As you can see from your handout, we're taking our message from 1 Chronicles 12, verse 22, that says, for from day to day, men came to David to help him until there was a great army, like an army of God. We are calling the message Christ's Church, an Army of God. And that is the word of the Lord, and so let us pray. Our most blessed and gracious Father in God, we thank you, Lord, for your word. And even one verse of this speaks to us volumes. Christ be exalted, and may you be glorified as we worship you from the word. We thank you, Lord, that we have had the opportunity and the ability to sing songs of praise, singing them to one another, singing them in your presence and singing them to you, that you are the great God worthy of all praise and honor, and that Christ, your son, is worthy of all worship. We love you, Lord, and thank you, and ask you to minister unto our hearts that we might find even a little bit, a morsel of nourishment from your word, a refreshing drink to refresh our souls from your word, that you may be glorified in your people. In Jesus' name and for his sake, we do pray, amen. Again, as a reminder, Chronicles, as we have it there on your, in your handout there, you see the Hebrew letters, but I decided I probably should allow you to see how it might be pronounced. So I put an English pronunciation in there. D'ri hay yamim, which means the words of the days, the authorship, again, by tradition, it points to Ezra who, may have written it somewhere between 516 and 456 BC, somewhere in that 60 year timeframe, after the children of Israel who were in captivity have come back. And Ezra, this faithful scribe, is considered the author of First Chronicles and Second Chronicles. Now in the breakdown of the chapter, we have the mighty men joining Judah in aiding David. Excuse me, that should, the mighty men of Judah joining and aiding David. And it is more than just the mighty men of Judah, mighty men joining Judah, because Judah Man, I've really messed that up. The mighty men joining Judah and aiding David. David is from the tribe of Judah, and there are men of Judah that are with him. Several of them, as his chief captains, are his relatives, his cousins. And we see this all in 1 Chronicles 12, verse one, linking the previous chapter in chapter 11, where it mentions all these mighty men before Saul has died and before David is king. It mentions all these men to the verses following in chapter 12, verse one. And so in verses one through seven, we see the men of Benjamin joining David. And in verses 8 through 15, we see the men of Gad join David. And then in verses 16 to 18, we have men from Judah and also Benjamin join. They're with Saul's army. And so when they come to join David, David's a little suspicious of them. Why are you coming to join me? Are you here to spy out what we have? Because During this time Saul was chasing after David to kill him. So here are these men from Benjamin and Judah, and so he asks them, and so Amasai, who is the chief of these 30 men that are escaping from Saul's army, say, look, We bring tidings of peace. In fact, as was read earlier, we are yours, O David, and with you, O son of Jesse, peace, peace to you, and peace to your helpers, for your God helps you. And so David saw them as men who would not betray him, and they were men who did not betray David. So that was in verses 16 through 18. In verses 19 through 21, the men of Manasseh joined David. And then our key verse, the mighty army of God in verse 22, which is where we will look at application for our lives from this. And then in verses 23 to 40 is just the mighty men of various tribes who made David king. Now after Saul has died, who is the king of Israel, a warrior king raised up to fight against the Philistines and all the other enemies of Israel. When Saul dies and his sons die, David having been anointed by Samuel much earlier, and in fact when he was still quite young he was anointed, which we'll be covering, now he is made king and all these mighty men have ushered him in as king in Hebron. Application from our text, we see God's blessings for David, and then God's blessings for Christ's church. We have a picture of Christ's church in this, and David and his fighting men. But there is also individual blessings for you and me as individual Christians, as those who follow Christ. This is an historical event, and even though some things have been left out, some things have been recorded in 1st and 2nd Samuel, in those books here in Chronicles, it just provides a certain perspective for us, a priestly perspective, one that is still historical, however. And God blesses David. Remember that the grace, we see the grace in the promises of God for David in 1 Samuel 16, verses six through 13. Many of you remember the story that his soul has been disobedient and unfaithful, offering sacrifices of those he shouldn't offer sacrifices, offering sacrifices himself when it should be Samuel offering the sacrifices. And so in his disobedience, in his unfaithfulness, he has rejected God in his unfaithfulness, and God has rejected him from being king, and he sends Samuel out to anoint a man after his own heart. And he goes to Bethlehem, to the house of Jesse, the household of Jesse, and all of Jesse's sons stand before him, or at least six of his sons stand before him. And as Samuel goes through, he goes to the eldest and says, here's a tall, good-looking young man, looks strong. Surely this is the one that God has anointed for the next king of Israel. And God speaks to the prophet in his heart and says, you know, you look on the outside. Men look on the outside, but I look into the heart. And this is not the one. Then he goes to the next and he goes to the next. He finally runs out of sons. Do you have any other sons, Jesse? He says, well, I have this one, the youngest, and he's out there watching the sheep. So God calls this little shepherd boy in. And this is the one, Samuel says, this is the one, and he breaks out his horn of oil and anoints David. And we find that entire scene in 1 Samuel 16, verses 6-13. This is going to be the next king over Israel. And so we find also the grace and faithfulness of God in the verse itself. In 1 Chronicles 12, verse 22, it says, for from day to day men came to David. And we see first grace. And notice, David didn't go out looking for these fellows. God brought them to him. There was a need there and certainly it doesn't remove David's need as we see in the Psalms crying out because Saul is after him. Saul wants him dead. He is a man who after he had killed Goliath at a young age, probably 17, 18, 19 years of age, but he goes in when the fighting age of Israel is 20 years old, he goes in at 17, 18 or 19 with a sling and five smooth stones because, as we'll see later on in Chronicles, that Goliath had four brothers. He was ready for all of them. And because he had faith in God. And that's the thing that's often missing from some of our terrible Sunday school illustrations and coloring pictures where they show a 12-year-old boy. It wasn't a 12-year-old boy because it wasn't the small one going up against the great one. It was about a man of faith going against the enemies of God. It's about someone who believes in God in Christ, though Christ did not yet come. It's the one who believed in God and that the battle, as David said in the next chapter, in 1 Samuel 17, he says, the battle is the Lord's. Here is a man who comes and defies the armies of the living God. And so he wasn't just going up there to take somebody on who's about 9 1⁄2 feet, anywhere from 8 1⁄2 to 9 1⁄2 feet tall. He's taking on someone who opposes the truth of God. and he is ready for any of his cohorts and any of his brothers. And so the mighty men are brought to him. And as we see in the Psalms, it doesn't remove David's responsibility to cry out to God for those men, praying that, Lord, that you would bring protection to me, bring protection to my family. And even for those who have followed me, bring protection for them. but God brings them to him. He didn't go out and search for men, God brought them to him. We see this picture all through the Bible. Remember that sometimes when we read it a little bit too fast, that when God commanded that Noah bring two of every animal into the ark and seven pairs of clean animals, even before the law of Moses was written, bring them to the ark, So he receives the command, he builds an ark, and God brought the animals to the ark. He didn't go out and get them. God brought whom of the animals whom he desired to be there. So David was supplied by God with men to help him from day to day. We see this as true of the Christian life. Philippians 4 and verse 19, it says, then my God will supply all your needs according to his. riches in glory. Aren't you glad for that verse in the New Testament? He supplies your need according to his riches in glory, not even what you have. It's his riches in glory. And then we see the faithfulness of God in this event as God is the supply and gives the supply It doesn't mean that we should not ask. Even in the prayer, the model prayer that the Lord Jesus gave us, both in Matthew 6 and also in Luke. Luke 11, verse 3, it says, give us each day our daily bread. Notice the redundancy right there in our prayer. See, we trust God to bring those things to us, but we see even in David's life that it is a daily need. There's a daily need for bread, but bring us each day. God knows that we need it each day, but we're saying, look, I want to submit to you moment by moment. I want to submit to you every day. I know that I'll need you tomorrow, but I need you also today, just as I needed you yesterday. And so we see the faithfulness of God. In other words, when we ask for God's supply and trust in His faithfulness to supply. 2 Timothy 2 and verse 13 says, if we are faithless, He remains faithful. and he cannot deny himself. In other words, getting back to David's story, since God had, through Samuel, anointed him as king, he trusted in the promise of God to make him king, and he was, and at this point he still wasn't king. Well, he's hiding in the stronghold at Ziklag. that God called David to be the king of Israel, and God will be faithful to his promise to make it so. And so that's what he asks of each one of us, that if he's said that he has saved you, that he will be faithful to see it through to the end. And then we see the glory of God, like an army of God. And so here are these men, just really in comparison to Saul's army, where he has all of Israel really under his generalship. And he even has his sons who are warriors of the Lord, Jonathan and his three brothers that are with them. Yeah, two of his brothers at least. if I recall, but we see the glory of God like an army of God. Now it says army in the ESV and it says host in your King James version in verse 22. It is the Hebrew word makaneh and it means camp or encampment, an army or a host. There's another word for host. Some of you know it from its New Testament version, the Lord of Sabaoth. Shavout in Hebrew, it means the host. It's referred to as the angels of the Lord and the army of the Lord or even God's people, the Lord of hosts. But this is a different word. It's the word that's used of encampment or camp. And those of you who come to our Sunday nights and we've been reading the Holy War, we've noticed that Emmanuel, Prince Emmanuel was encamped outside of Mansoul. And we see this picture of this camp. But the camp, as far as for this camp and how the glory of God is in the encampment of God's people. In his army, we see from Joel 2 in verse 11, where it says, the Lord utters his voice before his army for his camp, which is the Mekinah, is exceedingly great. He who executes his word is powerful, for the day of the Lord is great and very awesome. Who can endure it?" See, God is glorified in the camp in the army, if you will, by the power of his voice and the execution of his word. He's glorified in the camp, in the host of who are his people. These mighty men reflected under David's generalship there as they're hiding in the stronghold of Ziklag. That's a reflection of what I'll get to in a moment, the blessings of the church. But it's found, the glory of it is found in the power of his voice and the execution of his word. As it relates to David, the power of his voice was through the prophet Samuel. And the execution of his word was to bring the pass. this young shepherd boy that has grown up and has slain a giant, Goliath of Gath. And even more than that, the thing that made Saul mad out of his jealousy, the thing that made him angry was that the women were singing that Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. And so even with this small army, it was mighty army, like an army of God. But we see a reflection of this, this actual story, this actual historical event in real lives, like David and all these that we read that God had brought to David to be the army that would protect David and even fight those battles until he would be king. We see this reflection of God's blessings for Christ's church. God's blessings for Christ's church. The grace for Christ's church as we see from the scripture, from the text, from day to day men came. And we've seen this even at the birth of the church in Acts chapter two and verse 47 that says, and the Lord added to their number day by day. It says daily in the old King James version, but it does, it says the Lord added in the English standard version, the Lord added to their number day by day, those who are being saved. that certainly Peter was preaching and that the Spirit of God was ministering as the Holy Spirit had fallen on that Pentecostal day upon all those that had gathered in the temple as they should. And then when they heard that they were speaking in all these different languages of all those that were dispersed Jews from all these countries, Parthia and Medes and so forth, and they heard them praising God in their own tongues, with a Galilean accent, how did they do this? They must be drunk, even though it was nine o'clock in the morning, as Peter said. Certainly that they were used as Peter stood up and preached the gospel. However, it was still God that added to the number and brought forth the blessedness of that church and made them a mighty army even on that day. the growth in Christ's church, where it says to help. Well, that sounds somewhat interesting. If the Lord Jesus Christ is head of the church, how can we be of help? And in fact, in Matthew 16, many of us know that it says in the scriptures that says that, upon this rock, I shall build my church. Lord Jesus doesn't need our help, does he? But we don't want to get too fatalistic like the hyper-Calvinists did, as we had been looking at for many, many weeks during our Sunday school class, where somebody said to William Carey, well, the heathen will be saved by God without our help, young man, so you sit down. Kind of paraphrasing what the old minister said to William Carey, who went out to India. God uses the means He uses the means of sinners saved by God's grace in order to win folks to the gospel. That we are called by the Lord Jesus in His famous Sermon on the Mount, that we are the light of the world. and we're the salt of the earth. And so that if our Christianity is only confined to, well, my salvation and to those that are around me, to my church and to my family, but does not affect every single area of my life, then there's something flawed in our Christianity. by God's sovereignty, as we mentioned in Sunday school today, by God's sovereignty and in his providence, we were born in this particular country and not in another. So we should exercise our Christianity in every area of our lives. We see the help that God has ordained through his body, which is another name for the church. We have several names for the church, we're called the flock. We're called a bride. We're called a body. And I'll just use two of them today. One is the body of Christ. Colossians 1, verse 8 says, and he, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, and he is the head of the body, the church. saying this in Colossians chapter one in verse eight, he's the head. Therefore, that we as members of the body, as we can see even physically, there's, you know, God didn't say when he created man, well, you know, it'd be kind of nice. We'll just give him two legs and two arms and, you know, put a head right up on top instead of down below. Although, yeah, that does sound kind of funny, doesn't it? Some people that I've known in the Navy had the head down below. You'd think, man, this person shouldn't be working with explosives. Lord, help us. You know, that's what they say, that the military intelligence is an oxymoron. I'm grateful that the Lord called me out of that mess. But while I was in it, I tried to shine a light onto all those that were there in all that I did. But it's called the body if we think about this. And so we receive instruction. This is why the law isn't done away with. It has been made glorious because Jesus fulfilled it, but we're not antinomian, which means that the law has been replaced. It has been exalted to where it should be. It was given by God and it was fulfilled by God in Christ. So we don't cast it off, it's still good and it's still glorious. But we recognize it for what it is, that we, by the power of the Holy Spirit that Christ has sent, now we function as a body with commandments from he who has filled it, he's the head. Can you imagine what your body would be if you had a thought that you're gonna do, that you said, oh, I'm gonna do this, and then your foot goes shooting off in this direction? Wait a minute, my foot has shot off in that direction even though I wanted to walk straight because I'm having, suffering these ailments from my latent onset diving decompression sickness. How frustrating it was, Lisa can tell you how frustrating it was that I would, well some of you know that I've fallen down from this platform before. But when we're functioning correctly, the head to the body, that's what the growth in the church is about in that we are a help to Christ. He has ordained it that way so that we can participate. Another illustration is the bride of Christ in Ephesians 5, verse 23, it says, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is head of the church, his body, and is himself its savior. We see this, that we recognize that marriage was ordained because it presents the gospel. Not that it was just a good idea at the beginning. Well, you know, we'll make man and woman and say that they're married. And a lot of people go back to the creation, but it's before the creation in that it's a truth of the gospel. It exists because of the gospel. We are made in the image and after the likeness of God, or in the likeness and after, in the image and after the likeness of God because Jesus is the model, the prototype. It wasn't Adam and then Jesus was born later to look like Adam. Adam was created in the beginning because Jesus would be born in that way. Marriage is the same way. Marriage is the same way. The man, we, in fact, when you think about this, that all of Ephesians 5, as far as the bride to the bridegroom, that in Genesis chapter two and verse 20, it says where after the man was created and God breathed the breath of life into his nostrils in Genesis chapter two, verse nine, then he planted a garden eastward in Eden. That was done after. Then he takes the man whom he has made, who is alive now because the breath of God, the breath of the spirit is in his nostrils. He is made alive and he's picked up and taken and planted put into the garden that God had made so no one could come around and say well you know it was here for billions of years no I just saw God make it and then he put me into the garden and then even though all the days of creation he made all these other animals that had come up out of the ground Then he'd come up out of the ground and created them from nothing. Now, created the earth from nothing. But on this sixth day when he created man, then he says, it's not good for man to be alone. And he did it in this order if you looked at Genesis 2. He did it in this order. It's not good for man to be alone. And then he grows up every animal to see what Adam would call it. Out of the ground, in the Garden of Eden. So no one could say, well, you know, those animals have been there for, you know, millions of years. He grows them up out of the ground and Adam names them. And it says he didn't find, it says, in Genesis 2, verse 20, the man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam, there was not found a helper fit for him. Or in the old King James Version, it says, a help meet. for him. And so we call a wife a helpmeet. More appropriately in Hebrew, English Standard Version I think does a pretty good job. A helper fit for him or a helper appropriate for him. And then that's when he was put to sleep and God took from his side, opened up his side by an anesthetic. And the reason why that was done that way, taken from his side, is because Jesus bled from his side when he was already dead upon the cross and we'll get to that in John chapter 19 on Sunday night. The spear pierced his side and blood and water came out from his side because that's what was going to happen because it says without the shedding of blood is no forgiveness in Hebrews chapter nine. Well, woman came forth from the side of man to show the gospel that would come in Jesus Christ crucified, the gospels first. And then that happened later on. That happened later on, it was fulfilled because even the making of man and even the coming forth of the wife as a helper appropriate for him. And then we see that reflection in who we are as a church. We are the bride of Christ and he is our bridegroom. And we are a helper appropriate for him because it proclaims the gospel from the very beginning to the cross and to the end. And finally, as far as God's blessings for Christ's church, the glory of Christ's church, like an army of God. Remember that I had mentioned Joel 2 in verse 11, where it says, the Lord utters his voice before his army, for his camp is exceedingly great. He who executes his word is powerful for the day of the Lord is great and very awesome who can endure it. See, and God's voice and his word is most glorious when it's glorified in, by, and through the person of the crucified son. I'll say that again. God's voice and his word is most glorious when it's glorified in, by, and through the person of his crucified and risen son. John chapter 13 and verse 31. See, when Judas, who was at the last Passover meal with the Lord Jesus, when he had gone out after the Lord says that one of you is gonna betray me, and then he gives him the sop, He says, whoever partakes of this, that's who's gonna betray me, and he gives it to Judas. And so in John chapter 13 and verse 31, when Judas had gone out to betray him, Jesus said, now is the son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. God's greatest glory is through the truth of the cross, and that must be, young people, here's the word, preeminent. Pre-eminent meaning it's most important. It is the most important truth that there is we Buy that truth or transform not just unto salvation but also in a sanctified way in a holy way that That moves our lives so that it affects every area of our life and see sometimes the problem is is that especially we who've been looking, who come to Sunday school and we've been looking at church history from the book of Acts. We've been in it for, what, 80 weeks now, over a year and a half. And now we're at the place of 20th century modernism. And we see this pragmatism that's going on. It's a result-oriented thing that came from the social gospel. And the social gospel was a reaction because people who were doctrinally good failed to do the other thing, failed to recognize that the gospel is supposed to be an influence in every area of our life and even in the sphere around us. God's light must go forth unto those that don't know Christ, not just for salvation, but it should influence our community. When they look at Calvary Baptist Church, they should see a people that are given over and surrendered unto God, that desire to be obedient unto Him. A people that desire to be obedient unto Him, not just for the benefit of our getting together and being able to have a fellowship meal on Wednesday nights and Sundays, but that we want for the good of this community. For some of them, that might be the only heaven that they see if they've rejected the gospel. And so the truth of Christ crucified changes my life, but it also influences the lives of others, whether they take to salvation or not. And so that's the effect of the church. Finally, The church is not this building, right? It's you and me. It's we who are believers, and so God's blessings for you and me as individual believers is important. The grace we see from this verse for God's saint. Sainthood is a description of one who's sanctified by God's grace through Christ. It's not because your behavior is impeccable, right? Because there's only two people in the scriptures as far as the Bible's concerned, saints and ain'ts. Either you're a saint or you ain't. Because it's based not upon what you do, but it's based upon who you are because Christ is Savior. but we are recipients of God's grace day to day. From day to day, as it says in our verse here in 1 Chronicles 12-22. Because 2 Corinthians 4-16 says, so we do not lose heart Though our outer shell is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. And some of you folks that are over 60, you really recognize this, right? Because we get up slower, we are approaching death quicker, or at least that time frame, that last number on our tombstone is getting closer and closer, and we're just a dash in between. But we're renewed day by day because if we know Christ, that day of death, that last date on the tombstone isn't the end. We will behold the glory of our master and won't look to the left or to the right. We will see Jesus for who he truly is. And that's what makes heaven heavenly. And we're renewed day by day by that truth. We're not confounded by the things that are going on. that are not good and glorious. They don't confound us. The outer self is wasting away, and even the outer world may be wasting away, but the truth of Jesus is renewing us. And it's renewing us, not just, oh, you remember, been there, done that, bought the T-shirt, and I'm moving on to something better. There's nothing better than the truth of the fellowship that is found in Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, ascended and coming again. Then there's the growth in God's saint. where it says to help. You, and think about it in this way, God, Almighty God, the second person of the Trinity who has come down, fulfilled all scripture, went to the cross, suffered God's wrath, took upon himself that our sins, paying a debt he did not owe for a debt that we owe and could not possibly pay, died a death and paid that penalty because death is the reward, the recompense. That's what we deserve. That's what we deserve. We deserve eternal death. Somebody says, you know what they did to me? Well, why do you think you deserve any better? for the sins that we committed against God and God has graced us and blessed us? Even if somebody says those things, what things have I said that weren't an offense to God? So if somebody says something bad against me, that's nothing compared to the sins I committed against God. That's between them and God, whatever comes out of their mouths. But when we think about that we are the body of Christ, we are the hands and legs, we walk to present Christ to others as missionaries and so forth. We're the hands that minister unto others, to feed others, to minister unto one another as believers. We're the body of Christ. But think about this. You and I get to help to bring God's kingdom to pass. It's our privilege and honor and joy, as Isaiah 52 verse 8 says, the voice of your watchmen, they lift up their voice together, they sing for joy, for eye to eye, they see the return of the Lord to Zion. As we're looking for the return of Christ, we're watchmen watching for Christ, but also there is joy in our hearts because we get to participate. We get to be the fulfillment of scripture for the Lord's coming. There is joy in serving Jesus because he lets us participate in the fulfillment of prophecy until his return. That there are prophecies that are being fulfilled and the church is doing this. And the church is individual members of it, you and me. And so that is, we're growing in grace and being strengthened in faith and we get to help. He lets us help him and be a part of what he's doing. in the world until he comes. and the glory of God's saint, a great army. Romans 8 and verse 37 says, No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. More than conquerors. This is what makes us a great army. We're not defeated by the things that oppose God in the world. And we're not defeated by the little things that come up because we recognize that the corruptions that are still in our mortal flesh They're just a reminder every time, oh, I sinned, I must repent. Oh, I get to repent, it's a grace, and we looked at that last week. What a blessing it is. Or just the decay of my body, a reminder that there's a new body coming, and God is glorified each time. We're more than conquerors because His gospel is more important than the fact that my teeth are falling out, my hair's getting thin, and I moan like I can't even believe just waking up in the morning. It's a painful thing. Young people, getting old isn't for sissies. It's tough getting old. But it's a reminder that we're more than conquerors. We are more than conquerors in Christ because Any single man, woman, or child surrendered to God in Christ is greater than any army on earth. Finally, the glory awaiting God's people, like an army of God. Not just like an army, because it says this, and it's actually a Hebrew redundancy, and there was a great army like an army of God. Not just a great army, but like an army of God. Romans 8 and verse 18 says, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us that's english standard version the king james version says with the glory which shall be revealed in us and i believe it's both you can have either either translation but i think both translations are good from the original greek it should be revealed to us and it will be revealed in us and the in us we know from first corinthians chapter 15 verses 20 uh verses 52 to 54 where it says, behold, excuse me, 51 through 54, where it says, behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we all shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. From this perishable body we'll put on imperishable, and from this mortal body we must put on immortality. When the perishable or corruptible, in the Old King James Version, puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. This, in the Old King James Version, it says this corruptible must put on incorruption, this mortal must put on immortality. This body will be changed in the resurrection. The dead in Christ shall rise first, as Thessalonians tell us, and we who are alive, which is the rare few. But all those that have died in Christ, faithful to God, waiting for Christ until Christ's crucifixion, and those since His crucifixion have looked back upon the truth of the cross, are saved by Christ. Those dead in Christ shall rise first, and we who are alive and remain will rise up and meet them in the air, and we'll all be changed. there is the glory that's awaiting God's people. And that is God's blessing for you and me. The church is not just standalone. It is made up of individual believers, and it's reflected in everything, every truth that we have seen historically in the Old Testament and explained in the New Testament so that Christ is exalted in your life to be changed and transformed, to not be the same, to be closer to Christ, to be like Christ, to be His arms and legs, His hands, His fingers, as the body of Christ, but also that truth springs forth from who we are as individuals. Believing on Him is salvation. Trusting in Him and repenting from what I once was to who I am to be in Christ. That's the free gift of God and the only difference in being saints or ain'ts. And for the saint, there's a joy, a great joy in serving Christ. He lets us be his help. Let's pray. Our most blessed and gracious Father in God, in Jesus' name and for his sake, we thank you, Lord, for the Truth of First Chronicles, chapter 12, verse 22. A great army is what you've made your church to be, a bride that is without spot or blemish, and that though there are sinful men that make up this body, we are redeemed by one who is sinless, the Lord Jesus Christ. May he be exalted in our lives today, that we may be all that you've made us to be. In Christ, in Jesus' name, and for his sake, we do pray. Amen.