us, for we all fall short of Your glory, and help us by Your grace that we may live in a way that pleases our heavenly Father. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.