My text this morning is from the book of Psalms, and we'll be looking at Psalm 47. Psalm 47 this morning. Psalm 47. We're not told who wrote this psalm, but we can be quite certain that it was David. It fits all the key position, a psalm of the sons of Korah. But even though it says the psalm of the sons of Korah, it doesn't mean Korah wrote it. It just means that Korah was one who at least received it. But at least Spurgeon and Calvin think that David probably wrote it. They may be right. Well, follow as I read Psalm 47, starting at verse 1, of course, through verse 9. Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples. Shout to God with the voice of triumph. For the Lord Most High is awesome. He is a great king over all the earth. He will subdue the peoples under us and the nations under our feet. He will choose our inheritance for us, the excellence of Jacob, whom he loves. God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with a sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God. Sing praises. Sing praises to our king. Sing praises. For God is the king of all the earth. Sing praises with understanding. God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne. The princes of the people have gathered together, the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God. He is greatly exalted. So the reading of God's holy and inspired word this morning. Well, I listen, as I'm sure many of you do to the news and watch the news. And in recent months, I've often wept after I've been on the news, and I sometimes only spend two or three minutes watching it. That's all it takes. And I can't even watch it every day. It started, as you all know, with the death of George Floyd in an inexcusable action of a particular police officer. And then, as you also know, protests began, then riots, mobs even took over a section of the city of Seattle. There are murders in Chicago at an alarming rate. Even young children are killed by stray bullets in Chicago and some other cities. I weep for the families who have had to endure this. Continuous violent protests in Portland, Oregon. Then just yesterday, I read of a shooting in Rochester, New York, where two were killed and 14 were wounded. Thankfully, I believe none of them were wounded seriously. And before that, there were two sheriff's deputies in L.A. County who were shot while sitting in their patrol car. And yesterday, on September 19th, there was a threat to burn Congress down if there's an attempt to appoint a new Supreme Court justice. So the question I address this morning, who is in charge? Who is in charge? And what I'm here to tell you this morning is that Jesus Christ is in charge. And my prayer is that the study of this psalm will help us to all calm our souls in the midst of a national trouble, and that we'll have a measure of peace, if not outwardly, at least within our own hearts and souls. What I note in this psalm is that there is exuberant praise. You can't miss it, can you? There is exuberant praise. Five times, five times we are said to praise, along with clapping the hands and shouting. Now, that is contrary to Reformed Baptist culture. I understand that. And symbols, yes. And even the trumpet sound. But nonetheless, that is what we read in this psalm. Exuberant praise. And notice that we are to sing these praises with understanding. I have been in contexts where there's been singing, but there's been a whole lack of understanding. But we are to understand what we sing, not just do it exuberantly. Hence, there is a need to understand this song and what this song means when we praise God. Now, we are encouraged. We are exhorted to sing praises, to give praise to God. There are three reasons, as I see it in the song, and these three reasons are not my three points. But there are three reasons given in this song as to why we should praise God. The first reason is found in verse two. It is because God reigns over all the earth. That's a reason to give praise. The second reason is found in verse three, because he subdues the peoples under. He subdues the people, it says, over all the earth. And the third reason is found in verse four, and that is because God is giving his people an inheritance. That's reason to give praise to him. He gave Israel the inheritance of Canaan. He gives us a greater inheritance. that we read about in first Peter chapter one verses three and four blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his abundant mercy has blessed us with and begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ the dead to an inheritance undefiled incorruptible of one that fades never away. But I'm only going to deal with the second reason for praise of the soul that we find and that is the reason for praise is because God subdues the nations. He subdues the nations. So, I have six questions to address this psalm. I'll not give them to you all at once because you'll try to write them all down. Some of you will. So, I'll give them to you one at a time, but I'll make them very distinct. The first question is this. What does it mean to subdue the nations? Now, if you look in the dictionary for the meaning of the word subdue, You can come up with two different meanings, and both are correct, and both are true. The first meaning means to overcome, to quiet, or to bring under control. Now notice that, to overcome, to quiet, to bring under control. The second meaning of subdue is to bring a country or people under control by force. Now you see, both have the same result, but it's very different. In my youth, I had a Palomino mare. Her name was Penny. And she had two Palomino foals. The first was a filly. And after a couple of years, spending a lot of time with her, I gentled her. And I decided it was time to ride her. And I generally rode bareback. I didn't care for saddles. I put the bridle on her and then I hopped on her back. She quivered, settled down. I rode her and she neck reigned immediately. She was subdued by gentleness. Then Penny also had a, had a colt named him Blaze. I will admit I didn't spend as much time with Blaze as I spent with Star. However, it was time for him to be gentled, or to be broken at least. So my father tied a long rope on the halter. I got on, blazed, and I didn't stay. I stayed until he went up several times. Then when he tucked his head between his feet and put his rear end up, I did not stay on. Again, I was bareback. Well, my foot got caught in the robe. He dragged me across the lawn. thankfully stopped just before the gravel driveway. I sold him. My neighbors, to some neighbor boys that were my friends, and then a few weeks later I saw them riding by on their horses and there was Blaze. I could tell he'd been subdued. He'd been broken. He was a beautiful Palomino stallion, but his head was between his front legs. And he drooped, and he just sort of lopped along. I always felt that I owed it to him again. But of course, that's not possible now. But both the filly and the colt were subdued, one by gentling, the other by force. So the question we have to ask is, of which kind of subduing does this psalm refer to? Well, it is the first kind. the kind of gentling. How do we know that? Well, I'm going to give you lots of reasons later on, but I'll give you one just at the beginning. I liked what John Calvin said in his commentary. I paraphrase. He says, you know, it would be very unnatural for people who have been subdued if it was by force for them to be shouting and clapping their hands and rejoicing with joy. Now to me, that's enough reason right there. So in this psalm, we're talking about a kind of subduing That is a willing subduing that that produces joy that produces praise that reduces that produces exuberant thanksgiving and praise to God. So that's what we mean by subduing. Second question who does this subduing. Well again the psalm is very clear isn't it. God is the one who does it. In fact we see the name of God used eight times in the psalm that be a good Good homework assignment for the children, wouldn't it, to see if I'm right. The name of God used eight times in the psalm. And in addition to that, Lord, all capital letters, used two times. And then the Lord is described as the Most High, or the King. Not his name, but he's described that way three times. So obviously the psalm, over the course of nine verses, we have 10 times that the name of God is used. Elohim is the name for God. Lord is sometimes translated Jehovah. Yahweh. So it is Yahweh. It is the Lord. Now, who is God? Well, I'll not give you the definition, because most of you know it. What is God? God is spirit, infinite, and so forth. You know that. How many gods are there, children? You got it. I don't know who said that, but you're right. There is one God. How many persons are there in the Godhead? Three. We believe in the Trinity. Strongly do. We are Trinitarian without apology. Now, sometimes when Elohim is used, it refers to the being of God. That is, one God. Sometimes when Yahweh is used or Lord refers to the essence of God, the being of God, one God. Sometimes when Elohim is used, it refers to a particular person in the Trinity. And sometimes, many times, when the word Lord is used, all capital letters, it refers to a particular person in the Trinity. What is referred to here? Well, I submit to you that this psalm is about the Son of God, the eternal Son of God, who became flesh and dwelt amongst us. We know Him as the Lord Jesus Christ. And I can prove that to you. If you look with me at verse 2. For the Lord, Yahweh, Most High, is awesome. He is a great King over all the earth. Revelation 1916, and he, that is Jesus Christ, has a name on his robe and on his thigh, a name written, and you know it, don't you? King of Kings, Lord of Lords. Furthermore, a second proof that this is referring to our Lord Jesus Christ is found in verse 5, where we read, God has gone up with a shout, the Lord, Yahweh, with a sound of the trumpet going up with a shout who went up with a shout who ascended. Well Ephesians 4 8 and 9 says to us quoting actually from the Psalm 68 when he ascended on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men. There's only one man who under his own power has ascended to heaven. Now a couple of men were taken to heaven but it's a lot different being taken there and ascending there. And then in Acts one nine. Now, when he had spoken these things, that is, Jesus, while they watched, he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight. And then compare that with Luke chapter 24, verse 51 now came to pass while he blessed them, that he was parted from them and carried up into heaven. Who can doubt that when he entered heaven, that there was not the trumpet sound. Now, I know there was the trumpet sound as part of the Jewish feast. And of course, that trumpet sound was just simply a picture of the great trumpet that would happen when Jesus Christ would enter the true eternal temple. And can you imagine the praises of all the departed who were there, Old Testament saints who were there and they saw their They saw their Savior, their King, ascending and sitting at the right hand of God. The joy and rejoicing which they must have had is almost unimaginable. There's a third reason why we say this refers to Jesus Christ, and that is because God reigns over the nations. And who is the one who reigns over the nations? Matthew 28, 18, Jesus said in his own words, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. In Acts 2.26, Peter said in the day of Pentecost, God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ. Ephesians 1.22, and he put all things under his feet. God the Father put all things under the feet of Jesus and gave him to be head over all things to the church. So I say to you that this psalm is about Jesus Christ. He is the one Who does the subduing? Now, our third question. Our third question is this. Who is subdued? Well, let's look at the psalm to find the answer. And we find in verses one and three, these words. Oh, clap your hands all you peoples. Peoples are subdued. Peoples. It's an interesting word, isn't it? Peoples. Now, you're a people. But it says people most of our most of us here. Some of it probably most of us here are of European descent. Some of Hispanic descent. And who knows what descent we are. I don't even know where I came from for sure. But so we're different peoples. And then there are people groups. There are all kinds of people groups. Here in America, there's Hispanics, there's African-Americans, there's Asian, there's Middle Eastern, there's European, and the list goes on. Well, it says that those who are subdued are the peoples, the peoples of the earth. And it's such a complete subduing, again, notice the shouting and the clapping and all that's involved. Verses 2, 7, and 8 says, all the earth, verse 7. Verse two, I should say, he's a great king over all the earth. Verse seven, for God is the king of all the earth. And verse eight, God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne. C.H. Virgin in his comments says this is no local deity. Well, that's an understatement, isn't it? And furthermore, this subduing includes the princes of the people in Psalm 47, verse nine. The princes of the people have gathered together, the people of the God of Abraham. The shields of the earth belong to God. So we got the princes of the people and we got the shields of the earth, the princes of the people. That is, you've got Gentiles involved in this, not just Jews. The shields of the earth shields are signs of pomp and rank and power and wealth. And this pomp and power belongs is submitting to Christ now. Some of you are sitting here and thinking. This is all very good but I don't see it. Here's what I see. I look at China and I see President Xi. And President Xi has reintroduced Maoism. And he is ramping up the persecution of the church, closing churches, searching them out, persecuting Christians. I see that too. Or you say, Well, I don't see that in France. I mean, what is France doing? They're still worshipping the deity of agnosticism and humanistic philosophy. Or in Muslim countries. There are so many Muslims in the world. What are they doing? Well, they're worshipping Allah, you say. And we have to pray for them because the Christians amongst them are persecuted severely. And here in the USA, I don't see that in the USA either. I see people worshipping the American dream. Well freedom or in some cases worshipping change to offset our whole history. That's what I see you say. Well we can answer that in two ways. First of all we can answer it in this way. We can say well ultimately this song does point to another day. Jesus Christ is coming there. He will be reigning over all the earth and all the kings and all the nations of all the earth will be under his domain. But wait. We must also answer this question in a very contemporary way. Let's start with France. Is Jesus Christ subduing peoples in France? Oh, yes. This church supports a missionary by the name of David Vaughan. Did you know that just a couple of weeks ago he had a combined worship service with several gypsy groups in France from four different towns, 60 to 70 people there, and there's at least one and maybe more churches that are formed underneath the Confession of Faith, which we confess here at Grace Reformed Baptist Church. How did that happen? It is our kings subduing the peoples. They worship willingly. and rejoice willingly. Or let's think about Rwanda. Just in the last couple of weeks, I have received an email from a brother in Rwanda, genuine email, who has left the prosperity gospel movement, who now wishes to form and is forming churches based upon our confession of faith. just asking for prayer and help from here in the United States. How is that happening? It is because Jesus Christ is subduing the nations. Or think about Iran. What do you think of when you think about Iran? Oh, you don't have happy thoughts. We didn't either until a few years ago. I met Sadiqa in Rome, and she told us that Iranians love Americans. We said, oh, really? But there's something else happening in Iran. And that is, there is reported by Open Doors, which is an organization that prays for and supports persecuted Christians around the world, that they estimate that there are probably now over one million evangelical Christians in Iran. That was questioned very severely by the secular press until just recently a group called the Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran, acronym GAMAAN, based out of the Netherlands, did a survey of 50,000 Iranians. And they came up with the same results. They estimated that 1.5% of the entire population in Iran are evangelical Christians. And that's what the Joshua Project says as well. That means there's somewhere between 750,000 or perhaps exceeding a million believers in Iran. How do you explain that? In a country where to profess Christ means death, and yet there's a million of them, brothers and sisters. I tell you how I explain it and how you will explain it, and that is, this psalm says that Jesus Christ, our King, is subduing the nations, and these people are rejoicing in Christ. Or think of China. China. And by the way, back to Iran. This is probably the greatest revival that's happening in the world today, in Iran. Probably the greatest. We used to say it was China. Well, China's still doing quite well. But China now, it's estimated there are between 75 and 100 million evangelical Christians in China. So when we ask the question, who is subdued? We say the nations are being subdued. We must understand the nations to mean peoples from all over the globe. And I haven't even talked about South America, what's happening there. It's amazing. I do know that the Sproul Study Bible has just been published and printed in Spanish. And it's a beautifully bound Bible. And there's a market for it. There's a market for it. And on and on we can go. So who is subdued? The nations. The peoples. And maybe, just maybe, the Lord will be gracious to our country. Well, let's move on to our fourth question, which is what historical event assures the subduing? There is an historical event that makes certain that this subduing is going to continue and continue and continue. And the answer to the question is found in verse five. I emphasize historical event. We have a religion that is rooted in history, in truth, in actual facts. The fact checker may not agree, but it matters not. It is rooted in truth. What is the answer? Verse five, God has gone up with a shout. the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. I've already explained that that refers to the ascension of Jesus Christ. The trumpet shows something of the splendor of his triumph. To this day, trumpets are used to announce kings. Ah, the greatest king has ascended with the sound of a trumpet. You know, I listened when I was preparing this sermon. I listened to the U.S. Army Herald trumpeters play Hail to the Chiefs. Spectacular! just absolutely spectacular. You may want to listen to it and then think it has no comparison to the trumpet sound that welcomed Jesus. No comparison. As spectacular as it is. He ascended with the trumpet. And if I read my Bible correctly, I think I recall that he comes again with a trumpet. So there's going to be, there was glory in his ascension, there's glory in his return. All that is true. The dead in Christ shall rise first when he descends from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God. As great as Rafael Mendez was on the trumpet, God's trumpet is better. Much, much better. Now here we see, I want to emphasize here, we see the importance of the ascension of Jesus Christ. It is a very important truth and historical fact in the Christian faith. Because at that ascension is the proof of what he said to his disciples, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. You have to be in heaven to have authority there. And from heaven, you can have authority over the earth. At the ascension, he triumphed over all of his enemies. So we read in Ephesians 4, 8, when he ascended on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men. So here is our Lord Jesus Christ triumphing over his enemies, giving gifts to men. And he gives gifts to all his people, every single one of them. Only a few in the Old Testament had great gifts. Oh, every believer in Jesus Christ has a gift. I don't go searching for it. Just do it. The Bible commands you and you'll soon find what your gifts are. I'll not go into that more, but I'd like to. And as the ascended Christ, he now rules. He now rules over all for the good of his church, Ephesians 1.22. And he put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the church. I quoted that verse once, but I quote it again because this is very, very important to understand that in his ascension, it is his ascension which has given him authority over everything, everything here on earth. This event, this historical event of the ascension of Jesus Christ is every bit as important in the Christian faith, as is the incarnation of Christ being born of the Virgin in Bethlehem, as is the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, as is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because without the ascension, we have no salvation. Without any one of these historical facts, we have no salvation. And it's true with the ascension of Christ as well. He is ascended on high. We have a man in heaven. And he does so much for us. The God-man, Jesus Christ. Now, to our fifth question. And the fifth question is this. How are these nations subdued? Well, I have four answers. First of all, we see in verse 3, he will subdue the nations under us. The people under us and the nation's under our feet under us under our feet. Now remember, not talking about a forced subduing here. And by the way, we know there is such a thing as a force of doing by our king. Psalm two just simply read Psalm two. Psalm two talks about our our King, our Lord Jesus Christ, who rules with a rod of iron, and all people will bow to him, and he will subdue all by force those who are not subdued willingly. But as I said, this psalm is talking about the willing subjection of his people. So it's under our feet. This means our feet has something to do with the subduing. Now, of course, we must not take that literally. You all understand that. But it does mean that in some way, God's people are involved in bringing the peoples to Christ. Romans 1620 also says this, and the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet. Now that's a different kind of crushing. But not necessarily, because every time the gospel is preached and someone believes Satan is crushed, disappointed again. Because he doesn't know who the elect are. He's not that smart. Furthermore, we see it's very clear that it is by the power of Christ himself, by Messiah, Messiah's power. Verse two, for the Lord most high is awesome. He's the great king. Verse three, he will subdue the peoples under us. He subdues them under us, but he does it. Verse five. God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. He's the one who reigns, you see. And verses seven and eight, for God is the king of all the earth. So the point is, God is the one who does it. Jesus Christ is the one who does the subduing, and he uses his people to see this subduing happen. We may make one other observation, and that is it is by the gradual providence of God that this subduing happens. It is not something that happens all at once. It is a gradual subduing over a period of time. Princes and Gentiles and Jews are subdued, such is the way that this subduing happens. And we must remember another very important truth, and that is this subduing is a result of the cross. It is a result of the suffering of Christ. It is the suffering of Christ which has caused the subduing to explode around the world. It is not that Jesus Christ, he will someday do this, exercises authority by causing men to bow no matter what, but it is through his cross. And he has told his people repeatedly that as they proclaim the gospel that is he suffered they too will suffer and as salvation came through his suffering. So the progress of the gospel will come through our suffering as well. This is what is promised. The suffering has continued with the apostles the prophets ministers and missionaries throughout history. and the gospel and former enemies from the nations now worship through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me tell you a story that I heard just actually last night. Mohammed. Not the Mohammed. That's his name Mohammed. He's alive today. He lives in Lebanon. And he. His the country went because of war, even though his family was a stable family. They lost everything and he basically had to live on the streets. The time he was six years old. Up through his early teenage years. And Mohammed there was a Sunday school. So he went to the Sunday school only for one reason because they gave him something to eat every week. And they cared for him. And so he went to Sunday school from age six through 14. And then at the age of 14 Mohammed was converted to Jesus Christ. And he learned about Christ. And he loved Christ. And as a young adult, he began to preach boldly the Lord Jesus Christ. As a result, he received death threats, suffering. And he was put in prison for a few months at one point in his life. And the efforts to persecute him and to bring about his death were so severe that the brothers sent him over here to the USA for a while, where he could get some Bible training. He got that training. He went back to Lebanon. But not as a coward, but as a bold witness to Jesus Christ. He married a woman by the name of Grace. Mohammed and Grace. Isn't that amazing? And he planted a church. Entire. right in the shadow of a mosque. And he continues to receive threats and so forth. His wife says, we love the Lord, and these threats cannot harm us or hurt us because we're here to serve Christ. And now he's planting churches in other places in Lebanon and working in that way. Now, You see, I emphasize this because we need to understand that this subduing, this subduing happens through us and it happens through suffering most of the time. That is what we can expect, because that's the way that our Lord caused the gospel to explode around the world. It was by his death burial, resurrection and ascension. But I want us to understand that there is this joyful, complete victory in the end. We've seen it. Do I need to repeat it? No, I don't need to, but I want to because it's so glorious. Clap your hands, all you people. What glory, what complete submission. Verse three, He will subdue the nations under us. Verse seven, for God is the king over all the earth. Sing praises with understanding. And the more we see that it's not a powerful for submission, as I said, a joyful submission, including the joyful singing and the clapping of hands and the victory is complete. Most of you, perhaps almost all of you here this morning because you love Jesus. And you love the triune God. And you rejoice in Him. If you don't, you need to. He will save you. He will forgive you. I plead with you. Be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. If you've not been, I plead with you. He's a gentle Savior who says, come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He does give rest. Peace. forgiveness, cleansing, union with Christ, sweet fellowship, and communion with the living God. Well, now let's move on to the sixth question. And it is this. What should be our response to this truth? Well, I suggest four responses. First of all, praise. Praise. Because that's what the psalm says. Sing joyfully, shout, sing praise. I don't say you have to literally shout, although it wouldn't hurt us if we did that once in a while. But praise, praise in our hearts, praise on our lips, praise to our great and glorious God. I read about a church in California several months ago when the governor said that the churches couldn't sing. You know what they did? Well, they said they had a bell choir. And so they said, we can't sing, so we'll hum while the bells are playing. And they said they had a praise was a humdinger. Well, do what you have to do in the midst of the present pandemic. But in some way, in some way, we give praise to God. Even if we can't do it as vociferously as we like, we can do it by the grace of God. So we pray. That's the first response we need to have. Second response is to pray. Because embedded in this song, are truths that are really promises, because the promise is that he will subdue the peoples under us. That's a promise. It's a promise that comes from our great and glorious God. And what are we to do? We are to pray in the name of Jesus Christ. And we know that if we pray anything according to his will, he hears us. And if he hears us, then we know we have that which we have desired of him. I think that's 1st John 5, 14, isn't it? Something like that, pretty close. Anyway, he will do that. So here is a promise. And we need to pray. Oh God, subdue the nations under us. Open our mouths. Help us to be able to see the glory of God. I rejoice, I'm sure as you do, whenever we see Muslims in the Middle East being converted. And there are hundreds of thousands of them being converted different. And when we see agnostics and humanists and atheists in France being converted, there are very many, but there are a number, even the gypsies in France. And when we see South America exploding with the gospel. Spanish speaking people. And when we hear about Iran we know when all of this happens that we are seeing the fulfillment of this song and we pray that we pray it we pray and maybe God even bless the USA that there will be countless countless thousands swept into the kingdom in revival. He can do it. A third response, praise, pray, preach, preach. How do we preach? We send missionaries into the various parts of the world where they will be persecuted. You know, for years, it didn't seem like there were many young people going to difficult parts of the world. That's changing now. they are going and they are suffering. But God will bless them in the midst of their suffering and save many. We thank him for the support missions. But let's not forget that each of us have a responsibility with the gifts and in the sphere where God has placed us to open our mouths for him. Not everybody is to preach behind a pulpit. That would go contrary to the word of God. But everyone is to be able to give a reason for the hope that lies within them. Everyone is to be able to proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, that He, born of the Virgin, lived a perfect life, died on the cross, rose the third day and ascended to heaven and now is king over all the earth and everyone who believes in Him may be saved. Pray that God would open our mouths to do that. so that we can do all we can to help this choir of praise. And then a fourth, a fourth response. I had to use a P, doesn't really fit, but it makes the point I hope. Put away fear. Put away fear. It's so easy to become frightened today in our nation, for some of us, because of what we see going around us. And as I indicated in the introduction. But what's the worst thing that can happen to us? The Bible says, Do not fear him who can kill the body, but fear him who can cast body and soul into hell. The worst thing that can happen to us is that we would die. I don't especially want to die on the rack. That sounds awful bad to me. But we need not be afraid. no matter what happens in our country, or whenever it happens, the same man reigns as before it happened. And he will accomplish his purposes in whatever occurs. And his purposes are to subdue the peoples under us. That's his purpose. That's what he will do. It's what he's doing in nations of the world, even as we are here in this place this morning. So we see our country falling apart with riots and pandemic and weak governors and mayors. But in a short time, Jesus Christ could send revival and change the whole thing. I pray he will. He may or may not. That's up to him. But I pray he will. But we need not fear. So put away fear. So here is what we need to do. We need to pray, never stop praising or we have a king. We need to pray because we have a king who's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. And we need to preach, tell the gospel to others, and we need to put away fear and live joyfully before our God. Let's pray together. Our Father, we do thank you for your great and glorious son. Thank you for sending him. We pray, Lord, that you be pleased to help us to honor him in all that we do. And here are prayers that more and more people may be subdued and brought and gentled, as it were, into the kingdom, joining with us in praise and thanksgiving. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.