All right, all right. Anybody have anything you want to share? Anything you want to bless us with tonight that the Lord's been showing you, giving you? You're definitely being Hosea, but it don't have to be. Tell us about it, Miss Pat. That's a good question. If I'm not mistaken, that was one of the larger tribes as far as group wise. You remember Ephraim. Who is Ephraim? Joseph. That's right. Remember it had Manasseh and Ephraim and Ephraim was a quote-unquote another name ascribed to Israel as a whole. You see that throughout the scriptures where God would make reference and call both Judah and Israel by different names. He does that with Jerusalem. He's going to call them names that have a positive note and he's going to call them at different times a negative picture. As a matter of fact, he calls them Sodom. and Gomorrah at times, which you know that's the connotation that you in bad shape if that's how God describes you. So Ephraim is just another way of describing Israel as a whole. But both Ephraim and Manasseh receive a great blessing When, remember when Joseph brings him to Jacob and Jacob lays his hands on him and he presents the one first, the firstborn and he switched his hands over. It goes along with that blessing that we're talking about. As far as one of the reasons why that's listed that way. If you look over, go back to Genesis real quick, just around Genesis 48, 49 maybe. Genesis 48, 49. I might have to pull out my other tool. I probably got some notes. If you look in verse number 12 of 48, so Joseph brought them beside his knees and he bowed down his face to the earth and Joseph took them both. Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel, his left hand, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near him. Then Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on who? Ephraim's head, who was the? And the left hand of Manasseh's head guiding his hands knowingly for Manasseh was the firstborn. And he blessed Joseph and said, God before whom our father Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my days long to this day, the angel who redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, let my name be named upon them in the name of my father Abraham and Isaac. and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. Now when Joseph saw that his father laid his hands on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. So he took hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father. For this one is the firstborn, but your right hand is on his head. But his father refused and said, I know my son, I know. He also shall become a people and he also shall be great, but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations. So he blessed them that day, saying, by you Israel, I bless, saying, may God make you as who? Ephraim and as Manasseh, and thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh. Then Israel said to Joseph, behold, I am dying, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers. Moreover, I've given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with the sword and my bow. So that is gonna play into one of the reasons why I believe he's gonna, it's referred to as Ephraim in the sense of, and there's other places in there where a specific passage says the people are gonna say, may you had the blessings of Ephraim. upon you. The word brings that out. If you look in 49 in verse number 22, By well and branches run over the wall, the archers had bitterly grieved him, shot at him, and hated him. But his bow remained in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of a mighty God of Jacob. From there is the shepherd, from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel. by the God of your father who will help you and by the almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breast and of the womb, the blessings of your father have excelled the blessings of my ancestors up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph and on the crown of the head of him who has separated from his brothers. And then he goes on to each one. But there is a specific place that makes reference to that, because what them boys do, they take up that role of that blessing in Ephraim and Manasseh. Bible here, I have some notes that I put down in it, tying that together with Ephraim and Manasseh. Let's see. Psalm 133, Psalm 68, 6 and 15. That was the fifth time. I've just put a note for myself. That's the fifth time, I believe, in Genesis where the younger is placed before the elder. I'm gonna fill this other Bible up too. Yeah, I'm gonna do my best. I'm gonna do my best working on it. That's why I keep this one nearby though, because it's got a lot of reference notes in it. I wish I could remember all that. Well, thank you, thank you. Right, all right. Well, anything, anywhere else, or Hosea, or wherever you may have been, wherever you may have been. But I've been reading also James. Uh-huh. James says some of these things, doesn't he? Yeah, James kind of relates to a lot of this that's happening with Hosea. He does, he refers to them as adulterers as well. So it's, and he's talking to the tribes spread out. So he's talking to kind of the same kind of people that he did. Yeah. It's kind of interesting to see that this is kind of almost full circle here. Yeah. He does. Is it James 4 or James 5 where he says that? Go look at James real quick because he does. Matter of fact, I've been noting James as well as I've been walking through between this and Ecclesiastes. If you take what you're reading in Hosea and you take some of the things in Ecclesiastes, they are gonna be very similar, very similar. Look in chapter four, James four, because sin is sin. And there's always gonna be similarities with it. What you see in chapter four of Hosea about there was no mercy in the land, no truth in the land. There was no knowledge of God in the land, and what were people doing? They were stealing, lying, and murdering. That is, they were just taking advantages of one another. They were warring among one another. He said, to the point where you can't trust one another. You can't take one another's word. Why? Because what had God done? He had pulled himself away. Why did God pull himself away? Who does God resist? The proud. And notice what James 4 says, verse one. Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for what? Pleasure. That is what was happening with the people. They had forsaken God for their own pleasures. That war and your members. You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war, yet you do not have because you do not ask. And when you do ask, you don't receive it because you asked with the wrong motive. You ask amiss. That you may what? Consume it upon you. It's all about who? So what is the then call them? Verse number four. Adulterers and adulteresses. Do you not know? Friendship, being fond of a world without God is what? enmity with God. That word friendship with the world he's saying you like a world that doesn't seek God as a way of living every day of their life and that's exactly the issue that you're dealing with in Hosea. They didn't seek the Lord. That's always, we've talked about this throughout the years, is that how can I tell if somebody is walking with the Lord? Well, the first thing that you're gonna be able to recognize is as a way of life, they seek the Lord. They wanna know what God says about a thing And everything they do in life. What is God doing in this? Where is God involved in this? How is God working in this? They seek Him. And everything God does in our life is to put us in position to seek Him. Remember we talked about if you confuse, what do you need to do? Seek the Lord. If you're frustrated, what do you need to do? Seek the Lord. If you're walking in the joys of the Lord, what do you need to do? Seek the Lord. You seek the Lord in everything you do. Jesus threw it out there as the principle of priority. Seek first, is how he says, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. That is his ways, you seek him, His reign, His rule, His guidance over your life and all of His ways. That's how we live. That's how the believer lives, seeking Him. Psalm 119 verse 155 tells us that you can always pick out the wicked. How? The wicked doesn't have anything associated with them that is connected with the saving work of God. You can't see, there's nothing of God's tender work of redeeming work, it's not associated with them. You can't see it. And he says this, why? They do not seek the statutes or the ways of God as a way of life. That's number one. And why will a person not seek the Lord nor the ways of the Lord? because of what's in their heart. Pride is driving them. And pride says, I got a better way than God's way. And pride is a wicked evil thing. It's wicked. So that's what we're dealing with in Hosea, is pride. And he even tells them, your pride has testified to your face, but you can't even see it. You don't recognize it, you can't discern it, but it's been slapping you in the face again and again and again. Matter of fact, he tells them even in other places that your own iniquities are rebuking you. He tells us in Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 20, he reminds us as a later group, but the same spirit of this group in Hosea, he says, you're gonna be a terror to yourself. and everybody connected to you, you will be a terror to them. You're going to be your own worst enemy. It ain't them out there that's the problem. You're your own worst enemy and you'll be a terror to yourself. Why? Because your own iniquities are starting to rebuke you. Why? Because what did God do? He pulled his hand off. So James tells us in verse number 5, 4 with that idea about being friends with the world, that is saying whoever makes himself a friend with the world makes himself what? An enemy of God. And what does the world not do? The world does not seek God as a way of life. In any system, any thinking, any facet of this world that doesn't consider God's point of view is what we would refer to as a worldly system. And God says, if that is what you're fond of, you make yourself what? An enemy of God. Why? Because this is how the world works. Verse five, or do you not think that the scripture speaks Invanity and emptiness how that the spirit who dwells in us yearns what? Jealousy, what does he yearn for all of us? The spirit yearns for every ounce But God gives more grace therefore he says God resists the hoop but gives grace to the humble. And the humble is always going to seek Him. The humble is for whom Jesus came to preach the good news to. The humble, humility and faith work hand in hand with one another. You remove humility, it is going to be replaced with pride. And pride and faith don't work together. They clash with one another. Because faith is somebody who humbly says, I trust what God said. I need what God said. I wanna know what God said. I gotta have what God says. I can't take the next step without what God says. But pride says, oh, I got this on my own. I don't need him. I don't need his people. I don't need his ways. I'll get this done, what? by myself, and that word resist means to oppose. God always opposes the proud. What's the answer for us? Therefore, submit, come under orders to God, resist, oppose the devil, because the devil's behind the pride, and the devil will what? flee from you then the next verse draw near to God and He will what? Cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double-minded lament and mourn and weep and let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He will what? Lift you up. I mean You can see James drawing from these things that are in Hosea and Amos and other places. Go to Ecclesiastes. Go look in Ecclesiastes and let's see if we could get this idea, because James talks about it in the same, same, I've been waiting to share this with y'all. Lord, open the door tonight, right? Ecclesiastes 4 or 5. Look what he says, walk prudently and the idea of prudently means what? Walk circumspectly. It means to walk wisely. To be prudent it is wisdom at work. Walk wisely when you go where? To the house of God and draw near to what? to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools for they do not know that they do what? Evil. Do not be rash with your what? Okay, James has been talking about that. When you read James, he says, draw near to God and heal what? James also said, be careful to what? Cover your mouth up, slow to speak, but what? Quick to hear. And he also says, don't make a vow. It's almost like when James is writing this letter, he's reading Ecclesiastes chapter four and pulling from these thoughts of then expanding on them about drawing near, the drawing near to God, what does that mean? You submitting unto him, you resisting the devil, opposing him, you're drawing near to God to what? To hear from him. You gotta hear from God to see. You can't see what God's doing unless you hear him. where to hear you got to submit to it. That's what he's saying. When you come to the house of God, when you come to hear, you come wisely and be cautious about talking and put yourself in position to hear from him because God's going to speak to you. Because if he's not speaking to you and you offering him things, you don't even know what you're doing when you offer him this offering because you ain't heard from him. You're not operating in faith. You are specializing in the offering and not actually in what? Being submissive to the Lord. Hosea dealt with it. What does God desire? He desires mercy and the knowledge of God over sacrifices. You see, God's mercy is always connected to hearing from the Lord. that God's mercies is always lined up with what God's doing, what God's saying, how God's working, why God's working, and those that fear God hope in his mercy. They're expecting to hear from God. So notice that again, notice verse two. Because James said, let your yeses be yeses. and your nose knows, don't make vows. Be careful about making a vow, he said. Do not be rash with your mouth and let not your heart utter anything too quickly before God, hastily. For God is in heaven and you are on the earth, therefore let your words be what? Few. For a dream comes through much activity and a fool's voice is known by as many words. So he's saying, you're better off acting on what you hear than just talking and speaking a thing that you're not gonna actually walk out and do. You gotta be obedient to it. So verse five, verse four, when you make a vow to God, do not delay, what do you do? for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed, better not to vow than to vow and not what? That's James right there. That's what James is telling us. Three chapters of James are in these five verses right here. The principles. The principles are right there. Well, the same thing's going on in Hosea. Why? Because sin is so common And it's all rooted in pride, and God opposes the proud, but he gives more grace to the humble. Look over in Hosea, you'll see what I'm talking about. Hosea. Remember chapter five, we see that God has told them, like in verse number six, that he's withdrawn from them. Six says, with their flocks and their herds, they shall go to seek the Lord, but they will not find him. Why? Because God's withdrawn. Now, the idea they go to seek the Lord means that they're doing what they've been told to do, that they know they ought to do, but their heart of genuinely seeking him is not authentic. And that would be obvious because God's not involved in it. God's withdrawn from them. So everything they're doing, they're doing in the natural. Their heart is not wanting the Lord because God had already come to them on many occasions and they kept turning and rejecting Him and pushing Him away. Proverbs chapter one says when we do that, they'll come to a point where we find ourselves in all kind of issues and we seek the Lord but He won't be found by us. Because we didn't seek Him when when he was initiating the seeking. There's a saying, and we gotta remember this, remember repentance is grace given. We don't repent when we just come up with the idea one day I wanna repent. Repentance is like anything that God does, God's gotta initiate it and be involved in it. So if God is working repentance in our life, you wanna act on it quickly. because you can get to a point down the road where you think one day, well, it's time for me to repent, but God ain't involved in it. And you're more remorseful than you are repentive. There's no godly sorrow in it. It's just about the trouble, but not really treasuring Him. And that can happen. So we have to guard our heart in that and remember that. Why? Look at verse 10. The princes of Judah, now you gotta keep in mind verse one of chapter five says he's dealing with everybody. The people, the princes, and the priest. Everybody's involved in this. Verse 10, the princes of Judah, remember he's been talking about Israel, but now we see about Judah. The princes of Judah are like those who remove a landmark. Now does God forbid them from removing landmarks? Stretching the boundaries out That was a forbidden thing. Why was that forbidden because God established all the landmarks? meaning each of these tribes that God gave in That land he gave them specific landmarks that belong to them They were mapped out in God gave it to them. They didn't pick these out themselves but you see you get in the power and you have a little authority and You begin to think that you have the right to do what you want to do. And that's why he says the princes feel like they have the right and the authority that they can stretch what God has already put in concrete. what he's already established. And no prince had that kind of authority to say, this land now belongs to this group. And we're going to swap this land out over here. That's why God had systems set up in the script. How many of you ever heard of the terms like the Sabbath years or the years of Jubilee? Why did God set those up? because God gave his allotment to certain tribes in certain places. Let's say a man got in trouble and he needed to lease out his land to a farmer to come in and farm it so he could make some money and he leases it and then he can't afford to pay for whatever's going on and he turns that land over to another person. The Bible says every seventh and 49th year, what was they supposed to do? It had to go back to the who? The original family. Every time. Why? Because God had a purpose in all that. But you see, the princes of Judah had done gotten to operating out of what? Pride. And therefore they figured they had the authority, the right, to remove the landmark. Well, what does God say? And result, what happens? I will pour out my wrath on them like water. They made a major issue. Why? Because it wasn't that you was taken away from this family. It was because you blatantly disregarded what God said was the right thing. That's where the problem lied. That you thought your idea of who should have this was better than God's idea. And remember, man's not to live on bread alone, but what? Every word. So what God says about that land is more important than the land. And if you think you have a better way over the land than he said, what does that create? Trouble. Why did the children of Israel have to go into captivity for 70 years? Let's ask that question. because they felt like they didn't have to do it the way God described it. And God gave them those seven years of Sabbaths for a reason, didn't he? He said, you will be better off trusting me and doing the way I described it to be done. Your land will be better off. Your produce would be better off. Everything would be better off following my way. But you know what they said? We've got a better way. So for 490 years, they didn't practice the seven year Sabbaths. So 490 divided by seven equals what? 70. So God said for every Sabbath year you missed, for those 490 years, that's how long you're going into captivity. God never does anything without a purpose, right? So this is what they were doing. Verse 11, Ephraim, Israel, is oppressed and they're broken in judgment. You can simply say, what are they? They're troubled and they are a terror to themselves. They're troubled in their spirit, they're oppressed and they're a problem for themselves. Why are they troubled and a terror to themselves? He tells us. What does it say? Because they what? Willingly walked by human precept. That is they took the advice of the other nations and man's advice and that's how they lived. And any time you're connected to God and then you live the ways of man, you're gonna be troubled and you're gonna turn out to be a terror to yourself. You're just gonna be troubled. And you're gonna trouble other people around you. That's what they were doing. A good place to mark it at be that Jeremiah 20. Jeremiah 20 in verse five. Go look at Jeremiah 20 in verse five. Jeremiah 20. I believe it's Jeremiah 20. We need to read this. And the reason I say we need to read it It's to be a help to other people. We want this to speak to us, but we also want to be a help to other people. Man, this ought to make us consider. In verse number four, 20 and verse number four. I said five, but verse number four. Behold, you can't see it unless I speak this to you, but if you'll trust me, you'll see it. God says, I'm gonna make you what? A terror to who? And to all your friends. And they shall fall by the sword of their enemies and your eyes shall see it. That's scary right there, isn't it? When God says that I'm gonna make you your own worst enemy, a terror. to yourself. That's simply saying God's not working with you. God's not working in you. Now He's working against you, but He's working against you to the point that you within are going to be your own worst problem. Man, we don't need that, do we? I'm already a problem without Him. I don't need Him to work in such a way that now I become a terror to everything I touch and everything I do. And you see, this is where Israel went and now Judah's following in that step. They're following in it. So back in Hosea 5, 11, it tells us exactly why it happened. Because they began to walk under human insight. Human precept. Now when you do that, when we do that, This is what we start doing. Look in 5.12. Hosea 5.12. Therefore, because you've walked in the light of human insight, human ways, natural ways, what will I be to Ephraim? I'll be like a what? A moth. and to the house of Judah like rottenness. Hosea 5, 12, I'll be like a moth in rottenness. Twofold. Number one, that's how they're gonna see God. And they're gonna see him that a ways because now that's how God's gonna make himself known to them from that a way. By that, you can put down two passages of scripture, one being Psalm 18, and then the other one, 2 Samuel 22. David proclaimed in Psalm 18 and 2 Samuel 22, he says, God, with those who are merciful, you show yourself merciful. With those who are pure, you show yourself pure. With those who are blameless, you show yourself as blameless. But he said to those who are twisted, those who are crooked, you show yourself as being crooked. It's how they see you. And because they see you that way, they don't want nothing to do with you. That is, you are a stench in their nostrils. And what do they want to do? Like you would with a moth. What do you want to do when you see moths flying around in your house? What do you do? You collect them and put them in an aquarium or you get rid of them? You get rid of them. What do you do when you get a sore and it's festering? Do you want to let it linger and stick around or what do you normally try to do? You doctor it and try to get rid of it. You don't want that old sore on your leg or your arm or wherever it may be, on the back of your neck or your ear. You don't want it to be festering and get, what, full of pus. You start doing everything you can to get rid of it. You doctor it up. You go see a doctor. Well, see, that's the picture there. Because they've been walking in man's way, now they wanna get rid of the moth and they wanna get rid of the sore. Who's the moth and the sore? God is to them. That's how they seem. I wanna get rid of, I'm gonna clean my house out of anything that associates with the things of God. I don't wanna live this way anymore. I don't wanna walk in this way anymore. Remember when we was in Malachi? Malachi's reading, which is gonna be down the road a little bit, but Malachi's reading tells us this, that the people got to the point where they said it was useless to serve God. It's exactly what it says. God says, you have told the people that it's useless to serve me. Matter of fact, you'll be better off if you didn't serve him and go do your own thing. That's what that's referring to here. That I will be what they wanna get rid of in their homes, in their lifestyle, in their way of living. I will be like a moth and rottenness to them. That's how they'll see me. Why? I become a stench in their nostrils because all they see me as is a problem. Why? Because they got a taste of something they thinks better. The human precept. Man's way. Man, you know how dangerous that is? Ooh, they wanna be cured from the Lord. You ever heard that? I hear it now. I don't know about if y'all hear it or not, but I hear it. Stephen and I hear it from time to time. We need to be cured from that way of thinking and walking and living. We don't want that in our life. But that's what that is right there, simply because taking the wrong advice. So that's what was going on. And God says in 515 that he was returning to his place. He was pulling away, Hosea 5, 15, and he said he would do it until they come to the place where they acknowledge their offense. When they then seek my face in their affliction, they will earnestly do what? Seek me. Now you get into chapter six, and chapter six can be in these front part here, and I'm gonna give it to you in two ways that this is brought to light. And I think what's happening is this. These look good. This looks good. In the sense that these pleas are usually what you see when somebody sees it. That is, that God has afflicted them. And as we see here where it says, Come and let us do what? Return to the Lord. For He has done what? torn us, which chapter four talks, excuse me, chapter five talked about he'll tear them like a lion. He has torn us, but he will what? He will heal. He has stricken us, but he will what? Bind us up. After two days, he will revive us, on the third day he will raise us up that we may live in his sight. Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning, it's sure. He will come to us like a rain, it's sure, like the later and the former rains to the earth. Now that sounds marvelous in the sense that when you see someone who sees it, And that's their plea, they running back to the Lord. But also there's a danger with some that can pretend and they say it, but they don't mean it. And that's what was going on in that day. They said the right thing, but they didn't mean it. How do I know? Well, chapter 7 tells us they were approaching Him or acting in fraud. They were falsehoods. They said the right stuff. Because they just heard Hosea say, look, God's going to afflict you. You seek Him and you will find Him. So they say, well, come, let us. And man, if we do it, God will quickly return to us. So it was a matter of what? Just saying it, but not really having the heart to seek it. Notice what verse 4 of chapter 6 says, O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? Now, if they were genuine in that plea, one through three, God's response wouldn't be, O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? For your goodness or your faithfulness is like a morning cloud. Like the early dew, it goes away. The word faithfulness there or goodness there is the same word mercy. Your loyalty. Your faithfulness is as fickle in the sense that soon as the sun rises, where does it go? It's gone. So here's a group of people who put on the voice and said, let's seek him. Man, if we seek him, he'll be sure to come to us and do something in us quickly. Man, we need to know him because that's what he told us, if we'll seek the knowledge of the Lord. And then God says, well, I know your heart. You remember that woman that came to Jesus and she had a kid that was demon possessed and she asked Jesus to do something and Jesus said, Said, nah, that food's for the children of Israel, not the dogs. And what did that woman say? She said, oh, even the dogs get to eat the crumbs from the master's table though. You know what it did? It didn't offend her. It didn't offend her that he just called her a dog. She said, look, call me a dog all you want. I'm a dog, I'm a dog, I'm a Gentile dog, but I still need to eat. and I need the crumbs, I'll take it. And what did God do? He healed. And this is what he says, he saw great faith in that woman. We see here, do you not think that God can see through the facade? He knows when we genuinely saying, I want you more than anything. And he knows when we just saying it, but not seeking it. Well, this is what God said he had been doing. Verse five, how he knows they're not where they need to be. Therefore I have, what y'all's words say, I have what? I have hewn you by the prophets. The word hewn means to cut away, to chip away, to hammer away, to expose the rock or expose the wood. God says I've exposed you by the prophets. It didn't do anything. I have slain them, I have executed them by the words of my mouth and yet Your or thy judgments are like light that goes forth. Even though I have brought the word and exposed you and executed you, your judgments, not my judgments, there's a major difference between God's judgments and their judgments. Their judgments have gone forth as like light, but they wasn't light, they were dark. I've done a research on that word, that phrase, your judgments, and you won't find it but one other place in the scriptures over in the book of Ezekiel chapter 20 is the fact that you had taken the world's judgments and applied them into your life, but you're not operating in my judgments. I have hewn you, exposed you, and executed you, slain you, but the words you proclaim are light. as if everything is good. And then that's why he says in verse six, for I desire what? Mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. You know what they got real good at? They got real good at bringing an offering to cover their sin, but they had no desire to ever be right with God. It was just, they got really good. They got expert sacrificing is what it boiled down to. And you know that verse is quoted in the New Testament on a couple occasions in the gospels. Jesus said, you need to go learn this verse. You need to go learn this word that I desire mercy over sacrifice. And who was he talking to each time? You know why it came up? It came up because sinners and tax collectors was eaten with him. And the religious people that felt like they were right with God, that their light was right, questioned why would he fellowship with these tax collectors and these sinners? And Jesus said, well, if you knew what this truth meant, you'll know why I'm fellowshiping with the sinner and not you. It's because you've got real good at the facade. But I've come for those who need a physician. You're not sin sick. If you were sin sick, what would you do? You'd come to me. Because if you were sick, who would you go to? A doctor. But you're not coming to me because you don't think I've got your cure. But these have come to me and will keep coming to me because they know I have to cure for their life. So he was dealing with what? He was desirous to show mercy to sinners who needed a redeemer. But if you kept proclaiming a light that ain't light, you'll never find the Lord. Because he desires to show mercy to those who need it. Amen? As we close chapter seven, you see it. When I would have healed Israel, Yet then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered and the wickedness of Samaria, for they have committed what? Falsehood, fraud. How? By coming and saying, look, let's seek him right now. Let's get it right right now because he'll revive us in two days. He'll raise us up in three. He'll do it real quick if we do it right now. But he knew what was in their hearts. He knows what's in our heart as well. And you can speak it all day long, but he's looking for himself to live it out of us, amen? Man, these things are good. So we've looked at a couple places, and I, where all we look? James, Genesis, Ecclesiastes, Song, talked about it. That's right, huh, Carolyn? to God be the glory, amen, amen. Father, we bless you, we thank you, ask you to help us, Lord, we don't wanna be those kind of people who just say it because it sounds good. We wanna be those that draw near to you to hear from you and that we submit to you, that we humbly come before you and that we stand opposed to the things of darkness and the enemy, and we let your light shine through our lives. So help us. We need your help. We need your help tonight more than ever, and we're gonna praise you for it. We don't wanna be a terror to ourselves or others. We don't want our iniquities to rebuke us. We wanna look to you and see your favor upon our lives. In Jesus' name, amen. Love y'all. Y'all have a good night.