There's an orderliness to the gospel life, which we looked at last week. And when the truth of the gospel falls into place, it produces an unspeakable joy. 1 Peter 1, verse 8, Peter says, joy unspeakable and full of glory. We recognize that it's not a joy that we muster up by ourselves. It's by the grace of God that this joy comes. And in fact, it comes from God himself who is love. God is love as we see in 1 John 4 and verse 8. And a holy response to God's love produces fruit, source from God himself. Galatians 5 and verses 22 and 23 says that the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no God. And the joy follows love. Some people say that love, being God, and then all these others are just, are various aspects of love. And we see this as the fruit of the Spirit producing this in our lives. As God's gospel order falls into place in our lives, the corruptions of our flesh will rise up to oppose Christ's gospel and rob us of our joy because Love casts out fear, and when fear rises up in our flesh and troubles arise, then that joy is robbed because, well, God's love isn't as clear as we would like it to be. And so we want to know how we can occupy our time to keep Satan and the unbelieving world and the weaknesses of our flesh, of our mortal flesh, from robbing our gospel joy. And so the message is called Occupation. the joy of gospel order part two this is a continuation of last week's message and we take our text from verse eight verse eight says oh give thanks to the lord call upon his name make known his deeds among the peoples Let's go before the lord in prayer our most blessed and gracious father in god in jesus name and for his sake we thank you lord for the blessed truth that you set before us as we march through first chronicles and we see the The ark of the covenant and the mercy seat that sits upon it. It's placed into the tabernacle in jerusalem and the blessings of god through your king david uh minister unto israel may those lessons be clear to us, may we glean from them that we may know how to walk in the truth of Christ from them in the Lord and in Jesus' name we do pray that we may glorify you through Christ's exaltation. Amen. The historical exposition of our text, though it's long and though it has many names, and thank you, Brother Mike, for getting through those for us, that it is a really simple outline, as you can see. In verses one through six, we see the lodged ark. The Ark of the Covenant has returned to Jerusalem, as we saw last week, and it is in the tabernacle that it is made by. that is set up by David, set up by David's people to have it set up. We see that in verses one through six and that it has returned to the city of God, then David rejoices with a lyrical heart. We see basically in verses seven through 36, we see three Psalms. In verses eight through 22, that is the entirety of Psalm 105, verses one through 15. And it's almost, I haven't analyzed every single word in Hebrew, but it looks like pretty much to me, it's the same exact Psalm. We have some variations in verses 22 to 34. 22 to 34 are parallel Psalm 96 verses 1 through 13. There are some slight differences there. And then Psalm 106 verses 47 to 48 are similar, very similar to verses 35 to 36. There are some differences there. And then in verses 37 to 42, after this wonderful psalm of David, the ark having come and David blesses the people, a loving responsibility is presented in the truth of those who are to be porters, gatekeepers of the tabernacle and gatekeepers of the ark. in verses 37 to 42. And then in the final verse, a leaving for home, David returns to his house and to his household, and then the people that had gathered, they return unto their homes. But now we look at the bulk of the message, the helpful application from our text. And there'll be several things here. And if there's something that's not specifically for you, if you don't get it, well, maybe it's not for you at this time. But I prayed that there might be something for everyone, even to our youngest of believers here. as we look at this helpful application from our text and remember the joy of gospel order from last week as we see the the that in our simple obedience to God's word things fall into place and we become pictures of the gospel our lives do and sometimes we don't see it because we're so close to ourselves that we don't see how that in our salvation and in our following Christ we Resemble aspects of the gospel that will be an eternal testimony of Christ when he returns that we will rejoice that we have been a blessed to be used of Christ, not just to fulfill his plans and purposes for him to come again, but also in the very details of our lives, there are things that if they were recorded in the Bible, like the Old Testament, they are a testimony of Christ for his exaltation and for God's glory. What a great and grand thing that is that God would use us a congregation in the Nilchik to be his lights, not just as a witness for him to save others, but also as an eternal testimony of who he is and what he has done. I want to present unto you this word occupation in the Parable that the Lord Jesus tells in Luke chapter 19 You don't have to turn there, but I'd like you to listen to it from the English Standard Version. It's quite long, but it it parallels a parable that he tells of certain talents with three servants, but here he has 10 servants and 10 minas in English, but it's the Greek mina which means something of weight. It's translated in your King James Version pound, but it starts in verse 11 of chapter 19 and Jesus speaks as he says as they heard the or as they heard these things Jesus tells them a parable in verse 11 Because he was near to Jerusalem and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was the pure appear immediately in verse 12 He said therefore a nobleman Jesus speaking now therefore a nobleman a went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and then returned, verse 13, calling 10 of his servants, he gave them 10 minas, or minas, and said to them, engage in business until I come. And in the Old King James Version, it says, occupy till I come. Engage in business, which is what occupy, occupation means to have a job, right? Engage in business till I come. In verse 14, his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him saying, we do not want this man to reign over us. When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him that he might know what they had gained by doing business. Verse 16 says, the first came before him saying, Lord, your mina has made 10 minas more. And 17, he said to him, well done, good servant, because you have been faithful in very little, you shall have authority over 10 cities. Verse 18, and the second came to him saying, Lord, your mina has made five minas. And he said to him, and you are to be over five cities. Verse 20, then another came to the Lord. Here is your mina, which I had kept, and I laid it away in a handkerchief. For I was afraid of you because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit and you reap what you did not sow. In verse 22, the master says to him, I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant. You knew that I was a severe man taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. Why then did you not put my money in the bank and at my coming, I might have collected it with interest." Verse 24, and he said to those who stood by, take the mina from him and give it to the one who had 10 minas. Verse 24, and they said to him, Lord, he has 10 minas. 26, I tell you that to everyone who has more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And verse 27 says, but as for the enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me. He brings an interesting twist to the parable that he tells in Matthew, whereas in Matthew they were talents, and he gave various ones. The one he gave five, the one he gave two, and the one he gave one. But here he just gives one to each of them. So the difference is that in the various gifts of those who were believers in Matthew, here is just one. And I suggest to you that the one represents The one gift that every believer would have, or everyone who professes faith, maybe not necessarily a believer, a true believer who's regenerated of heart, is a confession of faith in Jesus Christ. That last person, you know, one had one and it produced 10, and one had one and it produced five, and the other, well, I just hid it as if I buried it in burial clothes. I put it in a handkerchief, hid it in the earth. I brought nothing forth from it. This might be the false confessions of devils. You know, the devils believe. James 2 and verse 9 says the devils believe and tremble. So it speaks of salvation. I believe it speaks of a truth of salvation that is supposed to produce something, and some it'll produce 10, some it'll produce five, but it will produce something. That's the gist of the parable. And what we see in verse six of First Chronicles 16, or excuse me, what we see in verse eight of First Chronicles 16, oh, give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. I believe that's our occupation as believers. whether you're a teacher or a fisherman or whatever it is that you do, whether you're in the medical field or you're in public service, that when you're called as a Christian, that is your occupation, that is the business that you engage in, and it should affect whatever it is that you do. Not everyone would be called to be a pastor, and in fact, I was kicking and screaming not to be one because I recognize the responsibility of such a thing. That your lives before God, that you are God's beloved, and I tremble that I, every week, to bring you something that would be what the Lord wants for you. And so I believe this is something for all of us as far as this is what our occupation should be first and foremost in all that we attempt in this life until the Lord Jesus comes. And it's in three simple parts, praising God for Christ, as we see in verse eight, oh, give thanks to the Lord. And then the call upon his name, praying to God in Christ. And then finally, where it says, make known his deeds among the peoples. more literally, among the goyim, among the nations. Make known his name among the nations, to everyone. And so we see proclaiming God's testimony of Christ. And so how do we do that? How do we go about our day-to-day lives but see this as something that is eternal? Well, I think two things that we should address here in praising God for Christ is why we praise and ways we praise. Why we praise? Well, first here, we can see the truth of pictures of Christ from the Old Testament. In Sunday school today, we talked about allegories. Allegories are simply young people. Allegories are stories that relate, as far as the Bible goes, they are stories that relate unto spiritual truths. There are matters that, that in being told these things that have gone on in chapter 16, it's an historical event. It actually happened. David did this. But it was recorded in such a way that it's eternal for us so that we can glean some truths from it. He praised God. As he was praising God for Christ one of the things that we see in verse 1 from the text It says and they brought in the ark of God and set it inside the tent That David had pitched for it and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God that Ark of the Covenant that had the Ten Commandments written on tables of stone were placed in the ark and on top of it a pure gold and A piece of furniture called the mercy seat and that sat on top of it Would they when they brought it in with poles on either side of the ark and they brought it in? To the place where it was to rest we know that we receive mercy through the lord jesus christ and the The ark of the covenant and the mercy seat represents christ christ our mercy seat tabernacles among his people And we see the truth of this reflected when it came to pass when jesus was born as a babe God, in his mercy, became man, who dwelt among us. Matthew 1, verse 23 says, Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which means God with us. That God became a man and dwelt among us. And this is a picture of what we see with the ark coming into Jerusalem and being in a tabernacle. In John 1, verse 14, it says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And that word dwelt among us, it's a Greek word that comes really from a root of Hebrew. We could actually say, and the word became flesh, that Jesus Christ became a man and tabernacled among us. And we have seen his glory. The glory is the only Son of God, Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. In verse 34, We see this representation of why we should praise God in Christ. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. For he is good. We praise God because he is good. We are wicked and need God who is good to come down as the good one, as the one who did no harm, as the one who did no evil, and in his goodness, sending his son to live the righteous life that you and I cannot possibly live. And we praise God because, as the verse says, for his steadfast love endures forever. In the English Standard Version, that word steadfast love is the Hebrew word hesed, which is also translated mercy. We praise God because His mercy endures forever, because Jesus Christ, though becoming man, is eternal God, and His mercy is from vanishing point to vanishing point, from everlasting to everlasting. This was God's plan before the world was, that Jesus would come, like His triumphal entry that we'd seen over the last few weeks. Another point in why we praise God is Christ, our sacrifice, blesses His people. We see this in verse 2. of chapter 16, where it says, and when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord. And notice, though it was mentioned in verse one, all the sacrifices, the sacrifices are mentioned again before David blesses them. He finished the sacrifices and then blesses the people. And isn't that what the Lord Jesus Christ did? living the righteous life that you and I possibly can't live, He walked upon the earth as perfect, sinless man, and then went to the cross, and in being the sacrifice in which all sacrifices in the Old Testament pointed to, He blesses the people through His sacrifice. And David blessing the people foreshadows this. Even from the cross, the Lord Jesus, as the sacrifice, as the perfect sacrifice, if you read the Robert Murray McShane reading plan, you know, that's in the back of your handout, we've been reading in Hebrews and we see how Christ's sacrifice is superior to the blood of bulls and goats because the blood of bulls and goats can't possibly remove sin. They sacrifice after sacrifice and high priest after high priest, but here is a high priest after the order of Melchizedek and also the perfect sacrifice. And when he hung upon the cross, he said such things as Luke 23 records, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. What a blessing, even from the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ says, we're ignorant even of the baseness and the horror of our sins. Father, forgive them. Father, bless them with forgiveness upon forgiveness. We were so weak in our trespasses and sins that Romans 5 verse 6 says, while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for sinners. And Christ died for us, as it says in verse eight, but God showed his love for us in that while that we were sinners, Christ died for us. In verse six, he says that we were weak and ungodly. In verse eight, it says that we were sinners. And then in verse 10 of Romans 5, it says, if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. We were weak, ungodly sinners who were the enemies of God, and yet Christ died for us. That is a blessing, that His perfect sacrifice cleanses us from all unrighteousness. We were weak and godly sinners, the enemies of God. 1 Chronicles 16, verse 21 says, He allowed no one to oppress them. He rebuked kings on their accounts. Well, there's reason to praise. By the blessings of God in Christ, we are not oppressed spiritually by kings, spiritual kings and kingdoms, principalities or powers. And Jesus himself said in Matthew chapter 16, he says, the gates of hell shall not prevail against this church. Now there is a blessing to praise. That's a reason to praise, we praise. In the truth of Christ by his mercy, we've praised the truth of Christ in his sacrifice and blessing, the truth of his gospel. And then third, we see in verse three, that David distributed to all Israel, both men and women, to each a loaf of bread and a portion of meat and a cake of raisins. He gave gifts to them. He nourished them while they were with him, and here we see Christ our King distributing blessed gifts to his people. It reflects certainly the Lord's ministry that through a few bread fragments, some pilot bread and some bait fish, that he multiplied that for thousands. But more than that, that through his sacrifice, By His sacrifice upon the cross, by His rising again from the dead and His ascension to heaven, He sent gifts. Ephesians 4, verse 8, when He ascended on high, He led a host of captives and He gave gifts to men. 1 Corinthians 12, verses 7 through 11 speaks on this. To each He has given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. And as he says in verse 7. And then he goes through some various gifts that minister unto the church working together and being a blessing to one another. Isn't that reason to praise? That he has fitted you and me, even from what we see in the very first century. only a few years after the Lord was crucified and risen, that he ministers unto the churches, the local churches, so that in ministering unto one another with various gifts and nourishing one another in the truth of who Christ is by his bread and the bread of his body and the blood of his testament, that we can all live together that all these, verse 11 of 1 Corinthians chapter 12 says all these are empowered by one and the same spirit who apportions to each one individually as he will or who distributes, just as David is distributing bread and a cake of raisins and other portions of meat and so forth to the people. The Lord Jesus continues to do that and that is reason to praise. What are the ways that we praise? How do we praise? It says, oh, give thanks to the Lord. Praising. Well, one of the places we see in verse nine, it says sing to Him. Sing praises to Him. Well, singing to Him is a very great and grand way. And some people will take that as if, well, This hymn isn't exactly to him, it's to one another, but if the Lord Jesus is in each one of us, when we're singing to one another, as it says in the New Testament in two places, in Ephesians and in Psalms, sing to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody in your heart. Also teaching one another, as it says in Ephesians, as we do so, if Jesus, who promised to never leave us nor forsake us, according to Hebrews 13 and verse eight, even when the words of the hymn seem to be singing to one another to encourage one another, aren't we singing to him? And we are. He receives our praise because our praise is weak and feeble, but he receives the praise as if he were praising the Father himself. That's what imputation is, isn't it, young people? Our young people know imputation. It means when Christ's righteousness is placed on our account. Though we don't deserve it, it's grace. Verse 18 speaks on this as we see it from the psalm. It says, That's a note that I just passed on, so I won't even cover it. The other way we can see it is speaking to others. In the second part of verse nine, it says, tell of all his wondrous works. Tell of all his wondrous works, tell them to others. That is a particular blessing as we see it. It also carries with it a negative thing, that the more that we tell others about the Lord Jesus Christ, the less we speak of ourselves. John the Baptist said he must increase, I must decrease. Jesus said to be his disciple we must deny self, take up our cross and follow him. And so when we are speaking to others, as we're singing to him and as we speak to others, it's built in already supernaturally this blessing that we in our praise to him so that we don't magnify ourselves as we're magnifying him. There are times where it may be superficial, where we want to bless God and we're walking according to the flesh, but that can be identified. It's certainly identified in heaven. There are false witnesses out there that give glory to God, give glory to God, but inside there's turmoil, inside there's no joy, inside there's no love and their lives are lives of Abundant fear because the flesh is taken over. There are certainly those. And if they're not seen by we innocent doves and we innocent sheep, we commend it to the Lord's hand because the Lord sees. and that we still gain this blessed blessing, if I may say it like that, we still gain this blessed blessing because if we treat them even as sincere brothers in the Lord, we've done no harm to them and done great honor to the Lord that dwells in us. Another way we praise the Lord is seeking his strength and presence in verse 11, which actually moves into praying to God in Christ. But this is a way of praising God. Verse 11 says, seek the Lord in his strength and seek his presence continually. Seek the Lord in his strength, colon, in the English Standard Version. Seek his presence continually. And so by these two things, and this isn't exhaustive, there's more things to pray about, we certainly know. But from our text we see these are two mighty things that keep us in gospel order and receiving the blessed joy of Christ working through us. for his exaltation. First, seeking his strength in the first part of verse 11. Seek the Lord in his strength. We know that there's a commandment from God in Ephesians chapter six, verse 10. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. We want to be strong in the Lord, but if the reasons for praise are already there when we're praising him and we're talking of Christ to others, we're speaking less of self. And so then we become stronger, even in our weakness, when we are as weak as we can be, say, physically, we become stronger in the Lord. In fact, that's a blessing for many of us who have been sick, who are sick now or just got over being sick, because in the midst of our sicknesses, in the midst of our discomforts, we lean upon the Lord Jesus more thoroughly. And the Lord allows for those things so that we can grow and so that when we're doing a little bit better, we have less time to wander. We're less prone to wander because we've already been strengthened when we are weak, as Paul said, or as the Lord Jesus said, or as Paul said, because the Lord Jesus speaks unto him, my grace is sufficient for you. Paul says, when I am weak, then I'm strong. in 2nd Corinthians chapter 12. And next, we seek his presence continually, is the second part of it. Seek his presence continually. That we have to be reminded of that shows our weakness in the first part, right? That we have to be reminded of that. That we're not always thinking of Christ. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one is not always prevalent in our life. We're not always hearing from God, and we're not always loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. But here again, it reminds us of that hearing of the Lord. Remember in 1 Chronicles 14, as we were looking at that, that David was obedient because the word said, well, do this. Now God says, when you hear the rustling in the balsam trees, Then, I've gone before you, then go. So now as we mature, it's not just a matter of, well, God said it and then I do it. Now there are things that are more mine. When I seek his presence continually, I know that there are things that the Lord wants to share to me personally, passionately. and to maybe give those things a priority for my life right now. Things that as I read the scriptures that I don't understand something, that I haven't understood something for several years, then I read a passage of scripture today and oh, how mighty is our God. Your presence ministers unto me that this is your truth. And now because you've shown it to me, it's my truth. Remember we had in Luke chapter 10 and verse 41 to 42 where Martha is just serving away, serving away for the Lord, but Mary is sitting at the Lord's feet, waiting for the precious truths of the Lord's mouth to drip upon her. And then as Martha complained to the Lord, Lord, have her get up and help me. And he says, Martha, Martha, you're anxious and troubled. about many things, but one thing is necessary, one thing is needful. And Mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken away from her. Seeking the Lord continually includes those times of when we're waiting upon the Lord. Maybe it's not time to just act. There are times when you should act, when we pray and immediately we go. When we should pray, sometimes we go and then pray later for forgiveness. Lord, I went and did this. Like he didn't know. How many times I've done that. But as I wait upon the Lord, as I look continually for his presence, I become strengthened by the Lord because where the strength comes from is I start praying before I do things. And then I go and act. If it's something that's clear in his word, to love my neighbor. Well, that's pretty clear. I should love my neighbor. But how I am to love my neighbor, that needs the Lord's continual presence in my life. Because sometimes I might be enabling somebody whom I have addictions, whereas I shouldn't be doing that. And love sometimes might be tough. Love sometimes might have to say no, because that's what's better for my grandchildren and my children, your children. The final thing we see here in occupying, to be engaged in the business of heaven, to, the final thing is the proclaiming of God's testimony. Proclaiming God's testimony of Christ make known his deeds among the peoples and that's first because it's in our verse in verse 8 Why would that be first because? because of Christ we want to have a perspective because of Christ and we know that his last commissioning words before he ascended into heaven to his disciples was to make disciples among all nations in Matthew 28. And so we see this first for a very important reason, this first perspective, because when it comes down to it, Christ's gospel unifies and sin separates. Sin separates us from God, and sin separates us from other people. And the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses a man from sin reminds us that every man, every woman, every child on this planet bleeds the same color blood. And to make a distinction and a difference about a person by the pigment of their skin, to me is the acme of stupidity. And then worse, that the church would make that an issue equal to or greater than the gospel is a crime eternal. And there are churches that are doing that in America today, that they are taking all this, the Black Lives Matter and this critical race theory and the BLM, or that's redundant, because I said Black Lives Matter, what's the other one? Wokeism, to be woke. and make that an issue of the church is just eternally wicked. Because a man's skin color doesn't matter. But when we see the truth of the gospel, what a person eats, how the person dresses, and what the languages that they speak and the color of their skin or hair or eyes should make no difference to us. And we take that perspective that there is but one race and it is the human race. And when it says here among the peoples, literally it's among the nations. among the peoples all together. And we get that perspective because the proclaiming testimony of Christ reminds us that it's greater than where I live, what I eat, how I dress, what I do, how I brush my teeth, or how I cut my hair. It's greater than that. Then we can go to looking at ourselves. And I put ourselves first even though It's not for anything selfish. It actually is because we have the perfect perspective first and foremost and then to the chosen ones. Let's see how I'm going to do this in verse. Verse 12 to ourselves, verse 12 it says, remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles and the judgments he uttered. And then verse 13 says, oh offspring of Israel, his servant, children of God, his chosen ones. The remembrance, this is twofold, verses 12 and 13. 12 is placed in that place, I believe, because of what I mentioned in hearing the sound from 1 Chronicles 14. Not mere obedience, but also listening. Remember that portion when we were talking about when we're listening for God and we're seeking God and we're waiting upon Christ at his feet as Mary was. When the truth comes to us, it becomes ours personally, mine personally, or yours personally. It's not just a general truth that we all believe. This is your possession and inheritance in Christ. This is your possession and inheritance in Christ. As verse 18 says, to you I will give the land of Canaan as your portion for an inheritance. When the Lord Jesus reveals the truth to you from the scripture and it's yours personally, now you have a stewardship and a responsibility for it. And so as far as proclaiming the gospel testimony of Christ to ourselves, this is the place where you wake up in the morning and you're doing your morning devotions. This is the place where you're taking the truth of God's word and you're reading it, not just because I want to get through my four portions every day, but Lord Jesus, this is the word that's about you and you're with me and you are embodied in your word. May your spirit minister unto me that I may be a testimony for others. But if you're not a testimony for me, then I can't be a testimony for others. That's where we're going with this, to ourselves, that we're hearing the sound of the gospel and we're occupying our time with being able to hear from Christ as we sit with Christ. praying to Him, seeking His presence continually, and then having that testimony of God in Christ proclaimed each and every day. It may be as simple as a portion from someone else in the daily, in the Baptist bread, in that little devotional we have on the back table. Might be an email from me. I might have, you know, struck out several times, but all of a sudden you got an email from me and says, oh man, that pastor, he got it right that time. And so you read that devotional from me and it just clicks, falls into place. It has a place of gospel order and the joy of the Lord comes springing forth from it. And then finally, the chosen ones is verse 13, the offspring of Israel, the chosen ones, those who are believers or those who are even not yet believers, those who were desiring that God's grace would save them, maybe our children whom we raise. our nieces and nephews, the children in this congregation whom we bring our fellowship to join with their fellowship of other families in this congregation so that we may see God glorified and Jesus ministering salvation unto the souls of our children. To the chosen ones, to one another, those who are saved, We minister this truth as we recognize in 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 26, if one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, we all rejoice together, recognizing we're not alone. We proclaim God's testimony of Christ in the truth of this fellowship that he has placed us in. The church is a blessed wonder of heaven, whereas we are ministering unto ourselves each time we minister unto one another. We are so joined with Christ, and he's so joined with us, and joined with the Father, and joined with the Spirit, there is a communion in our fellowship that is so close that our actions minister unto one another. The proclamation of the gospel for me, even in my quiet times, may bless another in this church, or many others in this church. Well, sure, you're the pastor, but it's the same for you. Because I'm also, besides the pastor, I'm a member of the congregation. And so I fulfill a ministry of the body, certainly. But as a believer, I have a place in this body that is no different from you. We might have different functions. We may have different activities. but every part of the body is essential. It's not what they call vestigial in the science. In other words, well, it's there, but it doesn't need to be used. Well, it's like the appendix. You could just take that out. It's not vestigial. It was put there for a reason. You could eat meat a little bit more rare if you got an appendix. You get the appendix out, you need to, Put A1 sauce on that well-done piece of briquette. I told you the nonsense, I love a barbecue. Bacon, butter, and barbecue. But the truth of what God has put together, and when we see with spiritual eyes how he has put us together, and that we can be a blessing to one another, and that we are a blessing to one another. Mornings, sometimes to me are filled with joy because when I open up his word, I don't just see Christ there. The glory of Christ shows me and should show you that when you open it up, we see one another. What a blessing. We see the chosen ones, those whom God has chosen and those whom God is ministering to. And we see that we're a part of their lives too. And that's an honor. to we who are dishonorable, ignoble, humbled to the dust because God has saved us and we deserve eternal hell. We look at our sins for what they are when we see Christ for who he is. It causes those sins to be so magnified. We see His sacrifice for the blessing that it is and then praise, prayer, and proclamation almost become a foregone conclusion. It starts ministering gospel order because we've fallen into place with our eyes upon Christ and Him crucified. It expands, even here on earth, despite the corruptions of our flesh, it expands the things of heaven to include wretches like you and me, gloriously in Christ. Let's praise, pray, and proclaim. And with that, let me close in prayer. Our most blessed and gracious Father in God, in Jesus' name and for his sake. We thank you, Lord, that Christ has given more than his life upon a tree. Christ has given us life eternal to be lived out now. And that doesn't even compare with what it will be when he comes again. But may we be found occupying in this occupation until he comes. In Jesus' name and for his sake, we do pray. Amen.