Well, good morning, church. It's good to see everyone here this morning. I wanna just, I'm sure you'll hear this a few more times, but I just wanna say happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there. We're glad that you're here worshiping with your families, or if you're online worshiping with us, we're glad that you're here as part of the Lord's Day assembly and gathering of the Evangelical Free Church. Thank you. I just want to say just really I'm not gonna get too much into it But I want to say thank you so much for all your prayers this week as our students have been serving up in paradise We had a fantastic time And I just want to encourage you to ask some of our students how it how it went Ask when you see them say how was your experience? They've already been encouraged to not just say good But I don't think it'll take much to get it out of them. They will love to tell you about their experience. It was a wonderful time. It was great seeing some of our church up there yesterday as part of the Serve Saturday. But we look forward to maybe getting a chance to share on a larger scale what we did this past week. But it sure was a blessing to serve our neighbors up on the ridge. So thank you for your prayers. Thank you for as we ever we were protected from the heat. No one got any injuries It's always a good sign for a mission trip when you can bring everybody back home safely So but we're glad that you're here this morning We're glad that you've chosen to make it a point to be here and worship with us this morning We're gonna begin with some scripture reading I want to read to you from Psalm 138 Psalm 138 it says I give you thanks O Lord with my whole heart. Before the gods I sing your praise. I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness for you have exalted above all things your name and your word. On the day I called, you answered me. My strength of soul, you increased. All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O Lord, for they have heard the words of your mouth, and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord. For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life. You stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me. The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me. Your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands. Let's pray this morning. Heavenly Father, we thank you, God, for your steadfast love that you have poured out upon us, Lord, for the grace and mercy that you have shown, Lord. We thank you that we can gather together this morning in this Sanctuary, Lord, to worship you, to lift high and exalt your holy name. And so, Lord, as we turn our attention toward you to give you praise, Lord, I pray that our hearts are in tune to worship and to be prepared for the preaching of your word to come later this morning. Lord, we thank you and we praise you. It's in your name we pray, amen. I'm gonna invite you to stand. That just got really loud right there. We're going to sing, I Stand Amazed in the Presence. I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus Christ, and wonder how He could love me, a sinner condemned of sin. How marvelous, how wonderful, when my soul shall be. How marvelous, how wonderful is the Savior's love for me. In the palace, in the garden, he prayed out loud. No tears for his own case, but seven drops of blood for mine. How loveless, how wonderful, and my soul shall ever be. How loveless, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me. He took my sins and my sorrows. He made them His very own. He bore the burden to cloud me and suck me dry. Sings my heart's passion To be my joy in the ages To sing of His love for me How marvelous, how wonderful And my song shall ever be How marvelous, how wonderful It is my Savior's love How marvelous, how wonderful, and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love. Every blessing to my heart you sing thy praise. Strings of mercy never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me song, the loudest song, and sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mountain, fix upon it Mount of God, redeeming love I was lost in utter darkness Till you came and rescued me I was bound by all my sin Now my soul can sing a new song, now my heart has found a home. Come, thou precious Prince of Peace. Hear your God to receive. Come, thou Phantom of the Sea. Come, thou Phantom of the Sea. Come, thou precious Prince of Peace. ♪ To you we sing ♪ ♪ God now fount of our blessing ♪ ♪ Oh to grace how great a debtor ♪ ♪ Daily I'm constrained to be ♪ ♪ Let thy goodness like a fetter ♪ ♪ Bind my wandering heart to thee ♪ Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it Prone to leave the God I love Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it Seal it for Thy courts above Come Thou Fount, come Thou King Come thou precious Prince of Peace Hear your bride to you we sing Come thou Fount of our blessing Come thou Fount, come thou King Come thou precious Prince of Peace Hear your bride to you we sing ♪ The fount of our blessing ♪ My heart is filled with thankfulness to Him who bore my pain, who plumbed the depths of my disgrace and gave me life again, who crushed my grips of sinfulness and filled me Oh, there's love of righteousness with power upon my heart. My heart is filled with thankfulness to Him who walks beside. But my weakness ends with strain and causes fears to find. Whose every promise is enough for every step I take. Sustaining me with arms of love and crowning me with praise. My heart is filled with thankfulness to Him ripped apart. Whose wisdom is my perfect peace, whose every thought is love. Every day I have honored is given by the King. So I will give my life, my all to love and follow Him. So I will give my life, my all, to love and follow You. Amen. You may be seated. Good morning. Now, you may have been welcomed by a really handsome guy out there, but this is the official, Pastor Greg Hensel, Pastor Brian Bell. Welcome to Oroville Free Church on June 20th, the longest day of the year, 2021. We are just so excited you're here. Do we have any visitors? It's hard to be a visitor in this group because everybody's so friendly. And for you online, Welcome, a very special welcome. We're looking forward to the time when we can fellowship with you here in church together and help, and you can be part of our fellowship hour. And it's just amazing, this worship. And I forgot to turn my cell phone off. Sorry, Pastor. Did any of you just not get excited about the worship, the songs? That's okay. Remember, Thomas missed church on Sunday. It's okay to doubt. And I'm just going to let you know how God answers the prayer. Just show me that you're real. One day I was out walking and running, actually, in a rural area, and it's kind of a path through the forest. And as I was running, and I wasn't doing anything except there was a bright, shiny penny on the path, so I picked it up. And as I looked up, I noticed that the hill had slid, And the tree roots were in the middle of the air. And God reminded me, unless my roots are grounded in his word and him, I will fail. And I thought, OK, thank you, God. That was fun. 400 pennies later, each penny I found I did not look for. And pastor, when he walks down the street in Chico, he's looking at car tires. We all do that, right? No. I happened to look at a car tire, and there was a penny stuck in a tread. I don't know, but every penny, if I look for it, I don't find it. And I have a story for all of those pennies. And my last penny was about, oh, three, four weeks ago. I was waiting, wanted to go to this appointment, an appointment I waited three months for. Had to be on a Sunday. Had to be on a Sunday. Had to be at 830. So I get up real early, and I shower, and I drive up there, get up a little early, because I don't quite know where I'm going. I find out where I'm going. And the parking lot's been closed. So I have to park across the street. So I'm getting a little frustrated. And I'm watching people go in and come out. And I said, these appointments are supposed to take half an hour. So I finally walked across the street into the thing, sat down, and she said, are you Carl Johanson? I said, yes, I'm Carl Johanson. Well, he's sick and he's not here today. And I said, what? He told me yesterday, I'm sorry, he's sick and he's not here. So I was a little bit frustrated. So I walked out and walked across the street and dead center in the middle in a depression was the shiniest penny I had ever seen. I picked it up and said, OK, God, you're into this. That wasn't why I found that penny. It was to remind me that the bad news I was about to hear was from God. And my favorite song is because he lives, I can face tomorrow. And if you know Jesus, you can face tomorrow. All right, well, announcements. I got a ton of them here. First of all, if you're Sitting in a chair, which you are, fill out the attendance form. We'll pick them up later. We just need to know who's here. And if you're online, call us and let us know you're online. We'd love to hear from you. And right now, the youth are going to circulate a clipboard with options for you for VBS. You can either Donate money. You can assist. You can volunteer. You can do whatever you want. Please fill it out. Take responsibility. And I tell you, working with Brian's wife, she is just the superst guy. And Chris, who's running the show, is going to really make it wonderful. Now, this happens to be the longest day for which husbands can, no, it's wives can spoil their husbands. I almost got that wrong. And so we have a gift for the fathers, fathers to be, grandfathers, those who want to be fathers. Pick them up after the show. And this is an exciting show because we're here to glorify Jesus. And all these announcements are to allow you to build Jesus better at Evie Free Church. Women's Ministry will have their prayer meeting, they have it on Thursday at the 24th this month, and it'll be between 6.30 and 7.30 at Carol Hensel's house. And if you have any questions, she or Peggy Schultz will have the answers for you. And there's also a Women's Ministry to help the women know more about Jesus and know more about each other and to make this community even more fun. Saturday the 26th there'll be testimonies there'll be songs and there'll be teaching. Remember we want you to know Jesus better and we want you to have a love for his word that you've never had before. All women are excited. And that's on Saturday June 26th the 10 to 12 one. Come. And we saw that Brian and our youth made it back. We didn't lose anybody. We're kind of excited to see how they were able to minister to the people in paradise and how they were ministered to because when you minister, you're always ministered to. And we have a card here that pastors have made up for us to remember to pray for our nation, pray for revival, not only the nation, the world, because unless God does his awesome work, It's gonna be a tough time. But remember, God doesn't promise roses. He promises to be with you all the time. So pray for local people, your bosses, states, cities, everybody that is elected because God puts them there. And again, we talked about the prayer, that's good. And my favorite class happens to be pastor's class, because he's going through the Bible to better understand why it was written, how it was written, so you will better understand who Jesus is and how he can impact your life. And as you leave the church or as you forget and you come back, the offering box is back there. We just really, the staff just so appreciate your faithfulness throughout the COVID thing. It's just been amazing to see how that's worked out. And now it's my privilege to introduce the new director of the Hope Center, Pastor Josh. Really cool dude. We talked out there. We had fun. He's fun. He's got a lot of anxiety about coming here because he's following me. No, that's just a lie. Josh, come and share with the Hope Center and let us know what we can do in one of our ministries that we share in. Thanks. Thank you, Carl. Blessings. It's good to be here this morning in the House of the Lord. What a wonderful group of people that you are. Happy Father's Day. A smile came to my face when I saw the young man thinking of fathers, but the young man who's wearing cowboy boots and shorts this morning, appreciate that. Yes, very good. Good stuff. Love that. I grew up as a garden variety heathen as a child and I remember, my grandmother every so often would take me to the UV free church in Chico, which that church, I thought it was pretty cool because all churches should be free. That's what I thought. That's what went through my mind as a little guy. It's cool to be in a church that wasn't charging anything. But when I was 19, Jesus found me and my life's never been the same. But again, my name is Josh Jamison. I'm here with my wife, Melissa. And I am the pastor and operations director at the Oroville Hope Center. We've been here for about two years. And I just wanted to share with you briefly this morning what's going on at the Hope Center. We are in the process of a transition. For those of you who do not know, we purchased our Fifth Avenue warehouse that we leased for campfire operations. And we were able to consolidate our resources and be better stewards of God's money by not renting two facilities and buying and purchasing just one. So we're in the process of moving. We put on our notice June 1st. So as you can imagine, we have quite a transition. We're more than halfway there, which is a good thing because It's more than halfway through the month. And so we're establishing those operations and continuing our long-term efforts to touch the community of Oroville through food programs. We employ close to 20 people at the Hope Center. We have a work crew that goes out and beautifies Oroville through weed abatement and trash pickup. Also, have our hands in the community by providing resources for those not only who are homeless, but for those who are at risk of homelessness. And really our long-term efforts are centered around not only meeting the needs that people have to keep them off the streets, So that's where we center, but our underlying message is we're not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ because it is the power of God unto salvation. The other prong of our operations is reaching into the disaster areas. So there's disaster relief, which happens when a disaster initially happens. But then we're also a part of the long-term recovery efforts, both from the campfire, and then we're one of the lead agencies for the bear fire outreach. And we have partnered with many different agencies within the local region to help the communities of Berry Creek and Feather Falls and the outlying areas to recover and to be reestablished in those areas. And so we do everything we do in the name of the Lord. We focus on loving people. And again, with the transition of the move and we are doing, we have plans to build out a operations and navigation center And so that's what's in the forefront of our hearts and minds right now to better serve the city of Oroville and the surrounding communities. And so thank you, each one of you, for allowing us to be here today. And thank you for your support, peripherally, financially. And we also, we need volunteers. So that's my pitch today. So God bless you. Thank you for having us. Thank you. And if you wish to support them financially, take a blue envelope and put the envelope in the offering box and we'll be sure that gets to them. Alrighty, our invocation today is one of my favorite Psalms, Psalm 127. Have any of you ever memorized that? I did a couple of times and guess what? Can't remember, so I'm gonna read it. Unless the Lord builds a house, and if you'd like to stand for the reading of God's incredibly truthful, awesome, and alive word, please. Unless the Lord builds a house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain that you rise up early and go to bed late, eating the bread of anxious toil, for he gives his beloved sleep. Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward. And we see a lot of rewards here. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who feels his quiver with him. He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies at the gate. God's word is awesome. You may be seated. We have some prayer requests we're going to go through now. First of all, we are so thankful, Lord. Thank you, Jesus, for taking care of this facility and these people through these trying times over the last couple of years. We appreciate your hand in the growth in ministries and the growth in people that are coming here to learn about you, to serve you, and to be friends with us. Thank you, Lord, for the teaching ministries we have, for the women's ministries, for the men's ministries, for pastor, for the youth ministry. What an incredible, incredible minister we have in Pastor Brian. And we are looking forward, Father, to hear how you dealt with their lives and how they dealt with others. And for the Hope Center, we do pray, Lord, that you would just miraculously, spontaneously be able to touch that facility that people will see your hand in it. People that be there would be blessed and honored and want to serve you even more. We have our own mini Hope Center called the Deaconess and Deacon Board Father. You would just give these people wisdom as they reach out to meet the needs of people in the community that we know of and in our church that it would all be done for the common good according to your will. And for women's ministry, we just appreciate the leadership and that they're trying to just help women get to know you, to serve you, to meet their needs. And Father, I just can't believe that I'm here at this church and I don't have to worry about that door opening and somebody coming in with guns and knives ready to arrest us and throw us in jail or martyr us as they do in North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan. Korea, just Lord, thank you. We pray for those people, Lord, give them strength. We've seen many of them martyred and the strength that they have is just awesome that you're able to do that. So pray for it, we pray that would stop and that your word would just become real to those that would wish to persecute the church. We pray for Israel as they're going through a new government, let them be the center of peace in that region, Father, thank you. And I know a couple of my friends are in the hospital and they're ill at home. Would you just touch them, Lord? For all the people that are ill that can't be here because of illness, would you just be close? You promised to be with them in every problem, and you would help them to get through it, Lord. Just bring them home healthfully. We thank you again for the offering. Bless it. Multiply it. And Lord, just let these people know it's okay to have a doubt because our faith is based on your word, your promises, not on feelings, not a doubt. And we're about to hear. the effort of Pastor Greg who has spent the week learning, studying. Let his words be incredibly pertinent to our lives, that they would be from you now. So we thank you, we praise you, and we look forward to fellowshipping after this service. And don't forget, God is alive and you can face tomorrow. Thank you. At this time, our children can be dismissed and head over to the children's ministry area for their classes. And I'm going to invite you to stand as we continue in our worship and as we continue to give praise to the the only one worthy of our praise. So let's stand and sing only a holy God. Who else commands all the hosts of heaven? Who else could make every king bow down? Who else can whisper and darkness trembles? Only a holy God. What other beauty demands such praises? What other splendor outshines the sun? Holy, the one and the only. Cry out, sing holy, forever a holy God. Come and worship the holy God. What other glory is used like fire? What other power can rage the dead? What other name reads undefeated? Only a holy God. Sing holy, forever a holy God Come and worship the holy God Come and worship the Holy Ghost. Who else could rescue me from my failing? Who else would offer His only Son? Who else invites me to call Him Father? Only a Holy God. Only my Holy God. Sing holy forever a holy God. Come and worship the holy God. Behold the one and the only, my God. Sing holy, forever a holy God. Come and worship the holy God. Come and worship the holy God. seated. Good morning, everyone. Happy Father's Day to all the fathers and grandfathers here. Be sure to pick up a gift from the church on your way out and enjoy the longest day of the year. You know, we've had the privilege, Carol and I, of serving in a number of different countries and we haven't found another one that celebrates Father's Day. So be blessed this morning, American dads, that you have a holiday set aside for you. I want to give a special shout out to Pastor Brian and to the youth group. We had the privilege yesterday of joining a few families up in Paradise with a all Butte County Evangelical Free Church outreach and service project helping our brothers at the EFC Paradise Church yesterday. And as we were gathering from Chico and Oroville and of course from Paradise, during the orientation time, The leaders of Reach Global, which is the relief arm of the Evangelical Free Church, spoke highly of our youth group and how they served last week. In fact, the words they said was, this was the best youth group we've ever seen. So, Pastor Brian, thank you for serving us so well and leading our youth so well. And as you get ready to take the youth on a youth summer camp next week, In a couple of weeks, let's set aside some time to get some of our youth up here giving some testimonies, to hear about what happened during their time in Paradise and then at a youth camp. One final word of administrative business before we get into the Word of God. Debbie Billington, can you stand? She has been on watch for the last 30 days, and today we officially welcome her to a fellowship of the Evangelical Free Church. So I'm gonna ask Jerry Short on behalf of the elders and pastors to give her the right hand of fellowship and welcome. Welcome, Debbie. The prophet stood there looking at the man in front of him. He was tall, strong, handsome. Surely this is the one God has chosen to be his anointed to lead the people. But the Lord said to Samuel, do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature because I have rejected him. For the Lord does not see as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. Now, this well-known story in 1 Samuel 16 tells us that God is the one in charge. He had sent Samuel to anoint the next king of Israel. And Samuel, as you know, goes to the family of Jesse to look over his brood of sons. And so it was that in this process, David became the youngest, though he was the smallest of the sons and the youngest of the sons, was called to be the new king of Israel, the one to lead them to greatness. Because our God is a God of surprises. The one he chooses to be a blessing to his people are not always the ones that they would choose for themselves. God often takes pleasure in doing things in an unorthodox or untraditional way in order to show that He is in control and that He is the true story of every, true hero of every story in the Bible. In fact, God and God alone is the ultimate hero, both in history and in eternity. Now in our time so far in the book of Judges, we have seen some of the things that God was doing as the people were beginning to enter the land. And we begin with a new section today in the book of Judges where we will begin to see various men and some women who will be held up as deliverers of the people of Israel. And the collection of characters that we will see over the next several weeks as we look at them probably would not be the ones that we would choose. And certainly not the ones the people of Israel would choose. But let's think about it. If they were truly wise, They wouldn't have been in the situation in the first place where they needed deliverers. Because as we have seen over and over again, because of their sin and disobedience, they constantly found themselves in trouble. Well, we're going to actually go through a longer section of Scripture this morning, but we're not going to read it all at once, but I would like us to begin with a reading of God's Word. And if you are able, I invite you to stand one more time. We will read the first few verses of the longer section that we will consider today, beginning in Judges 3, verse 7, and we will go all the way to the end of the chapter. Judges 3, verses 7 to 11. And the holy and inspired word of God says, And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord, their God, and served the Baals and the Asheroth. Therefore, the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushon Rishathayim, king of Mesopotamia. And the people of Israel served Cushon Rishathayim eight years. But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel who saved them, Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. Therefore, the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushon Rishathayim, king of Mesopotamia, and the people of Israel served Cushon Rishathayim eight years. And when the people of Israel Now Father, as we have read your word and as we will look at many verses this morning, would you have your Holy Spirit at work in our lives as the great teacher of this word that he inspired? that we might get a greater glimpse of the Lord Jesus Christ and give him glory this morning as we pray in his name. Amen. Please be seated. And if you've not already done so, you can turn in your bulletin and follow in the sermon outline and fill in the blanks as we go along with the hope that you will take some time to study this passage this week and share it with those around you. Now we begin with our first major point this morning. The outsider saves the day. And we get that from the verses that we have just read. Now in chapter 3 verse 7 we begin a new section in the book of Judges. It'll bring us all the way to the end of chapter 16 and we'll consider this really the heart of the book of Judges. As we go through this section there will be seven major deliverers or judges that we will consider and we will look at their lives. and we will learn lessons from them. And we will look at what God was doing with his people in the midst of those difficult times. But as we begin today with your copy of God's word open in front of you, and I encourage you to keep it open because we'll move quickly at times from verses to verses. But we begin with what will become a all too familiar statement, and the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. And then we get to our first major sub-point, how could you forget? We're told at the end, the second half of verse seven, they forgot the Lord, their God, and served the Baals and the Asheroth. Think of it, they forgot Yahweh, their God. Now, the context makes it clear that it was not a passive action on their part, as if they got all tied up in the busyness of their daily affairs and the Lord just slipped from their mind. No, this was a deliberate forgetfulness on their part. This was an active exchange of devotion from the one true God to the gods of the Canaanites. This was a display of their disobedience leading to their idolatry because they disregarded the commands of Yahweh. They failed to keep faith with him and obey him. So that leads us to the question today. Do we forget the Lord our God? Now maybe it might be that we don't do so literally, but we need to ask ourselves the question, do we live daily life with a God consciousness over us the whole time? Whereas every move that we make, every place that we go, every conversation that we're part of, every decision that we're involved in, every word that we ponder, are we aware that we are doing it in the holy presence of God as the omniscient one? Because what we find is the people of Israel, disregarded the principles of God all too often to run after the attractions and distractions of this world. And let's be honest with ourselves this morning, my friends. Sin is attractive. Sin at times is pleasurable. It at times is enjoyable. It is something we desire to do. Otherwise, we wouldn't do it. And there is even a sense where sin can bring a season of enjoyment and provision. But it will end. Always. So may it not be said of us that in the midst of the attractions and distractions of this world that we forget Yahweh, we forget the Lord. Whatever we do, may we recognize that we do it in light of his truth and omnipresence. The Israelites ran after the Baals, they ran after Asherah, they ran after the gods and goddesses of their own enemies. And so it should not be surprising, and we see it over again. And indeed, we're not surprised, we're just grieved that the Lord's righteous anger is caused to be poured out against them again and again. And he does. And we see those terrible words where it says that he gives them over. He sells them into the hands of their enemies. And in the cycles that we will enter in the book of Judges, now from chapter three, bringing us all the way to the end of chapter 16, we will see that God has to sell and redeem again and again. Each time he brings discipline upon him. And if this is all we know, because let's pretend we're hearing this for the first time, And we've seen that they've gone into the land, but they've not obeyed, they've not conquered, they've compromised. And then we hear a deliverer's raised up. If we're hearing it for the first time, our hope is that they'll get the point, they'll learn the lesson, they'll make the change, they'll repent. But as we move into the story this morning, we run into double trouble. God once again has sold his people into the hands of the enemies, and we know that names are important in the Bible. And we're given a name here, Cushon Rishithayim, king of Mesopotamia, and his name means doubly wicked. or double wickedness, which shows he was not just a ruthless leader, he was doubly so, doubly wicked. Now we don't know exactly who he was in history, but we don't need to know because we have the record here in the Word of God. Now, it must be said that doubly wicked was probably not on his birth certificate. I doubt that's the name that his mother gave him. But it was the name that was given to him by the people of God as they saw his character. Kind of like when we study history and we learn about Ivan the Terrible, or Bloody Mary, or the Butcher of Baghdad. And we see his name mentioned, Kush and Reshathayim, several times. The writer of Judges, the human author that God used to record these words, wants us to understand who he was and how he would be defeated and see the significance of his name. And so we're told that he's the king of Mesopotamia, which literally means the land between two rivers. And Mesopotamia at that time was found between the Euphrates River and the Habur River, an area we know as Iraq today. It was one of the largest countries in the Middle East at this time, during the time of the judges. And this evidently was one of the strongest leaders that Israel would face. But here's a lesson we can learn. As the text shows, and as we study world history, and as we study biblical history, we recognize that all are under the sovereign control of God. And that's why we are not people of fear. As one commentator says, no one wears the political pants of history unless Yahweh issues them to him. That's a good lesson for us today. God raises up one leader and he lowers another. But this was a wicked leader. And for eight years the Israelites had to serve under his barbaric behavior. Notice it says they served the oppressor. They served the doubly wicked instead of those who should have served the thrice holy God. But God is merciful, and he sends a deliverer in the spirit of power and peace. We see that the people cry out, but it's important to note, as we see often, it was not necessary. They cry out out of repentance. They cry out because life hurts. And the word here is zakh. And it's an important word that is used all throughout Hebrew in the book of Judges. And it usually means to cry out, but not to anyone in particular. It's just a crying out saying, life hurts. So they're not necessarily turning away from their sin. They're not turning towards God. They just know that life is really a bummer right now. And they say, oh God, they're just crying out for mercy from somewhere. And he raises up in his mercy a redeemer, or I should say a deliverer. That's a better term. we know his name is Ophniel. Now if you remember a few weeks ago, we looked at him in the chapter 1 of this book. But what's interesting is that we remember at that time, though he had made a great deliverance, you recall that Caleb said, hey, whoever takes over these tribes, this certain area, not only gets the land, but gets my daughter. And so he was the hero that rode to the day. He won the city, he won the people, he won the girl. But he was not a native Israelite. He was from Kenaz. He was a Kenazite. He was the son of Kenaz who, they had their own tribe, but in the mystery of God, they were converted and grafted into the tribe of Judah. And so they became identified as Judahites. But you notice that there's not many details about Ophniel. In fact, as we will see in the book of Judges, he is the greatest. He's the pinnacle of the deliverers. It's all downhill from here, folks. And yet, even with the pinnacle, there's not much given about him. And I think the reason why that is is God continually wants us to be those who recognize him as the ultimate hero, the ultimate deliverer, the ultimate rescuer of his people. After all, it was Yahweh, the Living One, who chose Othniel, who raised him up, who worked deliverance through him. It was Othniel who was grafted in by grace into the tribe of Judah. And it was from the tribe of Judah, you recall in Genesis 49, that a great deliverer had to come. But Othniel not only becomes, in a sense, the anti-Israel or anti-Israelite because he was a non-Israelite, he actually marries into Israel. And here we see the Israelites marrying outside of Israel, marrying the Canaanites. He's acting like they were supposed to. But he was a faithful man, he trusted the Lord, because he knew that Yahweh is able to overcome the worst of the worst, even the doubly wicked. My friends, whatever you are facing today, you may have enemies, you may have difficulties, you may have that person, that policy, that thing that just seems doubly wicked and opposing you at every turn. But you have something far greater. You have Yahweh, the Living One, who is with you, who promises to never abandon you. And so to Him you can look and walk with boldness and conviction. This Othniel went forward in the power of the Holy Spirit. The text tells us that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Othniel, and he judged Israel. He would experience what God wants us to understand more and more, for it would be centuries later where God would reveal through the prophet Zechariah that it's not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. And everything that we do, whether great or small, in the Spirit and the name of the Lord, cannot be done without the Spirit of the Lord. And we might consider the Holy Spirit of God perhaps the unmentioned hero of the Bible. And oftentimes, he seems like almost the silent partner in the Holy Trinity. We hear a lot about God the Father. We hear a lot about God the Son. But we recognize and confess that they all work together in perfect harmony, in creation, and redemption, and revelation, and regeneration, and deliverance. And it is the privilege and role of the Holy Spirit of God to work in a way that brings great glory to God always. And that's what we see happening here. Ophniel is endued with the Spirit of God. He goes off to war. We are told that the Spirit of the Lord was upon him and he judged Israel in verse 10, and he went out to war. Do you notice that there's active obedience here? The power of the Holy Spirit does not allow for passive indifference. It activates, it animates, it empowers us so that we will obey and do what the Lord calls us to do. Therefore, my friends, even in the face of the doubly wicked, we who are in Christ have the Spirit of God. and we can walk on in power and assurance that he will work through us so that God's purposes are accomplished. But we keep in mind, though he was obedient, though he was raised up, though he did what he was to do, ultimately this victory did not come as a result of what he had done. It came because it was the righteousness of God. We're trying to advance this and it won't go. The righteousness of God came because of the righteous, the victory of God came because of his righteousness, not because of the righteousness of the people. But here then we look at the end. It says, he was given the victory, and verse 11 says, so the land had rest 40 years, then Othniel the son of Kenaz died. Now it's an interesting thing that goes on here. This was a great victory, but it's temporary. When he died, the freedom from bondage, as it were, died. And this is this thing we're going to learn over and over again, that a deliverer will be raised up, he will deliver the people, but when he dies, it seems their freedom from the bondage of sin dies. And what that points us to is the need for a deliverer who will never die. And we see then how these deliverers prepare us and build a longing in us for the ultimate deliverer who it is to come. Indeed, the one who says, I died and behold, I am alive forevermore. So that our deliverance will be forever. This Othniel from the tribe of Judah, who points to the line of Judah, who will come to be the ultimate victor for the people of God, because He's the ultimate deliverer. And so in our first point tonight, we see the outsider saves the day. Secondly, we see the left-hander is the right man. The left-hander is the right man. And I want to read the next couple of verses in our text from this morning. And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the Amalekites and went and defeated Israel and they took possession of the city of Palms. And the people of Israel served Eglon, the king of Moab, 18 years. Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Jerah, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The people of Israel sent tribute to him by Eglon, the king of Moab. So we see the story. The people are doing evil in the sight of the Lord. They had 40 years to get it right, 40 years where there was deliverance. But how quickly they moved from their deliverance back to oppression, back to bondage. They had seen the miracles, they had seen God work, but they quickly ran back to serving their own ends. My friends, sin is an addiction. And it will pull us down again and again and again, unless we continue to fight against it. But let's look at another way, my friends. Sin is boring. When we look what's going on in the book of Judges, the people do the same sins over and over and over again. That's what happens a lot with people today. They just keep falling into the same sins over and over again. Far better it is to walk in the Spirit and experience the newness of life and that God's mercies are new every day and that He's doing a new thing and that He's put a new song in our heart because there's always freshness in the Spirit. That they'll be the same old, same old humdrum bondage of sin time and time again. Now the people, as you know, they were in a relationship with God, but that does not excuse them to sin as they want or to do what they want. And so let's learn from this, my friends. If we have been redeemed from the law of sin and death, which if we are in Christ we have, then don't use your freedom to turn around and serve the flesh, to turn around and serve your selfish desires. But as Paul says, use your freedom in Christ to serve the body of Christ. to serve the kingdom of God, to serve one another in love. And so as we've seen, the left hander is the right man, we begin with what we see as the unholy alliance. You know, we may not see it, because these are tough words in this passage, but God has a sense of humor. In this interaction between Ehud and the king of Moab, there is irony. There's actually mockery going on. There is a word play that's going on because the whole intention was God to show His people how great He is and how foolish it is to fall into the ways of the people. And even if we just start with the brief history of where the Moabites and the Ammonites even came from. We know they came from Lot, the nephew of Abraham. And after the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot was there with his daughters. And out of that incestuous relationship came the Moabites and the Ammonites. So they're living in close proximity to Israel, but also the enemies of Israel. And so here we have a Moabite king. This is a different leader from the one that we've just had to deal with, who is coming more from Iraq. The king of Moab would come from more what we know today as central Jordan. But, there's some dangerous words for us today. Look at verse 12. Isn't that interesting? The people of God are sinning, and God brings strengthening, but not to His own people, to His enemies. You see how dangerous it is for us to play games with God? How dangerous it is to play around with His law? And this king's name is Eglon. And the name itself is ironic, because it comes from eagle, the word calf or bull, but when you add the ending Eglon, it's along the lines of calfy, or we might say beefy. Okay? And there's a reason why I point that out, because it comes up in the story again and again. That Eglon is symbolically and almost literally a fat cow. And that becomes an important point in this story. He gathers with him the Ammonites. He gathers with him the Amalekites. Now we're going to see the enemies of Israel coming from east and west and from all over. And they take over the city of Palms. You see that in verse 13. The city of Palms is Jericho. So isn't that interesting? The enemies of God cross over the river, they come to Jericho, and they set up operations. The first city that Israel had defeated was Jericho, but probably had not settled in it yet. But the Moabites did. It's almost as if God is giving a symbol and saying, look people, if you won't obey me, I'm gonna reenact what you were supposed to do by slowly stripping everything away from you. And so here the scene is set. The people of Israel suffer under 18 years of bondage to Eglon, who is full of himself, literally and figuratively, with all of his comforts and his pleasures, and the word comes out clearly in Hebrew, his fatness. And all the Israelites are in hardship and in spiritual poverty. And so next we see Ehud and the fat man. Now I don't make reference to the fat man here to be humorous. It's in the text. It's because God in his wisdom wants to make a point. And he's going to make it clearly as we move through the text. And so now I'm going to read from verse 15 down to verse 19. Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Jerah, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon, the king of Moab. And Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his clothes. And he presented the tribute to Eglon, king of Moab. Now, Eglon was a very fat man. And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute. And he himself turned back at the idols near Gilgal and said, I have a secret message for you, O king. And he commanded silence, and all his attendants went out from his presence. So God raises up a deliverer, and his name is Ehud. The name of Ehud means, where is my majesty? You see, names mean something. God delivers him from the doubly wicked. Now he raises up a deliverer whose name is, where is the majesty? Do you see what God is doing here? There's a sense of humor building in this story about how God is telling about what he is doing. Oh, Israel, if only you had obeyed, but you haven't. So now where is the majesty? I will raise up, where is the majesty to deliver you? And he's from Benjamin. Now Benjamin hasn't done so well in the book of Judges till now, and in fact, it will get worse as the book goes on. But God has mercy, and he brings an unexpected deliverer to bring mercy. We already saw that Othniel was an outsider. Now we see that Ehud is left-handed. The text literally means restricted in the right hand. Because of that, many have thought that perhaps Ehud had a handicap of some sort. And it must be said that that is a possible interpretation of the text. But I think there's something else going on here. First of all, as we go later in the book of Judges, we see a whole group of warriors who were called left-handed, who could sling a hair with a stone. They could hit it. And there's no mention of them being handicapped. I think what is happening here is that we have another play on words. You see, Ehud The left-handed man comes from Benjamin, whose name means son of my right hand. So here we have the consummate son of my right hand who is left-handed. God has a sense of humor. He wants his people to know that he brings deliverance often in very unconventional ways, because it would not be a left-handed man who would be expected to be the deliverer. After all, most people, and certainly most warriors in that day, were right-handed. But it fits the situation. Imagine if you are one of the guards around Eglon. What are you looking for? You're looking for hidden weapons. You're looking for those who might get close to the king and cause him harm. And you know the great majority of people are right-handed, so you wouldn't bother to look for signs of a left-handed man who was armed. And as we dig through and dig behind the story, this Ehud was a cunning, clever, daring, brave man. but nowhere does it mention that he shared any of his plans with his fellow tribesmen. He takes a great risk. This was a great rescue plan, and it was not something that he put together in the spur of the moment. Notice we are told that he fashioned a weapon. It would take time to fashion just the right weapon, one that was just long enough to do the job and short enough to be hidden under his clothing. One that would be just the right size, so that it wouldn't impede his movement and also not cause him injury. Being double-edged meant that he could cause quick and direct damage with a blade on both sides instead of just a blade on one side. He was clever. He planned this, but he doesn't tell any of his tribesmen about it. And then we come to this reference about Ehud being a very large man. And I think there's a double meaning here, certainly in studying ancient Near East history. Because in that day, fatness was seen as a sign of prosperity and lavishness, but also of ruthless leadership. Or ruthless leaders who had become well-rounded because of how they mistreated those under their charge. And here, there's mention of offerings. And so this Eglon had gotten fat off of the offerings received from Israel that should have gone to Yahweh. And for 18 years, they are under the heavy thumb of Eglon. And perhaps he's becoming a little bit lazy, a little bit complacent because he feels like he's in control. Now we're told in this passage that Ehud was called by the people to bring the offering. to bring the tribute to Eglon. And it was God that raised him up, and it was the people that sent him. Again, we see that when God gives a command or gives the people get involved, there's a response. But this tribute here is what should be offered as a grain offering to the Lord. That's the exact word that's used, as a grain offering to the Lord. And so as we see the downward spiral of the King, of the deliverers, I should say, Othniel, there's no reproach towards him, only good. With Kinaz, it's not as clear. We're told some things, we're told other things, and it's left nebulous, a little bit unclear, we shouldn't follow him. But the symbolism gets even greater. This tribute should have been offered to Yahweh, but now it's going to be offered to the one who had become fat off of them, And the people are in bondage. And the result of this offering and the interaction will bring about freedom, but in an unusual way for the people. And Ehud plays his cards well. All throughout this story, he is shrewd. So he comes in. He gives the offering to the king. The king takes it and passes it around his people. And then he goes away with the people. And we are told that he went to Gilgal. You see that? Gilgal would have been just right next to Jericho. And in the time from when the Israelites had entered the land and had conquered it, Gilgal had been taken back over by the people of the land, and they had set up all of these idols at Gilgal. And so Gilgal became this shrine, this place that they would go to have religious experience. And so Eglon would hear that Ehud had gone to Gilgal to spend time among the idols, perhaps to get divine instruction. And so when Ehud turns around, he says, I have a message for you. He's expecting a message, and because he's just received an offering, perhaps it's another offering. So he sends the guards away because Ehud says, I've got this secret message, which would have been a comment. form of the way they practiced religion, always these secret messages from their gods. But do you see Eglon starting to become like a dumb animal, complacent, letting his guard down as if he's being a fattened calf prepared for the slaughter? That's all in the language that's being used with the play on words. And then in verse 19, his name is no longer mentioned. He's been called Eglon from about verse 12 down to about verse 18. But then in the rest of the story, his name doesn't appear anymore. It's as if God is saying, look, enough with you. I'm going to raise you up and I'm going to eliminate you. Not even going to mention your name. But Ehud turns back to him and says, I have a secret message for you, O king. And he sends them away. And he's going to tell them that I have a secret message from God. But up till now, we have no mention that Ehud even spent time with God. He hasn't said anything to the people of God. He's just plotted on his own. So the irony is rich. The wordplay, the setting, the different cultures that are in play, the sacrifices. And then he says, I have a secret message for you, which can either be a message, if we translate the word that way, or a thing, depending on the context. So maybe Ehud is thinking there's another special offering coming to him. Maybe it's a special message. It's coming from the gods. And figuratively and quite literally, he will very soon get the point of the message. And that's where we come to the stench of sin. Beginning in verse 19, but he himself turned back at the idols near Gilgal and said, I have a secret message for you, O king. And he commanded silence and all his attendants went out from his presence. And Ehud came into him as he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, I have a message from God for you. And he arose from his seat. And Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed around the blade, for he did not pull the sword out of his belly. And the dung came out. And Ehud went out into the porch and closed the door of the roof chamber behind him and locked them. And when He had gone, the servants came. And when they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they thought, surely He is relieving Himself in the closet of the cool chamber. And they waited till they were embarrassed. And when He still did not open the doors of the roof chamber, they took the key and opened them, and there lay their Lord dead on the floor. Ehud has sent all the guards out. Perhaps they were creating too much noise. He wanted to hear this secret message from God. And notice his response. When Ehud says, I have a message from God, it is Eglon who stands up to receive it. He's showing respect for his gods. That's what they did. When they were to receive a message from their gods, they stood up. And if I think of this, if a pagan king can show respect for his gods and the expected messages from them, should not the people of God show great respect and devotion to him? But he also, he dismisses all of his guards. And there he is standing alone before the one who will execute the judgment of God. And my friends, that's gonna happen to all of us one day. We will all stand alone in the judgment of God. And it's only those who will be found in Christ who will enter into His glorious presence forever. But we will each stand alone before God and His judgment. So think of the scene here. It's almost as if, if this were a movie, it would slow down. Because the details increase. The sentences get shorter. He takes out the knife. He reaches for it. Takes it out. He plunges it in. It goes all the way in. It's completely wrapped. It reaches its target. The contents. of his digestive tract are emptied. You see the graphic picture of humiliation and judgment that will come to the enemies of God. The knife is plunged in, it's left there. We're told these terrible details. We can imagine to think just, we know what this would have been like. Just think of the smell. Just think of how horrific it would be. This one who had been described a few verses earlier as beefy. is now reduced to a pile of stench and filth. The fattened calf king, that was his name, is no longer. Because God will get the last word against all of his enemies. And as the people of Israel would have heard this story for the first time, they would have heard the play on words, they would have heard the irony, they would have heard the mockery, because God will not be mocked, ultimately. And he will bring deliverance to his people. And so Ehud executes Eglon, and then he stealthily leaves. He comes out, he closes the door. It doesn't say how he left. Was there a secret path? Did he just walk calmly past all the guards? We don't know, but he certainly knew the layout. This was no spontaneous plan. There was time that was involved. And then the servants of Eglon arrive, and we have this embarrassing and difficult story. But you know, the Bible's not afraid to get down into the details of our lives, because let's face it, friends, our lives are a mess. And if God doesn't clean up the mess, we will stay in the mess. But they're waiting. The odor in the air tells them that something's going on. And the wordplay just gets richer. And they wait, and they wait, and they wait. They know there is a private restroom for the king inside, and they're waiting for him to take care of business. And they've let their guard down, too, because Ehud has escaped from them and is not captured. And what will happen is the fact that they did not capture Eglon. They don't know this yet, but we do. means that they will next be, they did not capture Ehud, I'm sorry, means that they will now be captured by Ehud. They will fall into the same judgment as their king. And so now we get to the race to victory. Ehud escaped while they delayed and he passed beyond the idols and escaped to Sarah. When he arrived, he sounded the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim. Then the people of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was their leader. And he said to them, follow after me, for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand. So they went down after him and seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites and did not allow anyone to pass over. And they killed, at that time, about 10,000 of the Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men, not a man escaped. So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel, and the land had rest for 80 years. A couple of years ago, our family went on a vacation through central Virginia. We had a couple of children there at Liberty University, and 30 minutes away from Liberty University is the city of Appomattox. And if you know anything about the history of the Civil War, you know that Appomattox was critical. In fact, it was the final battle in the Civil War. The North and the South were in one final battle, and the South made a run for the river. And if they had gotten over the river, the war would have continued. But the Northern forces got ahead of them and cut them off at the river, and that brought an end to the American Civil War. And in the providence of God, then there was peace that was brought about as these generals from both sides exercised great wisdom in procuring the peace and the unity of the people in the surrender of the Confederates to the Union. That's what's going on here. There's a race to the river. And if the Moabites make it to the river, they will cross and they will escape the judgment of God. But God has unleashed his people. So Ehud goes and blows the trumpet. And it's Ephraim. It's not the whole tribe, all the tribes of Israel. Ephraim responds and they come down and they race to the river and they cut him off. And they don't allow them to cross back over the Jordan River back into Moab. and a huge victory is accomplished. 10,000 men fall. Now, the English Standard Version translates them as able-bodied, strong. A better word here would be stout, full-bodied. They were like their beefy leader. And they had met the same fate. And the power of the Moabites was broken. When the Lord brings victory, he brings a great victory. But it's always in his timing and in his ways, through his deliverers. For 18 years, Eglon seemed bigger than life, symbolically and maybe figuratively, in the eyes of God's people. And they cowered. But when God decided to act, he brought down his enemies quickly. It might seem like there are eglons in the land today. It might seem that there are those who oppose the cause of Christ who are bigger than life itself. But all my friends, we have a great promise. We have someone greater than Ehud who is coming to be our deliverer. And we have the words of the Apostle John that this one greater than Ehud will come with a sword in his mouth and he will slay all of his enemies. And not one will escape. And so we can rest assured that our God reigns and that our God will win. Now in this case, the land had rest for 80 years. Maybe it's symbolic of a double victory. I take that approach because of what's said in the very next verse. And let's go ahead and jump to that now for time's sake. Our last major point this morning. the unknown victor. If God can use Othniel, a non-Israelite, to bring victory, if he can use Ahad, a left-hander in a right-handed world, for victory, he can also bring someone who is unknown. And so we read in verse 31, after him was Shamgar, the son of Anot, who killed 600 of the Philistines with an ox goad, and he also saved And I think what the writer of Judges is doing here is combining the fact that there was war on the Eastern Front against the Moabites, and there was war on the Western Front against the Philistines. Because it was not every tribe of Israel that was involved in every conflict. And it seems that some of these threats, and we'll see this more as we go through Judges, happened at the same time. But here we have an example of a strange deliverer. Again, we find that the Shamgar, such as we know from his name, was not an Israelite. In fact, Einat was one of the names of the Canaanite gods. And so the Shamgar seems to have been named after his father, who was named after one of the Canaanite gods. And he takes out a company of 600 men, which by no means would have been the entire Philistine army, perhaps a company. But what do we see going on here? We see the goodness of God in delivering his people from enemies and from threats all around. If Kush and Rishathayim was a threat from the north and the east, if Eglon was a threat from the east and the south, Philistia was a threat from the west. The enemies of God may show up in many directions, but the one who looks to the Lord will see victory. And we know we have the victor who will rule over all the nations one day with a rod of iron and will give victory on every side. And we get a slight glimpse of that in some of these deliverers in the book of Judges. Well, if we have a strange deliverer, we have a strange deliverance. He used an ox goad. Did they have no other weapon? Later on, we find out in judges that they didn't have steel weapons, they didn't have shields or swords, or certainly didn't have chariots, it seems. They had an ox goad. Well, an ox goad actually wouldn't be a bad weapon to have, perhaps not against 600 men. But it was about eight feet long, typically, with an iron spike or point on one end. It would be used to spur the oxen as they pulled the plow. It had an iron scraper often at one end to clear clods of earth from the plowing equipment that they might have. He didn't have any modern weapons that the Canaanites had. After all, they had iron chariots. But God can still bring deliverance through his people that he raises up. It is better to be a man with an ox goad, empowered by the Lord, than a chariot without him. But there's more irony to the story. Because the word for ox goad comes from the root in Hebrew of to learn or a lesson. And isn't it humorous that God uses this non-Israelite to use this very common weapon that means to teach or to give a lesson to, to give a lesson to his enemies. You see, my friends, God can use anything that's at his disposal, which is everything, because he created everything. And if we are his people, we need not walk in fear ever. because we're on God's side, and He is enough. Well, what are some applications that we might pull from our passage today that we might talk about with our children and grandchildren later? First, I think we can see that God is the hero and ultimate deliverer of His people. And He could show mercy through whom He wants to show mercy. And if He can use the outsider and the left-handed and the unknown to bring victory, then we can just let him be God today and bring deliverance in unorthodox, untraditional, unexpected ways today. Therefore, you know, the Israelites were called, were they not? They were called to take action, and the problem was they failed. Well, if God is the hero and ultimate deliverer, when God calls us as he does, let's take risks for God. When he calls us to action, Let's go. For some of us, that might mean a letter that we need to write this week. That might mean a phone call or a visit that we need to go on. That might mean a person we need to contact. That might be an action that we need to take that we've been putting off. And if the Spirit of God could empower, Othniel and the other deliverers, the Holy Spirit still empowers God's people today. But today, on this side of the cross, we're not called to physical military action as the people of God. We are called to spiritual action. And our weapon is the word of God. And our sword is the shield of faith. Sword and the word and the power of Christ. And it's in those weapons that we go out and tear down spiritual strongholds. Fourthly, God is able to overcome even the doubly wicked. and those who get fat off the sufferings of others. Why do the rich get richer when they're more and more wicked? Just wait. God knows what's happening, and He knows what He'll do. And He's able to overcome everything, and He will. Because God defeats all of His enemies. All of the enemies of God will fall before Him one day. It might be that we just need to hang on and occupy and preach and be patient and walk in the Spirit, but we stand firm in Christ and we wait for the deliverance of our God. Let us pray. Lord, we know that as we read this morning, unless the Lord keeps watch, the watchman watch in vain. But, oh God, we thank you that you are not a God who sleeps or slumbers. You are a God who stays awake and watches over his people always. And so, Father, forgive us for those times where we have made you so small we doubt that you would show up. Would you have mercy and forgive us, Father, because we so desire to see you high and lifted up as a great God who is all victorious. And so Father, these struggles that we have in our hearts, in our minds, in our relationships, right now we lay them down. And we thank you for the cross. And we thank you that in Christ we can have victory over all of them. And we ask you now in your gentleness of your spirit to empower us to obey you well this week, to walk with you, proclaim you and live for you and point people to you and say, there is a victor upon whom we can place our trust. Oh God, may you use us this week for your glory and for our good. In Jesus name. Amen. Would you stand and as we sing and close out our service, this reminder of the greatness of our Lord, as we sing, great are you, Lord. You are love. You bring light to the darkness. You give hope. You restore. ♪ So we pour out our praise, pour out our praise ♪ ♪ Let your breath in our lungs ♪ ♪ So we pour out our praise to you only ♪ ♪ You give life, you are love ♪ Every heart that is broken. Great are you, Lord. Put your breath in our lungs. We pour out our praises, we pour out our praises. Your breath in our mouths, so we pour out our praise to you all. With your breath in our mouths, so we pour out our praise, we pour out our praises. ♪ As we pour out our praise to God ♪ And all the earth will shout your praise. Our hearts will cry. These bones will sing. It's Your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise, pour out our praise. It's Your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise to You, Lord. So great to be with you this morning as we praise the name of our Lord. Happy Father's Day again to all the men here, and remember to receive your gift as you go out. And now let's go out and be a blessing to one another and to those outside, inviting them to come in and join us one day. And now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts. and establish them in every good work and word. Let us go in peace and have a blessed Lord's Day.