Good morning, thanks for being here on a nice wintry morning. Let's start with a word of prayer. Father, this morning we might be a bit overwhelmed by the topic that's before us because we're taking time this morning to think about the doctrines that pertain to you, how you reveal yourself to us, not only through your creation, which we've already taken some time to consider, but now especially through your word and through your works, we ask that you would be with us as we look at a number of scriptures this morning, and that you would enlighten the eyes of our heart to know and understand you as best we can so that we might worship you in spirit and truth. So we pray these things in Christ's name, amen. So this morning, we are undertaking chapter two of the Westminster Confession. It looks like everybody's got a handout. Do you need a handout, Brian? So we'll see how far we get with this. You can see I've changed the format a little bit. Again, last week was mostly an extended discussion. of the effects of the Fall and how we see that working out in the world. Now we're switching to Chapter 2, which deal with the doctrines of God. And it's roughly in two parts, two paragraphs pertaining to the general doctrines of God, the third paragraph pertaining to the Trinity, which we will undertake as a separate study. So today we're going to be talking about the general attributes of God found in paragraphs 1 and 2, And we'll see how far we get today. So I've divided it up. It's kind of nicely divided in such a way that if we just get to paragraph one, then we've got it set up for the next study to undertake paragraph two. So let me start by reading paragraph one of chapter two of the Westminster Confession. There is but one only living and true God who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions, immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute, working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will, for his own glory, most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, the rewarder of them that diligently seek him, and with all most just and terrible in his judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty. To say that we have our hands full today is a bit of an understatement. How do we even begin to understand and to describe who God is and what He is like? We could spend lots of time just trying to unpack this. The strategy that I have decided on is a strategy of trying to generally cover all the characteristics that are mentioned here, and we'll do that by looking at the scripture references. These are scripture references that are pertaining to this paragraph in the Confession. So it's the scriptures that the Westminster Divines wanted us to look at to understand where this paragraph is coming from. And if you haven't already recognized that some of the language that's in this paragraph is literally right out of scripture, as we'll see. So it's a big task that we're undertaking. I haven't made a point to write down a lot of... In the past, we've looked at the implications and had some questions and those kinds of things. I'm making an assumption here that as we start to look at these verses, that there are naturally going to be some questions and points that come up for our discussion. So I'll ask you to be thinking about that, and if you have questions or comments that you want to add to the discussion, please do that, because that's what we're here to talk about this morning. I have listed a few key ideas to get us started, just to summarize some of what's contained in that paragraph 1. There is only one God. The God that is is eternal, meaning that he's preexistent, that he always was and always will be. We could also say that there is a necessity of something being eternal. In other words, if we look around us and we see that we're here, and we're pretty sure that we're right about that, that there is something that's here, then the question is, what caused us to be here? there has to be a first cause, or what might be called a prime mover. It used to be, for example, in the world of science until about the middle of the 20th century, when we started to embrace what's called the Big Bang Theory. Science used to think that the universe itself was eternal. There was at least an understanding that for something to exist, something has to be eternal. Well, that something turns out to be God, it's not the universe, of course. So that's an important aspect of the doctrine of God, that he is eternal, meaning that he pre-exists, he has always been there, and he exists before us or any of the things that pertain to the created world. Next there is a goddess spirit, and that's kind of self-explanatory. He does not have a physical corporeal being like we do, as corporeal creatures. Another is that God is holy in his attributes. I feel like it's doing an injustice to the idea of holiness to just kind of mention it and then move on. Holiness has at least a couple of important aspects for us. The one that we probably think of first is the idea of holiness in terms of God's moral character, his moral perfections. but holiness also has another meaning, and that is the idea of separateness, that he is other. He is apart from everything else in the created order. Next is that God is sovereign over all. So God pre-exists everything. As we saw in chapter four, he is the creator of all things. And as the creator of all things, he is sovereign over everything that he creates. When we did that study, I mentioned that God can't handcuff himself. He can't make something that suddenly makes it impossible for him to act freely as sovereign over his creation. And then the last point there under key ideas is that God is both gracious and just. and we might want to take some time to think about how those two things fit together. How does God eventually reconcile his graciousness with his justice? Because if God is holy, and if he cannot change, and that's another characteristic we could put down here, is that he is immutable, unchangeable. If he's unchangeable in his nature, and yet he is perfectly just, requiring all sin to be punished, how is He going to work it out in such a way that those who are sinners can have their sins paid for, punished, and yet... and, well, have that happen in such a way so that they don't have to pay their own sins, but their sins are paid for so that He can show mercy and bring some who by the fallenness of their nature are all condemned and yet bring them, deliver them into the kingdom of his righteousness. So we're venturing off into some deep water, as you can see. It doesn't take very long for the water to get deep when it comes to the doctrines of God. Now we have a lot of scriptures to look at in relation to that. And instead of trying to do this all by myself, we're gonna make this a team effort. I think Bill's okay with that. So since he spoke first, I'm gonna give him, and there's a reason why I numbered these, I'm gonna give him number one. And some of these have a couple of verses to look up. So Bill will look up the first two verses there under number one. Number two, would you take that one for us, George? Number three, Jamie. Number four. Let me go, I'll just keep going around this way. Steve, take number four. Denise will take number five. Fran will take number six. Lori will take number seven. Margie, number eight. John, number nine. Leah, thank you. I know we've met a few weeks ago, but I've forgotten your name. Thank you. Number 10, please. So we'll start with the first 10, and then go from there. Okay, Deuteronomy 6-4. Hear, O Lord, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. And then 1 Corinthians, should I go ahead and read it? Go ahead. 8, 4, and 6. Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols We know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world and there is no God but one Verse 8 but food will not commend us to God. We are neither the worst if we do not eat or the better if we eat Yet there is but one God the Father from whom are all things We exist for him and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through him. Okay, so that pertains to the first part of the first sentence in the confession. There is but one only living and true God. We'll get to the, actually the next part next, the true God. Number two, please. George. But the Lord is the true God. He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath, the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure His indignation. 1 Thessalonians 1.9. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you and how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God. Okay, thank you. So before we go to number three, let's reflect on this for a minute. The idea that there is one God, what does that imply as a couple of the verses we just heard indicate? What does that contrast it to? Right, so if there is only one God, then any other quote-unquote God can't be a real God and must be an idol. What is the tendency for us to do in the fallenness of our hearts? Yes, to make idols and then to worship them, right? We see that all throughout, especially the Old Testament. Is that still a problem for us? Even if we're not carving idols out of wood and stone and molding them out of metal? You got a confession to make? So what do we do in place of making a physical idol that we bow down and worship to? How does idolatry show up in our lives? Possessions. Love of money, love of power. Okay, there you go. What we spend our time. Yeah, so the acquisition of material things, the acquisition of power, the idolatry of self, putting ourselves first in everything, all of those kinds of things. It's still there. Even if we're not carving idols out of wood and stone, we still have plenty of idols that are hiding in our hearts. So part of what we should be reminded of here then is that there is one God and only one who is worthy of worship and We could summarize it this way. Think about where you put your trust. Are you putting your trust in the God of Scripture, or are you putting your trust into something else? Whether it's your possessions, whether it's your family, whether it's your job, whatever it might be. So be careful where you put your trust. Okay? Where were we? Number three? James 11, 7 through 9. Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than heaven. What can you do? Deeper than Sheol. What can you know? Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea. Job 26, verse 14. Behold, these are but the outskirts of His ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of Him. but the thunder of His power who can understand. So these verses pertain to the infinity of God. We talk about the omnipresence of God, that He is everywhere at all times. We sometimes, we can summarize some of His attributes. We like omnipresence, omnipotence, And what else? Omniscient, all-knowing, to summarize some of those key attributes of God. Okay? Number four, please. John chapter 4. Yeah, it's all about spirit. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. I got off easy. We're coming back around. Don't worry. Next one might be harder. Yeah, so the idea here is that God is immaterial. That's an important thing. We kind of take that for granted. I think we understand that God is a spirit. But as a practical matter, where that comes into play, there's something that's called pantheism, which is a fairly widespread belief. The idea that God is in the creation. He's in everything. He's in the table. He's in the walls. He's in the floor. We have to understand that God is a spirit, he is separate from his creation. He is not built into the creation, so to speak. Number five, please. Okay, 1 Timothy 1, 17. Now to the King Eternal, immortal, invisible to God, who alone is wise, the honor and glory forever and ever, amen. So here the divines want us to pick up on the attribute of God's invisibility. But we've done better than that, haven't we? Eternal, immortal, invisible. Only wise. And also, an important thing that we'll see in just a few more, well, that's kind of in the second half of the references we'll look up. But we're already getting an indication of the importance of what we call the glory of God. when we ask the general question, why does God do what he does, the general answer to that is for his own glory. The confession states that on the very first question, I mean the catechism states that on the very first question and answer. What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy him forever. So when it comes to the will of God, and every one of us wants to discern the will of God, We often find ourselves, especially in difficult times, asking the question, why is this happening to me? We don't always have a specific answer. Job never really got a specific answer to the question of why he was suffering. But in the end, his suffering brought glory to his creator. God is able to bring good out of even things like that. and there were some important lessons for Job to learn from that. It was a severe test of his faithfulness. But it was also a good learning moment for his three friends who, frankly, had bad theology. So God does what he does for his glory, as we'll see just a little further on. Number six, please. Deuteronomy 4, 15, and 16. Deuteronomy 4, 15, and 16. Therefore, watch yourselves very carefully, since you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you that horror out of the midst of the fire. Beware, lest you act corruptly by making a corrupt image for yourselves in the form of any figure the likeness of male or female. So God does not have a physical form, and the Israelites very promptly did what? As they were there at the mountain. Yes. They brought their gold trinkets to Aaron and said, make a god for us to worship. Not a surprise that it looked like one of the gods of Egypt. In fact, the scriptural evidence is that the Israelites were idolaters during their time in Egypt. So not surprising that they would do such a thing. Okay, number seven, please. There's a point there also that he's not male or female. I mean, there's a doctrine out there saying that he's male and female, you know? Yes. Who is it that said that? Womack. Oh, okay, yeah, yeah. Andrew Womack has made that, tried to make that argument. Interestingly, it seems to be the case that not only God in his Trinitarian nature, but also the angels that he's created, are all identified in as much as we can assign gender to a spiritual being, they're all identified in the masculine. Not a very popular position today, when feminism is all the rage. It was actually a translation of the Bible called Today's NIV that attempted to correct those gender biases. So, if you see something that says TNIV on it, if it's in good will, buy it and take it home and put it in the fireplace. Otherwise, don't give Sondre Van any credit for publishing that kind of stuff. Gloria, please. Acts 14, 11, and 15. When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the Lycanian language, the gods have become like men and have come down to us, and saying, men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you and preach the gospel to you, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. It didn't take much for these men to try to turn the apostles into gods and try to worship them, did it? So this, I think of all the verses that we have to look at today, this is the one that is a little perplexing. So let me take a minute to unpack it just a bit. The King James Version says, we also are men of like passion. the ESV says, like nature. And either one of those translations is a good translation of the Greek word that is there in that verse. It means, it refers to being similarly affected and either of like passions, as the King James says, or subject to like passions. So the kinds of emotional passions, I think, that we are subject to as human beings are not a characteristic that God shares. And that's the idea that we want to get across in this part. Number eight pertains to the immutability of God. Margie? Malachi 36. For I am the Lord, I do not change. Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. James 1, 17. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. So here's the immutability of God. What should be our response to that particular characteristic of God's being that he cannot change? Security, trust, comfort. Yeah, the same yesterday, today, and forever, right? So in terms of his purposes, in terms of his promises, in terms of his nature and his character, he can never change. So we have a firm basis for any promise that God gives us that he's not gonna wake up next Tuesday and say, well, yeah, I know this is what I said last year, but I've decided I'm gonna do something different this week. And one of the things that you find that other gods often change, they can be very whimsical, very capricious. and our God is not of that nature. He cannot change. Okay, next, number nine, please. First Kings 8.27, but will God indeed live on earth? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain you, much less this temple I have built. In Jeremiah 23, 23 through 24, Am I a God who is only near? This is the Lord's declaration, and not a God who is far away. Can a man hide himself in secret places where I cannot see him? The Lord's declaration. Do I not fill the heavens and the earth? The Lord's declaration. So this pertains to the immensity of God. He is everywhere, and not just from time to time, but all the time. Okay? That should also be a comfort to us if we are people of faith. God's presence shouldn't be a comfort to the lost, but it should be a comfort to those who are in Christ. Number 10, please. Psalm 90, verse 2. Before the mountains were brought forth, or everth, thou hast formed the earth and the world, given from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Okay, thank you. I was distracted momentarily because there's a misprint in my confession. It says Psalm 40. So this is pertaining to the eternality of God. Any other verses come to mind? How about I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Eternality is one of those divine attributes that we really can't explain. And what I mean by that is that everything in our own experience is temporal. Meaning that everything in our experience pertains to time. So like when I come in before class and someone asks, what did you do this week? Or how was your week? Okay? That's a temporal question. pertaining to the last several days. What have I been doing, or what's been going on for the last several days? And we tend to think in those kinds of chronological ways as temporal beings. But God is outside of both time and space. There's a line from C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia, And I can't remember which of the books that it pertains to, but I think it's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, if I'm not mistaken. At the end, Lucy is talking to Aslan, and Aslan says, I'm going to be leaving now. And Lucy says, well, I'm never going to see you again. When are you going to be back? And his answer was, soon. And she says, what is soon? And he says, for me, all times are soon. So it tries to capture that idea that God is not bounded in any way by time or space. Everything is alike to him in those kinds of terms. The past, the present, and the future are equally well known. to God who is outside that temporal creation. Number 11, please. The incomprehensibility of God. Oh, I haven't assigned that one. How about if I read it? This is the King James. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. His greatness is unsearchable. It doesn't mean that we shouldn't search for it. It means that we're never going to get to the end of searching for it. That is, finite creatures will never be able to fully understand the infinity and the incomprehensibility of God. Okay, so we need to make some more assignments, don't we? Number 12. I'll just start back at the front to make this easy. Number 12, Bill. George, 13. Jamie, 14. Steve, 15. Denise, 16. Fran, 17. Lori, 18. Marge, 19. John, 20. And Leah, 21, please. Okay, 17-1, Genesis 17-1. Now when Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God almighty, walk before me and be blameless. And this is pertaining to the characteristic of God that we say almighty, all powerful, in other words. Number 13. So God is the... and this is something that we do well to be reminded of, that God is the source of all wisdom. We're told by James that if we pray to God with faith that he will give wisdom. There's a difference between having knowledge and having wisdom. And we do well not only to pursue knowledge, but to know how to use it in wisdom. Number 14, please. Isaiah 6, 3, just talking about the seraphim. And one called to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And then Revelations 4, 8. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within. And day and night, they never cease to say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. who was and is and is to come. Now there's something interesting about God's attribute of holiness. Those of you who are R.C. Sproul fans probably know the answer to this trivia question. What is it? You have it, George? What is the question? He didn't ask the question. What is unique in Scripture about God's attribute of holiness? It's repeated three times. Yes. It's the only attribute of God that is repeated three times, and we see that both in Isaiah and in Revelation. Now, in order to understand why that's significant, we need to know a little something about how language is used. especially in the Hebrew language, they didn't have boldface type and underlines and italics and those kinds of things that we do to our typeface in order to emphasize a point. What they did was they had repetition. So if you see something once, you know it's true. If you see something twice, it's really important. If you see it three times, that becomes a superlative. So in this case, it's the holiness of God that is raised to that threefold superlative state. It doesn't say that God is love, love, love, or wise, wise, wise. It says that he's holy, holy, holy. And in the particular encounter that Isaiah had in his vision of God in the temple, he not only heard the angels declaring the holiness of God, he also felt it acutely. so much so that he declared a curse upon himself, that in relation to the holiness of God that was revealed to him in that vision, he saw just how wretched his own sinful nature was, and it undid him like a cheap suit. So that's an interesting footnote to point out. It's also the case that you see a lot of times in the Proverbs and the Psalms, similar kind of repetition, sometimes saying the same thing slightly differently. And those kinds of repetitions are characteristic, particularly of Hebrew literature, so that it emphasizes, it puts a particular emphasis on a point. Okay, so 13. Where were we? Steve? Oh, did I jump ahead? No, you're tracking. Yeah. Psalms 115. Yeah. You're good. You haven't missed anything. Oh, I see. Okay, number 15, Psalm 115, verse 3. Psalm 115, verse 3. But our God is in the heavens. He does whatever He pleases. That's for sure. Let me have you look up one more verse that I want to add to this. Proverbs 21, the first verse. Find it? First verse of chapter 21. Wine is a mocker, strong drink, a brawler. That's not the right one. Did you say chapter 21? 21. Oh, OK. I thought you said 21. OK. The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he wishes. Hmm. So why do I like that particular verse? Because God's in control. Above government. Well, above everything. But in particular, in the life of the individual. Now, here's an example. This verse pertains particularly to the king. Okay? But we could generalize it because it applies to everybody. The good news in that is that if my heart's going off this way, he can bring it back and set it on the path that he wants it to be on. But more generally, I want you to think about this. Does God have to wait for someone to change their own heart, or to make their own choice, so to speak, before he does what he chooses with them. So again, the idea is that God is not contingent. He is not tied to his creation. He doesn't have to wait for his creation to do something before he can do what he wants to do. He is above and over all of his creation and can do with any of it, whatever he chooses. And that, I'm getting a little ahead because that's emphasized very strongly in the second paragraph of this chapter. Okay, let's see if I can find my place now. Number 16. Exodus 3, 14. And God said to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I am has sent me to you. This has to do with the absoluteness of God's sovereignty. When Moses asks God, okay, you want me to go talk to Pharaoh and tell him to let the people of Israel go, who am I going to say has sent me? And the response is, it's kind of an odd response. God is simply identifying himself as it were. And it's enough that by virtue of God's name, that Pharaoh or anyone else should listen and should comply. And Jesus used that same identifier. He said, foremost is I Am. Yes, that's why they wanted to kill Him. They understood that His references, those I Am statements of Jesus, were identifying with this verse here, where God says of His nature as being I am, that he's identifying that as his name. So there's, you know, as far as the controversies over Christ never identifying himself as God, that's not correct because even in that one way of identifying himself, I am, before Abraham was I am, he's identifying himself as God. Number 17. So in the text of the Confession it says, working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will. And that's the proof text for that. In other words, who does God have to ask or talk to or consult with before he lays out his plans and his purposes and decides what he's going to do? That would be nobody. Now there is a sense in which there is a council that takes place within the Trinity of the Godhead, but he's not having to refer to anyone or anything outside of himself to determine what he's going to do, or how he's going to do it. Number 18. That's Proverbs 16, 4. The Lord has made everything for its own purpose, you and the wicked for the day of evil. Let me go ahead and add Romans 11 36 to that because that amplifies it a bit more I didn't list it there in your notes because I'm referring to it elsewhere in paragraph 2 but Romans 11 36 says for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom I be glory forever. So again, it's pointing to the general purposes of God in creation, all creation, even the fall, and everything that's happened since the fall, that through those things He's bringing glory to Himself. He's going to bring glory to Himself not only in justice that He applies to the wicked, but in the mercy that He applies to those who trust in Christ. Okay, let's see if we can get through the rest of these a little more quickly. Where are we, number 19? 1 John 4, 8. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. And verse 16. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. So this is obviously emphasizing the loving nature of God. And then the next few, let me read these from the confession, will pertain to number 20. Gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Number 20, please. Exodus 34, 67. Then God passed in front of him and proclaimed, Yahweh, Yahweh is compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and rich in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving wrongdoing, rebellion, and sin. But He will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the Father's wrongdoing on the children and grandchildren to a third and fourth generation. Okay, so now we're starting to get into The loving nature of God, the merciful nature of God, and yet justice is also there in the picture as well. Number 21, please. But without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. So now we're seeing that there's a way to approach God in faith that will put us in right standing in spite of our rebellion. So let's quickly look at the last three. The next reference is Nehemiah 9, 32 and 33. Let me read that. Now therefore our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepeth Covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before thee that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day. Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us, for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly. And then the next reference is to Psalm 5, 5, and 6. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing. The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man. What's one of the popular myths that you hear floating around in Christendom today? God loves everybody. Close. God hates the sin but loves the sinner. But isn't it the sinner that God punishes in hell forever? So it's both sin and sinner that God hates apart from faith in the saving work of Christ. Lastly, This last reference pertains to the statement that God will by no means clear the guilty. It's from Nahum, chapter one, verses two and three. God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth. The Lord revengeth and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all "'Aquit the wicked. "'The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and the storm, "'and the clouds are the dust of his feet.'" So we're seeing now the tension between God's justice and God's mercy. How do we reconcile those two? Now I'm jumping ahead a little bit because we're going to get to justification later in the confession. but it can't leave it hanging. So God has appointed his own son, his only son, the second member of the Trinity. We'll talk a little more about that next week. Well, maybe in two weeks, depending on how we get through paragraph two. So he's appointed his son to bear the wrath of those who will trust in him. So God's justice is always satisfied. Every sin is punished. There's only two ways for a sin to be punished. Either the sinner bears the wrath of God's justice, so he bears the punishment for his own sin, or that sin and the punishment of it is placed on Christ who took the punishment for it. One of the reasons I don't like a movie like The Passion of the Christ is that the really important part of the transaction that took place on the cross was spiritual. You can't see it. You can't see it in a picture. You can't see it in a movie. And that is the wrath of God upon Christ on the cross that paid the penalty for sin. so that the unrighteous could be made righteous through faith in him. Let's pray. Father, it's a difficult thing for us to come to the doctrines of your person and your character. We can only get a small glimpse of who you are, but you've given us that glimpse We are to know you as best we can in our limited and fallen natures. And it's important that we should do that so that we can worship you in spirit and in truth and not follow after the vain idols of our imaginations. So help us to know you and to love you better that we might worship you aright. And I pray that as we come into that time of worship that you would be in our midst and that you would give wisdom to Bill as he opens the scripture to us this morning. In Christ's name we pray, amen.