Man: In which I am living and in which you're going to continue to live because you will have turbulence and confusion, but then Jesus said, "You can live with this too." Be filled with assurance. Sure, my friends, you're going to have tribulation, but hold your heads up for I have overcome the world and the same power that has been available to me to overcome the world is available to you to overcome the world." I don't know many of you personally, but I dare say that each of us lives in a situation where there is turmoil and trial and tension. And what Jesus is saying is that we can live in these experiences with the assurance that God's love is present with us, that He wants us to be whole persons, that our lives really can hold on when things are tough and that we can live, at least partially, in tune with God's will. Also, we can be persons who are changing the world. We can be instruments in God's plan to change the world to a better place. I have a poster on the wall in my study that has a beautiful scene of a meadow and beautiful green hills in the background. And on this poster are the words, "If we change the world, let it bear the mark of our intelligence." This is often a suffering serving task, but for this purpose, God has created the church. To this task, God has called us to declare that God is still at work to make better the world, even now. I was reading a letter just recently from a young person, who wrote, "Christ saved me, but does this salvation mean that I am to sit back content to be a part of society whose only objective is for me to spend all the time I can making all the money I can to have all the comfort and pleasures I can? Or does this salvation say to me that I now have it made and possess a one-way ticket to heaven? And that all that is required of me is to learn a few Bible passages and ask a few people to come to Jesus? Or did He save me in order that I may be a recruit to work for Him, to work with Him, in changing persons and conditions. So that in Washington DC or in New York City or in Los Angeles or in Orlando or in Durham, if need be, we may in His name, be able to rescue people from ideas and behavior by which lives are being ruined and be able to eliminate," listen to this, " those despicable conditions like the one where two children sit huddled together in a tenement house with one eating a cockroach and the other, holding a dead rat in his hand and saying, 'Mine, doggy, mine, doggy.'" This young person goes on. "Christ has saved me, and my lips can never praise Him enough for doing this, which I could not do for myself. He has saved me for eternity, but He has also saved me so that I may serve Him and others in the here and the now." To you is born a savior. The world's heartbeat may come alive again. Oh, God, help us to hear, to receive and to live out the good news, which came in Jesus Christ, to you, which means to me. To each of us is born a savior, even Christ the Lord. Amen. (gentle organ music) ♪ My soul ♪ ♪ Doth magnify the Lord, ♪ ♪ And my spirit hath rejoiced ♪ ♪ In God my Savior ♪ ♪ For He hath regarded the low estate ♪ ♪ Of His faithful servant ♪ ♪ For behold from henceforth all generations ♪ ♪ Shall call me blessed ♪ ♪ For He that is mighty ♪ ♪ Hath done to me great things ♪ ♪ And holy is His name ♪ ♪ And His mercy is on them that fear Him ♪ ♪ From generation to generation ♪ ♪ He hath shewed strength with His arm ♪ ♪ He hath scattered the proud ♪ ♪ In the imagination of their hearts ♪ ♪ He hath put down the mighty from their seats ♪ ♪ And exalted them of low degree ♪ ♪ He hath filled the hungry with good things ♪ ♪ And the rich He hath sent empty away ♪ ♪ He hath holpen His servant Israel ♪ ♪ In remembrance of His mercy ♪ ♪ As He spake to our fathers ♪ ♪ To Abraham ♪ ♪ And to His seed forever. ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ (organ music) ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ 

Lady: All mighty God giver of every good and perfect gift. Help us rightly to render to thee all that we have and all that we are. That we may praise thee, not with our lips, but with our whole lives, turning the duties, the sorrows and the joys of all our days into a living sacrifice to thee. Amen. (organ music) (choir singing) Unto to God's gracious, mercy and protection we commit you. And the blessing of God almighty the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be upon you and remain with you always. Amen. (bell chiming) (organ music)