The Real Reason Christianity Isn't Like Other Religions

Thank our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for his infinite love, for his infinite mercy, for his infinite compassion. It is that love that never fails, that carries the entire existence and gives it life, for what makes life possible is love. And this is why in Christianity what precedes life is love.

Love is the supreme ethic. There is only one way to heaven and that is Jesus Christ of Nazareth, period. There is only one that matters and no one else or anything else outside of him matters and that is Jesus Christ of Nazareth also, period.

Amazing how the Lord functions, amazing how the Lord thinks, amazing how the Lord does things as far as salvation and redemption are concerned. Our church fathers in today's gospel, they have chosen two parts from the gospel according to Saint Matthew. One part is extremely short, made out of two verses of chapter 7 and the end of chapter 7 being verse 28 and 29.

And then chapter 8 verses 1 to 13 inclusive. Chapter 7, incredible how the church fathers chose two verses out of seven because those two verses say, and after Jesus had ended all these sayings, people were astonished at the way Jesus spoke. They said this man spoke with authority, not like the scribes or the Pharisees.

After Jesus finished all his sayings, people were astonished at the way he spoke. They said this man spoke with authority. It's like one having authority, unlike our scribes that we've been listening to them all our life.

This man, we just listened to him now, he blew our mind away. We've been listening to our hierarchies all of our lives, they were so boring we fell asleep. But this man spoke, things started changing from within.

And what are these sayings the Lord Jesus had just finished saying? It was chapter 5 and 6 and 7 of Matthew. And what are chapter 5, 6 and 7 talking about? Jesus Christ is coming into this world as the king. Because chapter 5 is where the seeing the multitude approaching him, he went up on this mountain and sat down and opened his mouth saying, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

So what is this mountain? The mount of beatitude. The blessings the Lord Jesus gave in chapter 5. The church fathers call chapter 5, 6 and 7 the royal speech. It is the first time ever the Lord Jesus is beginning his ministry with that royal speech.

You know when election time comes, all those candidates they go out campaigning for it, appearing here and there and everywhere, and promising things which most of the time they don't deliver except Donald Trump. So they speak a lot and they promise a lot and they say if you vote for me I will do this and I will do that and I will do that for you. The Lord Jesus came in chapter 5 to say, it's my first time addressing the public and I'm saying to everyone who is listening to me, I am the king.

I came to rule over your life, over your heart. And then chapter 8 says, and after the Lord had came down from the mountain two people approached the Lord Jesus. One an Israelite, the other one Roman pagan.

The Israelite, the Jewish man happened to be a leper. He came and worshiped the Lord, bowed down in worship and says, Lord have mercy on me. If it is within your approval, please I wish to be healed.

The Lord Jesus stretches his hand, his arm and touches the leper and says, I wish for you to be cleansed. And he was healed on the spot. And the Lord said to him, do not tell anyone but rather go to the priest and show yourself to the priest.

Why? Because at the time of the Lord Jesus, who would qualify a leper to be a true leper? The priest. You see the laity, the people of the time, if they had heard there is a leper in the town or approaching them, they would run away as far and as fast as possible. Because to their rules and to their laws, if you even say hello to a leper, let alone touching him, you are defiled.

This is their belief. If you say hello to a leper or even touch the leper, you are defiled. So when a leper used to walk in the city or the town, he would yell out and say, leper, I'm a leper, I'm a leper, as a warning for people not to come and even say hello to that person.

In other words, a leper was destroyed mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, you name it, because he was rejected by his own people. So this leper approached the Lord and said, please, I've been suffering for too long. I am lonely.

I am unwanted. I am rejected. I am degraded.

I am put down. Please heal me, Lord. The Lord touches him.

The law says, you touch a leper, you're defiled. He touches him and he says, I wish for you to be healed. He was healed on the spot.

He goes to the priest to show himself. Why? Because it was the priest who checked him out to determine whether he is a qualified leper or not. And what is the qualification to be declared as a leper? From head to toe, the entire body must be as white as the snow.

If there is one little tiny spot of redness in the skin, meaning there is still a living tissue there, is not a qualified leper. He had to be white from head to toe. So the only one who was entitled to check the leper was the priest.

And this is why the Lord said, go show yourself to the priest. Why? Because since nobody saw your body, because you covered it from head to toe, the only one who saw your body was the priest. Then the priest will be the only one who will believe that you were once a leper and now you are totally healed.

How did this happen? The priest will realize only God can do such a miracle. So who is Jesus? God. God revealed in the flesh.

But what is ironic? Leprosy, my beloved, in the biblical terminology, represents sin. In the biblical sense, it represents sin. But there are two kinds of sins.

One sin comes externally, the other one comes internally. There is a sin that enters a person from outside, but there is another sin that comes out of the person from inside to outside. And the sin that comes from inside to outside is a much more grievous and dangerous sin than the external one.

Saint Peter wrote two epistles, Peter 1 and 2. In Peter 1, he begins his epistle with these words, Peter as Apostle of Jesus Christ. Peter 1, Peter as Apostle of Jesus Christ. Epistle number 2, he says, Simon Peter, a bond servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ.

Why? Because Peter 1 deals with the external sin. Peter 2 deals with the internal sin. Saint Peter is saying to all of us, including himself, when it comes to the external sin, I am Peter.

I am the rock. I am the strong one. I am the apostle of Jesus Christ, because with external sins, by the grace of the Lord, I can confront them.

I can face them and I can overcome them. But when it comes to the internal sin, I am Simon Peter, Simon the weak, Peter the strong. I am Simon and I am a bond servant of the Lord Jesus.

Lord, when it comes to internal sins, please have mercy on me. I am not as strong as the person needs to be to face internal sins. Leprosy is an internal sin that surfaces up.

Humans are all sinners, yet so many times we do not speak to another person, yet we are the same as far as sin is concerned, because we say, I am better than this person. Who do they think they are for me to go and approach them and ask them or even to say sorry to them? Who do they think they are? I will never say hello. I will never touch them.

I will never go any close anywhere near them because they are not worth it. Yet we are all the same sinners, my beloved. A sinner is refusing to say hello to another sinner like them, yet the holy of holies not only spoke but touched a sinner, yet he is the holy one of the almighty God.

Incredible. What are we going to say to the Lord Jesus when he asks us this question? Why did you mistreat people who were like you exactly? I, God, treated you with honor, with respect, with dignity, yet you have spoken in a disrespectful way to people who are exactly like you. But you see, Matthew 5, 6, and 7 is revealing the Lord as the king and the king naturally does one thing only, he owns everything.

You've probably heard us say this before. Every time you buy a property here in Australia, on the title deed it says crown's title. What is crown's title? Well before it was the Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain.

Now it's Charles and yes, it's Charles. But it was crown means queen or king, meaning the property is owned by the crown, whether it's the queen or the king. You see, they don't tell you these things when you purchase a property, they are leasing it to you for a hundred years, knowing you are not going to make it after a hundred years.

Therefore, whoever comes and buys it off you, that is leased again for another hundred years. The property is never owned by you, it is the crown title. You see, the king or the queen owns the country, owns everything in that country.

The Lord Jesus is the king of all kings. He is the rightful owner of you and me and everything visible and invisible. It is all his, rightfully owned by him in four ways.

Rightfully owned when he created us. You see, when you invent something, no one else invented it before you, it is yours. You are the first one ever to invent it.

No one created you except God, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. But the one who created us is the Logos, the Word.

That's why when we broke God's Word, it was the Word who came and became flesh, not the Father, not the Holy Spirit, it was the Son who is the Logos. So he is the rightful owner in creation, the first one ever to create such a being, no one before him, no one after him. And when we broke God's Word, he purchased us with his precious blood.

He owned us once again. And when he laid his hand on us, he said, this is my property. We belong to him.

We belong to him. And by law, we belong to him, the price is paid. When you buy anything and pay for it, that thing becomes yours, rightfully owned by you.

When the Lord purchased us with his precious blood, we belong to him now. So the Lord came and said, I came as the only true king to rule over your life. However, there is a difference between me and any other king on this earth.

I rule based on love, not force. Reason being, you will never, ever let anyone to truly love you until you allow them to be free. If you force them to love you, they will seek the closest opportunity to be away from you.

And the first opportunity arises, they will either kill you or run away from you as far as possible because you were forcing them to love you. But when they come freely, willingly choosing to love you, you've got them forever. And this is why in marriage, when the couple stand before the holy altar and the priesthood rank, they'll say to the man, to the groom and to the bride, same thing.

Do you? Are you? Will you? Asking. Why are you asking? Because when you ask, you are saying to them, you are free. You can say yes or you can say no.

But if you have no choice, I will say whether you like her or not, you're stuck with Rachel and Rachel with John. But I don't love John. Tough luck.

I don't love Rachel. I don't care. But when you care, you say, John, do you wish to take Rachel as your lawful wedded wife? Will you take her? If she says yes, then she chose freely.

This is true love. This is true love. My beloveds, the difference between Christianity and all the religions of the world, with all love and respect, I am saying it with all love and respect and humility on top of it.

One thing, all the religions of the world, they are based on laws, rules, guidelines, and regulations. You go to every religion, they will say to you, if you do not do this and this and this and this, you're in deep trouble. If you wish to end up in a nice place, in a comfortable place, in a beautiful place, you must do this and this and this and this.

My beloveds, when it comes to law, love cannot exist in that law because law does not know what love is. Law knows one thing, you break me, I break you. When you're speeding in a 60 zone and you're doing 80 and the police officer gets you on the radar, you can beg that officer till kingdom comes.

He or she will say to you, remember, I'm reminding you, you are being recorded. There is a camera here. You're being recorded.

It's going to the head office. Whatever you say, it may be used against you and the court of law. So you'll beg the police officer, please officer, I just arrived from the Middle East.

I speak no good English. Officer, believe me, I had emergency. My mom cooked for me dolma.

I have to go and eat it. You can say whatever you wish. The law says you were in breach of the law.

The law must punish you. Here's a fine and don't do it again. But when you go to your loved one and you made a mistake and you say, I'm sorry.

If there is true love, let's say no hard feelings, my darling. That's okay. We all make mistakes, but I'm here for you as long as you want me to be.

Christianity is not a religion in that sense because Christianity is not about rules, guidelines and regulations. Christianity is based on a person called Jesus Christ of Nazareth. In this sense, it is not a religion.

It is a belief in a person called Jesus Christ of Nazareth. And this is where love is made possible because love cannot exist between laws and rules and guidelines. Love can only exist between a person and another person.

I cannot love law, but I can love another human being. And this is why God became man, so he can share our human nature to be like us in order for love to be manifested through him and made possible between God and man. So I am coming to rule over you with love.

And when it comes to love, I want your heart, not your mind. In Proverbs 23, 26, King Solomon says, which is the Lord God speaking through King Solomon, Proverbs 23, 26, My son, give me your heart and let your eyes observe my ways. You want to know how God functions.

You want to know how God operates. You want to know how God does things. Give him your heart.

When you give him your heart, you are entering a relationship based on love. You are allowing Jesus Christ, the King of all Kings, to rule over your heart based on love. And with that love, the unknown God becomes known.

You see, love does the impossible. The Lord raised Lazarus from the dead after four days rotted in the grave. And to some people, they might say, well, this is the ultimate miracle where a dead person four days in the grave was raised.

There is no greater miracle than this. Yes, there is, my dear friend. There is greater miracle than raising the dead.

You know why? Because if raising the dead was the greatest miracle, then Lazarus died again in Cyprus. He has two graves, one in Bethany, Israel, the other in Cyprus, my beloved. So if that was the ultimate miracle, that miracle didn't last very long.

30 years, he became the Bishop of Cyprus and died again. But what never dies is when God changes your heart. You will live forever, period.

You see, the internal sin, the internal sin, only God can heal. Because everything that is external is temporal. But everything that is internal is eternal.

And God deals with the internal eternal, not the external temporal. The external temporal, he gave you his grace for you to deal with it. But the internal one, he will never ask you to deal with it because it is beyond you.

Why? Because you cannot change your own heart, let alone others. It takes God and it takes him dying on the cross in the flesh to change the human heart. It's not easy.

It's not easy to change a person. This is the work of God and God only. So this leper suffered all his life with the internal sin.

He tried frantically to overcome it. The more he tried, the sinner he was, more and more, until God showed up. You know, God will show up when you have the heart of saying, sorry God.

He will show up there. The moment you confess from the heart, it reaches the heart of God. Because it takes another heart to speak the language of your heart.

But that heart is sacred, is holy, is pure, is innocent. It is the heart of the Lord Jesus. When this man came with the heart seeking God's mercy, God was there waiting for him.

And when any one of us come to the Lord wholeheartedly seeking the Lord's mercy, before you get to him, he will get to you. And he will say, what can I do for you, my child? Lord, have mercy on me. I wish to be cleansed.

I wish to be healed. I've been suffering from this inner struggle for so many long years. I can't bear it anymore, Lord.

I need help. The Lord will say, my arm is stretched. He stretched the arm.

Where did the Lord Jesus stretch his arm? On the cross. You see, he stretched the arm on the leper to say, it took my arm being stretched on the cross to wash away your sins. And who can forgive sins? Only God.

When it came to forgiving of sins, the Lord Jesus never said, in the name of my Father, may your sins be forgiven. He says, I wish for you to be cleansed because I am God. I don't need any other authority because there is no other authority above me.

I am the supreme authority over and beyond every other authority. I don't need to call up on another name. There is no other name above me.

I am God. In my name, I say to you, you are healed. I wish for you to be healed.

Wow. But you know, only God can forgive sins. If Jesus Christ was not truly God, he wouldn't have dared to say, I wish for you to be cleansed, i.e., I wish for you to be forgiven of your sins.

But because he is God, he said it in his name. Because what did the people say? This man, we've never heard anyone like him. He speaks like of one having authority.

God has authority over death, over sin, over salvation, over redemption. An Israelite approached and then another person came, happened to be a Roman citizen, a pagan, worshiping false gods. What is that telling me and you? The Lord came for all mankind, the Israelites and the non-Israelites.

The Lord loves every human being equally. There is no favoritism when it comes to the Lord Jesus. The Lord doesn't say, these people are my people and you are not.

No, every one of us is the creation of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He loves us all. And when he died on the cross, he shed his blood for all humanity alike with no differentiation.

And so God loved the whole world that he gave his only begotten son so that whoever believes within him shall not perish but have everlasting life. So that whoever, whoever is not just the Jewish, whoever is not just the Aussies, whoever is not just the Americans, the Canadians, the Asians, the Africans, the Europeans, whoever is every single human being is whoever. Because when it comes to true love, there is no differentiation.

There is no favoritism. Love only knows one thing to do, to love. Love gives before it takes.

If a person wishes to take before giving, they haven't yet been encountered by Jesus Christ of Nazareth. A centurion, a man in army, a man who has a rank in the Roman army, he came and said, my son is paralyzed. He's been suffering, Lord.

He called him Lord. He's been suffering. The Lord knows your heart.

He knows who you are and what you are. He knows you more than you. He created you.

He's the only one that knows you perfectly. We may think we know ourselves, but we get shocked when we go through certain trials. We realize I was a total stranger to my own self.

I didn't know I was this weak. I didn't know I was this faithless. It is the grace of the Lord that carried me when my faith was moving mountains.

It was the Lord, not me. I realized it now. The centurion said, my son is paralyzed, please.

The Lord realized what kind of a heart he had. He wanted to make him as a beautiful example to those who call themselves faithful. He said, let's go to your house.

He said, oh please, Lord, I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy for you to come and enter my house. I'm a sinner.

You're the holy of holies. You're the Lord. You're God.

There's no way you come and enter my house. But Lord, just say one word. I believe my son will be healed.

You know why? Because I am a man under authority. I call, I say to this soldier to go and he goes and to come and he comes and I say to this servant, come here, do this, do that. They adhere to everything I say.

Say the word and my son is healed. The Lord was astonished by this faith. He turns to the Jewish people, the Israelite people and he says, truly I say to you, I did not see such a faith of this man in the entire Israelite nation.

You know what he said to the Lord and the Lord was really happy with what he heard from this pagan man worshipping false God. He didn't hear it from the person who claimed to be worshipping the true God. The pagan surpassed the true worshipper with faith.

Don't ever say I am someone special. You know better than anyone else. Humble yourself before the Lord Jesus.

You know better than anyone else. Humble yourself before the Lord. When he said I am under authority, I say to this person, go, goes, come, comes.

What he really said to the Lord, he said, just like I am under authority, so are you under authority. What does that mean? Imagine this for a moment. For as long as this centurion was under the authority of Caesar, because he's in the Roman army, whose authority is it? Caesar.

For as long as I am under Caesar's authority, whatever I say goes and happens. The moment I come out of Caesar's authority, whatever I say, nobody will give one penny about what I say. You see, what gives you power, what gives you glory, what gives you honor, what gives you exaltation is when you are under authority, not outside of authority.

For as long as I am under Caesar's authority, whatever I say, the soldiers adhere to it on the spot. No one dares to break my demand or command. But you are under the authority of your Heavenly Father.

And for as long as you are under the authority of your Heavenly Father, whatever you say will happen. The Lord says, it is not he who says, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but it is he who does the will of my Father. I did not come but to do the work of my Father.

What was the Lord's secret power? He was under his Father's authority. What is under the Father's authority? He was fully submissive to the will of his Father. If any one of us get to the level where we are fully submissive to the Father's will, whatever the Lord did, we will do.

There is no secret. There is no special treat. It is all about submission.

If we are fully submissive to the will of God the Father, whatever Jesus did, we will do. But you know why people struggle to be fully submissive? Because sometimes I want to do things my way, not God's way. Sometimes it is my will, not the Father's will.

The Lord says, come to church, I go to the club. The Lord says, pray, I swear. The Lord Jesus says, come to the light, I go to the darkness.

I choose to do things my way. Therefore, every time I do things my way, I am outside the authority of God. Therefore, whatever I say or do means nothing.

You see, the world with its own mighty power, with its own wisdom, is nothing but one dark, ignorant, corrupt, bankrupt world. Why? Because it does everything outside the authority of God. Therefore, whatever they do, they're useless, hopeless, foolish people.

They'll come out and be boastful about their inventions, whether in the medical field or in the military field. They'll say, we have weapons that can destroy the earth hundred times moreover. What a genius fool.

So you're telling me, you have created or invented a weapon that will destroy the earth. That means including you, you genius fool. But when it is under authority of God, you say to the dead, rise and they will rise.

When you are under the authority of God, you build, you never destroy. You enlighten, you never darken things. You amend, you never divide.

Because it is God ruling. And since God is ruling over you, when God works through you, God is love. And with love, everything falls into place.

At home, between husband and wife, why do we argue? Because each one wants to do it their way. If both of them agree on the Lord Jesus, it is heaven on earth. Trust me.

You know, when you both agree on the Lord, your fighting will be of a different nature. Before, outside of the Lord, maybe the wife will say to the husband, wash the dishes. That's not my job, that's your job.

I'm tired, I don't care. You get up and wash the dishes. But when they both agree on the Lord, this is the way they fight.

The wife says, I'll wash the dishes. The husband says, no honey, please, you're tired, please sit down, I love you baby. I'll wash the dishes.

No, I'll wash them. No, I'll wash them. And they fight who's going to wash the dishes.

See, it's a different approach. It's a beautiful approach. You see, because with the Lord, everything is beautiful.

Everything is meaningful. Everything is purposeful. Everything makes sense.

Why? Because everything with the Lord is in the light. When you walk in the light, you cannot say, I don't know where I'm going. The path is clear, everything's clear.

When you're with the Lord, love the Lord because He loves you, first and foremost. Obey the Lord because there is no other way but Him. Since Christianity is to do with a person which now love is made possible.

Now, my beloveds, why you come to church? Because I love the Lord. Why do you pray? Because I love the Lord. Why do you read the Holy Bible? Because I love the Lord.

Why do you do charitable deeds? Because I love the Lord. Why do you fast? Because I love the Lord. Why, why, why? Everything is because I love the Lord.

Now, it is beautiful. I don't go to church because it's a duty or an obligation or my mom or dad, they've been nagging me for years to come to church. I came just for them to get off my case.

Now, that is hell on earth. But when you do it like King David, I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord. I was glad not upset, not huffing and puffing and finding a million zillion excuses for me not to go to church.

No, no, I was glad I came out of the house rushing. I can't wait to be in the presence of the love of my life, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, baby. And don't ever whinge and complain and say the bishop preaches for too long.

We're aching, we're breaking, I don't care. You know why? Because when you are in the presence of your love, the last thing you will do, you will look at the time. When you're sitting with your fiance, when you're sitting with your sweetheart having a coffee, that's an American accent, coffee.

When you're sitting with your sweetheart, do you ever look at the time? No, you're afraid of looking at the time. Why? Because you don't want the time to take you away from the love of your life. You, time ceases when love is in motion.

That's why I forget myself and I preach for hours because when I am in the presence of my sweetheart, time does not exist anymore. I don't wear a watch because I don't want to look at the time when I'm with my love because love overrides time. I want to dance with this body, yeah, yeah.

I want to feel the heat with this body, yeah, yeah. I just corrected Whitney Houston's lyrics. She said, I want to dance with somebody.

That is a very dangerous statement to claim. Somebody could be Satan. But with this body, you need to define who you're dancing with.

You need to define. We're in the presence of the Lord. Don't look at the time.

If he's truly your love, even if you're falling asleep, but hang in there, baby, because you never know when the Lord will profoundly touch your heart and change you forever. Maybe it's in that moment where your head just tilted forward. Hang in there.

Love the Lord. Amen. Very good.

Now we come to our topic for this evening. One last thing. You know, there's a problem with love.

What is the problem? This thing. The only one who understands love is the one who is in love. You see, when you are in love with the Lord and someone else isn't, no matter what you say or do, they will always misunderstand you.

Because you see, love, St. Paul calls it the great mystery. It is a mystery. You don't go to university to learn how to love.

When your eyes fall on that gazelle in that corner, and then your heart stands dancing in the Assyrian way, Shaykhani, or goes, this heart never felt it before. I only felt it when my eyes fell on that Rosella over there. It is an instant natural reaction.

Nobody teaches you how to love. Because only God can. Therefore, love is an internal thing, not an external.

Now what is sin? Lack of love. So what heals the sin? Love. What heals the leprosy? Love.

When you love someone, you will share the same spoon, the same plate, the same cup, the same food, and the same bed. But with a stranger, imagine a stranger comes and puts the spoon in their mouth and say, he use it. You'll go, ah, yuck, ah.

But how come you are licking the spoon of your sweetheart and you're not saying yuck? Because it is love. It is love. And I could talk forever, but I have to stop.

Love is also very considerate. I'll tell you this true story happened with this piece of rake. Many years back, we used to pray at our house where I still live.

Um, anyway, we had a few people come over for a prayer and the prayer went for a very long time, for hours. And then I started talking. Good luck.

So that went for also hours. The words were gushing, were flowing through this head that there was no tomorrow. And in a split second, the brain went blank from talking into freezing for about 15, 20 seconds.

I was struggling searching for one word to come. It just banished. It went empty, blank, blank, blank.

The people I'm looking at them from their facial expression, they're wondering what happened to this man. This all of a sudden just posed and he became a statue, not realizing my head went blank. And then after those 20 odd seconds, the voice of the Lord came and said, will you let them go home? They are tired and hungry.

Now, whether you want to believe it or not, that's up to you. I'm not saying it for you to believe or not, but I'm just stating a real story that happened with me. The Lord is incredible.

It was the Lord, you know, after living with him for a little while and you get a like a Santa Claus beat, you get used to the Lord after a little while. So anyway, it was his voice. He said, will you? And it was like a directive, like an order.

Will you let them go? They are tired and hungry. Enough. Yes, sir.

And then I said, we need to finish her off. After we finished, they came and said, what went wrong? I said, well, the Lord said, let them go home because they're hungry and tired. They said, you know what? Exactly.

We are so tired and hungry. Our tummy has been rumbling for two hours. Even though the Lord dies to have you in his presence, but because he loves you, he will still allow you to go and have your rest.

Amazing. Amazing. Look how considerate the Lord is.

Look how loving the Lord is. He dies for this moment to be with you. But then he says, I can't be selfish because love is never selfish.

I can't be selfish thinking of me. I need to think of you. It's all right, my child, even though I love you to death and I did die for you, but because you're tired, it's okay.

Go to sleep. Go and have something to eat. We talk later.

I'll come back late. Amazing. Amazing.

Be thoughtful. Be considerate of others the way the Lord is with you and with everyone. Amen.

Let's bow our heads. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. One God.

Amen. Our good God and full of mercy. Our good God and full of mercy, whose grace and mercy is poured upon all for my Lord, the compassion of the delightfulness of your love upon your servants and again transform them in the hope of renewal to the life of repentance.

Renew in them your Holy Spirit by whom they are sealed for the day of salvation. Purify them by your compassion from all flesh and spiritual blemishes and assure the hope of their faith by the aid of your grace and instill the walks of their behavior in the paths of righteousness. Please them along with the saints in your kingdom by the assurance of the hope of their faith in the adoption as your children and in the joy of your absolving mysteries.

Empower them by the aid of your mercies to observe your commandments and fulfill your will to confess worship and praise your holy name, the Lord of all, Father and Son and Holy Spirit forever. Amen. God bless you always, always, always.