[0:00] Tonight, and I entitled the message, God's Promises Prevail and Always Will, even when we lack insight, even when we don't understand. We need to know one thing, and that is God is faithful. That's the one thing you need to know. You don't need to know all the details. And this was the case where we left off, remember, that, that it was a gruesome takeover that took place. And all of the line of David was killed off except for Joash.

[0:55] And if you remember where that took place is Athaliah. You know, if you look back just a few verses there in chapter 22 at verse 10. Now, when Athaliah, the mother of Hazai, he was the king, saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal heirs of the house of Judah, meaning her grandchildren. She killed them all. But Jehoshapheth, the daughter of the king, so she would be the daughter, half-brother or half-sister of the king, took Joash, which would be her nephew, the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king's sons who were being murdered, and put him and his nurse in a bedroom. So Jehoshaphat, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada, the priest, for she was the sister of Ahaziah, hid him from Athaliah, so the grandmother, so that she did not kill him. And he was hidden with them in the house of God for six years while Athaliah reigned over the land.

[2:23] So what a gruesome way to end our last time in 2 Chronicles. But the amazing thing is that God had promised that the line of David would continue. So can you imagine the heartache of the faithful who was looking for the promises of God to prevail when the whole line of David, as far as they knew, was wiped out.

[2:56] And so it was a gruesome set of circumstances. And I like to watch animal documentaries. Like when I got home earlier today to shower and eat lunch and all that, my grandson was over and Alandrina had grizzly bear documentary on, you know. And he really loves to watch them. Well, I remember seeing one about a lion documentary and then the male lion, as soon as the female gives birth to the little lions, he'll go and just kill the male lions because he doesn't want that, you know, lion to grow up and be, you know, interfere with his, you know, his control of things. And it just shows you just how animalistic and how beastly and how horrible that is But this is exactly showing us how evil man, in this case woman.

[4:04] Can be And a grandmother, I can't imagine a worse scene Killing her grandchildren or grandsons so that she could reign And so if the Bible had a movie rating that would be rated R for violent content.

[4:29] And, you know, I watched all the Star Wars movies. I don't know if you guys are Star Wars fans or not, but I watched all of them. And in all of them, there's one violent scene that stands out as the worst, you know, and it's when Anakin, who later becomes Dark Vader, It's when Anakin turns to the dark side in his first evil mission that he goes on, remember, as he visits, if you watched any of those movies. He goes to the school, the Jedi training school, and he's going in and he's welcomed, of course, by all the kids, in which then he just killed all the kids that were in training. Betrayal, act of betrayal, you know, but it's interesting because we see the same thing here in the Bible. Can you imagine old grandma walking in and all the grandkids are so good, so glad to see her. She brings in her, whoever she needs to kill all of the grandkids. It's just incredible. And so we have an equivalent scene to that. And, you know, we for one would want to have these kinds of things edited.

[5:53] We'd want this kind of stuff cleaned up, especially when there's dirt on those of faith. God, can't you kind of clean up the scriptures a little bit? Why do you have to put in all this kind of stuff? And God wants us to know the naked truth of evil that's all around us, that we would read this and we'd go, can man be that wicked? Can man be that evil? Yep. And you know what keeps man from expressing that evil? The law.

[6:26] In most cases. But even the law doesn't stop some who think they can get away with it. So they break the law. But this is what's, you know, things like this that reveal the heart of man. And when we were traveling through here, remember, we saw that the kings of Israel, there was 19 kings of Israel, and every one of them were wicked and bad, every one of the kings. And they were described as this bad, extra bad, the worst, and bad mostly. That described all of the kings of Israel, all 19. Now, in Judah, there was 20 kings, and of those kings, eight were good. So, and of those eight, they were described as good, good, good mostly, and the best.

[7:29] And so those kings were raised up and God was able to accomplish a lot through those kings. And so we ended up here with Joash. Now, Joash is the one that was hidden away. We just read about that. And so it says of him, he was good mostly.

[7:55] Now, following his reign, there was 137 years of good kings that followed, 137 years of.

[8:08] And then it was interrupted by a wicked king. And then there was the best king that followed that. And so we see that even though they were good kings, what we find out as we study is that they're still human beings. And what does that tell us? That tells us they were still flawed. They were still sinners. You know, like any believer, like any elder, like any pastor, like any Christian. Like any of us, and the differences vary in degrees on how that might work out in our lives. But however degree where we fall short really causes us to be limited to what God would do or not do in our lives, like with the kings. We've seen that worked out in the kings. And so depending on that failure to follow the Lord's leading, it would be really stunting us spiritually, not destroying us spiritually because Jesus died that we might have the victory and end up in heaven. But really stunting us, our growth and opportunity where we would lose ground in our walk. And, you know, when you consider this lifetime being of the essence.

[9:35] It's important that we don't lose ground, that we don't spin our wheels, that we don't have to make up for lost time. We don't have any time, really. And so we need to keep moving forward. And so it's interesting because... In our service to the Lord, our desire should be to glorify God and to bear fruit. And, you know, Jesus, he prayed for us, for each one of us. And I think by name, in his mind, because he can do that, you know, it says in John 15, verse 16 and 17, Jesus said, you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that.

[10:29] And so, you know, Jesus, you know, that was his prayer for us and his command to us. That's God's heart, that we would bear fruit and that it would be lasting fruit. And then also that we would live, you know, not meager existence, but that we would live abundant lives as believers. You know, Jesus also said in John 10, 10, where he said, The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that you may have life and that you may have it more abundantly. And so we see there that, you know, that that's God's heart for us. As we study the lives of these different kings, we realize that, you know, they're an example to us of what to do and what not to do and how God would respond to them. After the time of Solomon in the 393 years of history of the kings of Judah, there was 137 years under good kings and there was 256 years under bad kings. That's not a good percentage.

[11:53] You know, and yet when you consider that's what God had to work with, you know, when you consider it's not good, it's about a third, third of the time was good for the nation and two thirds of the time was not good.

[12:10] And so we have in Scripture, what we learn from this is that God would give a space, an opportunity of repentance in the lives of all these kings, and then he would respond often very quickly in coming to their rescue. And we see an example after an example of the kings and also other places in Scripture that God would, before he would come down in judgment, he would allow a certain amount of time to pass. And he would minister through the prophets. Some of the kings would kill the prophets. Some of the kings would heed the prophets. But either way, the Lord would send his word. And so sometimes judgment would come swiftly, and it would come to those who, you know, the Bible, you know, tells us, for instance, in 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 3, for when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. And so for those who are not believers.

[13:26] You know, that those who would believe, you know, there could be world peace and all that, for them, sudden destruction will come upon them. But for us who know better, we know that, hey, judgment is coming. It doesn't come suddenly for us. And then in our lives personally, God is always ministering through his word directly to us. Hey, you know, you need to knock that off or this or, or however he would minister, minister to us. I mentioned that on Sunday communion, Sunday, remember, is that, you know, you don't know what kind of day, what kind of week somebody's had, where somebody is in their life. And, you know, and here you're coming up to a time when you're partaking of communion. You know, you got to bear your heart to the Lord. And I said, you know, for us, we repent. We're back right with the Lord. And so, you know, we need to understand that because we need to be able to enjoy that forgiveness. Because the enemy, he fosters There's condemnation any which way he can in our lives. And really, victory comes by the sword of God's spirit as it did for these kings. They would pray to God and they would pray the promises of God. Then God would bring deliverance. And so it's the same dynamics for us as well. And the key is, and we see it in the kings, is that we don't lounge or linger in sin because sin has consequences.

[14:50] But we have to turn to the Lord. And here we see now in chapter 23, six years have gone by and we can only imagine the agony of heart for the faithful of God's people or trying to move forward, trying to care, trying to follow God, but feeling like all the promises that have been made to them are not there, believing that the messianic line had been cut off. And here we see in verse 1, in the seventh year, Jehoiada, he was a godly priest, a man of God.

[15:31] And it was his wife, Jehoshaphat, we read about there, who protected Joash. They made a great team together. You know, God uses husband and wife teams all throughout the Bible record. And we see the same thing here. Well, he strengthened himself, it says. And in other words, when you look at that, it's go time. It's God's time. It's go time. The time had come, and he knew he had to act now. When I read that, I thought, you know, God's will is being worked out through this man of God, and it's according to God's time clock.

[16:18] And the cause that the events, it causes things to occur that gets us moving. And it's not necessarily us. It's good to act prematurely. Like, in other words, what took him so long? He waited six years and now he's acting? Well, because it's according to God's time. You know, Joash, when he takes the throne, he's seven years old. He's probably a very smart seven-year-old, but, you know, this is God's time for him to strengthen himself.

[16:56] And so he had to be patient, not anxious. He had to wait on the Lord. He already knew that the king's son was in hiding. It was his wife that, you know. Now, I don't think there was many others in the know. You know because that probably wouldn't have went well obviously the nurse was in the know, but but god causes things in our life to get us moving in his timing i remember even when we came over to you know plant calvary chapel redmond we were over in ben planning calvary chapel ben helping there and i told the pastor there that i'd be there for one year i'll be there for one year because the Lord's called us up, you know, to plant a church in, you know, Central Oregon. We're going to probably be in Prineville or Redmond, you know, at the time we weren't sure, but I'll help you for one year. Well, one year it came and went. It was just kind of fun, you know, hanging out, planting the church there, not really being the one that was so responsible. I was the assistant pastor and assistant pastors can just sort of, you know, skate under the radar.

[18:11] Probably not supposed to, but, you know, you don't really take the heat, so to speak. But anyway, so, and so, you know, two years goes by. This is cool. You know, planning a church, teaching, hanging out, you know. And the third year goes by and I'm still there helping out. This is great, you know. There was actually, there was a lot of hits that we were taking too. But then my wife said something to me. She says, Anthony, let's get doing what God's called us to do up here, or let's go home. In other words, back to Southern California, it was like the Holy Spirit kicked me in the butt. So God can use all kinds of ways to get you going, you know, and to move you. Well, it was time. It was time. And so we, you know, said our goodbyes and all that. And then we started a Bible study, and it grew into a church. And so that's what the Lord had for us. And I think that the three years we were there was really important because I think we just, you know, we're supposed to be there to help, you know, for that long, for the things that took place and all that. That's another story. But here we have Jehoiada, the high priest, strengthening himself. And he made a covenant. So this agreement with the captains of hundreds. Azariah, the son of Jehoram. Ishamiel, the son of Jehoahan.

[19:39] And I know I pronounced all those wrong, but he made a covenant with a commitment with five army commanders to join him. And so we're reminded here that the practicality of God, The matter-of-fact ways in which God works and the sequential ways in which God works.

[20:09] And so we live this out. We make decisions. We've seen it many times that the practicality of God working out something in ministry as we move along and as we strengthen ourselves and as we do the next things. And what that allows is a place where faith operates. because God allows us to work things out, strategize, make decisions, take steps of faith. Even here as he's strengthening himself and now as he's meeting with these commanders of armies, this is going to be against the queen.

[20:51] And so he's having to take steps of faith, verse 2. And they went throughout Judah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah and the chief fathers of Israel. And they came to Jerusalem. And so now they're getting the spiritual leaders joining them. And no doubt they had been very discouraged, the Levites. If you remember when And Ahab took over in Israel, the Levites kind of headed over to be part of what was going on in Judah. But then now Judah fell apart. The Levites are just sort of hanging around, being discouraged, I guess. And so now there's going to be some changes made. So they gathered the Levites. Then all the assembly, verse 3, made a covenant with the king in the house of God. And he said to them, Behold, the king's son shall reign, as the Lord has said of the sons of David.".

[21:59] Now, this would have been a revelation for these that were being gathered. Nobody knew. What do you mean the king's son? They were all killed. And now you're saying the king's son is going to reign? This is a very critical time in Israel's history. And that all these are coming on board now. They're going to need this as word gets out that the king's son is alive. And so. understanding God's word when they said, you know, as, you know, said of the sons of David. So understanding the promises of God, they're moving forward, knowing that they're moving to fulfill the will of God. So they're in that correct place and would, of course, then give them and, you know, confidence as they move forward. Just like any of us, we're confident when we know that we're, you know, about the Lord's business, about the Father's business. That gives us confidence. And I always say that it's a blessing to the Lord, even if maybe we're not doing exactly what God would have us do at any given time. We're trying to keep moving forward. We're trying to do the will of the Lord, whatever it may be. We may be right on target, but how do you steer a...

[23:22] You know, a ship that's not moving. You don't. It's got to be moving. And I think that in obedience, when we're serving the Lord, even if we're not moving in exactly the direction we're supposed to, the Lord, then he just steers us over. You see, because he's already got our attention. He's already got our heart. He's already got our motivation. And also it blesses him to fill us with his spirit when we're moving like that. And so he has the confidence now also to do the hard things.

[23:51] And so when we are directed by God like he is, we can do the hard things because we have a confidence that's not ours. The confidence is based upon the faithfulness of God given to us in his word and instructed us. And so, like again, given place for faith to operate. In verse 4, this is what you shall do. One third of you entering on the Sabbath of the priest and the Levites shall be keeping watch over the doors. One third shall be at the king's house and one third at the gate of the foundation. All the people shall be in the courts of the house of the Lord. And so all would be present. Picking the Sabbath day is also strategic because the.

[24:54] The Sabbath day, you would expect to be a lot of people doing a lot of things on the Sabbath day. And so a third of those that were there would be watching the doors. Another third would be at the king's house. Another third would be at the gate of the foundation.

[25:16] And then in verse 6, But let no one come into the house of the Lord, except the priest and those of the Levites who serve. They may go in, for they are holy, but all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord. And so there was a very tight security at this time that they were, by God's counsel, putting in place. And the Levites shall surround the king on all sides, every man with his weapon in his hand, and whoever comes into the house, let him be put to death. You are to be with the king when he comes in and when he goes out. So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded. And each man took his men who were to be on duty on the Sabbath with those who were going off duty on the Sabbath. For Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed the divisions.

[26:35] And so weapons in their hands. In other words, we're not going to be a soft target, you know, with this maneuvering that they're doing.

[26:48] And that would, you know, indicate where it says... And whoever comes into the house, let him be put to death. And so after the security measures were in place, the right people were in the right place, that it was sure to indicate that if anybody tried to go against what was going on and tried to do a forced entry or whatever, they were to be put to death. There was no compromise for the safety of the king. And so they were to be killed, no questions asked, and to be with the king when he comes in and when he goes out.

[27:32] So next time you see President Trump, take notice. He has a security team, and they're not there for the festivities anymore. You watch those guys. They're watching everything. They're surrounding him. Other places, he's got bulletproof glass. Because it's crazy to think that guys like that are not going to be targeted by the enemy. They will be targeted by the enemy. President Kennedy made a big mistake when his guard told him not to be in a convertible, but to have bulletproof glass. And he just thought, no, he wanted to be more accessible to the people. No, you don't want to be more accessible to the people as, you know, on the streets of Dallas, apparently, with high buildings. But anyway, you know, the point being is that it's necessary and it's foolish to ignore the threat. And this is in God's counsel. And so verse 9, Jehoiada, the priest, gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields which had belonged to King David that were in the temple of God. And so these were provided a long time ago, and they were lying dormant until they were needed. But God had already provided for them.

[29:02] And so they were there in waiting. And so Jehoiada, of course, had access into the temple and by no accident. You know, and I think about how God stages these things for his purpose, his plan, setting things all up, providing for all of it. I don't know if you relate to that in your own life, how sometimes things will, you know, be provided for you or, you know, like us, you know, remember over the years, just living from paycheck to paycheck.

[29:34] And just wondering how we were even going to pay bills for years and years and going through recessions and all these trials and finances and all these things going on. And then all of a sudden, we'd actually get a little money ahead. And I think, uh-oh, what's going to happen? You know, we've got some money in the bank. Is our car going to break down or whatever? And sure enough, there'd be a reason that extra money was needed. God provided ahead of time to be sitting there dormant. And then all of a sudden, it's like, oh, I knew it. Just a matter of time, you know, for us, you know, that's what God had. And it was all in training. It was all, you know, opportunity to trust the Lord. And so here, God provided these at this time. King David had put them all in place. Then he set all the people, every man with his weapon in his hand from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple, along by the altar and by the temple all around the king. And they brought out the king's son. So he's not yet king until he's anointed, but he brought out the king's son. Now here he is.

[30:46] Put the crown on him, gave him the testimony and made him king. And so at this point, and then it says, then Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said, long live the king. And so it made it official. It's kind of like the swearing in ceremony. But it's interesting because it said one of the first things there, the first things in order, the first order of business was to give him the testimony, was to give him God's word. That was foundational for his kingship. And Jehoiada being sensitive, knowing this is important. You know, too often God's word is dismissed when it should be the foundation laid in our lives. As a matter of fact, God goes on record, and he says in Psalm 138, 2, I will worship towards your holy temple and praise your name for your loving kindness and your truth. You have magnified your word above all your name. God's word. And so, you know, we have that.

[32:08] Important to this church, and a priority to this church, is the foundation beyond the Word. And so, we travel through the Word, you know, and through all the hard, parts of the Word. And I remember the first time we went on the radio here in Central Oregon, I go, well, we might as well let everybody know what we're about. Let's go through the book of Leviticus on Sunday on the radio. And some churches won't even go through the book of Leviticus, let alone do it on a Sunday morning on the radio. There's some crazy things in Leviticus, but we covered them all on the radio. It took a year, I think, something like that, maybe over a And so, you know, that's what we're about. So anyway, the foundation of the word. So we understand that very, very much here. And we'll always keep it that way. The foundation being the word. Now, verse 12 says.

[33:07] Now, when Athaliah, remember Joash's grandmother, heard the noise of the people running and praising the king.

[33:17] Can you imagine how excited they were to see David's son, the king's son? She came to the people in the temple of the Lord. When she looked, there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king. All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Also the singers with musical instruments and those who led in praise. So Athaliah tore her clothes and said, treason, treason. And so here the king is standing by the pillar, a place obviously reserved for the king alone to be standing. And she recognized what was going on. The people were rejoicing. And when I thought of that verse in Proverbs 29 that says, when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when the wicked are in authority, the people groan. Well, now the people are rejoicing, The same people that had just been groaning. And now they're rejoicing because of what they're seeing. So she says, treason, treason. And so a lot's been happening before she became aware of anything. And so it was a stealthy operation.

[34:40] And there was a lot of moving parts, but they were very stealth in the way that they were working. And so, you know, she was correct. This was treason against her government, but it was a well-founded and godly takeover of a tyrannical, wicked ruler.

[35:03] You know, every place that Satan hopes to exercise dominion, believers, you know, we should resist. Because, of course, that's what the Bible says, right? In James 4, 7, submit to God, resist the devil, and he shall flee from you. And so, and so, and you might say, commit treason against the devil, refusing to accept his rule. And yes, this is a sanctioned coup. That's what's going on here.

[35:33] It's a sanctioned coup, just in case you wanted a biblical illustration of modern-day affairs. It's a sanctioned coup that is taking place. And, you know, of course, I'm making reference to Venezuela and our goal there to act, you know, to get that country back on, you know, its feet and right some wrongs. And God uses nations, and He always has, and He always will. And I am so blessed by many of the reports of the last weeks and months of how this country has come to aid those that have been killed and destroyed. I imagine, you know, like in Nigeria, where over 10,000 Christians have been killed by the group there. I think it's ISIS and whoever else. But President Trump got word, and they bombed ISIS over there and said, You will stop killing Christians. And if you don't stop killing Christians, we'll be back. Right. Now, I imagine that how many of you think Christians were praying in Nigeria? Lord, deliver us.

[36:56] How many do you think were praying over there? I say all of them. Now, does God use nations? Yeah. And we've been watching what's going on. And I think it's just the Lord. He's still intervening. Does God intervene today using nations? Well, the Bible says God doesn't change. So apparently he does, you know, and so we're watching it. We're watching it. So keep praying because these are the kinds of things that are going on in our world right now. Verse 14, in Jehoiada, the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army and said to them, take her outside under guard and slay with the sword whoever follows her for the priest had said, do not kill her in the house of the Lord. So they seized her and she went by the way of the entrance of the horse gate into the king's house and they killed her there. And so death penalty for mass murderists is what happened. She got the death penalty.

[38:10] There wasn't 20 years in maximum security. It was, you're done, according to the law of the Lord as well. But then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself, the people, and the king, that they should be the Lord's people. And all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They broke it in pieces, its altars and images, and killed Matan. That's the pagan priest. Of Baal before the altars. And so, following, of course, God's law in Deuteronomy, also Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the Lord to the hand of the priest, the Levites.

[38:56] Whom David had assigned in the house of the Lord to offer the burnt offerings of the Lord, as it is written, the law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, as it was established by David. So order restored. If you remember the importance of order, remember we're going through Titus, how important it was to have order and the leaders were immediately put in place and there was order in the church. And then we learned of the order in the church was and how it laid out and in the family and all that. God's a God of order. If you look and study creation at all, you could see it plainly, God's spoken into existence and it's still very orderly, perfectly as he put things in place. And so, yeah, we don't worry about global warming and all that kind of stuff because God got, he's got a time set for everything. And so we trust him. And so the people were rejoicing, you know, and what had taken place, you know, ding dong, the witch is dead, the wicked witch, the witch is dead, you know.

[40:05] And so forth, they were rejoicing, you know. And he said, the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the Lord so that no one who was in any way unclean should enter. And so that was the bouncer's ministry. No one was to enter that weren't allowed to enter, you know.

[40:27] And so, you know, I thought about just how creative ministry can be and how many different facets of different kinds of ministries there are, you know, like we have the cookie bearers ministry here, if you didn't know that. And the only qualification is you come early on a Wednesday and you taste the cookies to make sure that there's no poison in them. So you eat them, make sure they're safe for all the people. That's the cookie bearers ministry. If you want to be part of that, you know how to be part of that. And so, but really I've seen a lot of interesting ways that God would use people at different times in different types of ministry. I had a friend, John Olds, down in California, and he was a big, big guy, looked like a linebacker for a football team. And he did a lot of traveling, and he was a real strong believer. And sometimes he'd run into Christian men out there that were out traveling, and he would learn in a conversation with them, they were being unfaithful to their wife or whatever the situation is. The next thing he would do is take his Big Mac or wherever it was that they were eating, and he'd reach over to the other side of the table and grab the guy behind the neck and shove his sandwich into his face and go like this, and then to begin to rebuke him for his sin. And he had so many guys that repented and said that God used that to get their attention. So that's an interesting ministry.

[41:55] That's not for everybody. And it wouldn't even be for John Olds today because he's older. But when he was young and strapping and had that kind of strength, he could have that kind of ministry.

[42:07] You know, the Samson ministry or whatever. But, you know, God uses us in our unique gifting. So anyway, that was the bouncer's ministry. Then the last verses, then he took the captains of hundreds, the nobles, the governors of the people and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the house of the Lord. And they went through the upper gate to the king's house and set the king on the throne of the kingdom. So all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet. For they had slain Athaliah with the sword. And so after six dark years, now the people rejoiced. It hadn't been that long for us. It only was four years, but the people rejoiced. And it's interesting, sometimes the simple removal of one wicked leader can change everything, again, like Venezuela. People over there rejoicing, you know that? Because of what's happening? And the people are rejoicing, and once again, God is very much involved with world affairs as he has ever been. And so keep praying. Pray for strength for our leadership, that they can make these necessary changes, and pray for the midterm elections.

[43:30] I understand that they're more important than ever, that if we don't win the midterm elections, that they would impeach Trump if they can get power in the house. And so these things are important. They're practical. Well, there's a practicality of God, and he does use things like this. And he uses his people, and he does answer prayer. And we need to pray specifically concerning those things. And so throughout the Bible, God will send deliverers in his time frame.

[43:58] God who changes not in this day as well as in continuing the work according to His will. And you know what? Things are being set up right now because we are in the end times. And so a lot's going on. And so we're called to pray, stay in His Word, be obedient, serve the Lord. Amen. Thank you, Lord, for your Word once again. We just pray that you fill us to overflowing Holy Spirit and that we're able to carry on not in our strength by any means, but by your strength that we would accomplish your will. And so I ask for blessing upon all those that are here tonight, Lord, and all the things that they're dealing with. I pray for insight and wisdom. I pray, Holy Spirit, for your intervention in their lives, that they would be able to serve you with confidence, knowing that they're moving in obedience to your word, gripping the sword of the Spirit in the battle at hand. So we ask your blessing upon us, Lord, and we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you.