Today we're turning to 1 Samuel chapter 7. 1 Samuel and the chapter 7. And you'll know that we're coming to the motto text for the church in this year. And as I always say, I always struggle with regard to what to bring. I suppose this was the natural place I thought to go to. And yet I felt the Lord confirming it. It would have been somewhere that maybe I felt not to go to because it was so obvious. But the Lord confirmed it even yesterday. And so I believe that this is to be the motto text for the church in this new year. But we'll read the part of the chapter, most of the chapter together. Let's read from the verse 1 of 1 Samuel, in the chapter number 7. And it says, And the men of Kirjath-Jerum came, and fetched up the ark of the Lord, and brought it into the house of Adinabad, in the hill, and sanctified Eliezer, his son, to keep the ark of the Lord. It came to pass while the ark abode in Kirjath-Jerim, that the time was long, for it was twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. And Samuel spake unto the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the children of Israel did put away Balaam and Ashtaroth, and served the Lord only. And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizba, And I will pray for you unto the Lord. And they gathered together to Mizba and drew water and poured it out. For the Lord had fasted on the day, and said, There we have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizba. And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together to Mizba, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. The children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the Lord, our God for us that he will save us out of the hand of the philistines and samuel took a sucking lamb and offered it for a burnt offering holy unto the lord and samuel cried unto the lord for israel and the lord heard him And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomforted them, and they were smitten before Israel. And the men of Israel went up out of Mizba, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them, until they came under Beth-char. Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizba and Shin, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us. So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the coasts of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. Amen. Let's stand now, please, for a brief word of prayer. Our gracious God, our loving Father, we now commit the preaching of thy word to thee. We pray for help, the enabling of thy spirit, the infilling of God the Holy Ghost. Grant, dear God, now thy grace and, Lord, thy spirit, and give us hearts that are open to what the Lord would say to us today. For we offer prayer in and through the Savior's blessed and holy name. Amen and amen. In the early hours of the 23rd of December 2021, contractors moved into the University of Hong Kong to remove a famous statue marking the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989. During that year, Beijing's Tiananmen Square became the focus for demonstrations calling for greater political freedoms. Thousands of people took up camp in the square, but by June, the military moved in and opened fire. that eight meter copper statue commemorating the massacre comprised of some 50 anguished and tortured bodies piled one on top of each another and has been on display at Hong Kong's oldest university for more than two decades. The removal of that remembrance stone is a signal that the Chinese authorities will no longer tolerate public displays of remembrance for the events that occurred on the 4th of June, 1989. The removal of memorials and monuments is something that does not only happen in communist countries. We have seen within our own nation a push to remove from public areas memorials to men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice in our own nation during the provinces troubles. On the mainland there has been a drive to remove statues that do not fit into the cancel cultures version of history. And so we had the felling, of that slave traders monument, Edward Colston in Bristol a few years ago. We had the defacing of Winston Churchill's statue in central London during, as it were, an environmental protest. And we have also had the removal of our own Queen's portrait from the Magdalene College Middle Common Room because the Oxford students have deemed that her portrait is an image that has symbolized and is symbolizing recent colonial history. Today, in our reading, we read about a memorial stone that I'm convinced would have been earmarked for immediate removal if the Marxist groups of our generation had of existed in the days of Samuel the prophet. I say that because this stone represented God's dealings with a people whom he had entered into covenant relationship with, these groups who want to push God out of the public arena in our day, would have been advocating for the excavation of this stone, and for it to be placed into cold storage, never to see the light of day again, if they hadn't been around in the days of Samuel the prophet. In 1 Samuel chapter 7 verse 12 we read, Now I'm aware that we have looked at this portion of God's Word before, twice. Both times we have considered it in a devotional way. But today I want us to look at this text contextually. And as we do so, there are a number of matters that I want to point to. you too. We take then these words in 1st Samuel 7 verse 12 as the motto text for 2022. Ebenezer hitherto hath the Lord helped us. Now from the surrounding passage of God's Word and the surrounding passage in which these words sit, as I've said there are a number of things that I want us to consider from 1 Samuel chapter 7. The very first thing that we see in this chapter is reformation. Reformation. Now for 20 long years, the symbol of God's presence, the Ark of the Covenant, had resided in Kerjath-Jerim, away from Shiloh, where the Ark had abode prior to the Philistines capturing it in battle during the days of Eli the priest. For 20 years. For two decades, the nation of Israel had attempted to live and to worship God without the manifest presence of God among them that was symbolized in the Ark of the Covenant. For it was upon the mercy seat that the Shekinah glory appeared, the visible presence of God among His people. But for 20 years, God's people had just gone on in their worship of God and in their living without the manifest presence of God. However, something happens within the nation. I suppose we could call it an awakening. There is an awakening that takes place among God's covenant people. Because we read in the verse number 2 that God's people begin to lament after the Lord. Let's read verse 2. And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kerjath-Jerom, that the time was long, for it was twenty years, and all... Notice this is an entire, a collective, a complete, lamenting by the nation of Israel that all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. Now the question arises, how did this awakening commence? Well, we're not told. We're not told. But could I suggest to you that there are a number of reasons. First of all, and obviously, it was the Spirit of God who began the work. It is the Spirit who begins to stir the people of God, to seek for His presence again, to seek for His blessing and His fever and His smile upon them again. It is the work of God the Holy Spirit, regardless of what preaching is done, It is the Lord, ultimately, who begins to stir the heart of an individual, of a congregation, of a denomination, of a nation, to seek after the Lord. It may have been that the people had become aware of their failure and of their continual defeat, and they seek the reason And they come to the conclusion that it is that God is not among them as He once was. But could I suggest to you, as many Bible commentators suggest, that one of the reasons how this awakening began was through the ministry of Samuel the prophet. Through the faithful ministry of Samuel the prophet, many believers or many commentators believe that this awakening began to take place. Let me read to you what one preacher said concerning these 20 long years. He said these words, I have a firm persuasion that Samuel was going from place to place preaching in quiet spots wherever he could gather an audience, warning the people of their sin, and stirring them up to seek Jehovah, thus endeavoring to infuse some spirituality into their national life. And if this is the case, and it is through the ministry, the faithful ministry of Samuel the prophet, then I believe that there is something here for every faithful servant of God, every faithful Sunday school teacher, youth worker, open air preacher, evangelist, missionary, pastor, minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that our neighbors, though they appear to be fruitless at times, will bring forth a harvest. They shall bring forth a harvest, because God's Word does not return unto him void. Therefore it is for us to continue in 2022 to do what God has instructed us with, to preach the Word of God, to continue to labor, to continue to preach, to continue to lift up our voices and despair not, knowing that our labor is not in vain in the Lord. There's Samuel, he has to wait 20 years. God comes and begins to stir, to agitate, and to trouble, and to cause these people to start to long after the manifest presence of God. These people, in their lamenting after the Lord, shows to us that it is God's presence that we ought to prize the most. The worst thing that any Christian, any church, any nation can experience is the withdrawing of God's conscious presence from them. Such is sadly our case in these days. God's favor has been withdrawn, His presence, His manifest presence is slacking in the lives of many of God's people, in our ministries, in our nation at large. For a small moment, it appears that He has forsaken us. And yet, in the midst of such seeming abandonment, there's hope. There's hope for the church of Jesus Christ. There's hope for the believer, especially when God's people begin to lament after the Lord. There's hope there. To sit idly by and to be unconcerned, that's a hopeless situation. But whenever men and women begin to seek after God, then thank God there's hope for a church, for a Christian, for a nation, for a community. as man begin to lament after God. That renewed desire for God will manifest itself in many ways. It'll manifest itself in a renewed interest in prayer. It'll manifest itself in a longing to assemble in the house of God, to hear the Word of God. It'll manifest itself by the rebuilding of the family altar at home and greater time personally, personally spent with the Lord in prayer and in the reading of God's Word. You see, these people, they were now convinced that nobody could help them but the Lord. And so they began to lament after Him. However there is a problem and that problem needs to be dealt with. The problem being that there was sin that needed to be put away. Look there at the verse 3. It says, And Samuel spake unto the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Asheroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only, and he will then deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. Israel said it was simply that they had forsaken God. But not only had they forsaken God, they had replaced God. They had substituted God for false gods, the gods of Astaroth, the gods of Balaam, as we read there in the verse number four, as they're identified for us. Samuel informs the nation that such gods had to be removed if the favor of God was to be restored to them. You know, brethren and sisters, there's no point in lamenting after the Lord. if we're not willing to forsake our idols and our gods. If we're going to retain our idols and our gods, there's no point in lamenting after the Lord. There needs to be a forsaking of sin. an abandoning of all that comes in the place between me and my God. You see, Israel lamented after the Lord. Notice, notice the order in verse number two. They lamented after the Lord, but they were still holding on to their idols and to their gods. And that needed to be dealt with. You know many a sinner laments over their sin. But the incredible thing is that they continue to hold on to their sin. No point in them lamenting if they're not willing to forsake their sin. No, there needs to be a forsaking of our sin if we are to know the workings of God among us. And what are our sins? Worldliness. Carelessness. Carnality. Pride. self-sufficiency, spiritual slothfulness, backsliding, these are our sins, and many more, and every person, they must discover their own idol. They must discover their own God. And like the hymn writer, they must come, and we must come before the Lord and say the dearest idol that I have known. Whatever that idol be, Lord, help me to tear it from my throne and worship only Thee. And that's exactly what Israel did. Here's a people ready to listen to God's servant Samuel. How many messages have you heard in the last year? And you did nothing about those messages. God spoke to your heart. God dealt with you in the pew. secretly, silently, unknown by others, God has pinpointed some area in your life, and yet you failed to make good, you failed to obey what God has said to you. Not these people now. No, these people are ready to listen. These people are not only ready to listen, they're ready to do whatever God's servant and whatever God tells God's servant to tell them to do. And so in the verse number four, or verse number three, we read the words, then the children of Israel did put away, sorry, verse four, then the children of Israel did put away Balaam and Asheroth and served the Lord only. You see, their actions, their actions evidenced that a genuine reformation had begun within the nation. Oh, well and good plain lip service and lamenting and crying and rending garments. Many of God's people do that. But what about the rending of the heart? What about true reformation within our homes and within our families? I know there are many and they seek for the reformation of the nation and rightly so. And rightly so, we want our nation to return to God, but brethren and sisters, if we're ever going to see the nation reformed, we the people of God need to be reformed. Our homes, our lives, our hearts, our closets, they all need to be reformed and everything put away that is a rival to God. I speak to my heart and my home, my family, your heart, your family, your life. Note the reformation not only requires a putting away of all their gods, then there must be then a serving of the Lord only. Mere outward reformation then simply is not enough. There has to be an inward change and that is evidenced in their serving of the Lord. One preacher said it like this or put it like this, they might have torn down every idol in the land and have been no nearer to God for it. They had to then go and serve God. You know, we must go the whole way, the whole hog. Is that not the saying, to go the whole hog, to go the whole way in our surrender to God and our dedication to Him in 2022? You know, 2021 is gone. The race will never be run again. We can't reclaim it. 2021 is gone until you stand before God at the judgment seat. But 2022 lies ahead of you. Are you going to waste it? Are you going to waste that year? What are you going to do with that year? What are you going to do with the time that God gifts to you? Oh, that we would go the whole way. Not only putting away the gods, but let's serve God in 2022. Let's serve Him. They weren't serving Samuel. They weren't serving the nation. They were serving the Lord only. The Lord only 2022, brother. The Lord only. not movements, the Lord only, 2022. Because the Lord only is the answer, the answer to our nation. Point number one, let's go, let's go quickly. Alongside the reformation that takes place, there's a second thing that takes place in this chapter, and that is confrontation, confrontation. On hearing of the reformation that was taking place within the nation, Israel's enemies, the Philistines, they muster their troops and they come up against Israel. And they do so when they were engaged in this renewing of the covenant with the Lord at the place called Mizba. The Lord watch between me and thee, I believe is the literal rendering or translation of the word Mizba. Look there at the words of the verse 5 through to 7. And Samuel said, In the Reformation, there's confession of sin. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizba. And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together in Mizba, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. Beloved, you know, you can be sure when God's people start getting right with God and getting right with each other, the devil will be on high alert. And He'll do all in His power to try and stop the reformation that is taking place. You see, the devil wants to keep the church sleeping. The sleeping church is no threat to the devil. But when the church begins to wake, when the church begins to rise, you can be sure that the wicked one will throw everything at her to divide her, to discourage her, to deflect her and to distract her. 2022 needs to be a year of focus in this church. God has helped over the last 50 years. And I thank God for that. And please do not get me wrong. There are people here, and you've been here from day dot, from the initial days or from the beginning of the years. And we thank God for the 50 years that God has given to this witness here in this time. But I'm not looking back 50 years. I'm looking forward to the next 50 years. What's God going to do in this 50 years? Will the work still be here? Will it still be here? God is able to do more than this. much more than this. And thank God for that. A church that stirs itself to action must be wary of the devil's devices, who'll do all in his power to stop Christ's church advancing. Let us not be ignorant of Satan's devices. And let me say, if you're a Christian, Whatever age, I'm not just speaking to young people. Whatever age you are, if you're a Christian and you start to get serious with God in 2022, you're going to face satanic opposition. And he's going to try and hinder you, and he's going to try and hamper you, and he's going to try and stop you at every turn. But let me say, child of God, remember this, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. I wonder, will you stir yourself? to do something for God in this year, or is it going to just be the same old rut, and the same old routine with you spiritually, coming and going from the house of God, and never getting anything out of it, and never advancing in your Christian life? Is that what it's going to be for you? I tell you, child of God, that's not what God intends for you. He wants you to go on and forward and upward. and deeper, him to his love and into his grace and into the knowledge of him, this personal and intimate knowledge of him. Oh, that God would equip us for the battle, prepares for the confrontation, how we enter the fray not alone, But we go behind the great champion of Calvary, the Lord Jesus Christ, who goes forth conquering and to conquer all that in the days of confrontation that our God would arise. Look there at Israel's response to this confrontation of the enemy. They responded by asking Samuel to pray for them as a nation. And that brings us to consider a third thing in the chapter, and that is supplication. Reformation, confrontation, supplication. Verse number 8, And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, and he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines. God found a man. God found an intercessor. One man. Just one man. But oh, what God did in answer to that one man's prayers. Make me such a man. Pray that, child of God, just now. Lord, make me such a man. Make me a Samuel. Make me a Samuel. You know, in these words we find the people getting back to having faith and prayer as they enlist the services of Samuel the intercessor that he might intercede to God on their behalf. You know a reading of biblical church history? reveals that men who carried forth great movements and accomplished great things for God had been men who were preeminently men of prayer. Paul, Luther, Knox, Whitefield, Wesley, Taylor, Carey. F.B. Meyer said, the one condition of revival is to get back to prayer. Oh, that 2022 would see a revival of prayer among us. A return to private prayer. An appetite for public prayer. Children praying. Young people praying. Older people praying. The minister praying. The elders praying. The office bearers and the committee men praying. The congregation praying. Families praying. Individuals praying. The Church of Christ praying. God hears and answers prayer, brother or sister. Oh, that we would prove it so in coming days. Notice with me what gave Samuel the force in prayer. What was it that gave him the encouragement and prayer to know that his prayer would be answered? It was the sacrifice that Samuel offered that saw to it that his prayer was answered. Verse number nine, it says, and Samuel took a sucking lamb and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord, and Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel, and the Lord heard him." He comes by way of blood sacrifice. He comes through the sharing of the sacrificial lamb, and on account of the sacrificial lamb whose life was given and whose blood was shed, Samuel found that when he cried to God, then his prayer was heard. And so it will be for us when we plead, when we plead the blood of Christ. Heaven's sacrificial lamb, our prayers are heard in heaven. The finished work of our Redeemer is that which gives force to our prayers as we approach God to entreat his favor. It must be by that new and living way, sprinkled with atoning blood. All other ways of access will fail. Oh, that we would learn That in our praying as we approach God, that it always must be via the crosswork of Jesus Christ. Our prayers, they ever rest for their efficiency on the Lamb of God, ascending in Jesus' name, and by His work, thank God, they then prevail with God. On the grounds of blood, Samuel's prayers was heard. With Reformation having taken place and supplication made to God by Samuel, it's not long before we read in this chapter about a fourth thing, and that is intervention. There's intervention. Knowing the evil intentions of the Philistines against His covenant people, God comes to the defense of His people. Verse 10, And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But Jehovah, but the Lord, thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines and discomforted them, and they were smitten before Israel. I want you to notice how God intervenes at the last moment. Just as the enemy is about to pounce, as it were, God steps in. That's often God's way. He brings us to the darkest hour. He brings his people to the darkest hour. Are we in the darkest hour within our nation? I think we are. I believe we are. The enemy has ravished the land. Sin abounds. Good is called evil. Evil is called good. And here we are as the Church of Jesus Christ. We feel our powerless. We feel how inadequate we are. Are we not in the darkest hour? Oh, but thank God, before the darkest hour comes, or when the darkest hour comes, the dawn is about to break. Now, how God intervened on this occasion is different from how he intervened in the days of Moses. In the days of Moses, as they stood before the Red Sea, God sent an east wind, and it drove back the sea and made a way. But God doesn't send a wind this time. Rather, he sends thunder. We learn something by this. We learn that God is not constrained to work by the ways that he has worked before. Now, he'll always work in accordance to his words. So don't get me wrong about that. He's always going to do that. He's not going to work in a way that is not stipulated, not ordained in his word. But here we have God working in a different manner, because God has a multiplicity of ways to break through. He's not at a loss, brethren and sisters. Oswald Chambers said, never make the blunder. of trying to forecast the way God is going to answer your prayer. Never make the blunder of trying to forecast the way that God is going to answer your prayer. Intervention. Notice with me that the victory obtained was by a lamb. It says there, and as Samuel And Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it for a burnt offering, verse 9, for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord. And Samuel cried unto the Israel, and the Lord heard. And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, that the Philistines drew nigh near to battle against Israel, but the Lord thundered with a great thunder in that day upon the Philistines and discomforted them, and they were smitten before Israel. As soon as the Lamb was slaughtered by Samuel, and the smoke of that offering ascended up to heaven, the blessings began to descend upon Israel, and the curses began to descend upon the Philistines. With the troops now in disarray, The men of Israel pursue the Philistines and they smote them until, notice what it says in verse 10. It tells us that they came, until they came, the end of verse 11, until they came under Beth-kar. Beth-kar. Wonder do you know what that word means? Wonder do you know what that place means? Let me translate it for you. The name Bethcar means the house of the lamb. Now don't miss this, for it's important. A little gem for you to take home. The victory began with a lamb, and the victory ended with a lamb. It began with a lamb and it ended with a lamb. And let me say that every victory in the Christian life and every success in the church of Jesus Christ is because of the lamb. Because of the lamb. It is through the lamb. that we overcome sin and temptation. It is by the Lamb that we are made more than conquerors. It is because of the Lamb that our enemies are turned to flight. It's not our strength, it's not our power, but it is by the Lamb of God that we will see our enemies right it and defeat it. Oh, that the Lamb would arise. It begins with the Lamb and it ends with the Lamb. What a marvelous thought. All my victories are because of the Lamb." From the details of the chapter, we have come to see that there's reformation here, and there's confrontation, there's supplication, there's intervention. Two final things, and I'll bring them together, because for the sake of time, there is jubilation and commemoration. You know what army who sees their enemies routed and defeated is not jubilant at such an outcome. We can only but imagine there was jubilation within the nation of Israel. A people who had been immobilized with fear, a people who had been mourning, were now rejoicing, I believe, at the victory that God had secured for them. And not wanting the events to be forgotten, Verse 12 tells us that Samuel then took a stone and set it between Mizba and Shean and called the name of it Ebenezer saying, hitherto hath the Lord helped us. A permanent commemoration in the form of this memorial stone was erected so that all that would pass by in future days would remember the great victory Israel was given by God over the Philistines. Samuel names the stone Ebenezer. And then he informs the people as to its meaning. Hitherto hath the Lord helped us. By naming the stone thus the stone of help, Samuel was reminding the nation that it was the Lord who had helped them. It was the Lord who had helped them to overcome the Philistines. Samuel, by raising this stone, made sure that these people did not ascribe the victory to him, and that they did not ascribe the victory to themselves, but that they ascribed the victory to the Lord. Samuel wants to place on public record that it was the Lord who had helped them. Hitherto, hath the Lord helped us. It's the Lord. The greatness of our work compels us to confess that it must be the Lord. It must be the Lord alone who helps us if any successes attend our labors. How foolish to think that it is in our own power or by our own wisdom that such things are accomplished. It is because of the Lord and it is because the Lord helps that souls are saved. It is because the Lord helps that the people of God are edified. It is because the Lord helps that the wonder returns to the first love. It is the Lord and the Lord alone. We said it before, that word hitherto, it's like that two-handed signpost as we stand there. It points backwards and it points forwards at the same time. Looking backwards, we can say, the Lord has helped us. Can we not? Can you not say that? Through poverty, through wealth, through sickness, through health, at home and abroad, in honor and dishonor, in joy and in sadness, in trial and in temptation. In all these things, He's helped us. He's helped us. And thus we can raise our Ebenezer and say hitherto as the Lord helped us. And that help which He has given to us in the past most certainly encourages us to look forward into the future knowing that he will help us there because he never changes. Friends may fail to help us, family may be at a loss as how to help us, but we'll never be disappointed when we look to the Lord for his help. He who has helped thee hitherto will help thee all thy journey through. And so take courage, brother, sister, as you step into this new year. The one who was with you in 2021 will be with you in 2022 and every year beyond 2022 until he helps you safely to cross death's river and then enter into your eternal reward. He'll help you even there in death. He'll help you there. How sad it would be for someone here today, not yet saved, and you have none to help you. None to help you in life, none to help you in death. If you're such a person gathered with us here today, whether in person or whether virtually, I pray that you would seek the Lord's assistance for His help. that today by his spirit you would be helped on to God. Temporally and spiritually the Lord has helped us to this moment in our Christian lives. And as a result we can raise an Ebenezer to God. Let's go forward looking for his help in the year that we have now entered because hitherto hath the Lord helped us. We trust in that he'll help us to journey's end for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's bow our heads now in a word of prayer. Just to remind those who are outside, please, just wait till we get to the gates of the church. I want to encourage you to take one of the calendars. I want you to pray. every day for your minister. I want you to pray for the spiritual oversight. I want you to pray for the ministries of the church. I want you to pray for your brothers and sisters. If you look at the picture of the church, this is your spiritual home. I want you to pray for your home, your spiritual home, and pray for God's help in the year that lies before us. Let's now seek the Lord in prayer. Our gracious and loving Father, we thank Thee for Thy help even in the preaching of Thy Word today. And Lord, we pray that that which has been of Thee may abide within these souls of ours. We confess how quickly we are to forget Thy Word and the challenge of it. But oh, that today we would know what it is to have been spoken of by the Lord. Lord, continue to help us on our journey, heavenward and homeward. And bless now, O God, as we part one from another with the blessing of the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Rest and abide upon thy believing people until the day comes when all the shadows flee away and the dawn of heaven breaks. For we offer Now these are petitions and prayers, and in through our Savior's precious name, amen and amen. Thank you.