the Lord together. Looking forward to our time together in the Word. I'm going to start off from 1 Kings chapter 18, and you can look there in your Bibles. I have it here on the screen for you too, but it doesn't hurt to be keeping up in your Bibles. But you'll be familiar with the context of this passage, I think, as we start reading it. Here, really one of the more fascinating Bible narratives that we have where there's the contest of Sacrifices if you will and here is Elijah That challenges the prophets to bail. They're going to put their book dress it get it ready He's going to have his bullet dressed and ready and the God that answers by fire is the true God and So we read of the prophets of Baal that they took the bullock which was given them and they dressed it and called them the name of Baal from morning even until noon saying O Baal hear us But there was no voice nor any that answered and they leaped upon the altar which was made And it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them and said cry aloud for he is a god either he is talking or he is pursuing or he is in a journey or Paradventure he sleepeth and must be awake Now, that's a good question that Elijah basically poses to them. Where is Baal? Maybe Baal's asleep. You've got to cry out a little louder and wake him up, but there's a good chance Baal's off in another part of the world. He's busy doing something else. Whatever the case is, clearly Baal's not here. Of course, that's mockery, isn't it? And and this is one instance mockery is not a bad thing. It's godly mockery It's mockery of their false idol. The reality was bail didn't exist at all But it kind of underscores the weakness when it comes to man's invented gods We've talked about this a lot in our study on the attributes of God Is that man the best we could do is come up with a god that's like us. We can't conceive of a god that is infinite So man comes up with a God that is limited to a location When he invents a god, that's that's what the God is like But if that were the true God, he might not hear us when we pray When we face a hardship we might fail because he wasn't there to help us when we sin We could get away with it because he didn't know about it That that's the God of man and of course in response to the mocking of What is it that the false prophets did? Well, they cried louder They began to cut themselves with knives. They tried somehow to get Bales attention to call him over from wherever he was Elijah when he prayed how different it was notice what he said in first Kings 18 and verse 36 We read and it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near and said Lord God of Abraham Isaac and of Israel let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel and that I am thy servant and that I have done all these things at thy word We read he goes on to say hear me Oh Lord hear me that these people may know that thou art the Lord God and that thou has turned their heart back again then the fire of the Lord fell and Consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench Now this was a time when It seemed like all true faithfulness was gone from Israel There's a wicked king. There's a wicked queen upon the throne. It seems that all the people that stood for truth have either fled or been put to death. Elijah feels like he alone is the servant of the Lord. And yet, it was very clear to him, at least at this point, God was present. God was there when he prayed. He's everywhere. And this is the thought we're going to look at tonight. Gonna read to you. I have it here on the screen for you This is from chapter 2 of the Philadelphia confession of faith in the first paragraph Speaking of the true God We read the Lord our God is but one only living and true God whose subsistence is in and of himself Infinite in being and perfections whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but himself a most pure spirit invisible without body parts or passions who only have Immortality dwelling in light which no man can approach into who is immutable immense eternal incomprehensible Almighty every way infinite what we're gonna do tonight. We're gonna put that word immense in together with the word infinite. And when you add those two together, immense and infinite, you come up with omnipresent. That's what those equal. How big is God? God's so big, He's everywhere. That's what we're talking about. Omnipresent. Omni means universal. You know what present means? So we're saying that God is everywhere, and we're not just saying He's everywhere, we're saying He's everywhere at all times. He is in certainly the glory of heaven. His presence is there he's among the farthest of the stars, you know, they cannot find the end of our universe But wherever it is if there's an end God's there That's something isn't it? That you could take a million of your lifetimes to travel to the farthest star and there's God That's how big he is. He's in the depths of the ocean. He's with us filling this room tonight he's even in the flames of hell in regards to judgment and that is the case of at all times. A couple scriptures relating to this. The Lord says in Jeremiah 23, verse 24, verses 23 and 24, Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him, saith the Lord? Do I not fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord? The psalmist says in Psalm 139 verse 7 wither shall I go from my spirit or wither shall I flee? From my presence if I ascend up into heaven thou art there if I make my bed in hell behold thou art there I Know this is again. It's something that's beyond our comprehension to grasp It's another one of those attributes of God that you have to say it argues for the truthfulness of the Bible because no man would invent a God that's everywhere at all times Everything we do is affected by location, isn't it? What we can accomplish what we can see what we can understand what we can experience is all Affected by where we are and we even with all our technology can only be in one place at one time That's the reality God doesn't have that problem. He fills everything in his creation Certainly, we have to say he doesn't become those objects But he does completely surround them and influence them God is everywhere This mind-boggling is As we delve into this I want you to see well, it's an amazing truth. It's a very very essential truth We said this already about a couple of the attributes of God and we're going to say this about this that it's foundational We could not believe about and we couldn't believe in many other aspects and many other attributes of God if this attribute were not true and We'll talk about those But then how important this is for our relationship with God how this ought to affect our faith Now I have to say if you are not at peace with God if you are living a Sinful life and rebellion against him if you're trying to push all thoughts of God away and live for yourself This is not going to be a comfortable message for you He's a God you can't escape But for the believer who is looking to God as his hope and the reward of his salvation who's trusting in God Well, we can say as David does in Psalm 139 Verse 17 how precious are thy thoughts unto me? Oh God, how great is the sum of them if I should count them? They are more in number than the sand when I awake. I am still with thee this doctrine of omnipresence is wonderful So let's get into this. Let's talk about what we can learn from it. We've seen the scriptural truth already. God is everywhere at all times. What does that really teach us about Him? Well, number one, it helps us to understand how He is unlimited in His knowledge. You parents can relate to this. All of you can relate to this, I think, because you've all been there as parents. You hear crying in the other room, and you go in there, and there are two children. that have been wronged. Annalise took Jonathan's toy or Jonathan took Annalise's toy? Problem is I wasn't there. I got to decide which one of them are right. And that's pretty much impossible. They're really good liars. And so both of them are making an equally strong case that they were the ones that was wrong. And it's tough to judge. But you know God doesn't have, again, that problem. When it comes to His judgment, well, we're told in Proverbs 15 verse 3 the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good because he's omnipresent He's always watching Satan doesn't have a secret lair that he can retreat to We read in the Bibles about the rulers and the Kings Crying on the rocks to fall on them and to hide them from the face of the lamp We read about Adam and Eve hiding themselves among the trees of the garden Well, that is the most vain thing you can ever do. I The most foolish thing he's a God you can't hide from he's a God you can't get away from He knows he always surrounds us So he knows what we're doing and he knows where you are and he knows what you're thinking God is omnipresent and that's very essential for his omniscience isn't How could he be all-knowing if he wasn't everywhere always seeing but he is and he does So he is unlimited in his knowledge and we'll talk more about that down the road But I want you to see that that is founded on his omnipresence Because he's everywhere. He always knows what's going on We can also add this that he is unlimited in his power Now Solomon when he built the temple said in 1st Kings 8 verse 27 But will God indeed dwell on earth behold the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee how much less this house that I've built it You know, that was not simply beautiful language of Solomon It was true. It was a wise saying no matter how Beautiful and we can only imagine how beautiful Solomon's temple was I read about it in the Bible. I think what how amazing to see it How impressive? But you know if he could contain God it wouldn't be worthy of him He wouldn't be worthy of their faith if he was there in that temple at rest enjoying the worship of men Well wickedness flourished on the other side of the world. How could he how could he be trusted? When a terrorist attack occurs When there's a natural disaster that strikes when we meet a personal crisis, we'd have to say well if only God had been there Where was he Satan got away with one. Hope God shows up tomorrow That'd be a sad thing to say wouldn't if anything could contain God That's a fear we would have but the Lord assures us and Isaiah 66 verse 1 Let's say it the Lord the heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. How about that imagery? Again, I don't think he's just giving an illustration. He's given a reality heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool Where is the house that you will build unto me and where is the place of my rest? Do you think you can box me up? Certainly, there's nothing wrong with having a place you come to worship God, but don't think God's God's Remaining there that he's trapped there. Oh, no No, I like to sing that song with my kids And I mentioned this to you before we still sing it When we had devotions was saying he has the whole world in his hand And then I let the kids pick whatever they want We add it in there. They could say whatever they wanted. He has Mars in his hands He has The farthest star in his hands. He has the blue whales in his hand. He has grandma in his hands they could even say he has Satan in his hands and There would be a truth to it Why because he's all-powerful and he's everywhere if he wasn't everywhere. Could he be all-powerful? Could we say that he has Satan in his hands if he were here tonight and Satan was on the other side of the world doing something where God wasn't? Well, we couldn't say he did, could we? But he's there as well as here. Everywhere he's exhibiting his power, showing his almighty hand, sustaining his creation, restraining the wicked and accomplishing his purpose. I don't understand everything that happens. There are a lot of things that God allows in his permissive will, I don't understand. He's gonna judge all sin one day. Sometimes he allows it to happen. Sometimes he allows disasters to happen that we don't understand but we know this that God is there when it happens and He's at work And that's a comfort to the Christian as God is on the present. It helps us understand His almighty hand and all of these things. He's omnipotent Would add this I think is an important point to these two and that is that he is unlimited in his concern You know, it's one thing to think that God is always watching everything that happens But to really get this teaching of his omnipresence, we need to understand he's always involved He's not simply there on the sidelines watching Observing he's involved Stephen Stephen Charnock says as his eternity renders him king always so his immensity renders him king everywhere He's a king everywhere and that's what gives his presence meaning When he's there he's active he's doing he's Press impressing his will upon the situation at hand, you know when it comes to his people We you'll notice this in the scriptures whenever he talks about his presence with them There's always a blessing that goes along with it. He told Abraham in Genesis chapter 26 verse 3 sojourn in this land and I will be with thee and will bless thee for with thee and unto thy seed I will give these countries and I will perform the oath which I swear unto Abraham my father and He told Israel in Isaiah chapter 41 verse 10 fear thou not for I am with thee be not dismayed for I am my God I will strengthen thee. I will help thee. I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness We think as parents how dear our children are to us and if we're around them when we see they have a need we're involved how much more the Almighty God with his people and of course, there's the other side too and Whenever he sees evil he's involved in that too Maybe he restrains his hand for a while But the evil has not escaped and we're going to talk about that in just a little bit but be sure this Romans 1 verse 18 the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth and unrighteousness I just want you to get this point that God is present and active in reigning over his creation as He is everywhere as he is omnipresent He's always working wherever he's at. He's always accomplishing his desire. So we see some things that this teaches us about God, some other attributes, and we could go on from that, but just moving on, I want us to apply this to ourselves. What does this mean for our lives? Here's some things I really want us to think about. It's not just an interesting doctrine. It's applicable to every part of our lives. Number one when we sin God's there and we need to remember that How much that would affect us if we did, you know, I know that there are Sinful actions in your life probably many sinful actions that you would never have ever done if someone was watching Is that not so? If we could we could all think of a lot of things we would never have done there are things that we have if we would have never say that we have thought and We're thinking almost that the privacy Justifies the action you ever feel that way that it's private. That means it's not that bad My friend nothing's private You realize that maybe you're not doing it in front of the pastor or You're not doing in front of the deacons. You're not doing in front of your friends not doing in front of your parents Whatever you're doing, whatever you're thinking, but it's always before God the same Jehovah that John and Isaiah fell on their face before that angels dare not look upon is beholding everything that we say Listening to everything we say and beholding everything we do Just think on that and he cares and More than anyone else did you say wow boy? Pastor get upset. Well God gets more upset infinitely when we sin Particularly when we do it without the fear of him, you know That's kind of that compounds the sin if we have no fear of God before our eyes that we don't even we don't he's not in our thoughts at all and We go on in our sins and then we justify our actions and put on a show of righteousness before men as if nothing's wrong God how sinful that is before him You know, it's not pleasant to think on this I know it's more comfortable to push this from our mind But we need to grasp this as God is omnipresent Every single transgression we commit it's always in his sight and you know that ought to bring this same confession that David had as we sin and Psalm 51 verse 4 we ought to have a heart as he had a broken heart where we cry out to him against thee The only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest You know, I have to say too If we keep this on our mind, it's going to help us flee temptation. That's for sure if we really get in our minds God is there and I think it convicted our hearts a whole lot more as temptation comes upon us. We stop giving our thoughts and our attentions and excuses for it and flee it. Well, we need to keep that in our mind. To the unbeliever, we need to make this application. Men make a mock at God today and of course they don't see Him with their eyes. Lightning doesn't immediately come down and strike them. But one day in judgment, this is going to be undeniable that God was always there He's he cannot be escaped from and you can give all the excuses you want you can try to downplay the wrongs But you're wasting your time because we have a God that was there we have this picture of the judgment day in Revelation chapter 20 and in verse 12 I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of Life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works What works were those? the works that they did on Sundays in church where God could see and The works that God had there were witnesses that told God what happened now every single thing they ever did thought and desired is written in the books of God's omniscience and Men are judged according to this Every sin we might say is marked down. None are Forgotten either they're put on Christ or they're put on the center That's the scriptural reality There are no lawyers that come into the scene of Revelation 20. The Lord doesn't need a lawyer. It's not even a court scene. It's the enacting of His judgment as man is guilty. There are no excuses that are heard. The one who is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart knows the sin and He will judge the sin. So I just want to get this thought out there that men get this idea, I look pretty good before other people. I have a pretty good reputation. But you're before God. He knows every sin. And that leaves you without excuse and without hope if you're trusting in yourself. There's no escape from God. But I do want to impress this upon anybody who is without Christ, there's mercy with him. You can't escape him, but you can find mercy. And here's a wonderful thought. That in this very building, Or maybe if somebody's listening on the internet or watching on TV, and maybe you're in your car, maybe you're in your house, wherever you're at, if God is touching your heart this evening, and you become convicted about your sin, and truly in a heart of repentance you cry out for His mercy, it can be found through Jesus Christ, whose blood was shed on the cross. And I'll tell you, God's present to hear your cry. God's present and see in your heart, if in true repentance and faith you look to Christ, and He does save the soul of sinners. So while He's present to judge and His wrath is against all sin, He's also a God of present mercy. That's a comforting thought if you're without Christ. I hope it burdens you to seek Him. But turning this back to us as Christians, how comforting for us to have an omnipresent God. You know, as a child, I was not the fearless man that I am today when I was a kid. I don't see any grins but Obviously sarcasm if you talk to my wife, but as a kid, I was a particularly Scared kid. I mean everything made me nervous. I was scared. I had an imagination I was always worrying but I had a dad who could beat up everyone if he wanted to That he always knew where he's going and he had everything under his control For a while. I really thought that Of course we grow up We see yes, even parents They're fallible. Sorry dad if you're listening to this online, but it's true We all realize that in time our parents they aren't always there. They aren't always in control, but as Christians We should never lose that confidence in our Heavenly Father. Should we? He is always there He is always watching over and he is always in control of my situation Psalm 46 1 God is a refuge and strength a very present help in Trouble and I want my children to get this Of course, I think they know better than I did at their age that they don't have a perfect dad. I Don't know if they think that I can beat anybody up or always control every situation But I want them to know there's a God that can provide for them and he's always there We don't have to be like the prophets of Baal. We don't have to cut ourselves with knives and hope God, far off in the heavens, we might get his attention if we scream loud enough. He's here. He's among us. And he's a perfect father. A few applications from this real quickly that I want you to think about. Number one, when we face temptations, God is there. And boy, we face them. We feel so surrounded today. I know I do. You can't go anywhere. But, boy, the wickedness of the world's just impressed upon you. You've got all the, just the wicked lifestyle of the world around you. And I got a little bit of a shock when I got out in the secular workplace for just a little while and I realized, wow, the conversation of people and the modality of people. Maybe I was a little more sheltered when I was, you know, only doing the work of a pastor. But it's all around us in their TV and a radio on the internet there Of course, we know that there are principalities and powers that surround us. We cannot see that's a frightening thought but that's a scriptural reality That Satan and his demons are real and they afflict men in a spiritual fashion, but then we kind of have our own flesh, right? It's like we're work. We can't get away from ourselves The weakness of our own flesh that draws us to the world, you know If the only scriptural advice in the face of all these things was be strong Well, there's not a lot of comfort there I Can't overcome this I can't escape this Even if I became a monk and hit off in some wilderness way up in the mountains. I still got my own heart to contend with But we're told in Ephesians 6 10 be Finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might You see that's the comfort. We're strong in him and we can be strong in him not just here Wherever we're at because he's not his might is always present in our time of need and that's why we read in 1st Corinthians chapter Chapter 10 and verse 13 there hath no temptation taken you but such as common demand But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able but will with the temptation Also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it It is true Most often now we do get sometimes attacked spiritually. I know it can happen while you're sitting in a church listening to preaching Most often that's not the case or when you're reading your Bible You don't usually have your Bible open. You don't usually have the pastor preaching. You don't usually have truth being proclaimed to you right before your eyes. Satan likes to attack us when we go out the door and maybe we're having a rough Monday. He likes to attack us when the guard's down. But there's always the Lord. He's always there. The pastor's not always there. Maybe your Bible's not always in your hands. But God is always there. And He assures us if in prayer and meditation we draw nigh to Him, we'd experience the comfort of His presence. We'd find He's there to hear us, and He'll give us the power and the grace by His strength to overcome whatever temptation it is. And I know we all have our weaknesses, and there's some temptations we say, I just can't handle it. God can. And He's there. He's a present help in our time of temptation. When we face great affliction, God is there. You know, I often read Isaiah chapter 43 to those that are in the hospital. I love this passage. Isaiah 43 verse 2 says, When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. Fear not, for I am with thee. It says in verse 5. I like to point out as I'm talking with someone that God never promises that we're not going to go through the fire of the floods Never do we get a promise that there's not going to be the hardships the tribulation. In fact, we're told through much tribulation We enter into the kingdom of God. Jesus says take up your cross and Follow me. I mentioned that often What does he promise? He promises that he's going to be with us in the floods and the fires. That's what God promises That's what he assures us You know, it is a great comfort to have fellow believers in the church that God's given me to serve with and they pray and they encourage me and we Serve the Lord together and we go through things often together. We want to be there for one another But we do know this. What if everyone else deserted me? What if I was left completely alone if I felt like Elijah and said I only am left even though it wasn't really true for Elijah and But if I had no family or friend in this world left I could seriously say That I still I still I'm not alone that I have enough if I have God And you know, we do so well to seek a fuller understanding of this comfort instead of simply praying Lord Take away the problem Take away the trial or explain the trial to us. That's the temptation to pray that way, isn't it? But maybe we ought to be praying more Certainly we could pray if it's your will heal and your will strengthen if your will supply the physical need But Lord remind me you're with me. Do we ever pray that? Instead of simply saying take the problem away Lord if it's your will for me to go through the fire or the flood Will you just just give me that? Absolute clear understanding you're here with me Going through going through it just like I would if if my parents were taking me by the hand and leading me as a little child Would you would you just show me you're here? Impressed upon my heart you're here. I Tell you we'll find he's a very present help in time of trouble Adding to this when we face a difficult task God is there What we're doing is hard And if you don't think it's hard to be a Christian You need to examine whether you're serving like you should I think people who take their time to be here on Sunday night Where are would would agree with me? It's hard It's hard when you seek to be a witness to a world that doesn't want to hear the truth that you're being a witness up and It's hard to humbly serve in the church sometimes in a way where you don't get thanked. It's hard to pray and we're talking about just saying somebody's name but effectual fervent prayer and That's labor. That's hard. It's hard to love. We talked about that this morning, didn't we? It's expensive. You invest yourself in someone else and you sorrow when they sorrow and you bear their burdens and it's hard. But here's the blessing that God never gives a task and leaves us to it. God never gives us work to do and we do it alone. Never. In fact, we can look at the very great commission from Matthew 28, and we often forget the last part of the commission. We just focus on the, Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. Here's this great commission, to go into all the world and tell them this gospel. But here's the comfort, lo, I'm with you always, even into the end of the world. You go, but I'm going with you. I'm there with you in all that you face and you know, we look at those that do great things for the Lord They're not doing it and accomplishing it through their own strength and wisdom Those that God really uses I think they are able to boldly preach They're able to boldly witness and powerfully love because they know that he's there with them and they trust him God's omnipresence is key for our confidence key for our faithfulness When we go through a great task, He's there. And one last point I want to give you, and we could add many to this list, but God is present when we worship Him. In Acts, chapter 17, verse 24, we read, God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples, made with hands. That's the God of man. He built a beautiful temple and hopes that he can contain the God there so he can go and he could worship Well, our God is not confined to a structure. Our God is not confined to a building now. I'm thankful. We have the building I'm thankful to know that as we gather together in this building as a church, the building is not the church We're the church that he is in the midst of But if the building were to burn to the ground if we were to be persecuted and we had to worship in hiding God would still be with his church God is always with His people and He's a part of what we're doing. Whenever you come to God in prayer, maybe you're in the car, maybe you're in your bed and it's midnight, maybe you're at a prayer closet, wherever it's at, God's there. You're coming boldly before His throne. When you sing out in joy of what he's done for you and you're singing his praises here with the congregation or wherever you're at and you're worshiping his name He's listening to you because he's there When you're giving of yourself in service, and I know there are people that come up here during the week, and I don't even see it I'm away. No one thinks you no one notices and you don't put yourself out there, and you don't seek their praise But God is there And he sees what you're doing And as the widow casting in her last mites, it's precious in his sight You know I just want you to get this thought Every bit as much as we'll fall down before his throne and cast our crowns crying out thou art worthy We're worshiping him just the same even now Now we can't see the Lord Jesus Christ the man. We can't see him in glory right now one day we'll see him face to face but our worship of God is just as real now as it will be in heaven and His omnipresence kind of drives that home What a wonder to say God is there God is present in our life and he always will be but what does that mean to you? I Would hope tonight if somebody is not at peace with God That if they're still seeking to run their own life if they're still seeking to control that what they do if they're in rebellion that this That this is a message of terror for you not despair. I But I hope it does stop you in your tracks if you think that you reign over your own life, that it impresses upon you the reality that there is a God you cannot escape from, you cannot overcome, you cannot hide from, you cannot lie to. But if you repent of your sins and draw near to Him in Christ, you'll find, oh, He's the greatest source of joy. He can be the worst enemy or the greatest friend. One of those two things. He can be the greatest comfort, or the greatest terror and condemnation. Oh, I urge any here who are not right with God to look to Christ. It's in Jesus and His blood shed for us on the cross that we find this wonderful peace with God and the message of God's omnipresence becomes a wonderful one for us as His people. Christians, let's keep this in our minds. I want to give you a challenge this week. Every day when you get up, I want you to just stop and think God is here. And one or two times during the day, I want you to stop what you're doing and say, God is here. Just think that. Maybe you don't have to say it out loud, but I just want you to stop and think about it. God is there. Contemplate it. And I would encourage you this. Every day, I want you to pray that God helps us to recognize his presence, to think on it, and understand his presence more each day. I need to know God is there. And I need to not be distracted from that presence by the things of this world. And what a difference that makes for our faith when we do. how that'll cause us again to flee sin, but how it'll cause us to find courage and strength and joy in all that we go through. And I'm the present God. What a wonderful thing for God's people. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the message that you've given us tonight. And we just pray that you would help us to understand this amazing truth more and more that you are here. And when we leave this building, you will be with us. Wherever we go in life, you will be with us. And it is always the case, you are a God that is ever at hand, ever involved, ever at work, always watching us. Father, I pray that any unbeliever, as they hear that message, that it might impress upon them the reality of their sin and their hopelessness. But oh, that they would see this isn't a message of doom. It's given that they might repent of their sins and seek peace with you through Jesus Christ That help us as believers to have a faith in you as a present God and to find encouragement from you as you're with us and to live our lives with the testimony of Godly fear as we're always in your presence but also a joy in your worship, as we know that you watch us and see us as we serve you faithfully, and you strengthen us to do so. Oh, we're so thankful you're with us. May we never get away from that truth or take it for granted. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.