Thank you, Brother Tegan. Excellent reading there. That was from the New King James Version, wasn't it? It was CESV. I was reading the King James Version. At this point in my life, I have to keep things straight by speaking them out loud. I never thought I'd ever be there. I used to see those grandfathers that were there. What are we gonna do with dad? And you're saying it right in front of him. What are we gonna do with grandpa? Well, he can't stay here. You know I'm here. You're talking right in front of me. They're saying that about me now, and I used to hear it in other families, because I didn't really have a grandfather growing up, that was around anyway, stepfather and stuff. Anyway, let's look at our message. It's gonna be from 2 Chronicles 5, as you can see from your handout. Christ, the radiance of God's glory. And there actually still is a progression here as we looked at several of the messages. Bless you. Bless you again. As we looked at several of the messages, starting off in 2 Chronicles 2, and it presented a wonderful progression for us. And we take our text from verses 11 through 14, I know Brother Tegan had just read it here from the ESV. Now it's looking familiar. He read it in the ESV and I'll read it again in verses 11 through 14 is where the bulk of our message is going to be coming from. Verse 11 says, and when the priests came out of the holy place, for all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves without regard to their divisions. It says sanctified in the old King James Version. And verse 12 says, and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, Yodatan, their sons and kinsmen arrayed in fine linen with cymbals, harps, and lyres stood east of the altar with 120 priests who were trumpeters, verse 13. And it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord. And when the song was raised with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments in praise to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. The house, the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud, verse 14, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God. This is the word of the Lord, and he will most certainly add his abundant blessing to the reading of his holy truth, and let us pray. Our most blessed and gracious Father in God, in Jesus' name and for his sake, we thank you, Lord, for the portion of text that is before us. And as Brother Teagan had prayed, may we understand what is being said here. May we have ears to hear and spiritual eyes, eyes of faith to see that Christ may be exalted and that you may be glorified. We worship you as we study the word and hear from the word, Lord, and may we be able to worship you more wonderfully in spirit and in truth because of what you have spoken to our hearts. In Jesus' name and for his sake we do pray. Amen. Now for the chapter itself, the house of the Lord is complete in verse 1. It's finished. Solomon has finished his work. All the craftsmen have finished their work and now it's time to dedicate the temple. And the corresponding portion of scripture is in 2 Kings chapter 8. And then in verses two through 10, we see the Hebrew leaders are assembled. And we have the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the father's houses in verse two. And we have all the men of Israel in verse three, all the elders of Israel in verse four. The Ark of the Covenant and the mercy seat that sits on top, it's brought up by the Levites out of the tabernacle that they used, because it was brought in the city of David from where the tabernacle that Moses built was in Shiloh, but the Ark of the Covenant was brought when David was king into a separate tent. And they took it out of that tent, carried by the Levites in verse five, And then countless sacrifices were made that they could not be counted for number in verse six. Well, how many is that? Well, it couldn't be counted. That's a lot. So there was a lot there. a lot of sacrifices. And so that we see in verse six, the priest set the ark into the holy place in verses seven through nine, and only two tablets of the law were in the ark in verse 10. And that corresponds exactly to what 1 Kings 8 9 says, that the two tables of the law or the two tablets of stone are in the ark of the covenant. at this particular point. When we're studying in Sunday morning, we're studying the book of Hebrews. When we get to Hebrews 9, verse four, it speaks of, in the days of Moses, remember that there was more than just the two tablets of stone. They put the two tablets of stone, they had the 10 commandments in it, the law of God that was written by the finger of God on the front and on the back that had the 10 commandments on it. And they were put into the ark. It was also, in the Ark a jar of manna, that when the manna, they were told they were to gather up the manna and put it into a jar, into a vessel, a homer, or an omer, excuse me, not a homer, homer's down south, an omer is a measurement, an omer of manna, and they put it in a jar, and they put that into the Ark of the Covenant. I remember that there was a rebellion about, well, who should be the priest of God? Aaron, why is he selected? And so they took these rods, and they took Aaron's rod, and remember that they set them all out, and they wrote their names on them, or wrote their names on them, then they set them out, and they said, whosever rod buds is going to be the person whom God has chosen. And miraculously, Aaron's rod budded, and so that was put into the ark as well. And so those are missing. And if you want to find out more of why they're missing, you'll have to come to the Sunday School when we get to Hebrews 9, and I'll explain what is going on there. Because we just don't have time to cover it today. And so that is that second section. The Hebrew leaders are all assembled. Now in verses 11 through 14, we see the holy place in the priests where they go to minister. All these sacrifices are made. The priests have consecrated themselves. And the number of priests, remember, as the text tells us, David divided them up by courses. But at this particular dedication in the seventh month, So this is taking place around the Feast of the Tabernacles. All the priests are there. Everyone is there to see this incredible dedication of the temple, of the house of the Lord. All the priests are present, as it says in verse 11, all the Levitical singers in verse 12, along with 120 priests with trumpets and all these musical instruments. So for those that say that you can't worship and sing with musical instruments, well, look what they did in the Old Testament. Well, that's the New Testament. There's no mention of musical instruments in the New Testament, Brother John, is what they tell me. Oh, okay. If that's how you want to play it. So that's in verse 12. And then they played and sang in the part of verse 13, and they quote A Psalm that many of you read this morning, Psalm 136. We have a Robert Mermick Shane reading portion on the back of your handout. It says at the top that we, you know, we're walking through the Bible as a congregation, for the most part, some people aren't using it. And one of the portions is Psalm 136. And you know, it has this phrase at the end of each one of the verses, for his mercy endures forever. It says, Ketov, which is, for he is good. His mercy or his steadfast love endures forever. And so in the English Standard Version, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. And Chesed is that mercy or steadfast love. And it says it in Psalm 136 over and over and over again. They may have been saying Psalm 136. The verse one says, give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. says to the God of gods in verse two, give thanks to the God of gods for his mercy endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords for his mercy endures forever in the first three verses. And so we see this in the first part of verse 13. And then in the second part of verse 13, the cloud of God's glory filled the house. And Jehovah God's glory was such that the priest could not stand and minister in verse 14. And so that's basically the whole chapter there. Now, how do we apply this? You'll see that there in your handout, I have a verse there that we looked at in Sunday school a couple of weeks ago. And we read again this morning in our verses three through seven of Hebrews chapter one, but Hebrews chapter one, verse three says, of Jesus, he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. That's only the first part of Hebrews chapter one, verse three. There's another part on there, but I wanted to just present the truth of the, he's the radiance of God's glory, Jesus is. But in our text, verses 11 through 14, we see this unanimous, undefiled, unified worship. Unanimous, undefiled, unified worship. In verses 11 and 12, we have the word twice, all. We have it actually in earlier verses too. It speaks of, in verse four, all the elders of Israel. It speaks of all the men of Israel in verse three. All the leader, all the heads of the tribes and all the leaders in verse two. But I could have mentioned that. Well, wait a minute, I just did mention that. So you have this word all, and it's twice in verses 11 and 12. In verse 11, it says that all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves in verse 11, and all the libidical singers were there. And so we have this unanimous gathering. All the folks of the Lord's people are there, regardless of position, regardless of pedigree, regardless of purpose in Christ. That's who we are as believers in Christ. We have different jobs, we have different callings, we have different, we have even different attitudes and outlooks because of our different situations and circumstances we've grown up with. But we're all here sitting together to worship God in Christ. And it's unanimous. There's one scripture, one Holy Spirit, one baptism by which we're baptized with. The writer of Hebrews speaks of that. Paul speaks of that in Ephesians. But it's unanimous. Paul in the first Corinthians chapter 12 verse 14, using the church as a figure, as a body. It says that, for the body does not consist of one member, but of many. You know, not everyone's a hand, not everyone's a foot, not everyone is an eye. We have all different places and positions and purposes in Christ as this body of believers. And this is what's reflected here at the dedication of the house of the Lord. Once it's finished, you have the Levitical singers, you have the priests, you have all the heads of the tribes of Israel, and they're all there. It's unanimous. And so we see a glorious picture of Christ's church in this. The priests are undefiled in verse 11. In other words, it says that they're consecrated in the English Standard Version, it says sanctified in the King James Version in verse 11, for all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves without regard to the divisions, that they needed to be there and there were preparations written in the law for them to be able to stand. In other words, they committed themselves to worship. They were obedient to the statutes and requirements of Leviticus. In the first chapters of Leviticus, one through eight, it speaks of certain things that need to be done as far as, well, what sins have I committed and what trespasses have I committed. plagued me, and bringing those sacrifices and making sure that they're cleansed, even in the cleansing that is required to work in the court of the priests, with the washing of water and so forth, of who they are. the requirements of the priesthood. Well, if we're called a holy priesthood, a royal priesthood, as believers, what are the requirements that we must meet? Well, we are God's grace through faith in Christ is what We must have, we must, it is Christ who saves us to give us entrance to God's presence by the truth of his sacrifice upon the cross. By his shed blood, we have the forgiveness of sins. By Christ suffering the penalty for the sins that we have committed, he hangs upon the cross and he receives the wrath of God that is due to you and me. He paid a debt he did not owe for a debt that we owe and cannot possibly pay. And so therefore, what requirement do we have as a royal priesthood? That if we believe in Christ and we trust in his sacrifice, his righteous life, that we have entrance to God's presence by his sacrifice. He saves us to enter into God's presence. And he also sanctifies and cleanses us by his precious spilled blood to give us audience in God's presence. You need both of those, and those are both requirements that Jesus Christ fulfilled by our believing on him. Because we don't just enter into God's presence, he's omnipresent, he's everywhere at once. So in a sense, we're in God's presence. But to have audience with God. that he says that if you are covered by the blood, so to speak, spiritually speaking, that you have forgiveness of sins through the Lord Jesus Christ, that you, he hears your prayers. And more than just hears your prayers, we'll come to that in just a minute. And in fact, we'll come to that right now. The other thing that we see among the priests is that they're unified. In verse 13, in this priesthood, the Levitical priesthood, and also the line of Aaron, who are supposed to be chosen to be able to serve as high priest and do that work. We see a blessed unison in verse 13 where it says, and it was the duty of the trumpeters and the singers to make themselves heard in unison, in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord. That word unison helps us to see that unity, to be unified, to be one. We did that singing praises today. We started off, Brother Mike led us in the doxology. Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. And then we sang a joyful melody to the Lord and several things. We sang of the mercies of the Lord just before I had come up, before Brother Teagan came up to read the chapter and before I came up to preach. We sang of the mercies of the Lord. And even a proclamation of our desire, I will sing of the praises of the Lord, of the mercies of the Lord forever, I will sing. What a blessed hymn that is. This last Wednesday we looked at a psalm in particular as our series is Christ in the Psalms. Psalm 133 and verse 1 says, behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. In the King James Version or in the English Standard Version it says, Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. Basically means the same thing from the original Hebrew. That's Psalm 133 verse 1. Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. This being united. There are three blessings of unity. Young people, if you're gonna be here for Wednesday, I gave you homework last Wednesday for this next Wednesday. I asked you to search for six blessings from Psalm 133 in those three verses, one through three. I'm gonna give you three of them right now in verse one. First, it produces obedience. It produces obedience just from the very first word. In the Hebrew, hine, behold. Behold, to hearken unto that produces obedience in our lives so that I might listen. Behold how good and pleasant it is for brothers to dwell in unity. Okay, obedience in those who gather because we hear the voice of Christ who says to us, behold. It produces obedience. Sometimes we tend to put obedience as if that's what's going to get me into the presence of God But it's in the presence of God that through the Lord Jesus Christ that we hear that once we're saved now We hear from God before it was just kind of a distant voice It was a cloud really and we'll talk about that again in a minute But number two we will experience God's presence as the psalmist declares, as David actually, who is the psalmist who penned this psalm, he says, how good, behold, how good it is when brethren dwell together. And if you remember that when Jesus was on, walking through his, when he was on the planet, walking through his earthly ministry in Mark chapter 10, it records that there was a rich young ruler that ran up to him, a man knelt down before him and asked, good teacher, what must I do? to inherit eternal life. And remember what Jesus said to him? Why do you call me good? Or in the old King James version, you know, Jesus liked talking in the old King James English. I'm teasing, he didn't speak in English. Why callest thou me good? There is none good. Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. And isn't that an interesting thing? Behold how good. that in the presence of God, here's this young man who wants eternal life but doesn't recognize that when he's asking good teacher, he doesn't recognize that he's actually in the presence of God who became a man. And he said a very truth there, you're a good teacher. And Jesus points to the fact that no one's good but God alone. But Jesus is God, the God man, fully God and fully man. Why do you call me good? And that is one of the blessings, that when we come together, when we are in unity as a people of God, every Sunday, every Sunday morning, every Sunday night, every Wednesday, or even in the special things, like we gathered on Monday to watch that documentary on Martin Luther. and all these things that we might tend to do, or when we see one another, because we're a small village, we might be in three bears, and everybody is talking about, see you tomorrow, Brother John, see you tomorrow, Pastor. That happened with the Garcia, the young Garcia clan. They were already in the store, but since I was coming out, they all came out of the store in order to give me a hug. I love that. And then Echo was in there, she was at the cash register. See you tomorrow, I'm working, I'm closing the store out so I can be in church tomorrow. how good it is. We're in the presence of God and we're the unity of believers so that the truth of God's presence ministers unto us. The goodness of who God is is that blessing that we get when we come together. It's exciting to come to church, to see God working in your lives, in our lives. in the difficulties, but also in the triumphs, in the things that God has done that is great and has caused us to overcome. The third thing, the third blessing we get in being united in Christ which they, in the days of Solomon and the days of the dedication of the temple, were just getting a little glimpse of. We get it in much more fullness because of Christ. But we will possess the fullness of Christ's joy because it says how pleasant the pleasure of God. There's a psalm that I memorized quite early as a young Christian. I love this psalm, Psalm 16, and this verse in particular, Psalm 16, verse 11. You make known to me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. What a blessing that is, the pleasure of the presence of God. that he's pleased, that in saving you, he's not disappointed that he saved you. Oh, look, he failed again. No, that's not God. He looks at you with the great pleasure, all the pleasure of the universe that he is, and he sees you just as he sees his son, the same son that at the baptismal waters before he started his earthly ministry, he said of Jesus, in the river Jordan, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Then three years after that, up on the Mount of Transfiguration, just before the Lord goes to the cross, probably around the Feast of Tabernacles, he says the same thing, in the presence as Jesus looks glorified, he's transfigured, he's speaking to Moses and Elijah, And the sound comes from heaven, this is my beloved Son and whom I'm well pleased, hear Him, listen to Him. Peter, James, and John witnessed that. What an amazing thing, six months later He'd go to the cross. But with the pleasure that God the Father has in the Son, that's what God the Father has for you, coming together. and that pleasure, that joy. Jesus said to his disciples on the night he was betrayed, the night that he was arrested, in John 15 and verse 11, he says, these things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy, my joy in you, that your joy may be full. This joy that we receive in gathering together as believers, isn't that a wonderful thing that God provides? And just the simple act of coming to church, believing on Christ, and in believing on Christ and that we come now to church and to gather and worship Him, He brings us, He makes obedience possible in our lives, He brings us the goodness of His presence in our lives, and He fills us with joy, His joy. And even more than that, and I could go on and on about Psalm 133, but I'll save that for Wednesday. Under the cloud of Christ's glory, the cloud of God's glory in verses 13 to 14, we have a reflection of that, that as they're singing, For His steadfast love endures forever, or for His mercy endures forever, whichever translation, that Hebrew word hesed can be translated either way, and I'm fine with either one of them. Steadfast love or mercy, this merciful God, and this cloud that fills, this whole place in the worship of God's people. We see that reflection going all the way back to Exodus chapter 13 and verse 21, where it says that as the Lord liberated the Israelite people from their bondage in Egypt and brought them out after 10 signs and wonders in Egypt, It says in Exodus 13 and verse 21, and the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light that they may travel by day and by night. But this cloud was already reflected in the day as they were going to cross the Red Sea and go into Saudi Arabia in the Midian Back Desert. where sometimes the temperature these days in Saudi Arabia gets up to 135 degrees. Boy, did they need that cloud. The cloud of God's protection. Also, when they built the tabernacle, Well, we see it actually when the 10 Commandments in Exodus 19, but also in Exodus 24, verses 15 to 16. After the instruction was given and we saw clouds and thick darkness in Exodus 19, when God's voice thundered from Mount Sinai in Arabia, and the people heard it and said, no, speak to Moses and let Moses speak to us, they were fearful. And so in Exodus 24 verses 15 to 16, Moses went up on the mountain and the cloud covered the mountain and the glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai and the cloud covered it for six days. And on the seventh day, He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud, that glory of God. And then Moses was up there for 40 days in the presence of God in this thick cloud, seeing the things of heaven. And what did the people do? Remember, Aaron made a golden calf. But there was that cloud of glory. Also when the tabernacle was built by the design that Moses saw in Exodus 24, and then recorded through those several chapters in Bezalel and Aholiub, they were craftsmen and they crafted it, and then they'd show Moses, is this what I'm supposed to make? Because God put his spirit upon them. And Moses said, that's it. And they put it all together. These are the things that Moses saw. And then the tabernacle was consecrated in Exodus 40 verses 34 to 35. 35, it says, then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. So thick, this thickness of this cloud, it was somewhat veiled and he couldn't enter in. But it was the glory of the Lord. It's more than just the cloud. It was more than just smoke. There was something there. that even physically Moses couldn't go in. And that was what we see in our text in 2 Chronicles 5 that this cloud was so thick that they couldn't stand the minister. Made them weak in the knees. It caused them to fall on their faces. It brought forth worship. Worship of the Almighty God. We see other glimpses of this. glory of God in the Old Testament in Isaiah. Remember that in Isaiah chapter six, in the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah says, I saw the Lord. He saw, Adonai, he saw a pre-incarnate vision of the Lord Jesus Christ high and lifted up. He was sitting upon the throne and the train of his robe filled the temple and above him stood two, above him stood seraphim. I said two, but it doesn't say two. It had seraphim that were around there, angels. Each had six wings, with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. Because the glory of God was so intense. The holiness of God was so holy. that with two wings he flew so that he wouldn't light upon the place where Christ, the eternal God, rested his feet. With two wings he covered his feet so that not showing his feet, because showing the soles of your feet in the Eastern culture was considered to be an insult, But the glory was so magnificent that they covered even their faces, so as not to look directly at the glory of Christ, eternally glorified, because that would be disrespectful to just gaze upon him, enough of the glimpse of his glory, even for angels who are made a little higher than man is, because the psalm says that we're made, as humans, a little lower than the angels. They're spiritual beings. And they cried out, holy, holy, holy is the Lord, one to another. And the whole earth is filled with His glory. And with that glory, the foundations of the house of the Lord shook. The whole of it was filled with this smoke, this cloud. And remember what Isaiah said, woe is me, I am undone. For I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King of kings, the Lord of hosts. It was incredible for him. He saw a glory in this vision just like these men who were standing at the dedication of Solomon's temple. Ezekiel talks about the Glory of God leaving in Exodus chapter 10 and verse four, the glory of God went up from the cherub to the threshold of the house and the house was filled with the cloud and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of God. So the cloud that possessed the glory of God in the days of Ezekiel, it left, it departed because the people had departed from God. So we see this, the cloud of God's glory And that was a, it was a shrouded thing. It was a veiled thing. It was just a cloud in the Old Testament. And it was meant to be that way because it showed only a glimpse of the glory of God. For when the Lord Jesus Christ came, the clarity of God's glory would be made known. Hebrews 1.3, as in the text, he is the radiance of God's glory. The Old King James Version says he's the brightness of God's glory, and that's true. The word in Greek can be translated brightness or radiance, but I do like the word radiance because it shows that he's the origin of life. Jesus said in the Gospel of John, he says, I am the light of the world. And radiance, coming from the word ray, ray means it's an infinite line that starts from a single point. And so the radiance of God's glory is a ray of light that starts at a single point, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. It is bright, but it is a glory of God in its radiance. He's the radiance of the glory of God. And it also says that he's the exact imprint of his nature. Who God is, is what we see in the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember that in John 1, verse 18, it says, no one has ever seen God. The only God who is at the Father's side, or in the Old King James Version, it says, in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known. He has declared Him. Jesus tells us who God is. Jesus came near so that the eternal God, Jehovah God, who is known by His glory in thick clouds that's veiled, that thunders and lightnings from this cloud burn the top of Mount Sinai, one who causes men to fear and tremble. He came in meekness and lowliness through Jesus Christ. Jesus is the eternal Son, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and this is who Jesus is, the second person of the Trinity. Philip asked Him in John 14, show us the Father and it's sufficient for us. It's enough. Have I been such a long time with you, Philip? Jesus says to him, if you've seen Me, you've seen the Father. And this is the clarity of God's glory. We look to Jesus. And this is the glory that we see only in shadows from 2nd Chronicles. What a blessing it is to see this. They couldn't stand the minister, even that glory was too great, but the glory of Jesus brings it near. And the glory that Jesus had as he walked upon the planet was not as glorious as what he has eternally. He prayed in John chapter 17 and verse five, restore me unto the glory I knew with you. Father, restore me unto the glory I knew with you before the world was. We only got a glimpse of his glory. He set aside, laid aside his glory, but he was still the most glorious human being the world has ever seen. so that we could get a glimpse of God's glory, but it's now made reachable. It's made attainable. As John says in his first epistle in 1 John 1, he says, we've seen him. We've heard him with our ears. We held him in our hands. They embraced the Lord Jesus Christ. They were able to put their arms around the eternal God. They heard the very voice of God coming through a man's lips, a perfect man still, glorious, yes, but it was still someone who was reachable, someone who was attainable, to make God someone that we could relate to. And that's the blessing of the truth of what we see. Before it was as the, it shows us pictures and shadows of what would be. They're playing musical instruments because our worship also involves the things that we do. That we can make instruments and that we can play instruments. And even though I mess up on the guitar here and there, it's still done unto Christ. It's still done unto God, as I encourage you as believers to sing. Sing, I don't sing so good. Preacher, I really don't. That's okay. Jesus is, if you believe in Jesus, then Jesus is singing Psalms and hymns, which he did with his disciples, is applied to your account. and it'll come to God's ear. Remember, behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell in unity, the goodness of God and his pleasure. He takes pleasure in the fact that you're singing unto him. And even if you're making a joyful noise as some of us do, because my voice isn't often the best singing tone, I'll sing with my heart unto Christ. If you trust in Christ and the Lord Jesus is your Savior, you know, the coming together, this unity, the coming to church, and we have a bunch of people out sick, and so I'm not talking about that. Or we have some folks that are out, that are attending a different service today because they have some family where there's a baby dedication or something. So, you know, I'm not talking about that. where you get sick or there's circumstances or you're visiting another church. I'm not talking about that. But have you ever woke up in the morning on a Sunday and thought, you know, I don't feel like coming to church or on a Wednesday evening. You know, I got all this stuff. I don't feel like coming to church today. Feel like going to church. But you know, as a pastor, I felt like that. I don't feel like going to church today. But all through my Christianity for 37 years, I've had those feelings, not as someone who is just, you know, I'm not a pastor, I'm not called, as a missionary, or just as a person who loves the Lord, who's been saved by God's grace. There are times I didn't feel like coming to church. But I can tell you this, every single time I've come, I wasn't sorry that I did. There's the blessing of that because we have weakness, we have corruptions, and I'm telling you, I'm confessing to you that even as a pastor, there's times where I felt like, man, I'm just beat. I'm not sure that I can worship well. I'm not sure that I can face the people that I'm coming to, that I have to minister to. I've studied the text, but I'm just so tired. I can tell you 100% of the time, every single time. And I asked the Lord, is this a lie? I mean, I'm thinking back and I know my memory's not so good anymore, because after you reach 61, 62, as you keep on going up in years, your memory's not so good. So I even asked the Lord, Lord, is this true? And he has affirmed in my heart 100% of the time, every time I've come when I didn't feel like coming, I wasn't glad I missed church. There was a blessing for me beyond, I'm so glad I didn't miss this, I feel like. I sound like. I understand and know like. I know that this was a good thing for me. Every single time. And the Lord promises that. He says, I am with you always. He says at the end of Matthew, doesn't he not? In chapter 28, I'm with you always, even to the end of the world. And we'll take that and kind of turn it on its head and say, well, Lord, you're omnipresent, you're with me. So if I don't go to church, but you get to miss out on the blessing. You miss out on the blessing of the presence of God, the goodness in his goodness. You miss out on the pleasure of God that you got to bring him pleasure. And that in doing so, He brings you the greatest blessing with His pleasure, brings you pleasure and joy forevermore. Don't miss Psalm 133. If you're a believer, remember the unity that's in the believers. And when you are away from this congregation, we have snowbirds that are away, but when they're here in the summer, how blessed it is when we get to see them and they get to see us. Or we got the Garcia family, they're gonna be going out for a little while down to the lower 48 states, but they're still united with us. We need to pray for them and be joined to them and that they will have the same pleasure that we have received in their presence today, that they have that while they're away, that they take us with them as they minister outside, outside Alaska. What a blessing that is. Finally, for those of you who have not yet made a confession of faith, you say, you know, I'm not yet there, brother. I have not yet made a confession of faith. Think on this, that the cloud of the glory will be all you see until the radiance of God's glory in Christ shines through. You'll only see it as a cloud. It's still a little bit distant, You may even see it from Mount Sinai with thunders and lightnings and, well, I gotta do this or I gotta do that. I gotta get, you know, I gotta get my life right before I come to Christ. And you know, the old cliche, do you have to get washed up to take a bath? Some people, well, I gotta just clean my life up before I can really give my life over. Let Jesus do that. Isaiah, and here, what does it mean to look at the, what does it mean to receive Christ as far as the radiance of his glory? Isaiah 45 verse 22, and I like it in the old King James Version, because it says, look unto me, and be ye saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. Look unto me, what does it take you to look? Look at the radiance of Christ. And if you were looking to Christ's radiant glory, you will praise the Lord for He is good, for His mercy endures forever. Look at that mercy that God in His eternal love in order to save you has become a man and walked the righteous life that you and I can't and made it so that God is so near that all you need do is even look with the eyes of faith to the truth of Christ being the glory of God because He is good and His steadfast love endures forever. How could you not serve a God like that? who will go through that extreme, that through 6,000 years since the creation of the earth, that he will bring about the fact that after 4,000 years, he brought a son to be born as a babe to a virgin and live the righteous life that you and I can't and to be crucified, tortured cruelly before he even goes to the cross so that at his weakest, point while he's hanging upon the cross, he says, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do, that he sheds his blood and that even at his weakest point darkens the sky so that at noon till three, it's dark upon the face of the land that Jesus at his weakest still commands the sun to be dark as fulfilling scripture when he was crucified. That's the Savior that has power to save to the uttermost young people. So if you haven't said yes to Christ, say yes to Christ today. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we see your mercy endures forever, that you've sent your only begotten Son, and that in his name, I ask you, Father, to minister unto those that do not know. And for those that do know, Lord, that have a trusting faith in you, I ask you, Father, to bless them with a double portion of your blessing, a double portion of your anointing that comes. by the truth that we have dwelt together, we've come together in unity. Bless them abundantly, Lord. Bless us abundantly. Bless me, Lord, that I may see the blessed truth of your word, that I may see Christ from your word. I ask, Father, for those that are sick and those that are sick that can't be here today. I ask, Father, for your healing and your mercy, which endures forever. to be upon them. And for those here, Lord, that are not sick, Lord, bless them to not be sick, because we love to be together. And we ask, Father, that when we're sick, we can't be together. And for that reason, we ask that, Lord, you heal us of our sicknesses and diseases through the Lord Jesus Christ. In his name and for his sake, we do pray. Amen.