off. Okay, back in Acts chapter 10, we're picking up with verse 34 to 48. We just got started last week, and probably this week and next week we'll be looking at some real interesting lessons that the Lord has here for us. So in Acts chapter 10, let's pick up in verse 34 and go to the end. Then Peter opened his mouth and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. But in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, He is Lord of all. That word, I say ye know, which was published throughout all Judea and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached. how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him. And we are witnesses of all things, which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they slew and hanged on a tree. Him God raised up the third day and showed Him openly. not to all the people, but only witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach unto the people and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days." Real quick before we get started, keep in the back of your mind the statement about baptism. Just remember, in those verses about baptism, there is no restrictions. There are no restrictions whatsoever regarding baptism here. We're leading up to that, and Peter's not saying, listen, only you children that are of age, you can be baptized, and only certain people here, there. This is open to all. So if there were infants there, they were baptized. And so we'll look at that. But going back, we see here how Peter makes a stunning proclamation. And we were talking last week about how interesting it was that Cornelius bowed down to Peter. and what the ramifications of that were, and how Peter did not accept worship. We saw how angels don't accept worship, that the apostles will not accept worship. Because if they did accept worship, which there are those today that do accept worship, they're liars. On the other side, if Jesus Christ himself would not accept worship, then that would have made him a liar, because he is God, and he had no other way to respond other than to accept worship. That's important because I think we need to look at both sides of that. So this week we're going to look at a very interesting term. Has anyone here ever heard of the term divine initiative? Anybody here heard the term divine initiative? I think this is a very important term and we're going to see what that means. But right now Peter makes this stunning proclamation and he is speaking very plainly Not from his opinion. Always be aware of that when you're watching these motivational religious speakers. And they're always giving their opinions and their life stories. Remember, these life stories are not evangelism. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ that is true evangelism. The works of Christ, His ministry, as we're looking at this morning. So we see here Peter makes a stunning proclamation and it's incredible. He goes right into the gospel. He does not call out the Jews first for their wickedness against Christ. He does that later. He doesn't initially take a shot at the Roman Greco cult of education, culture, and philosophy. He does that later. He makes this stunning profession that God is no respecter of persons. Now, we left off last week where basically the window or the tenor of that statement can be really distorted, saying, well, since God is no respecter of persons, then I'm no respecter of persons, and I don't have to treat anybody with any respect or whatever. That seems to be a really prevailing problem, but is that what it means? Is that what Christ is getting at through Peter here, that God is no respecter of persons? Well, you know what? We're going to see how this plays in really big to our current culture and what's going on around us right now today, that God is no respecter of persons. Watch this. This was taken literally by the Jewish council and Caesar. They were respecters of people. Now let's look at that real quick. Remember, who got the chief priests in the synagogue? He had money. You were a big giver? Oh, I've seen that in churches. Oh, if you're a big giver, oh, you get a lot better treatment. God has no respect for persons. Caesar, God has no respect for persons. Oh, people respected Caesar. They were afraid of him, weren't they? They were no, Jesus Christ is no respecter of persons. But the Jewish Council and Caesar, they were no respecter of anyone counter to their militants. Even if you did follow them, they were brutally, especially to the common folk, they were brutal with common to taxes, restrictions, and punishment. So even if you did follow Caesar and the Jewish Council, and you did have the insignia of Caesar marked on your little sign in your town, you still were not respected. You were going to pay that tax. And I have a problem with that today. I have a real problem with that today, personally. This is my opinion. You can agree with me if you want, and you can put your hand up and let me have it. That's fine, too. That's why we're here, to kind of teach each other. We're not respected very well today by our government, are we? Correct me if I'm wrong, but somewhere about 256 years ago, whatever it was, it was supposed to be the government was of the people, by the people, and for the people. What are all these laws and statutes they're talking about at the Judicial Senate Committee down there, things we've never even heard of? When do you get to vote on whether there is a camera at the toll booth or not to look inside of your car? When have you been able to go down and vote on that? Neil Parrott, go ahead. Go ahead, Lisey. You know, one thing that really irritates me, really irritates me, when I'm called and I have to talk to somebody about something, they don't give me the option Right. Right. No. Right. Exactly. And they put them right through. Right, Neil Parrott sent me, he's the representative, I don't know how he got my name, it was sometime, I was down at the House of Representatives on that gay bill thing years ago, we were working down there and I, I don't know, he got my, I think I gave him a card or something, I get all these emails. And he sent me a, it was a personal email, and he said, Tim, do you understand that when the toll booth cameras went through, that the General Assembly was not even allowed to vote on it? That it went through, they just pushed it through by some kind of a Martin O'Malley when he was the former governor it went through an executive order So you've got cameras that look into your car and you had nothing to do with it, but you pay for them You pay for them out of your tolls and your taxes So where is our government a respecter of us in any way, shape or form and revere our opinion? Where do we have local town hall meetings when we discuss all of these things and whether it's good for our town or not? Oh no, now you will do what they tell you. You will. Or you will be absolutely right now up there in New York if you are a Jewish synagogue or a Roman Catholic parish Right now, in certain areas that are designated, where there's been a big fight between de Blasio and Cuomo, and de Blasio says this is an infected area of Cuomo's, and it's, you know, even they're fighting. But if you go to church right now in the Jewish areas, and they've actually, at least they had enough guts to take it to the New York Supreme Court. It got shot down two Saturdays ago. Right now, if you have more than 50 people in your synagogue, a Jewish synagogue, there's a lot of people that go, for many, many hundreds of years. And some of them actually are Messianic Jews. If you meet with any more than 20 to 50 in certain areas, and you get caught, and they catch you after the fact, and you get ratted out, it's a $15,000 a day levy. $15,000 a day for meeting and worshiping in your synagogue. Freedom of religion, huh? Peter is speaking here of the Great Commission. See, God is no respecter of persons. go you out into all the world." And we see the word, have you all ever heard of the word, it's called, I'm trying to remember how to pronounce this, the evangelion or the euagelion, the evangelion. This is the Awangelion, that's it, the Awagelion, I'm sorry. The Awagelion or the Evangelion, the good news of the coming of the Messiah, the gospel. Have you all ever heard the word kerygma? what kerygma means. That is a proclamation. It comes from the Greek word kerygma, or keryxion, to proclaim from or to herald. It's the gospel specifically of Jesus Christ. This goes back a long time. Do you realize that there are other words in other languages that literally identify the gospel of Jesus Christ? Not just the good news, but the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news of Christ. That's very important. Well, here's what Peter has to say about God being no respecter of persons, and we're going to look at two applications here. Could I ask Matthew, could you look up 1 Peter 3, verse 9, and could I ask Jim, we're not going to look at this for a while, just for a few minutes, but Deuteronomy 1, verses 16 and 17, and I'll go to you there after Matthew here in a few minutes. So 1 Peter 3, 9, here is a good opening argument that God is no respecter of persons. I think this is a really lovely way of looking at it, or learning about it. Go ahead, Matthew. Is that 1 Peter 3, verse 9? It is? Maybe it's 2 Peter 3, 9, I'm sorry. Let me read it, what I have here. The Lord is not slack concerning His promises. Some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to us. We're not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Maybe it was 2 Peter. I'm sorry, Matt. Is that it? Okay. But not willing that any should perish. Any. That doesn't have a list of people that the Lord has no problem with, you know, leaving outside of the gate. He's not willing that any should perish, and that all should come to repentance. And so you see the key factor of salvation right there. It says in 2 Peter 3, 9, that all should come to repentance. That's a really key ingredient to salvation. That is, repentance is absolutely paramount. Jesus opened the gospel to all. He is not a racist in any way. And he has been labeled lately, in the last four months, he has been labeled as a white supremacist. The white Jesus has been labeled a white supremacist. Has anybody heard that? Or seen anything? I know you have. Nobody's seen that. Well, I guarantee you have. Because you want to know what? You watched television when they were pulling statues of Jesus Christ down and they were smashing them. Now, I'm not for statues and I'm not defending statues of Jesus Christ. I think they're horrid. Nobody knows what he looked like. But it's the thought that counts. It's the thought behind it. that they were calling him a white supremacist, and they're taking spray paint and spray painting these symbols. They wanted to pull down the Ten Commandments, they've torn down Columbus, and all of these absolute wicked acts of violence. And here's an interesting statement here. A social justice activist and Black Lives Matter backer has taken aim against the representation of Jesus. Statues torn down, stained glass windows smashed, etc. And once again, I'm not one for these representations of Jesus, but you can see where we're going with this. This man says the problem with the European white Jesus is that he is a symbol of white supremacy and that religion is an enslavement. We are servants of Jesus Christ. I have no problem with that. The tenor of this man's detestation of Jesus is the real problem. Christ healed all races. He saved them too. And here, look at what a member of the Trump administration said in regards to this horrible statement from Christ, our King. Her name is Jenna Ellis. She's a senior legal advisor to President Trump, defended her faith and willingness to stand up for Christianity. She said, if they try to cancel Christianity, if they try to force me to apologize or recant my faith, I will not bend. I will not waver. I will not break. On Christ the solid rock I stand, and I am proud to be an American. And we see here that this statement was made by a man named Sean King. He's the head of this real racist organization and he's the one that said it. Sean King. His response to Ellis emphasized that she is simply defending her whiteness. Christian whiteness needs white Jesus. Attack white Jesus to her and you attack her faith. Again, what she is actually defending her is her whiteness. Christian whiteness needs white Jesus. Well, I don't believe those from Nazareth were completely white. They were actually very dark skinned. Lisa. Right. Well, it's in no way, shape, or form. If there's anything that even has a representation of it, it came out these last several months. Anything that had to do with the Civil War, anything that had to do with the Revolutionary War, anything that went all the way back to Ghana and in these areas has been pulled out as some kind of a racial thing. And you could be out in the streets right now in Baltimore City, and just because you have white skin, you could be beat up. It happened to a family two years ago. No, in 2016, after the Freddie Gray thing, There was a family of about 12 people that walked in the harbor. They were all white, elderly people, and a bunch of thugs came out and just beat them all up because they were white. Right there. And this is what's happening. Chicago, and Oregon, all these other places. I've seen it on the news. But then they're going, now they're going after Jesus. And so people are now thinking that Jesus is just the same as anybody else, and he's a white supremacist. That's what they're calling him. Well, I think we need to identify that that's, of course, ridiculous. God is no respecter of persons. It's very clear. There's no nationality of people that are regarded over another in the eyes of the Lord. Not those of wealth. those that have illness or disabilities, those that are impoverished or segregated, are a sacred way anyway from God. They're open to the good news of Jesus Christ. Our Lord is no respecter of persons. And here's two main applications on how and why He does not favor one over another. The first application, and I think it's a very good one, like I said, if you have any comments or anything to add, judgment. His judgment is not biased. So can we call God an unfair judge? Can we say no matter what he does, he's unfair when we're the ones that sinned against him and when we all deserve hell now? We've always deserved it. So can we call him an unjust judge? Jehovah Elohim, that's a great name for God. He's the great creator and judge of this world and he's passed judgment to his son. The great creator and judge of this world does not judge in favor of any man. God is not a politician. See, that's the difference between a politician and a statesman. A statesman cares about his people. A politician is there to advance his position. I think we've seen that. We've seen that especially in the last several months. He never perverts judgment of wickedness of man and rewards mankind based on his beauty, stature, country, bloodline, wealth, or honor in the world. This will be a shock to many prominent celebrities one day. Because every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God. Then they'll find out who the real judge is. Pastor. Amen. So I would ascertain from that statement that is there anybody that's going to be able to die and leave this earth and stand before the Lord and say I had no idea? I had absolutely no idea. That makes God a just judge, if everybody knows, and we know that he does, that everyone does know. Our Lord does not judge biasly. Here's some verses. Jim, you've got Deuteronomy chapter 1, verses 16 and 17. at that time, saying, here is the cause between your brethren and the judge, righteously between every man and her brother, and the strength of that is with him. He shall not respect her as an injunctment, but he shall hear it as small as well as the greater. He shall not be afraid of the face of man, or the judgment of his death, because in that too are you, That's amazing, isn't it? Very simple. I mean, you look at the statutes in the government, and you see in these committees, and they can be so complex. There's so many different phases to them, and so many different ways of looking at this. But this is so simple, that no man is to be respected over another, that the case is to be heard no matter of their wealth, no matter of their condition, no matter what. I think that's very important. I mean, today you would think that the Senate Judiciary Committee would love to have the ninth seat filled by one who opposes abortion and one who would try to limit the Sodomite community. You would think they would come out on the Senate floor and say, in order to fix our country, we've got to stop murdering our babies. I watched a lot of that last week. Nobody, hardly anybody would come out and say that. And the only thing, I mean, Senator Lindsey Graham had to say, which, I mean, is this good? I don't think that it is. He's defending a fifth month, a fifth month, it's called like the fifth month pain. pain law, whatever it's called, where a baby, the restrictions should start at the fifth month for a baby because that's when they start really feeling pain because they've seen that when they've given mother's anesthesia. There are more, some babies are more advanced in the third and fourth month than other ones. And so they want restrictions just on the fifth month? What about the first four months? Lisa? Right. Well, man, it's not to determine it. They're to leave the little babies alone. We know that. But what are the three major issues? You all watched this week. You've heard it on the news. Bring it all down. What are the three major issues about Judge Amy Barrett becoming a judge? No, they're calling her a Christian. They're saying, I'm not questioning anybody's Christianity, but number one, this is a two-sided question. Number one, why are they calling her a Christian? And number two, what are the three main problems that they all came back and a good part of those that were allowed to speak came back and said why she shouldn't be seated? I'm not saying whether she should or she shouldn't. I think it's a good reason. Abortion, yep. And they say it so passionately. I think the worst out of them all was Kamala Harris. Right. Right. They were saying she spoke up for women. She did most of the talking. Yes. Mansplaining. Yes. Right. Oh, that's a good, great point. Right. Oh, they came down and they finally made the final statements. There were three things. That's one of them. The abortion issue. What's as bad or worse than the abortion issue? The ACA. The Obamacare Act. That makes provisions for abortion. Now it's funded. Makes provisions for homosexuals. They now have full insurance to do whatever they want to do. They get marriage licenses. And there's not one person on the Senate floor that had the guts to talk about that. Oh, no, no, no, you don't talk against the LGBT. Not one person did. Nobody would even dare go near that. And that's a curse. The Lord said it's a curse. It's not my opinion, it's what's in the Bible. And that's the second thing. and there's by Kamala Harris and there was Judge Cory Booker, no Senator Cory Booker in New Jersey said specifically we have received letters from the NAACP and their litigants with the LGBTQ, asking that Judge Amy Coney Barrett not be seated because of her stand against abortion, Roe versus Wade, and against the LGBTQ. Doesn't it always come down to that, abortion and LGBTQ? It always comes down to that, and there's the two things that have destroyed our nation more than anything else. That goes against God. Forget all the money, forget all the fracking. I mean, that's all good in some place. But you keep killing the babies. The Lord said in Amos, you killed the babies, you ripped the wombs up, now I'm coming down hard on you. You mess with His babies and you got a big problem. And so now, are we a respecter of persons or not? God is no respecter of persons. And here you see, this woman... Go ahead, Lisa, I'm sorry. I think that's the only time you're supposed to be a respecter of persons, really. I mean, I shouldn't say that. I don't think I mean that exactly the way that you know. But you know, you want to be a respecter of persons when they talk to an infant. Right. Especially someone that's not newborn, you know, because if you get given to you by God. Amen. Exactly. And the point is here, God is no respecter of persons means, Pastor, go ahead. Now you've cracked open a big egg. Yep. So that brings up a perfect question. Theresa. Of course. Jenny. That's not even pagan. That goes beyond pagan. That's barbaric. Well, that's what they're fighting for. Cuomo has, what's it called again? Does anybody remember the name of the act that he had that he was going to put in 30 days, he promised? What's it called? We went over this a lot last year. Reproductive Health Care Act. There's two things that it's not. It's not reproductive and it's certainly not health care for a baby. So if you're a baby right now and you could vote, who would you be voting for? Who would you not be voting for? Hoping that you could make it safely out of a mother's womb, which is supposed to be the safest place a baby should be able to live. So Pastor Olson brings up a perfect point. Is that baby part of a woman's body or isn't it? Lisa? No. You want to know how it's not part of the baby? Go ahead, I'm sorry Lisa. You want to know how it's not part of the woman's body? When the baby's dead, they don't want to hold on to it. Do they want to cut their arm off and get rid of it? No, but when the baby's dead and they murder it, They don't want that to be part of their body. Have you ever heard the term, and everybody said this, Christian or non-Christian, you hear somebody's pregnant, oh, they got one in the oven. You ever heard that one? There's one in the oven. What do you put in an oven? Turkey? A pot roast? Pizza? Is that part of the oven? Well, I think that's an easy way of remembering that. It's not part of the oven, it's not part of the filament, it's not part of the electrical wiring, it's not part of the metal. And so this has become a big, big topic and this fits perfectly into what we're talking about because Our government's not a respecter of persons anymore. And what Lisa said is very good, because we are to be respecters of people. That is our job. In Matthew chapter 5, blessed are the meek. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And this doesn't mean that God does not respect and He doesn't love people. It means He is no respecter when it comes to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's open to all. that it's not segregated. It's not like the Jewish Council, where they have their own little sect. It's not like the Mormons. It's not like the Catholics. There's all these criteria. But when it comes to Christianity, it's open to all. And that's what's so wonderful. And the first part is judgment. That is the first application, is judgment. And I think that's incredibly important. And getting back to Judge Barrett real quick, She has been tried, convicted, and hung before she has made one ruling on the Supreme Court. You know what that reminds me of? It reminds me of this COVID-19 thing. Like Pastor Olson said many times, we're hedging bets on something that hasn't even happened yet. We're shutting down everything and we're bowing down to the CDC when most people haven't even been affected. Lisa. Right. Right. That was a statement that was made by Judge Griffith, who is a mentor of Judge Barrett, and he said that if it comes down to God or Caesar, and it's kind of a different topic, that she's going to follow the legislation, follow Caesar all the way down. I think that's a mistake. I mean, she hasn't said that, but it's been said. That's very, very dangerous, Lisa. and that's how all of them can. You can't rule by your conscience or by your faith. You have to rule by statute, precedent. But then what happens when you're a judge and the statutes that were once good statutes based on the Ten Commands to protect the lives of babies, what happens when that comes up and now they've changed it and all of a sudden now you have to make ruling predicated on the statutes and not God? I mean, that's the problem that we're seeing. It's become very complicated. Second point here is sovereignty. We see that the first point is judgment. The second point in God not being a respecter of persons is in His sovereignty. Christ has been given all judgment by God. Let's read John 5, verses 21 and 22. Dave, could you look up John 5, 21 and 22? And let's read also... I would like somebody to look up maybe... Beverly, if you could look up Matthew 6, verses 27 to 33. That's a little bit of reading there, but that's very good verses. Christ has been given judgment, all judgment by God. And so John 5, 21-22, I think we need to really pay close attention to that. Go ahead, Dave, if you're ready. All judgments given to the Son. And we can see by the ministry of Christ how fair Christ was, considering how everybody hated Him. By the love of God, giving us the Gospel through Jesus Christ His Son, we are judged and we are rewarded, even though we sinned against He and He alone, as David says in Psalm 51. But it's by His sovereignty that we are given life here on earth and life everlasting. He cares for us all. These verses prove that Christ is no respecter of persons when it comes to the gospel, that He's not a fascist, which He was called that once. I remember one of the members of the Beatles said that He was a hippie fascist years ago. It was a direct quote that was very popular, and that He was very, very unfair. If you have that, Beverly, whenever you're ready, Matthew 6, 27 to 33. Yep. 31, 32, and 33. You're doing great. Thank you. What shall we eat? What shall we drink? And withal shall we be clothed. For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth that it is in you that you have need of all these things. But seek ye the first kingdom of God, and the righteousness of all these things. How does that play into this? Where does that make sense with God being their respecter of persons? We can pick it out here, you can sit here and pick this apart and you can sit here and write pages and pages and notes on this. Take a look at it, let's talk about it, Lisa. Right. Amen. That hits the nail right on the head. Go ahead. I know that guy and her friend said that now they're willing to follow Jesus all the way down. Because what they forget is that they're following after a place of religion too. It's a shame that there is no God. You've got to worship something. Right. Right. Yeah, it's all very, if you don't do what I say, if you don't do what we believe, we don't want you, no matter what you think. And that's when she came out during the Senate hearings, and she said, well, I have my mind of my own. She did say, I thought that was interesting. But Beverly read wonderfully here. There's all kinds of little inferences in here about what the Lord is saying about how He takes care of us. He talks about the lilies of the valley. Now, you've seen when you're driving out in the country in the spring, you see the lilies of the valley. Where do they come from? You see the beautiful flowers that come out, the azaleas. You see all of the Bradford pear trees. And when the Lord speaks about the lilies of the valley, it's not just the lilies of the valley. It's all the beautiful, like the deciduous plants and the flowering trees and everything. They have these fiery colors. And he said they're more beautiful than the robes of Solomon. Who gets to enjoy them? Right. Everyone gets to see him. He reigns upon the just and the unjust. Lisey. Right. Exactly. And then he makes it very clear that all these things are opened up. That's a good point. And then he brings up, the Lord brings, and here we're looking now at how Peter is the one being sent out to bring the Gentiles in, and the Lord even mentions, for after all these things do the Gentiles seek. Then the Gentiles are opened up to it, and at the same time the Gentiles are opened up to the lilies of the valley. They're all taken care of. They eat. They can have green grass. They have beautiful trees. They have water. So who doesn't the Lord take care of? What does He do? He's such a white supremacist, He only feeds a certain sect of people? By His own sovereignty He takes care of everyone. By judging of the quick and the dead. So where do we find the Gospel? Where do we find it? And do we know what the Gospel is? The Evangelion, the Kerygma, the Evangelion, the Evangelion. This is all the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the Good News. Where do we find it? In the Holy Orders of the Catholic Church, Book of Mormon, the writings of Joseph Smith, the Babylonian, the Palestinian, the Jerusalem Talmud, the ceremonial orders? How about the Watchtower from the Jehovah's Witnesses? How about the National Geographic, Star Magazine, People Magazine, New York Times, or USA Today? Is that where we get the Gospel? This is where we get it, from God's Word. And so, if there's any question on how to approach the Lord and how to find out about Him, we need to read His Word. It's only God's holy inspired word do we find the true gospel of Jesus Christ. And Peter now has a very, very, very important responsibility placed on him that when he's speaking to Cornelius and he's opening up to the Gentiles, although I still believe at this point he's not questioning the character of God, but he's really wondering where the Lord's going with this, bringing the Gentiles in, having the dietary law changes and all these things. He's wondering where this is going. He's still obedient to the Lord and he's giving the gospel, just like he did several chapters ago. The divine initiative. And we'll finish here. 2 Timothy 4, verse 1, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom. Ephesians 2, verse 1, And you hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. wherein in times past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But, that's a big word here, but God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us. The divine initiative means that you had nothing to do with your salvation. There are people that believe, and this is figurative speaking about how you got saved, that you could have been dying, you were on your deathbed, and you were laying there, and Jesus comes up out of nowhere. He has a bottle of medicine and a spoon, and He holds it up to your face, and you decide whether you take it or not. And if you don't take it, you're going to die. If you do take it, you're going to live. But you're the one that tells Jesus whether you want to take it or not. Or you're in the middle of the sea or the ocean and you're drowning. And God himself holds his hand down. You make your mind up whether you're going to grab his hand or not. You're going to take it. But that's not what the Bible verse says. It says, who you that were dead in your trespasses. The divine initiative means this. You see the word initiative or to initiate means to cause or facilitate the beginning of or the set going. That means it was Jesus Christ who initiated your salvation. That is the divine initiative. That it was He who orchestrated it, predestined it. I know that's a big hated word today, but it's ridiculous. It's a biblical word. By His eternal decree, He is the one that knew your salvation. Isn't that important? I mean, but I know you sit here and you're like, oh, I've heard that before. Go outside of here and see if people understand that and try to explain that. And we're learning here how to explain that to people that ask, why? Why is this the way that it is? Why am I not good enough to go to heaven on my own, which most people believe that? Today you have two different types of people people think think they're good enough and they think they deserve it and other people that just don't care and they don't mind burning in hell say they're gonna be there with all their friends and So this is how important this is what Peter was giving and what he was delivering is extremely important this gospel the gospel of Jesus Christ the good news and so we'll leave off next week what we'll be looking at is is going further into this, the eternal decree of God through this, and then the presence of the Holy Spirit. This really takes it to a whole other level. This is incredible. A very interesting, more academic level, I believe, but it's all very important. So let's finish this morning. I ask Brother Dave Heater, could you close us in prayer this morning? Thank you.