Okay. Good morning, EFC. It's good to hear all of you talking, the hustle bustle. It's always encouraging when the people of the Lord get together. So you can make your way in from the foyer, find yourselves a seat, and we'll go ahead and get started. So we'll stand, if you could stand with, and we will start by reading the scripture, Psalm 40. verses one through eight. I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie. You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wonders, deeds, and your thoughts toward us. None can compare with you. I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told. In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said, behold, I have come. In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do your will, O my God. Your law is within my heart. Let's pray. Lord, we do delight in your will. We delight to do what you ask and pray that you would give us the strength to do that. We know we can't do that on our own. So during the service and during this week, strengthen us, encourage us, allow us to rest and trust in you. And I pray that we would be dedicated. That is our number one mission to serve you in all that we do. It's with your name we pray. Amen. Let us start by singing of the great things the Lord has done. Come, let us worship our King. Come, let us bow at His feet. He has done great things. See what our Savior has done. See how His love overcomes. He has done great things. He has done great things. Oh, hero of heaven, you conquered the grave. You free every captive and break every chain. Oh, God, you have done great things. We dance in your freedom, awake and alive. Oh, Jesus, our Savior, your name lifted high. Oh, God, you have done great things. You'll be faithful through every storm. You'll be faithful forevermore. You have done great things. And I know you will do it again. For your promise is yes and amen. You will do great things. God, you do great things. Oh, hero of heaven, you conquered the grave. You free every captive and break every chain. Oh, God, you have done great things. We dance in your freedom, awake and alive. Oh, Jesus, our Savior, your name lifted high. Oh, God, you have done great things. Hallelujah God above it all Hallelujah God unshakable Hallelujah You have done great things Hallelujah God above it all ♪ Above it all, hallelujah, God ♪ Unshakable, hallelujah ♪ You have done great things ♪ You've done great things ♪ Oh, hero of heaven, you conquered the grave ♪ You free every captive and break every chain ♪ Oh, God, you have done great things We dance in your freedom, awake and alive. Oh, Jesus, our Savior, your name lifted high. Oh, God, you have done great things. You have done great things. God, you do great things. He has done great things. Amen. Nothing but the blood of Jesus What can make me whole again? Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, but the blood of Jesus. For my part in this I seek. For my cleansing, this my plea Nothing but the blood of Jesus Oh, precious is the flow That makes me white as snow No other fount I know Nothing but the blood of Jesus Nothing can for sin atone, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Not of good that I have done, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. This is all my hope and peace, nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness, nothing but the blood of Jesus. That makes me white as snow No other fount I know Nothing but the blood of Jesus Oh, precious is the flow That makes me white as snow No other fount I know Jesus. We bow our hearts. We bend our knees. O Spirit, come make us humble. We turn our eyes from evil things. Oh Lord, we cast down our idols. Give us clean hands. Give us pure hearts. Let us not lift our souls to another. Give us clean hands. Give us pure hearts. ♪ Let us not lift our souls to another ♪ Oh God, let us be a generation that seeks ♪ Seeks your face, oh God of Jacob ♪ Oh God, let us be a generation that seeks ♪ Seeks your face, oh God of Jacob We bow our arms, we bend our knees, O Spirit come make us humble. We turn our eyes from evil things. O Lord, we cast down our idols. Give us clean hands. Give us pure hearts. Let us not lift our souls to another. Give us clean hands. Give us pure hearts. Let us not lift our souls to another. Oh, God, let us be a generation that seeks, seeks your face. Oh, God of Jacob. Oh, God, let us be a generation that seeks, Seeks your face, O God of Jacob O God, let us be a generation that seeks Seeks your face, O God of Jacob O God, let us be a generation that seeks Seeks your face, O God of Jacob Please be seated. Good morning, everyone. Welcome. Thank you, worship team. Zach? I'd like to remind you this morning to fill out the attendance slip that's at the end of your aisle and leave it there when you're through and it'll be picked up after the service. extend a special greeting to those who are online this morning and who can't be with us personally. It's a tough thing when you can't be here personally. It's like a ball game or something, and it's a lot different when you're there in person. There's a lot more to the spirit of it, and we'd like to have fellowship with you, but we are thankful that we do have an online streaming service, and we thank you for the people working in the sound room to keep that going. I would like to make an announcement that today is Clara Jones' 95th birthday. Yeah. Congratulations, Clara. She can't be with us, and she can't visit us where she is now. But there is a card in the back that you can sign that's going to be given to her. It's at the welcome desk. Women's Ministry is having a large monthly group meeting this Friday on the 13th. We got that up in the back at 6 o'clock in the church foyer. And the guest speaker is Christy Holman from Global Reach Crisis. response ministry, and there's dinner and childcare. So that should bring a few women out. Women's ministry prayer meeting is Thursday, August 12th from 6.30 to 7.30. And the king's men will have a breakfast on this Saturday at 8 o'clock in the church fellowship hall. And Al Moyer is heading that out, up. And is Al here today? I don't see Al. He asked that we'd have a show of hands for the men that think they might be attending. So he has a, because he's fixing breakfast. Okay. All right. Thank you. There's also an all-church work day on Saturday. It starts at 7 and goes till noon, so men that are attending the breakfast, you're welcome to come early or stay after the breakfast and help out. They're getting the grounds ready and cleaned up for the start of school. Awana is starting up soon. I think it's in September. I haven't heard a specific date yet. But you can be praying for that and praying for your participation if you'd like to do that. It's a lot of fun. It's a great outreach for the community because there's a lot of unchurched children that come to that and learn Bible verses and hear stories. So it's a great outreach for our community. and a great opportunity to serve. And there's quite a few openings. There's always room for listeners to listen to the children recite their memory verses. So there's always a need there and you can learn from that time on. It's easy to listen and encourage the children. Pastor's class is not going to be held today. He's still traveling and will be back this week. and so there'll be no pastor's class today. And there's an offering box in the back of the church for your offerings, and there are blue envelopes if you'd like to designate your giving. Okay, if you would stand with me, and we'll read from the word of God. A Mascal of David. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was dried up as by the heat of summer, Selah. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah. Therefore, let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found. Surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. You are a hiding place for me. You preserve me from trouble. You surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule without understanding, which must be curbed with a bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. Many are the sorrows of the wicked. but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright of heart. You may be seated. Shall we look to the Lord in prayer now? Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your continued blessing, for your love for us, for revealing your love through us, through your blessings. We thank you for blessing this church and the school. And we look forward to another year coming up. We thank you that each day we can look to you And we make plans, Father, but we desire your will and desire your glory that you'd be honored and glorified through this body and through the Orville Christian School. Father, we pray for the cooks and their ministry in Awana and Northern California and Oregon. And we pray that you would bless them as they are traveling and serving up the churches in the communities that have Iwana, and we pray that you bless the Iwana ministry and their mission in it, and that they would be encouraged. And I understand there's a couple of new Iwana clubs, too, that they'll be attending and encouraging. Father, we pray for the Christian school and pray for the staff, teachers and staff, and that you would just encourage them, that they would be filled with your spirit and purpose in sharing a Christian's perspective of the world and also in bringing up the children in the spirit of a Christian. life and unity and a Christian worldview and pray that for a smooth transition as school starts in just a couple of weeks now and that you would continue to bless them, Father, and bless the new staff, too. Father, we thank you for protecting us during this drought. We lift up those in the communities of Greenville Canyon Dam we thank you for protecting Quincy and Taylorsville and and Meadow Valley father we just pray for those who have lost homes we pray that Christian families would and be opening up their hands and their homes to those who need care now. And we do pray for rain soon, Father. We pray for those who are ill or hospitalized and are recovering from illness or surgery, especially remember Judy and Dan now as they're going through a transition And we are thankful that Judy's shoulder wasn't broken. There's nothing broken, but she needs a lot of help. And we just pray that you encourage her that she wouldn't be discouraged, Father, and just surround her with family and friends. And thank you for your blessing. We pray for the lost in Oroville, too. And we thank you for the opportunity to reach out to them, Through the Iwana mission and through the Christian school, we pray that you use it to reach the community here and we pray that you show us any opportunities that we have. Pray for each one individually that we would be open and ready to share the reason for the hope that's in us in Christ, Father. Father, we do pray for a spiritual awakening and a revival in this community, in the state, and in the nation. Father, pray that you be glorified through a revival. We pray that you would open hearts, open eyes, and remove blindness from the community, from our friends and family and acquaintances, Father. I pray that you work in hearts as only you can. And Father, we pray that you bless the offering this morning and that you would use it for your purposes and pray for wisdom for the elders and the deacons and the committees that it would be perfect in your purposes and in your glory and father we pray for Brian this morning pray for the sermon I pray for your hearts to be our hearts to be open father to you and We thank you, Father, for Brian. Thank you for your word. Thank you for our Lord and Savior. And it's in his name we pray. Amen. So children, at this time, children are dismissed to their Sunday school classes. The rest of you, please stand. This next song, At the Cross, we have sung before, but it might be new to some of you. But I think it's one of those songs that so beautifully talks about what took place at the cross and the blood that was shed and how that is exactly what we needed. We couldn't have done it ourselves. So we talk about the lyrics, I owe all to you. And we recognize that's where we stand. Because of the blood that was shed, covered all of our sins, we owe everything to Christ. There's not one single thing that we've done to earn that. And so we like to talk about the cross. And some people are like, well, it's a place of death. But we recognize it as a place where sin was broken. and the curse was lifted and we were able to have peace with God. That's just such a beautiful thing that I think comes through in this song. So if you don't know it, pay close attention to the words and join in when you can. There's a place where mercy reigns and never dies. There's a place where streams of grace flow deep and wide. Where all the love I've ever found Comes like a flood, comes flowing down At the cross, at the cross I surrender my life I'm in awe of you, I'm in awe of you Where your love ran red and my sin washed white. I owe all to you. I owe all to you, Jesus. There's a place where sin and shame are powerless. Where my heart has peace with God and forgiveness. Where all the love I've ever found comes like a flood, comes flowing down. At the cross, at the cross, I surrender my life. I'm in awe of you. I'm in awe of you. Where your love ran red and my sin washed white, I owe all to you. I owe all to you. Here my hope is found, here on holy ground. Here I bow down, here I bow down. Here arms open wide, here you save my life. Here I bow down, here I bow down. Here, I bow down. Here, my hope is found. Here, on holy ground. Here, I bow down. Here, I bow down. Here, arms open wide. Here, you saved my life. Here, I bow down. Here, I bow. At the cross, at the cross, I surrender my life. I'm in awe of you. I'm in awe of you. When your love ran red and my sin washed white. I owe all to you. I owe all to you. At the cross, at the cross, I surrender my life. I'm in awe of you. I'm in awe of you. Where your love ran red and my sin washed white. I owe all to you. I owe all to you. I owe all to you. I owe all to you, Jesus. Please be seated. Good morning. It's a joy to be with you this morning. It'll be nice to have Pastor back this week. just it's nice to have my colleague back that and I can rejoin the worship team next Sunday and allow him the opportunity to stand before you but I do enjoy these opportunities and I thank you for being here I do want to say thank you to those online thank you again for joining us and I'll add my celebratory happy birthday to Clara I know she she watches us Because Don and Penny, where are you, Don? Where is he? There he is, okay. He texted me last week in a picture of being with Clara and they watched the service. And so I thank you for your ministry, Don, to our senior saints and going and visiting with Clara. And we do want to wish you a happy birthday. And those that would like to actually maybe say something to her, you have the card, the opportunity to sign a card. Today at three o'clock at Country Crest, they're going to have a drive-through birthday party. If you would like to drive through and wave at her and say something, you can come by Country Crest and wish Clara a happy birthday. So I just want to let you know about that opportunity. I'm also thankful that my family has been able to rejoin me. They've been gone for the past couple of weeks up in Oregon visiting Alyssa's family. Alyssa taking some time away and rest after VBS. but I'm glad that they're back. It's definitely no fun not having your family around, especially for what felt like an eternity, but it was about a week and a half, I guess, but I'm glad that they're back and able to worship with them this morning. I'd invite you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Judges as we continue in our study through this book. We're gonna be in Judges chapter 10. Before we begin, though, I'd invite you to join me in prayer again this morning. Our gracious and heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for the opportunity that we have, Lord, the freedom that we have to gather. Thank you for this church or for the congregation that you've assembled here. And I just pray now, Lord, as we come to the message, we come to your word. I pray that you would open up our hearts to receive it. I pray that you would speak to us, challenge us, convict us, draw us closer to you through it. I thank you, Lord, that you have revealed yourself to us, Lord, that we can know you, but not just know you, God, Lord, we can be in relationship with you, we can find salvation in your word. And I pray that you would bless it today. It's in your name we pray, amen. There is a common practice for writers of literature, of television, movies, to give the readers or the viewers a different perspective on what is happening in the story of what's going on in the action from that of the main characters and maybe give us a perspective from a minor character. Sometimes it's done satirically such as with the characters of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Someone wrote a separate story that wrote the story of Hamlet just from those two minor characters but it was done in a satirical way. Other times in television shows or in movies they'll take a break and switch to what is happening to the see what's happening through the eyes of a minor character. Some people find this refreshing to get this new perspective while others may not be so enamored with this approach because they don't appreciate the time that's taken away from those main characters because it feels like it breaks up the flow of the story or maybe it puts a dampening on the action that's going on. And so as we get to chapter 10 in the book of Judges, that's kind of the feel that we get. There was a lot of action going through the book, especially as we went through several chapters of Gideon, what was happening in his life, and then we looked at Abimelech last week, and then all of a sudden it seems like things come to a halt as we're introduced to two of the lesser known judges. As we read through the story, we're going to wish things came to a screeching halt rather than continuing on in this spiral of sin moving downward that we see from the people of Israel. But it also helps us to remember one of our major points that we had from last week's message, if you were here, that when we look at the overall story of Scripture, God is the main character of the story. God is the hero of the story. So if we keep that in mind, then we realize that every single person that we encounter is a minor character. We are all minor characters. So again, my hope this morning is that we're going to see God's hand at work, that He is the one that is weaving the narrative that ultimately points us to His glory. and how it reveals God's kindness and His patience in redeeming His people. And in addition, my hope this morning is that we're going to see the work of Christ being foreshadowed in the Old Testament. We're going to see God's plan of redemption that ultimately led to Christ's sacrifice on the cross that we just sang about, how that is woven throughout the story of the Old Testament as well. So let's begin our study of Judges 10. We're going to look at the first five verses to begin with and a couple of minor Judges. So I would invite you, if you're able again, to stand for the reading of God's Word as we read the first five verses of the book of Judges. It says, after Abimelech, there arose to save Israel, Tola, the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, you gotta love that, a man of Issachar, and he lived at Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. And he judged Israel 23 years. Then he died and was buried at Shamir. After him arose Jair, the Gileadite who judged Israel 22 years. And he had 30 sons who rode on 30 donkeys and had 30 cities called Havoth-Jair to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. And Jair died and was buried in Caiman. May the Lord bless the reading and the preaching of his eternal, inerrant, and holy word. And may the Holy Spirit write its truth on our hearts. You may be seated this morning. If you were here last week, I mentioned that the story of Abimelech felt like a bit of a rabbit trail off of the main story of Judges, but then I showed you that it was actually just a mere continuation of Gideon's story, and it followed the same pattern that we find in the book of Judges. Well, if last week's passage felt like a rabbit trail, this week's passage, at least the first five verses, will definitely seem a little bit off topic or off the norm of what we've been doing. And it fits more of this notion of being a rabbit trail because it seems like it's more of a parenthetical note between two of the major characters that we find in the book of Judges. Abimelech last week and the story of Jephthah who we will be properly introduced to next week but the latter part of chapter 10 will set up the introduction for these five verses that seems like the narrator was just simply trying to fill in some extra facts, fill some space just in case there was a word count requirement when he turned in his report, his writing of the book of Judges, and God says, no, I mean, you got to meet the certain word, you know, like a professor or teachers, and you got to add some more, and you're like, well, what can I add? Well, there was these other judges, they didn't do much, so let me just write about them, I'll put them in there, and I'll fill some space, you know, like we all did that in school, right? We just want to fill space. It's what it feels like, he's just filling space, filling some words, and letting us know, oh, there's these other two guys, Tola, Jair, they didn't do much, but I can fit in about, I don't know, 30 words with them, so I'll just add those in there. But these two judges do more than to serve as a historical footnote, because we're able to glean some theological truths from this account. And that's going to lead us to our first major point this morning. From the first five verses, we see the promise of peace. Now, if you look at the title of today's message, it is common to describe these two judges, as well as there are three more that are going to come up in chapter 12, to describe them as minor judges. But we mustn't think that they are any less important than those judges who get more ink written about them, more devoted to their story. Because much like the major and minor prophets that we have, those descriptors of books in the Bible, in the Old Testament, those words only signify how much is written about them, or how much is written by them, and not the significance of their contribution. just because we know more about Gideon, about Samson, about Jephthah, Abimelech, than we do about Tola, and Jair, and then later Ibsen, Elon, and Abdon. It doesn't mean that they were more important to God and to His purposes. So I think it's a good lesson for all of us not to worry too much and to compare ourselves or compare our sphere of influence with others. I know that as a pastor, it can be tempting to look at those men who preach to a larger congregation, those men that write books that people love to buy and read, to those that have a greater social media following and think that maybe my job's not as significant as these guys because they're reaching thousands more. That's why it's good to remember, as I said earlier, that we are all minor characters and God is the hero of the story. It shouldn't matter how much is said about me after my time as long as what is said brings glory to God. That should be the purpose of all Christians. May our desire to have God be made much of and not ourselves. And there certainly wasn't much to be made of these two men. Sadly, there isn't much to be made about their service to God either, but we know that God used them to accomplish His purposes, which was to deliver Israel and to provide a period of rest and peace. We aren't told much about Tola other than who his father was and who his grandfather was. We're told which tribe he came from. We told where he lived, how long he served as a judge, and then when and where he died. If you were writing that book report, you're not gonna get a very good grade on this. You didn't give him a lot, you didn't give a lot of information. You didn't tell us much about him. This is just some basic information. We aren't told the details of how he brought deliverance for Israel. We aren't told whether it was through some great battle or whether it was just simply providing some stable leadership. But the most telling part of his story is in the first two words of this chapter. If you look at it, it begins with, after Abimelech. All that's taking place, all that he did took place after Abimelech. And if you remember from last week's message that Abimelech's time as self-declared king over Israel was a very dark time for God's people. Abimelech's rise to power meant the death of so many Israelites. Yes, this was a consequence of Israel's sin, but this was a dark period in the history of Israel. And it might have only been three years, but three years with a ruler like Abimelech would be more than enough to make the people weary. So through Tola, God granted the people 23 years of rest. And then immediately after Tola came Jair, of whom we also don't have much told, but we do have some different details that are given about him than we're told about Tola. Jair was a Gileadite, and we're told he had 30 sons who rode on 30 donkeys and had 30 cities. As I read this, and it sounds like the nursery rhyme with the riddle that some of us heard when we were younger, as I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives who had, you know, I'm reading this going, I'm going to figure this out at the end and figure out, like, what's the joke here? What's the riddle? But this is just some information that's given. There are some things that we can glean from this, maybe not some, huge theological points, but just a few things that we can determine about this. Now, it's not inherently sinful to have abundance. We're told he had a lot. That's not necessarily sinful, but we can deduce that if Jair had 30 sons, and most likely some daughters in there, that he probably had more than one wife. I would hope, at least for that poor woman. that but he probably had more than one wife and men doing so we know that because of last week when we saw with Gideon he had multiple wives and had so many sons and we know that that's not what God had intended that that that sin of polygamy was that was never something that God had planned for his people so yes there was probably some sin going on there and being successful is certainly not evil But if we learn anything about mankind from reading the Bible, it's that human nature does not like to be relegated to servant status. Our pride tends to kick in to desire more. And the more status, the more success that we have, the more we tend to desire. So maybe that's why we were told this about this particular judge, just as a warning to those who would aspire for such things, that with that comes the temptation for more. But aside from that, we're only told that Jair served Israel for 22 years, and then he died and was buried at Kamen. So while we do have some straightforward information that is given to us about this judge, we're not told specifics about his time of service. We're told less about Jair's time than even we're told about Tola's. At least with Tola, we're given the phrase, he saved Israel. With Jair, it just mentions that he judged Israel. So for us as readers of this story, as we come to the scriptures and we read this, it can be easy to question why we are told so little, to want to have questions answered, to help us give us some insight into these men, to want to know more about them like we're told about the other judges. But there is a reason that God gives us limited details about these two particular servants. And what many commentators have observed about these minor judges is that their mentioning serves to reinforce the pattern and the overall cycle that we see in the book of Judges. This is just reinforcing that pattern of rejection of God, oppression that God sends the oppressor, The people cry out to God. God sends a judge to deliver them. God grants them peace. And so this is just filling in those gaps. Such was the case with Shamgar. If you want to talk about some other judges that had very little written about them, you remember Shamgar in Judges 3 had one verse written about him. And we know very little about him. In the one verse that we're given, we're told that he saved Israel when he killed 600 Philistines with an ox goad. We aren't told what Israel did to need saving. We don't know how they ended up in the hands of the Philistines, but we do know God saved them. And he did so using unexpected means, using an outsider. We don't know all the details, but we know the ones that matter, and we see the cycle continue. And with the mention of both of these judges, we are told that there was a combined 45 years of peace and rest. And an interesting note about this period of the judges is that even though the theme of the book is this cycle that we've mentioned, the cycle of sin, oppression, deliverance, peace, is the part that gets the most attention. If you go back and read the stories that we've read, look at how many verses are dedicated to the discussion about the sin that the people committed and the time of deliverance and what was done to deliver the people. Most of the attention is given to that part of the story. But if we're to look at the time that is mentioned, the first oppression of Israel was eight years. Enter the first judge, Othniel, and then a period of 40 years of rest. Israel sins again, oppression for 18 years, and we have Ehud followed by 80 years of rest. Wash, rinse, repeat, and Israel is oppressed for 20 years, then 40 years of rest. When Gideon comes on the scene, it was seven years of oppression followed by 40 years of rest. And then we have the three-year rule of Abimelech, which is now followed by peace and rest for 45 years. Now, if my math works out correctly, that is 56 years of oppression and 245 years of peace. It would seem like peace should be the prevailing theme. But of course, it's all about perspective. For those who have not lived under the sort of oppression that Israel had to endure, sure, it's easy to sit back and go, well, what were these people complaining about? They had way more years of peace and rest. Well, you didn't have to endure what they had to endure. So yeah, maybe we don't need to look at it from that perspective of us looking at it from later in history. But of course, and also when we take into account what Israel was guilty of was rejecting God. That was the sin. We can understand why the focus is on the oppression and the deliverance sides of the story. And as I was thinking about this and thinking about how can we illustrate why is there so much, why is the focus all on what, on the bad stuff that happened and not the good? I thought about this, I'm a sports fan, I love sports, I love talking sports, and I was thinking this, imagine being a baseball player, and in a single game, let's say it's a game that matters, like a championship game, you get five at-bats. Now a lot of times you don't get that many at-bats in a game, but you get five at-bats, and in the first four at-bats, you hit a home run. That is something unheard of. You don't hit four home runs in a single game. You're not gonna see many ballplayers do that. But say that's what you do. And as luck would have it, though, your team's pitcher doesn't do so well, and you're still losing by the time you come up for your fifth at bat. It's the bottom of the ninth. There's two outs. The bases are loaded. You're down by a couple of runs. You've already hit four home runs. And then you strike out. What's going to stick in your mind more, that you hit four home runs in a game or that you struck out when it mattered most? Yes, Israel may have had 245 years of peace, but they would always strike out when it mattered most. With that perspective, we can understand the focus on the need for God's deliverance. But with the first few verses of this chapter, we are reminded of the promise of peace that comes with belonging to God. And there are a couple of things that should be pointed out about this promise of peace. The first being is that this peace is completely undeserved. When we see what the people of God have been doing, and not just in the book of Judges, but if you look ever since the Garden of Eden, the last thing that we would ever deserve would be an act of grace upon God's part. But of course, God has not stopped to show grace ever since the fall. Even with Adam and Eve, God showed grace. He told Adam, He told Eve, He said that if they ate of the tree of knowledge, they would surely die. Now, was the result of their sinful choice death? Yes, they would eventually die because of their sin, but they did not die immediately. They were given an opportunity to repent of their sin and their death was not instant. That is grace. Even though we sin daily, we enjoy the goodness and the kindness of God solely because of his grace. The fact that any of us would experience eternal life in heaven is an extreme measure of grace. None of us deserve that. None of us deserve that promise of eternal peace. The only thing that our sin and the sin of Israel, the only thing that it owes us is God's wrath and His justice. But it is by His grace and by His mercy that He promises us peace. Now God's wrath and justice, we still see it executed on His people throughout the book of Judges. We still see it throughout the Old Testament. as they continue their downward spiral away from God, as God continues to send oppressors. But for God's people today, that wrath and justice was executed with Christ. And it is why Jesus would say, come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Peace is promised for those who come to Christ. But a second comment about peace, It's undeserved and it is needed. It is necessary. Israel needed peace after a king like Abimelech. Like I said, it's easy for us to look back and say it's only three years. Three years is a long time when you're being oppressed. Every period of peace that Israel was fortunate to endure was much needed. They came after times of great turmoil, after great tribulation. Had God not intervened, it is not difficult to assume that Israel would have been wiped out. We need that same intervention if we are to experience peace. Israel experienced turmoil because of their rejection of God. Each one of us is born with a heart that is bent toward that same rejection. And if not for God's intervention in giving us a new heart, we would never experience the peace that is promised to us, that eternal peace and rest. And God is gracious to give us glimpses of that peace and rest here and now. Doesn't mean we're not going to experience times of struggle, doesn't mean you're not gonna have hard times that might even be a result of sin, or it might just be a period of testing. That's because sin is allowed to endure while we're still on this earth. This earth is broken, we are going to experience times of brokenness. And it only serves to show us how much we need God to intervene in our lives. It may be that some of you have never experienced peace, or at least the kind of peace that God has to offer. The good news is he's still offering it. While he tarries, while he waits, while we wait on the return of Christ, there is still time to accept this offer. Jesus is still calling, come to me, all who are labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And we see the need for Christ's sacrifice. As we move into this next section, Israel was fortunate to experience 45 years of peace, but that was not enough to keep her from sin. And in verses 6 through 9, we are going to see the slippery slope of sin. Let's look at verses 6 through 9. It says, the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. And they served the Baals and the Ashtoreth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, the gods of the Philistines, and they forsook the Lord and did not serve Him. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites. And they crushed and oppressed the people of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the people of Israel who were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. And the Ammonites crossed the Jordan to fight also against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim so that Israel was severely distressed. We went from peace to distress at the turn of a page. Dale Ralph Davis gives the perfect illustration to describe what we're seeing in these verses. Imagine you've come home and your spouse asks how your day was and you respond, I had a bad day. I had a flat tire on the highway. They would probably acknowledge, yes, that is a bad day. Anytime you have to deal with a flat tire, that's a bad day. But suppose instead you say, I had a bad day. I fell in the shower and cracked a rib. I got sick from my breakfast. I ripped my pants on the car door as I was going in. I had a flat tire on the highway. A passing truck hit a mud puddle as I was changing the tire and splattered my clothes. Highway patrol stopped me for speeding and gave me a ticket, and then my boss yelled at me for being late. And when I sat down at my desk, I spilled coffee all over myself. then your spouse would probably concur, you really had a bad day. That's kind of the comparison in this verse, in verse six there, that says, the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, to the verses that we read earlier in Judges, where we read that same verse in chapter two, verse 11, and chapter three, verse seven, and 12, and chapter four, verse one, and in six, verse one, we see that same phrase, the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Well, we get told a little bit more, they really did evil in the sight of the Lord. In those other verses, we're told that Israel committed apostasy. They turned away from God. But in these verses, the narrator really piles on the severity of this apostasy, of this turning away. We are told that Israel served the Baals and the Asherah. They served the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. At this point, it's like they're not even worried about keeping up appearances. There's no pretense, no trying to serve God along with the gods of the Canaanites. You've heard us say, Pastor Greg and myself, as we've preached through this study, that I've said it even today, that this theme, it's cyclical, it's a cycle of just going around and around, it's like repeating and repeating. But if I can give you a new perspective, if you look at that cycle, yeah, if we're looking at the top down, it's going like this in a circle, but if you step to the side, you see it's not just a circle, it's a spiral. And that circle, what happens with the spiral? That circle gets what? Smaller. And when it gets smaller, it means you're going around it quicker. They're going around it, they're hitting back to the apostasy, back to the turning away from God, and it's just getting worse and worse and worse as they move further and further away from God. And that is still true, or I'm sorry, but we see that cycle from that perspective. It is a cycle, but it is a spiral as well. It's completing the cycle, but it's going downward. And we have on display for us to see what friendship with the world will get you. As Israel has gotten more and more comfortable in living in this land with these people, All the problems that we find throughout the book of Judges are a direct result of the failure of God's people to not drive out the pagan tribes who were inhabiting the land that God gave them. That was the command they were given when they moved into Canaan at the time of Joshua. Drive out these people with their foreign gods. They failed to do so, thinking that they could coexist. And we're familiar with that word. We see it on bumper stickers all the time. We just need to coexist. We're seeing that it is impossible for God's people to coexist in the way that we can align God with the false gods of this world. They went from trying to coexist to being friendly and intermarrying to adopting their worship of their false gods and then abandoning the God that delivered them from bondage in Egypt and from wandering in the wilderness. If you look at where we are as a culture, And you think that people, even people who claim to be Christians, are further away from God than you could ever imagine. You wonder, how did we get to where we are? Why do we see this depravity like it's more prevalent than it was maybe in years prior? Then all we need to do is follow the trail back up the slope and we see where it all began. participation in sinful behavior for ourselves is usually preceded by acceptance of sinful behavior in others, which is usually preceded by tolerance of sinful behavior in others. If I can give an example from current popular culture, there was some minor news that was made this past week or a week or so ago that a male character in a children's cartoon was being praised for wanting to dress like a girl. Now let me just stop you right there and say that parents, we need to be vigilant about who's teaching our children. If you're not being intentional about teaching your kids about what it means to love and serve Christ, rest assured that someone else is teaching them the exact opposite. Somebody's teaching your kids, whether it's on television, in public school, whatever. But back to the children's show. We look at a story like that and we wonder, how could we ever get to, how did we get to a point where they're praising this behavior in a kid's show? But as someone pointed this out, that in this show and in many other children's show and even adult shows, we've seen cross-dressing this behavior. We've seen it for years. But it was done for comedic purposes, for ridicule. They were made fun of, they were laughed at. But we've been entertained for years by the very behavior that would send souls to hell. This was not an overnight decision that the people of Israel made to begin worshiping these false gods. Just like it's not an overnight decision that we see in the sin that is committed, not only by people who claim to be Christians, but people outside as well. This is something that it's just a step down the slope. And so the purpose, whether direct or indirect in things like using humor, is to disarm us, is to make us get a little bit more comfortable with that sin, to tolerate it. And for Israel, this was just the next stop on their slippery slope. Let's look at verse six a little more closely. It begins with the list of all of the gods that Israel decided to worship. They have embraced the polytheism of the culture and decided that it was okay to worship multiple gods. But in that decision, look at the end of verse six, after the list of all the gods, it says, and this is a big part of that verse, they forsook the Lord and did not serve Him. you would think that a culture of inclusivism would have room for one more deity. That why couldn't they just keep serving God and all these other gods? But the truth is revealed, that once the true God is brought into the mix, the framework of other worldviews is going to crumble, and they cannot stand side by side. Because as Paul pointed out in his letter to the Corinthians, light has no fellowship with darkness. We are not called to coexist, but to preach truth and shine light into the darkness. The more that we tolerate sinful behavior, the easier it's going to be to accept sinful behavior and then ultimately participate in that sinful behavior. And we preach against sin, not to leave people in shame or to leave them in guilt, but to warn them of the coming punishment that they might turn from it. And we see the results of Israel's choices in verses 7 through 9, as God's anger was kindled against Israel and we're told, He sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites. They were defeated and they were crushed and oppressed for 18 years. And in verse 9 tells us that Israel was severely distressed. If we said that the grace of God to show Israel a time of peace was completely undeserved, then we would say that the anger and punishment that God brings upon Israel is now completely deserved. We don't like to hear about God's anger, we don't like to hear about His wrath, but the gospel has not been preached if we have not made mention of it. So there are a few things about God's anger that we should consider as we read this passage and as we consider God's overall plan of redemption that is woven throughout scripture. And the first thing that I want us to see about God's anger is that God's anger towards sin is just. Because God is holy, he has to be a just God. God cannot stand for sin because it goes against his character. Proverbs 24 verse 12 says, if you say, behold, we did not know this, does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it? And he will repay man according to his work. Here God is certainly repaying man according to his work. Israel has committed sin and the payment for that sin is judgment and anger. We don't always understand this idea of God's anger. It's hard for us to comprehend because our view and our expression of anger is vastly different from that of God's. We can be vindictive, we can be unfair, we can be reactionary along with many other types that would make our anger unrighteous. But God's anger is always righteous and it is always according to his character. J.I. Packer in his famous work, Knowing God, he summarizes it this way. He says, God's wrath in the Bible is never the capricious, self-indulgent, irritable, morally ignoble thing that human anger so often is. It is instead a right and necessary reaction to objective moral evil. It was right and it was necessary for God to be angry at Israel's sin. And it is right and necessary for God to be angry at our sin. And so once we understand that God's anger is just, we should also take note that God's anger towards sin is to be feared. The writer of Hebrews tells us that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And the reason that we should fear is because of what Matthew tells us in his gospel as Jesus was teaching about those that did not serve him. And he said that these will go away into eternal punishment. Israel here was experiencing some immediate consequences for their sin. And there's going to be times when we may experience immediate consequences for our sin. But nothing that any of us have to endure on this earth can compare to the torment and the despair of an eternity suffering the unquenchable wrath of God. This is something that should be feared and should spur us to turn from anything that God hates. And this story in Judges is meant to serve as a warning about how God feels about sin. You wonder why this book is here? It's for that. That's one of the very reasons right there, that we would read it and go, God hates sin. I should do something about mine. Meaning I should turn to Christ because I can't do anything about it, but Christ can. But lest that we think that this makes God a fear monger who is coercing us into his service and his love, We should understand that God's anger towards sin is a display of His love, an action against sin. A parent that refuses to discipline their child, that allows them to act however they want with no consequence, is not acting in love toward their child. They are setting up that child for a lifetime of hurt and pain. A parent who does discipline their child is trying to teach them that there are right and wrong choices, that there is right and wrong behavior, and the parent desires that their child do what is right. Now, would it be wrong if the parent only ever disciplined their child for what they did wrong? Yes, I believe it would be. That would be wrong if all a parent ever did was discipline. There needs to be time for parents who praise their kids for what they did right, but it would be wrong to paint a picture of God that says that he only ever punishes because of sin. Now the book of Judges may choose to use that imagery more than other books, and so we're getting a very small picture of the character of God when we read Judges. We don't think this is not all of who God is when we read the book of Judges. Do we get a very narrow view of God? Yes, we get a very particular view of God, and that is God hates sin, God judges sin. His redemption is woven into it, and I said this last week, and Pastor said this, that we're gonna see a lot more of the redemptive side, the redemptive work that is going on when we get to the book of Ruth, which is taking place at the same time, and we see God is redeeming His people in the midst of His judgment. There is still redemption to be found. But this book is meant to focus on God judges sin. And so since that's the point of this passage, that is why we talk more about it when we preach through the book of Judges. And it's why, as I said last week, why many people don't preach through the book of Judges, because they don't like this aspect of God's character. But we need to understand that we need to know about God's righteous anger towards sin. And it should be noted that God's anger is born out of love. His desire for his creation for his people is that they glorify him. And when we sin, we rob God of that glory. When we move away from the right path, there must be correction. And just like a parent who disciplines out of love, God disciplines us out of love and a desire that we turn back to him. And then one final comment about God's anger is that it is satisfied in Christ. Through Christ's sacrificial atonement, through the shedding of his blood on the cross, the wrath of God is satisfied. That is the propitiation that Paul talks about in Romans. God's wrath is appeased in Christ. Our debt that we owe, a debt that we incur, have incurred because of our sin, was paid in full through the love and obedience of Jesus Christ. So when we read this story of judges, yes, we see that God has a hatred towards sin and a desire that his people serve him and follow him. But as we continue reading through Scripture, we see that that is pointing us to the atoning work of Christ. As Christ comes to fulfill... the law, to wipe away the sacrificial system that was taking place in the Old Testament where the people would come and offer up sacrifices at the tabernacle and in the temple, they would spill the blood of their sacrifice. Christ came to be that sacrifice once and for all, and when Christ died on the cross, He took the full extent of God's wrath for our sin, the wrath that we deserved that He did not deserve. Christ took that, and in that moment, the eternal consequence of our sin was fulfilled in Christ. So when we read these stories in Judges, the reason why we would even preach through this book, we preach it as a warning. Don't spurn this gracious offer lest we endure the wrath of a holy God. And we're going to see in the next section of verses where this understanding of the nature of God's anger and wrath, where it should lead us when we understand it, even if it doesn't lead Israel there, it should lead us to recognize our need for true repentance. Let's look at verses 10 going to the end of the chapter. It says, and the people of Israel cried out to the Lord saying, we have sinned against you because we have forsaken our God and have served the Baals. And the Lord said to the people of Israel, did I not save you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites, from the Ammonites and from the Philistines, the Sidonians also, and the Amalekites and the Mayonites oppressed you and you cried out to me and I saved you out of their hand. Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods. Therefore, I will save you no more. Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen. Let them save you in the time of your distress. And the people of Israel said to the Lord, we have sinned. Do to us whatever seems good to you, only please deliver us this day. So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord. And he became impatient over the misery of Israel. Then the Ammonites were called to arms and they encamped in Gilead. And the people of Israel came together and they encamped at Mizpah. And the people, the leaders of Gilead said to one another, who is the man who will begin to fight against the Ammonites? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. Well, just as there was more detailed description of the apostasy and the oppression of Israel, the narrator also offers us a more detailed description of Israel's response. Now, at a flyover glance, it appears that Israel has done what they should do. that they cried out to God saying that they turned from their wickedness and they're turning back to God. But when we take a closer look at this, it shows that this is not actually the case and we're actually getting an example of what we shouldn't do. We also see a small break in the pattern as there's usually a judge who delivers the message to the people. The next judge, Jephthah, that's who is spoken of there in verses 17 and 18, who is the man, Jephthah is about to be raised up, and he will show up in chapter 11. But before he comes, we have God speaking directly to his people. And this reminds me of how, if you're a parent, you probably, at least if you have more than one kid, or maybe somebody else in the family, you've done this where you're trying to get one of them to do something, you send one of the other kids. Go tell your brother to do this. Or you usually tell them that because they came and said, hey, he won't stop doing this. You go tell him, I said to behave. And you send the kid in there as your representative. Go tell them, I said, stop it. And then they go in there and you hear them say, Dad said, stop it. And they're like, I don't care. And they start fighting. And it's a loud uproar. And there's more fighting going on. And then all of a sudden, Dad has to get up. And they hear him coming. And they start, Dad's coming. Dad's coming. Oh, no. He's going to come. And he's going to really tell us what's for. God had to step in. He doesn't send a judge this time. He comes and intervenes Himself and He tells them what's about to happen. Let's look at Israel's response to the oppression, first of all, though. In verse 10, they cry out to God. They declare their guilt in sinning against Him and forsaking Him that they have turned to the false gods in His place. So the first thing that I think we need to understand about this need for true repentance is that admission of guilt is not repentance. This was just Israel stating facts. They just admitted what they have done. Maybe they shed some tears, but at this point we see no remorse over what they have done. This feels more like a, I'm sorry I got caught, declaration of guilt. Almost like they were surprised that God found out what they were up to. And we know this because of God's response to them. he sees right through their insincerity, and he begins his response by reminding them of everything that he's done for them in the past, and he lists off all the nations he's delivered them from, the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and on and on, and time after time, God has delivered his people. And then God reminds them of what they did in response each of these times, how they returned, as Proverbs 26, 11 says, like a dog to its vomit. After every instance of deliverance, after every moment of mercy shown to a people that didn't deserve mercy, was followed up by them falling back into their old habits and their sinful ways. And then look at God's response to his people in verse 14. He says, go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen. Let them save you in your time of distress. Commentator Daniel Block, he writes this, he says, with intense sarcasm and irony, God challenges Israel to go and cry out to the gods they have chosen, let them deliver you. God has said at this point, I am done with you. You want to serve these gods, go call on them to save you. There's a major issue with some evangelical preaching and teaching that God has to give us whatever we want just if we ask him for it. And that includes forgiveness and salvation. Yes, God's word says that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. But we also have God saying to his people in 2 Chronicles 7, 14, he says, my people who are called by my name, humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways. Then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. There were expectations that were given to the people after God saved them. They were expected to continue to seek God, to turn from their wicked ways. Proverbs 28.13 tells us that whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. Not just confesses their transgressions, but confesses and forsakes. We've created a culture of easy believism that teaches the ABCs of becoming a Christian. We just need to admit our sin. We don't just admit our sin. We weep over our sin. We turn from our sin. The people of Israel had cried wolf too many times. And God is saying that he will hear their cries no more because they are not sincere. This is a grave warning for us today that should not be ignored. Are we treating God like a cosmic vending machine, assuming that he has to forgive simply because we acknowledged our sin and now he has to give it to us? And then we get to verse 15. It seems like Israel's trying to make things right. They again admit their sin. They cry out again to God, but let's look again at their cry. They say, God, we have sinned. Do to us what seems good. Only please deliver us this day. They're negotiating with God. Yes, we deserve punishment. We'll take whatever punishment you deem fit, but not right now. Deliver us, save us right now. You can punish us later. You've probably had a teenager do that for you. You should go to punish them and say, I'm gonna ground you. Like, we'll do it next week. I've got something going on this weekend. Don't ground me now. We like to negotiate our way out of punishment, and that's what they're doing with God. Yes, we deserve it. Yes, I did wrong. I deserve to be punished, but just don't punish me right now. Please save us. This is no different than the person who comes to Jesus because they're scared of the possibility of hell. Now, should the thought of hell scare us? Absolutely. And that can be a motivation in drawing us to Christ. But if that's all there is, if there's no change in our behavior, no remorse or regret for what we've done, no commitment to follow Christ, then all we're doing is self-preservation. Self-preservation is not repentance. Israel is only caring about their own lives, their own safety, their own security. True repentance accepts that there are consequences for sin. But there's one more comment about repentance that I think we can find in this passage, and I hope it allows us to end on a hopeful and encouraging note, and that is that true repentance is born out of compassion. In writing to the Romans, Paul asks the question, do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? The fact that God shows mercy and compassion to anyone should be enough to drive us to repentance. Now this passage is unclear as to whether or not Israel actually repented. There's some confusion over what this verse means in verse 16, where it talks about God saying, he became impatient over the misery of Israel. Some translations say that God was grieved and that God was compassionate there in that moment and he showed them mercy. It would be the perfect ending to this particular part of the story. So if we could say with certainty that Israel repented and God granted them mercy and delivered them. But unfortunately, it appears that God is silent. And we have in verse 17, the threat of the Ammonites is being renewed. So the judgment is still coming. So where is the good news in this? Where do we see God's mercy? We see it in the fact that we have this story to serve as a warning and an exhortation to us that God is holy and he is just. That is the mercy. The mercy is for us today. We have this scripture before us that God has given us that we might know who God is. We need only read more of scripture to see that God is merciful and compassionate. Paul wrote quoting Exodus, he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. David, when he cried out in repentance in Psalm 51, he said, have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. God is showing us mercy even today by delaying His return, that even more would have the opportunity to repent. I'm gonna quote again as I did last week from Hebrews 3, verse 15. Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. There may be some here this morning that need to repent, repent unto salvation. Maybe it's just a need to repent of unconfessed sin. The good news is that there is forgiveness and mercy to be found for those who come to Christ in true repentance. Let's pray this morning. Our Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the story that we have written here, this historical account of what has happened with your people. God, we see your character on display, God, and we want to give you glory, God, because we know that you are a holy God, you are a just God. Lord, you are a God that demands punishment for the wickedness of your people. But God, we thank you for the grace and the peace that is promised us. If we turn in repentance and we turn to your son Jesus, Lord, and we trust in his sacrifice. God, I pray for those that may be still on that slippery slope of sin. God, I pray that you would Reveal yourself that your kindness, Lord, your mercy and compassion, Lord, that is evident throughout your word, God, Lord, would draw people into repentance of that sin. Or may we not spurn the grace that is offered, the mercy that is afforded to us, Lord, by your delaying. We pray for our world, Lord, that is broken, God, Lord, that there are so many that still need to turn to you. God be merciful. We thank you for Christ. May we rest in his accomplishment. Grant us peace, Lord. It's in your name we pray, amen. Thank you, Brian, for bringing us the word. If you could stand and sing as we close out with our final song, Victory in Jesus. I heard an old, old story How a Savior came from glory How He gave His life on Calvary To save a wretch like me I heard about His groaning Of His precious blood atoning Then I repented of my sin and won the victory. Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior forever. He sought me and bought me with his redeeming hand. He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is due Him. He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood. I heard about His healing Of His cleansing power revealing How He made the lame to walk again And caused the blind to see And then I cried, Dear Jesus Come and heal my broken spirit And somehow Jesus came And brought to me the victory Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior forever. He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is due Him. He plunged me to victory Beneath a cleansing flood I heard about a mansion He has built for me in glory And I heard about the streets of gold Beyond the crystal sea About the angels singing And the old redemption story And some sweet day I'll sing in there The song of victory Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior forever. He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is due Him. He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood. Okay, don't forget to sign if you want to sign up the birthday card for Clara. They'll be taken out to her this afternoon. You can do that. But as we're dismissed this morning, I just want to read from Psalm 19 that says, Go in peace this morning.