And the rest of us, please, can open up our Bibles to Psalm 100. Psalm 100. I mentioned this past week has been a utility week for us at our house, and I'm thankful for it. There was a bit of a down time in our schedule. We've been very busy. As you know, this past month, every week has been a lot extra with the different events and things that we've been doing, so it was nice to use the sunshine and do some other things, okay? But I'm also looking forward to this next week, getting back into more of the routine of ministry, and we're rolling some evangelism and some outreach, even like tonight, as we go into Auckland Dinning. And I hope, if you're able to, I hope you participate in that. It'll be a great opportunity for us knock on doors and invite kids to come out to the Bible club this next week. But anyway, often as I do evangelism and I'm witnessing somebody, especially if they're an atheist, I often use an illustration of art, okay? And Alec, it's because of you, all right? It's because of art class and painting with Alec. I'll say that, you know, I enjoy painting and if I was good enough and I had a painting in the art gallery, all right? I talk about that. And one way I use that is to say, imagine, you know, I'm a tour guide at the National Art Gallery and I'm showing you around and we come in and there's a marvelous landscape painted. Which by the way is nothing like God's creation. This morning I was walking the field and they've cut the hay, I guess it is, and they've been baling it and things. And I picked up a piece from the ground and it's just beautiful and the end of it is so soft. And God's creation is incredible. And you see it's sunlight filtering through the trees. you walk in that shade and I mean it's this dappled color that you can never paint. I mean I run and when I run it I've been coming back it's beautiful mornings and there's a bridge and there's a tunnel and the tunnel is lit from the other side. You can see the sunlight cascading down the side of the tunnel. It's just gorgeous. I mean, who could paint that? I mean, they could try, but a painting will always fall short of the glory of God's creation because you can walk through it. Nobody's ever going to paint something that is so marvelous that we can somehow walk through another try. They've got all these 3D goofy things going on. Maybe someday we'll have three-dimensional paintings. I imagine it'll happen. But it's never going to equal God's creation. But say I'm giving that tour, and I come in, marvelous landscape. And I say, this glorious painting happened when there was an explosion at a paint bank. You know, to think that that incredible detail, okay, that incredible design, which doesn't begin to hold a candle to God's creation in reality. Which, by the way, God's creation is not just beautiful, it changes. Like a sunset goes beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. I mean, it's constantly changing, you know? They might capture it in one frame. I mean, it just doesn't begin to compare. And people think about that and they go, OK, if God created, then what about all the bad things? And I get that all the time. If there is a God, why is the world like this? Why is there trouble? We understand it as believers. We know the answer. The answer is man's fault, and that man is sin. But unbelieving man wants to blame God and say, if there's a creator, he messed up. And so I'll say to them, imagine I painted that painting in the National Art Gallery. It was there, and somebody broke in in the night, and they marred it. They graffitied it. They sprayed all this rubbish onto my painting. And I'm there the next day, and I'm weeping, because my creation is marred. And a tour guide comes in. And the tour guide says, look at how foolish this painter is. He marred his work. I would with tears in my eyes say, sir, I didn't mar it, man. broke in during the night and man-marveled, right? And so we get there, we get there. But you know what's sad? Sadder than all that, really, I think, is this, that you've got, and I'm using those as illustrations, but in using that as illustrations, the people coming through, as they see that creation, they don't give glory to the artist that created it, they give glory to something else. And see, as God has designed it, God has made it, atheism, the horrible reality of atheism and unbelief is that atheism and unbelief refuses to give God glory which God deserves. That's sad, isn't it? Everybody outside the walls tonight, no matter where they are, what they're doing, they ought to be stopping, constantly saying, God, thank you. God, I praise you. God, I glorify you. God, I acknowledge your glory. They ought to, but they don't. Why? Because they're not saved, and they don't know God. They don't know God. Hopefully that noise will go away. If it doesn't, we'll just keep the doors open for now, because it's nice and cool in here. in five minutes if that's still going on, you know, we'll close the doors. All right? They don't know God. They don't know God. But you know, today, as we are here, sadder even than that, that mankind that is in unbelief doesn't praise God. Sadder than that would be the fact that we so often as believers don't stop and praise God and thank God for everything that God has done, God is doing, God will do. Right? Psalm 100 is a psalm of praise, all right? It's a psalm of praise. And it is a beautiful thing for us this morning to come to church service and be ready to praise God. Psalm 33 verse one says, Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous, for praise is comely for the upright. All right? If you wanna look nice this morning as a believer, comely means beautiful, okay? Praise is coming. Praise looks good. It says in Psalm 147, verse one, praise ye the Lord, for it is good to sing praises unto our God, for it is pleasant, and praise is coming. Three different words, good, pleasant, beautiful. As God looks at it, as God views it, God would look at you today as somebody that is expressing Praise to Him, and you say, that is beautiful, that is good, that is pleasant, to hear that coming through your lips. Again, it's a sad thing when we forget to praise God. Psalm 103 verse two says, bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all its benefits. Okay, David's reminding himself, the psalmist is reminding himself, hey, praise God, bless God, give glory to God. Don't forget his benefits. Don't forget what God is doing in your life. You know, Israel was warned that in times of ease, when things are going well, blessings have come. In times of ease, it's especially easy to forget the one that gave you all the good things that you're enjoying. And so God said to Israel, and and Deuteronomy 6, 10. It shall be when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land, which he sweared to thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildest not, and houses full of all good things, which thou fillest not, and wells digged, which thou diggest not, vineyards and altars, which thou plantest not, which thou shalt have eaten and be full. What's it saying? When you come into that land that God has given to you, you're going to take over cities that you didn't build. You're going to take over vineyards that you didn't plant. You're going to take over houses that you had nothing to do with, and you are going to be so blessed. It says, next verse, then beware. Then beware, lest thou forget the Lord which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. It's an easy thing to remember God when I'm in trial and I cry out to God, oh God, deliver me, and I need God. But then when everything's going well, it's so easy to stop forgetting where all the good stuff's coming from that is coming from God. Paul reminds us, 1 Corinthians 4, 7, what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst not receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? All right? Simple argument. Name one thing that you've got that God didn't give to you. Answer, nothing. Why are you acting as if you're the one that did it all? Why are you acting as if what you possess is your own, that it wasn't something that was gifted to you by God? Why don't you praise God for giving it? You know, it's a reminder to us this morning, we need to praise God. Simple question, are you praising God? It's a simple question. Are you vocalizing gratitude, thanks to God, praise to God for who He is, what He's done? Because when you stop praising God, you've forgotten the source of your blessing. If I've stopped giving praise to God, then I've forgotten that everything that I have is given to me by God. And so I trust it'll be a good encouragement to us this morning as we look at praising and praising God and the need to praise God. Let's pray and ask God's Spirit to guide us in this time. Father, I thank you for Psalm 100. Thank you for the opportunity that we have to open up the Word of God this morning. It's a beautiful day where we're just enjoying the fresh air blowing through this room this morning. It's refreshing. Lord, I pray that you'd be glorified in our lives today. Lord, I pray that our hearts would just begin to be reminded of everything that we have because of you. And Father, I pray that the Holy Spirit of God would help me as I speak. I can't speak without your help. Lord, I can't illustrate or argue the truth without the Spirit of God guiding me and directing my lips. I pray they keep doing that. I pray they keep directing my heart and my mind. Guard us from distraction this morning. I'm glad there's some people in cleaning this morning. I pray they hear something that challenged their heart today, too. Lord, I pray that our church would have a good testimony before them. But I pray, guard us from distraction. Give us grace to Think and focus on your tree. Give us ears to hear. I know it's easy to get sleepy this morning. I know that. Gloria, it's been warm all week long. I've been tired myself. Allergies make us tired. and pollen counts are high because of the weather. And yeah, I pray, God, that you just give alertness to hearts and minds this morning. I pray that we'd really be able to take in truth and retain it. And Father, that you give us the blessing of going out full this morning with your truth in our hearts, our lives. Pour out grace upon us this morning. It's in Christ's name I pray, amen. All right, praise him, everyone. Praise him, everyone. We'll start there. Okay, we'll get into reasons to praise God are praising because of, but praising everyone. You know, it's sad to hear God's name taken in vain. I mean, you think about it. When you walk down the streets, you're not hearing people shouting praise to God, glorifying God. When you hear God's name mentioned, typically in Scotland, it's as a curse word. It's a vanity, and sometimes people say, oh my God, and I'll say to them, whether you know him or not, I say, he is my God, I'll say that. When somebody says, I've had people say, God Almighty, as I'm walking past, and I'll say, he is, did you know that? He is Almighty. Okay, but they're not acknowledging who God is, or giving God glory for who he is. They're just taking his name as a curse word. They stub their toe, and they'll take his name in vain. Exodus 20 verse 7, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not kill him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. You know, it's very sad to me today that even believers think it's okay to take God's name in vain. Isn't that sad? At the Wiles, when I was there, they put in the swing, the giant swing. Okay, that wasn't there before my generation. And I say that because Holly worked there as well, 20 years later. And anyway, the swing takes you, and you're in a harness, you know, full harness, you're with somebody else, and it takes you up to a point, 60 feet in the air, something like that, and you can't see behind you, and you're going up like Superman, okay, you're just hanging there. And you'll hear a click. When you hear the click, that's the release You. And you free fall for, I don't know, 30 feet before you go into an arcing swing. All right, it's called the giant swing. So often on that ride, they will say it every week at camp, they probably still say it, don't take out Sam and Ben. Don't take out Sam and Ben. You know, because that is the first thing that comes out of the mouth of Christian young people on the swing. That's sad. It's sad today, to me, if you think it's okay to take God's name in vain. What does, for he will not hold him guiltless, that taking his name in vain mean? It's like a parent saying, don't do that, I'm serious. Isn't it, isn't it God, I mean it's interesting, how often does God say that after a command? Don't do that, by the way if you do. See what I'm saying? He knew the heart of man was gonna look at that and say, oh, no big deal, just take God's name in vain. He will not hold him guiltless if he gets his name in vain. He repeats it in Deuteronomy 5 verse 11. Our world is very quick to do that, correct? Are we as quick to verbally, publicly praise God for who He is? See, everybody should. Everybody ought to, hey, we ought to take opportunity. If you're talking to an unbeliever, you gotta say, hey, praise God, God's given us a good day today. This nice weather, it's beautiful. Even unbelievers acknowledge that. It is nice. Or I get some rain. Hey, praise God, God's given us some rain. Hey, praise God, God, you know, man of need in my life. I'm just, I'm just thankful for God here. Why don't we verbally praise God before the unbelievers? Unbelievers are unashamed to take God's name in vain before anybody. and we ought to praise him, and we ought to praise him audibly, audibly. Verse 1 says, Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands. See, God's creation woke up with praise to God this morning. I liked walking last night, I was walking in a shaded area, like I was talking about. It's glorious. I mean, the sunshine's just shouting praise and glory to God. That little bit of breeze coming through the trees and moving those leaves, and the leaves rattling a little bit as it comes through. It's shouting praise to God. The little burn that's running down along, or the river that's running, and the water as it splashes and as it goes over that, or the birds singing. Who are they singing praise to? They're singing praise to God. It's a music of God's creation giving glory to God. I mean, it is coming out of their mouth, as it were, but how often does it come out of the mouth of God's people? Make a joyful noise unto the Lord. This past week, I mentioned that we've got some work done in the house, and so I'm leaning out windows on the first floor, you know, and staining and things, and as I was doing that in the hottest day, I think it was this past week, Thursday, the kids were out in the drive, having a waterfront. I'm listening to that and it makes me look forward to when there might be a school close to our house or think about building a primary there by the Glencore Center. And I don't really mind that idea because the sound of children at play is a very awesome thing. Why? Because it's so fun. It is. Make a joyful noise, right? And I've had people tell us, and I hope they're telling the truth, you know, at different times, we went in different areas, there weren't any kids there. They loved hearing the kids outside. Why? Because it's a joyful noise. You know, God's desires today is a joyful noise. We came this morning, we sing praise. Why? Because we like to sing? Because we have a hymnal? Because that's what you do in church? No. We sing because God is glorified. God is magnified. God is exalted. We just have sung, praise ye Jehovah, who from the beginning and reminding us of all the things that God has done. That would be on our lips this morning. It's so easy to have the opposite, right? Complaining. Things coming out of our lips that dishonor God. But God wants us to make a joyful noise unto Him. Is there cheer coming from your heart to the ears of God? Is it God this morning? Did you thank God? Did you praise God? God desires that. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Then it says, all you need. Praise Him everywhere. Praise Him everywhere. You know, the gospel is an all-nations gospel. Aren't you glad? It's an all-nations gospel. Our church in New York City could have been called All Nations Baptist Church. It might have been a good name for it, because that's what it was. And it was a church that had Jamaicans, Haitians, Puerto Ricans, Peruvians. The pastor's wife was Bolivian. The pastor was Irish Catholic New Yorker. It was his own breed. And Katie and I, her children are in sixth grade. We're the only white mid-western Americans, all right? I mean, it's a very diverse church, and so representative of heaven. Do you know in heaven, it's gonna be an all-nation? So if you don't like nationalities, you're gonna be disappointed in heaven. By the way, unlike New York City, you got a little China, you got a little Italy, you got all these different things. I think there's gonna be some ethnicity in heaven. And I might be wrong. But it seems to make sense. God has made cultures and cultural differences and things. I mean, we enjoy taking a trip and going to a different area. But in all those areas, whether in India, or whether in Australia, or whether in Africa, or whether in Scotland, or whether in America, everywhere, God's name is to be praised. And God mourns these lands to repent and to praise his name. Revelation 14 verse six. So as I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel. to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." Even in the end times, as God's judgment is coming, during the tribulation, God is going to send out an angel that will declare to the world that has rejected Him. And when the tribulation comes, by the way, I used to think, if God would just put some pressure on nations, they'd repent. Do you know, when 9-11 happened in New York City, The week after, churches were full. The week after that, churches were back to normal. Yes, praise God, at times, I mean, World War II, wars have, at times, turned men's hearts to God. Praise God. But you know, the Bible says when God's judgment comes in Revelation, they're gonna hide themselves in caves and they're gonna blaspheme God. They're not gonna repent. And yet God in his mercy sends an angel out declaring the gospel to every nation and kindred and tongue and people saying with a loud voice, fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment has come and worship him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains and waters. Oh, I mean, we could take that verse and we could put it on a loudspeaker. We could go through Edinburgh. We could blast that verse just like Jonah walking through Nineveh saying judgment's coming. Because Scotland is not okay in her atheism. Scotland's not okay in her unbelief. It's not okay to say, well, they don't believe in God. That is not a problem. The Bible says it will be judged, Psalm 917. says the wicked that shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. Psalm 50 verse .2 now consider this ye that forget God lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver. See it's a it's a great thing for man to rebel against God even though they're not saved. even though they're not born again, that they have rejected His creation and ceased to give Him glory. Gospel's a big thing. Why? Because praise in everyone. Make a joyful noise all you lambs. That ought to be something we get up with in the morning and think, you know what? Today, by God's grace, I want praise to come to Him. Why? Well, praise Him, first of all, because you know Him. Praise Him because you know Him. In a sense, although unbelievers ought to praise God, you can almost understand why they don't praise God. They don't know God. They don't give glory to God because, relationally, there is no relationship with God. How grateful are we to people we don't know? You know what I'm saying? It's a lot easier for us to get burdened about saying thanks or expressing gratitude to somebody that we do know or somebody that has done something that we understand what they've done. For instance, we read this past week about the early church in Acts chapter four, taking their houses and their lands. And as many as were possessors of houses and lands, the Bible says, sold them and brought the price of the things that were sold. They laid them down at the apostles' feet and distribution was made unto every man according as he as he had need. That's an incredible passage. The early church was so burdened about one another that as the persecution took place, they took the things that they valued, they sold them, they brought the money to the apostles and said to the apostles, just take this and use this to be a blessing to the church. Meet the needs. Now, undoubtedly, some of those that sold lands, they sold lands that had been their family for years. something precious, right? More precious than just, oh, yeah, we've got this extra house and we can sell this and give this. I mean, something that was very precious. Now, if you knew that, this is just conjecture, but if you knew that and the sacrifice that they made, isn't your heart going to really respond to that and say, I am so thankful? for your dedication to the Lord and your commitment to this congregation that you gave something that meant so much to you to be a blessing to others. Why don't you expect that? Why? Because that relationship is there, you understand what it costs. Listen, as believers this morning, we understand the great sacrifice of our Lord. We understand this morning that it was at great cost that Jesus Christ gave everything that he had for us. 1 Peter 2.24, We can stop on almost every word in this verse and think about it. See, you and I understand this morning that for us to be forgiven by God, Jesus Christ had to lay down his life on the cross and die for us. That'll make us this morning again, praise Him, why? Because I know Him. Praise Him because that relationship has been established. And so what? We get to serve Him. We get to serve Him. Verse 2, praise Him because you know Him, we get to serve Him. It says, serve the Lord with gladness. All right? Serve the Lord with gladness. Why do you serve God? Now, there could be an easy answer. The answer could be, I don't, all right? It could be, I don't. I don't do anything for God. Maybe that's you. But if you do serve God, why do you serve God? What is your motivation? What is your heart about serving God when it comes to participating and ministering for God? Why do you do that? At the Alfred Dunhill Link Sculpture that we go to annually, This past year at the course at Carnoustie, is that where we're at? I think it's past here. I witnessed one of the golf stewards, a lady that was standing there and she had the jacket on. She doesn't even play golf, all right? But she's from the community, it's a big community thing, and she's a golf steward. You know, they get a jacket. And there's a lady in our community that has one of these Alfred Dunhill Links jackets. And I imagine she must have been a volunteer at some point. They get a jacket. They get a walk out there with the pros, you know, and open things. And they get some snacks and things. And it's a nice, it's a nice event. It's nice to get out. But you know, none of them are volunteers. None of them are forced to do it. And so what? You know that the fact that they're there, that they are happy to do it, you know what I mean? They're glad to do it. It's not a burden. Why? Because it's something they delight to do. Serve the Lord with? Gladness. You know, serving God ought to be something coming from our hearts that is like this. I get to serve God. I get to serve God. I get to do something for God. It is a joy. It's a blessing to serve God. Paul, we talked in Sunday school, okay, about Paul's high calling, called to be an apostle. But you know, he viewed it as a high calling. Philippians 3.14 says, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. See, I'll just say this, as a believer, first of all, it's a privilege to be chosen by God to be saved. Let's go with the biblical words, election, called of God, right? The Bible speaks about it unto the gospel, right? Saved, born again, by whom? Jesus Christ. What a privilege. We were talking with Holly about it this morning, little Holly. Sorry, Holly, there's two of you sitting right there. All right? I mean, the gift that God has given through a salvation is so precious. That God's given to us his gift of everlasting life, that he's taken our sin away, that we're that son coming back to the father, and the father doesn't say, yes, be my servant. He says, come into my house as my son, right? Why would I, this morning, go, man, Pastors asking, I'll just use something I haven't really encouraged you about. Pastors asking us to knock on the door. It's not, I want to talk about tonight, it's gospel. I don't want to do that. You know, wait, I, I, I, and I, I, you can list all the reasons why I don't want to do that, but listen. Anytime you get to do anything for God, it is serving God. I mean, was it a burden to be in a parade? Was it a burden to be at Gallaudet? Was it a burden to do Holly Bible Club? Is it a burden to say, well, pastor expects us to be at every service that the church has. Is that a burden or is it a delight? Serve the Lord with what? Gladness. Why? Because He is God and I know Him. I know Him. See, I would stop and think about that and think, wow. Serve the Lord with gladness. Why? Because I know God. Praise God. We get to serve Him. We get to draw near to Him. It says, come before His presence with singing. Come before what? His presence with singing. What an awesome Savior. Again, stop and think about it. Not only do I get to know God, I get to come before God. See, what we're doing here today, you don't see God, but God's present. Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst. Jesus Christ is here. See, coming to church is an opportunity. I come because I'm drawing night of God. The Bible says, draw night of God, he'll draw night of me. So come before his presence with seeing. How can you be near God and not be excited? Is my heart that callous that perhaps I don't even know God's here? Maybe. Or is it that I'm so used to being able to enter into the presence of God that it's not a thrill to me anymore because it's just so normal? See, I'd stop and say today, I am present with God. Praise God. Praise God. I watched a documentary, I think it was this past week, about the Harrier jet, British made jet. It's the only jet that takes off vertically. It has the thrust, it has these things under the wings, the thrust points down and it takes off vertically and it can hover. It can only hover for 90 seconds because it's water cooled. And that's all it can contain. So it can take off a very small ship. It just needs a tennis court sized piece of property to take off and land. Very incredible. But it takes the most skilled pilots to be able to pilot that plane. And I don't know how many pilots have been killed in it, but I do know there have been a lot of fatalities in it because it's very much a high skill level to fly the plane. But this pilot said, this statement, this is my office. He's got this hair here. He said, this is my office. I don't know why every eight-year-old kid in the world doesn't want to do what I do. Why is he thrilled by it? Because that puts him in that plane. See, that job puts him right there with that. My wife and I, when we were first married, right before we got married, they transferred my position as a graduate assistant at Bob Jones. I was done with the university, working on my grad degree, and working for the university 30 hours a week, something like that, part-time. And it provided some benefits. But I became a manager at the snack shop. And one of my responsibilities was to do the concessions at the football tournaments on the weekend. I think we had Friday or something like that. And I would be there till midnight or 1 o'clock, closing everything up. And so I just asked my boss, Mr. Hagan, I said, can my wife be hired? And he said, sure. So they hired my wife to work with me, which is great, because she's actually getting paid to be there. And it was great. I mean, that was a blessing. I mean, we didn't have to say goodbye or anything, just go to work together. And it was great. Why? Because we were there together. Listen. You serve God, you get to be put in a place of close proximity to God. Again, this morning, we ought to sing. We ought to sing. I'll tell you this. It reveals our heart. Now I know some people don't feel like they can sing very well. Maybe they're shy about singing. But it certainly reveals our heart when we don't open our mouth and give verbal, musical praise to God. It's singing with hymns and spiritual songs. There is a reality of our spirit just entering into that praise to God that is biblical. It's more than praise God because you know Him. Thirdly, praise Him because He's God. Praise Him because He's God. Know ye that the Lord, He is God. Okay, I mean, you might stop and think, well, obviously. Obviously. Wait a second, the Lord, He is God. He is God, and He is God alone. I'm gonna give you some verses. I'll try not to read them too quickly, although they're repetitive. Okay, here they come. Deuteronomy 4.35. that thou mightest know that the Lord, He is God. There is none else beside Him. Deuteronomy 4, 39. The Lord, He is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath. There is none else. 1 Kings 8, 60. That all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is none else. Isaiah 45, 5 and 6. I am the Lord and there is none else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou hast not known me. that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none beside me, I am the Lord and there is none else. Verse 18, for thus said the Lord that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth and made it, he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited, I am the Lord and there is none else. Verse 22, look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. Chapter 46, verse 9, these are all right together. Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is none else. I am God and there is none like me. See, evolution takes man and exalts him to the pinnacle. As if, you know, and by the way, I always say it's about evolution, but evolution, you know, it went up, up, up, up, and it got to man, and you know, it's like evolution wrecks it, right? But creation just points up and says God. See, God is the pinnacle. God is the highest of all and incredibly above everything as the sole power of all things. That's who God is. And did you notice in that verse it says God hasn't created it in vain? And there's a point. I said to Atheists this past week at the Galilee, I said, Atheism is hopeless. It's empty. There is nothing. There will never be anything. And yet creation is full of purpose because God made me. He gave me my life. He desires me to be with Him eternally. There's a judgment for sin. Okay, a lot of people are frustrated with life. They say, people get away with things. No, they don't. God's gonna judge it. And eternally, God's gonna bless me with His presence and the glory of God's original creation, Genesis chapter one, before sin. Okay? That blessing that we all desire, everlasting life without sin, it's coming. It's coming. It's because of God. There's no mankind without Him. Praise Him because He is God. There's no mankind without Him. It is He that made us, and not we ourselves. Okay, this morning, I look at you this morning, and you know what I see? I see design. God made you. You didn't make yourself. You're not a product. A lot of people say, where do you come from? I come from my mother. Where does she come from? She comes from her mother. Where does she come from? She comes from her mother. Listen, we all go back in the same way of creation, but we go back to God. In the beginning, God created. Humanism and evolution are self-made religions. They are a worship system replacing God with men. That is why they hate God. Do you ever wonder about that? I'll say to atheists, I'll say, listen, Nobody hates Santa Claus. Right? When's the last time you met somebody that didn't believe in Santa Claus and they hated him? Nobody. But they hate God. Why? Because God is real. And because their religious system, atheism, is against God. Their religious system puts man in the place of God and against God. Okay? So they hate God. And yet God has done all these things. He hath made us, not we ourselves. Have you got an ability this morning? God gave it to you. Have you got money this morning? We probably wouldn't mind having a little bit more, but whatever we have, who gave it to you? God. Have you got family today? Who gave it to you? You know, we are what we are this morning by the grace of God. Everything that you and I possess, it goes back to God. God, the soul power, He's done it all. It's He that made us, not we ourselves. He lovingly cares for us. He lovingly cares for us. It says we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Isn't that precious? We are His people. We're the sheep of His pasture. This past week, we've gotten out a lot, enjoyed the weather. It's been fun to show Holly around. Scotland a little bit, later in the afternoons and evenings. And as we've done that, Duchess is to the age where it's a lot easier for her to go with us. One, she's not getting car sick. And so we take her and, you know, she's our dog, right? And so we take her with us. She's part of the family. It goes on this outing. And some of the places we've been this week have reservoirs. And so she gets in the water. She's learning how to swim. She's very tall. Okay. Dutchess is very tall. You can stand her up. She actually, her head is up here. And so I'm a little scared to throw the stick out too far, because right now she's standing on her hind legs and just doing this with her front legs. It's kind of funny. It's the only dog I know that walks in the water instead of swimming. But anyway, we laugh at her. And she comes out. She looks like a drowned rat. You think Dutchess has big paws. A lot of people say she's got big paws. Not really. It's a lot of foof. And the foof, when she gets in the water, the foof all goes away. She really does look funny. We laugh at her. Why? Because she's our dog, right? And we enjoy that. And I know you're going to hate this illustration this morning because I don't want to compare her to a dog. But we are God's possession. We are His people. The sheep of His pasture. Listen, He delights in us. I don't want to say He laughs at us. He may at times. God gave humor.