March 5, 2023 - Sunday Service

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I do hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning. Yes, more than those who watch for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord.

With the Lord there is mercy, and with him is abundant redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquity. Come now, let us worship this God who has attended to our prayer.

You pray with me.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we ask that you would grant your presence and work effectually in us. We pray that your people would be built up and encouraged in the faith today. That we would worship you sincerely, honestly, in spirit and in truth.

O Lord, I pray that we would earnestly turn from our sins. That we would repent of every known one of those. And we would also rejoice in the grace received in the Lord Jesus Christ. We ask your blessing upon us as we come to your presence to worship you.

It is in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. Please kneel for the corporate confession of sin. Let us confess together.

Gracious God, our sins are too heavy to carry, too real to hide, and too deep to undo. Forgive what we can no longer bear, and what has become for us a consuming fire of judgment. We ask that we cannot change.

Open to us a future in which we can be changed. And grant us grace to grow more and more in your likeness and image through Jesus Christ.

In whom you, God, take part today. Take up the hymnal, please, and turn to number 52.

Surely he has turned his hand against me time and time again throughout the day.

He has aged my flesh and my skin and broken my bones. He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and woe. He has set me in dark places like the dead of long ago. He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out.

He has made my chain heavy. Even when I cry and I shout, he shuts out my prayer. He has blocked my ways with hewn stone. He has made my paths crooked. He has been to me a bear lying in wait like a lion in ambush.

He has turned aside my ways and torn me in pieces. He has made me desolate. He has bent his bow and set me up as a target for the arrow. He has caused the arrows of his quiver to pierce my loins. I have become the ridicule of all my people.

Their taunting song all the day. He has filled me with bitterness and made me drink wormwood. He has broken my teeth with gravel and covered me with ashes. You have moved my soul far from peace. I have forgotten prosperity.

And I said my strength and my hope have perished from the Lord. Remember my affliction and roaming, the wormwood and the gall. My soul still remembers and stinks within me. This I recall to my mind. Therefore, I have hope.

Through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul. Therefore, I hope in him.

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man to bear the yoke of his youth.

Let him sit alone and keep silent because God has laid it on him. Let him put his mouth in dust. There may yet be hope. Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him and be full of reproach. For the Lord will not cast off forever, though he causes grief.

Yet he will show compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he does not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men. To crush under one's feet all the prisoners of earth, to turn aside the justice due a man before the face of the Most High, or subvert a man in his cause, the Lord does not approve.

Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass when the Lord has not commanded it? Is it not the mouth of the Most High that woe and well-being proceed? Why should a living man complain? A man for the punishment of his sins.

Let us search out and examine our ways and turn back to the Lord. Let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven. We have transgressed and rebelled. You have not pardoned. You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us.

You have slain and not pitied. You have covered yourself with a cloud that prayer should not pass through. You have made an offscoring and refused in the midst of the peoples. All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.

Fear and a snare have come upon us, desolation and destruction. My eyes overflow with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people. My eyes flow and do not cease without interruption.

Till the Lord from heaven looks down and sees, my eyes bring suffering to my soul because of all the daughters of my city. My enemies without cause hunted me down like a bird. They silenced my life in the pit and threw stones at me.

The waters flowed over my head. I said, I am cut off. I called on your name, O Lord, from the lowest pit. You have heard my voice. Do not hide your ear from my sighing, from my cry for help. You draw near on the day I called you and said, do not fear.

O Lord, you have pleaded the case for my soul. You have redeemed my life. O Lord, you have seen how I am wronged. Judge my case. You have seen all their vengeance, all their schemes against me. You have heard their reproach, O Lord, all their schemes against me.

The lips of my enemies and their whispering against me all the day. Look at their sitting down and their rising up. I am their taunting song. Repay them, O Lord, according to the work of their hands. Give them a veiled heart.

Your curse be upon them. In your anger pursue and destroy them from under the heavens of the Lord. This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Let us confess our faith joyfully with the saints who have gone before us and all who live and all who will proceed after us, the Apostles' crew. Please turn in the hymnal to number 499. It is amazing how so many elements of the worship and liturgy tie together today.

499, Rock of Ages.

Please take up the folded bulletin insert.

It has St. Patrick's breastplate. We will be singing this every week in the month of March, and we are also going to incorporate it in the next season of our church in the recessional in place of the Song of Simeon for a while.

DJ, explain to us how to use this insert today.

Just real quick here. This is the way it's printed. Opening up this way, so you have the beginning, verse 1 here. Remember, we're going to have to do some flipping here, so verses 2 through 7. We'll start here.

They have to flip through verse 7, so just a real quick.

Page turning. Alyssa is going to play through verse 1, and then we'll start after the pause on verse 1. And also that we, being defended from the fear of our enemies, may live in peace and quietness, through the merits of Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.

For the church of Jesus Christ, that it may be filled with truth and love and be found without fault at the day of your coming, we pray to you, O Lord.

Lord.

Pray for all ministers, missionaries in the mission of the church, that in faithful witness the gospel may be preached. In this we pray to you, O Lord. Pray for those in positions of public trust, that they may serve justice and promote the dignity and freedom of every person.

In this we pray to you, O Lord.

Lord.

Pray for the poor, the persecuted, the sick, and all who suffer. For refugees, prisoners, and all who are in danger, that they may be relieved and protected. In this we pray to you, O Lord.

Lord. Lord.

For this congregation, for those who are present, and for those who are absent, that we may be delivered from hardness of heart and show forth your glory in all that we do, we pray to you, O Lord.

Pray for our ascension today, that your spirit would move among us, that you would revive our hearts to fixate upon Christ and his work for us, that you grant us all corporately, all here today, hearts of repentance and humility, God.

I pray that you would do the work of changing hard hearts that have crusted over through this past week since the last time we met and soften our hearts today to hear your word, have it absorb in our hearts, and then may we go out and do your work and all that you've given us to do, to walk in the good works that you've planned for us.

I pray that those who aren't here would have a longing in their hearts today, being apart from us, but may they be swiftly brought back to us next week. I pray, God, that your work here would fall out of the ruts that we are in.

May you do great work of sanctifying and consecrating us, uplift us, and may you encourage all the fathers and mothers here to really disciple their children in the faith, teaching them what goes on here as the most important thing that can happen in our lives, in our weeks, in our years here.

I pray this in Christ's name, amen.

Amen.

Please stand. I'm going to ask DJ to give us any guidance on our new psalm of the month, Psalm 84. I'm going to ask Alyssa to play through it one time, and then after the pause, let's jump in heartily.

I'm going to ask you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Zechariah, chapter 9. Zechariah, chapter 9. I'm going to read verses 1 through 8. Zechariah, chapter 9. Brethren, this is God's holy and infallible word.

The burden of the word of the Lord against the land of Hadrach and Damascus, its resting place. For the eyes of men and all the tribes of Israel are on the Lord. Also against Hamath, which borders on it, and against Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.

For Tyre built herself a tower, heaped up silver like the dust, and gold like the mire of the streets. Behold, the Lord will cast her out. He will destroy her power in the sea, and she will be devoured by fire.

Ashkelon shall see it and fear. Gaza also shall be very sorrowful, and Ekron, for he dried up her expectation. The king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited. A mixed race shall settle in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.

I will take away the blood from his mouth and the abominations from between his teeth. But he who remains, even he, shall be for our God. And he and shall be like a leader in Judah, and Ekron like a Jebusite.

I will camp around my house because of the army, because of him who passes by and him who returns. No more shall an oppressor pass through them, for now I have seen with my eyes. May the Lord be pleased with our consideration of his word.

Please pray with me. O Lord, we rejoice that you are the great defender of your people. O Lord, I pray that your people, your saints gathered today, will take comfort and have great assurance of your preservation, love, and protection for them.

O Lord, in this oracle, we ask that you would show us more of Jesus and ask these things in his name.

Amen.

Please be seated. The title of the message today is I Will Camp Around My House. One little housekeeping matter. I'm going to delay the preaching of the next section of Zechariah 9 starting in verse 9 until April 2nd, because April 2nd is Palm Sunday.

And that is the day that the four gospel writers refer to Zechariah 9 about the coming of the king. So we're going to preach in context, on Psalm, Palm Sunday, the rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion.

So for two weeks I'll do a little something different and we'll return to it to make the most of the calendar and continue in Zechariah 9. Today, the title of the message is I Will Camp Around My House.

Israel has found a hope. The God who promised to be their God has delivered them from captivity and restored them to the promised land. The temple is being rebuilt and this signifies in the most tangible way that God would be with them and that his presence would remain with them.

But today we're going to consider a couple of things. If you're taking notes, I'm going to give you three points to organize your thoughts as we go through the section. The first is the Lord will judge the enemies of his people and this is a great encouragement not only to the hearers of the prophecy in Zechariah, but for the saints throughout all the ages.

It seems as though the wicked prosper, but in the end, the Lord will judge them. Second, miraculously it seems, the Lord's grace extends to even the remnant of his enemies. That's the second point. His grace extends to the remnant of his enemies.

Both Ekron and the Philistines are referred to as being incorporated into the people of God. It's quite remarkable what happens there. And third, keeping with the title of the message, the Lord preserves and protects his people.

The Lord will judge the enemies of his people. Let's look at the text again, beginning at verse 1 of chapter 9. The burden, and this starts a new section in Zechariah, and I've called this section, and extends for a couple of chapters, the coming of the king.

The king is coming. The burden of the word of the Lord, this word, this prophecy, is a word against the enemies of God's people. The land of Hadrach, Damascus, Hamath, Tyre, Sidon, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, the Philistines.

All of these have been enemies of God and his people. And God has used them in various times and ways to chasten the people of God. And this theme has popped up again in Zechariah. Those whom God had used to bring discipline and correction to the Lord now suffer their own fate at his hand.

Wicked men persecute God's people, and they are themselves killed by other wicked men. When we look upon the landscape of the world, and we say, how is God going to manage this? All of this is under his sovereign control and protection.

Wicked men prosper for a season. They persecute the church. Then he brings other wicked men to persecute those who persecute and oppress the church. So this word from Zechariah comes again. One side note to mention.

I reject it entirely, but many so-called scholars believe this section of Zechariah was written by an entirely different author. Kind of like Deutero-Isaiah. The theme and tone of it is different than the previous sections of the letter.

Now we are looking very much forward into the future. There's real things happening in the present, mostly in the preceding chapters. But now there's prophecy that looks and stretches into the future.

And the eye of the prophecy is found and fixed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 9, Behold, your king is coming to you. He is just and having salvation. All the gospel writers said that was about Jesus.

So Zechariah's prophecy, I've been arguing, is entirely Christological. It's proven to be so, again, in chapter 9. The Lord is going to judge the enemies of his people. There is a certainty of God's judgment upon the wicked.

Now, historically, these different locations were part of the Persian Empire. You'll remember an Assyrian Empire previously, part of Babylon at other times. This grouping of cities are real places. In fact, if we were to fast forward 200 years or so from the giving of the prophecy of Zechariah in chapter 9, and we were to lay a map of the conquests of Alexander the Great upon the text, it would follow this direction almost perfectly.

In real time, these enemies of God would be destroyed by a wicked man who was a great military leader. And he himself would die at the age of 32, not from a sword, but from a common disease, most likely.

The land of Hadrach, Damascus, the eyes of men, it says in verse 1, and all the tribes of Israel are on the Lord, and his judgment is coming against Hamath and Tyre and Sidon. This is quite a powerful thing to think.

We hear a story about the Bible being validated by historical events from the conquests of Alexander the Great, and that gives us great comfort, and we take heart in that. But we could miss a bigger picture here.

There's something more impressive at play here. Let's keep considering this. Look at verse 3. For Tyre built herself a tower, heaped up silver like the dust, and gold like the mire of the streets. Tyre was an impressive place.

It was just off the coast of this Phoenician region. It's very close to the northern parts of Israel. And they built ramparts and a fortress around the island such that they were militarily unassailable.

That they could not be touched by military. What it says, she built herself a tower. She was an important seaport. She was doing business and being a merchant port. The people stopped there on their way to different locations throughout the Mediterranean.

She was taking pride in all of her accomplishments, her military strength, her financial strength. It says, behold the Lord will cast her out and he will destroy her power in the sea and she will be devoured by fire.

This all must have seemed so impossible for Tyre to fall to a foreign invader because no one could touch her. If you sailed your ship up to her, she closed the gates and walls and you couldn't do anything.

They were so high. Alexander the Great built a causeway from the land. He threw rocks and timber into the waters. At lower tides he marched an army across there and sacked Tyre and burned it to the ground.

Now Tyre is a place where the only thing that happens there really is fishermen dry their nets. The city of great strength, 40 ,000 people, great merchandising, great power militarily. A fortress that cannot be built is wiped away because of God's decree.

This happens, as I said, hundreds of years after the prophecy of Zechariah. We should remember that our God and his sovereign providence foretells the future because he ordains it. God can write a prophecy about this happening in Zechariah 9 through the power of his spirit because he ordains the history that will unfold.

Tyre is going to be crushed. Ashkelon is going to hear about it in fear. Gaza is going to be very sorrowful. Another account from the siege of Gaza, which you know in that language is very close to Israel.

The king shall perish from Gaza, it says in verse 5. Tradition tells us that Alexander tied the king of Gaza to a chariot and had him dragged through the streets to his own death and to flex his power in the sight of his people.

All of these little details are coming to fruition. They come to pass. They happen. Gaza is thrown down. Ekron is going to be dried up. The king is going to perish from Gaza. A mixed race settling in Ashdod.

The pride of the Philistines being cut off. Brethren, we must take heart today. The Lord always preserves and protects his people. I love the great Reformation hymn based on Psalm 46 that we sing every year.

A mighty fortress is our God. Tyre erects a fortress. And the people run in and they're not safe. Our God doesn't build a wall, but he makes himself a wall of fire around his people. And the righteous run into him.

The Lord is our strength. The Lord is our tower. We don't rely on our economic prosperity or our military force. We put our trust entirely in the Lord. Today I wonder, I'm going to ask you. Are you putting the entirety of your life, every drop of it, in the hands of the Lord?

We're going to hear in just a moment about how God's people are safe. Because he himself is the garrison and the sentry that protects them. I'll cut off the pride of the Philistines. I will take away the blood from his mouth.

The abominations from between his teeth. This takes us to point two. His grace extends to the remnant of his enemies. But he who remains, even he shall be for our God. He shall be like a leader in Judah.

When I think of Philistines, I think of David and Goliath. Is that what you think of? I think about people who are wicked and opposed to God. God has crushed Philistia, the Philistine people, many times in history.

And they pop back up again. But the Philistines have, in one sense, been eradicated from the earth. You say, well certainly the armies of Israel killed them all. And that's not entirely true. The Philistines, like the Jebusites, are no more.

Because they too have been incorporated into the people of God. The Philistines in the Maccabean period would be the ones who would defend the temple against Antiochus Epiphanes. The people who were hated by the Israelites would be brought into the community of God's people.

What a great picture of Gentile salvation and inclusion. The people who were far off have been brought near in Christ. He's going to judge them. But there's going to be some who remain. And they shall be for our God.

It's interesting when we think about the kingship of Christ in verse 9. And the way that Jesus will triumphantly enter into Jerusalem. He comes not with clashing swords. He comes lowly and riding on a donkey.

He comes bringing salvation. Behold, the king is coming. And his conquering is far greater than Alexander the so-called great. Alexander conquered from the Balkans to India. It's incredible. If you ever see the map, it's an incredible thing in terms of ancient history.

And all of the exploits. He's really unrivaled in his military prowess. But he's dead in just a couple years. He comes to Israel. And he's conquered from the north. And he's going to go to the south. He's going to go down into Egypt.

And he comes because of a vision and a prophecy given to him in the night. And he decides, because of this, that he's not going to destroy Jerusalem. He comes into the city. And the high priest comes out in all of his array and apparel.

And he bows down to him and praises the God of heaven. And says, because of this prophecy, I'm not going to touch Jerusalem. It defies reason and logic. There's a lot of gold and a lot of silver to be plundered in Israel.

Ripe for the taking for Alexander. But he can't do it because of the third point. The Lord preserves and protects his people. Look at verse 8. I will camp around my house. Do you know how secure the people of God are?

Jesus himself said, no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. The Holy Spirit preserves them. The Holy Spirit guides them. The Lord himself never leaves nor forsakes them. He is the fortress that buttresses them.

He is the wall of fire around them and us. In the Incarnation, it's almost literally translated in John 1, the Lord pitched his tent among us. And this isn't camping in the sense that we think of camping.

He is on a military campaign of sorts. To protect his people and to defeat his enemies. Think about the cross of Christ. On the cross, Jesus takes away the sins of all who believe in him. But what will become of them who trample the Son of God underfoot?

Salvation comes with blessing and mercy and grace. And it comes with judgment and severity and punishment. I will camp around my house. I will preserve and protect my people. Because of the army, because of him who passes by and him who returns, no more shall an oppressor pass through them, for now I have seen with my eyes.

Now, I don't know about you, but a question that comes to mind for me in this is this seems to be untrue if you consider the destruction of the temple in A .D. 70. The temple was destroyed. But at the time of the destruction of the temple, God's people were not the people who were worshipping in the temple or offering sacrifices to animals any longer.

It's very interesting. The Lord, in fact, encamped himself around his people who had fled Jerusalem at the siege of Jerusalem in that period of time. And, in fact, today the people of God are safe and secure, not running behind the wall of Jerusalem, but running to Christ the Savior.

Surely the people of God are defended against all their enemies. What security we have as God's children, as his sons and daughters, who run to him for refuge. There's a couple of things I'd like us to consider.

The last part of verse 8, and then we'll have some word of application. It says, for now I have seen with my eyes. This is the other side of the cry of the psalmist. Think about Psalm 9. Verse 13 says, look upon my trouble from them that hate me.

Psalm 25, look upon my affliction and all my trouble. Look upon my enemies, for they are many. We just read recently, Lamentations 1 .20, Behold, O Lord, for I am in distress. Do you cry out to God today in your distress?

Are you facing something very hard today? Cry out to him in your distress. Isaiah 37 says, open thine eyes, O Lord, and see. Do you know what the other side of the wailing cry of God's people, seeking his mercy and grace.

The Lord looks upon his people and they cry out to him. He comes to their aid. He preserves and protects them. This last Thursday we had a prayer meeting in the church, and it was sparsely attended. There are many reasons for that.

But sometimes our lack of interest in prayer is because I don't know that we believe in its power. When the righteous cry out to God in their affliction, he hears them and he answers their prayer. Israel cried out for 70 years in Babylonian captivity, and God delivers them.

The people of God, burdened with their sin and their guilt and their sorrow and their shame, they cry out for a Savior. And in the fullness of time, Jesus Christ comes in the flesh. Is this hyperbole?

Is this just metaphorical? Or does God build a wall of fire around his people, the church? Does he preserve and protect them? Does he secure them in the face of adversity and enemies and torture and slaughter?

He does. And some of the deliverance is martyrdom and persecution. But he stands there with his people, united to them. He says, I will camp around my house. Now, there's a couple of things I'd like us to really dwell on before we conclude.

The first is this. The future is in the hands of God and his people because he has ordained it to be so. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we live in perilous times. Mr. and Mrs. Carley and I, when we were growing up, lived under the threat of nuclear war.

They had exercises where children would climb under desks and put their head between their legs because bombs may come. In context, God has pronounced judgment on the cities of the north. Then he looks to the coastal Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon, and they're unstoppable, they're unbeatable.

You can't penetrate their walls. And they're leveled. They burn to the ground. Tyre was proud and self-confident in her military strength. She viewed herself as untouchable. I fear for our own great nation.

We feel as though we are untouchable. We should pray for our leaders. We should pray we're living in perilous times. Tyre amassed great wealth. No nation has ever amassed wealth like we have. No one has ever had a military force like we have had.

In this case, the Lord struck Tyre in her strengths. But if you belong to Christ, you're united to his church, you belong to him, you have this assurance that whatever happens in the world, there is a sense of safety and security and protection because the Lord camps around his house.

And what we've been saying over and over again in Zechariah, we are the house. We are the dwelling place of God in the spirit. So we can rest easy because the Lord himself has made himself the garrison and sentry, the protector of his people.

Well, let's move to some application first. The precise fulfillment of Zechariah 9 related to Alexander the Great is a neat thing. It's cool that this has been fulfilled in history. But this is a microcosm of what God is doing in the earth.

You see, a greater king is coming. And this king doesn't have to wield the sword or maybe the sword of the spirit. The proclamation of the gospel, Ashkelon, Hadrach, Hamath, Tyre and Sidon, Gaza, the Philistines, the Jebusites are one to Christ.

They become his friends. He defeats all of the enemies of God and his people. Back to that image of the cross. If Christ is your savior and deliverer, you have salvation and your sins are atoned for. But how great is the judgment that befalls those who reject the king.

And second, this is a heart searching question. The answer is obvious, but in a practical sense, it may not be true for you. Where do you seek your refuge? Tyre was so secure in her wealth, in her military strength.

Where do you find your refuge? Is it your bank account, your family connections, the security of your loved ones? Do you run to the city of man? His best laid plans have come to naught. Or do you run to the city of God, where there is salvation, security, and rest?

A greater king is coming. A king who conquers with grace and mercy and love. A king whose name is Jesus. And of the increase of his government, his joy, his peace, there will be no end. Zechariah 9 is not about the conquest of Alexander.

It's about the conquest of Christ. Please pray with me. O Lord, we read these things, a future prophecy, an oracle. We ask the question, so what? What is the significance of it? And O Lord, we ask that you would impress upon us the significance is that it is a foreshadowing of the great work that Christ will do in saving sinners.

And not only just from the remnant of the tribes of Judah, but of a remnant of all the pagans of all the earth. The enemies of you, O God, have been major friends in Christ. Your kingship has extended its borders to the ends of the earth.

And we rejoice that we have been brought into it. O Lord, I ask that you would give your people greater security and hope today. And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Hold on a second, Chad. Hold on a second, Mark, sorry.

I made a mistake. I have to do one thing before we conclude. My note says, conclude with Romans 8. I didn't do that. So let me conclude with Romans 8. These words have comforted the church like no others.

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

For what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own Son. And the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin. He condemned sin in the flesh that the righteous requirement of the law might be filled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

I'm going to skip down. Verse 9, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

But if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. Skipping down again, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed in us.

For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly awaits the revealing of the sons of God. The creation is waiting for Christ's reign to be extended over the entire earth. We know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

Verse 31, city of God or city of man. What then shall we say to these things if God is for us, who could be against us? He who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who makes intercession for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? So tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword as it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter.

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Surely the Lord has camped around his house.

Amen.

Let us continue our worship through the presentation of our tithes and offerings. Please stand and let us pray. Our gracious God and Father, we thank you, Lord, for every blessing which you have blessed us with in the spiritual places, with Christ Jesus, but also in this world.

As we come to this time of worship by presenting to you our tithes and offerings, let that be out of great gratitude for the innumerable blessings that you have given us. And as we freely give of the things that you have given to us, that we in some way worship you by it.

And we pray, Father, that as these funds have been given to be used for the service of your local congregation, that we would use them wisely, Lord, to further your kingdom, to proclaim your name, and to preach Christ and him crucified.

We ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. As our brother has just preached for us, the great glory of God that camps around us, what our enemy sees are his fire, but what we see is his glory. Let us now join our voices together and glorify God in the singing of the Gloria Patri.

The Lord be with you.