Morning, welcome to our service this day. If you would take your copy of the scriptures and turn with me to the very tail end of the Old Testament, to the book of Habakkuk, Habakkuk. Now, it's probably not the book that you've turned to every day in your scripture reading, but if you get right at the end and Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, And it's really a short little, what's called a minor prophet, toward the tail end of the Old Testament. So if you're able to, please turn to Habakkuk chapter one, and I'd like to read verses one through four together. If you'd follow as I read. I'll give you just a minute to get there, because I know it's like, we used to do those sword drills when we were kids. They would tell us to see who could turn in their Bible the fastest. I'm not sure what the purpose of that was. But we did it, eagerly. And so, all right, is everyone there? Good. All right, let's, if you listen as I read. The burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw Oh Lord, how long shall I cry and you will not hear? Even cry out to you violence and you will not save. Why do you show me iniquity and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me. There is strife and contention arises. Therefore, the law is powerless, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous. Therefore, perverse judgment proceeds. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you for your holy word. As we enter into this minor prophet of the Old Testament, Lord, we pray that the message would ring forth and it would be clear Lord, that we need to be people who are people of faith. We need to take hold of you and believe in you and trust in you and know you, not just assent to you. So we pray, Father, that as we look at this beautiful little book, that we would grab hold of its theme, take it to heart, and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the name of our Lord, we do pray, amen. This little obscure book in the very tail end of the Old Testament starts with this prophet by the name of Habakkuk. We don't even know who he was. There's not enough metadata surrounding his existence to clearly identify that Habakkuk lived in such and such a tribe. But we know just from what the context of the passage gives us. So we derive our understanding of who this prophet was just from reading through the book. But the core theme of this little book is about belief and unbelief in God. There's a famous verse, and it's quoted three times in the New Testament. Three times. It is, the just shall live by faith. And that verse proceeds off the pages of this minor prophet. It's like the hub of the wheel. It's the theme of the book. The prophet is crying out to the Lord. looking at the culture about him. It's not good. It was very evil, violent, corrupt. You see within this book that the prophet cries out to God, and he asks a series of questions. And God gives him answers, but the answers aren't quite what he's looking for. and we'll delve into that as we work through the passage today. Notice in verse one, we see that Habakkuk had a burden. He had a burden which he was bearing. Back in Bible college, we had to try to remember what each book of the Old Testament, it was like an Old Testament survey class, and we remembered Habakkuk, we would kind of alliterate it and say Habak-Pak, because he was carrying a burden. It kind of gave us some clarity. As you think through the Old Testament, and you think through the Minor Prophets, we don't really often know what is contained within these little books. But if you take a Bible survey class, sometimes you can think through the Old Testament, Habakkuk was bearing a burden. He was bearing a burden that was specific to the area what we call Judah. Now, when I get into stuff today, I'm gonna be using all sorts of There'll be Babylonians, Chaldeans, there's gonna be all these names that I use, okay, and I'm gonna try to keep it as clear as I can as I'm talking about history. It's very exciting to me. You're gonna hear about kings that existed that have obscure names, and they were kings of Judah, and Habakkuk ministered to what was called Judah. Now Judah was the the single tribe, if you will, that stayed with the line of David. You remember what happened after Solomon died? Solomon had a son by the name of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam was not a very wise man. Instead of being gracious to the people, Rehoboam decided that his and I quote, his little finger would be as thick as his father's thigh. In other words, he was gonna lay it on hard to the people. And they rebelled. 10 of the tribes went to the north, and they became known as Israel. Prior to that time, I think we would think of it all as Israel. But when you read through the Old Testament and you look at the book of 1 Kings and 2 Kings and part of the 1 and 2 Samuel, you'll see that sometimes they talk about Judah and sometimes they talk about Israel. Judah was the southern tribe and it was the area that had Jerusalem, the city of David. And Habakkuk was ministering, if you will, he was a prophet. And he was sharing God's word with Judah but there's a problem. As he's looking about and he's seeing what's going on in Judah, the state of the nation is not good. The spiritual state is not good. Now, during this time frame when Habakkuk was ministering, Israel and Judah were kind of like a little tiny fish, right? and they were sandwiched between these big kingdoms. Down to the south was a kingdom we know as Egypt, right? To the north, there was a country called Assyria, who had already conquered the northern tribes and taken them into captivity. And then there was a little bit to the east of that and south, There was what we know as the Chaldeans, or the Babylonians. And they were starting to rise up. There was a king, his name was Napolesar, and he had a son by the name of Nebuchadnezzar. And Nebuchadnezzar, they were on the move. They were moving up, and they were smashing into Assyria. Assyria's capital was the city of Nineveh. Who went to Nineveh as a missionary? Do you remember? What was it? Jonah, right? So Assyria was being pressured on both sides by the Babylonians, and one city at a time it started to fall. Nineveh fell, and all the leaders of Assyria, they ran to the next city, which was Haran, and then they ran to Carchemish. Nebuchadnezzar and his armies kept pushing on them and chasing them down. And this was the time that Habakkuk lived. He was in this timeframe where there was a changing environment all the time. He prophesied during the final days of the Assyrian Empire as the Babylonians' rulership was pressing. In the south, Judah was sandwiched again. Egypt was in the south, Babylonia's coming this way, and they're basically a small little country so they end up paying tribute to whoever they can just to survive. Alright, and this was the day. Now Judah you'd think, since Judah housed Jerusalem, and it had the temple, remember, there was a temple that was built, it was the main place of religious worship in Israel, or the southern tribe, and you would think that all that they had been given, that the status of this little country would not be so dire as Habakkuk, expounds upon as he enters into this his burden he begins the book we see the burden of the prophet Habakkuk what he saw and as we look in in the verse 2 of this small little book we read the prophet crying out to God Oh Lord how long shall I cry and you not hear Habakkuk's crying to the Lord. He sees the society of Judah just in collapse, absolute collapse. The words he uses, and he uses about six of them, actually exactly six, if you'll notice, in verse three, he says, why do you show me iniquity? Why do you cause me to see trouble? for plundering and violence are before me, and there's strife and contention." These are the descriptors of what was going on in Judah at this time. Violence, contention, plundering, strife. Habakkuk is burdened as he sees this. And the reason he's burdened is because Judah was supposed to be not just a national institution like a country, but it was a religious institution. And it had been corrupted. The leaders that were supposed to be leading were plundering and looting and taking advantage of the people. And he's looking about and he sees this corruption. disheartens him. It disheartens him. There's a problem that Judah has. There's a spiritual problem. What is it? What's going on? How did Judah get to where it is? The cause of the burden that we read about here was unbelief, we mentioned before that the hub passage of this whole book is that the just shall live by faith. The core passage tells the people of Judah that they have to trust and they have to believe in God, right? You hear that a lot, don't ya? Just believe. but it was more than just like a mental belief, because they were tied up in a religious ceremonialism. It would be like somebody who's Christian, in name only, attends church, is a part of some congregation, but really at the core, they don't really, really believe, don't really trust. Habakkuk. who call on God's people to trust in him by faith. But you know, belief is more than just a mental ascent, right? You remember in James how it says that the demons believe in God, there is one God, right? And they shudder. That's certainly not salvific, that doesn't save us. Have you ever met somebody who believes in God, and yet they don't know him? Right? Well, it happens a lot. I mean, there are people who mentally assent to the presence of God, that He is real, but they don't know Him. The faith that's lacking amongst the people of Judah is not a mental assent that there is a God, it's that they don't diligently seek Him to know Him. As you know, Christianity is not just about proving that there is a God. Christianity is about knowing God. It says this, you and I were separated as if there was a great gulf between He and us. And the faith that we have in God is about diligently seeking to know Him. When you come to Christ, Not only do you believe that there is a God, but you know Him. You know Him personally. You commune with Him. You have fellowship with Him. You have faith. A persevering faith. A righteous faith. Habakkuk has this cry going on. Let's look at verse two again. And we read, oh Lord, how long shall I cry? and you will not hear. It's the cry of the righteous in the face of an evil world. It's similar to the psalmists who say, how long, O Lord? It's also very similar to Revelation chapter six, nine through 10, where the martyrs in heaven cry out, and they cry out to the Lord, and they say, how long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood? the cry of the martyrs is the same type of cry that Habakkuk has. He's crying out and he's asking God a question. And when he gives him the answer, which we'll look into in the weeks to come, the answer is almost the exact opposite of what Habakkuk wants. The first response will be to him that he's going to send the Chaldeans to judge Judah. and they're gonna overrun his people. And as he sends the Chaldeans, Habakkuk's like, Lord, why would you do that? They're worse than we are. They're horrible. And he goes through and he lists it all out. And so Habakkuk is gonna wrestle and seek the Lord in this whole book. How did they get to where they are today? How did they get to this point where the prophet is crying out? Well, I'd like to look into some passages and give a little bit more of the history of what was going on in the time that Habakkuk was living. Judah had quite recently, this is the country of Judah, endured the services of a king by the name of Manasseh. Manasseh was the son of a good king named Hezekiah, and Manasseh was the worst king that Judah had in its history. He ruled basically from 697 to 642 BC. He's infamous for his extreme idolatry, his rebellion against God. It was one of the darkest periods in Judah's history. His corruption was so deep. It's spelled out, I'm just gonna read some passages to you. 2 Kings 21, one to seven. Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king, and he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. He rebuilt the high places, which Hezekiah, his father, had destroyed. He raised up altars for Baal and made a wooden image, as Ahab, king of Israel, had done, and he worshiped all the hosts of heaven and served them. He also built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, in Jerusalem I will put my name. And he built altars for all the hosts of heaven, in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he made his son pass through the fire, practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft, consulted spiritists and mediums. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. He even said a carved image of Asherah that he made in the house of the Lord. which the Lord had said to David, and to Solomon his son, in this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, as I will put my name forever." Here's Manasseh, a young man who, coming off of a father's reign who was actually a good king in Judah, he introduces the worst practices The pagan practices of Baal and Asherah, he built altars to foreign gods, worshipped the celestial bodies, conducted child sacrifice, which is having his son walk through the fire of a pagan ritual, entered into witchcraft and sorcery, practiced divination and consulted mediums. Violence and bloodshed were a part of what he conducted. In 2 Kings 21 16 it says, moreover Manasseh shed very much blood till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to the other, besides his sin which he had made due to sin and doing evil in the sight of the Lord. He was the worst king. He was worse than the Canaanites who were in the land before. He ignored the repeated warnings of the prophets that God had sent. In 2 Chronicles it says, and the Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen. Manasseh's sin provoked God to anger. It led to the destruction and exile, ultimately, of Judah. It's hard to undo the damage that Manasseh has done. Now, Manasseh did repent at the end of his life. just briefly, but it was very difficult to undo. Do you know how quickly an individual can undo the good works of God? Do you know that churches are filled with this sort of thing? One person comes in, one person with an agenda to take a church in a direction that's not pleasing to the Lord can almost within the snap of a finger undo the good that was done for years and years. Did you realize that? Manasseh did that, he undid the good and it was so bad. And here Habakkuk, you can see his cry to the Lord, right? All the violence. Now there was a king who came after Manasseh briefly. His name was Josiah. Josiah was Manasseh's grandson. Josiah became a king at the age of eight. He led a great revival in Judah. And it's an amazing story, of course, During the repairs that were being made on the temple, Josiah, through one of the high priests, or when the high priest Hilkiah found the book of the law, which had been hidden, returned to the word of God. And he began to, first thing he did is he tore his clothing. He tore his clothing. Josiah began to, Reform Judah. He renewed the covenant. He brought the book of the law and the word of God in front of the people. He gathered the elders together and he set them on the right course. He removed the idolatry. He purged the pagan practices. Banned child sacrifice, divination, and the use of the high places for worship. This is Josiah. You see, look at what's happening here. Judah had this history. One minute, a king would take them down a terrible path. Then there would be some reform. Josiah made all sorts of reforms. Josiah passes. and his son Jehoakim immediately undoes everything that Josiah has done, all right? This is like a process. By the way, it's like all through the Old Testament. Have you ever noticed that? With the judges, with the kings? One king does something, he makes tremendous reform, and then no sooner does he reform things, and then all of a sudden, it's all undone. It's undone, just like that. It's one of the saddest things to see, by the way. It's a sad thing to see in religious affairs, churches, when an individual comes in and basically, in order to get followers after them, destroys God's work. Josiah, Manasseh, his son, Jehoiakim, this endless cycle of purging, cleansing, and then going back to the beginning over and over again. Jehoiachin undid Josiah's reforms, reintroduced pagan worship, neglected the covenant, oppressed the people. It's amazing. Jehoiachin was the guy, you remember the prophet Jeremiah, how he with the scribe Baruch, they brought a scroll to the presence of Jehoiakim, and Jehoiakim proceeds to cut it up and burn it in a fire right in front of him. All right, this is what's happened. You notice the connection with idolatry? You notice how that the people of Judah, are constantly worshiping other gods, other idols, and the works of their hands, and they're not truly worshiping and believing in the true and living God. The theme of the book, again, as we go back to it, is that the just shall live by faith, chapter two, and we'll get to that verse eventually as we go through the series. As New Covenant believers, There's a lot we can learn as we look at Habakkuk's burden. We don't fit into the genre of Judah. We don't live in a national state where there's a theocratic kingdom. We don't. We actually, that's not something that we can relate to. Our politicians and our clergy are not united together, all right? We live in this gospel era where we're a part of the New Testament church. But the problems that Judah had with their idolatry are not problems that we are averse to. The Apostle Paul, as he opens up the New Testament, he makes correlations with the act of idolatry relating it directly to something we know as covetousness. When we misplace our devotion, when the heart treasures something more than God, when it displaces God as the supreme object of worship, when we serve something else, maybe we're not bowing to idols. That's not a common theme today, right? But what does man often bow to? idolatry and covetousness, where we turn material things into functional gods, or de facto gods. We worship materialism, money, possessions, status and power. We idolize social recognition and influence. We seek fulfillment in achievements rather than God. We idolize people, whether romantic partners, children or friends, and ultimately sometimes We make them the source of our meaning and purpose. We place our trust in wealth or resources rather than God's provision. We're not too far away from what the people of Judah were. Maybe they're worshiping an idol that they can see that they crafted with their own hands and that they really believe will actually make them better and help them. their whole motivation in their idolatry was pragmatic and selfish. It was so that they would have prospering times. And so rather than worship the true and living God, taking hold of Him by faith, the people of Judah worshiped false gods, things that they felt could help them, maybe get along better with the other countries around them. Their whole religious system wasn't real. It was fake. It was broken. In the New Testament church, though we don't have all the same dynamics, we have certain things that are still the same as in the Old Covenant. It has always been true that man is sinful and lost. In the Old Testament and in the New Testament, man's sinful estate has not changed. Man, both in the time of Judah and in the time of the church, is sinful and lost. Righteousness back then was the righteousness of faith. The people of Judah, when they embraced what God had said and they believed God, He credited it to them for righteousness. In the New Covenant, when we take hold of the Lord Jesus Christ, we believe on Him with all of our heart, by faith, He credits His righteousness to our account. It's the same idea The church is not, it's just simply not immune to idolatry. Did you know that? Did you know that the church itself, as the revelator John specked it out in his, in the book of Revelation, was often a place where individuals felt that they were rich and increased in goods and in need of nothing. That's the church of Laodicea. That sounds like an idolatrous situation, doesn't it? The book of Habakkuk is practical for today, just like it was back in the days of Judah. It's difficult to see, but we're the same in so many ways. We're sinful and lost. We need the righteousness of faith. We need to trust in the Lord and That trust will prove itself out in the actions and the activities. You can see that it's almost like he's hopeless. Look at the final verse there, verse four. It says this, this is going back to Habakkuk chapter one, it says, therefore the law is powerless, justice never goes forth, the wicked surround the righteous and perverse judgment proceeds. Again, he's looking at his times, he's seeing what's going on in Judah, they've forsaken the true and living word of God, they've forsaken their faith in God and it's a mess, it's a mess. This is Habakkuk's burden. This is his burden. He struggles as he sees the spiritual situation of Judah, and he has a problem reconciling it with what he knows of God. And he's going to wrestle all through this book. And this is, again, some of these sermons, when I first open up a new series, we have to kind of slosh through a few things, right? We have to get the context, who is he talking to? But as we start to dig into this, you're gonna see how his questions are not easy questions. They're not like cupcake questions. He's gonna be that person who asks the philosophically extremely difficult questions about good and evil and God. That's what he's doing here. He's crying out to the Lord and he's gonna question God and God is gonna respond to him. He's gonna question again, God will respond. It's almost like we're working with this prophet and by the end, the answer that he comes to is not necessarily the answer that you're gonna get that most people are looking for. When he's looking for his final answers, he doesn't come to the conclusion that, oh, God is somehow unjust in his actions because God is going to basically say, hey, there are things that are gonna happen that are gonna make your ears tickle with the Chaldeans and their revolution here that's gonna happen, and they're gonna conquer you. But what he does come to is he comes to a picture that God is in control and that God is still good. He's going to acknowledge that. He's gonna wrestle with it. He's going to see that there's evil in the world, he can't quite rationalize it all, but in the end God is still good and he's still in control. And there's going to be things that happen that are hard to explain that modern philosophers fail to explain. And they really will come down to this end debate where he's going to say, Lord, I believe you. I don't understand it. I don't fully grasp all of your ways. Your ways are beyond me. But I trust you. I believe you. I believe you. So Habakkuk is a book that points us back to faith, that the just shall live by faith. We hope and we trust that God is gonna bless this book study as we walk through it over the course of this next month and a half, and thank you. Let's pray together. Our Father, you're good to us. You're beyond good. Your goodness is so evident, Lord. Even though we see your omnipotent hand and your mighty power, as you control the events of the world. You control the hearts of kings. You've worked in the nations in ways that we don't comprehend. But Lord, we trust you. We trust you. We see your good hand in our lives. We believe you. We are so thankful for your righteousness and your love to us. We pray your blessing, Lord. We pray your blessing on your people. Help us, Lord, as we study in your word and help us to grow in that grace that Habakkuk grows in. Help us to make that transformation from questioning to a solid affirmation that, Lord, you're in control and you're so good. We don't always know or understand all the ins and whys, but we know that you are. Lord, we pray as we contemplate now your table, that we would come together in unity of heart and mind as we think upon our Lord Jesus Christ. And we give you that praise and that glory in his name, amen. Amen. If you would stand with me, please. Our communion hymn as the men prepare for communion is hymn number 275, The Old Rugged Cross. Hymn number 275. On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame. And I love that old cross where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown. Oh, that old rugged cross so despised by the world has a wondrous attraction for me. For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above to bear it to dark Calvary. So I'll cherish till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown. In the old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine, such a wonderful beauty I see. For t'was on that old cross Jesus suffered and died to pardon and sanctify me. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross, till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross, till they change it someday for a crown. To the old rugged cross I will ever be true, its shame and reproach gladly bear. Then he'll call me someday to my home far away, where his glory forever I'll share. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown. Amen. Please be seated. a time of both introspection. We look into our hearts, right? We take a time of, it says, let a man examine himself. But we also look up and we rejoice. One of the things that we note about the Lord's Table is that it is about the cross of Christ. It's about the cross. Sometimes, I know from different denominations and groups, can become about the elements a little too much. There's different lore from different various denominations that really focus on that. But what is it that is being shown in the Lord's table? It's the Lord's death till he come. It's his atoning work on the cross. And in that work on the cross, Christ He is atoning for the sins of man. Now, it's a very interesting, powerful thing, but here's the deal. Here's the deal. Christ specifically died for your sins. It wasn't a mistake. When He atoned in His sacrifice on the cross, it wasn't something that was accidental. He specifically took care of them. They're gone. They're gone. It's not as if we go back over and over again and have Christ re-die and re-sacrifice himself. That's not what this is. We've often said this. This is not an altar. This is a table where we come together and we fellowship in the Lord's table. That's communion. I wanna read a few verses. you know, part of what we've been doing, some of the hymn histories, but I just wanna read some prefacing remarks from the Apostle Paul on the Lord's Table, just to set our hearts and minds on what we're doing here. This is from 1 Corinthians chapter 10, and the Apostle Paul says, he starts it out, therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. What? This is the Lord's Table. He's gonna get there. I speak to you, Wise men, judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we though many are one bread and one body, for we all partake of that one bread. Observe Israel after the flesh. are not those who eat the sacrifices partakers of the altar. What am I saying then? That an idol is anything? Or what is offered to idols is anything? Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. And I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the Lord's table and the table of demons. or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? What's going on? This is, by the way, this is the prefacing remarks to Paul's version of the Lord's Table. He starts and he says there's idolatry happening. Well, we have to realize in the context of the early church, there was a lot of confusion about the Lord's Table, probably like there is today. There were individuals who were surrounded by idolatry, felt quite free to partake in various feasts that were sacrificed to idols and sometimes directly in those feasts themselves. But what Paul was saying here is he's saying, listen, brothers, sisters, our communion is with Christ, Christ alone. He doesn't share the glory with other gods, right? We have one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God. There's one way. When we partake of the Lord's table, again, we're remembering the death of Christ till he comes. We're communing with one another in fellowship. We're rejoicing because every one of us here who has come to the cross, We all come at the very same point of entry. Nobody gets a step ahead. Did you know that? When your burden fell off at the cross, when your sin was there, every one of us comes at the very same point. And there's this communion, there's a camaraderie that's an amazing camaraderie. It is this, guess what? You and I, we're on equal footing. All of it's in Christ. There's no one who's greater, there's no one who's lesser. When we come to the table, the things that seem to matter out there in the world, all the social strata, the social organization, the elitism, the humbleness of some, throw that out. You and I, we all enter at the same point. Our fellowship is an amazing thing as we come together in Christ. Paul, He wants not to have a polluted Lord's table where we're fellowshipping in a way that we don't really understand or know. So, again, we invite you, if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and in obedience to him, partake with us this day. We invite you to examine your heart, as we'll take some time to do that, and rejoice with us when we do rejoice, if the men would stand at this time. I'll ask Brother Chris if you would ask the Lord's blessing on the bread. I think that this is it. Try that out. I want to thank you for We've taken our sins upon you long before you knew us, past, present, and future sins, and whatever sins we have in the future, may we definitely turn to you and your life, and may our light shine to the world, the world that we are living in. Sin seems to be overtaking it, Let our light shine. Even if we don't talk to someone, just let our light, let them see the difference in us. And we thank you. Amen. you you for I have received from the Lord that which I also deliver to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me, shall we remember together. Father in heaven, we do thank you for this day and we thank you for this ordinance that you give us, the Lord's Supper and Baptism. We thank you that years ago when you had this supper with your disciples that it was very intimate to where you washed their feet. And the Apostle John, he laid his bare cheek upon your chest. What a sense of love and devotion that you had for them and they had for you. We thank you for this very day, and we thank you for the shed blood without the remission of sin. Without that shed blood, there's no remission of sin. Thank you, Lord, for what you've done for us here in Berean Baptist Church, and we love you. In Jesus' name, amen. you In the same manner also, he took the cup when he had supped, saying, this cup is a new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me, shall we remember together. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, You proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. Amen. You would stand with me again, please. Our hymn of response today is hymn number 407, It Is Well With My Soul. And there is a key change in the final verse. Hymn number 407. When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul, with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, let this blast assurance control. that Christ has regarded my helpless estate and has shed his own blood for my soul. It is well with my soul It is well, it is well with my soul. My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the whole. is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sighed. The clouds be rolled back as a scroll. The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend. Even so, it is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul.