It's good to be in the house of the Lord. And I know I've said this before. First, all of us who teach appreciate your prayers and holding us up for wisdom and guidance as we work on these things. But I also have to say, I really enjoy doing this for myself. the study, the discipline part of the study isn't something that you just do normally. So I really enjoyed that. Hey, Nick, can you back that down just a little bit? I can hear myself twice, thanks. He's new, give him a break. All right, we come today in the book, The Doctrine of Revelation, we come to chapter seven. And it's called the word of God fills man's need for divine revelation. Remember, we're talking about the word of God, the fact that it does reveal God to us and how that is an important doctrine. And you may at times, as we're working through this, think to yourself, I'm not sure why we're taking all this time to do this, but I think this is one of the foundational things that Christians should really grasp as they deal in the world day to day. And you'll see a little bit of that today as we look through this, the matter of man's need for divine revelation. If you have certain foundational things in your mind, then when you talk to the unsaved in particular, you can see through the fallacies that they're gonna throw at you. And you can talk to them and discuss these things and point out to them where they've often gone off the road in their reasoning and in their thinking. So if the Bible is the Word of God, and we accept that it is as Christians in particular, but if the Bible is the Word of God, then we should expect it to bear the marks of divine origin. And in other words, as we look at the word of God, it's not unreasonable to say, well, is it a divine book? Does it reflect being a divine book? And that is something that very much sets it apart as you look at the different religious books and teachings that are out there. So that expectation is fully realized both in the extraordinary Last week we looked at miracles and prophecies and the ordinary in both objective and subjective ways, and that's what we're going to look at today. So each of those things, both the extraordinary and the ordinary, are distinct yet complimentary witnesses. And I think we tend to shy away a little bit in Christian circles from the rational reasoning side of these things, because it's gone to such an extreme many times that men say, well, I can reason my way out of it. No, we can't, and we can't reason our way to God for salvation. But at the same time, we shouldn't throw away the fact that God gives us ordinary, objective, and subjective ways to see things, like, for instance, that the Word of God is the Word of God, and that it's a divine revelation that we have need of. And so, we're gonna look at two pieces of that today, if you will. First of all, man's need for divine revelation. And then secondly, God's capability and desire to fill man's need. And so we'll look at these two things this morning and look at them from what I would call the more rational side of working through these things so that we might as men understand them. So let me start there. First of all, the first of man's need is for direction. Man's interaction with God must be based on what is acceptable to God, okay? What we must do and what we must not do. Now, again, I'll flip back and forth, and if I get confusing, don't worry, you can always go read the book. But trying to work through this and verbalize it, it's a little more difficult, I've discovered as I've been preparing for this. But the first thing man needs is direction. We need direction in life. And we see that right in the beginning books of Genesis. Genesis two and verse 15 says, then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord commanded the man saying, of every tree of the garden, you may freely eat. but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. So here's God creating man in his own image as a rational reasoning creature, putting him in a garden and giving him direction as to what he is to do there and telling the man, you may and you may not. clear direction from God to a man who was not in sin, to one fallen Adam. So how would the man have known this? You just stop and this is where we think a little. How would Adam have known this if God hadn't revealed it? How would Adam have known I can eat of all the trees in the garden except for that one tree? He wouldn't have. God had to reveal that to him in order for Adam to have some direction. Because otherwise Adam would have gone about the garden and tending it and doing it. And probably like most of us, he would have been trying things and saying, oh, that's an interesting tree. That's an interesting fruit. I wonder how you eat it. And, oh, you crack it open and you eat this. Oh, you don't eat the middle part. That's nasty. And working through that. And he did that, but he also was given direction as to there were guidelines for what he could and couldn't do in the garden. So Adam and ourselves aren't left to stumble around in the dark. From the very beginning, man was made dependent upon his creator for a knowledge of God's will. So again, I say, if man needed this in his pristine unfallen state, as Pink calls it, how much more after he departed from that state by disobedience? If Adam needed direction from God before he fell into sin, how much more do we need direction from God? And I press that a little bit to say, do you stop and think about you need direction from God? Or do you just live your life kind of doing what you do and there's different things that you've made decisions and they shape your day and et cetera? Or do you stop and think about what direction do I need in my life today? And where am I gonna get it from? from my spouse, from my parents, from some good friend that I trust? Or am I gonna get direction from God as to how to walk and how to live? Because sin has also entered into the picture and made us blind and foolish. And we don't need to look any further than our current day, which I don't think is probably all that much different than current days and times past, but we just need to look at our current day and the events in our current day to see that man, left to himself, basically descends to the level of the beast. He basically ends up acting like animals and doing whatever feels good, whatever his pleasure is. And that's man without direction from God. Romans 1.20, if you want to read two sections of scripture together in the Old Testament and the New Testament, The first couple, three chapters of Genesis and the first chapter or two of Romans fit really well together. Romans 1 20 says, for since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. So there's the rational man can see the creation and know there is a God. And you have that inside knowledge, I guess, when you talk to men about their sinful state, you know there's a God, you don't want to admit it, because then you'd have to admit that you don't obey God, but you know there's a God. And there's certain things in your life you won't do because you know there's a God. And yet it goes on and says, so they are without excuse because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools. Do we not see that every day in our society? who men who sneered us because we're just common people. We couldn't possibly understand the experts because they are so wise. And yet the next day, it turns out they're the fools and the people that used a little bit of common sense actually came out on top. They don't learn that lesson, but it's still there. But they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things." Again, day after day after day, we see the glory of God turned into wickedness. We see the beauty of man and woman created in God's image turned into just sick perversion. And how do we reconcile that? How do we deal with that? By knowing that it is because men have become fools outside of knowing God. If you deny God, you're going to end up being a fool and in a very biblical sense. It can't be explained apart from God's revelation or rejection of that revelation. So we need the revelation of God. This is still under man's need. We need the revelation of God for direction. We also need it as a guide. I wrestled a little bit with this. I read that, and I'm like, wasn't that the same thing? But Pink's got one on that, and he's got one on that, so it must be something a little different. And I've come to the conclusion, and you can discuss this with me later if you want it, at lunch would be a good time, that direction is spoken of as a general thing. In other words, our general direction in life, okay? Whereas a guide is more our day-to-day living. It's how do I do this particular thing? Now, the Word of God doesn't say take this job or take that job, but it does give us principles as things occur in life and as direction in life changes that we have guiding principles, guiding teachings in the Word of God that help guide us in day-to-day living. And so it's not enough just to have a general direction in life. But how do you live day to day? How'd you live this morning when you woke up? What was the first thing you thought of? What was the first thing you did? What was the next thing you did? That's the part about the scriptures being a guide, us needing a revelation from God as a guide. And I think it's that idea with Adam of these trees you may eat of, these tree here you may not. That's the guide that scripture gives us. That is not something you are to do. So if this, is the observable condition of men, the fact that they've rejected God and we see the results of that around us. How are we to live? How are we to worship our creator and live with one another? And so we have need of a guide. So you can observe the inherent desire to worship and know God, But how? And we do observe that. As you live in life and you look around you, there are multitudes that are not in churches today, but that are very religious. And some of them are religious about things that they shouldn't be religious. They're religious about their golf game or their motorsport or whatever. And that's what they're spending their time and energy on. But there are many people who don't go to church who still consider themselves to be very religious. I'm worshiping God as I hike through the forest and the mountains. In your mind you are, but that's not how God is to be worshiped. How do we know that? Because he gives us a guide that tells us this is how you are to worship me. So we see that inherent desire to worship, but the question is how? How do we worship God? How do we know what we do and what we don't do when we worship God? Ephesians 4 and 17 says this, this I say therefore, and testify in the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart. who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness to work all uncleanness with greediness. Again, doesn't that describe our society around us? Those who have turned from God, those who have sought their own things, who have become alienated from God, have ended up in lewdness, which is really just, I'll do whatever I want, I'll do whatever my body wants me to do. and an uncleanness with greediness. We were talking about this the other night. There doesn't need to be any worldwide conspiracy going on driven by certain guys who have bazillions of dollars and they're playing everybody a game. They may think they're doing that, but all we need really is for men everywhere to be greedy and look out for themselves. And so somebody over here is greedy. And the guy says, oh, look how they're making money. Oh, I can do that. And pretty soon you end up in this world that we're living in where more and more they're seeking to by putting groups of people down to enrich themselves. And that's the greediness that's spoken of in the scriptures. So what is true and proper worship unless God tells us? Now, the flip side to that is you therefore better study God's word asking what is true and proper worship. It's not up to you to decide. It's not up to you to decide how do we get together and what do we do? There are patterns given to us in scripture and the people gathered for prayer and worship and the reading of the word and the teaching of the word. Those things are in scripture, not just to fill space, but to tell us how we are to worship. And so we need to understand this, that just like in nature, breaking the laws of God bring inevitable consequences, okay? You break the law of nature, gravity's one of my favorites. If I ever could figure out how to beat gravity, wouldn't that be cool? You know, George Jetson and all. But we haven't yet. Maybe someday they will, but not yet. But gravity is a law of nature that has inevitable consequences. When someone drops something like a lightsaber on their brother's toe, it hurts, right? I told them they were going to pay attention today. Why? Because gravity took hold of that. You can talk to them about how they got lightsabers. Gravity took a hold of that object of metal, and it fell, and when it hit a soft tissue part of your body, it hurts. There's injury involved. That's just inevitable. And so we can say, well, I don't like that, doesn't matter. Every time you drop something, it's gonna fall because of gravity. And so we suffer the inevitable consequences of the natural law. Ignorance of natural law is no excuse, right? Well, I didn't understand gravity. Doesn't matter, gravity's still there. And penitence is no remedy. Well, I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen. Yes, but you still were engaged in that activity. Something happened. You can't fix it afterwards by saying, oh, I'm sorry, I didn't, you know, law of gravity. So these things are true for natural law, but they're also true in the church. We can't decide what we're going to do as we come together to worship and not suffer the consequences if we don't follow God's pattern of worship. Now, you want proof of that? I know you don't need it. You want proof of that? Look at our society. Why is our society in the mess that it's in today? Because in the past, churches stopped preaching the truth of God and stopped worshiping God in the manner that God revealed to them they were to worship, and therefore, the world moved into the church, and the next thing you know, you got craziness going on in the church, and you've got bad doctrine. And you've got bad consequences and you've got bad actions and pretty soon you can't tell the church down the corner from the moose lodge No offense if anybody's a moose, okay But they have a purpose and they state it. All right, the church says oh we're for god and then lives for the devil. So those consequences are there. Therefore, man needs a guide in all of life, day to day, how to worship, how to gather, et cetera. Now, there are alternate guides, and that is simply because religion must have a foundation. And I'm just gonna touch on this for a second, because I knew that if I stretched this out, I'd really run out of time. But there are alternate guides, because religion has to have a foundation. You have to have some belief in order to practice it. Well, what is that belief based on? Is it tradition? The Church of Rome, in particular, would say it is. It's the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church, and you wanna know here how easily you can deal with that? Look at the shifting sands of ideas and teachings and beliefs coming out of the Roman Catholic Church, and you don't have to go back hundreds of years. You can go back 50 years. And the Roman Catholic Church who says the Pope is infallible and whatever the Pope says is from God can't make up its mind about this now versus this now. So tradition can't be a foundation. And so is it instinct? Is it just we all kind of know what religion is. We all kind of do the right thing. Is it instinct? Is it just a matter of, well, there's some basic knowledge of God? No, we have to be very careful about that. Man knows God and man through the grace of God has certain laws written on his heart, but that's not a substitute for worshiping God in the true and proper way. One of the reasons for that is because how much of man is a varying matter of temperament and taste? So my temperament's different than yours. My religion's gonna be a harder one than yours. My tastes are different than yours. My religion's gonna be a prettier one than yours. I'm gonna have bigger stained glass windows or bigger memorials or whatever. And so we each become gods, whether it's the extreme of paganism and sacrificing humans, et cetera, to the other extreme of the science of man. We worship science, whatever science is. And again, science, The very concept of science is we are constantly exploring and asking questions and changing what we believe based on what we've observed. There is no, well, we got there, now we're done. Science is finished, okay? So that's such an absurd idea that's being pushed particularly in our day. So human reason is neither consistent or satisfying from person to person or over time. So that can't be an alternate guide. So the only valid guide is a special and infallible revelation from God. And human reason must submit to that revelation from God. And there is the heart of man's rebellion. I will not submit to God. We see it from the very beginning. Eve, didn't submit to God and ate the forbidden fruit. And you say, ah, but back up a second, because I am convinced of this the older I get. Adam first shirked his patriarchal, I said that bad word, his patriarchal duty to her. When Eve showed him that fruit, Adam should have said, put that down right now. God gave us this command and said, do not eat of that tree. And Adam failed to direct his wife. and plunge the human race into sin because of that. And I'll just throw out this thought here, and I wanna be very careful, but I'll just throw out this thought here. That began something between men and women in particular in spousal relationships that we have to be very careful of as Christians, because I think Eve used all of her feminine wiles, if you will, to say to Adam, hey, look, let's eat this. And we need to be careful, men, that we don't let our own lust, which is very much a part of sinful man, drive what we do in our lives. And women, you need to be very careful that in your lives, you're not getting your husband to do what you want by manipulating, and if that bothers you, you might want to give some thought to that, because I think that's very scriptural, that as a man and a wife, one of the things we have to do is work on an open and God-honoring relationship and enjoy the companionship that we have in God. Now, that leads us to the second thought this morning, and that is God's capability and desire to fill man's need. And I thought it was interesting that Pink put these two things together. Not only is God capable of filling man's need for special divine revelation, but God desires it. And you think about that. I've been working through this for a couple of weeks now and meditating on this, and you think about the fact that God pays us any attention at all. It's amazing. My wife and I were talking this morning, I was out on the deck, and she said, isn't that a beautiful day? And yesterday was the same way. I sat out there, it was gorgeous. And just right temperature, beautiful sky. Okay, it was a little cool. I had my little fuzzy boots on and sweatshirt, but you get the point. But sitting out there thinking, what a beautiful day, and do we thank God for it? And I'm sorry, because I think Briar and I might've caused some of that dry spell. Got a little more dry than I wanted anyway, because it was crunchy. But when God gave us, me and Dee, apparently nobody else got it. When we got three inches of rain Thursday in two storms, it made an incredible difference at the house. The garden perked back up, the grass unfortunately perked back up. It just, it smelled good again. It was, the dust was laid down. And I was reminded again of saying, we pray for things like that. We've been praying regularly that God would bring rain upon the earth. And when he does it, do we stop and say, thank you so much for blessing us in such an inconsequential way? because God desires to do good to man. And so I just want to touch on that in case I get squeezed at the end here for that. But God is, first of all, capable of filling this need. If God created man with intellect and reason, then surely he can and will supply knowledge to that man. And it's interesting, pink quotes from this man, I didn't even bother writing his name down, sorry, but the quote is this. Revelation is to the mind what a glass is to the eye, whether it be intended to correct some accidental defect in its structure, the eye structure, spectacles, glasses, or to enlarge its power of vision beyond its natural limits, the telescope. And I thought about that, I'm like, that's one of those great analogies, I like good analogies. And that's what revelation is. Revelation aids us in seeing things that we otherwise couldn't see. I'll tell you, I think it's nearsighted, I don't know. I can't see past my hand. you're all real fuzzy now. The one time it's of advantage is at Christmas when you do that the lights on the tree look really cool. But other than that it's terrible because I can't tell, you know, David from Tim from back here And so the glasses, they clear that defect up. They allow me to see things that I otherwise couldn't see. And the idea with the telescope or binoculars allows me to see things way out there that I wouldn't see otherwise and that now I can see and observe a bird or see something that I should be worried about. So those things are exactly what revelation is. We see things kind of fuzzy. We look at the creation and we know there's a God. You can't deny it. But we don't know much about that God other than he is glorious and he is very powerful. But we don't know anything else about him until the revelation is given to us as to what is our relationship to God. And so God is capable of giving that revelation because he created us with intellect and reason to receive that revelation. And so because there are so many imposters in the world, it's not unreasonable to also think that the true and living God can and does communicate and authenticate his revelation. So as we look at the word of God, there is nothing wrong with looking at it and at times saying, is this verified by God? And remember, you go back just to the last lesson with the idea of miracles and things. What was their purpose? To authenticate that what was being done in particular by Jesus Christ was because God was approving of those things and revealing those things. And so God can and does communicate and authenticate his revelation. But not only is God capable, God desires to reveal himself to us. You might conclude, if you thought about it, that if man rejected God, then why wouldn't God justly abandon man to his misery? You've had this happen to us, I know you have. Something happens, like maybe somebody cuts you off in traffic and zooms by you, and there's a cop sitting over the hill, and you go, yes! Because that's our desire. We want revenge, we want retribution. Well, wouldn't God have been just as justified to say, man's rejected me, I reject man. you think about something like Noah and the flood. And I thought of him because I was listening to a podcast the other day, and the point was made that Noah was one of the original preppers. And he prepped for a couple of years, and he told people, there's trouble coming, and they laughed at him. until the rain started and it was too late. God had already put Noah in the ark and shut the door. And Noah's obligation at that point was to his family and those in the family, not to say, well, let me open the door. Maybe we'll get some people in before the flood waters fill the ark. It's an interesting analogy. Again, discuss how accurate or applicable it may be. But the point is, God brought judgment on the earth because of its wickedness, in particular because of its violence. but he didn't wipe out man completely. He could have. Why did he save Noah and those in the ark? Because he was a merciful God. So as we think about things like that, Noah, Sodom and Gomorrah, we see again and again, the mercy of God. That speaks to God's desire to be merciful to men. Because as we look at our daily lives, we see, that it isn't true that God has abandoned us to the right rewards that we would deserve from our actions. Again, God makes the sun rise and the rain waters the earth. on both the good and the evil. And we live with countless blessings. His mercy is seen daily in our lives, in those around us, in our nation, in our world. And so this should guide our attitudes and our actions to be like God as he reveals that to us. And Matthew 5.44 is, of course, probably the best statement or reminder of that. Probably it's come to your mind. Matthew 5.44 says, but I say to you, love your enemies. Bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. Now, none of that verses teaches to do some of the goofy things that some churches have given themselves over to. This is in the context of serving man and doing it to honor God, even those that hate you and mistreat you. And in particular, the one that strikes me the closest to home is praying for those who persecute and hate you and spitefully use you. Pray for them. Do we pray for those around us? Not just the family and friends that we love. That's easy to pray for them. Do we pray for the people that we don't care for, whether it's in government or at work or in the neighborhood? or whatever situation you may find yourselves in. God tells us we are to pray for those that spitefully use us. That's not easy. You can't do that on your own. You may say, I'm gonna do that, I'll make up my mind to do that, and you'll fail. I guarantee you, you will fail. You need to pray first, God, help me to have a spirit like Christ, like you've revealed in the scriptures you have, so that I can do that too, because my natural inclination is not to pray for him. Well, okay, I'll pray for him, bring down fire and brimstone on him, just like the apostles. Nope, nope, we are to pray for mercy on our enemies. And of course, just think about that. one or two people who God has mercy on in the right positions in, say, leadership in our country would make a huge difference to how this nation walks in the direction that the nation goes in. So give thought to that as a reflection of God's desire for us. We should therefore desire to have mercy on others. So, Remember in doing this, too, that we shouldn't just do this with regard to our bodies, and Matthew, I think, makes that clear, but also with regard to our souls. The promises to Adam were spiritual. Sure, there were promises as to what was gonna happen to him physically, but the real promises to Adam were spiritual, and our prayer should be, Lord, pour out your spiritual blessings on us each day. Lord, just as you've poured out the rain on us and renewed the earth, pour out your spirit on us, pour out your mercies on us, pour out a reminder that I would live the right way as I go through the day. There is great reason to believe that is very scriptural. 1 Peter 2 and verse 2 says this, as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby. if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Do you know God is gracious? One of the ways you will exhibit that you know that is by your desire for what? The pure milk of the word. That's God's revelation. Here's the reason that the revelation of God is so important to us. And we see this with all, especially all the newborns that we've had here in the last couple of years. They're fine a lot of times. They're just as happy as can be until they're hungry. And then they're going to let you know they want something to eat right now. And you know what the problem is. And they get nursed, and suddenly they're as happy as can be. They fall asleep. And that's a beautiful picture here of just like newborn babes, we should desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby. There's a reason you should desire it, so that you grow. If you get to be 12 or 20 or 40 or 60, and all you're still wanting is milk, there's something wrong. And you're not gonna live that way. but it's so that you may grow, that we desire these things. And then finally, and this is an interesting thought that I probably wouldn't have thought of, and that's why we study men like this, in God's capability and desire to fill man's need for revelation, God's sovereignty. God is our master. Therefore, he must be obeyed. And I know the whole idea of master and servant is highly frowned upon these days, and it's kind of silly, because the whole world still lives on that basis. If you don't think that, try not going into work Monday, and when your boss says, where you at? Say, I didn't feel like coming in today. It's Monday. See how long that lasts, okay? So you have a master. You may not like it, but you have a master. Well, God is our master. We don't like that. Especially unregenerate men don't like it. God's our master and he has to be obeyed. When God speaks, you need to listen. Therefore, because that's the case, his will must be known and knowable. And this goes back to the thoughts with Adam earlier in the lesson that I wanted to make sure I got in there. Romans 4.15b says, for where there is no law, there is no transgression. So how does natural man know that it's wrong to murder? Because they do. We all know it's wrong to murder. We have different perspectives on it, right? Well, it's wrong to murder an adult like me. You can't murder me. I can murder a baby in the womb because it's inconvenient. So you see, there's the problem if man decides, but there's still that inherent knowledge because we're created in the image of God. And because we know that that God who created life would therefore respect life, that murder is wrong. And yet there are other things such as how do you know ingratitude is wrong? Because the word of God teaches us we should be thankful to God in particular. So do you teach your children not to murder? Of course you do, right? Do you teach your children not to be unthankful? To not show ingratitude? I know, I've had the same problems. Somebody gives them a gift and they say, say thank you to so-and-so. No, say thank you to so-and-so. You better win that battle. You better not just laugh it off as, oh, they're just children, it doesn't matter. Yes, it does matter. Because they're learning that they can show ingratitude and the authority above them lets them get away with it. And you're acting in God's place. And that's a lesson from the word of God as to why we need the revelation of God, because God is sovereign. He's our master. He must be obeyed. And therefore, we as people are to not only not murder, but we're not to have anger in our hearts. We are not to be unthankful for the things that we have in life. We are not to think thoughts that are inappropriate or lustful. All of those things come from the revelation of God and are pressed on us by that revelation. And so God gave revelation to Adam, to Moses, to the Jews, and to the Gentiles. And in doing that, we all now have the revelation that a sovereign God who is our master gives us in order that we might obey him. John chapter one and verse one opens this way. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him, nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. So what should our prayer be? that those that are in darkness would comprehend the light that God sent through Jesus Christ, the word of God into the world as a revelation to us. In Christ, we have all we need. And John 17, eight says this, for I have given to them the words which you have given me. and they have received them and have known surely that I came forth from you and they have believed that you sent me. You see the wrapping that up there? How is it that we know and believe Jesus Christ? Because we have been given the words or the revelation. which was given to Christ by God, showed by signs, able to be observed and able to be worked through as we look at these things and as we receive them. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we do thank you for your mercies in the Word of God to us. We would indeed still be in darkness and still groping in darkness if it weren't for the fact that you have revealed yourself to us ultimately through Jesus Christ in the word of God. Thank you for that mercy to us. May each of us who sit here be thankful for it. May each of us who sit here partake in it, that your name would be honored and you would be glorified as we hear and do what you have revealed to us. Thank you for your mercies. Continue to bless us as we worship and fellowship together today, we ask. And thank you again for this Lord's day that we can come apart and do these things. We ask it in Jesus' name, amen.