Matthew chapter 23. We want to look just at a few other verses besides what's in the bulletin just to kind of capture the essence of the passage. Note there the woes that Jesus speaks to the scribes and the Pharisees and the hypocrites. He says in verse 13, but woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men. For ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Verse 14, woe unto you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, for you devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayer. Therefore you shall receive the greater damnation. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you encompass sea and land to make one proselyte. And when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Woe unto you, you blind guides, which say, whosoever shall swear by the temple does nothing, but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor. Then we move down to our text, verse 23, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and an ice. which is simply dill in our vernacular, our language, it's like we make dill pickles with, same kind of thing, and cumin, which is a spice of the eastern countries, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. These ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone. Let's pray. Father, we hear these words, we read these words, and they're very solemn and serious. And God, we pray that none of us would ever fall into such a category or even emulate in any way in our life that. We pray, God, you would spare us. We know that were it not for your grace, we would be like that altogether. And were it not for your grace, we would be like that more than we should. We pray, Father, you would help us that we would be more like what Christ has lined out here. And that is that we are to have judgment and that we are to have mercy, and we are to have faith. And we ask, Father, that you would grant to us, Lord, the enlightenment and the empowerment that we need to live accordingly. Lord, may none who would see any inconsistencies in those who name the name of Christ Father, that they would not, that it would not be a hindrance to them, that may they look to Jesus Christ, who is the only perfect one. He's the only Savior. God, we pray, especially for these little ones, Father, that they would focus their attention on Jesus Christ, Lord, that the Holy Spirit would move upon them, that they may see Jesus high and lifted up, And Lord, be drawn unto him and his great love, wherewith he loves all his children. We ask now, Father, you would prepare us now to preach your word. Lord, make our hearts attentive to what you have laid upon my heart. We ask, Father, that you would help us that we may better represent our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in being in harmony with these things. Oftentimes we wouldn't think that these things are the weightier matters, but we find that they are. And we ask Father you would give us help as we would clarify that truth. And we pray now that you would hear us and forgive us of our sins, for we ask these things in the name of our loving shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ, amen. I put in the bulletin, the weighty matters, weightier matters, I'm just simply entitling it, weightier matters. You know, the shorter the title is, the easier I can remember it. But these are weightier matters. We have in this chapter Jesus speaking some of his most stern warnings to these scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites. This was just days, when Jesus spoke this, was just days before they crucified Jesus Christ. They hated him with a passion. They wanted to get rid of him. They were very careful, though, and meticulous about the minor minutiae things. those very detailed kind of things of the law, to the point of even tithing their herbs and spices. But in their straining of gnats, as we see later on in the chapter, they end up swallowing camels. We've heard the expression about something that is said very seriously or very profoundly. I remember when I was growing up, I wasn't a teenager until the 70s, but the 60s were still evident during those times, and probably some of you have heard the expression, man, that's heavy. That's really heavy. In other words, it's weighty. It carries a lot of weight. It's something that stays with you and sticks with you. And so, as we think about weightier matters, Maybe some of you are saying, Pastor, I don't need any more weightier matters. I got enough burdens to have to bear. Don't do this to me. Well, we're gonna explain what I mean by that. First of all, by the grace of God, I'm not gonna do what Jesus described the Pharisees and hypocrites did. In chapter 23, verse four, which says, for they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born, and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers." There is such a thing as unlawful burdens that are grievous. Now, the burdens that God gives are not grievous. We'll find at the end of the message what I mean by that, but as it says in Acts chapter 15, verse 28, My desire is what they were desiring there in Acts 15, 28. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things. And those necessary things were different back then because that had to do with Jew and Gentiles, but the necessary things, the weightier matters that are contained in our text. So no worries. This is God's word. It's good. It's all good. But you know what happens when you don't diet right and you don't exercise right and what happens is you end up, if you do it right, And you don't, you're gonna not gain a bunch of weight. If you don't do it, you're likely to gain weight, too much weight. Well, pastor, when I'm putting on this weight, I've got weightier matter on me here. So it's supposed to be a good thing. Well, the problem is the wrong kind of matter. It's a little different than what we see here, just like, We can have a number of health concerns that can happen to us and having too much weight, heart disease and problems with your knees. I'm having some of that with your ankles and back and hip and everything because I'm carrying out a little bit more weight than I used to in my younger days. And so spiritually speaking, we cannot be lethargic or lazy, or inactive, or too inactive, or will affect our spiritual health as well. Sometimes we go about spiritually exercising by carrying weight in the wrong way. It's like some of those weird health and exercise fads. You know, you can carry weight the wrong way. They say, use your legs, right, when you pick up something. You don't use your legs, you're going to end up hurting yourself. Or some of the fads that you, I had read about one not too long ago and heard about it over the years. I'd forgotten about it, but you know those belts, you know, they put around you and it shakes you, you know, and it's supposed to shake the fat right off of you. You know that's not true. That's a fad. It's not really something that kind of exercise is an exercise in futility. But when we carry about the weightier matters, then we're going to be better off. We need to consider and concentrate on these weightier matters. We have an example of the religious leaders and their followers during Jesus' earthly ministry where what they were putting on people was hurting them, just like that belt massaging thing probably threw people's vertebrae out, who knows? But it would be good for us to realize With all the intentions that the Pharisees have, we need to, first of all, don't throw our noses up in the air and to think that, well, that don't have anything to do with me. Well, let me just give you some background as to how the Pharisees came about. Back during the captivity, There was a revival, as you recall, when they came back from the captivity in the book of Nehemiah and the book of Ezra. And there was a renewed interest in the things of God. They rebuilt the temple and the wall, and they had a sincere desire to honor God and to keep His commandments. And the obedience was a product of an inward desire to please God. And when that inward principle died out, it became obedience that was like a fossil. There was no life in it. No life. And soon it was covered over with corruption. and became what we see it here in our text during the days of the Savior upon the earth. And the same danger can attend every spiritual movement or revival. A real devotion to Christ stimulates a respectful, reverent attention to the forms of worship, which is good. And so long as there are an expression from our heart of loyalty and love to our God, that is good. But when it's just a ritual, and the heart is far away, it becomes empty. Just going through motions. That can happen to me, it can happen to you, if we're not careful. We see here Jesus is saying that the Pharisees and their proselytes were guilty of sins of omission. They left some things undone. They were externalists. They were only concerned about outward religion of what everybody could see and may have given lip service to the N-word, but they never had any real heart for it. Jesus quotes Isaiah to describe those like in our text. He says in Mark 7, 6, he answered and said unto them, well hath Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, this people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Jesus is dealing with heart issues. There's tons of people who will go through outward motions, but their heart is not right with God. Now, when we deal with this, I'm not saying, and Jesus is not saying, that there are some non-essentials in the Word of God. That's not what he's saying. He's saying that there are some things are more important than other things. They are weightier matters. So Jesus is not saying we are to leave anything undone that he commands us, such as tithing, as we see in our text. But if we don't have the weightier matters done, the less weighty matters of the heart will be undone. And the outward observances of things that we do, even tithing, if the heart's not right, It is just like tinkling brass and a sounding cymbal. God does not respect it. So this is how critical it is. Not just doing right, but doing right for the right reason. You see, and that's where it's tough, isn't it? We know we gotta do something and sometimes like, all right, I'll go to church. No. and do it for the right reason because we want to serve God. We want to love God. So make no mistake about it as we consider this. Being religious and being self-righteous will damn you to hell. So this is serious stuff. So we want to look at four things from this text. I know Jesus mentions three, but there's a companion passage I want to turn to later. But the first thing we want to deal with is the weightier matter of judgment. Secondly, the weightier matter of mercy. And then thirdly, the weightier matter of faith. And then fourthly, the weightier matter of love. So let's look, first of all, at the weightier matter of judgment. What is judgment? When someone has sound judgment, what does that mean? He's talking about good judgment. It's being able to distinguish what is right and what is wrong. The problem with the Pharisees is they were thinking that they were good when they weren't, and they were thinking Jesus was evil when he wasn't. Their judgment was all messed up. You might think weighing your matter is judgment? I thought we're supposed to judge not unless you be judged. That's not what he's talking about here. It's something entirely different. In order to do right, and to think right, and have right motivation, we need to know what is right. And that's what Jesus is saying. And the only way that we can do those things is through the Word of God. So having sound judgment means what is good, knowing what is good and what is bad, and acting accordingly. To discern, in other words. to judge what is good and evil. Hebrews chapter five gives us some insight on that in verse 14, which says, but strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age. Now what's he talking about? Is he talking about a nice juicy steak? No, he's talking about God's word. God's Word is what enables us to discern and judge properly. But strong meat belong to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good, both good and evil, through the Word, knowing the Word. Now, notice what it says there. Who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. It's more than just knowing, but choosing and doing that which is right. That might be a lot of people maybe who can quote scripture. They know what it says, might even say some right things. But are they doing? Judgment and justice are very similar terminology. We should want to have good judgment. We ought to desire it. We ought to be doing it. We ought to be becoming such. Jesus is called the Holy One and the Just. We want to be like Jesus Christ, to be just, to be those who discern and judge properly. In other words, don't falsely judge anything or anybody. And that begins when we first bring forth fruits, meat for repentance and the works that follow. That's the evidence. God has given us the ability through the Holy Spirit and through the new nature that now, yes, I am wrong. I'm actually wrong, I have sinned, and I have to turn away from my sins and follow Jesus Christ, believe on Jesus Christ. He imparts unto us sound judgment. The Pharisees didn't have that. And this in turn fits us for fellowship with God. As we grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ and we learn more about his word to be able to discern both good and evil, we are fellowship because we're on the same page. We judge the same thing that God judges as being good or evil. And so there's a harmony. There's fellowship. There's communion with our Savior. Just because that judgment, you wouldn't think was that critical, but yes it is. We cannot fellowship with God as God's people. We cannot even be converted unless God gives us ability to judge properly. We find in the scriptures in Proverbs 21.3, to do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. Sounds familiar, doesn't it, about to obey God? Samuel told King Saul, to obey is better than sacrifice. To do justice and judgment. See, Saul's judgment was clouded. He thought that he could go ahead and just disobey God and everything be right. He didn't get it right. He wasn't judging properly, and so what he did was unacceptable. Proverbs 21, 15 says, it is joy to the just to do judgment, but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity. Notice there's joy, there's a desire. There is the blessing, there's a promise that there is joy in our hearts because we know that we're doing right. There's a joy associated, there's a peace in our conscience. Though, you know, the world would just blast us for all kinds of different things. When we know that we're doing what is right because God says it's right, it gives us a peace in our heart, doesn't it? It gives us confidence to continue in the way that God has showed us. We find that there is that desire for judgment, to be just. And then we find in Micah, I think this is a passage which is, quite likely Christ had in mind in Micah chapter six and verse eight. We're referred to this throughout the message. It says, but to do justly, what does the Lord require of thee? What is the weight of your matter? To do justly, not to think justly only, or just to love it or admire it, but to do justly, to have right, kinds of actions and right judgment about things. To do justly, that's to be just, to have right judgment, is to be like our God. We're to be more and more conformed to the image of Christ. And we see again that it says there, it involves our whole lifestyle. And as we would turn to Deuteronomy chapter 32, Deuteronomy chapter 32, notice what is told to the children of Israel. Deuteronomy 32, let's look at verse 4. He is the rock, speaking of God. His work is perfect, for all His ways are judgment, a God of truth. And without iniquity, just and right is He. That's who we're to emulate. That's who we're to follow. That's who we're to be like in our demeanor, in our deportment, the way that we carry ourselves, the things that we do. Instead of... what you typically hear these days, I demand my rights. I want things done right to me. Now, I understand that. We all want that, right? But what should be more of our rallying cry as Christians is that let right be done by me, not just to me, but by me, that I would do right. whether it's in our families, in our church, our nation, our community, our workplace, in every relationship, let right be done by me that I would do as those who love judgment and justice. So often when we make judgments, we don't have all the facts, do we? And we don't know the hearts, do we? So we need to be very, very careful. We all do. A lot of times it's just hearsay. Well, someone said this and we just, you know, we've got to be very careful that we don't act unjustly and thereby exercise unsound judgment because we are omitting one of the weightier matters of the law. And that which we are so hotly pursuing is something God is going to quite likely chastise us for. And we'll lose reward because of it. In other words, we just wasted our time and effort. But now secondly, the weightier matter of mercy. If you'll turn with me to Romans chapter 1, Romans chapter 1. Now these, again, these are things, Brother Packers taught my practical things. The Pharisees were all involved, now this is the letter of the law, this was, this is every jot and tittle, you know, and that's important to be precise as far as our obedience and what we do. But where's the heart? That's what matters. Because if your heart right, everything else begins to fall in place. But it says in Romans 1, verse 31, speaking of the lost, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful. When we don't show mercy, we are being like the lost. And it's a horrible testimony to the lost. We are told there in Colossians chapter 3 and verse 12, this is what we are told to do. And the reason why Paul says this to the church of Colossae is because we have We are the elect of God. It says, put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Bowels of mercies. That means it's coming from our innermost being. It's not something that we just outwardly do. It's okay, if I gotta be merciful, okay, I'll be merciful. No, it's from deep within you. It is the inner man. It's not just an outward show. Back to Micah 6, verse 8, it says, and to love mercy. When you love mercy, you don't do it grudgingly. You don't show it grudgingly. To love mercy is to take in consideration all the things that somebody might be going through, maybe that we don't even know about. It's to think about that we are people of like passions. Our days are few and full of trouble. As people, we all got troubles. to think of it as I, sometimes I'll say this in an open air preaching, I'll say, you know, I am a fellow human being. I know what it's like to have troubles. And so I want to tell you something that will relieve those troubles. And if you believe this word that I tell you, the gospel of Jesus Christ, you will be delivered forever from your troubles. But we see that loving mercy is to give some people a slack, give them some slack. You know, we all make, I call it mistakes that we don't intend to make, you know. Maybe say something that we misspeak. When we do something and we didn't mean to do that, you know, say I was in the motorhome or something and I dropped an expensive, nice, memorable piece of china of Carol's mom and dad, you know, and it broke. then I'll have to remember that verse in case she gets onto me about it. And she'll have to do the same thing with me because of that very same thing. But it's so easy, though, to be that way. We have to be careful that we do make mistakes, unwillingly, sometimes unknowingly. A merciful person is going to, like love, covers a multitude of sins. It means to be compassionate. It means to want to help. It means we have to be careful because when we sometimes are engaged in judgment, we can get cold. Oh, I know what the Bible says. And what you did was totally wrong. And we can get cold like the Pharisees did. Notice what it says later on in Micah chapter 7 verse 18, who is a god like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passes by the transgression, the remnant of the heritage. He retaineth not his anger forever because he delighteth in mercy. We love mercy, we delight in mercy. That's what God gives to us because we are the elect of God. In fact, we find that one of the basis of our salvation is mercy. We find in Titus chapter 3 and verse 5, it says, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. We, when we're merciful, we're grieved by the suffering of others. A merciful person is not going to be unloving or unkind and ready to devour. Now, we as Christians, we can act like that. We can act like that, but it's not something that's going to prevail. Grace reigneth through righteousness. Grace reigneth. Grace rules through righteousness. So, the pattern of our life The tenor of our life, the character of our life is that we will love mercy and engage in acts of mercy. We find later on in our text in Matthew chapter 24, notice what Jesus did as an example to us. I should say 23. Notice his mercy. In verse 37 of Matthew 23, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. He said those stern words, but he had a heart of mercy. He, as it were, loved in that general sense of the word love. And of course, it talks about later, verse 39, for I say unto you, you shall not see me henceforth till you shall say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. He was speaking especially of that time when they would look upon him who they have pierced, and they receive him. But the other thing that we see, a blessing of mercy, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Matthew 5, verse 7. Again, Jesus, all of the Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount, deals with the law and the proper interpretation and application of the law. Pharisees missed the boat. They were hauled into all these Australian nests and swallowing camels and they ended up condemning themselves. But notice what it says, one of the blessings of loving mercy and exercising mercy, it says, blessed, happy are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. That's a promise. If you're merciful, you will obtain mercy. That's the blessing that God gives. Some are unblessed because they are not merciful. Unhappy and bitter and angry because they are not merciful. Mercy prays for those who are not merciful, as Jesus. Mercy will want to intervene. when someone's having a hard time. Even our enemies. Like Jesus did for us. But now thirdly, the weightier matter of faith. We find that in Romans chapter 1, Romans chapter 1, we look again at the non-example. It says in verse 17, or I said should be the example, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just, going back to just again, shall live by faith. In other words, the unjust won't live by faith. It's obvious that the Pharisees did not live by faith. They didn't walk by faith, they walked by sight. And of course, faith is defined for us, and for us in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 1 it says, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of the things not seen. And then it goes on in verse six, but without faith, it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to God must believe. In other words, you gotta have faith that God gives us a gift before you can come to God. And if you got faith, you will come to God. And that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. He even rewards us, that's a blessed promise. that he gives to those who pay attention to and take heed to the weightier matters of the law. We see that faith without works is dead. James tells us very clearly. Micah, again, chapter six, verse eight, says to walk humbly with thy God. Walking by faith. What kind of faith? The faith in the true God. Walking humbly. Those who walk by faith walk humbly. And now lastly, the weightier matter of love. Turn to Luke chapter 11 verse 42. This is another time in which, and sometimes Jesus did that, he would teach on something, the same thing in another place to another group of people. The same principles and some of the same words he used. But in Luke chapter 11 verse 42, of course the disciples heard it before, but they need to be stirred up by remembrance like any of us. But in Luke 11 42 it says, but woe unto you Pharisees for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs and pass over or omit judgment and the love of God. These ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone. There is no question as to the supreme nature of the love of God, the love that belongs to God. God is love. That love is supreme. And He gives it to us as His children. He bestows His love and sheds abroad upon our hearts His love within us. Notice with me in respect to that in the book of Mark chapter 12. Mark chapter 12. beginning in verse 28. And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reason together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, which of is the first commandment of all?" Well, the greatest commandment. And Jesus answered him, the first of all, The commandment is, hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, with all thy mind, with all thy strength. In other words, with every fiber of your being. This is the first commandment. That's how much we're to love God. But the Pharisees were concerned about their position in society. They were more concerned about being right in the eyes of others than being right in the sight of God. They just want to win the arguments to look good, to look intelligent, to look whatever. But because God created us in his own image, God rightly and justly deserves all our worship, all our adoration, all of us. To lay down our bodies as Paul told the church at Rome, as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto him, which is our reasonable service. But Jesus continues. in verse 31. And the second is like, namely, this. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. Now let that sink in for a minute. If you love yourself, how is that shown? You feed yourself, don't you? You clothe yourself. Try to get your rest. We're basically good to ourselves as much as possible. How do we treat others? Do we treat others the same way? Are we willing to feed others? Are we willing to clothe others? That's what this is talking about. The love of God. Oh well, they don't deserve it. Did I deserve the love of God? No, none of us did. But it's just, it's the weightier matter. Now understand, I'm not going to give $100 to some guy begging on the street. I'm just, you know, maybe give him some food possibly. Whatever the case might be. And of course, praying, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And maybe the Lord lets me do that, maybe not. But there is within the heart, we ought to have within the heart a desire to show love. And of course, in 1 Corinthians 13, it's such a convicting passage, isn't it? when we look at it. If we're going to deal with this whole idea of the love of God, I can't help but read it, at least part of it. It says, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I am become as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, though I have all faith so that I can remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long. In other words, is patient and is kind. Charity envieth not. Charity vaunteth not itself. Doesn't lift up itself. is not puffed up or prideful, does not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth. If you want to never lose, try charity. And of course, it would be to the glory of God. Oh, how the world and the devil laughs when we do not attend to these weightier matters. How people are discouraged when these things are omitted. and passed over. But true religion and undefiled before God is not like that. True religion and undefiled before God attends to the weightier matters. If we exercise sound judgment, mercy, faith, and love, the less weightier matters shall likely fall into place in time. God desires truth in the inward parts. He told Samuel there in 1 Samuel 16, verse 7. If these weightier matters don't exist in a person, that person's life is a sham. But if these weighty matters do exist, then our faith is genuine and is real. And I understand we're not what we want to be and ought to be, but we long like Paul to be clothed, to be unclothed with this mortal body, to be clothed with immortality, to be like Jesus Christ, I was reading about a guy who was just his prophetic mind. I mean, he knew so much things about, you know, who the beast of the sea was and all these different beasts and the great whore in Revelation 17 and why the horns were and what were the names of the horns and everything else, all these details. And the man was living in adultery. although it was just a hill of beans, was not profitable. He needed to burn his charts and stop his sin. False professors deal with all the minutia, very, very detailed and impressive, but their n-word is lacking. Well, I told you there was, Jesus's burdens are different. And in Matthew chapter 11, verse 28, spells that out. Come unto me, all ye that labor, and heavy laden, and what? And I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. God the Son, meek and lowly of heart. If he was that way, certainly we should be like that. And you shall find rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy, and that burden is light. Does the sin in your life Burden you down. Have you tried to do right and you find that you just can't do it? You keep failing. And you're trying to make yourself acceptable before God, but you can't. Jesus says to such people in which the Holy Spirit is dealing with, come unto me. Come to Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit move you. How does He do that? Because He's the loving God that He is. He's the merciful God that He is. And yet He's the just God. How does that happen? We deserve damnation. We deserve judgment. Because He took the judgment for everyone that would believe on Him. God is so good. May we all, if you don't know, come to know it. And if you do, may we come to know it more and more as we see the day approaching. And thank you for your attention to God's word on these weightier matters. You know, I just, I think of some places, and it's sad, But there are some places who may not have as much truth, but they got more love. It's sad. That ought not to be. Those who have the most truth ought to have the most love. And that is so critical. Because we're not adorning the doctrine of God our Savior in all things if we don't do that. So may God help us, is my prayer. Let's go to the Lord in prayer at this time. I'm going to ask that, Brother Cleetus, if you could lead us and ask a blessing on the food. Our Father, we come to Thee. We thank You so much for Thy great mercy. Lord, what a wonderful, a blessed word. And Lord, when we think of mercy, mercy, we need mercy. Lord, we thank Thee that Thou wouldst provide grace and that gave us mercy. We might be merciful in heart, as your sister mentioned, into today, and we might take heed to them. We rejoice, Lord, in being in our house. We pray that you bless our church. Lord, we pray for those that might not be here. Pray that you bless now the evening service. Lord, we thank thee for Christ, our Savior. cannot comprehend how much he suffered when he suffered for the sins of each and every one of millions. And Lord, we thank that that suffering was compounded upon him. We thank you now for the food and for the many provisions that you've provided in life. We pray that you just bless us to trust thee and give thee all praise for all your goodness to us. We pray for our salvation. Think of our dear little ones. We pray that you bless them. They're so dear to us. We pray that you do bless them. We see each and every one of them come to know Thee. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.