You turn in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah. We'll be taking some reading out of Jeremiah this morning. In Jeremiah chapter 6, all you children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem and blow the trumpet in Tekoa and set up a sign of fire in Beth Acharim. For evil appeareth out of the north and great destruction. I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman. The shepherds with their flock shall come unto her. They shall pitch their tents against her round about, they shall feed every one in his place. Prepare ye war against her, arise and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us for the day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out. arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces. For thus hath the Lord God, Lord of hosts, said, Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem. This is the city to be visited. She is holy oppression in the midst of her. As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness. violence and spoil is heard in her. Before me continually is grief and wounds. Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee, lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, they shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine turned back thine hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets. To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken. Behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach. They have no delight in it. Therefore I am full of fury of the Lord, I am weary with holding in. I will pour it out upon the children abroad and upon the assembly of young men together. For even the husband and the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days, and their houses shall be turned unto others with their fields and wives together. For I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord. For from the least of them, even unto the greatest of them, every one is given to covetousness, and from the prophet, even unto the priest, every one dealeth falsely. They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had committed abominations? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore they shall fall among them that fall at the time that I visit them, they shall be cast down, saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways, and see and ask for the old paths where is the good way and walk therein and you shall find rest for your souls but they said we will not walk therein also I said a watchman over you saying hearken to the sound of the trumpet but they said we will not hearken Therefore, hear ye, nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. Hear, O earth! Behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it. To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me. Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will lay a stumbling block before his people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them, the neighbor and his friends shall perish. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth. They shall lay hold on howl and bow and spear. They are cruel and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride upon horses set in array as men of war against thee, O daughter of Zion. We have heard the fame thereof, our hands wax feeble, anguish hath taken hold of us, and pain as of a woman in travail. Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way, for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side. O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes. Make thee mourning as for an only son. Most bitter lamentation for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us. I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people, and thou mayest know and try their way. They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders. They are brass and iron. They are all corrupters. The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire, the founders melteth in vain, for the wicked are not plucked away. Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them. Shall we pray? Loving Father, we do thank you for the reading of your word this morning and pray that you will minister it to our hearts, that we may see the intent of this chapter in Jesus name, Amen. Well this is a fearsome chapter as we look at it. It is describing how the Babylonians would come from the north and they would come against the city of Jerusalem and there would be a great destruction and a great slaughter of the people in Jerusalem. And it was all because the people of Jerusalem had turned away from God. And not just turning away from God, they would not hear the Word of God. They rejected the Word of God. Their prophets gave false prophecy concerning the city of Jerusalem. They said, peace, peace, but there was no peace. They said everything was fine, but everything was not fine. They said that the people were good, but they were not good. They were evil. They were corrupted. They were full of sin. They were reprobate before God. There was a great turning away from God, and God was going to judge them. That is basically what was happening here. Whenever the people of God turn away from the Lord, They cannot expect blessing, but rather there will be some form of judgment. And we find that Jerusalem had fallen into this great condition of sin and idolatry and turning away from God. From the top of the leadership, they were corrupted. the prophets and the priests were corrupted all except Jeremiah who came as one who was giving a warning who was sounding the trumpet there were always those who sound the trumpet against evil against unrighteousness against God's judgment that is to come but when people are listening to the wrong people when the masses listen to those who corrupt themselves, when the masses listen to those who are spiritually defeated in their own lives and carry not the truth of the word of God. When a culture and a people turns away from God, God is going to judge that culture. We find that the Old Testament is an example to us of things that can happen. And I want you to know that our culture that we live in today is in the state of disrepair that it is talking about here in Jeremiah chapter 6. There is a great turning away from God. There is a great deception going on in our culture today. And the preachers who should be preaching the truth are not preaching it. and those who should be proclaiming the gospel of Christ and the power of God unto salvation are not doing that. Yes, there is a holy remnant of people that do it, like Jeremiah, but they stand singularly alone against the great tide of a culture that wants to overwhelm everybody else and wants to turn the hearts of the people away from God. and that's what we are seeing in our culture today. Let's look at this chapter a little more closely and make some parallelism. O children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem and blow the trumpet in Tekoa and set up a sign of fire in Beth-Karim for evil appeareth out of the north and great destruction. Well, this was the means that they were to set up some sense of alarm or warning that there was danger coming. They would blow the trumpet in Tekoa they would set up single fires here that would single the fact that the enemy was approaching that destruction was going to come upon them but they would not listen you know the proclamation of the word of God today should be set so that people would be listening and would be called to alarm that we are headed for some great calamity. I am not a prophet nor the son of a prophet. I am but a lonely preacher. But we find that the preacher is to give forth the word of God. And so the preacher can say what the word of God says. We can't say more than what the word of God says. We can say what the word of God says. And it doesn't take a great deal of knowledge for us to look about us and see that the culture which we live in is turning away from God. And though the single fires are set up and warning And though the trumpet is being blown in many quarters, people are not listening. Because their ears are deaf. And not only so, but they will not listen to the Word of God. But you will notice that Jeremiah did not stop telling simply because they would not listen. But rather he told more forthfully, more forthrightly did he proclaim these things. And we find that Jerusalem was headed for great destruction and so is America. And so is any civilization that takes this route that we find that we're on right now. and we find there is a great spiritual turning away from God. Look at verse 2. I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman. Well, the people of God were to Jehovah like a wife, if you will, a bride, a comely woman. She was The city of Jerusalem was the apple of God's eye. It was called the city of God, the city of David. It is the place where the temple was built, where Solomon's temple shone in the gleaming light of the horizon of the world. And they even came from far and wide to see the glory of the throne of David and of that kingdom. But look at verse 3, the shepherds with their flock shall come unto her. Now they're called shepherds here, but the shepherds were kind of a rough occupation. They were not exactly the most delicate occupation. But the comely woman is delicate. Jerusalem is delicate. But Babylon is likened to the undelicate shepherd, the rough shepherd, with their flocks, with their armies, if you will. They shall pitch their tents against her roundabout. They shall feed everyone in his place." And of course that's what the shepherd did do. The shepherd pitched their tents. The shepherd grazed their flocks upon the ground which they were then occupying. And the armies of Babylon would come and they would pitch their tents and they would graze upon that ground of Jerusalem. and it would consume that ground and so Jeremiah says in verse 4 prepare ye war against her arise and let us go up at noon woe unto us for the day goeth away for the shadows of the evening are stretched out in other words it's getting late the time is drawing on and it's getting time when the Babylonians would come Well, you know, America is in such a place too today. It's in the lateness of the period. It seems like the more liberal the country gets, the more liberal society is, the less likely they want to turn back to God. I mean, they can make a ruling from the Supreme Court only as long as the Supreme Court is conservative. As soon as it turns in the other direction, what do you think is going to happen? But the liberal element will begin to undo everything that the conservative court wanted to make right. It's interesting, you know, in the United States that though there is great polling about this abortion element, that there's great favor of abortion in the so-called evangelical church. There is great favor in society concerning abortion. You know, they talk about a conservative element of it, but the truth is the liberal side is much more than the conservative. And we find that this sort of thing is going on. When it comes to gay marriage and gay rights and all kinds of LGBTQ plus kinds of decisions, if anybody says anything against them, immediately they are crushed down by society. Why? Because there is a great liberal element in society. Churches are even beginning to step out and say, oh it's okay if you're gay, it's okay if you're liberal, it's okay if you're whatever you are, sexually it's okay. And they're pushing the envelope more and more on other areas of this immoral practices. They're pushing the envelope. They're beginning to push on the sides of child pornography. And those kinds of things which are just not polite in society, but when it comes to movies, when it comes to television, when it comes to private viewing, when it comes to the print media, it's all there for people to take and read. and to set down and use for some kind of entertainment and they'll put it in the best possible light that they can but the truth of the matter is it's still sin and it's still immorality and it's still against the word of God and those who have set up the signal fires and have set up the trumpet to sound the warning a few and it's not coming through. People are not listening. They don't care is what it comes down to. Look at verse 5, Arise and let us go by night and let us destroy your palaces. This is what the Babylonians would do. They were going to come at night and they were going to come against Jerusalem and they were going to devastate the place. Verse 6, For thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hosts said, Hew ye down trees, cast up a mount against Jerusalem. This is the city to be visited. She is holy oppression in the midst of her. God had sent this destruction against Jerusalem. That's what we must recognize. You know, and if there is a judgment set against America because of its immorality, because of its liberal character, it's turning away from God because of its great deception spiritually. God is going to be the one to sanction it. God is not going to spare America or any other civilization. He didn't spare the European civilization in Rome. The Roman Empire, he didn't spare that. He let it fall. It was a corrupt system and he let it fall. And we find that today, you know, America is in this same situation. And we find that God is going to judge America. Well, I'm not telling you something that you shouldn't, you don't know. Because we all have a true sense that this liberal element, these liberal decisions that are being made from the day that you can remember when you were much younger has gone much further, further and further to the left than it ever was when you were younger. It never seems to go in the other direction, does it? It always goes in this left direction. And it's still going in that direction. And we find that the current president that we have right now is pushing it in that direction. He supports abortion. He supports gay rights. He supports all of these kinds of things in our society which is undermining the Church of Jesus Christ. And is undermining the true morality of the Word of God that should be set forth. Now, I'm not for Biden. I'm not for Trump. I'm for the Word of God. That's what I'm for. We're looking for somebody who will stand up for the things that are right and true and good in our society. And we don't find it at this particular moment in history. But we find that Jerusalem was full of oppression. Verse 7, as a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness. Violence and spoil is heard in her before me continually is grief and wounds. This was the state in Jerusalem. They were wicked and corrupt. Look at San Francisco. Wicked and corrupt. Look at New York City. Wicked and corrupt. Look at any of these major cities in our society and they're wicked and corrupt. And anywhere else in the United States, in these smaller towns and cities, there are a smaller microcosm of the same things. State of Maine is about as liberal as you can get. And it seems to be going further in that direction. And they just made some kind of legislation to ban Donald Trump from the ballot ticket. Well, Colorado seems that they did the same thing. These liberal people are going to get their way no matter what. I was listening to a news commentator a while ago now, it was on Newsmax and they were talking about some of these liberal issues and this guy from, I don't know if he was from the Wall Street Journal or one of the liberal news medias and they were talking to him about these liberal issues and he says, we always get our way in the end. That's what he said. I mean, they're just blatant. They don't care. We always get our way in the end. And they do. They do. Because once you give people the permission to sin against society, against other people, and against God, guess what? They're going to do it every single time. And that's what we find is going on with our young people today, of course. in relationship to gay rights, in relationship to transgenderism, relationship to authorities, relationship to anti-semitic views, and these big universities not willing to come out against it at all, but rather willing to just say, oh, it's free speech. Well, you notice it's only free speech on the liberal side when it's their view. When it's on the conservative side, it's not free speech anymore. And we find more and more of this going on. As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness. And we find that this is a picture of what is going on, like a fountain which is pouring out her waters, which is pouring out the wickedness of a society. It was happening in Jerusalem and it's happening in the United States too. They're pouring out the wickedness of the immorality of our day. And sometimes we say, oh, these aren't pleasant subjects to talk about. Let's not say these things. But the truth of the matter is somebody has to say it. Somebody has to stand up and say it. and to make a course correction if possible. Jeremiah was trying to make a course correction in his society, in his day. He was trying to get them to realize that the Babylonians were coming and they were not going to have any mercy at all. Of course it is being said right now against the Jews, you know, very anti-semitic views against the Jews. But you know the other people that they hate just as much as the Jews is the Christians. They hate the Christians too. All you have to do is consult the Jihadist views of the Quran and you'll find out what they think about Christians. Yes, we're in a very delicate situation. Does God love us? Yes, God loves everybody in the sense that He is the great creator of all. For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son. But you know, if people will not turn to God, then they can only expect that there will be some sense of judgment brought against them. Be thou instructed, verse 8, O Jerusalem, let my soul depart from thee, lest I make thee desolate and land not inhabited. Well, see, that's what would happen. The land would be made desolate. And, of course, ultimately Babylon did come against Jerusalem and pretty much destroyed the place. They left behind some very poor people who could be managed. But anybody else was hauled away captive and made subservient to Babylon. Verse 9, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine turned back thine hand and a grape gatherer into the basket. What does the grape gatherer do? He lifts the vines and he gleans the grapes from the vines. And we find that Babylon was going to glean, glean all that was good out of Jerusalem. A remnant people, if you will. There would be a remnant people. who would be gleaned away. And what's going to happen to the others? They felt the spear and the sword and they were destroyed. They were ultimately destroyed. So when Esther finds herself at the throne of Asher Horus, she's there only by God's appointment. But she's there. a remnant by God's appointment and of course she does take a part in saving her own people in that land. There were these remnant people, Daniel was another one of them, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were others. There were those who were remnant and godly people They were gathered, thoroughly gleaned from the vine. Verse 10, To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken. Behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach, they have no delight in it. their ear is uncircumcised. We just got done talking about that not too long ago in one of our classes. How that the people of Abraham had to have the sign of circumcision upon them because that was the sign of the covenant of God, the sign that they were true and loyal to God, worshipped God, followed God, obeyed God, were true to God in every way. but not these, they were uncircumcised. There was no loyalty, there was no following the true and living God. They would not hearken to the word of God. to whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear behold their ear is uncircumcised they cannot behold the word hearken cannot hearken behold the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach they did not want to hear the word of God You know, that is the sad truth about this whole matter. No matter how much we preach the Word of God, those who will not hear, those who will not listen, they do not have an ear to hear, or eyes to see, or a mouth to speak. And they will not hear the Word of God. Well, you see, it does come right down to whether or not a person is willing, is willing, does have a willing heart to hear and to obey the Word of God. You know, we're the same. We have to have willing hearts, don't we? We have to have ears to hear and eyes to see. We have to be willing It's important for us to have those elements of our nature that is tuned to God so that He can work in our lives too. But Jerusalem was not in that place. And so Jeremiah says, to whom shall I speak? You see, nobody would listen to him. Nobody wanted to hear him. He was a prophet, but no one wanted to hear him. Perhaps you feel this way sometimes, you know, when you try to talk to people, nobody wants to hear you. In fact, if you try to say anything to them, they'll probably walk off in the other direction or they'll probably say, I don't want to hear that. But why is that? Because they do not want to hear. in verse 11 therefore I am full of fury of the Lord I'm weary with withholding in I will pour out upon the children abroad and upon the assembly the young men together for even the husband and even for even the husband with the wife shall be taken and the aged with him that is full of days so whether you're young or whether you're old whether you're married whether you're single it wasn't going to make any difference God had had it with them this was the last straw he has sent his prophets he had given the message over and over and over and over again and they would not listen and they did not have ears to hear and God was going to judge them would he have turned away from this judgment if they had listened? Yes, he would have. God is long-suffering to us and is not willing that any should perish. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me and bless his holy name. For we find that the Lord is tender-hearted and full of mercies and is willing to hear those who will repent and turn to him but when they will not repent the only thing left is judgment and God was going to bring this judgment upon them in verse 11 Therefore, I am full of fury. The Lord was going to bring that judgment. Verse 12, And their houses shall be turned unto others with their fields and wives together, for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord. In other words, they were going to lose everything. Their houses, their land, their wives, their families, it was all going to be taken from them. What is the end result of a society that wants to go so socialistic and so communistic that it becomes an authoritarian society and that people don't have any rights anymore? And that the Constitution is abrogated, completely thrown aside for their own whims? What happens to a people? They become subservient to others. And we've seen it time and time again in other countries, whether it be South America, whether it be Cuba, whether it be in Russia or China. And sometimes even countries call themselves democratic, but they're less than democratic for sure. I believe India calls themselves somewhat democratic, but Go over there and try to preach the Word of God in some of their cities and you'll find out how democratic they are. Their democracy will rise up against you and throw you in prison and perhaps kill you. And in China, if you don't conform to what they say in the Free Self Church, which is the National Church of China, they will do the same to you. They will burn your church. They will burn your place of worship. They will throw you into a concentration camp. and try it in Saudi Arabia if you want to try to carry your Bible publicly around in Saudi Arabia and try preaching the gospel in Saudi Arabia and you probably will find yourself in serious trouble immediately only in the United States do we have this kind of freedom where we have religious freedom where we can preach the word of God but it is getting less and less popular to be known to be a Christian Less and less popular. Because it is going further and further in the other direction. The socialistic, progressive, communistic element in our society is growing stronger. And what does it say about them? They will not hear the word of God. In verse 13, for from the least of them, even unto the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness. And from the prophet, even unto the priest, everyone dealeth falsely. So now he's saying that the people are covetous. They did not love their neighbor or act out toward their neighbor in a godly manner as the law commanded to take care of the widows and orphans and to take care of those who are impoverished but rather they were covetous people and if you notice that the Ten Commandments talks about covetousness as in idolatry and we find also he says the prophets and the priests deal with falsely the very priests involved in worship at Jerusalem were falsely doing their job they were teaching falsely Verse 14, for they have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people, slightly saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace. And so that is what society does, you know. When it can't fix the problem, turn it to good, they'll say, oh, everything is going on good, everything is fine, the economy is getting better, You know, it's just great. Isn't it just wonderful? Bidenomics is just the utopia on earth. You can call it what you want, but I don't know if Trump's economy is that much better, except that he was in great favor But, of course, people vote their pocketbook. What did Clinton used to say when he was in power? It's the economy, stupid! That was his big mantra. But, you know, the prophets and priests in Jerusalem, they were false prophets. They were false prophets today. false preachers, false teachers, false politicians, politicians who want to set the best view of everything so that they can get votes. Verse 14, verse 15 rather, were they ashamed when they had committed abominations? No. They weren't ashamed. They were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush Therefore, they shall fall among them that fall at the time that I visit them, they shall be cast down, saith the Lord." You know, there's a whole society today that is doing many terrible things and they're not ashamed of it. In fact, they're saying, we're coming for your children. In fact, they're saying, we're going to re-educate them in our schools. In fact, they're saying, we're going to make them into what we are. and you know the progressiveness of a society that leans very far to the left gives more and more permission to young people to do whatever they want to do whenever they want to do it then nothing is wrong everything is relative and because there is no absolutes then there is no true law and it turns to chaos And so in the big cities, what do they do? They ransack the department stores. They steal from jewelry stores. They take anything they want to take. And the big businesses are left to boarding up the windows and moving to someplace else because in the big cities, the gangs are so terribly in chaos that there is no rule of order anymore. And so we can be thankful to live in a smaller town. But it is creeping back in this direction. Have you noticed that the police surveillance is much more than it used to be? Have you noticed that people are committing more and more crimes? That the porch pirates seem to be populating? They're stealing off the porches when you buy something? Of course in our area, perhaps it's not so prevalent, but in the suburban city areas, it's very prevalent. And people put up cameras and people do all kinds of things, all kinds of technology to try to defeat some of this stuff, but they still do it. They do it anyway. They just go up on a porch and rob and steal. And theft is one of the major crimes. How many scammers have you heard of lately? Have you ever been scammed? Yeah. It's very common, getting scammed. The credit cards, which you buy, the little gift cards, the big thing now is they go in the store, they'll scratch off the three-code number on the back, take a picture of the code there, because they've got the number. When anybody buys it, they initiate that card so that it can be used. And the minute the person tries to use it, the scammer cleans the card. You know, they stay up at night just trying to figure out new ways to steal from people. And this is what is going on in society. The covetousness of the nation of Israel was such, and the abominations were such. And then verse 16, and I'll have to close with this verse. It is enough to close with this one because this kind of gets to the heart of the matter. Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, we will not walk therein. The prophet just came right out, very plainly, in plain English as we say and said this is what you've got to do to correct the whole problem. This is what you've got to do to keep the Babylonians from coming and destroying your city. This is what you've got to do to prevent people dying that you love. This is what you've got to do to preserve your home and your land and your family. This is what you've got to do to preserve your society, to preserve your grandchildren, to keep your children from falling into the sins of the people around you. This is what you've got to do to get away from a society that is going more and more to the left, where there is great destruction awaiting for every family, every home, Every part of our society is going to be affected by the kind of decisions that are going to be made because of this progressive, socialistic, leftist movement that is going on. And make no mistake about it, make no mistake, their idea is to abolish your Christian religion and replace it with a new world religion. Have you seen the bumper stickers? You know, they have just about every kind of a symbol of religion there is on the bumper sticker all the way across, and you stick it on the back of your car, and you say, I'm for everybody. Believe what you want. It's okay. But that isn't what God says. You know, and some of what I'm saying, you may say, well, that's kind of harsh, Pastor. I wish you wouldn't say that kind of thing. But look at verse 16, Jeremiah the prophet. He had told them. He says, I've warned you. I've told you to blow the trumpet. I've told you to set the fires. I've told you that they're coming. I've told you that they're going to be rough and cruel people. And they're going to devastate your society. But you haven't been listening to me. This is how you can correct it. Thus saith the Lord. Stand ye in the way and see and ask in the old paths. Ask for the old paths, where is the good way and walk therein and you shall find rest for your souls." But they said, we will not walk therein. And they didn't. And how long has it been, some two thousand years plus? since this happened in history and Jerusalem is still fighting its conflicts and its battles and they did not of course receive the Messiah when he came they didn't receive the promised Messiah that Isaiah talked about and many of the Old Testament prophets He didn't receive him. And now they're fighting another enemy on their front today. And we're fighting an enemy too, by the way. We're fighting a cultural, political, social, religious, the enemy is all around us. And I would encourage you, Stay with the old path that God has given to you. It is the one that will keep you all the way through life and it will keep you to the coming of Christ when He will come and judge the world. You see, they've rejected that too. They reject every element of the Word of God. But as believers, we are to remember these truths that they be self-evident within our own lives that we are followers of the true and living God that we know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior that He is truly the Savior who came to redeem man from sin and that He is the only means of redemption and that God has promised that His Son would return and so I pray in this new year make it your spiritual commitment to continue in the old paths of the word of God continue in the old paths of the word of God it is where you will be safe and where God will bless you and peradventure that God should turn the hearts of people in this country back to the Lord it will bless them too and it will set their course correction But we have to, we have to have a willing heart. We have to have a willing heart. Shall we pray? Loving Father, we do thank you for your word this morning and pray you will minister it to our hearts. Work in us, Lord, that we may be where we need to be, that we can also direct others. And Lord, we do pray for our country. We pray for our president. We pray for all that are in authority. We ask, Lord, that you will open his heart, President Biden, that his heart may be open to you, that you will direct him that you will work in him after your will, that you will set this course for the president, that he might turn back once again to the old paths which God has established wherein his blessing is known to his people and to a nation who follows. Lord, I pray you also for Israel. and for President Netanyahu, I pray Father that he would also follow the old paths which you have established and that he might read this section in Jeremiah and be reminded that he needs to follow your word. Lord, that we may together give glory and praise to you and thanks to you for your blessing. In Jesus name, Amen. For our closing hymn this morning, number 455, Take My Life and Let It Be, a hymn of commitment and consecration to the Lord. 455, shall we stand together?