to find your way to your seats this morning. I just want to say it's a joy to gather with you this Lord's Day. And whether you are a member, a regular attender, or a first-time visitor, it's our prayer that you feel welcome this morning, and that when you leave this worship service, that you leave encouraged, that you leave closer to Christ than when you came. We're gonna begin our service this morning with asking God to reveal himself to us through the reading of his word. And we're gonna read this morning from Psalm 148. which says, praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens. Praise Him in the heights. Praise Him, all His angels. Praise Him, all His hosts. Praise Him, sun and moon. Praise Him. Praise Him, you highest heavens and you waters above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord. for he commanded and they were created and he established them forever and ever he gave a decree and it shall not pass away praise the lord from the earth you great sea creatures and all deeps fire and hail snow sand mist stormy wind fulfilling his word mountains and all hills fruit trees and all cedars, beasts and all livestock, creeping things and flying birds, kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth, young men and maidens together, old men and children. Let them praise the name of the Lord. For His name alone is exalted. His majesty is above the earth and heaven. He has raised up a horn for His people, praise for all His saints, for the people of Israel who are near to Him, praise the Lord. Pray with me this morning. God in heaven, you are worthy of our worship, of our adoration, of our thanksgiving. We stand in awe of who you are and what you have done. May we never grow tired of singing praises to your holy name. where we humble ourselves, we confess our unworthiness before you, and we thank you for your son, Jesus Christ, whose sacrifice allows us into your presence. And it's in his name that we pray, amen. We invite you to stand as we sing these praises to him. We're gonna begin singing, praise him, praise him. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus our blessed Redeemer. Sing o'er earth His wonderful love proclaim. Praise Him, praise Him, highest archangels in glory. Strength and honor give to His holy name. Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard His children. In His arms, He carries them all day long. Praise Him, praise Him, tell of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus our blessed Redeemer. For our sins He suffered and bled and died. He our rock, our hope of eternal salvation. Hail Him, hail Him, Jesus the crucified. Sound His praises, Jesus who bore our sorrows. Love unbounded, wonderful, deep, and strong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus our blessed Redeemer. Heavenly portals loud with hosannas ring. Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever and ever. Come and crown Him prophet and priest and king. Christ is coming over the world victorious. Power and glory unto the Lord belong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever in joyful song. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Oh, my soul, worship His holy name. Sing like never before. Oh, my soul, I'll worship Your holy name. The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning. It's time to sing your song again. Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me, let me be singing when the evening comes. Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name. Sing like never before, O my soul, I worship Your holy name. You're rich in love and You're slow to anger. Your name is great and Your heart is kind. For all Your goodness I will keep on singing. Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find. Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name. Sing like never before, O my soul, I'll worship Your holy name. On that day when my strength is failing The end draws near and my time has come Still my soul will sing your praise unending Ten thousand years and then forever more Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul, I'll worship His holy name. Sing like never before, O my soul, I'll worship Your holy name. I'll worship Your holy name. Lord, I'll worship your holy name. Amen. Take some time to greet someone around you. Say, good morning. Say, we're glad you're here. Well, as you're making your way back to your seats, in John chapter one, you can keep standing too, you can keep standing, we're gonna keep singing. In John chapter one, verse 29, we have the declaration of John the Baptist who said, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. No greater amount of love has ever been displayed than when Christ laid down his life as a sacrifice on our behalf. Sing with us this morning, we're gonna teach you a new song called The Lamb of God. You came from heaven's throne Acquainted with our sorrow To trade the debt we owe No suffering for our freedom The Lamb of God In my place, your blood poured out. My sin erased, it was my death, you died. I am raised to life, hallelujah, the lamb of God. I name upon your heart. ♪ My shame upon your shoulders ♪ ♪ The power of sin undone ♪ The cross for my salvation. The Lamb of God in my place. Your blood poured out. My sin erased. It was my death. You died. I am raised to life. Hallelujah. The Lamb of God. There is no greater love There is no greater love The Savior lifted up There is no greater love. Sing that again. There is no greater love. There is no greater love. The Savior lifted up. There is no greater love. The Lamb of God. In my place, your blood poured out. My sin erased. It was my death, you died. I am raised to life. Hallelujah. The Lamb of God. The Lamb of God. The Lamb of God. In my place, your blood poured out. My sin erased, it was my death you died. I am raised to life, hallelujah, the Lamb of God. You may be seated. I want you to know this church pays attention to details. Now, I have a blue shirt, a blue mic, and I have blue shoes. Is that cool or what? We just want to welcome all of you here to E.V. Free Church of Oroville. And if you met somebody you haven't met before, that's what we want. We want to become part of the family of God. And for you online, remember to call in and tell Debbie that you're watching. We welcome you. We're working forward to when you are here. And that way we'll be able to take your attendance. For those of you here, we have a little piece of paper. If you'd fill it out so we'll know you're here. And it helps us to know if we need to help you or you have some needs. Now, I asked Jim Bamford to help me with this next thing, but he declined, so you're going to have to listen to me sing. I've been wondering and worrying about the family of God, and I have a song that goes through my heart. I'm going to look right past you. You may never let me do this again. I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God. I've been washed in the fountain. cleanse by his blood, join tears with Jesus as we travel this song. I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God. And if you're not sure you're a part of this incredible family, see pastor or pastor and they'll help you know for sure. And if you don't get all excited and you wonder why we do, Ask God to make it real and he will. So you were stuck with me, Jim. See, I warned you. My family didn't leave. That was the best. But we are about family. We are about knowing Jesus Christ. And we have ministries that are all geared toward that. One is the Women's Prayer Ministry, which will be on the 26th, Thursday, between 6.30 and 7. And if you're interested, female, of course. Carol Hansel and Patty. Peggy Schultz will be the ones to do it. They'll tell you how to get there, what to do, and how to come. Now we have another special that's going to be started, connection groups. And that means we're going to have some groups that will be small groups. They'll get together once a week or whatever. Food maybe, who knows, but we'll talk about Pastor Sherman if you want to. But it's a time to get to know people, family of God. That's why the song, Pastor, because it's all about family and knowing Jesus. So be aware, look for them, and join one if you would. And the other thing that they I really appreciate, as a mentor, Tim Giordano, who has run the Iwana program for years and years and has been so successful. He's in need of some help. Now, this is another program to build families. You think you're just dealing with the children? The children talk to the parents, the parents talk to other people, and it's part of building the family, knowing Jesus, and being able to respond to the world with a godly perspective. So look for that to be helpful for Tim. And another one, one of my favorite ministries is pastor's class. He's taken us through the New Testament and we better understand how the Bible was written, how it was put together and help us understand Jesus better. And it's at 11 o'clock after the fellowship half hour, which we're all going to go to, right? Got some goodies out there I saw. And we have an offering box and we just want to thank you so much for your faithfulness over this last year or so. and you're giving and you're caring. We just want you to pray for wisdom for the staff as they do these funds. Now we have one other really incredible ministry here. It's called Oroville Christian School. We had a wonderful time Friday night. You guys missed it. You could go down water slides. You could get dunked. You could have all kinds of fun. We had the families, the kids, the staff, and Mark Bates is going to come up and tell us how this ministry reaches not only to these children but to the families and their friends and to help them walk according to a biblical worldview. So welcome our administrator Mark Bates. Thank you. It's my privilege to lead Oral Christian School in partnership here with the church and the families in our community. I want to give a thank you to our school board members, our faculty and staff for the work that they put in. But I want to give a special thank you to Roger Love and the trustees and all who came and worked at the workday a week ago yesterday on the 14th, just getting the campus ready. We started on Thursday with school with an enrollment of 180 kids. So that's preschool through eighth grade. Four of our grade levels are full and we're fully staffed. So God is praised in just bringing the families, the students, the adults here to this ministry. During the summer, staff from board all the way down to everybody else, we studied the Christian worldview using Chuck Colson's book, How Now Shall We Live, with the intent that we're going to use the information there in engaging our families, their students, using biblical answers to the questions about the creation, questions about the fall, and questions about redemption. Paul summarized that in Colossians to verse eight when he said, see to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. So as we partner with you, we would just ask, we covet your prayers, ask that you would pray for health for the staff, physical health, spiritual health, emotional health, as we day to day minister to the students and families God has brought to us. and that also that we would walk through the gospel opportunities. We know that God has ordained both the ends and the means, and we're just happy to be part of that, the means, but that he would use us as his instruments here on earth to reach the families and the students that he's brought to us. So thank you. Stay here. Pastor, would you come up and pray for the staff and the parents and the teachers and everybody involved with this? I would like to ask all of the teachers, the school board members, the teacher's aides, everyone that's associated with the school to come forward and stand in front of us down here so we get a chance to see who you are. You know, Oroville Christian School is our school. It is perhaps the biggest and perhaps the most important ministry we have here at Evangelical Free Church of Oroville. And it is good for us to see who it is we're in partnership with. It's good for us to know for whom we should be praying. And this wonderful group is going to be ministering to 180 kids over this next year and to their families. And a very large percentage of the kids that are in our school this year are coming from unchurched backgrounds. Did you catch that? That means then we need to be very intentional in praying for the boys and girls that are sent our way, praying for their families, and be very intentional in building relationships with these wonderful folks and those that they're gonna be seeking to reach, the parents and the kids. And so let's join together in prayer in dedicating them into the Lord's hands this morning, asking for his hand of favor on them over this year. Now, Father, in the great name of Jesus, we turn to you and we thank you for setting apart these precious men and women to be your servants throughout this year through Orville Christian School. But Father, we are mindful that unless you are at work, all that they do will be in vain. And so this morning, in the name of Jesus, we commend them into your care. And we pray, Father, that you would watch over each one, that you would protect every man and woman in his walk or her walk with you, that they would be teachers, staff people, board members of integrity that walk with the Lord Jesus Christ this year, and that they would be useful vessels in your hands through which the light of the gospel can shine. Father, we pray for you to surround this place with your love and your presence. We pray in the name of Jesus that you would tear down any designs of the evil one to sow division, that this would be a place that will glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. And we pray even now for those boys and girls that will be coming day by day. Lord, would you be the one that touches their hearts, that opens their eyes, and that draws them to Christ? And would you be pleased to use this staff as your instrument? And so, Father, we commit them into your care. We thank you that they are here to represent us, but more importantly, they're here to represent you. And we pray that the impact of the gospel would go far beyond every lesson, far beyond every classroom, far beyond every interaction out into the community of Oroville and beyond. And so, Father, glorify your name through this precious staff, through this school, through this ministry, and may Jesus Christ be seen and heard and felt and touched and followed and obeyed all throughout this school year. as we commend all the activities of Oroville Christian School into your care. And as we do so, Father, we give you thanks by faith for the great blessings you will perform. Please remind us to be quick to see them and to return the glory to you. To that end, we pray for your glory and for the good of this ministry, in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you, Pastor. Please be seated. Thank you, Mark. And it's interesting that the invocation passage today is Psalm 133, which talks about the family of God. So if you'd stand for the reading of God's living, inerrant, and perfect word. Psalm 133. Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. It is like the precious oil on the head running down to the beard, on the beard of Aaron running down to the collar of his rose. It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls in the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord has commended the blessing, life forevermore. You may be seated, amen. Isn't it just awesome to be part of the family of God and we can pray? And that's what we're gonna do right now. We're gonna ask God to meet some special needs. If you have a special need that we are not aware of, you can pray while I'm praying, because God can hear everybody. You know, one person once told me that God said that every one of us have 100% of his time 100%, how does that work? Only our God can do that. So we thank you, God, that this church is able to provide for Christian education, for ministries. We see your hand on it because it could not happen without you. Sometimes we forget to pray, but you are always faithful to meet the needs. We thank you for all the teaching ministries that we discussed. Lord, that you would just bless the teachers, bless The people that go there, they understand who you are to become better and better members of the family and walk in your love, Jesus, and in your way. Orville Christian School, again, is just an awesome, awesome opportunity to meet people. And last week, we had Joel and Virginia Cook here for Iwana. What a dedicated couple. The years that they've spent, the travel they've done to make sure that Iwana is successful and is able to reach young men and women with the word of the gospel. But Father, we fall short. I fall short so many times in a mission and doing, and I would just ask you to forgive me for everything that I do that is not exactly what you would be pleased with. But I'm glad that you died for every sin that we'll ever commit, all of us. There's none that we can't depend on you forgiving. And Father, we, in my heart, pray for the people in Afghanistan. Lord, they need a super, super pouring out of your grace. Now, Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego were in the furnace. You didn't take them out of the furnace, but you were there. And Lord, you just play for those people as they're being just treated incredibly evilly. We know you're in control. There's also other parts of the world that are persecuting Christians, and you said that if they persecute you, we can expect that. And you have the grace to meet those needs. Pray for the leaders of our federal government, our state government, local government, city government. And we pray for the bosses and the people that lead us in our work because they are put there by God. So we thank you for that. And as the pastors and the elders and the church boards get together to just decide what you would have this church to do, give them uncommon godly wisdom. that we can see your hand. And for the ministries, again, we prayed for, we just like to pray again. And for those that are hospitalized and are unable to be here, your grace is sufficient, Father. Heal them, make them well, let them know that we're praying for them, we care for them, have them give us a call so we can be a little more informed, but we just pray that they would get well and be back. And we have some local needs here, the fires, the need for water, Lord, we just pray for those that are dealing with the fires, you give them protection, you give them wisdom, And we just thank you. And for the offering that you are receiving from us today, it's just a symbol of you own it all. And we just give you back a small portion. Bless it, multiply it, quadruple it, triple it, whatever. And Father, for Pastor Greg, as he brings the word today, he's worked hard, he studied, and I'm sure that you've given him the words that will change our lives if we will just open our hearts and listen. So thank you and thank you for this congregation for putting up with me in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Well, at this time, our children can be dismissed to their classes. All of our young boys and girls can make their way. I invite the rest of you to stand as we continue in our worship before pastor brings the word to us. And we're going to do a song that we did last week, but we were interrupted. If you were here last week, we were praying. We don't have any kind of interruption like that this week. We're praying that we really appreciate the guys in the sound room for working out the technical difficulties that we had, and we're praying that that doesn't happen again. But you guys were singing so good on this song last week that I thought we should do it again since all the sound system cut out. So we're going to sing, Oh Lord, My Rock and My Redeemer. ♪ Oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer ♪ ♪ Greatest treasure of my longing soul ♪ ♪ My God, like you there is no other ♪ ♪ True delight is found in you alone ♪ Grace so well too deep to fathom. Your love exceeds the heavens reached. Your truth I've found to perfect wisdom. My highest good and my unending need. O Lord, my rock and my redeemer, strong defender of my weary heart, my sword to fight the cruel deceiver, and my shield against his hateful dark. My song when enemies surround me. My hope when tides of sorrows rise. My joy when trials are abounding. Your faithfulness, our refuge in the night. ♪ Oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer ♪ ♪ Gracious Savior of my ruined life ♪ ♪ My guilt and cross lay on your shoulders ♪ ♪ In my place you suffer, gladdened I ♪ The grave and death are conquered. You broke my bonds of sin and shame. Oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer. May all my days bring glory to your name. Amen, you may be seated. Well, good morning to you all. So great to be in the house of the Lord. I appreciate the enthusiasm and the worship that we've given to the Lord already this morning. And the theme of family has come up already several times. And we know that in the family of God, we are commanded to rejoice with those who rejoice and to mourn with those who mourn. And so we rejoice because we've had a great beginning to a school year. I wish all of you could have been here Friday night to see the soccer field just covered with families and kids and running around and activities and fellowship and it was a great time and may God give his hand a favor to the school year. And so we rejoice with those who rejoice, but we also need to take a moment to mourn with those who mourn. Down in the foyer as you go out this morning, there are three cards. And I'm gonna ask you to sign one. And we are going to join in offering condolence and comfort to our fellow brothers and sisters at Pursuit Christian Church, whose pastor suddenly died this past week after a short illness. And so this morning, it is a community that is in grief and in mourning, and we want to join with them at the throne of grace in praying for them. So if you would, as you make your way out to the left, On the table there will be three cards, just sign your name, and we will send them to the church on our behalf, expressing our condolences and standing with them as brothers and sisters during this difficult time. At times, I've been asked, why do I spend so much time going deep, down, even sometimes looking at one word? And I just wanna explain a little this morning the reason why I do that, because God gave it. And we believe that God gave every word. And if there's a times where we stop and pause on a word, it's because a word can change our understanding, can give new focus. And so, I feel an obligation to be under the authority of every word that God gives. And that should be our desire as well. I was reminded this week, I have a little sheet of paper with a saying on it right next to where I study every week. And it's a quote from Dr. R.C. Sproul. He says, we are required to believe and to preach and to teach what the Bible says is true, not what we may want the Bible to say is true. And so as a man under authority, his authority every week, I want to know what he has to say. And so there's a reason why we spend some time going through each and every word at times. It's because if God the Holy Spirit saw fit to give it to us, maybe we should spend some time with it. Mr. W. Gary Phillips has written his own commentary on the book of Judges. Now it's not one that I regularly use in my own preparation as I'm going through the book of Judges, but he did give quite a humorous illustration at this point in the book of Judges that I thought I should share with you this morning. He speaks of a boxer from the 1930s by the name of C.D. Big Boy Blaylock. He was a boxer for Louisiana State University, again back in the 1930s when colleges actually had boxing teams that would travel and have matches one against another. And it was during a match against Mississippi State that Blaylock, who was six foot six inches tall, launched a sweeping roundhouse right against his opponent. And it was at just that precise moment that his opponent moved in and his head hit the elbow of Blaylock, causing his elbow to contract like a lever. And as the story is told, Big Boy's arm, at that precise moment, whipped around and came full circle, landing squarely on his own jaw. He staggered, grabbed the rope, walked around the whole ring, then fell flat on his face, literally out for the count. The only prize fighter in history who ever knocked himself out with a right to his own jaw. And Gary Phillips, as he gets to this point in the story of Israel, he says that Israel sometimes has become their own worst enemies. that they intended harm or they intended something to others, often with their actions recoiling back upon themselves. Now, I think we'll all agree during this time that we've spent in the book of Judges that the message is not always an easy one to follow or to swallow. There's very difficult things in this book. And especially the past few weeks, there's been a sense of heaviness as we have gone through the text. And perhaps the temptation is, well, let's look for something that's just a little lighter, a little happier. or just stop paying attention. I want you to resist that temptation this morning. If God the Holy Spirit has taken the time to work through the writer of the book of Judges to give us all of it, then it would be good for us to hear what he might have to say as we work through what really is gonna become more and more difficult as we get to the end of this book. Now today we're gonna finish with the story of Jephthah. We looked at him last week and the tragedy that was with his daughter. And we see that in his life, there was the downward trend. You'll recall that when I first introduced the book of Judges, I said, really, it begins at the high point, and it's all downhill from there. There is a swirl that goes down, and they plateau. And then it goes down another level, and they plateau. But never do we see where there's actually a reverse, and things are getting better and better. It actually just keeps going down until we get to the end with the verses that ring in our ears with a stinging rebuke. In those days, there was no king. In Israel, everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Well, what is it that we might learn from the life of Jephthah? We'll look at that in our time this morning. What could equip us to be better servants of the Lord Jesus Christ? And after we finish with Jephthah, we'll take a little survey of some of the so-called minor judges and consider how our great God does not overlook the little people. but in fact uses each and every one of those who are named by his name for his kingdom purposes. What I'm gonna do this morning is I'm going to read just the first seven verses of Judges chapter 12, and then we'll get to the end as we move through this message. But if you're able, I invite you to stand one more time as we read God's word together from Judges chapter 12, the first seven verses. And the inspired and authoritative word of God says, the men of Ephraim were called to arms and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire. And Jephthah said to them, I and my people had a great dispute with the Ammonites and when I called you, you did not save me from their hand. And when I saw that you would not save me, I took my life in my hand and crossed over against the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me? Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck Ephraim because they said, you are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh. And the Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. And when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, let me go over, the men of Gilead said to him, are you an Ephraimite? And when he said no, they said to him, then say Shibboleth. And he said, Shibboleth, for he could not pronounce it right. And they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan. And at that time, 42,000 of the Ephraimites fell. Jephthah judged Israel six years, then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in a city in Gilead. Now Father, as we have read your word, we turn to you now. Would you give us eyes to see and ears to hear and cause our minds to pay attention and hear what you have for us? Because Father, we know it's only in encountering you through your word that we are changed. So lead us this morning, teach us in Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. And if you're new with us this morning, you can turn over your service bulletin and you'll see on the back the outline that you can follow with us this morning. Actually, I think it's on the inside page. Follow the outline of our sermon this morning where we get to our first major point, an uncivil war. If you look at the end of chapter 11, you see that it ends with a reference to Jephthah the Gileadite. This should serve a little bit as a symbol of what is to come as we move forward in the book of Judges. The reason for that is as we see the downward spiral continuing in Judges, we see that the threat of civil war is growing among the tribes of Israel. The text begins and tells us that those of the tribe of Ephraim are upset. Now, we've already had a chance to encounter Ephraim, who had encountered one of the previous deliverers or judges in the book of Judges, Gideon. That was in chapter 8. Gideon had not consulted the Ephraimites when they were battling the Midianites, even though the Midianites were now passing through the territory. They're on the western side, so the Israeli proper side, if you will, of the river, and the Midianites want to cross over, and they cross through the territory of Ephraim, and it's only at that point they say, hey, help us. Close the escape route. But the Ephraimites were not happy at that time that they had waited so long to bring in their help. It's a similar situation to what we have here. But this time, we have the deliverer, we have the judge on the eastern side of the river, so on the other side, if you will, and now it's the Ephraimites who have crossed over to confront them. And over several chapters, every time we encounter the people of Ephraim, we find that they're haughty. They're a little bit high in the saddle about their importance. They don't look favorably on these Gileadites, who had lived on the wrong side of the river in the land that they had inherited. The Ephraimites were the biggest tribe in Israel, and perhaps they thought that meant they were the most important, because after all, they came from the heartland of Israel. Perhaps they had a sense of entitlement, that they needed to be involved in whatever was happening in the land of Israel. And maybe they're reticent to recognize a leader who actually is on the wrong side of the river, so to speak. And so our story begins with a sniffy dispute. You can just kind of hear the attitude that comes from Ephraim against Jephthah and his men. They've not been called to battle. And so they actually cross over the river to confront Jephthah. Maybe they're trying to pretend, well, it's all for one and one for all, and you didn't call us this time. But what's going on in the background? We don't know. But what's going on that there's this constant friction and division between the tribes of Israel? All is not well among the people of God. So the Ephraimites cross over the Jordan River, and they gather some of their group with their arms. They confront Jephthah, and they're ready to make war against him. It seems they hadn't come to war to help him, either in the past or in this current one. They're saying they hadn't been called. They feel snubbed. And the Proverbs warns about an offended brother who is more unyielding than a city. And the Ephraimites feel like that offended brother. It's almost as if they're coming there and they're saying, do you know who I am? Having spent a number of years in the Middle East, this is the attitude that people carry till today. Their tribal connection, their clan connection, their family name puts them on a social pecking order. And whenever there is a confrontation between two, inevitably you will hear that question, do you know who I am? As if somehow that's supposed to put an end to the equation. I'm coming from a more astute or privileged tribe than you are. But I hope that as God's people today, as we've been touched deeply by the grace of God, that our attitudes towards others would never be marked by such thinking. Rather, we would just, led by our humble servant, want to be humble towards others and be diplomatic and be willing to be servants. Well, when Gideon was confronted by the Ephraimites, he was willing to be somewhat diplomatic, but Jephthah, no, that's not his style. After all, Gideon, he had another war to win, so he had to quickly appease the Ephraimites and then get on with the war. But here, Jephthah's already won his war, and so he's in no mood to negotiate. And we've already seen that he was a negotiator, and so he's not going to be so sanguine with their request, quote unquote, that they would come and pay the price. They're pretending to be somebody, but Jephthah will not let them treat him like a nobody. We look at it across the distance of time, and we'd say, wouldn't it have been better for Ephraim to simply rejoice in this victory? After all, it was done for God's people, in the name of the Lord, for the most part. But for some reason, Ephraim cannot enter into the victory of another. It's almost as if they'd say, we can't be rejoicing with something we're not part of. Like they needed to be necessary in this victory. And I have to check my own heart. And probably each one of us has to check his or her own as well. Can I enter into somebody else's joy and victory and not be part of it? Where, well, that's good, but boy, I should have been part of it. But what if God just wants us to see the blessing that another has? I think of the example that we have sung already several times this morning about our Savior. Think about the world in which we live, celebrity-driven. Whatever a celebrity says, somehow we're supposed to listen. And then think of the operating word of the day for our culture, a selfie, where everything becomes about the self. It's to the point we don't even need people. We can take our own picture and send it out to the world. Thank you very much. In that kind of world, it becomes difficult to live out gospel principles that we were intended to be interdependent on other people. So Jesus, he who knew no sin became sin that we might become the righteousness of God. He who was rich became poor that we might have the riches of spiritual life. He who was high and lifted up humbled himself and condescended himself that we might ascend to the heights of heaven. The Ephraimites had no such mentality. I hope that's not a descriptive phrase for us today. But they are burning with anger. And they actually want to be burning other things because they threatened to burn Jephthah's house right over him. The phrase literally means we will burn it down over your head. Now think of the interaction that has taken place between Jephthah and the Israelites. They had already tried to take away his inheritance, and he had to fight to get it back. Remember, that was part of the negotiation we saw last week. And now they're threatening just to burn down his house as a sign of retribution, as a sign of judgment. And think of the larger context. What has Jephthah just done? In this rash, silly vow that he made, he offered his own daughter in a fiery sacrifice. And now they're saying they want to burn his house down right over the top of him. I'm not an expert on all things that deal with negotiation, but I'm thinking that's probably not the way to win friends and influence people. Threaten to burn down the house right over the top of them, driving, as it were, in the knife of pain of what he has just gone through. But Jephthah doesn't back down. He's not going to cower. He's already dealt with an external threat. Now I guess he's ready to deal with an internal threat. And so what is his response? Verse 2, I and my people. Now, I like how this is translated here. It starts with the word I. You know, we're taught in grammar, you never begin a sentence if it involves other people with I. We put others first. It is George and I, my wife and I. But the ESV has captured it because if you want to emphasize something in the Hebrew language, you put it right at the beginning of the sentence. And so Jephthah is putting himself first and foremost. And notice the language he uses throughout. I and my people, when I called you and when I saw, I took my hand. You see, we saw this with Jephthah last week and we see it continuing. He clearly wants to put himself first in all that he does. It has become a habit. And so he says, I and my people had a great dispute. Now here, of course, he is identifying with his people. Remember, he had been rejected. But he said, if you bring me back and I get the victory, I will be your leader. He's identifying with his people and think in the context of tribal war. We're over here. I and my people, you Ephraimites are over here. There's contention that is building in this context. And he's basically saying, Ephraim, if you've come to cause me trouble, well, game on. And that's what's going to happen. He rebukes them. He says, I called for help and you did not come. It's actually not confirmed in the text that he had said that. That doesn't mean he didn't. It just means that it's not put in the text for us to actually affirm. Perhaps it's just simply something where he's negotiating again or putting them in their place. I called for you and you did not come. And you know, All of us have kind of seen this confrontation where you see two people, typically men, not always, but they don't back down, and the insults start, and the bravado begins, and it keeps going, and you have kind of this macho monkey showdown. We got a macho monkey showdown going down here between Jephthah and the Ephraimites. He said, I called, you did not come, so I took my life in my hand. I had to go and bring about my own salvation. No one would come. Now it's interesting that as we go back a couple of chapters, the Ammonites had kept the people of Benjamin and Ephraim in bondage for 18 years. Where were the Ephraimites during that time? When they could have been involved in bringing deliverance. Now that Jephthah has defeated them, but doesn't include Ephraim, now suddenly they want to get involved. Isn't that interesting? They want to get involved after the fact. But we see that pride showing itself on both sides, and this is going to end up to be a very difficult situation. Jephthah brought about a salvation of sorts, he delivered his people, but he wanted to make sure that others knew about it. You can kind of hear the spirit of self-congratulation that's going on here. I took my life into my hands, I crossed over against the Ammonites, and then we see that, we need to be fair, he does express some type of faith. He does say, the Lord gave them into my hands. But as we have seen in the whole context of the life of Jephthah, it's a limited recognition of God. It's a limited understanding of who he is. But he did. We need to recognize it. He did recognize that God was involved in some part. And I think it's for that reason that he is mentioned in Hebrews 11 in the hall of faith. In those verses in Hebrews chapter 11, he is included with Gideon and Barak, the only mentions we really have of the book of Judges in the New Testament. And in that context, we are told that God used them to overthrow kingdoms and to obtain promises. And so, kudos to where kudos is due. Jephthah did it at least in part right by recognizing there was some recognition of God in this. So the Ammonites have been defeated, and now he says to the Ephraimites, why are you still bothering me? I mean, after all, the Ammonites were the common enemy. Should they not have gathered together to focus on the common enemy? But it seems the pride of Ephraim will not allow it to enter in, and so they're itching for a fight. And unfortunately for them, they're going to find that they bit off more than they could chew, because Jephthah will be their match and will stand up to them. And that adds to the tragedy and difficulty that we see in the book of Judges, where even those that claim the name of God are farting each other instead of fighting the enemies that are out there. And so after a sniffy dispute, we see a severe response, a severe response. Why did you come and fight against the Ammonites with me? And we see that both sides are selfish, they're narcissistic, they're proud. One wants to burn the house down over the other. And now Jephthah says, well, if you wanted to burn the house down over me, I know what you think about me, I'm gonna treat you in kind. And so he gathers his fellows together. Verse four, Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim. Past the point of no return, the pride of both will not allow them to stand down, and the insults that are hidden here are going back and forth. They respond to the people of Ephraim and Manasseh, calling them, those of Gilead, fugitives. Now, we have it quoted on the mouth of the Gileadites, but you are the fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh, that's in verse four. They're basically saying you're nobodies. You are living among us, but you're nobodies. And you're false Israelites. Now Jephthah in his background, we know was the son of a prostitute. And we know that his other half brothers pushed him out. And there's a heavier meaning behind this phrase fugitive than just a criminal. It means you're a thug, you're worthless. You're illegitimate. And those words would have fallen on his ears with a thud. They're reminding him of his background. You were the illegitimate son of a woman. You're not a true Israelite. We don't need to treat you with the respect that other Israelites will receive. And Jephthah and the Gileadites are going to respond in kind. But the Ephraimites overplayed their hand. If you're going to get in a war with insults and with accusations, at least do it on friendly territory where you have a chance to defend yourself. But they've crossed over the river. They're now in the territory that Jephthah controls, and Jephthah has his men, and they know the lay of the land. And they're out for revenge, and so what do they do? And once again, we see in the book of Judges, the race to the river. We've already seen it several times. They race to the river to cut off their escape routes. The Ephraimites did this very thing on the western side. When the Midianites were in their territory, they went and cut them off. But now they're on the other side, and the same tactic that they had used will now be used against them, and now the river is blocked. So Jephthah has gathered them together. The insults have started to fly back and forth. And the river has now been blocked. And we can see it there. Verse 5, and the Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. And they're laying a trap. Now we can think of what would have happened over time where you had nine and a half tribes living on the western side of the river and Israel proper, we might say, and then you had two and a half tribes living on the eastern side in the land that we know as Jordan and Syria today, that over time, because of distance, because of not continually interacting with each other on a regular basis, that customs or practices or language would even change. And so the Gileadites offer a test. A test that would be in some parts cultural and some parts linguistic. They asked each man that they capture, are you an Ephraimite? Now if they were bold enough to say yes, undoubtedly they would have been killed straight away. So they're going to try to hide who they are, right? I mean, after all, war involves subterfuge and deception, and so they would try to hide their identity, saying, no, no, no, we're from the tribe of Dan, or we're from the tribe of Judah, or we're from another tribe, but we're not from the tribe of Ephraim. And so they were given a test to pronounce a certain word, shibboleth. Now, shibboleth does mean ear of corn, but I think that that's irrelevant, really, to what's going on here. This was just a word that the Gileadites picked, knowing that the people of Ephraim could not pronounce, okay? Now, we have cultural differences even among ourselves, right? In this vast land, north to south, east to west, that we call the United States of America, we have sort of a common language, but we also have differences, right? Do you call it a soda or a pop? Or is it Coke? Do you exercise with sneakers or tennis shoes or gym shoes? Depends on where you go in the country. Do you come from Portland, Oregon? Or do you think you're in church and say from Portland, Oregon? Or do you pronounce that nut as pecan or pecan? Or as my Midwestern mother would say, pecan. Those are silly examples, but this is what's going on. There's a difference in how they have learned to pronounce and say certain things, and they recognize it. We recognize people, where they come from, by how they talk. This is how they're going to catch these folks. As Lawson Younger, in his commentary, says, it's almost as if they were saying, you need to say to us, God save the queen, and they can't, so they say, God shave the queen. And I think you're gonna end up with a very different meaning, correct? But as we go on, now, Who are the fugitives? In verse five. You see it's, the Ephraimites had been calling the Gileadites the fugitives and the illegitimate. You see how the war of words has escalated? Now the Gileadites are using the same word against the Ephraimites. You know, pride is ugly. And it shows itself to be ugly every time we see it. As we look through the book of Judges, we can see the different battles that have come up that as imperfect as they were, as imperfect as the deliverers were, there was some semblance of which each one was a quote-unquote holy war. It involved God's people fighting against the enemies of God. But now it's going to get much worse than that in the book of Judges. Now it is not brothers fighting against the enemies of God. Now they're starting to turn to fight against each other. and reconciliation no longer seems possible. And so we may look at the situation and we laugh and we say, well, how could they attack each other in such a way? They have a common faith, supposedly. They have one God. They have a book. They have the law. They have the prophets. How could they fight against each other? Ah, but now we have to bring it a little closer to home, right? How often do Christians fight against each other? We have a common book, a common savior. We have the Holy Spirit, we have the promises of God. And as Tim Keller asks, when am I too quick to judge my fellow Christians? When am I too quick to use weaknesses and opportunities against my fellow believers? We forget who the enemy is. The enemy is outside. The enemy is one that wants to destroy us. We're part of the family of God. And we need to stand together. And we have to stand together with those that are most of the time in agreement with us in our statement of faith. There's gonna be some things that we're gonna disagree on. That's how we learn how to get along and how to reconcile and how to work through differences, but we need each other. And so my brothers and my sisters this morning, I tell you, you're not my enemy. But the enemy does want to destroy you. And the enemy wants to destroy me. And we need to stand together. Because there is a real spiritual war that is going on behind the scenes. And that is where the true battle is taking place. But Ephraim and Jephthah, it's too far gone. After the severe response, we now have a sad result. Look at the language in verses six and seven. Then they seized him, whichever Ephraimite they found, and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan, and at that time 42,000 Ephraimites fell. This is massive destruction of a tribe of Israel. These inter-tribal conflicts that started in chapter eight are starting to grow, and unfortunately, they'll get worse and worse by the time we get to the end of the book of Judges. Brought about by greed and pride and ambition. Jephthah was used of God, but Jephthah was not a perfect example. We've already seen that he sacrificed his only child. Now he is sacrificing, as it were, fellow brothers within Israel. And there's something that we learned that contentious people produce contention. And so if we have been touched by the mercy and grace of God, let him take those rough edges off. Let him refine us and refire us and prepare us that we can live in greater unity with one another. Well, we've taken some time to look at the life of Jephthah. What are some things that we can learn? He was used of God, we know, to bring victory, but he was not a perfect example to follow. He was a little bit too confident in his ability to use words into negotiation, and often got in trouble with his mouth. He was talented, it seems. He was capable. He was a leader of men, but didn't always lead them in the right way. He was bruised and battered from the past, and it seems insecure. He had a child, but didn't show that he could really be a good father to her, perhaps because it seems over and again he's too self-absorbed. He was a leader of men, but he didn't know how to lead as God would have him lead. He was involved in religion, but his religion was not based completely on truth, and so it ended up looking more like the religion of the culture than the divine revealed religion of Moses and the prophets. But if there's anything that we can draw from this, we can draw that God uses anyone who surrendered to Him. And God can even use people who are not, but it'll be clear then that it is God working. So I think leaders need to have a healthy self-awareness of who they truly are. and sinful and in great need of grace, but an even healthier God awareness that everything that a leader does is done in the presence of God at every time, in every moment, in every situation. True leadership, as God designs, is humble strength under control. Leaders are not weak, but leaders under God's control channel their strength so that they're looking out for the well-being of others. In contrast to Jephthah, leadership is skillful with words and actions, but is careful not to abuse either one. There's a reason why people become leaders, even bad leaders. They are skillful. They know how to get there. But if they misuse their skills, they cause a lot of damage. If they use them properly, it can be used for great good. Leadership does not attempt to negotiate with God. It just obeys Him, depending on His mercy for strength. We saw Jephthah always negotiating, always trying to get the upper hand, always wanting to do what he wanted to do, and was not surrendered to the authority of God ultimately in his life. And of course, the best example we have of leadership is the Lord Jesus Christ, who humbled himself, who submitted himself to the Father and to his will for the well-being of others, using all of his skills and guiding his meekness with his strength under control for the well-being of others. I think we can learn from a man like Jephthah by not following some things that he's done and then by taking some things that he has done and bringing for the cross and say, Lord, help me do it even better. So we get to our next major point. We're going to see that God does not forget the little guys. And we're just going to quickly read and work through the last few verses in this chapter. Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. He had 30 sons and 30 daughters he gave in marriage outside his clan, and 30 daughters he brought in from outside for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years. Then Ibzan died and was buried at Bethlehem. After him, Elon, the Zebulunite, judged Israel, and he judged Israel 10 years. Then Elon, the Zebulunite, died and was buried at Eidolon in the land of Zebulun. After him, Abdon, the son of Hillel, The Pirithonite judged Israel. He had 40 sons and 30 grandsons who rode on 70 donkeys, and he judged Israel eight years. And then Abaddon, the son of Hillel, the Pirithonite, died and was buried at Pirithon in the land of Ephraim in the hill country of the Amalekites. It's almost as if we're given a little bit of reprieve of these very intense stories that have taken place over the past several chapters in the book of Judges. But we see that what is happening in the background is this increasing struggle with the Ammonites. And there'll be other enemies that will appear now as we move through the rest of the book. And there are struggles within Israel, within the tribes, both from within and then coming from without. The country is becoming more and more divided and fractured. God at times gives a reprieve, the land has peace. But by the time we get to the end of the story of Jephthah and all that has taken place, where even the people of God now are killing each other, we might think, where is God? Is God speaking? Is he doing anything here? And in using the example of three men, God reminds us that he's in control. He's given 25 years of rest to the land through these three obscure men. And though they're mentioned just briefly with just a few details, it's a reminder that God is the one who raises up and lowers. God is the one who gives responsibility. And God takes care of even those who in the eyes of men are the little guys. And at the end of the day, in comparison to the great God that we serve, we're all little guys. And aren't we glad that God pays attention to folks like us? And this all takes place under the good providence of God. So, we've had a couple of Gileadites, we've had Jair in chapter 10, and now Jephthah, and now we're just gonna briefly look at these three men that are mentioned here in Judges 12, and first we're going to see the Networker. Now, Ibzan's name means swift. I think that's kind of appropriate somehow, because after all, he did have 30 sons and 30 daughters. Not much moss grew under this man's feet. He was a wheeler and dealer. It says he took his sons, brought in daughters from outside the clan to marry his sons, then brought in sons or sons-in-law from outside to marry his daughters. What is he doing here? What is the context? The context is the tribes of Israel are starting to divide and to fight each other. And what is he doing? He's building alliances and relationships through the marriages of his children. This would offer a level of stability, of hope, that perhaps Israel can get along. Perhaps they can work together. He would build his base of support and influence through his children. And he ruled for seven years. Now the Bethlehem that is mentioned here is most likely not the one from the tribe of Benjamin that is famous in history because of Christmas. There is another Bethlehem that is mentioned as belonging to the tribe of Zebulon in Joshua 19. And it seems that that's the Bethlehem that's referred to here because this tribe, this man was coming from a different area and a different tribe. But of course, if we're talking about deliverers or judges or those that would bring victory and one of them is mentioned as coming from Bethlehem, of course, that would cause us to think about a greater deliverer who would come one day from another Bethlehem that would be for all the people of God. Obviously, Ibsum had to have more than one wife to pull off such a feat. Now, the Bible mentions the fact without endorsing, okay? Because we find as we look through the history of Israel, whenever they got involved in polygamy and multiple marriages, it often was not beneficial. And as we see in the life of Solomon, who will come later, having too much of a good thing is truly too much of a good thing. But I think what's going on here is, in the writer's mind, there's intentionality here. Jephthah has just been a disaster and a catastrophe and has sacrificed his only daughter. And now the next one that mentioned is Ibzan, who is blessed with a multitude of children. Children are always seen as a blessing in scripture. And so in a subtle way, the man whose name is Swift is blessed with children as a subtle reminder to the people of Israel, God will keep his promises even when his people act foolishly. Secondly, we have the nebulous. Nebulous is simply meaning we really don't know a lot about who he is. We were told that he's from the tribe of Zebulon and And Zebulon has kind of grown in its influence in the Book of Judges. It starts out not so well because we were told in Chapter 1 that the tribe of Zebulon not could not, but the tribe of Zebulon would not drive out the inhabitants that were in their region. So it starts out poorly. But they do come to the aid of Barak and Othnia later on to overthrow Sisera. And it seems that God is going to use them in a certain way here. during this period of time of confusion during the Book of Judges. The name of Elon means a terebinth tree, which in that culture was a sign of strength. Might it be that God is just giving a subtle reminder to his people that in this turbulent time, he raises up one for a period whose name means strength and that endures? Could be. Something to think about. And he rules for 10 years, so now we've had Seven years and ten years, and then we get to the last one, and I'll call, refer to him as the nested, Abdon, the tribe of Ephraim. Ephraim. What's just happened with Ephraim over several chapters? They've not been a good example to follow, and yet here's one that God raises up as a judge. who will rule, and we're told that he rules for eight years. And not only does he rule, but he has many sons and many grandsons with an impact that would go beyond one generation. Jephthah, who had lost all of his children. Gideon, who had lost all of his 70 sons. Now we find one from Ephraim who has 30 and 40. It's a sign that God is not giving up on his people. And the mention of donkeys shows that it was a time of peace. Horses were rode on during times of war, donkeys during times of peace. I mentioned at the beginning, why do we look at the individual words? Because the individual words give meaning to the overall. that this was a time of grace and peace that God had given, even though the people did not deserve it, but they desperately needed it, and God provided it. But even there, it's setting us up for the fact that all is not well, even though there's a time of peace, because when we get to the last, one of the last lines, we are told that he was buried in the land or in the hill country of the Amalekites. The Amalekites should no longer have been there. It was commanded by God that they be driven out. And instead of the Amalekites living in the land of whatever tribe, we are told now that it is the tribe who is living in the land of the Amalekites. And so we're reminded that though God gives a period of peace, 25 years in this case, all is not going to be well because there's still this constant reminder they failed to obey God. And also then we saw it beginning in Gideon. We saw it in Abimelech. We're seeing it in Jephthah. We're seeing it here. The growing idea of moving in the book of Judges from the emphasis on judgeship to the emphasis on kingship with sons and daughters and inheritance and the number 70, which has significant in the book of Judges. And that's why it'll come up again and again and again, there was no king. And the people will grow in their longing for the right king, a good king. And in that context, when we get to the book of Ruth, which was written during the same time as the judges, we'll see that God was working out promises even in the midst of confusion. But you can see the storyline of the Bible moving forward. The people are without a king. They long for a king, but God has been warning them, if you get a king, he must be like this. But unfortunately, the kings that they will get will not be like that. And so now the kings will all fail them. So then the longing goes for the king who will be the real king. And of course, that can only happen then with the one who we will call the king of kings, who will bring the people what they truly need and a peace that will endure eternally. Well, as we come to the end of chapter 12, we recognize that we're getting ready for 13, and the next four chapters are going to take us through this man called Samson. And what can we learn through the life of Samson, and what was God doing? And the children's stories that often we tell about Samson perhaps will be in need of some correction in light of the overall story of what's happening in the book of Judges. Let's stop with the life of depth and say, what are some more things that we can learn? What are some final observations as we close our time in the Word this morning? Think of the overall context of what is happening here, and then think of what we are today, and let's recognize that we are far more influenced by our culture than we realize or are willing to admit. Just as there was far more Canaan in the Israelites than there was Israel. And instead of transforming Canaan into Israel, they're being transformed as it were into Canaan. If we are not vigilant, we will become more like the culture and the culture will change us. Instead of what we are commanded to do and being salt and light to transform and change the culture. And so here's the question, when the word of God points out your blind spots, Are you willing to accept them? Or will your first reaction be a defensive posture? What is the primary descriptive phrase of your life? Is it disciple of Jesus Christ? God-fearing, Bible-following man? Or is it something else? And it's right at that point that God wants to do a heart surgery in us and a transformation of our thinking. What have we learned from Jephthah and the judges that have followed? All human deliverers die. That's why the psalmist tells us, do not put our trust in princes or in the sons of men who cannot bring salvation. But we need to deliver who will never die. And we have one and only one. The one who will live forever and leading us in a kingdom that is forever. And so we are to trust in the providence of God. To some he gave a lot, to some he gave little, but it was all under his providence because he is the one that is still in control. Think of the divisions and dissensions and disagreements that take place even among believers over stuff, over programs, over material possessions. Instead of just being thankful and recognizing God's providence that he's in control and being faithful with what he has given us, we think we will only be happy if he gives us something else. And lastly then, let's learn from the example of Jephthah. Let's learn from the example of what's going on in Israel. Let's fight to preserve the unity of the church. The enemy is outside. The enemy wants to destroy all of us. And yes, we need to confess our sins to each other. And yes, we need to pray for each other. And yes, we need to defer to each other. And yes, we need to love each other because we need to fight to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Or we will become somebody else's headlines. Just this week, a prominent church that I have followed for years, is being blown apart by dissension among the leadership and between the leadership and the congregation. Let's fight for the unity of the church at the cross of Christ under the authority of the word of God, led by the spirit of God and keep the enemy out there and not turn each other into the enemy in here. Let's pray. Father, we are a needy people. More so than we're even willing to recognize at times. Forgive us, Father, for those times that we built up our own sense of importance at the cost of someone else. Forgive me, Father, for the times that I have not led and done in a way as you would have me. Thank you for the cross. Father, as we read these stories, we thank you that you have given them to us. And Father, help us to avoid the temptation of just thinking we can point to something out there and puff ourselves up. But Father, we would recognize that we were your enemies at one time. And while we were yet your enemies, Christ died for us. and that we would fight to preserve this unity, this body, this Christian testimony that you have given us, and that that would be our first desire, your kingdom and your righteousness, and to live it out. Father, we need you. We thank you for the lavish grace that you give us in Christ. We thank you that you are more willing to receive us and cleanse us and purify us and strengthen us, then often we are ready to even come to the cross and admit our sins. And so Father, may that change. And we just run to you and find you always ready to receive us. And then will you strengthen us to start afresh and anew each moment of each day in the service that you have given to us. So Father, we pray. that your gospel would shine ever brightly in our midst and that we would share it well with those around us and live it out because you're empowering us by your spirit. To that end, we pray for your glory, for our well-being, in Jesus' name. We're certainly thankful for the truths found in the word of God that we've just been presented. And we're thankful for the love of Christ, love that he carried with him to the cross. And so let's stand and close out our service as we sing, Oh, the deep, deep love. Oh, the deep, deep love, all I need and trust. ♪ Is the deep, deep love of Jesus ♪ ♪ Deep, deep love of Jesus ♪ ♪ Vast and measured round His throne ♪ ♪ Round Him as a mighty ocean ♪ ♪ In its fullness over me ♪ Is the current of your love Leading onward, leading onward To your glorious rest, O God? Oh, the deep, deep love is the deep, deep love of Jesus. The deep, deep love of Jesus spread His praise from shore to shore. ♪ He came to pay our counsel ♪ ♪ For the sake of us He bore ♪ ♪ How He watches all His loved ones ♪ ♪ Those He died to make His own ♪ ♪ How for them He's interceding ♪ ♪ Pleading now before the throne ♪ ♪ Oh, the deep, deep love ♪ All I need and trust ♪ Is the deep, deep love of Jesus ♪ Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus ♪ Of surpassing all the rest It's an ocean full of blessing in the midst of heaven's harvest. Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus. Oh, you Savior, precious one. You could bring us home to glory where your love So thankful to be able to spend this time with you in the house of the Lord with the people of God. If you can remember, please sign the cards that are out front to the left as you go out. It's an expression of love to our brothers at Pursuit Christian Church. Let's be in prayer for them even today as they gather now as a family this morning trying to seek God's guidance for the next steps. It's a great opportunity to have a good cup of coffee and some dessert. So take some time to glad hand the people of God and maybe meet someone new today. And remember to pray for them throughout the week. And if you can stick around, we're going to continue with the Book of Acts today. in the pastor's class at 11 a.m. And now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. Let us all go in peace and have a wonderful Lord's Day.