Talk—Josh Stewart
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Loving God and our Father, we give thanks this evening for the privilege of being together this weekend, for the hospitality of our brethren who have put on the conference, and for thy provision of spiritual food over these meetings. And two, for helping us all to get here safely. And we just pray for those who will be leaving for safety as well.
And we just pray about the little time that we have left in this last meeting. And we just pray that.
There might be something that would encourage us, that would stir us up and help us to walk a little bit more for the Lord Jesus Christ in this, in these last few days of the day of grace. So we just pray this and give thanks in the worthy name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
So I have for a number of months had something that's been kind of brewing around in my mind and my heart, and it is the subject of revival and.
I know that there's a lot of different definitions of revival out there. Umm, but I do think that we need.
A revival in a certain sense, we always need a revival. But you know, umm, what do we mean by revival? Do I mean that we need to have another outpouring of the Spirit? No, the Spirit of God has been sent. We're not asking for the Spirit to be sent again. But you know, I think that as we look around us and we just go through life.
Umm. At least to me. I think that I've gotten a little bit of a sense that there could be more.
Devotion to the Lord there could be more. Faithfulness to His Word, there could be more.
Umm, love and affection for Christ in my own heart and I think I can speak on behalf of many. Umm, we need to be restored to the Lord and, and a revival in that sense. And so I've been my mind has been going over a number of different passages in the word of God.
At times in the Old Testament when Israel was in a very low condition and what God used to revive them and umm, I've had chapters like First Kings 18 on my heart where the people were in such a low condition that they didn't even know who was God. Was it Baal or was it Jehovah?
And in a certain sense, in many cases, we can be in a condition like that today.
Where we don't even know who deserves our worship. Is it the entertainments of this world that deserve our attention or is it the Lord? Well, another chapter has come come before my mind and that's Judges chapter 5. And Judges chapter 5 comes right after Judges chapter 4. Umm And I'm not going to review the whole story of Judges chapter 4. I hope that you're mostly familiar with it, but just.
Briefly summarize, there was a very low condition in Israel, I mean low in a spiritual sense. And there were enemies of the people of God and a general named Cicera, and they had oppressed the people of God. And the Lord used a number of individuals, Deborah, who is a woman.
And barracks.
And another woman named Jail and a host of other individuals that aren't even named to have a revival and to get deliverance from this this bad condition that had come in and then in Judges Chapter 5.
Deborah and Barrick begin to sing a song and they kind of go over the whole story in a poetic way, and they bring out some really interesting things. And in a certain way, when I look at this song, I see you might say, some of the elements of revival.
And so I just wanted to go through it and bring out 10 things that I enjoyed from it. And I hope maybe you can be encouraged by some of these things. So we'll just start by reading the 1St 3 verses.
Then saying Deborah and Barack the son of a Binowam on that day, saying, Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people are willingly offered themselves.
Hear, O ye kings, give ear, O ye Princess, I even I, will sing unto the Lord.
I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel. So the first thing that I wanted to bring out was that if there's going to be a work of revival, it's the Lord's work. Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, but it's the Lord's work. But He uses those who willingly offer themselves. And if I want to see revival.
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If I want to see a return back to the Lord, and if you do, we have to be willing to offer ourselves.
We can't just sit back and say, you know, things are going pretty bad right now, so I'll see you next year and come back next year and you know, things are going pretty bad. You know, there's a lot of things to be discouraged about. No. Are we willing to offer ourselves? That's the question. There were ones in this chapter who offered themselves and there were those who didn't. And I trust that we'll, we'll be able to offer ourselves to the Lord to use us in whatever way he can use us.
Well then, verses 4:00 to 5:00.
Lord, when thou wentest out of Seer, when thou markest out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled and the heavens dropped. The clouds also dropped water.
The mountains melted from before the Lord, even that Sinai from before the Lord God of Israel. You might say why? Why bring out something that happened a long, long time before Deborah?
Well, I believe Deborah and Barrick in this song are going back to the very beginning of Israel's history and bringing out what happened at the very beginning. That is, God brought them up out of Egypt with a strong hand and he brought he led them to the land of Canaan.
And what I take from this is that we have to go back to God's original purpose. They went back in their minds that God had a purpose when He brought Israel out of Egypt to bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey. And when he brought them, their enemies trembled. They were afraid of them. So they went back to the original purpose and to the original state.
And I believe that we need to do the same thing. You know, we can't base.
Our decisions on what we see around us, we can't base our decisions and our lifestyle on the status quo. We have to go back, as the apostle John said, to that which is from the beginning. And so we can turn to the book of Acts and to the apostles doctrine, and we can read about the church. We can read about how it began and we can read the principles as as was brought out this weekend.
Of the church, what the church is.
The calling of the church, the hopes of the church, the destiny of the church. And we can read about that.
And then we can see what God desires from us. So they they have that.
That was sort of the background in their mind. Now we see something different, Verses 67867 and eight. Let's read those verses in the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath. In the days of jail, the highways were unoccupied and the travelers walked through byways. The inhabitants of the villages ceased.
They ceased in Israel until that I, Deborah arose, that I arose.
A mother in Israel. They chose new gods. Then was war and the gates.
Was there a shield or spear seen among 40,000 in Israel?
And So what we have in these 3 verses is something else.
Now we have to be willing to acknowledge our failure.
And if there's gonna be a revival, we must first acknowledge the fact that we have failed.
Umm, the Lord Jesus said they that are whole need not the physician, but they that are sick.
Umm, you know, we speak about revival. I once had a lengthy conversation with a young man who was convinced that that there was going to be this huge worldwide revival of the church, and he thought it was happening like right now, and that the church was going to have this huge revival.
And everyone was going to get super holy and devoted to the Lord, and then he was going to come and take us home. And he said Ephesians 5 says that he might present to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
The church doesn't look like that today, so something's got to change. So he thought there was going to be this big revival. Well, I tried to explain to him that it is the unanimous prediction of the apostles that the state of the church is going to get lower and lower and lower.
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Before the Lord comes and there's not going to be some worldwide revival. And there's a number of other reasons that we could show that, but that doesn't mean there can't be a revival in a partial way. There can be revival on a on a partial way. It can be in a local setting, in a local assembly.
And, umm, I don't think we should ever just throw up our hands and say there's no hope the ship is going down. You know, we're just arranging chairs on the deck of the Titanic. As one person said to me, that's not true.
Uh, exactly true.
But we have to be willing to acknowledge the failure. And there's a couple areas here brought out. The first one is that the highways were unoccupied. The travelers walked through byways. So that is that. It was so dangerous out that people couldn't go on the highway. They had to take twisty, windy back roads. And there's a number of thoughts that could be brought out, but one that comes to mind is hospitality.
It's it's a bit of a symptom in my mind that we don't.
We don't visit one another as often as.
Believers did in times past, Umm, my, my parents and my grandma, she told us about how in the old days, on Sunday afternoons after the meetings, there were ones who would go from house to house. This is just on a regular weekly, weekly basis and just visit and spend time together, maybe open the scriptures together and, and sometimes and that doesn't happen like it used to.
Umm, visiting one another.
To be together as as umm, as the household of God, not limiting our traveling to visiting family. You know our real family is the family of God.
Umm, but so that's that's a symptom. The next thing is the inhabitants of the villages ceased. They ceased in Israel. And it makes me think of the shrinking numbers in local assemblies. Now I know numbers aren't everything, but it is a sign that something is not right. The fact that.
We don't enjoy coming together in a local assembly, the fact that we shrink away.
From the assembly meetings, From being with one another.
That's something that is a symptom.
Now we get something that maybe might be one of the causes they chose new gods, and maybe this is one of the areas that we need to have addressed in our conscience. Have we chosen new gods?
You know what is an idol? And and our brother quoted from first John 5.
Little children keep yourselves from idols and I think in the context of first John and idol would be a false.
View of the person of Christ there are many false doctrines concerning the person of Christ and that were being taught gnostic doctrines and I think specifically there and idol would be a false.
An idea of the person of Christ, but we can apply that to anything that comes into our life that would rob the Lord Jesus of the worship that he deserves.
And when I was a young person, I guess I kind of still am, But when I was a single young person, I heard an explanation of what it means to glory.
In something, and I had never heard this before, it was uh, Rob House. He was explaining this. It was one of the Regal Ferry Sunday School classes and he was explaining.
What it means to glory in something. And he said it's like when you're at a hockey game or some sporting event and someone makes a really big play or scores a goal, that's like great. And everyone cheers and everyone's like, yeah, that is to glory in whatever that person just did that accomplishment and the whole stadium is just.
Enthralled, their adoration goes out to that person in that moment, and that's what it means to glory.
You know, the apostle Paul said, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the things of this world do not deserve our adoration. There's only one person that deserves our adoration, that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He deserves it. He paid the ultimate price, didn't he? He paid an infinite price. And uh, I think it saddens him deeply when he sees our affections, our praise, our worship go.
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Somewhere it doesn't belong and umm, perhaps we have chosen new gods and we have forsaken the Lord.
And then the next one is, uh, was there a shield or spear scene among 40,000 of Israel?
We read in Second Corinthians that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. Here it says there were no weapons. And there's a lot that could be brought out here. I realize I'm going over this stuff pretty quick, but I just think about familiarity with the Word of God. Do we know this book? Do we know it inside and out? Do we study it and do we let it study us?
You know, a brother that I have a lot of respect for said this.
We need to read the Bible in two different ways. One is we need to read it as a devotional. I think that's the 1St way we need to read it, and we need to let it study us. That is, we need to read it for the sake of meditation.
And letting getting ourselves in the presence of God. And the 2nd way is to study it, to learn. We need both of those things. Some people tend to gravitate towards one and some people towards the other. And I perhaps tend to gravitate towards studying the Word. And I can get to where I'm learning a lot of doctrine, but my heart is cold and empty. So I need to be feeding on Christ and to be getting into the presence of.
We need both of those things, but if we don't, if we become unfamiliar with this book, we've lost our our sword. We've lost our weapons. You know, there was another time in Israel's history when there were only two swords and all the land of Israel. Does anyone know when that was? Shout it out.
That's right, Saul and Jonathan were the only two who had swords, and each of them chose to do something different with that sword. Sat down under a pomegranate tree, Jonathan said to his armor bearer. Armor bearer, let's go over against the Garrison of the Philistines. And he went, and there was a tremendous victory. So we have a choice. What are we going to do with this book?
Are we going to read it? Are we going to let?
God use it through us.
Well, that was the state. It was a pretty sad state. Umm, but there's some good things coming up here. Verse nine, My heart is toward the governors of Israel that offered themselves willingly among the people. So I think that in spite of all the failure, this is the next thing is that we need to encourage what is of God. And there is always something to encourage and wherever there are believers.
There's the life of Christ.
And you can see it, and it's good to encourage that wherever you can.
Then in verse 10 speak ye that ride on white ***** that sit in judgment and walk by the way they that are delivered from the noise of The Archers in the places of drawing water. There shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord, even the righteous acts towards the inhabitants of His villages in Israel. Then shall the people of the Lord go down to the gates.
Umm, So what I just want to bring out from this.
Is that there are those who are not going to get involved in the revival. There are these ones who ride on white ***** that would be their their royal Princess of Israel and they were kind of like this upper class.
They were delivered from the noise of The Archers. They they weren't in a place where they really felt it. They had plenty of money and the oppressors of Israel didn't really bother them too much.
So they really had no vested interest in this battle that was taking place in Israel.
You know you're not going to see everyone involved in turning to the Lord.
And that's OK.
And that's OK. And I think that's one of the lessons that we get here is that the work has to start with us. We can't say because this person or that person doesn't seem to have any interest, why should I? Now each one of us, we need to leave those ones with the Lord. And in fact, it says there's a verse 11. I think it's there's a more critical translation that says they are delivered. It says because of the voice of them that divide the spoil. So in other words, they weren't there for the battle.
They were there to divide the spoil. And you know what? We know what that's like. Someone wants to come when it's time to eat a meal, but they don't want to be there to prepare for it, you know, And we just need to leave those kind of things with the Lord and just serve Him and be faithful to Him ourselves.
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Well then, verse 12 Awake, awake, Deborah, awake, awake, utter a song. Arise barrack, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of a binowam.
And he made them that remaineth to have dominion over the nobles among the people.
So that's the next thing is that we need to wake up out of our spiritual slumber and we need to encourage others to wake up as well. You know, we can just kind of get into a rut where we're just.
We come to the meetings, maybe we hear people talking about the Lord, we hear people reading the Bible and discussing it with one another, and we just, we don't even feel any desire in our heart toward the Lord. We just kind of feel like a bump on a log.
We need to awake out of that slumber.
And there are scriptures that would tell us some of the things God uses to wake us up. But I think one of them in my own life has been the most influential is to think about the sufferings of Christ. You know, in the Song of Solomon, there was a woman there in chapter 5 who when her bridegroom knocked at the door, she was too lazy to get out of bed.
She, she said. I've taken off my my shoes and my coat and I I don't want to put them back on. I don't want to.
Get back out of bed. And so he continued knocking. She got out of bed and he was gone.
But he put his hand, it says, by the whole of the door. And I've heard this from others and I really enjoyed it, that we think of the Lord's hand.
We we think of that those nail prints that were in his hands.
And I think a view of the sufferings of Christ is something that the Lord can use to warm our hearts when we've gotten cold and sleepy towards Him. So for my own self, read Matthew 26 and 27, Think of the sufferings of Christ and it can wake us up out of the spiritual sleep that we're in.
And and two, to encourage others. If you see someone who's going along and they are sleeping, just to take it by the shoulders and give them a good shake and try to stir them up if you can.
Well, then we have.
Starting in verse 14 to verse 18, we have some of the records of this of this battle and who took a part in it.
So let's just read these verses. Verse 14 out of Ephraim there was a root of them against Amalek. After thee, Benjamin, among thy people, out of Maker came down governors, and out of Zebulun, they that handled the pen of the writer.
And the Princess of Issachar were with Deborah, even Issachar, and also Barrick. He was sent on foot into the valley for the divisions of Reuben. There were great thoughts of heart. Why a boatest thou among the sheepfolds?
To hear the bleedings of the flocks for the divisions of Reuben, there were great searchings of heart. Gilead abode beyond Jordan. Why did Dan remain in ships? Asher continued on the seashore and abode in his breeches.
Sabulin and Naphtali were a people that jeopardized their lives unto the death in the high places of the field.
And we'll stop there. So I'm not going to go through all of these, but you could. And I encourage you to just to take a look at some of these names that are mentioned. You know, God is recording everything that we do for Him. And there's going to be rewards at the judgment seat of Christ for faithfulness to him. That's not why we're laboring. I trust that we're laboring because we love Him and we want to see as we had before, we want to seek the things that.
Jesus Christ, we want to encourage his people and see them go on for him, but he's recording all these things and we get a record of this battle and who helped and who didn't help. There were some.
It says that they uh, let's see here out of E frame a root after the Benjamin among thy people came down governors statute givers out of Zebulun then that handled the pen of the writer. These were people that would not normally use weapons. These were not trained soldiers, but they came anyways. And it requires us to get out of our comfort zone. You might not think of yourself as.
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A student of the word.
But you need to be a student of the word.
You may have barely cracked this book except in the assembly meetings. Go home, open it up and read it, and get down on your knees and pray and beseech the Lord to deliver his people.
We see here that the divisions of Reuben. For the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart.
You know, Reuben had some thoughts about helping out in this battle. But it says why a boat is thou among the sheepfolds to hear the bleedings of the flocks. You know, it's not enough to think about helping. It's not enough to think about doing something to care and to help and to serve God's people. We actually have to do it.
Umm, we find that there were some like Dan who even got into their ships and came down and they came right to near where the battle was, but they stayed on their ships. It was like they, they didn't just think about it, but they got onto their ships and they came, but they didn't quite get out of their ships and actually join the battle. And we need to.
The Lord would have us to join the battle.
Asher continued on the seashore and abode in his creeks. My margin says so. There were those who made it even a little further. They came into the inlets, into the into the land, but then they stopped, you know, and.
You know, it's not good enough just to think about it. We actually have to act.
Well, Debulin and NAFTA were people that jeopardy their lives unto the death and the high places of the field. We read about Epaphroditus today, didn't we? Who?
Was nearer to death for the Lord and for the Lord's people. And so that's the kind of devotion that we need to have.
That we need to have each one of us to be willing to lay down our lives in a day that a country that we live in, You know, we are not being asked to lay down our lives in a physical sense for the Lord, but in a moral and spiritual sense. We need to lay down our lives, that is to sacrifice our lives, our own ambitions.
You know some of these ones where from Gilead, it says Gilead beyond Jordan. That was a cattle land. You know, I think of the business pursuits and how sometimes we can value our business and our commercial interests more than the Lord and more than the Lord's people. Is it really more important that I secure that next project?
Is it more important that I land that next job?
Than helping out.
In the revival among God's people.
You know, I think that it's a, it's a matter of priorities and you know, it's all clear after the fact. Hindsight is 2020, but in the moment.
You know, I gotta take care of my sheep. If I take a couple weeks off to go fight some battle, who knows what's gonna happen to him? I gotta, I gotta take care of my business. Well, it's recorded in God's eternal word that they thought about it, but they never acted.
Well.
Verse 19.
Verse 19 down to 23. Let's read these verses.
The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan.
In Tanakh, by the waters of Megiddo, they took no gain of money. They fought from heaven. The stars in their courses fought against Cicero. The river of Keshan swept them away. That ancient river, the river Kishan.
O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength. Then where the horse hoods broken by means of the prancings, the prancings of their mighty ones. Cursive Miraz, said the Angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly.
The inhabitants thereof, because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. So now we actually get the battle itself. Before we had those who were called to the battle. Now we get the battle itself. And it says the kings of Canaan, which I take that to be the actual tribes of Israel. They came and they fought and they took no gain of money. That is, they weren't being paid. They weren't mercenaries, they weren't being paid for their services.
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They came because they wanted to defend Israel.
And, uh, we need to, I believe labor without any thought of reward. We're not serving for reward. We're not getting kickbacks. We're not looking. We ought not to be looking for a place for some kind of recognition, some kind of status.
Umm, and those things are so subtle. We, we had brought out this weekend how we can be doing something and it really be for ourselves instead of for the Lord. But that's not the way it was. They took no gain of money. We find something here too, that this battle was really the Lord's. It says that the stars in their courses fought against Cicero, and that's poetic language, you know.
The river swept them away, the ancient river, the river Kishan showing that God.
And his sovereignty was behind this battle. The stars were fighting. I mean, not literally, right? I take it the stars didn't actually come down with swords and fight Cicero and his army. But it's springing out how the odds were stacked against Cicero because the Lord was behind it. And that's how it is that that that any work that is done is of the Lord.
And are we going to be with the Lord, or are we going to be against the Lord?
We find that there were these ones who are with the Lord, but there were those who weren't cursing Miraz. That was a little city right near Megiddo.
Right near the battle, they were right there where it was critical. The critical moment came and they did nothing.
You know, I've had a recent failure in my own life, and there was a time where something ought to have been done for the Lord's glory and for his honor, and I didn't do anything.
And.
I've I've had to repent of that because.
The moment comes.
When we need to take a stand for Christ.
And we need to do it. The opportunity is there and then it's gone and we don't get it again.
Mira's was cursed because they didn't act at the critical time, because they came not to the help of the Lord. You know, when there's a work of God, and I believe there's a work among the people of God, there is at all times. We need to sense that it's his work and we're coming to help him. It's for the Lord that we do these things.
Are we going to stand by and say others are going to do it, or are we going to do it ourselves?
Well, let's be willing to do it ourselves. Now we get a nice example.
And this is the ninth thing, and we're almost done here, but we have jail. Let's read about her. Blessed above women Shall jail the wife of Eber, the key knight, be blessed? Shall she be above women in the tent? He asked water, and she gave him milk.
She brought forth butter in a lordly dish. She put her hand to the nail, at her right hand to the workman's hammer.
And with the hammer she smoked, Cicero she smote off his head. When she had pierced and stricken through his temples at her feet. He bowed, he fell. He lay down at her feet, he bowed, he fell where he bowed.
There he fell down dead.
You know, umm, this chapter, whenever, a lot of times when we take it up, we bring out this aspect that there are two women that are very prominent in the, in the story. And I highly encourage you to take a look at it, especially those who are are, are sisters. But all of us take a look at it from that standpoint. It's not my purpose to go into that here, but one thing I take from the verses that we just read is our best work.
Is done when we stay in the sphere that God put us in.
This applies to brothers as well as sisters.
In the sphere that God has provided we do our best work. This woman stayed in the tent. She was a wife and women were told to be keepers at home. She stayed in that sphere and she won. She defeated the captain of the enemy's host. She single handedly killed this guy in her own tent. And you might think, I can't do anything for the Lord at home.
This one, maybe she woke up that day and had that thought. I I I doubt it based on her character, but maybe she did.
OK, a different story. The enemy of this of the enemies of Israel, the captain.
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Put him to sleep and drove a 10th stake through her head and it sounds like.
He smote off his head.
You know this, this woman was.
She was willing to act, it says she.
With her right, she put her hand to the nail and her right hand to the workman's hammer. It means she wasn't afraid to get dirty. We need to be willing in our sphere to get involved. You know when you read Romans chapter 12, I said our best work is done when we stay in the sphere. God put us in Romans chapter 12 where it talks about the gifts. I believe that is one of the central themes of that chapter.
Is that we are to stay with whatever the Lord has given. Read those verses, whether it be prophesying, wait on the proportion of faith that God has given to you. Whether it be ministry, wait on your ministry.
Know what God has given you to do and do that and that alone. If I could summarize those those verses there in Romans 12. And so in this work of the Lord, this revival, if there's going to be one we can't get out of our place.
And, uh, start doing a job that has been intended for someone else. The Lord has given each one of us something to do. We all have a gift, and we need to use that gift. Stick with it, and the Lord can use it for victory.
But there's a lot here. I, I, I say again, take a look at it with regard to the woman.
Umm, we see this with, with the man bowing down and it says it three times over. He bowed at her feet. You've got a man, the captain of the host of the enemy bowing down before a woman's feet. That's some, that's some serious language that's being used here in this poem to show the place, umm, that this man was brought by the Lord. Well, these last few verses, 28 to the end.
You might read them and wonder. This seems really strange for this portion to be included in the Canon of scripture.
But it's scripture and we'll read it. But I just want to say first what I the point I wanted to bring out of it is simply this. The Lord is able to completely turn the tables. He's able to completely turn the tables around when it looks like a hopeless situation, flip it around and make it look hopeless for the enemy.
It looks like it was gonna be a disaster for the Lord's people at the end of the story. It's disaster for the enemies of the Lord's people. Well, let's just read it for completion's sake. The mother of Cicero looked out at a window and cried through the lattice. So this is poetic language, bringing out the sorrow that was brought to the mother of Cicero and cried through the lattice. Why is this chariot so long and coming?
Why, Terry, the wheels of his chariot? Her wise, lazy ladies answered her. Yeah, she returned answer to herself.
Have they not spread? Have they not divided? The prey to every man, a damsel or two, to Cicero, a prey of divers colors, a prey of divers colors, of needlework, of divers colors, of needlework on both sides, meet for the next of them that take the spoil.
So she's saying to herself, why? You know, he seems like he's taking a long time to come home today. Maybe it's.
They've taken so much spoil that it's just taking them so long to divide it up, and she's coming up with all these reasons in her mind why.
He might be kind of late.
Umm, but it's bringing out the solemn irony of how wrong she was. She was totally wrong. Instead of dividing, uh, virgins between them to take home a spoil, he had died at the feet of a woman. Uh, shameful, shameful death. Well, the Lord is able to completely turn the tables, and so it closes. So let thine enemies perish, oh Lord, but let them that love him be as the son when he goeth forth.
In his might.
And the land had rest for 40 years. So the Lord is able to take the circumstances that we see around us and turn them completely around.
By by nature, I am not a super observant person, I would say of people, but the Lord has placed me in a marriage with a woman who is much more observant and I'm very thankful for that because it's important. It's important to know where.
Folks are at, in the assembly and we, we have the young people in our home, uh, on occasions and, uh.
It's nice to have a sense of where folks are at. And, you know, we might look around and we might see the condition, the low state, the idolatry that that has come in, perhaps among the people of God. We might see the lack of familiarity with the word of God, the lack of moral discernment for what is right and wrong. You might get discouraged about that. But.
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Keep in mind that God is able to completely turn it around.
As he did in this story, and he wants to use us if we're willing to offer ourselves in service to him. That's all I had to share. Do you guys want me to give thanks for the?
OK, let's pray the loving God and our Father, we give thanks for the privilege of being able to open up Thy word.
We think of the.
Of thy people, the Church.
For which, Lord Jesus, thou hast died and shed thy blood. And we just pray for our preservation, that we might be preserved from the from the world, from the flesh, from the devil. And we think of this chapter that we've just read. And we pray that it might be an encouragement to us to have a revival first in our own hearts, and then to be an encouragement to others.
For the glory and the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We pray that we might not abide in our ships, that we would act for the honor and for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we give thanks now for the food that has been provided, and we just pray for a blessing on it and on the fellowship that we enjoy together as well. We pray these things in the worthy name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.