Ladies, it's good to be here. It's good to see you all. And as we start, this is, let's start my topic on God's sovereignty. Truly, I'm thankful for all the prayers. We're gonna need it. Now, God's sovereignty is not a very popular subject these days. In many pulpits, it's either neglected or it's outright denied. But as A.W. Pink wrote, it is the doctrine that is the key to history, the interpreter of providence, the fabric of scripture, and the foundation of Christian theology. This doctrine is absolutely essential to the understanding of all of the doctrines taught in the scriptures. To understand all the events of history, to understand the workings of the natural order of creation, to understand why things happen in this world and in our lives, we must return to this absolute truth. God is sovereign. Now I'll be referencing many chapters, many passages of scripture this morning and commenting on only a few because I feel totally inadequate and I want God's word to speak for itself. Sovereignty defined. Webster's New World College Dictionary defines sovereign as, above or superior to all others, greatest, chief, supreme, supreme in power, rank, or authority, holding the position of ruler, reigning, independent of all others. The 1689 Confession of Faith, speaking about the doctrine of the triune God says, There is but one and only one living and true God. He is self-existent and infinite in his being and in his perfections. None but he, none but he can comprehend or understand his essence. He is great beyond all our conceptions, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, and infinite. All that he does is the outworking of his changeless, righteous will and for his own glory. Now, let's turn to scripture. And for the sake of time, I'm going to give you the reference, and I'll read them myself. But again, I do encourage you to write this down for your own study later on. Deuteronomy chapter 4, verse 39. Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord, he is God in heaven above and on earth below. There is none other. Psalm 93, verse 1 and 2. The Lord reigns. He is clothed with majesty. The Lord has clothed and girded himself with strength. And indeed, the world is firmly established. It will not be moved. Your throne is established from of old. You are from everlasting. Isaiah 43, verse 13. Even from eternity, I am he, and there is none who can deliver out of my hand. I act, and who can reverse it? Lamentations 5 verse 19. You, O Lord, rule forever. Your throne is from generation to generation. 1 Timothy 6, 15 and 16. He who is the blessed and only sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. And 2 Peter 2, verse 1. who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves." Now, you may be wondering about that last verse. How does this speak of the sovereignty of God? Well, the word translated master in this verse is the Greek word despotes, which is the word despot. And there are four other places in the scripture where God is called despot, in Acts 4, 24, in Luke 2, 29, Jude, verse 4, and Revelation 6, 10. Now, in each of these verses, the word translated Lord or Master is the word for despot. And in 2 Peter 2, 1 and Jude 4, it is Christ who is called the despot. So what is the definition of a despot? A ruler with absolute, unlimited power and authority. absolute, unlimited power and authority. There is only one being, only one being, that fits this description, and that is our almighty righteous God. So putting all this together, God's sovereignty can be defined as God's eternal, absolute, supreme rule and authority over all his creation, both in heaven and on earth, his supreme power to execute all his holy will on all his creation, both in heaven and on earth, so that none can oppose his purposes or resist his will. God's sovereignty means he is actively presiding and ruling and governing over all his created order, independent of any influence or counsel from anything that he has created. It means God alone is God, the only potentate, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. A.W. Pink says, God does as he pleases, only as he pleases, and always as he pleases. Now as we go forward, and as has been stated before, We have to realize the unfathomable and incomprehensible truth of the being of God. As we learned of his holiness and we're learning of his sovereignty, his omnipresence, his humanity, we never will fully comprehend the scope and the depth of the essence of his being, the godness of God. We will hear truths from the scripture that are difficult to understand and sometimes even contrary to human reasoning, but they're true nonetheless. So, we need to listen with hearts and minds submitted to God's word by faith. As the old Puritan Thomas Watson once said, where reason cannot wade, there faith may swim. Okay, let's look at God's sovereignty in action, and specifically we're gonna go and cover three areas. In creation, in history and providence, and in salvation. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Of course, we all know that's Genesis 1.1. In the beginning, God. We could stop right there and let's just consider those first few words. They contain deep foundational truths of all reality and theology. In the beginning, God. God's existence is declared without explanation. There's no arguments to try to prove his existence. It is presupposed as fact to be believed. In the beginning, God. God is distinguished from his creation. In the beginning, God created. He pre-exists his creation. Psalm 90 verse 2, it says, before the mountains were born, or you gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. Everything that is created is not God. There's no deity in the sun or the moon or the stars or anything that is created by God. He is distinguished from his creation. God is superior to his creation. He's not limited to time. He's not limited to space. He's not limited to matter. He's the one who created those things. In Psalm 113, verse 4, the Lord is high above the nations and his glory above the heavens. In Psalm 108, verse 5, be exalted, O God, above the heavens and your glory above all the earth. Also, we see that there is only one God. He is a triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three persons, one God. In verse 2 of Genesis 1, it says, the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. In verse 3, then God said, let there be light. And in John 1, 1, which is a parallel of Genesis 1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. As we continue throughout the chapter, we see his sovereign power in action. As we read again and again, and God said, and God said, and whatever God said was created. He commanded the world into existence. God determined the order of creation. On day one, he created the night and day. Day two, he created the seas and the atmosphere. And day three, he created the land. Day four, he created the sun and the moon and the stars to fill the night and the day. On day five, he created the fish and the birds to fill the seas and the atmosphere. And on day six, he created the land animals and man to fill the land. God determined the length of creation. He created the world in six days, not six million years, six days, and he rested or ceased from creating on the seventh day. Did God have help? Did anybody counsel him of where to put everything? No. He was the only one there. He created all things. Revelation 4.11, for you created all things and because of your will they existed and were created. He is the sovereign creator. I apologize. Now we're gonna talk about sovereignty of God in history and providence. For his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. But he does according to his will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth. And no one can ward off his hand or say to him, what have you done? Daniel 4, 34 and 35. So we've established that God is the sovereign creator of the heavens and earth. And now we will see that he sovereignly rules over his creation in history and providence. I'm going to show this under four headings. And for the sake of time, again, I'm just going to give references. One, he rules over inanimate objects and events. In Genesis chapter seven, we have the account of the flood. The fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened, and it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. Before this, I believe it was said that God had sent a mist over the land to water it, but he breaks up the fountains of the deep. And he sends his rain for 40 days and 40 nights. That is a powerful and mighty God. Then we have in Exodus chapter 7 through 9, the plagues of Egypt. Water is turned to blood. Pestilence and disease are on the livestock. Thunder, fire, hail is on the land. And there was three days of darkness, a darkness that could be felt. And again, we see the sovereign hand of God. The darkness was only in the land of Egypt. It was light in Goshen. Again, we see the wonderful sovereign hand of how he dictates where this darkness will be. And then we have Joshua chapter 6. The walls of Jericho fall down. Not a weapon was laid on it, but the hand of God. In Joshua chapter 10, the sun and the moon stand still for almost a whole day so that Joshua and the army of Israel can fight their enemy and be victorious. And in 1 Kings 22, 34, an arrow is drawn at random and strikes down King Ahab. And Hall, in his comments, says, a certain man drew a bow without any aim or intention of a special mark, but only roving at the army of Israel. And behold, the arrow was, by a divine providence, directed to strike the king of Israel between the joints of his harness. And I can almost picture God with his fingers on that arrow and taking it and putting it exactly where it needed to go. In Daniel chapter 3, this has always amazed me, and of course it shouldn't because it's our great God, but the three Hebrew men, they survived the fiery furnace that had been heated seven times hotter than usual. The men that were heating it actually died because of how hot it was. But when the Lord rescued them out of that fire, they didn't even have the smell of smoke on them, not even the smell. That's because our Lord is sovereign over even the fire. We also have in Matthew Chapter 8 that Jesus calms the storm with a word, which reminds us again of Genesis 1. In John Chapter 2, Jesus turns the water into wine. And throughout the Gospels, we see his power over sickness and disease. God is sovereign over the animal kingdom. In Genesis chapter 2 and verse 19, God causes the animals to pass before Adam, and he names each one. He names all the different species, but God is directing each of those animals to come before Adam. And in Genesis chapter 7, 8, and 9, God causes the animals to come into the ark two by two. Noah never went and got the animals. God brought those animals to Noah two by two. In Genesis 7-11, again, we have the plagues of Egypt. We have frogs, and gnats, and flies, and locusts. Very disgusting things. But, starting with the flies, that's when God made the distinction between Egypt and Goshen. And think about that. You know how a fly is. It buzzes all over the place. It seems uncontrollable. But there was not one fly in Goshen. God kept those flies there in Egypt. He is sovereign over the animals. We have also in Daniel chapter 6, the mouths of the hungry lions are shut. They were very hungry. They had probably starved them so that they would eat the first person that came in there. But God said no. He shut their mouths. And then number 23, God causes Balaam's donkey to speak. I love that story, that history of God sovereignly opening up the mouth of the donkey to speak to Balaam and to warn him what is about to happen to him. Also in 1 Kings 17, God sends ravens to feed Elijah. They brought him bread and meat in the morning and in the evening. When we think about our wondrous God, and in one sense it's easy to see because he is God, but when we read these things, it just reminds us how sovereign and holy and powerful he is. Now God is also sovereign over nations. And here I wanted to look at two passages in particular. Turn to Isaiah chapter 10. In this chapter, God is pronouncing judgment on unrighteous rulers. In verse 1, he says, woe to those who enact evil statutes and to those who constantly record unjust decisions. Then, God pronounces woe on Syria. As our sister said, woe means doom. So he's pronouncing doom on Syria. But look at what he says of Syria in verse five. Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger and the staff in whose hand is my indignation. I send it against the godless nation, and he's speaking of Israel here, and commission it against the people of my fury. God used the nation of Assyria as an instrument to punish Israel for their disobedience and rebellion. Now look at verse seven. Yet it does not so intend, nor does it plan so in its heart, but rather it is its purpose to destroy and to cut off many nations. Assyria's motivation wasn't to do God's will. It wanted to conquer and destroy the nations around it, but God used Assyria's wicked ambitions to accomplish his purposes and his decrees. Now let's turn to Daniel chapter two. In this chapter, King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream about a statue. In verse 32, it says, the head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. Now Daniel tells the king that this statue represents four kingdoms, and we know from history that these kingdoms, these are the kingdoms of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. So it was during the time of the Roman Empire that Christ was born. And because of the extensive systems of rows that the Roman Empire had built, the gospel was spread through the scattering of the early church during the time of persecution. And it was on these roads that Paul traveled, most likely Paul traveled on these roads during his three missionary journeys, which we read of in the Book of Acts. So God had established the nation of Rome, this kingdom of Rome, for his sovereign purposes. And God reveals to Daniel ahead of time the establishment and the destruction of these kingdoms because he is the one who has set up kingdoms and brings them down. In Job chapter 12 verse 23, he makes the nations great, then destroys them. He enlarged the nations, then leads them away. In Psalm 22 verse 28, for the kingdom is the Lord's and he rules over the nations. And God rules over men and angels, over individuals, individual men and angels. Now we have a vivid example of God's sovereignty over man in the book of Daniel in chapter 4. Please turn there. And we're going to start in verse 29. Twelve months later, he, that is Nebuchadnezzar, was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon. The king reflected and said, is this not Babylon the great which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty? I could almost feel thunder about to come. Well, while the word was in the king's mouth, a voice came from heaven saying, King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared, sovereignty has been removed from you, and it was removed by the true sovereign, and you will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling place will be with the beast of the field. You will be given grass to eat, like cattle, and seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever he wishes. God caused Nebuchadnezzar to become like a soulless beast of the field. His reasoning and his intellect, those attributes in which we are most like our creator, were taken away from him, and he was left with only animal instincts. God, the sovereign, is able to humble those who walk in pride. Psalm 29, Proverbs 19, 21, sorry, many plans are in man's heart, but the counsel of the Lord will stand. And another book in the Bible that is full of the sovereignty of God, of his orchestrating events to fulfill his purposes, is the book of Esther. And I wish we had time to read that, but I do recommend that you sit down and read that. It's a short book and 10 chapters. You can read that quickly. But I want to read something from a quote from a MacArthur Study Bible. Esther is the classic illustration of God's providence as he, the unseen power, controls everything for his purpose. There are no miracles in Esther, but the preservation of Israel through providential control of every event and person reveals the omniscience and omnipotence of Jehovah. Whether he is named is not the issue. God is clearly the main character of this drama. So God is sovereign over angels, both the fallen and the unfallen angels. In Job chapter 1 verse 6 we read, Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. So we see in this verse that the angels of God come in to present themselves, to give an account of their ministry and perhaps even to get their next orders. And Satan comes in among them. And he, of course, is seeking someone to destroy. That's what our Bible says. He comes in with the steel to kill and to destroy. So God gives Satan permission to test his faithful servant Job by extreme trials. So we see in this that even Lucifer, the adversary, is under the sovereign authority and power of God. and turn to 1 Kings chapter 22. Here is another example of God using fallen evil angels to accomplish his purposes. Starting in verse 19, Micaiah said, therefore, hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and all the hosts of heaven standing by him on his right hand, those are his good angels, and on his left. The Lord said, Who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead? And one said this and another said that. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said, I will entice him. The Lord said to him, How? And he said, I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all the prophets. Then he said, You are to entice them and also prevail. Go and do so. Now therefore, behold, the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these prophets, and the Lord has proclaimed disaster against you. Now this is a hard passage, and I know it brings up some questions that unfortunately don't have time to answer right now. But my goal is to show you that God has absolute authority over even the fallen angels, and he uses them to accomplish his purposes. And yet we know he's not the author of sin, and he cannot be tempted by sin, nor does he tempt anyone, as it says in James 1.13. His purpose, as we find out later, was the just death of the wicked King Ahab. And I like this quote by Matt Chandler who wrote The Explicit Gospel. God is more interested in declaring than explaining. God uses his elect unfallen angels for his purposes. In Exodus 23, 20, we read that God sends his angels to lead Israel through the wilderness. In 2 Kings 19, 35, an angel of the Lord strikes down 185,000 Assyrians in one night. In the book of Luke, we read of the angel Gabriel being sent to Zachariah, Mary, and Joseph to announce the births of John the Baptist and the Messiah, Jesus Christ. In Matthew 4, 11, and Luke 22, 43, angels are sent to minister and to strengthen Jesus after his temptation and after his prayer in Gethsemane. In Acts chapter 12, an angel is sent to release Peter from prison. In Matthew 24, 31, we have this glorious verse about the second coming of Christ. And he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together his elect from the four winds and from one end of the sky to the other. So God is sovereign over inanimate objects and events, over the animal kingdom, over nations, over individual men and angels, over everything. Quoting R.C. Sproul. If there is one single molecule in this universe running around loose, totally free of God's sovereignty, then we have no guarantee that a single promise of God will ever be fulfilled. God is sovereign in salvation. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren. And those whom he predestined, he also called. And these whom he called, he also justified. And these whom he justified, he also glorified." Romans 8, 29, and 30. Salvation is the work of the sovereign God from beginning to end. In our Sunday afternoon worship service, the children go through the catechism and they answer questions about doctrines taught in scripture and then they give scriptural proofs. So I'm going to use that format here by giving a summary of the scriptural doctrines pertaining to salvation and then providing the scriptural proofs. And I'll be quoting or paraphrasing from the Baptist confession, I'm sorry, the Baptist catechism and the 1689 Baptist confession of faith. God's sovereign in election. God, merely out of the good pleasure of his will, from all eternity elected some to everlasting life. He entered into a covenant of grace to deliver his elect out of the estate of sin and misery and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer. Ephesians 1, 4 through 6. Just as He, God the Father, chose us in Him, God the Son, before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace. Romans 9, 22, for he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. Deuteronomy 7, verse 6, for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession. In Matthew 25 verse 34, then the king will say to those on his right, come you who are blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world. Okay, redemption and justification. The only redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ who redeemed us from slavery to sin. Ephesians 1, 7. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished on us. Colossians 2, verse 13 through 14. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us, and he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it on the cross. Justification is the act of God's free grace wherein he pardons our sins and accepts us as righteous in his sight by imputing or putting to our account the righteousness of Christ. Romans 3 verse 24, being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5 21. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Sanctification. Sanctification is the work of God's free grace whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness. Ezekiel 11 19 and 20. And I will give them one heart and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh that they may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and do them. In Romans 6, verse 5, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him in order that our body of sin might be done away with so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. Second Thessalonians 2, verse 13, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the spirit and faith in the truth. And John 17, 17, sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. Preservation to glorification. Those whom God has accepted in the beloved, effectually called and sanctified by his spirit, and has given the precious gift of faith, can neither totally nor finally fall from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end and be eternally saved. John 10, verse 28 through 30, and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one. Philippians 1.6, for I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. and 1 Peter 1, 3-5. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. God the Father elected some to salvation, and God the Son came in time and died and rose again to redeem his elect people, and God the Spirit gives new birth to the elect and preserves them unto glory. Salvation is of the Lord. God's sovereignty responded. Well, how do we respond to the sovereign potentate? With worship. Psalm 95 verse 6, Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. We are to worship God with a holy reverence, in awe and wonder of his power and of his might and majesty. Let's look at the example of Job and how he responded to God's sovereignty. Turn to Job chapter 38. Now Job had endured much suffering. He had lost his family, his wealth, his health, and he had to suffer through these very poor comforters. But he himself was asking. He knew he was a righteous man. He held up his integrity. But he's saying, why? Why is this happening to me? And how does God answer Job? God answers Job by declaring his sovereignty. Here's his answer to Job, Job 38 verse 4. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding, who set its measurements, since you know? Or who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone? And God continues in the next two chapters, declaring his sovereignty, his dominion, his rule over his creation. So why is this happening to you, Job? Why did this all happen? Because I am sovereign, period. That is it. I am sovereign. Now how does Job respond to this? Chapter 42, turn to chapter 42, six verses. Then Job answered the Lord and said, I know that you can do all things, and no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Job acknowledges God's sovereignty and his right and power to rule his creatures. And then verse 30, I'm sorry, verse 3. Therefore, I have declared that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Job is overcome with the wonder and the awe of the supreme might and majesty of God, his ways and his workings in the world. God's ways are incomprehensible. They're too great for our finite minds to understand. God says, my thoughts are not your thoughts and your ways are not my ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. In verse four and five, Job says, I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you. Therefore I retract and I repent in dust and ashes. I retract. I take back trying to bring God to account for his actions. I shut my mouth and I repent and bow down in dust and ashes. That is our response to God with worship. God has also prescribed how are we to worship him. In John 4 verse 24, God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. Albert Barne comments on this verse, a pure, a holy, a spiritual worship is the offering of the soul rather than the formal offering of the body. It's the homage or the obedience of the heart rather than that of the lips. And then also in Hebrews 10 verse 25, God also tells us that we are not to forsake our assembling together. We're to worship and fellowship together in the presence of God under the preaching of his word. In Psalm 122.1, David says, I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord. And the family Bible notes, all good men love the church of God and her ordinances and will not fail to be found in their place in his sanctuary whenever he gives them an opportunity. So we worship God with reverence, with awe and wonder, with fear and respect, and we worship him the way he has prescribed for us to worship. And we also respond to God's sovereignty with trust. Proverbs 3 verse 5 and 6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight. Now we can certainly trust in his plan because God knows everything and he works all things for our good and for his glory. And we can certainly trust in his power because it is absolute. Nothing can stay his hand. As A.W. Pink wrote, a consciousness of our powerlessness should cast us upon him who has all power. Here then is where a vision and view of God's sovereignty helps for it reveals his sufficiency and shows us our insufficiency. and we can have peace as we trust in him. Because, as it says, no matter the circumstances, in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths. And Christ says to us, peace I leave with you, and my peace I give to you. We respond with humility. In James 4, verse 10, humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and he will exalt you. Webster's 1828 dictionary defines the verb humble as, to make meek and submissive to the divine will. Spurgeon says, humility is to make a right estimate of oneself. And as our sister said, when we are in the presence of God, we see our humbleness. We see our ruined, we say as Isaiah the prophet, woe is me, I am ruined. I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the king, the lord of hosts. A side of God, as he has revealed himself to us in the scripture, leads us to the realization of our littleness, and that we have nothing apart from God, from what God has been pleased to give us. We realize how dependent we are on God, and so our response should be submission to his good and righteous will, acknowledging his sovereign right to do with us as he wills, and we must give implicit obedience to his revealed will in his holy word. For the child of God, we are told in scripture that the sum of our duty is to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. And also in Micah chapter six, verse eight, he has told you, old man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. For the unbeliever, what does God require? In Isaiah 45, verse 22, it says, turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other. This is the command of the most high God, to repent from our sins and to turn to God through faith in his son, Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ itself is a gift which God readily and willingly gives to any and to all that ask it of him. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. because God has fixed a day, a day in which, at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, and of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Let us pray. Our dear Heavenly Father, you are so high and lifted up. You're holy, you're sovereign. Lord, you are beyond our understanding. But Father, we thank you that you have revealed who you are to us through your scripture. We thank you, O Lord, that you have given us minds that could read and understand and study. And we do pray, O Lord, that you would bless us as we read and understand and study your word, that we would grow in our knowledge of you and therefore grow in our love for you, O Father. And, O Lord, I pray that you would get glory to yourself in all that we do and all that that you give us to do, O Father. Lord, I thank you for the ladies who have come and are going to be coming to present again your word, and I pray you would bless each of the speakers. I pray, O Lord, that you would use what has been taught to your glory and for the good of your people. Father, I do also come now and I pray that you would bless this food that we're about to partake of. I pray that you would give us good times of fellowship and around your word, oh Father, and continue with us this afternoon. We ask these things in your holy and precious name. Amen.