It's my pleasure to introduce Pastor Wayne. I know we all know him. I wanted to say something real briefly. You know how much Brother Wayne means to our church, and he's been blessing us. I've been on his list to come for Thanksgiving and Christmas for all of these years, and it meant so much to me. Fourteen years ago now, 2010, and probably before that you were doing it. And it was a blessing to me to have some time off and some help. It was a blessing to our church. He's been doing that. But he's getting busier and busier and he's only gonna be able to come one time during this season. January 8th or something, next year. Now, on that. Our kids made Debbie and I a nice big picture board when I became the pastor and we had the service. We call that an installation service. We didn't have no gray hair then. You're up here and you didn't have no gray hair, I didn't have no gray hair. And now remind me, Debbie put on a calendar, so when he comes next year, that'll be 15 years since 2010, you know, next year will be the 15th year I've been the pastor. I'll get that board out and we'll set it in the back. Please. And we can do a little reminiscing next year, 15 years. and I've been the pastor and also It's just a sermon you can't get away from. You have to work on it every day and you're preparing for it. It's great to have the holidays off. You can just focus on your family and church people and let somebody else preach. And on my side of it, I need to preach. because I've got to prepare all my sermons now. So you're usually hearing the very first sermons that I'm going to go out and preach all over the world. And so by this time next week, I'll be on my way to the airport in Wichita, on to Seattle, flying over to India, then back to Seattle and spend the next three weeks on the road. And so the year is about to begin, and I'm so thankful to be with you today. I was talking to all of our missionary partners, and I asked them to send me some things they'd like to see accomplished in their ministries. over 2025, they sent me a list of 50 projects. 50 projects. And I added up the total sum, 750,000. But I got news, already this year, we've already knocked in about five or six of those projects and we haven't even started the new year yet. So that's been exciting. We had some missionaries that just needed a washer and a dryer. I don't know what the pastor thought about the washer and dryer, but I know his wife is really happy. They had a washer and dryer that's gone out. So just different things on the list of missionaries, personal needs, church needs, things they wanna do. And so there's a lot of work in front of us, and I pray that we can get to all of that. So take your Bibles today. We're gonna be in Exodus chapter one, Exodus chapter one. And we've gone through the historical part, verses 1 through 7, and you can see in verse 7, Exodus 1, verse 7, that they had multiplied, they had greatly, you know, the population, they were strong. And the Bible says at the end of verse 7 that the land was filled with them. And I want to bring you a message entitled, New Policies, New Policies. Now, when you have a new administration, You get new policies, right? And so we got a new administration coming into the United States on January 20th, and they've already started work, is that correct? And they've invented something new called, what is it called? Oh yeah, DOGE, there you go. Department of Governmental what? Something. Efficiency, there you go. So they got new policies, new stuff that's already coming out. And we're going to look here in the Bible at the new policies of the brand new administration that came into leadership in the country of Egypt. Let's stand for the reading of God's Word. You're in Exodus chapter 1 and we're going to start reading in verse 8. The Bible says, There arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply and come to pass that when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, okay, and fight against us, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them the taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens, and they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Ramesses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew, and they were grieved because of the children of Israel. And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor, and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field, all their service wherein they made them serve was with rigor. Let us pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, as we look into your word, And then you can take that word and to apply it to our daily life. And we can see some things from this passage, even in our own country. God, I would pray that as we end this year, start the next year, that we would be a biblical people, that we'd have strong faith in you and strong belief in your word, that we would apply your word to our daily every day living and that we would be faithful in church, that we be faithful in the things that we're supposed to accomplish for your kingdom and glory. And I would pray that this upcoming year would be a year of increase and blessing for the families here, the church people here, for this church. And so bless this sermon and help us as we prepare for the next year. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. New policies. New policies. With a new administration, there are new policies. Now, if you're a football coach, this is the time of the year that if you didn't have such a great season, guess what happens to you? You get fired. Okay? And they get a new what? They get a new coach. And what are they hoping to achieve with the new coach? New policies, oh you're good. You mean they ain't gonna do it like they done it before and lost? They gonna do something different and hopefully win? And so this is what's taking place here in the book of Exodus. There's a new administration and things are about to change. I don't know too many people who run for office and don't promise some kind of changes. They all are promising something, okay? And we can be grieved or we can rejoice depending on who is in leadership, okay? And Joseph has been gone for quite some time. His influence now, as you can tell in verse 8, has waned. and there's a new administration, and now there's gonna be some changes in policies, and you're gonna see in this passage two new policies. In chapter one, there's gonna be two new policies, and they greatly affect the people of God. Now I don't know what policies are gonna come this January. I don't know how they're gonna affect the church and the believers in this country. Don't know how it's gonna happen. But they're gonna put some policies through and those things take place. But verse nine now is gonna tell us why they had the new policies. You can see that the king or the pharaoh, he was worried, okay, The people of children of Israel are more and they're mightier, they are abundant, and they're stronger than we, than the natives. So he was concerned about this group of people that lived in an area called Goshen. that had just increased and he was afraid of their size and their strength. You see that? You can see that in verse 9. They began to outnumber them. The king now is going to justify the reason for his extreme decisions that he's going to make. He is now going to tell his people, he's going to deal with his people, he's going to talk to his people trying to convince them of the new policy changes. Now when someone comes to us, and you're going to have people come to you, they come to me, And they're gonna make a statement. They're gonna say something about some group or something. Many times they are looking for our approval. They are seeking our approval on the statement that they have just made. And many times we just agree with them because of who they are. Because of who they are. Who is going to disagree with the new king? Who is going to tell the Pharaoh, now this is a bad idea? Many times we agree because of the info they gave us. but oftentimes the info they gave us was exaggerated or not whole. So you and I, we need to ask questions. When someone comes to us and they make a statement and they're trying to seek our approval and they want us to give them the thumbs up, we ought to ask some questions. And you know what this is called? This is called due diligence. You ever heard of that in business? We need to do our due diligence. Many people, unfortunately, are yes people. Can you say yes people? A yes man or a yes woman. A yes man is someone who agrees with everything their boss says, everything the government says, everything the important person says, and they don't offer any critical feedback, no dissent, They don't give them their true opinion. They just always say yes. They're a yes man. They just rubber stamp things, okay? So when somebody's a yes person, this is a negative connotation. It implies that a person prioritizes pleasing the person, the authority figure, instead of giving them an independent or an honest answer. And you know what we really need around us? We don't need yes people around us. We don't need people who are just gonna confirm to us whatever statement we made or whatever thought we said or whatever action we're gonna take. We need people who think independently. We need people who think biblically. We need people who will ask good questions. I knew when I started as a pastor, I was 22 turning 23, and everybody that was in the leadership of the church, they were two and three times my age. And I would come into the meeting and I would tell them what we were going to do. What do you think they did? Just give me the rubber stamp? Sure, Pastor Wayne, you're the pastor, we'll just do everything you want to do. You think they gave me the rubber stamp? No. They started to ask me questions. By the time they were done asking questions, even my own idea I thought was a dumb idea. And so I learned something. I learned something. I learned I'm not going to make any more pronouncements at a meeting. I learned that I'm going to go talk to them individually and tell them my idea or my thought or what I'm thinking about doing and get feedback before I got in a meeting and I look dumb. Because they were not yes men. They were going to do their due diligence. And they saved me from all kinds of things. But I learned very early that they were not yes men, that I really need to have all my ducks in order. I really need to have to think this thing through. But many times we have in our lives people who just rubber stamp us. But we need people who will ask us good questions, who will really drill down and really help us. We need people who will think biblically, who will really question the decision that we're making, who will risk their friendship to speak truth to us. Faithful are the wounds of a what? of a friend. And iron does what? Iron sharpens what? Iron. These kind of people are invaluable to us. Sometimes we think that these people are withstanding us. They're standing up against us. And there might be some of that. But we need people who will honestly speak. Tell us what they really think. I think of some individuals like Joab. He got a message from David to put a man in the heat of the battle and then draw back and let him get killed. Guess what Joab did? He did exactly what the king said. I think of Amnon. You remember Amnon in the Bible? His friends spoke to him and rubber stamped him and gave him a green light. I think of Ahab's wife, you know her name? She gave him a green light when she should have corrected him. I think about King David. King David didn't go out to the battle, he just was out late in the evening and saw a woman over there and he asked some people who that woman was. And one of his men said, that's another man's wife. Now I like that guy, whoever that guy is, I'm gonna put him up in leadership. That should have been enough to tell David, hands off. But see, most of us, we're afraid. We're afraid to speak the truth, we're afraid to withstand, we're afraid to say to our boss, now boss, I don't think that's a good idea. We just become rubber stamps and we don't need rubber stamps. We need people who will speak. I think of John the Baptist who told the king, you know that woman you're with? You're committing adultery with her and this is wrong. Do we have anybody, do you have anybody in your life that will oppose you? That will caution you? See, many times, you know the kind of people we put around us? You know what kind of people we normally put around us? It's yes men and yes women. We put around us people who are gonna confirm everything that we are wanting to do and wanting to think, but we need some people who'll speak into our life. If you got somebody like that, I wanna encourage you. Kiss them. Bless them. Spend more time with them because they are real friends. And young person, I probably would say to you today that the person who speaks into your life and that is not a yes person to you is your parents. Because many times they'll say to you things you don't like and you don't want to hear. But if you'll listen to your parents, you probably will do well. And what about the parents today that are just rubber stamps? who don't say anything to their kids because they want to be friends with their kids. Who at Christmas time, they come over with their boyfriend or girlfriend, they're going to stay in the same bedroom. It's crickets again. You know, if we say something to them, they might not come for Christmas. See, they don't want to risk anything. They don't want to rock the boat. And we need people in our life who will speak honestly with us. I can't tell you how many times I was in premarital counseling with a couple. I always required premarital counseling before they got married. And I would say to them, you're not gonna make it. I don't think your marriage is gonna make it. How'd you like to hear that from me? You in love. I mean, you in love. You're sitting in the office googly-eyed. And I'm telling you, you ain't gonna make it. And how many of them didn't listen to me? They just found another preacher to marry them. Many of them did. But some of them, they got mad, they got irritated. I had some of them, they'd already done sent out the envelopes. And I'm telling you, you ain't gonna make it. This is not good. I don't think y'all can marry this girl. I don't think y'all can marry this guy. You need some people who will speak the truth to you. Today, we just like to rubber stamp things. And yes, it causes division when you stand up and you speak the truth, and you need to do it in a very loving way. Now, the new king here, he's making some good points, right? He's making some good points. You see the points he's making? Hey, these people are more than us. Hey, they're stronger than we are. Hey, if we get in a battle, they might go for our opponents and be against us, and we will lose. You see all the things that he's saying, yes or no? Can you see all this? Sounds good, doesn't it? Now they've lived there for how long? They've been in Egypt for how long? Long time. We've not had any problems up to this point. So what this man has as the new king or the new pharaoh is he has what I call unfounded fears. Unfounded fears. And what he's doing now by talking to his people is he is causing false fears in them. False fears in them. What fears do we have? What fears do we have? Who gave them to us? Did you know that many fears are false, yet they can create problems in us? We oftentimes are intimidated and we are paralyzed by false fears. People use fears to manipulate other people. It is called, and maybe you've heard of it, it's called fear mongering. Fear mongering, you ever heard of that, yes or no? It's practiced all the time. The action of intentionally trying to make people afraid of something. They are arousing fear, they are sounding alarms. Have you ever heard of Project 2025? Raise your hand. What was that all about? It's just trying to cause fear amongst people. Have you ever heard of Y2K? Y2K, what's going to happen at midnight, January, December 31st, year 2000? What's going to happen? Computers are going to shut down. The world's going to come to an end. And people were buying stuff and hiding out places. And they did all kinds of crazy stuff. If you don't know what about it, ask some people who are old enough to remember it. You ever heard of the Weather Channel? You folks have never heard of the Weather Channel. Now you know that they're getting ready to have a snow getting. Have you ever heard that? And a snow bomb. Have you not heard these terms that they're using? Why do you think they use those terms? Don't it snow every year? They're using those terms to keep you tuned in. And then you got news programs, they're not news anymore, but they're good at fear mongering. And the politicians, aren't you glad the politician season is over? Yes or no? Got one yes. Wow. The rest of you, I don't know where you're at. I wish it was 10 years and we'd start again. But listen to some of the things that were said during the politician time. Going to cut Social Security. Now, I wonder who gets upset about that. Am I upset about that? Oh, the people, what group is that? Oh, it's the seniors. Now, you mess with their Social Security, and they get all sideways, right? Oh, this guy's gonna do this, and that guy's gonna do this, and they're gonna cut Social, oh, they say that, oh. Have you heard that Hitler was coming into office? Have you heard that? Hitler is coming into office. Did you hear, and I listened to this lady on CNN just a few weeks ago, they're gonna round us up and shoot us with firing squads. That's what she said on CNN. And I'm saying to myself, who's she talking about? What is she trying to do? What is she trying to do? It's fear mongering. Now, I don't know if you, you know, you might last, I see some of you smirking. But see, I know people who believe in this stuff. I'm out in the public, I go around, I'm all over the place. And I know people who are genuinely afraid. You know what our reaction to fears is supposed to be according to the Bible? Our reaction to fears, you know what it's supposed to be? Fear, fear not. Fear, How many times the Bible says it? I don't know, but it says it over and over and over from the beginning to the end, fear not. Why does it say fear not? Because fear is a tactic. Oftentimes used by evil people, they use fear tactics. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. And one of our biggest fears is the fear of the unknown. Well, you know what these people could do. If we go into war, they could turn on us. We need to be very careful when we raise our children that we don't use fear tactics with the kids. Now, if you don't go to sleep, come on, if you don't go to sleep, The boogeyman's gonna get you. Now think about that. Listen, do children already have fears, yes or no? And why in the world we try to give them more fears? My grandmother, great-grandmother, used to tell me that all the time. You don't go to sleep, the boogeyman go. I used to wonder who the boogeyman was. Who is the boogeyman? Seriously, I wondered that. And then, have you ever closed your eyes in a dark room and you see some other eyes? You ever seen that? Yes or no? I used to ask my great-grandmother, who is that? She said, that was the boogeyman. And I'm telling you, when I went upstairs in that old house, that creaky old house, and slept up in that bed by myself, I was afraid. And I already had enough fears, and she didn't need to give me any more, but she gave me a bunch more. That was my great-grandmother. I thought she loved me. She's using fear tactics. Many people really struggle with fears, yes or no? People struggle with fears, yes or no? They do. And I want to encourage all of us, we need to overcome our fears, and we can do it. We can do it. It was because of the fear of what might happen that the Israelites were put into slavery. Mistrust in the mind. Mistrust in the mind due to false fears can ruin great relationships and great partnerships. Because somebody came along and put a little fears into your mind about this person, about that person. You've been with that person a long time. You've been partnered with them for a long time. You've known them for a long time. You've had nothing but a great relationship all these years. But somebody came and dropped a few seeds fear in your heart and now you've gone and made a decision and broken your relationship and your partnership on something that might come to pass. Mistrust in the mind. So what was the new administration's plan? Notice their first policy Change was to enslave the Israelites and that's what they did. Egypt went from a fostering government to a cruel and repressive government. Instead of being an incubator for Israel, they became the house of bondage. And the reason is found in verse 10. The new government opted and operated out of fear. And you and I can operate out of fear, or we can operate out of faith. Fear is the wrong motivation. The Bible says that perfect love casteth out fear. The fear of man brings a trap, it's a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. Sometimes we make tragic decisions based on fears of what might happen. I better marry this young man, I better marry this young girl, because I might not get another opportunity. Seriously, they get married because they never had somebody like them before they worried that maybe Somebody else won't like them later. So I got somebody interested now a bird in the hand. I Better marry this person and so they say yes, and they go through it and live the rest of their life in pain. I Can't tell you how many people I've dealt with over the years said they should have never gotten married. I Sometimes it's better to be single. Yes or no? So in verse 10, if we don't do something and we get ourselves into war, so the new pharaoh is stirring up some quick business decisions. He says we need to handle this in a certain way or they're gonna take advantage of us. Now let me ask you a question. Who got taken advantage of? They did. They are not enemies. But they might join our enemies. Now look at the last phrase of verse 10. They were also afraid, in verse 10, that these people would leave Egypt. You see that? They're afraid they'd leave Egypt. Now, which of the Israelites, which of the Israelites would be talking about leaving Egypt? They'd been there a long time, centuries. Now who of the Israelite people, who of the Israelite people will be talking about leaving Egypt? What Americans, been living here for hundreds of years now, what Americans, who of us will be talking about leaving America? Who of us will be talking about leaving? I'm going home, brother, I'm going to heaven. I'm talking about leaving all the time. Who in Egypt is talking about leaving and going to the promised land, who? true believers. The ones who knew the promise of God that they were going to leave Egypt and go where? Remember Joseph's bones? See there's a, see most of those people, most of those people had learned to live in Egypt. And in many ways they became Egyptians. And in many ways they worshipped the gods of Egypt. You can go and read the Bible all over the places. They came home to the promised land with their gods from Egypt. But there was a group of people in Egypt that knew because God had promised that they were going home. And they were the people who kept talking about they're going to go to the promised land. We're going to go to the promised land. We're going to go to the promised land. They kept talking about it. Generation after generation after generation. They didn't know when. They knew there was so many years because it was said in Genesis how many years. Right? We're going to go home. And so word had gotten out that They're going to go home. They're going to leave. So there were some fears. And so a change in administration. Now we've got change in policies. And when the righteous are in leadership, the people do what? Rejoice. But when the wicked beareth rule, the people will do what? Cry. So if the righteous is in leadership, people are what? Rejoicing. If the wicked are in leadership, the people are what? Crying. That goes for governments, that goes for churches, that goes for homes, that goes for the workplace. How many of you have had a change of administration at your workplace? There's a few of you. So-and-so's retiring or so-and-so got fired and now they got I got a new boss a new chief new jefe Spanish Wonder what's gonna happen if he's righteous and oh you're gonna rejoice, but if he's a tyrant you gonna cry Your life's gonna be difficult So with the new Pharaoh, things are not going to operate as they did in the past. And the first policy change was slavery. Israel turned from a protector to a persecutor. And notice the word in verse 11, we're introduced to a word called taskmaster. And what is the other word associated with the taskmaster? It's the word affliction or afflicted. The taskmasters afflicted the Israelites. You can see that in verses 11 and 12. Now I want to say to you that their life has radically changed. They were increasing and growing and things were going well and they were living their lives but now the government's changed and now their situation has changed. And you know what the goal was for these Jews? We're going to extract wealth from them and at the same time we're going to ruin their health. Two-fold work of the Taskmasters. To impoverish and to weaken the Hebrews. So what do you say? What are these taskmasters? Well, they were the overseers. They were the supervisors of the work. They appointed the work and they made sure of the performance of the work. This is what we're going to do. You're going to do it. And this is how long you're going to do it. This is kind of speed you're going to do it with. How would you like somebody to ride over you at work or even at home and become your taskmaster? Now what you're going to get out of the deal? You're going to get a paycheck from a taskmaster? I don't think so. You're probably going to get some food and that's what you're going to get. And guess what you're going to do tomorrow? And guess what you're going to do next week? And guess what you're going to do next month? Guess what you're going to do next year? Guess what you're going to do this decade? You're going to work for the taskmaster. Have you ever heard of someone laughingly or teasingly called a taskmaster? Yes or no? In verse 13 it says the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor. Do you see that? Verse 14, they made their lives, what's the word? Bitter with hard bondage. The Egyptians made them to serve. That's what the Bible says. They made their lives bitter. This word rigor, do you see the word rigor used in here in verse 13, verse 14, the last words? This word rigor means severity. It means to break or fracture. It means to crush. Don't just read by rigor and don't see it. You think rigor is being zealous. No, no, it's far more than that. This word is so bad. that God told his people, if you ever have the shoe on the other foot and you're in charge and you have servants or slaves, you do not make them serve, you do not make them work with rigor. He forbid his own people, if they were in charge and had slaves, not to make them do it with rigor. And you can read that in Leviticus, Leviticus chapter 25, 43 and 46. So these Egyptian taskmasters, they made their lives bitter, it was hard bondage, it was painful, it was oppressive, it was cruel, there was no mercy, there was no comfort. Notice in verse 11 they built something, what did they build? What did they build? Look at verse 11, what did they build? Oh, they built some great cities. They built treasure cities. These cities were cities of storage. Python and Ramesses. Ramesses is where they were located themselves from Genesis 47 and verse 11. It's the eastern Nile Delta region. It was good land, it was suitable for agriculture, suitable for grazing. So the question comes, what about the pyramids of Egypt? Did they build the pyramids of Egypt? From all of my studies, and I've studied a lot on this, the pyramids are older than this enslavement. The pyramids are older than Exodus 1. So when Joseph would have came into Egypt, Joseph would have saw the pyramids. They are centuries before this time. I'm talking like five, six, seven, eight hundred years before, maybe a thousand. So the pyramids were already there. So what did they build? They built structures for storage. looking at the Hebrew and deducting from the Hebrew these were mud, brick, storage facilities. Notice that their work was in two arenas. First it was mortar and what? Look at the Bible. Mortar and brick. Do you see it there? Mortar and brick. That involved this. Now I want you to think about it. They had to dig the clay. Have you ever dug in clay? Have you guys ever worked in clay? In the ground? Do you have clay in Kansas? Very few places, you ought to come to Virginia. So they had to dig the clay, then they got to knead the clay, like you knead the flour and what do you call that stuff they make up on the table when they're trying to make bread, what do you call that? Knead something. There you go, the dough, they had to knead the dough, they had to knead, thank you brother, thank you for helping me, I had to get a man to answer that question. Oh, she said it, but she didn't want to say it loud enough. Thank you, sister. So think about it now. So they had to dig the clay, they had to knead the clay, they had to prepare the clay, they had to form the clay, they had to dry the clay, they had to carry the clay, and finally they had to lay it. And this is the process they did over and over and over. The ruins of brick buildings are all over Egypt to this day. And more bricks bear the name of Thutmose III than any other leader in Egypt. You guys ever seen a brick with somebody's name on it, yes or no? Something written on the brick, you ever seen it? Yes or no? Yeah, well they had Egyptian pharaoh's names on the bricks. Drawings, drawings on the side of monuments, drawings they have discovered on the walls have pictures of taskmasters. The taskmaster has in these pictures now an uplifted stick in his hand and he is surrounded by people on their knees working and you can see this picture in your mind Of what a taskmaster was doing with a stick in his hand. It wasn't a small stick. The stick was as big as he was. Six foot tall. And people were down everywhere working. How many of you guys have a job you work on your knees? Nobody. Oh, there's one in the back back here. What you do? Okay, you got to get on your knees from time to time. How about a carpet layer? How about a tile person? They make these great old big things you can get at Home Depot or wherever and put on your knees to preserve your knees. Can you imagine working on your knees all the time? It's not fun, is it? So the second thing that they were doing, it says here they were in service, in service in the field. Do you see that? So mortar and brick, and then second, in service in the field. What were they doing in the field? Well, they were digging canals. The Nile River, you know, most of Egypt, even to this day, most of Egypt, they just live near the Nile where the water's at. So they would dig the canals running water making their own way to get water, so digging canals, irrigation systems, city walls, fortification. One writer that I was reading about who was going over, and he was not a saved person, just a writer about what was taking place in Egypt, said there was no such exhausting toil as that of working under the hot Egyptian sun, working from sunrise to sunset. That's what he said. about making brick. There are times when the government is not our friend. A new king arose, the Bible says. Do you remember Mordecai and Esther? Do you remember Jesus and the apostles? Remember the government they served under? Yes or no? Do you remember Daniel? He served under several governments. He was forbidden to practice his faith and to pray on a regular basis. Remember how they entrapped him? I dare to say that there are many of us who have never faced the pressure that these people are facing under this government. Now what was the result of the government's new slavery policy? They installed this policy. They made it bitter. They made it difficult. They did it with rigor. And so what happened? Well, their little plan backfired. Isn't that amazing how man can try to do something and it just backfires? The Bible says in verse 12, the more they afflicted them, help me out, the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. They got a bigger problem than they started with. And notice the Bible says in verse 12, they were what? They were grieved, they were grieved because of the children of Israel. Well, I'll stop right there today and I'll have to come back and give you the second policy. The second policy is they made some women, told some women to do infanticide, to kill the male boys when they were born. How would you like it if it was your son? So you can see the government's policies, two of them. Let's stand for prayer. Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for letting us be in church this last Sunday of this year, and we can see a few days in front of us, a new year coming in, and we do have a new government coming in. We can see that. They're already been at work appointing people, doing all kinds of things. God, we do pray for a peaceful transition We do pray for policies that will allow us to continue to have the freedoms that we have to do the work that we need to do without any restrictions. We thank you for the land that we live in, allows us to do work all over the world, all over the globe for your kingdom and glory. And Lord, while we still have this freedom, because there will be somebody new sometime soon that will be coming into power. But while we have this freedom, help us to work all that we can work, do all that we can do for your kingdom and for your glory. I pray that you've spoken to our hearts today. We need to pray for anybody who's in leadership. Bible calls on us to do that. We pray that their hearts would be turned towards you and that they would even go along with helping us in the work that we need to do for your kingdom and glory, that they would remove any type of obstacles. And so I pray that we'd have hearts like this, that they would even come alongside and join us in paving the way for us to continue to go forward with the great commission of your son. And Lord, I just pray for each person that has come today. I pray that our hearts will be thinking about this upcoming year. and what's involved in it, and I just would pray that we would go forth as a church and as a people to do your will and to do it your way. Lord, if there's anybody here at this church this morning that doesn't know you as their savior, they're not born again, if they were to die today, they don't know if they'd go to heaven or not. Lord, I pray that they would make that decision, they would believe on you, call on you before they leave the church grounds today. Pastor JJ's here, I'm here, I'd be glad to visit with you. about the eternity of your soul. Jesus died for us on that cross. He shed his blood, gave his life so that you and I can be forgiven and be acceptable unto God only through Christ. And every person needs to hear that message and receive your son as their Lord and Savior. I pray, Lord, that all people here would have done that. Thank you for the children of this church. We pray for the year that's in front of them, that they would grow. as your son grew here on earth in stature and also just in wisdom and in favor with man and favor with you. I pray that you'd use them greatly. And thank you once again for letting us be in church today. And all of God's people say, amen. We pray that in the name of Jesus.