Amen. All right, turn to 2 Samuel chapter number one. 2 Samuel chapter number one. We wanna continue to think about that thought process of one David inquiring of the Lord. We've seen this morning's message out of 1 Chronicles chapter 10, what the scriptures say, that God killed Saul because he didn't inquire of him. He killed him because he didn't inquire of him and turn the kingdom over to David. And what manifested this life that Saul lived of not inquiring of the Lord was that he transgressed God's way. He didn't walk in God's way. He did not keep the word of God. And he sought answers from everybody else. And man, I can think about my own life in the past. That was characteristic of me. I didn't walk in the way of the Lord, I didn't know the way of the Lord. I didn't keep God's word because I didn't know God's word and all I sought for answers was from everybody else in life. And that's how a lost world lives. But a believer, when he finds himself backslidden, doing things his own way, he lives that a way too. He transgresses the way of God. He doesn't keep the word of God. And he finds solutions and answers for life from other people. And he's totally neglecting what Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 says. Trust the Lord with all your heart, lean not On your own understanding, acknowledge Him in all your ways and He will what? You see, it's impossible to walk by faith and not fulfill Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. When a man walks by faith, he is fulfilling Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. what God tells us to do in life that is simply to trust God don't trust our own understanding lean on the Lord and Walk in what he gives us and he'll make us free no different than what he told Joshua when he said Joshua Meditate on the Word of God get all you can out of God's Word get all that you can all the eternal significance and value of what he'll give is You get it so that you can walk in his way and that you can be fruitful and bring glory to him. Walk in his wisdom. Well, David, he did that. Therefore, David was grateful for the things that God was, was doing in his life around his life. And those things are the very things that kept him from killing King Saul. David could have killed Saul on several occasions. He let him know he could have killed him, but that wasn't his aim. He wasn't gonna do it. He wasn't gonna put his hand on King Saul. He considered Saul as God's anointed. He was God's anointed. He said it wouldn't be by his hand that he would die, even though he let him know he was not an enemy of King Saul. He proved that over and over again, that I am not your enemy. And even Saul, we noticed how he looked at David and says, you're much more righteous than me. Cause if I would have been put in that situation. I would have killed you, David, had I had the opportunity. As a matter of fact, I was trying to hunt you down. And the only thing kept me from killing you was the providence and the favor of God upon your life. But if I could have killed you, I would have killed you because of his bitterness, because of his jealousy, because of his envy, because of his anger. toward King David because he was living a self-centered life. And we even get a glimpse of David's gratefulness for the Lord's ways and why he wouldn't do what he was, could have done, but chose not to. We see that with this Amalekite, this young fellow. Notice if you would, in chapter number one of 2 Samuel. The scripture says, beginning in verse number 11, when this young boy came and told him of the story of King Saul and that he found him. Now, how all this works out, whether this boy was legitimate in what he was telling King Saul, because we have two other accounts of this situation recorded in scripture. We find it in Samuel, and we find it in Chronicles. And in both accounts, what took place was is that King Saul was shot with a bow, and he was injured, and he knew he wasn't gonna make it off the battlefield. But he didn't wanna die at the hands of the enemy, so he asked his armor bearer, for which David used to be, if he would kill him. And what did his armor bearer tell him? God forbid, I'm not gonna put my hands on you either. I'm not gonna kill you. So what did King Saul do? Both he and the armor bearer, scripture says, fell over on his sword and died on the battlefield. because there's a good possibility, very similar to taking his lead, that he being possibly injured as well, couldn't defend Saul. That was his whole objective in life, was to protect him and be with him. Now Saul's dying, he's gonna die along with him, and wouldn't honor what he asked him to do, so he as well both die. Chronicles gives us the same picture, that they both die on the battlefield. Well, this young man says he came along and Saul was on his sword, but he wasn't dead yet. He didn't die immediately. So he saw the enemy that was still to come and Saul asked him to put his life out for him, to kill him, to finish him off. So he says, tells David that he did that. He killed him, took the crown off, took the bracelets off, and he made his way to go tell David about this. because he felt like this would be good news to King David. Now, whether the boy actually did what he said he did or not, that is still yet unknown. If he actually, because even though it's written in the word of God, doesn't mean that it was an accurate account. What we have as an accurate account is what he's telling David at the time. If he could have wanted to be the hero, Here's David's enemy who's been looking for him and trying to kill him for the past 10, 15 years. This boy sees an opportunity for gain. He sees an opportunity that if he actually killed King Saul, bringing the crown to prove it to him, David's going to bless him. David's going to honor him. David's going to use him and he's going to reward him for it. He was looking at this as taking advantage of the situation. You follow me? But it didn't work out that way for him. Why? David questioned him. How was it? How could you kill God's anointed? How could you do that? What was in you to think that you could take his life? What was it? And that's what he asked him. Look in verse number 11. Therefore David took hold of his own clothes, tore them, and so did all the men who were with him. And they mourned and they wept and they fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan and his son, for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. Then David said to the young man who told him, where are you from? And he answered, I am a son of an alien and Amalekite. So David said to him, how was it? Were you not afraid to put forth your hand to destroy the Lord's anointed? Then David called one of the young men and he said, go near and execute him. And he struck him so that he died. So David said to him, your blood is on your own head for your own mouth has testified against you saying, I have killed the Lord's anointed. It didn't work out the way this boy thought it was gonna work out. He really thought he was bringing good news to David. He was thankful. for what had just taken place. You got to keep in mind that the Amalekites would join in, in these, these wars, whether it be a servant or whatever it may be with the Philistines, they were not friends of the people of God. The Amalekites were people who were to be annihilated. Are you with me? And so this boy wasn't fighting for King Saul. This boy was on the other side of the battlefield. Remember, David is in hiding, right? David's over with the Philistines, so he assumes that this was a good kill, that this was a good move, that he made the right move in doing what he did, and that this news that he brought to Saul would be something of gratitude. It would be giving a thanksgiving. But it wasn't. It wasn't. David did not rejoice over it, nor was he thankful for the news, nor was he grateful for what had taken place. And he had that boy executed by the words of his own mouth. And David pauses, he asked that question in verse 14, how was it that you are not afraid? to put forth your hand to destroy the Lord's anointed. How was it that you came to this conclusion that this would be a good thing? How was it you were able to do this without any terror? How was it that you felt like this would be an advantage to you, which would then be an advantage to me? which goes to show you David was simply saying that what was it in your heart and in your mind that you felt like this was something good to do? Which, he's getting down to the root of it, is that the thinking and the heart of what this boy valued was not what David treasured and valued in life. And the difference is what divided them and the difference is what had that boy killed. I was thinking about this when I was reading through it yesterday morning and I, and I jot it down a few notes and I'll just read it to you. Gratefulness is not what separates people. Think about it. It's extremely rare to find someone who is not grateful for something. You may have a hard time finding someone who is grateful for the same things you're grateful for. but it won't be hard to find someone who is grateful for someone or something. What separates one from another is not their gratefulness. For most, we each have that in common. That's why we can celebrate a season of Thanksgiving regardless of what we're each thankful about, but nonetheless, It's the thing or things we are grateful for that either unites or isolates us from others. What does this say? What we're thankful for reveals more about us than our common acts of giving thanks. And the way life will have it, it's the very things we're thankful for that actually divides us from some and gathers us with others. We see this illustrated with the young man that made the drastic mistake of expressing his thankfulness for the death of King Saul and his sons and how it would benefit David. David, after hearing the young man, tell his story question, how he could unashamedly and unquestionably kill one of the Lord's anointed. The young man foolishly assumed his story would also cause thanksgiving from David, but he was drastically deceived about the anticipated response of the King of Judah. I encourage you to do your best to appreciate your neighbor and the common thankfulness you both share. You don't have to be thankful for the exact same things, but you can be grateful for their thankfulness. Even when you question how they could value or treasure what they're grateful for. Why? Because a person that is not thankful or grateful for something or someone is a dangerous person. People, somebody that's going to cause other people harm. We don't have to be thankful for the same things. So don't forget what you appreciate and value to the point of being thankful for it reveals more about you and those who value the same things of you, as you, than you may care to even admit. What we treasure does tell a story or it could tell his story and how he's transforming the things we give thanks for. What we give thanks for tells more about us than our actually giving thanks. Are you with me? What we value, what we treasure, what we're grateful for says a lot about us. And that's what David was asking this young man, how could you find gratitude in doing what you just done, which revealed the boy's heart, which revealed how he thought, which revealed that his giving of thanks was contrary. to David's giving of thanks. And in that day, David had the authority to take the young man's life. Now we don't go around taking people's lives, are you with me? But you see, we gather together here at Briggs Chapel. For the most part, because we have a common bond in what we are thankful for, what we are grateful for, and that's what unites us, but at the same time, it's also what separates or isolates us from others in the sense of what we're thankful for. So I can appreciate other people's giving thanks, but I value those that are giving thanks for the same thing I'm giving thanks for. And that's important for us. Important for us when you gather with your family, because you know as well as I do, when we gather with large groups of family, we're not all giving thanks for the same things. People coming from different backgrounds, different things, and are thankful for different, contrary things that you are, but we can appreciate them, enjoy them, be around them, even though we're not giving thanks for the exact same things in life. That God has brought us to a group of people that we can celebrate with and rejoice with because we see things similar and are giving thanks in the same breath for the work that God's doing in us. through us and for us, amen? We see that with this boy here. And David, him being an Amlekite, the Amlekites were destined to be annihilated already. Remember, King Saul was supposed to do that and he didn't. And here he is, isn't that kind of ironic? The very people that he was commanded by God to totally take off the face of the earth It wasn't the Philistines that he told to take off the face of the earth. It was the Amalekites. And. I see the iron irony in this is the fact that here, Saul dying really doesn't know. Cause David had to ask the boy who he was and where he was from. I don't think possibly if, if it all worked out the way the boy said it worked out, that Saul would have knew he was an Amalekite. And here he is about to die on the battlefield, leaning over a sword, couldn't do anything about it, but didn't want the enemy to come take him and do anything with him, but asked the enemy to cut his throat so that he would have a quick death. Not even knowing the very people he was supposed to slaughter is the very one that finished his life on the battlefield. simply because Saul did not inquire the Lord, went against the Lord's ways, didn't walk in the word of God, and Saul answers for life from somewhere else. We see totally different life with King David. What did David do? He constantly asked God what to do. Look over, if you would, in chapter number two. Chapter number two says, it happened after this that David did what? He requested of the Lord. He required, he asked of the Lord saying, shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah? And what did the Lord do? The Lord answered him and said, go up. And David said, well, where shall I go? And God told him specifically, you shall go to Hebron. You see, specific answers for a specific purpose. Because David consistently, we found him over in 1 Samuel, he kept going to the Lord, he kept asking God what to do, and God was faithful to tell him what to do. Why? Go look in Psalm 143. Go look in Psalm 143. I think we're gonna see something here in Psalm 143 that'll help us. This is the heart of a King. This is the heart of a King after the heart of God. Here's a man that realized that apart from the Lord, he was, he was useless without God's help. He was empty without God's way. He didn't know what to do. And he knew that he would be of no value to his men, to his family, to anyone else, if God was not speaking to him and directing his life. He says in Psalm 143, in verse number six, I'll start right there. Well, let's just start in verse number five. Verse number five says, I remember the days of old. I meditate on all your works. I muse on the work of your hands. That's simply saying that I just continually keep before my mind, Lord, what you have done in the past, how you've worked in my life, how you've worked in the life of your people, what you did with what you did with Abraham, what you did with Noah, what you did with Jacob, what you did with Isaac, what you did with the nation as it made its way out of Egypt. He said, I meditate on it, I try to get all I can out of it. They're similar like we do. When we go through the word of God, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, reading through in our nesting with Jesus, we're just taking God so that we can meditate and muse over his works. What he did at the Red Sea, what he did at the Jordan River, what he did at Jericho, what he did with the prophets and how he spoke through them, and how he told Joshua, like we looked at this morning, Joshua, meditate on the law of the Lord, on the word of God, And that simply means that you mull over to get all you possibly can out of what God has revealed to us. And you chew on it, and you chew on it. How many stomachs does a cow have, Bill? Four stomachs. So when that cow eats that grass out there and she chews on that grass and she swallows that grass, she regurgitates that. And she chews on it again and it goes into another stomach and she keeps doing that. Why? That cow is getting every ounce of nutrition it can get out of that grass so that she can have milk. to supply to that calf that is of significant value. Amen. It's getting all that you can get out of it, the way God designed it. And when God tells us to meditate on his word, it says to not let it depart from our mouth. That is, we keep regurgitating it, we keep mulling it over, we getting all that we can get out of it. And David is telling, that's how he lived his life, just meditating. on the wonders of God, meditating on the work of God, what God has done, thinking about it. of what took place when he told Moses to stand at that Red Sea and he put out that rod to see the salvation of the Lord, how he operated in faith, how he had a sea before him that he couldn't cross naturally and had an army behind him. What could he do other than totally rest in the mercy of God? And God delivered him. And God puts people in hard places that we don't have anywhere to turn except to him. And you mull over that and you think about that. When you don't have answers in life, what do we do? Well, we meditate on what God did with his people in his past, what he's doing with them right now. And we rest in it and we try to get all we can. And everything is telling us this, that no matter how Joshua fought, no matter how Moses led, no matter what David did to the giant Goliath, every one of them had a word from God. Every one of them believed what God told them. And they trusted and walked in what God revealed, whether it was Gideon with a pot that walked around a mountainside with 300 men, because he had too many when he had 30,000 to fight, God reduced him down to 300. We look at that and we say, well, that's not how he told Joshua how to fight, and that's not how he led David how to do it. Why? Because there is no formula on how to fight. They just simply got with God, heard from him, trusted him, and then walked in that, and God provided the victory. He was meditating to glean all that he has for us. And he says this, verse six, I spread out my hands to you. My soul longs for you like a thirsty land. He's simply saying, God, my soul is parched, it needs watering. It needs water. It's thirsty for you. I long for you to feed me. And the Bible teaches us that the land, no matter how much water it gets, it's never satisfied. It always needs another rain on it. And that's just it. No matter how much God feeds us and waters us, we always want a little more water from him. when you're thirsty for him, amen? Because yesterday's word is not gonna supply me for today's victory. I need to hear from God today. I wanna hear from him now. I need to know what you want me to do today, Lord, so that I can walk in you. I'm like a dry land. I need reviving. I need water poured on me. I need you to rain on me. And you promised that you would rain on us. rain your righteousness on me, speak to me. He says in verse number seven, answer me, speedily, answer me quickly, oh Lord. Why? My spirit fails, do not hide your face from me, for fear I'll be like those who go down to the pit. The pit meaning the grave, the dead. He's simply saying, Lord, if you don't answer me, I'll be as useless as a dead man on this earth. I won't be of any value to anybody. See, this is the heart of a man that's inquiring of God. This wouldn't describe King Saul with it. Matter of fact, Saul said, I'm gonna do it my way. I'm not even gonna pay attention to God's word, and I'm gonna get answers from everything else but him. What David says, I can't live without you speaking to me. Because if you don't speak to me, if you don't give me a word, if you don't answer me on where I'm at right now in life, I am of no value to anybody I come across. I'm no value to you. A man in the grave can't praise you, God. He tells us that throughout the Psalms. A man in the grave can't help anybody on the earth. He's in the grave, are you with me? There's no physical help of anybody. When they're dead in the grave, they can't help anybody out on this earth. And that's how he applied it to himself. He's simply saying, I can't help anybody supernaturally, spiritually, unless you fill me up with spiritual and supernatural things with yourself. I gotta hear from you. And then he says these words in verse eight, calls me, I'm at your mercy, calls me to hear your loving kindness in the morning. for in you do I trust. Cause me to know the way in which I should walk for I lift up my soul to you. That is what characterized King David. Now did David do everything right? Did David do some silly, drastic, crazy, ungodly things. He did a bunch of them. But right here, what you're reading in this psalm right here is what characterized his life. He kept inquiring of the Lord. He kept asking God, where should I go? Should I go to Judah? Should I go here? God says, yes, go to Hebron. And that's where you're gonna be for the next seven years nearly. And you're gonna reign over Judah. And God was working things out, but that's how David lived. God, if you don't speak, I'm useless. And if you don't reveal your love and kindness, your ways, your mercy to me in the morning, if you don't speak your way to me, I won't know where to go. I won't know the path to take. I trust you. I know you're gonna deliver me. So here I am, and I'm gonna wait on hearing a word from you. And I wanna tell you, God was faithful to speak to him, amen? And he'll be faithful to speak to us too when we seek him with all our heart. When his way becomes our way. When his will is our will, when his answers are our answers, when his solutions are our solutions, when his joy is our joy, when his delight is our delight, we too will find ourselves. Like a parched land. When we're not hearing from him, you'll know you parched. You'll know you have any. Saul never recognized that he was parched. He may initially in the beginning, but he got so far away slipping down that slippery slope of a black sitting heart that he never recognized how dry and thirsty he was. Why? Because he was finding his solutions everywhere else. And he wasn't needing help from God. And God doesn't answer men like men answer men. Men answer men when they're asked a question. God doesn't answer every man when they ask him a question. God demands that we ask him in faith. God demands that we seek him with all our heart. God demands that we deny ourself, take up our cross, and follow after him. God does have demands, amen. And if we don't meet the criteria of those faith demands, we cannot expect to hear from God. Matter of fact, the scripture says that a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways, and he cannot and he don't need to expect that he's gonna hear anything from the Lord, because he must come to God in faith. And I believe in our society, if we've been duped by the lie, that people think that they can do what they want, how they want, whenever they want, the way they want, and God's their best buddy. And God's gonna fight for them. God's gonna do everything for them while they doing everything their way. And I wanna tell you, God's never operated that way, and he never will. He requires us to trust him. That's what Hebrews 11 verse six says. It is impossible to please God apart from faith. And a man that comes to God must come to him believing that he is God. Not that he might be God, not that the man's God and he's telling God what to do. No, he comes to God because he is God and he knows that God rewards those that diligently seek him. So they come in faith. And when you come in faith with the Lord, very similar to how Noah. Matter of fact, turn to Hebrews 11. Turn to Hebrews 11 before we go. Hebrews 11. You've heard me say this before, based out of Isaiah 54.9, that the Bible describes the floods as the waters of Noah. because Noah became a man known for what he proclaimed and what he preached. He preached in faith that judgment was coming. Why did he preach in faith that judgment was coming? Because God told him the end of all flesh has come before him and that he was gonna destroy man, then he was gonna destroy the world. And Noah believed what God said. And when Noah believed what God said, he stood with God. And he proclaimed a righteous message, that judgment was coming, that the end of all flesh had come before his eyes from what God revealed to him, because faith is seeing what God sees. God showed him what was about to happen, and with fear, Noah built an ark for the saving of his soul. But when you stand with Jesus, when you stand with the Lord as he did, notice what verse number six and seven says. But without faith, it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is. That's simply saying that he is God. And that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him by faith. Noah being divinely warned of things not yet seen because what God spoke to him, he couldn't see it outside of trusting what God told him. He moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household by which this is faith by faith. He also condemned the world and became heir of righteousness, which is according to faith. You see, when you stand with the Lord, you condemn everything that ain't of God. He condemned the world in his preaching. That's why they describe it as the waters of Noah, because he preached the waters of judgment were coming. And he told the world that they were standing in condemnation before God, but God had an answer for them. They didn't believe what he said, but he stayed the course. He kept building his ark. He kept preparing it. And people tell you today that you are, when you stand with Jesus or you stand exclusively with Jesus and the authenticity of his word, they push you to the side and said, you're intolerable. You can't put up with things. You're the problem in life and with everybody because you're condemning everybody. When you stand in faith with Jesus, you cast condemnation on everything that is not of him. And that's exactly what Noah did. He condemned a world that was perishing in their sin because he trusts what God told him. And we do the exact same thing. We haven't been commissioned to build an ark. We've been commissioned to build disciples, to build the church of God. And when we're living, building that disciples, making disciples and building the kingdom of God, anything that stands against that and opposed to that, we, we, we condemn in faith because we know that there is no other way than through Jesus Christ. And Jesus himself said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the father except through me. So any other way that is proclaimed, believed, thought, we condemn it. And that is a heritage that the saints of God have. Not that we do it out of rage and anger, we do it because either we stand in agreement with the Lord or we stand opposite and opposed to him. And when we stand in agreement in faith with him, you can't help but condemn a world around you. that's perishing without him. But we condemn them with a message of hope that they too can trust this message that we've trusted and by faith come in agreement with God what he's about to do to this world that we live in. How did Noah know this? How did he condemn the world? Why was he moved with godly fear? Because God spoke to him. Go to Genesis chapter six. I think it's in verse number 13. Genesis 6, 13. Y'all know grace has only one answer and that's the answer of faith. It don't answer to anything but faith. Notice what verse number 13 says of Genesis chapter number six. Remember, faith sees what God sees. When God speaks and we trust what he says, we see things the way he sees them. How did God see the world? The world didn't see themselves this way. The New Testament tells us when Jesus was preaching, says that when he returned, it's gonna be like the days of Noah. Men will continue to marry and give in marriage. They're going to be partying. They're going to be doing what people do. They're going to celebrate life, but with no anticipation that judgment's about to fall on this world that they live in. People are gonna keep doing what they've always done. That's what they were doing in Noah's day. They did not take heed or pay attention to what Noah proclaimed. Verse 13 says, and God said to Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me. For the earth is filled with violence through them and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Noah saw it. He saw that the world was in that condition and he condemned the world and begin to what? prepare an ark based on what God gave him. And God gave him the specifics on how to build it. And I want to tell you, God's given us the specifics on how to make disciples and how to build the kingdom. And either I am doing what Noah was doing, moved with fear and condemning the world, proclaiming Jesus and his return and building disciples and advancing the kingdom, doing what Noah was doing, or I'm on the other side. And if I'm on the other side, I can't take claim of Jesus once he returns. Just like they couldn't take claim of a place on the ark once the rain started falling. It was too late. It was too late. So no different than what Noah was commissioned to do. God, in faith, we see that we've been commissioned and called to make disciples of all the nations. and that we're to baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And that we're to teach them everything that Jesus taught. And we're to do it in faith. And when we do, we condemn anything opposed to that. Not that we go out and fight against it. No, we're just building the kingdom, amen. We're doing what we're called to do. But if I can't stand with Jesus and see that the world is perishing without him, I'll never make disciples, nor will I advance his kingdom. I'll just keep going about my business, living life no different than the rest of the world in Noah's day. But Noah, by faith, was moved with fear, prepared an ark to condemn the world that he lived in that day, and became heir of righteousness, which is by faith. Everything Noah did, he did by faith. And when you live and I live, see, the just live by faith. King Saul was so backslidden, he was no longer living by faith, he was transgressing against the Lord. Didn't keep God's word, but was seeking answers from everybody else. But David, on the other hand, inquired of the Lord, walked in the way of God, was parched when he wasn't hearing from God, sought him and begged for God to give him a word to walk in that day, right now, so that I walk in your way for your glory. Amen? Amen. That's how he's called us to live. So when you see things in the world that are contrary to God's ways, you don't have to feel bad about it. You got a solution for it, amen? His name is Jesus. And when you call a spade a spade, you don't have to pout away and cry about it because somebody said you condemned the world. That's just what you do, amen? But let your judgment be righteous. Let it be how God describes it and not how you feel about it, amen? That's the difference. If God's condemned it, it's condemned. My friend, I was condemned because I didn't believe, but praise God for the gospel and for his grace. And he brought me into the kingdom that I can stand with him and now go make him known. Amen. So what did Noah do? By faith, he built an ark. By faith, he condemned the world. By faith, he was an heir of righteousness. By faith, Nick is to build disciples and advance the kingdom of God. By faith, Nick condemns a world that is lost and perishing, that is already in condemnation because they don't believe. I don't condemn them, they're already condemned. I just make that known, amen. And number three, Nick, by faith, walks in the righteousness of Christ. Why? Because he's my substitute. He took my sinful nature and he gave me his righteousness so that I could be the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Amen? Hey, God's the same today, tomorrow, yesterday, and forever. His plan is we get everything we can out of the word of God. so that we can walk in it, so that we can be fruitful and multiply and bring him glory. Amen? What he's called us to do. It's not that complicated, but you can't do it by yourself. Gotta have his spirit, gotta have his word, and you need his people to do it with you. Amen? Amen. Father, we thank you, we bless you, give you glory and praise. I pray that you'll help us. Lord, we want to help this world we live in that is perishing without you. They need you more than they can see nor fathom. And you have given us that vision by faith. We can see what you see. We see them perishing. They don't see themselves perishing. So I pray that you'll use us to go to them with the power of your gospel, with the strength of your spirit, Lord, with the word of your grace, and that you Use us to rescue the perishing, and Lord, strengthen and encourage the brethren as they walk in your power and might. We love you and thank you tonight. Thank you for our fellowship. Thank you for our church. Thank you for the common things that we have that we give thanks for, and we're gonna praise you for that. In Jesus' name, amen. Love y'all.