It's a great honour and joy to address you once again on the work of the Trinitarian Bible Society, this time in a slightly different role from editorial director as before. We give thanks to the Lord for those who have gone before us in the work of the Society and we seek to strive with all God-given strength to press on with the great work that is before the Society. that work of translating, distributing, and upholding the word of God. In 1 Peter 1, verse 23, we're told, being born again, not of a corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever. We've been reminded in recent days of monarchs that live and die, as we one day will. So many things in this world have an ending, they decay and are corrupted. But one of the wonderful things we find in the Word of God is that it abides, it endures and is reliable. The preserved revelation of God in the Bible is the society's privilege to publish and the society and all true Christians should have a burden to uphold it and distribute it. This past Thursday we were able to hold a conference where we sought to emphasise once again upholding the doctrine of scripture, emphasising our diligence that we seek to aim for in translation. That conference reminded us of the society's principles that is laid down in a document called the Introduction to the Society's Principles. And I would urge you just to consider for a few moments those principles and also go back and listen to the addresses that we heard. It is important to note that we're told as a guiding principle of its work and witness, the Society acknowledges the whole Bible as the inspired, inerrant word of God, the sole supreme and infallible rule of faith and practice, providentially preserved by God and able to make men wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. The society believes that the Bible is God's book, given by a divine inspiration to reveal himself and the gospel of grace to sinful mankind. As such, it is not to be added to, subtracted from, changed to appeal to unbelievers beyond what the word of God states, or modified to avoid offending modern man. The effect of our approach to the Word of God is that we desire that it would be translated by formal equivalence or what some people call literal translation. The effect of the interpretive approach to the Bible that is used amongst many translations today is that we have a Bible that is no longer the Word of God as God gave it. These Bibles are now the Word of God as men have interpreted it. Too often this interpretation is opposed to the true doctrine of the Word of God, and often these versions weaken the testimony of the Holy Scriptures to the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, removing many important passages, thereby falling short of the standard of accuracy and faithfulness which should be required in translating the Word of God. And I would encourage you to read that introduction to the society's principles. Historically, the society's strength is in the consistent stand that it has made for the inspired scriptures. We always have before us this temptation to water things down, to please others. But the society, by the grace of God, has continued to stand for God's providentially preserved words. Our principles remind us again, the need for the clear and uncompromising testimony to the divine inspiration, inerrancy and authority of the Holy Scriptures has never been greater than this present time. The vital importance of preserving the purity of the Word of God and promoting, producing and distributing trustworthy translations is what underlines the witness maintained by the Society. It has been my great delight to work for the Society for the last six years as Editorial Director and prior to that supporting the Society since my early teenage years, as I know many of you have a long association with the Society too. I know the Society means much to so many people and our stand is, broadly speaking, a unique stand. for the received text, for the Masoretic text of the Old Testament, and our approach in translating the Word of God, publishing the authorised version of the Scriptures in English as a faithful translation that we can rely on. It is no small task that is before the society. to stand against the many opponents who would want us to go with a critical text or undermine the Word of God kept pure in all ages. Therefore, all of us engaged in translating the Word of God, distributing Bibles, upholding that vital, important doctrine of Scripture should continue to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. We are not only fighting for true doctrine, but the very revealed Word of God from which divine truth is drawn. Such a sizeable task, of course, can only be done as we seek to depend on Almighty God and as the Lord enables. We are heartened in some parts of the world to hear of a rising interest in the providentially preserved Word of God, and the received text and pray that as the full extent of the constantly changing critical text is revealed, people's eyes may be opened to the foundations that are being destroyed of their claims to the scripture. The Society also has many gifted and faithful people and we have some dear colleagues at the Society who will retire soon and they'll be referred to in later reports. We will miss them. However, we pray that the Lord may guide us to those who would shoulder the burden and even prepare those who may be raised up to work for the TBS in the future. May the Lord enable the work to be maintained and continue. I would also like to thank each committee member, each staff colleague, Each Auxiliary Committee volunteer, volunteers, members and supporters, we are grateful for your support of the society, for your prayers, for its endeavours and its sustaining. We also are very glad to have with us today the General Secretaries of TBS Brazil, Mr. Harold Gilmer, who is behind us here on the platform, and likewise the General Secretary of TBS Canada, Mr. Adrian Stoutersdyke, who's on the end there, and also the General Secretary of TBS USA, Mr. Bill Greendyke, who will translate shortly for our address at the end. of this meeting. They're all part of the TBS family and we are grateful for them, we're grateful for their committees and we're grateful for their commitment to the society's principles. Please do remember their labours in your prayers. In recent days, the society was saddened to hear of the passing of Queen Elizabeth, and we pray that the new monarch may pay heed to the words that were said to our late Queen at her coronation in 1953. These were the words. Our gracious Queen, to keep your majesty ever mindful of the law and the gospel of God as a rule of life and government of Christian princes, We present you with this book, the most valuable thing that this world affords. Here is wisdom. This is the royal law. These are the lively oracles of God." At the end of August, We sent a letter to the late Queen with a copy of the Platinum Jubilee edition of the authorised version that the Society published and reported of its wide and substantial distribution that my colleague, the Operations Director, will refer to later. We were encouraged to receive a reply from Balmoral Castle in mid-August. These are the words that we received. The Queen has asked me to thank you for your letter of the 2nd of August, enclosing a commemorative edition of the authorised King James Version of the Bible, published on the occasion of Her Majesty's Platinum Jubilee. The Queen was grateful to you for your thoughtfulness in writing as you did. This comes to you and to all those at the Trinitarian Bible Society, with Her Majesty's warm good wishes. We trust that we will even be able to distribute more of these Bibles as we're able to in mid-October. We would also seek your prayers for the ongoing translation projects. There are a number that you will hear that are shortly to be printed and are the result of many years of work. This is a lot of careful preparation of the text. And likewise, the Lord's providence in sending gifted people to translate the Word and a remarkable provision. Yet one desire these individuals have, many of them volunteers who labour in translating the word that their fellows would have the Bible in their mother tongue. We are reminded in conclusion in 1 Corinthians 3 verse 10 and 11, for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. The message which is found in the infallible word points us to Christ and it is our privilege and joy to distribute that word. Remember us in your prayers. Thank you.