I'm just going to have you turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 29. And as you're finding that passage again, just a couple of things. Pastor Ryan, did Geneva make it off okay? Okay, good. So remember to continue to be in prayer for Geneva as she spends this fall semester in the Middle East helping out. Also, just to let you know, Pastor Ryan and I will be, Lord willing, traveling down to South Carolina tomorrow for the Reformed Baptist Network General Assembly. So we will be accessible by phone and email, but we'll be out of town. And so if you'd pray for that as well, and for the speakers, and for the business to be conducted by our association. Our plan is to spend that week down there with our brothers and sisters. Actually, it's being hosted by the church where the Ashley kids usually attend when they go to Bob Jones University. And so it's right there, Taylor, South Carolina, right there in the Greenville area. And so actually I hope to be able to see Anwen and Samuel perhaps this week. You two? Yeah, yeah, yeah, you guys are going too, aren't you? The Ashleys are going down as well. all right first samuel 29 is our text for today pastor tom has read that along with a little bit of the background information from the previous chapter and so let's just pray and ask the lord to bless our time in the text this morning lord god we are thankful for the truth of the songs that we've been singing today and ask lord that you would help us to carry those truths and those realities with us throughout the week we would be reminded of the things that we have sung to one another in worship and that they would carry our hearts that your truth the truth of your word and the truth of these songs would carry our hearts as we live our lives as living sacrifices to you. Lord, bless our time in the text this morning to our souls, we pray. And as we just sang, we pray, Holy Spirit, that you would come in a particular way to attend the preaching and the hearing of the word for the good of our souls. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Well, we're at a point in the history of 1 Samuel where the author has really laid before us now, or we're in the process of considering what we might call these two dilemmas. In fact, the author treats these dilemmas somewhat topically and not just chronologically, as you see a little bit of forward and backward movement time-wise in these chapters, at least as I understand the text. But we're having thematically these dilemmas laid before us. It's like the author is laying before us Saul's dilemma, and David's dilemma, and showing us how they address those dilemmas and what the outcomes of those dilemmas are. Now, in today's text, in 1 Samuel 29, David's dilemma is before us with King Achish, the Philistine king from Gath and Israel's enemy, going to ask David to fight Israel with him. And it puts David in a spot, as we will see. But then previously, we've been seeing Saul's dilemma. And we'll look at these two today. Now, the background to David's dilemma really starts in chapter 27. And we've seen this now a couple of times where in order to get Saul to stop chasing him, David moves his two wives and his 600 men and their families to Ziklag, a city not too far from the Philistine city of Gath. which was ruled, of course, by King Achish. And David and his men and their families lived there for a year and four months, we're told. And during this time, as we've seen, and it's hard for us to know exactly what to make of some of this, David and his men went on raids against tribes like the Geshurites, the Gerzites, and the Amalekites, people who were known for attacking the weak and taking advantage of people and treating them cruelly. One of the key details that we've been considering is that when David attacked a place, he didn't leave anyone to tattle on him back to King Achish. He would destroy everyone in the town and take away the animals and the clothes for provisions for his community. And when he came back from those raids, he would lie to King Achish and tell Achish that he'd been attacking Israelites and the allies of the Israelites. And Achish believed him. Thought it was great that a man of David's caliber would defect from Israel and alienate himself from them and join him. And so, in Achish's mind, there was something of a bond developing between David and Achish. And so that's the background to David's dilemma which we'll see unfolding more today here in chapter 29. Last week we saw Saul's dilemma when God quit answering him. It's really the heart of his dilemma is that God quit answering him. At the beginning of chapter 28, the Philistines have gathered their armies together for war. And as we saw last week, it had the appearance of a significant war, not just the typical border skirmish. And Saul is terrified. But the Lord is silent in response to Saul's inquiries. God didn't answer him by dream, or by Urim and Thummim, or by prophet. So Saul ends up doing the unthinkable and the despicable, and he consults with a medium. And we remember we saw that a medium is someone who claims to have contact with the spirits of the dead, an activity declared by Jehovah to be an abomination, something that he detested in his holiness. And we saw that it's actually an issue of debate whether this medium actually called up Samuel's spirit or if it was a satanic deception. But either way, and the text certainly gives indication, I mean, the natural reading of the text indicates it was Samuel, and if God allowed this, it was by His divine will, not because of what Satan was doing. Saul is given a confirmation of God's judgment in this episode. The message to Saul went like this. Saul, Jehovah has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to David because of your rebellious disobedience regarding the Amalekites. And now the Lord will deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines. Tomorrow you and your sons will be with me in the realm of the dead. Now we could ask the question, what's the difference between those two dilemmas? Was it David's outstanding character and his giftedness? Well, if you remember, Saul had certain features that made him stick out. His height was one. Remember how he stood above the other men of Israel from the shoulders up? Saul had some strength. Saul had some gifts. Saul had been made king. We're going to see that really the difference between David and Saul here is God's grace. David has genuine faith in Jehovah, so God is going to bring him deliverance even though in this instance you could certainly see that the deliverance is undeserved. And isn't that what grace is? Well, Saul's faithless disobedience is going to culminate in his death during the battle with the Philistines, but David is going to be preserved from that battle and exalted to the throne. I figured you probably knew that, so I'm not really giving away the ending, am I? Let's go ahead and pull up that map, guys. I want us to look at what's going on here. Thank you. Because there is some geography that is important for today. So, at the beginning of chapter 28, the Philistines are encamped at Shunem, and the Israelites are encamped at Gilboa. Now you'll notice this is a little bit unusual. Last week I mentioned that, and again today, that this seems to be more than just a skirmish along the border. This seems to be more of a concerted attack from the Philistines against Israel in a way that could really be a game changer. So remember generally the Philistines live in this area and a lot of the skirmishes and raids would have come from this direction as the Philistines attacked the Israelites or the Israelites attacked the Philistines. But now what we see is an offensive launched by the Philistines that brings them up here to Shunem with the Israelites camped out in Gilboa. And you can see that if the Philistines are successful, they could literally separate the northern part of Israel from the southern part, take control of some of the trade routes, and really take control in a way that they currently didn't have. At the beginning of chapter 29, which is our text for today, there seems to be a drop back in time as the author presents these two dilemmas that we just talked about. And I mentioned that not everything is in chronological order because in chapter 28, we see them up here ready to wage war. But then in chapter 29, we see the Philistines are at Aphek getting ready for the battle. Now, some people see... here's a possibility of where Gath is. Some people see Aphek up in this area here. Others think it was actually closer to the battle site. Either way, the Philistines and David would have to travel from this region here north up to where the battle was going to take place up in this region here. And so chapter 28 seems to have them ready for a battle to be staged, whereas chapter 29 has them making preparations. And that's where I say I think the author is thematically presenting these two different positions. Here's what's happening with Saul. Here's what's happening with David. And then he'll bring it back together as we proceed toward the end of the book. All right, we can take that down, guys. Thanks. An interesting fact about our text this week is that it seems that now is where we begin to get some crossover between 1 Chronicles and 1 Samuel. The first many chapters of 1 Chronicles are largely lists of tribes and of various people. By the time you get to 1 Chronicles 12, you start to get some information that does cross over and relate to what we're going through here in 1 Samuel. For instance, I'll just read it for you. The first couple of verses of 1 Chronicles 12 says this. Now these were the men who came to David at Ziklag. Remember, that was the town where he and his 600 men and their families were staying right now near Gath. These were the men who came to David at Ziklag while he was still a fugitive from Saul, the son of Kish. And they were among the mighty men, helpers in the war, armed with bows, using both the right hand and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows with the bow. Now here's a really interesting tidbit. They were of Benjamin, Saul's brethren. What we're reading about here in 1 Chronicles that we don't know from 1 Samuel is that some of the tribe of Benjamin, people who were actually of Saul's tribe, were beginning to defect over to David. And it wasn't just anyone. These were some seriously skilled and experienced warriors. And then verses three through seven list those men. Well, as we look at the narrative of chapter 29, then, we begin with this preparation for battle. All right, the Philistines are at Aphek, as I showed, somewhere heading north from Gath, perhaps closer to the battle site than some figure, but somewhere between Gath and the battle that's going to take place up north. The Israelites are shown to be by a fountain, which is in Jezreel. Now as they're preparing for battle, they're kind of taking stock of who they have and organizing themselves for this campaign. So they're kind of counting off by hundreds and by thousands, and you had different captains who would be over different groups. And as they're going through, organizing by hundreds and by thousands, you have David and his men at the rear of this group with King Achish, who had really made David his own private security force in essence. And that's kind of what we see happening at the beginning of the chapter. And then we move into a clear rejection by the commanders or the princes. probably what we're talking about here, if not more, is at least the four other kings of the prominent Philistine cities. Remember earlier in our first Samuel study we saw that there were five prominent Philistine cities and each one had a king or a prince or a commander ruling over it. And so likely this was a debate, an argument, between the other four commanders of those cities and Achish who was trying to advocate for David. Well, when these other commanders see the Hebrews, the enemies of the Philistines, at the back with King Achish, there's a natural question that arises. What are these Hebrews doing here? And Achish responds, probably anticipating the question, David has been with me a long time now, and to this day I have found no fault in him since he defected to me. Which again just reminds us of how really talented David was. Talented in deception. Talented in his cunning. When that is the route that David chooses to go, he's good at it. It kind of reminds me, and I think David's probably a true Jehovah follower at this point, but I have said numerous times in my life when looking at a child who doesn't know the Lord yet but is obviously very gifted, and some children are so gifted in wickedness because before they come to Christ, that's where their gifts lie. And there have been times, many times I've said, when God gets a hold of those gifts, what an asset to the kingdom. But right now, those gifts need to be redeemed. Well, I think David knew the Lord, but as we've been seeing, this seems to be a period of time where he's not so much living in faith or communicating with God or inquiring of the Lord. He seems to be trying to make this work in his own wisdom. I'm tired of running from Saul. They're chasing me back near my hometown. They're chasing me when I try to live in the wilderness to the south. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of running from my life. I know that God can deliver me, but this is exhausting. I want to go live with the Philistines. And the best that I can ascertain, although I certainly feel with David how difficult this was for him at this period in his life, I don't think that going to live with Israel's enemies and God's enemies, the uncircumcised Philistines, was going to be healthy for his soul. We saw previously, remember, that whenever God's people tried to find refuge amongst the enemies of God, it often did not go well. And so while I think David was a believer, he is not living strongly by faith as far as I understand the text at this point. So he was good at this. For Achish to say, after a year and four months that I have found no fault in him, when the whole time David had been raiding the enemies of Israel instead of Israel, and Achish thought David had been raiding Israel, that's a long time to maintain that kind of a facade. Well, that's not enough for the other commanders. The other commanders are angry with Achish, and they say, basically, make him go back. And they have a couple of arguments, and these are pretty obvious arguments. Their first argument you could call pragmatic. That means just what's the... What's the natural usefulness of this situation? I mean, what's going on here? What would David tend to do because of what would be best for him in this situation? And the commanders say to Achish, you've got to understand, Achish, come on now. This would be an incredible opportunity for David to reconcile with Saul and ingratiate himself again to Israel. I mean, imagine if at this point David once again brought about a great deliverance for Israel like he did with Goliath and the battle that followed Goliath's death, which, remember, was against the Philistines. So they are saying to Achish, David has situated himself perfectly to turn on us in battle and rejoin Israel. And by the way, one line of thought is that this might be exactly what David was intending to do. That he had never really joined Achish in the first place, that's clear in the text. And some people think that might be what he was clearly setting out to do. Although I'm not sure things are always that crisp and clean. You know how our lives go? Sometimes it's just a mass confusion of gray and hard-to-make decisions. could be that David had a number of thoughts and maybe this was one option for him was to possibly help Israel once they got into battle. Maybe it was that David didn't know how he was going to handle this precarious situation. We're simply not told what's going on in his heart and mind. So you have this pragmatic argument. Then you have a historical argument. We've heard this one before, haven't we? Music is powerful. And this music about destroyed David already once before. This music, this song is what actually stirred up Saul originally to chase after David and seek his very life. It was the song that the ladies of Israel and maybe the children of Israel sang when David came back from killing Goliath and from that battle with the Philistines. And it had become such a hit that even the Gentiles in the surrounding nations had heard this song. I mean, this just wasn't a top 40 song in Israel. It had hit the charts in the UK and Germany too. They say to Achish, isn't this the David from the song? And by the way, I would pay good money to hear this song, but I have not been able to find it on YouTube. But I would love to hear how this song actually went. I bet it was catchy or memorable in some way in the culture of their singing. Remember how the Hebrews would sing to one another and dance? Saul has slain his thousands. And David, his ten thousands? That's what infuriated Saul in the first place. And the commanders say to Achish, do you remember when that song was written? It was after David killed our champion, Goliath. Who, by the way, Achish, was from your town, remember? And you want this guy to come and fight with us? Now the narrative moves into this conversation between frenemies. Kids, do you know what a frenemy is? A frenemy is, what do they call that, a portmanteau word? You take two words, you smash them together, come up with another word. It's a word that has arisen from friend and enemy. When there's somebody, maybe you're not sure if this person's actually your friend or your enemy. It's a frenemy. So here we have this conversation between frenemies. Akish thinks David is his friend. David knows full out they are still enemies. It's very confusing. Well, what's interesting here is that you actually see Achish swearing by the Hebrew God, Jehovah, in trying to lend weight to his words to David. He swears by Jehovah. And he says, And you have conducted yourself honorably with your army. Since you came to me, I have not found evil in you, but the lords do not like you." Like, at all. So I'm going to have to ask you to return in peace back to Ziklag. My hands are tied. David's probably, at this point, essentially, are you serious? You have got to be kidding me. What have I done in a year and four months? What have I done to deserve this? What have you found in me that would keep me from fighting with you against your enemies? Well, there was actually quite the answer to that, David. Now, this is where we're not entirely sure if David was actually keeping up the act or if he was really literally trying to get into this battle. If David was trying to avoid the battle and ultimately was going to take this as deliverance from God's hands, then this is just digging in further to the deception and acting on his part. You know, in other words, I would say to him, don't overdo it, David. You know, maybe he'll change his mind. You don't want to change his mind. But as some people think, if David was actually trying to get into this battle in order to turn on the Philistines in the battle, then his words were legit, and he's trying to stay and fight in that battle. And as I said, maybe it was a mixture of things. Maybe David didn't know what he was going to do until the time came. We have to remember sometimes just because we have the scriptures doesn't mean that everything is black and white. Sometimes it's just as convoluted and chaotic and confusing as our lives are. So Achish says, David, you're as good in my sight as an angel of God, but my hands are tied. I've been outvoted. So I'm going to have to ask you and your men to return at first light tomorrow morning. So that's what happens. David returns to Ziklag and the Philistines go up to Jezreel to fight. And it's actually a battle that we're not going to hear about now until the very last chapter of 1 Samuel, chapter 31. Now, whatever is going on in David's mind, it seems to have been a mercy from God to deliver David in this way. He was delivered from battle and possible death, and his army, as we saw from the first Chronicles passage, his army is actually being strengthened at this point as many people begin to join him. In fact, later on in that same chapter, 1 Chronicles 12, verse 19 says this. As he went to Ziklag, so Chronicles now is talking about as David is returning back home from this exchange with Achish. As he went to Ziklag, these men of Manasseh deserted to him. Then there are a number of men mentioned, and they're called chiefs of thousands in Manasseh. So there are major military leaders from Manasseh now defecting over to David, even as David heads back south to Ziklag. And then anticipating what's going to happen in chapter 30, it says, they helped David against the band of raiders, for they were all mighty men of valor and were commanders in the army. For from day to day, men came to David to help him until there was a great army like an army of God. So that's 1 Chronicles 12, 19 through 22. So that gives us a little glimpse into what's happening here. It's not just that David is returning to Ziklag. God, I think, is preserving him and his reputation and actually building an army for him now. As he heads back, there are more and more Israelites defecting to him. Some even of Saul's own tribe beginning to come over. They're seeing the handwriting on the wall. People are probably starting to understand how far gone Saul actually is, and they have started to cross over to David's army. Now, what can we learn from this text? Sometimes you read a chapter, and in fact, some of you have told me this before. Some of you have said, Pastor Steve, I have no idea what kind of lessons you were gonna draw from this chapter. And you're like, yeah, the beginning of the week, neither did I. But as you think about it, and as you think through what's going on here, there are lessons that arise to the surface. Even in a chapter where you don't really overtly see God, or you don't see David interacting with God, God is still moving his plan forward. So I have a couple of main thoughts I want us to think about for our remaining time here this morning. The first thought I want you to meditate on with me is, once again, we see God using the wicked for his purposes. Now, we've talked about this before, and it's a theme that's come up multiple times at Arbor through the years from the pulpit ministry, but I want us to meditate on it again today, and we see this so clearly here in the text. This is an encouraging truth regarding God's sovereignty, that God is able to use the wickedness of his enemies and the enemies of his people to advance his holy will. God can use the wicked for his purposes. Now, we've seen this before in Scripture. We often cite, for instance, what God was doing with Joseph's brothers when they sold him into slavery. But God intended that to save many people alive through the famine. The ultimate example being the Lord Jesus Christ, who was delivered to the cross from the hands of wicked men. But we've also seen this before in 1 Samuel where God uses the wicked to accomplish His purposes. One vivid example of this was at the end of chapter 23. Do you remember when David is running around in the wilderness trying to stay away from Saul? And God literally uses the attacking Philistines to bring a narrow escape to David in pulling Saul away right at a point when he was about to capture David. So we've seen this before. Now, there's a striking verse in Psalm 76, verse 10, and I'm going to read this in the CSB, but it's an interesting verse to meditate on. Psalm 76, 10 says, even human wrath will praise you. You will clothe yourself with the wrath that remains. The idea being that even man's anger against God and against God's people is not going to stop God's hand. That God actually can use their wrath, their sin, for which they are responsible, and God can use it as a tool in his hand. Even though those Philistines, those sinners, are responsible for their own wickedness, God can use it, and he has, and he does. Now, this is consoling because it means that God is not helpless in the face of evil and calamity. And while we certainly often do not understand why God permits such heinous actions or destructive events, we can rest knowing that things are not spiraling out of control, and eternity will bring answers that set it all at ease, even if we never understand in this life. The hatred that the commanders had for David was used to deliver him. That was the tool. The hatred that the Philistine commanders had against Israel was used by God as a tool to deliver David. Now think about it. What would have happened or what could have happened if David had gone with the Philistines into battle? There are actually a lot of things that could have happened that would not be ideal. David could have died at the hand of the Philistines, humanly speaking. We know God had a plan that God was going to bring David to the throne. But from a human perspective, this is what God kept David from. He could have died at the hands of the Philistines. He could have died at the hands of the Israelites. But it could have gotten more complicated than that. Imagine going out to battle against the Philistines and seeing David's face amongst them. And even if David had a plan to turn on the Philistines in the midst of the battle, would the Israelites have known? David literally could have been seen by his own countrymen, his own cousins, his own family members as fighting with the Philistines, which would have done irreparable damage to his reputation and his ability to reign over Israel. And imagine if David's reputation Amongst foreign kings was solidified as a conniving deceptive mercenary Loyal to no one but himself What would that have done to the future relationships that he had with foreign kings? So there are a lot of different ways this could have gone ugly I But instead, the Philistines went into battle with the Israelites, as we'll see in the chapters ahead, that God does have purposes of judgment for Saul in that battle, but David ends up going back to Ziklag and avoids that battle entirely. But it ends up that David was sorely needed in Ziklag, remember? Because the next chapter, chapter 30, is the account of how the Amalekites came while he was gone, and while the fighting men were gone, and took all of the people captive who were left in Ziklag. So David was really needed back in Ziklag to save the women and the children and the non-military men from the Amalekites. which is a whole nother deliverance that needed to happen. So God used the hatred of the Philistines against David to bring about a merciful deliverance. Now, I think it's good for us to think about our own lives. Think about the times in our lives when maybe we weren't cognizant of God's presence. But He brings about a mercy or accomplishes a deliverance, and maybe we didn't even know until we looked back. Sometimes, God's deliverance may come to us in the context of our own sin, of our own unfaithfulness, adding to the confusion, similar to what was likely happening here. Yet God's grace continues to help us undeservedly. And God continues the work that He has begun. He brings deliverance that at the time we might not even have recognized as deliverance. How faithful are His mercies. Makes you think of Romans 11.33. Oh, the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out. So God can use the wicked for His purposes. And the other idea I wanted us to meditate on for a few moments this morning is simply this, a theme we've also looked at before, but I want us to meditate on it from the text. God's steadfast love for His people is relentless. God's mercy, His steadfast love for His people is relentless. We've already mentioned that it seems like David's at a point in his life here where His faith does not seem to be very strong. A lot of doubts. He's relying on his own strength and cunning. Doesn't seem to be communicating with God like he does before this and after this. And just from what's going on in the text and the way he treats Achish, he's clearly confident to some degree in his own abilities, which were significant. He's trusting in his own acting abilities and in his own strength. Completely obliterating those who might toddle on him to achish. And there's a sense here in which it seems like David felt like he knew the right thing to do. He knew the right way to go. But he ends up in an awful predicament, a really serious jam. Heading into battle with the Philistines, as we've just seen, was not going to be a good thing in many different ways. Now maybe here is where some of us need to be careful about our view of God. It's true that God may let us reap the consequences of what we sow in order to discipline us and sanctify us, but it is always, if we know Him, it is always as a loving Father for His children. God does not give up on us like some earthly fathers might give up on their wayward children. But God continues to pursue us. He continues to extend His mercy to us, even in discipline. In fact, His discipline is an extension of His mercy to us. And God not only saves us from the Philistines, often He might save us from ourselves. Not because we are deserving, but because He loves us. Because of His covenant faithfulness. And we're reminded, as we said at the beginning, that the difference between Saul and David here is not David's giftedness or even his righteousness, but God's mercy. David trusted God for forgiveness. David trusted God to not impute iniquity to him. David trusted God in repentance, and Saul did not. So there's quite the contrast. At the end of Saul's dilemma with the medium, we see Saul trudging off into the darkness, getting ready to meet his end. At the end of David's dilemma with the Philistine lords, we see him walking away in the light of the morning, and David is saved by the very Philistines who are about to take Saul's life. So the question this morning, is not, are you talented? Are you gifted? Are you cunning? Are you smart? Are you strong? Can you get yourself out of those difficult situations that you've gotten yourself into? Now, the question is, are you trusting in Jesus to save you, turning from your sins as you exercise faith in the promises of God? I'm not sure if David wrote Psalm 118, but he certainly could have with the experiences he had. Psalm 118, starting with verse 14, listen to some of this psalm. The Lord is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation. The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord. The Lord has chastened me or disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death. God extended his mercy to David and he extends his mercy to all of his children. I want you to listen to this from Richard D. Phillips on this passage. He says, The difference is that we have embraced by faith the Savior, who alone is worthy of this praise, and who by his sacrificial death has freed us, not only from the condemnation of men, but also from the condemnation of God, so that we may serve him in the battle for this age, and afterward enter into eternal life. Jesus said, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life. John 5, 24. Praise God for the saving grace and His consistent mercies. Now one other thought as we bring this to a close this morning. You know, I can't help but think, when you think about what God is doing with David, and with what's going on here in the battle between the Israelites and the Philistines, I can't help but look ahead and think to myself that one of God's purposes for David was so that the Christ would come from him. In many ways, David prefigures Christ, though not so much in his recent actions. But David is going to be preserved and made a king so that the Davidic covenant can be fulfilled. The Messiah would never leave the throne of David. And Jesus, the Messiah, would come. And I can't help but think that Jesus came so that the light of His truth and salvation would come flooding into the Gentile world along with the Israelites. In other words, Jesus would come to make one united people out of uncircumcised Philistines and circumcised Jews. That God would make one people out of Gentiles and Jews. This was unthinkable at the time to so many. But what I want us to think about, the thought I want to leave you with this morning is that God's mercy is not just for us. It's for others as well. And I was thinking about the verse where Jesus is interacting with his disciples, and he says in John chapter 10, he says, and other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. And I think part of the emphasis of this verse is that not only does Jesus have other sheep to be converted, but many of them are going to be Gentile sheep, not from the Jewish fold. And the point is this. There are other people outside, yes, in this room, but outside of this room as well, who need to hear of God's mercies. And so I just want to challenge you this week that as you think about God's mercies, not only to us, but to others who may come as well, I want us to simply do a couple of things. I want us, are you willing to pray for opportunities to share Christ? Are you willing to share Christ when the opportunity comes that you prayed for? And I know this sounds almost counter-cultural at this point, But I also want to encourage you to invite people to come to church. Do you feel almost like we're past that point in history? People don't come to church with other people anymore? But we can still ask. And does it really matter whether the Lord uses your testimony of God's grace or whether he uses the public preaching of the word? So let's pray for opportunities and let's be ready to share our faith. Let's invite people to church and let's see if the Lord would be pleased through our efforts to bring other sheep in, to share in that same loving kindness, that same mercy that we didn't deserve, that needs to be proclaimed from the mountaintops to a lost and dying world. Let's pray. Our great God, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the things that you continue to teach us. And Lord, we need far more than a proper theological understanding. We need to meditate on these truths until they become a part of us. And then, day in and day out, as we live our lives, as we struggle with our remaining sin, as we struggle with the chaos and the calamity that is still so prevalent in this world, waiting for that future resurrection and the new heavens and the new earth. Lord, we can practically hear the whole creation groaning and travailing. Lord, we pray that you would continue by your grace to bring us back, to bring us back to repentance and renewed faith that Your plan is best, and that we don't know better than You, and that we can't do this simply through our own strength and giftedness. That we need the atoning blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse us from our sin, and we need the direction and the guidance of the Holy Spirit to help us learn what it means day by day and moment by moment to please You and bring glory to Your name. Teach us, Lord, to live in this way. And we pray, Lord, that you would give us opportunities to share Christ with those who so desperately need Him, just like we did prior to coming to faith in Christ. Give us opportunities, Lord, then give us courage to take opportunities. Incline some people's hearts, Lord, to actually come and worship with us and hear the Word proclaimed. Help us, Lord, to be faithful in the places that you put us. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.