Thank you. Thank you. That is a wonderful revelation to have to know. Sometimes we step out on our own and do things independent of the Lord, but it's a great blessing to recognize that we really can't do anything that has any eternal value. without him holding our hand and leading us. Amen. Thank you Brandon for singing and leading us today. Well church it is good to see you and I want you to take your copy of the word of God this morning and turn to the book of Ezra. Ezra. We're going to look in this book, you know this is what we're reading through right now. and uh... we just given god the glory and the praise he's been so kind and good and gracious even as as repaid in his day and and and mention that the lord had shown favor and uh... season that he blessed them with grace and uh... it is good and it is good to read through scriptures like these uh... i don't want to bring attention but i'm just thankful the way god works we have a family that's come down all the way from illinois that's a pretty long ride to go to church in We have Paul and Aaron and their sweet family that have come down. Paul lost his father this past week and they were down with family and taking care of those things. And we had met them through the internet, sharing pictures through Instagram. And I was actually visiting with Mr. Ralph one day and it was on my way home. I was actually on my way up there and storms was rolling in. And I was on Highway 45, and I snapped one of those pictures on 45 of the storm, how it was rolling in about near Waholic is where I was at. And I visited Mr. Ralph a little bit, and on my ride back, Paul said, is that Highway 45? And I said, man, who's this cat? He knows where I'm at. And sure enough, he said that he grew up in the area here, not far off of 45, and he recognized it. And through there, we started communicating and talking and found out that they live up in Illinois. And the way the Lord worked out things, they have become friends and we just actually met Friday evening and they took time out today to come fellowship with us here at Briggs Chapel and we're grateful. And what we do here at Briggs Chapel is that we read through Bible books. on a daily basis, one chapter at a time, day by day, as a church family. But that's what we do. And I normally teach from those books when we're reading through them. And we're in Ezra right now, and we're wrapping up with the book of Ezra in chapter 10. We're gonna move in. What's the next book we're moving into? Jonah we go and transition it into Jonah and from Jonah we're gonna move into the book of Matthew the gospel of Matthew starting next month so we like to various do various things as far as reading from the Old Testament New Testament and the Lord is blessed I think we've I know we've covered every single book in the scriptures reading one chapter a day and some books we've covered quite a few times and to God be the glory it's good to see Kate's mom with us we was praying for last week and God blessed and helped and did a work amen amen to him be the glory but what I'm gonna do today is really just a tad bit different in the sense that we're going to look at Ezra and his character and some of the things that we see that that are very beneficial to us that we can learn from and then there's some things some decisions that he made that we need to be cautious on on uh... that that would look on the surface as if it was the right choice to make but i think god's word in his counsel throughout the scripture helps us with this to see that i think he slipped in the area and how easy it is for you and for me Even when my heart is set aright to do the will of God and to walk with Him and to follow Him, to seek Him, to make Him known and to teach His ways, we're all prone to stumble. We're all prone to give wrong advice. And there's times in our lives when you can get pushed in a corner. People will push you in a corner and try to get you to tell them something or affirm something in their life. And we have to be cautious and dependent upon the Lord because we can easily give advice that is out of character of who we are. which would be as a result definitely out of character of the will of God and I think this is what Ezra did but we want to look at his journey we'll look at some of the things about him what the scripture says his success the significance of his life and some of the secret things about him why he was who he was and what God did with him and So, I'm going to look in chapter 7. Let's just start there. We're going to actually be in probably several of these chapters, but we're going to look at chapter 7 in verse number 6, where the scripture starts out and says, This Ezra, and explaining who he is, the time frame that was going on when he was sent, went up from Babylon, and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given. and the king granted him all his request according to the hand of the lord his god upon him uh... that that passage speaks of the success of as roof who we was in the fact that that here's a guy that was already scribe that is saying that he was uh... a student of the scriptures and we'll look at a little more closely in the moment what that means But as a scribe, he was one who would take the law of the Lord and transcribe that law on parchment and keep that record going. And he was one that was a ready scribe, meaning that he was useful. He was a man that could be used. He was favored by God. God's hand was upon him. And as a result, he had favor with the king. And whatever Ezra requested of the king we find that the king would grant it to him because of the favor that was upon his life so therefore this man was a success but his success was significant in the sense that it was god-centered it was uh... based on the word of god and as a result thereof the things that he did had a significant influence and an impact on people around him so much as The king even favored him, and that's the neat thing about being a servant of the Lord, that when God favors us and we're right with Him, God even uses pagan people around us. When I say pagan, we're talking about those that are not in relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. They don't have a relationship with Him. They've not been washed in the blood of the Lamb. They don't know Him personally. they haven't been born again they're not a new creature in Christ Jesus they may not be necessarily a bad person but we would classify them as an ungodly person because they don't have a relationship with the Lord I was brought up you know that I've shared this before in an ungodly home I believe my mama loved me and cared for me my daddy loved me and cared for me and invested in our lives but they did not make Christ the center of our home. The word of God wasn't center of our lives. We didn't seek it, we didn't study it, we didn't ask what God would have us to do, and that would be an ungodly home. now we wasn't out doing things that uh... calls people to stay away from us you know we wasn't we wasn't bad people uh... but we we the body of christ wasn't wasn't something that we invested in we we spend our time in the woods shooting guns and bows and fishing and playing ball and all those things that is what we worshipped They gave all their time and their affections toward us as kids and my dad would take off work and lose money to take me to a ball game and travel across the state of Louisiana to take us to events and he would pay money for good hunting leases so we'd have nice places to hunt and all those things. He would coach me, coach me. all the way up through until I got in high school and he did the same thing for my brothers it was that's how we live but you know Jesus wasn't Lord of our lives I didn't know who Jesus was the Word of God wasn't preeminent in our life you remember just a while back I went back home and preached in the area that I grew up in and I was out meeting people in the congregation and there was a couple that I met there that I had never met before that I was aware of. And they shared with me that when I was just a little bitty fella, I mean a little fella, so I was probably still in diapers at the time, they came to our house where we lived and Palm Plaza knocked on our door. They knew my mom and dad. They were believers, out witnessing, inviting people to come to church, came, knocked on our door, and talked with my dad in the door, talked with me. I was standing right there beside him, and they was wanting to come in and talk with him about Christ, wanting to invite him to come to their fellowship and tell them about Jesus. And my dad told them, y'all know it, nope, I don't want anything to do with that. and not now, not here, and told him to walk away. Well, the neat thing is, here it is some nearly 35 years later, almost 40 years later, I'm preaching the gospel and they're sitting out in the congregation, people who saw a need to carry the gospel to my mom and dad, which they rejected, but I'm thankful for God and he don't give up on us, amen? He's faithful and he always, remember what I said, that when he starts something, he what? He finishes it. He always follows through with what he starts and what he says. To him be the glory. Well, here is an ungodly king who is granting favor unto a godly man because of the hand of God being upon his life. And when God's hand is upon us, we're able to do things that we normally could not do or would not have permission to do. But we remember God was all in this, wasn't he? Remember when Cyrus, who God prophesied some 150 years prior to all these events that he said, I was going to raise up my anointed? I was gonna raise up my shepherd and he is gonna fulfill my will and he's gonna restore and send my people back and he's gonna I'm gonna give him the the treasures of darkness I'm gonna put resources in his hands and he's gonna put that in my people's hands and we read in the first part of Ezra where Cyrus gave a decree and said give whatever is needed for the people of Jehovah to go back and rebuild the temple and then we see with King Darius who also stood up made a proclamation and a decree for them to be able to do the same thing and to fulfill the work of the Lord and now we have this king who is showing favor unto Ezra and the success of Ezra was the fact that God's hand was upon his life. what we find is is that his secret was look in verse number 10 of chapter number 7 we see this ready scribe in Ezra 7 10 it says for Ezra had what he had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach it in Israel the statutes and judgments of God. Isn't that a, that's a beautiful picture of that, that the reason that he was successful was God's hand was upon him and God's hand was upon him because this man had prepared his heart to seek the Lord. And whatever God showed him, Tommy, he was gonna do it. And whatever God showed him, not only would he do it, but he was gonna be a teacher. He wanted to spread that word. He wanted to teach the word of God and spread it abroad. Danny, this is important because the reason I say that is that we're gonna find out in a little bit that even in light of him preparing his heart to seek God, to do what God told him to do, to teach the word of God, he still slipped. and made a drastic error in his advisement to the people of God. I need to be a man that prepares my heart from day to day. Lucas, as a young man like you, Brandon, Miss Pope Joy, Mama Rob, Mr. Norman, Ms. Sadie, whether we're a young man sitting on this front pew or 80 years old, every day's a new day full of mercy with the Lord. And we need to prepare our heart to seek God. Whatever he shows us, obey him. And then teach what he's taught us to other people, amen? In essence, like the New Testament would say like this, Paul said, I want to know him and I want to make him known. I want to know him in the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. I want to know him and make him known. Ezra wanted to know him and make him known. If there was to be a secret to our significance or success as the people of God, I think it's going to come back to that aspect that we set our hearts from day to day, day in and day out, to seek the face of god to know him and to make him known to live out to be a doer of the word that we can live a life of significance as brandy said in the song we can't even walk without him holding our hand amen as proverbs three five and six would say trust the lord with all your heart lean not upon your own understanding but in all thy ways acknowledge him and he will He will make the path clear for us. Here it is. He sought Him, He trusted Him, and He taught on Him. That is where we need to be. But in spite of that, we see some other things that come up. I want you to turn to chapter 8. Now I'm not going to read through all this just for time's sake. Many of you have already read it. and you're familiar with what's happening at this time and he's going back and he's telling the story about when he left and some of the things that were going on he's given the people of God a testimony here and I don't know about you but some of these big old words that we read in some of these things I don't always get them all out right so I'm gonna look in verse number 21 of chapter number 8 let's see what he says What does Ezra do? This speaks of his steadfastness from day to day. Not only was he a success, God's hand was upon him, not only did he have this secret in the sense that he sought God and walked with him, but we see the fact that he's steadfast. He doesn't wanna bring shame to the name of the Lord. Listen to what he says. Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of, how you say that? ahava that we might afflict our souls before our God for what purpose they this was common to him to seek of him a right way for us and for our little ones and for all our substance This was not a strange thing for Ezra. This is something that he practiced in the sense that of seeking the Lord, but he called a fast. Verse 22 tells us why. For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way, because he had spoken, that is, Ezra, unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all of them for good that what? He believed that, but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him, that abandon or leave him off. He says in verse 23, so we fasted and besought our God for this, and he was entreated of us. He answered us, he spoke to us, he heard us when we prayed. Now the result was this, if you jump down to verse 31 you'll see he tells us the result. on the twentieth day of the first month to go on the jerusalem and the hand of our god was upon us and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and of such as lay in wait by the way you see as were understood that they had a long journey from babylon back to jerusalem and he knew that in in in light of that there was bands of these there was hoodlums out there you'll think uh... Meridians done got a little bad hadn't it how many of y'all intimidated to go out at night and in the city of Meridian How many you when you go you your own guard when you go? Some of you probably totin something when you go, huh? Look, I know I know how y'all Paul's a big gun man. He likes guns, too That's one thing I noticed on all his pictures. He really likes guns. He has a bunch of guns and And you know most of us out here like them as well. But imagine you had a long journey, you wasn't inside of a car, you wasn't in a bus, you wasn't in a plane, you was in a caravan with women and children, and you had the journey such a long distance, and you had to go by, you went on a certain route, which most people will go on a route, but there was a lot of isolated places. And Ms. Popejoy, they didn't have Streetlights in that day You know, you know the deal when you pull in a big parking lot and you're gonna be there at night you ladies y'all ever shop at night It's a good idea that when you go to a parking lot and you're out there at night to find a lighted area So you're not in the cover of darkness when you come out. That's just being smart and wise and And you find like what I didn't have that in debate they would run across enemies and and and fees and people who would try to steel and harm our heart them and take what they had i mean they they transitioning all their goods they're leaving babel on for good they don't plan on coming back i mean they take in the best that they have all that they have they bring in that with them in a caravan traveling across similar to when how the West was one when they would travel across the West they had to deal with Indians and the problems and the lives that were lost the harsh conditions and he understood that he had been testifying to this king and his king saw the hand of God upon him and he said that God is with those who who seek him who trust him who obey him he'll protect us But then when you have to make the journey, you have to step out in faith. He said, there's no way I was going to tell the king that we needed some soldiers to go along with us. We needed some protection. I would be mocking what I've been telling him and what I trusted and what I believed. You've heard me say this before. You know what I think about fundraisers, right? You know how when we tell everybody we trust God, He's able to meet our needs. When He gives us a mission, He's going to fulfill that mission. He's going to provide what we're needed for that mission. But then we go out and we ask everybody and their brother, everybody out there to give us money to go do that mission. To me, that's a mockery. Amen? It's not being steadfast to the fact that we trust that God is able. Now when I say there's nothing wrong with fundraisers, people use fundraisers for certain things. Schools use them, different clubs and organizations use them, and that's all good, but they're not the church, amen? There's a difference between those who are and who are not. And when we trust God and believe in Him, there's nothing wrong with making your needs known among the people of God. We find that in the Word of God. And they support and they help, and that's what we've been called to do, to fulfill mission work, kingdom work. But here he is, says, I'm not going to the king and asking for soldiers to go with us because I wanna be steadfast, trusting God. I wanna be counted faithful. That king believes that I believe what I believe. And if I go to him, that's gonna put doubt in his mind. That's gonna make him question. the God whom I love and serve, and I'm not going to do it. I'm going to be steadfast. I'm going to trust God and just walk with Him. I'm not going to be ignorant in this. I'm not going to be foolish and just go out in blind faith. We're going to fast, and we're going to seek God's face, and we're going to listen to Him, and whatever God tells us, We're gonna follow. And when he tells us to leave, we'll leave. When he says go, we'll go. And that's what he did. And the scripture says God was entreated. That is God answered or heard their prayers, answered them, gave them permission to go and blessed them on the journey. He delivered them from the enemy and from those who would harm them along the way. That's a blessing, amen. So here's a man, he's successful, God's hands upon him. his success is significant because it's kingdom work his secret is is that he's seeking god prepared his heart to obey him and to teach him teach his ways he's steadfast in what he's doing he wants to be right he don't want to give any discredit to the name of the lord and then we find his sensitivity look look what we see over in chapter number nine when he gets to jerusalem and he's observing what he sees there his heart is broken over what he has found in verse number one of of nine he says now when these things were done the prince's came to me saying the people of israel the priest and the levi's have not separated themselves from the people of the land due and according to the abominations even of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Perserites the Jebusites the Ammonites the Moabites and the Egyptians and the Amorites for they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons that The holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands. Yea, the hand of the princes and rulers have been chief in this trespass. And if we read further along in this, we would find that it broke the heart of this man of God. He fell out before the Lord and began to weep before God. And the rest of this chapter is his prayer and his beseeching God, his confession of sin. But the thing is, here's a man sensitive to the Spirit of God. Why? His heart was prepared for the Lord. So his heart was tender before God. And when he would see things that were contrary to the will and the work of God, it bothered him. It's like going to check the mail barefooted. How many of y'all can still go check the mail barefooted and walk over that concrete or those rocks? Anybody can do that? Remember when you was a kid running barefoot as a yard dog out there? that didn't bother you at all, huh? You could run through the woods. Y'all remember that when y'all used to run out in these fields and out at the house when you was a kid, barefooted, and you could run, and those things did not bother you. Your feet were conditioned for it, because that's how you lived. I was like that. I was always barefoot, no shirt on, just running and gunning and having a great time. But nowadays, You hadn't been doing that in a while. You get out there on that little pea gravel. I like to watch some of y'all walking on that. Y'all doing those moves where you ooh, ah, oh. It's like old Greg Briggs. He used to play football and probably was a good athlete. Strong, hard, could hit. I heard he went out and tried to play a little football this past week at 53. Tackle football with some 20 year olds. What'd you describe, how'd you describe it to us in Sunday school? What'd you say we need to pray for your what? Your stupidity. He did pray before he started and asked God not to let him break anything, amen? He did do that. we just can't do what you used to be able to do I mean we need to do what we can but there's some things that just you got to get in condition for right and a lot of the times while we're not in a place to be broken over the things that are contrary to the Lord was just not conditioned for it meaning we're not sensitive to it because we've gotten so involved in so much like we don't even recognize it anymore are you with me but he was sensitive, he could see that that was contrary to what God's plan was. He recognized that, sensitive to the spirit, and began to pray. Well, you see the enemy, the Bible tells us in Psalm 12 that the enemy prowls on every side when vileness is exalted. Here he is, he's praying before God, he's asking God for help, God's granted them grace, gave them revival, making a nail, a peg in the land that is steadfast and trustworthy. And then here comes somebody. And that's what chapter 10 is about, and this is where the man of God slips. Listen how this unfolds before we go. Verse two. How do you say that fellow's name? And Sheka the son of Jehal one of the sons of Elam answered and said to Ezra we have trespassed against our God and we have taken strange wives of the people of the land yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and such are born of them that is the children according to the counsel of my Lord and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done according to the law. Arise, Ezra, for this matter belongeth unto thee. We also will be with thee. Be of good courage and do it. Then Ezra arose and made the chief priests and the Levites and all Israel to swear that they would do according to what? This word, now not the word of God, but this word, the advisement of this man. Now, we don't have time this morning, we may look at it tonight, a little bit closer, of what happens when this takes place. When a man took a woman of a foreign descent, the scriptures tells us in the Old Testament that that man was to be cut off from Israel. He was to be dealt with. He was to be cut off. You read over Numbers 25. Remember when the children of Israel, when Balaam and Balak and the talking donkey, y'all remember the donkey over there? Y'all remember the Midianite women and he advised them, you know how you get inside with these? You can't curse God's people. He tried that and that didn't work. The more he tried to curse them, the more God blessed them. Well, how do you get in? The enemy's crafty. He said, just let them intermingle with the women. And they took foreign wives and the wrath of God was aroused. And God told Moses to get up and find every person that took a foreign wife and kill them and hang them out in the sun. And one guy shows up to the house of God, brings her into the temple, and remember that priest that took the javelin and threw it to her and killed both him and the man? You see, God's law dealt with the man in his era, not telling the man to take the wife and the children and send them on their way. I know in my, what I do for a living daily in my life, I get a lot of questions with people will ask me stuff or call me or, or, brother Nick, what do you think about this? What about this? I'm doing this. And most of the time people are looking for me to affirm what they already are doing. they're not really asking me for advice for example i get a call like this or get a a message from somebody say i'm having trouble uh... do you think that i would be i should i leave my should i leave my wife i say well this is what i believe you ought to do this is a blatant steps you ought to take and i believe this will help you and that that god's word is already given us clarity on these things and when i tell them that you know what i don't ever hear from him again they don't call me back They don't ask me no more. What they were really wanting from me was my approval for what they already wanted to do. And this is what we find here. The word doesn't, this is only assumptions. The word doesn't tell us why these men made this recommendation and why they were in agreement with it and why they did it, I don't know. But you do have to figure that they treated women differently than we treat women today. They looked at women differently than they did in that day. They didn't look at women as being of value as we would today. And they had no trouble with sending a woman off. And the scriptures even teach us that when Moses gave a certificate of divorce, that was out of the mercy of the Lord and the compassion of Moses on behalf of the woman. Not making it legitimate for the man, but for the woman to protect her because of his compassion and mercy toward her. But it's a good possibility. These old sorry fellas here who did what they did, they done They done got tired of the woman anyway, they was ready for another woman. They had no trouble sending them off. Now the scripture doesn't say that, I'm just saying in the way that they viewed women, that could have been a big possibility. Well, Ezra, it was thrown in his lap to say, you make the decision on this and we'll support you in it. And Ezra says, put them away, send them away. As if that was the answer. And folks, it wasn't the answer. Even though God's word in the book of Ezra doesn't intervene and tell us that Ezra made a bad choice in this slip, you gotta go to a book like Malachi. Malachi follows up with the book of Ezra. And in Malachi, remember what God said, he was very displeased with the priest. He was very displeased with what they were doing and he says, y'all had defiled my holy covenant of marriage and you have dealt treacherously with the wife of your youth. God said, I hate divorce. Yes, they made an error. They fouled up. They were the ones who were to be cut off or dealt with in repentance, not dealing with the women and the children the way they dealt with them. But see, even a man of God or a woman of God who is favored of the Lord, loved by God, loves the Lord, seeking Him, walking with Him, still prone to slip up make a mistake and give wrong advice we need to learn that amen we also need to learn things just because the Ezra doesn't deal with the answer to this solution doesn't mean that we're to act the same way for an example just because Abraham had multiple wives doesn't mean Danny Simon needs multiple amen Deborah right Just because Phineas took that javelin, that spear, and he killed that woman and that man that day, doesn't mean that Nick needs to pull out his gun and shoot somebody if they made a mistake and they're doing something wrong, right? So I've gotta learn. I've gotta learn that one, I need to know the full counsel of God. I need to know God's word. I need to be in God's word. I need to know what God says about a thing and why he says it. I need to also recognize even though I know it, I'm still prone to sin and make a mistake with it. Give wrong advice in it. But just because God doesn't answer a thing. For an example, the book of Job. Job had some buddies. Remember Job's buddies that came to him and talked with him? You know, everything that those buddies told them doesn't always mean it's something that was the right advice. They gave Job some advice. They thought Job was bad sin, didn't they? And man, they just kept blaming Job, blaming Job, this was all your fault, all your fault. And just because that says that, God's given us a picture of the whole thing that was going on in Job's life. Sometimes people will take those things that they're said, and we're all prone to do that, and go teach them as if that is what God wanted us to go teach, when really they were giving him bad advice. So the point I'm making, it's kind of like a grocery store. How many of y'all grocery shop today? None of y'all get y'all's groceries online. Nobody out here in Porterville gets them delivered, right? What's your favorite place to shop at? What's your favorite grocery store? Winn-Dixie? Walmart? The cheapest? Yeah? Well, you know, when you go to the grocery store, Miss Lee Lee, you don't buy everything on the shelf, do you? Not every time. Well, neither do we. We don't buy everything that we see on the shelves, but it's good to know where everything's at in the grocery store. Anybody ever ask you where something's at? Some of y'all know the grocery store like you know the back of your hand. You ain't even got to be there. Somebody say, where do you think the oyster sauce is? Oh, I know right where it's at. You just go down the aisle, such and such, and it's going to be right here, and it's going to be this color, and you know right where it is. You see, I don't have to buy everything in the grocery store But it would be good if I know where things are at. I ask ladies all the time if I'm there by myself, I can't find something, I see somebody, I don't ask another man because he don't know, so I ask a lady, would you happen to know where I can find this at? And they'll point me in the right direction and I go, so it's good to know. It's like the word of God. It's good to know the whole Bible. You need to know the whole thing. Now, do you use the whole thing every day? No, you glean out what you need for the day. But you need to know where everything is at, that's in it, so when your neighbor or your brother or your sister is going through something, it may not be something you need it today, but they need it, you know where to tell them it's at. Amen? Like going to the grocery store. You get what you need, Use what you need. Know where everything's at. But you always gotta be careful, too. You know, there's people out there, we already talked about, that when violence is exalted, the evil prowl on every side. You know, there's people that prey on people in grocery stores. You gotta be careful, ladies. There's some old wicked, cruel men out there. That'll use something like a grocery store to try to get a little information or get a connection in with you. You gotta be careful. Well, you see, this is what happened with Ezra. He got caught off guard. Even though he was right with God, walking with him, wanting to do the right thing, seeking the Lord, he got caught off guard, put in a corner, pressured to make a decision. And he made a decision. That was wrong. And the enemy took advantage of him. Now we don't need to be afraid of that, amen? But we need to be cautious, it can happen. And just because the word of God says a specific thing doesn't necessarily mean that's exactly what God's plan was at that time for those people. We need to know the rest of the counsel of God so I can discern and recognize the difference, amen? So I can know what God is doing and how He works and what He's doing with me and what He wants to do with me today. Because I want to tell you, there's a lot of stuff out there that's crazy that people teach and preach and people want you to affirm and agree with them on. You just have to be cautious and recognize that you're just as prone as Ezra or anybody else to make a wrong step, amen? And if you do, repent of it, confess it, get back right in relationship with the Lord, keep walking with him, amen? Just get it right with him. To him be the glory and praise. Would you stand with me today? Have you been washed in the blood of the lamb. Didn't we sing that starting out? Have you been washed? I want to tell you, being washed in the blood does make a difference. Makes a difference in our lives. Father, we thank you today. We thank you for the blood of the lamb. We thank you for gracing us with repentance. for rescuing those that have been saved through the cross of Calvary. We pray in this invitation today that you would speak to our hearts, that you would help us recognize our need of you, your grace, your mercy, and how we need to continue at all times depend upon you. We love you and praise you in Jesus' name, amen.