You'll need to keep your Bibles
handy if you don't have one. You should find one there in
the pew someplace. Most eras, and I'm talking about not just
the era that saints sometimes fall into and the Lord gets them
out of them. But I'm talking about heresies. Down through the church age,
most heresies that men have fallen into regards the person of God's
Son. It seems like you follow most
heresies in the church age, and they always lead to some dreadful
error concerning the Son of God. Jesus Christ, the Lord. And that's
what I want us to look at this morning. I want us to look at
the Trinity this morning. God, the Father, God, the Son
and God, the Holy Spirit, but especially God, the Father and
God, the Son. And I want to begin here and
I have a reason for it. And I want you to be patient
this morning and follow along with me. But I want to look at
A few verses here in Revelations to begin with, chapter 19 and
verse 11. I saw, and I saw heaven opened,
and behold, a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called
Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. Who is this that is called faithful
and true? We have to go to the scriptures
to find out, don't we? Twice in this book of Revelation,
this refers to the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to chapter 1 and
verse 5. And from Jesus Christ, the faithful
witness. He is the faithful one, the faithful
witness. And in chapter 3 and verse 14
it said, Unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,
These things saith the faithful and true witness. This is the
Lord Jesus Christ speaking. Look in verse 12. His eyes are
as a flame of fire, and on his head are many crowns, and he
hath a name written that no man knew, but he himself. His eyes were as a flame of fire. And in Revelation chapter 1 and
verse 14, that's exactly what we find concerning Jesus Christ. Listen to it. His head and his
hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were
as a flame of fire. Now, you find those passages
in John chapter 1, And that's where John saw a vision of Jesus
Christ the Lord. Listen to chapter 2 in verse
18. Unto the church of the Thyatira
write, These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes
black unto a flame of fire. So that's speaking of Jesus Christ,
and not just Jesus Christ, but as he is described as Jesus Christ,
the Son of God. Look now in verse 15. And out of his mouth goeth a
sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and
he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the
winepress, of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Out of his mouth goes a sharp
two-edged sword, and he rules the nations with a rod of iron. There in verse 15 of Revelation
19. Now who's that talking about?
Listen to Psalms chapter 2 in verses 1 through 3, speaking
of the Son of God. Let me quote it to you. David
said, Why do the heathen rage? And the people imagine a vain
thing. The kings of the earth set themselves
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against
His anointed, against His Christ. Remember when the apostles in
Acts chapter 4 were praying when persecutions come, they quoted
this psalm in their prayer. And they quoted it like this.
The heathen have raised up against the Lord and against His Christ. And Psalms chapter 2 and verse
6 goes on to describe the Lord Jesus Christ like this. And this
is the way the Father describes Him. The Father says, Yet have
I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion, I will declare the decree. The Lord said unto me, Thou art
my Son. This day have I begotten thee.
Ask of me, and I will give you the heathen for your inheritance,
and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession. And
here it is, Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron." That is
who John is talking about in Revelation chapter 19 and verse
50. He shall smite the nations. He
shall rule the nations with a rod of iron. And David said, You
shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now,
therefore, O you kings. Be instructed, you judges of
the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and
rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry
with you. And you perish from the way when
his wrath is kindled but a little. Now, this whole passage is speaking
of Jesus Christ. And not just Jesus Christ, but
Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus Christ, God's King. And in the light of that, I want
you to look at verse 13. He was clothed in a vesture,
dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word. His name is called the Word of
God. Now, who is the Word of God?
That's the Son of God, isn't it? That's Jesus Christ, God's
King, who came into this world, suffered unto death, was raised
from the death and exalted on the Father's right hand. The
Father looks at him and says, My son, sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies your foot too. His name is called
the Word of God. Now, with that in mind, I want
you to look at 1 John. 1 John chapter 5, a very familiar
passage of Scripture to you who read your Bibles. And I want
you to look in verse 4. Let's begin reading in verse
4. 1 John chapter 5, and let's begin reading in verse 4. I'll give you just a minute to
find it. I want you to see this. 1 John chapter 5 and verse 4. For whosoever is born of God
overcometh the world. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh
the world? But he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. This is he that came by water
and blood, even Jesus Christ. not by water only, but by water
and blood, and it is the Spirit that bears witness, because the
Spirit is true. Now look in verse 7. For there
are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. Now there's the
Father, we know who that is. There's the Holy Spirit, we know
who that is. Who's this Word? We just looked
at it in Revelation 19, didn't we? That's Jesus Christ, the
true and faithful witness. That's the Son of God. So here we have these three persons,
the Father, the Word, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and these
three are one. Now, if you've read many commentaries on chapter 5 and verse 7, and you've read many versions
of Scripture, you realize that they leave out verse 7. Now,
if you've studied any commentaries much at all, they leave out verse
7. And they give this reason for
it. They say, and I quote, they tell
us this passage is not in the original. And so they leave it
out. I'm always amazed how some people
are so willing to give up passages of Scripture just because somebody
says it may have not been in the original. Could I ask you
a question? Have you ever seen an original?
Do you know anybody that's read the original? How do we know when somebody
tells us that verse is not in the original? So often I've read
John Gill and his commentaries and he says about this verse
and other passages that men are saying This is not in the old
manuscripts or old copies of the scriptures. And John Gill
said, yep, I've read it there. I have found it and I have read
it there. It is in the old copies. I don't
know of a single person that's read the original. Do you have
Paul's original writings? I don't know of anybody that's
got them. We've got translations. And if somebody told you, if
somebody, I don't care who they are, some professor, some wise
man that's well-studied, some theologian, if they came to you
and say, this may not be of the original, you need to cut that
out. How would you feel about cutting
that out of your Bible? Could you take one verse out?
I'm afraid to, aren't you? Why would they take this verse
out? We know why. because of what it teaches. I
was reading one of the commentaries on this subject this week, and
he listed some scriptures that some translations have left out,
and listened to some of the passages and scriptures that they have
left out of the writings under the guise that they may not have
been in the original. And I quote, a great portion
of Mark chapter 16 has been left out. The history or story of the adulterous
woman in John 8 has been left out of so many copies and translations. The second epistle of Peter,
the whole second epistle has been left out. The second and
third epistle of John, the epistle of Jude, and the entire book
of Revelations have been left out. And I bet you if you search
the reason why, these people who have left those books and
verses out of their copies would say it's because they may not
have been in the original. I wonder how much we're willing
to give up. What does verse 7 teach us? are one. These three are one. It teaches us the doctrine of
the Trinity. There are three distinct persons. The Father is a person, the Word
is a person, and the Holy Spirit is a person, and yet these are
not three gods. They're one God. Now why is this
important, brothers and sisters? Why is it important that we come
here and look at this precious truth and other truths as well? Because these truths have been
under attack. You look back through church
history and you find especially the doctrine of the Trinity has
been under attack. In the second century there was
a man by the name of Sibelius and he emphasized what he called
the oneness of God as opposed to a trinity of persons. He wrote this, there is no distinction
to be made between the father and son and Holy Spirit. No distinction? This heresy became later known
as modalism. And it was called modalism because
they said God exists or He operates in three distinct modes, being
sometimes the Father, sometimes the Son, and sometimes the Spirit,
but these are not three distinct persons, just three modes." Sibelius was his name. And this
heresy has risen all through the centuries of the churches.
In A.D. 220, the church got together and wrote
the Atheism Creed. Atheism Creed. And they wrote it especially
against Sibelius, who said there was no distinction in the Godhead. And here's what that Creed said.
We worship one God in Trinity. And Trinity in unity. neither
confounding the person, nor dividing the substance. For there is one
person of the Father, another person of the Son, another person
of the Holy Spirit. So the Father is God, the Son
is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet they are not three
gods, but one." They wrote that creed and then
the churches unanimously voted to expel or excommunicate Sibelius
from the church and call him a heretic. But you look back
through church history and this just keeps creeping up and creeping
up and creeping up. And here's one of the reasons
I wanted to look at this today. In 1913, in our own country,
this heresy rose again. A man by the name of R.E. McAllister, he was from Canada,
he began to teach that the Trinity was a false doctrine. He knew
some pastors here in the States. He gave them some of his material.
And in 1914, two men, one by the name of Frank Ewart and Glenn
Cook, baptized each other. And they emphasized, they baptized
each other in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ only. as opposed to being baptized
in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And out of this came the oneness
movement, or the Jesus-only movement. Have you ever heard of the Jesus-only
movement? The oneness movement? And then in 1916, even the assemblies
of God denomination rejected this oneness group And in 1917,
this wondrous group organized the Pentecostal assemblies of
the world. They call it PAW. The headquarters
is right here in Indianapolis now, all these years later. They have well over, they say,
two million members. In 1945, a group that branched
off from PAW, a group known as the United Pentecostal Church
International, or UPCI. They traced their roots back
to Topeka, Kansas. Most of you have heard of this.
A Zusa Street revival in Los Angeles, California, 1906, where
man began to speak in tongues, and they formed the Pentecostal
Church, and it spread like wildfire. Today the UPCI has 43,000 churches, 41,000 ordained ministers,
5.5 million members, and it's the second cousin to that man
by the name of Sebelius. And I say it's the second cousin
to it because here's where they differ between Sebelius and what
they believe. Sebelius dealt with the three
in one, the Trinity. They dismiss the Holy Spirit
altogether and say he's just the Spirit of God is all he is.
He's not a person, so they don't even deal with him. But what
they do say is this, that there are two in the Godhead, but they're
not really two. They're just one. Sometimes God
acts as the Son and sometimes He acts as God, but there's no
distinction to be made between the Father and the Son. No distinction to be made between
the Father and the Son. One scripture they use to prove
their oneness theory is Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 4. Listen
to this very familiar and short passage. Here, O Israel, The
Lord our God is one Lord. And they say, there you go. He
is not distinct persons. He is one God. And to that we
say, Amen. God is one Lord. He is one God. And yet the Bible says He is
manifested in three distinct Did I not just read that to you?
There are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. There is one God, and only one
God, but He's manifested in three distinct persons. Listen to what
the Lord Jesus Himself says. I and my Father. I and my Father. What do you have there? You have
two distinct persons, don't you? I and my Father. The Father is one and the Son
is one. And listen to this. I and my
Father are one. Now that's a mystery, isn't it?
And I understand how fallen, deceived men, being led along
by the spirit of Satan, could ever end this, because it's a
mystery. But it's a mystery that's been
revealed. And you believe it, don't you? There is a distinction to be
made. I want you to turn over The same
book, 1 John, but look over in chapter 2. Why is this so serious? Why must a distinction be made
between God the Father and God the Son? Well, John tells us that in 1
John chapter 2 and look in verse 21. 1 John chapter 2 and verse
21 says this, I have not written unto you because you know not
the truth. but because you know it, and that no lie is of the
truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth
that Jesus is the Christ? He is Antichrist that denieth
the Father and the Son. Whoso denieth the Son, the same
hath not the Father." Now, if I was writing this and paraphrasing
it, I would say this, if a person denies the Son, In His capacity
as the Son, in His divine and human nature as the Son, He being
one with the Father and yet distinct from the Father, if a person
denies the Son, he does not have the Father. That is what John
is saying. And there is a good reason that
he makes this so clear. There are so many people that
will confess the Father. You have cults that confess the
Father. You have cults that pray to the
Father. They acknowledge the Father.
But they will not acknowledge the Son. Jehovah Witnesses pray
to the Father. Mormons pray to the Father. And
so many other cults pray to the Father. But they do not and will
not acknowledge Jesus Christ is one with God and yet one distinct
from God. And John said if we deny that,
we've denied the Father. And we don't have the Father. I and my Father. Boy, there's
the distinction, isn't there? Sabella said, without distinction. The oneness movement said there
is no distinction. And yet Christ says, I and my
Father. There's the distinction. Our
one. And there's the unity of essence. They're of the same stuff. Who shall ever deny the Son in
His capacity as the Son? The same hath not the Father. That's why it's so important,
isn't it? Men err concerning the Son of God. And boy, when
you do that, you're in trouble. Christ said, he that honors me
shall be honored of my Father. God's exalted His Son, God's
revealed in the Scripture who His Son is, and if a man denies
the Son as He's revealed in the Scripture, he does not have the
Father. Let him profess what he will. If the Son and the Father, the
Father and the Son, are one without distinction, if the Father and
the Son are one without any distinction, now listen to this, how can they
love each other? They can only love each other
if there is a distinction in them. Listen to this, the father
loveth the son, and hath given all things into his hands. but
that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the
Father gave me commandment, even so I do." I love my Father, and
the Father loves me. There is a distinction between
them. And if the Father and the Son
are one without distinction, how can they talk to each other? If me and Wayne is somehow one
person, I can't talk to him, and he can't talk to me. You
can only talk to two persons talk and communicate with each
other. Listen to what Christ said, Now is my soul troubled,
and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour,
for this cause came unto this hour. Father, glorify your name. Then there came a voice from
heaven, saying, I have glorified it, and will glorify it again. Christ prayed to His Father,
and His Father answered Him. There is a distinction. If there
is no distinction, how can they know each other? Listen to Matthew
11, 27. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father, and no man knows the Son except the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father
except the Son. If there is no distinction, How can they be with each other? In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God. That means alongside of. If me
and Larry go out that door, and we're walking side by side, you
say, Bruce and Larry's with each other. There has to be a distinction.
We're two different persons. Whose will was the Son of God
submitted to in the garden when he said, Father, not my will,
but yours be done? When he hung on the cross and
he cried with a loud voice and said, Father, unto your hands
I commit my spirit, who was he committed himself? Was he committed
himself to himself? His Father that was in heaven.
I heard one wondrous preacher the other day. I was listening
to one. And he said this, and I quote, to talk about Jesus
Christ being pre-existent is unscriptural. To talk about Jesus
Christ being pre-existent is unscriptural. Ain't it amazing how people,
you wonder if some people ever read their Bibles. Adam Clark. He's the hero of
Armenians. He said the Son of God is not
preexistent. I read that myself. Turn your
Bibles over quickly to Mark chapter 12 and look in verse 35. Look in Mark chapter 12 and look in verse 35. This has to do with the Trinity.
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The
Jews were gathered to ask Christ all kinds of questions here in
this chapter. They asked Him about should they
pay taxes. They came to try to take Him
in His Word, and you know how that ended. He said, show me
a penny, and it had Caesar's inscription on it. And He said,
give to Caesar what's Caesar's, and give to God what's God's.
Then the Sadducees, which say there's no resurrection, they
come to Him. They're going to take Him in His Word. And they
talked about a man having a wife. And he died and his brother got
his wife. And he died and his brother got his wife. All seven
sons or brothers had this woman. And they say, in the resurrection,
whose wife shall she be? And they thought, well, we've
got Him now. And He said, you do error, not knowing the Scriptures
nor the power of God. In the resurrection, they need
to be married or given in marriage, but they're like the angels in
heaven. Angels are, what do they call it, neuter gender? They're
not male or female. That's what will be in the resurrection. Your women here, your men here,
there you won't be male or female. That's what they ask you. And
then, One man came to him and said, What's the great commandment?
And he answered that. Love the Lord your God with all
your heart, mind, soul, and spirit. Love your neighbor as yourself.
And then the Lord Jesus said, I want to ask you a question.
And here's the question he asked him in verse 35. And Jesus answered
and said what he taught in the temple. How say the scribes that
Christ is the Son of David? For David himself said by the
Holy Ghost, The Lord said to my Lord, set thou on my right
hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool. David, therefore,
calleth him Lord, and whence he is then David's son. Now you'll find this written
in Psalm 110. You remember that. The Lord said
unto my Lord. Now who's that talking about?
That's the father speaking to the son. sat on my right hand. Was Jesus Christ, was the Son
of God, preexistent before He came into Mary's womb? David
knew Him, didn't he? David said, He's my Lord. How did David know Him? By the Holy
Ghost. You mean the Holy Ghost was around
then? Yes. Here's the Trinity. God the Father
said to God the Son, sit on my own right hand. And David knew
that because the third person of the Trinity revealed it to
him. The Trinity is not something
that just came into being when Jesus Christ was born. The Trinity
is an everlasting Trinity. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. And these three are one. Now turn from my last passage
over in John's Gospel chapter 17. I want to look at these first
five verses, then I'll let you go. Look at John chapter 17. And I concentrate here on what
the Lord Jesus concentrated on, what the Oneness Movement today
concentrates on, that there is no distinction between the Father
and the Son. No distinction between the Father
and the Son. Look in verse 1. These words
speak Jesus. He began in chapter 13 through
chapter 16, and he was encouraging his disciples, instructing his
disciples. And then he lifted up his eyes
to heaven. Why did he lift up his eyes to
heaven? Why did he look up to heaven? It showed that he was
going to pray to somebody outside himself. Somebody distinct from
himself. He looked up to heaven because
that's where his Father's throne is. That's where His Father's
immediate presence is. That's where His Father's house
is. So He lifts up His eyes to heaven, and doesn't that show
a distinction between the two? And here's another distinction.
Look at this. Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that
Your Son may also glorify Thee. You know it's not intellectually
honest to say there's no distinction between the Father and the Son.
That's just not being intellectually honest, is it? How can you come
here and have a man on earth, and he's praying to his Father
in heaven, and yet you say there's no distinction in these two persons?
A babe in Christ could answer the wondrous movement, the Jesus-only
movement. And look in verse 2, here he
reveals another distinction. Look what he says in verse 2.
As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. The Lord Jesus gives us two distinctions
here to prove that there is definitely a distinction between His Father.
First of all, He said, Father, You have given the Son power
over all flesh. Jesus Christ, as a person, never
gave Himself that. The Father gave Him power over
all flesh. You know Jesus has power over
all flesh. Whatever kind of flesh it is.
Remember when he told Peter to go down to the sea and catch
a fish? And the first fish that comes
up is going to have a big piece of gold in his mouth. How did he know that? You think he moved upon that
fish to go along the bottom and scoop it up and keep it in his
mouth? Of course he did. He's got power over all flesh.
when he went out into the wilderness when he was tempted of the devil.
The Bible says he was there among the wild beast. I don't know
what kind of beast they had over there, but you wouldn't want
to went out there. But he wasn't afraid to. Forty
days he was among wild beasts and not a one of them touched
him. Why? He has power over all flesh of all beasts. It doesn't
surprise us that a whale swallowed Jonah. And the Lord spoke to
the whale and it vomited Jonah out. He's got power over all
flesh. But here especially, he said,
he had power over flesh of men. The Father has given me power
over all flesh. And when you talk about flesh,
you're talking about the entire person of a man. The Father's
given me power over a person's body. He's given me power over
their souls. He's given me power over their
spirits. Jesus Christ has power over your intellect, your understanding. He has power over your will and
your affection. Now, you've experienced that
if you know Him, don't you? There was a time when you hated
the Lord Jesus Christ. You may have not have known it
completely. You may have not confessed and
professed that hatred, but you hated Him. You hated the light
and you won't come to the light because you love darkness rather
than light. And yet you said that now you
love Him. Your affections goes out to Him.
You willingly come to Him. You understand Him. You know
Him. What's happened to you? Jesus Christ has power. And He changed you. He opened
your intellect. He has power to do that. He inflamed
your will. He has power to do that. He changed
you completely. Aren't you thankful that the
Father gave Him power over your flesh, over your person? That's what the Father gave Him.
Now, if somebody comes up and gives me something, it's not
me giving it to myself. The person who gave me something
is distinct from me. And the Lord Jesus said, the
Father has given me power over all flesh. To do what? Give eternal life. That's what he gives, isn't it?
My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me
and I give unto them eternal life. How can He do that? Where did He get such power?
The Father gave it to Him. And now He tells us, secondly,
something else the Father gave Him, that He should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given Me. The Father gave Him
power over all flesh, and He tells us here that the Father
had gave Him a great host out of humanity to give eternal life
to. See, brothers and sisters, it's
not this uncertainty that so many try to tell us. I had a
man to tell me one time. I didn't know how to answer him.
I was so flabbergasted. He was one of the leaders in
the church. I didn't know how to answer this man. He said,
God don't want to know who's going to be saved. I guess it's
too hurtful for God or something. The fact is, God not only knows
who's going to be saved, He's chosen who's going to be saved.
And He's gave them to His Son to secure their salvation. As many as thou hast given me. That's election, isn't it? Ain't it very telling that the
very same people, the Pentecostal movement, the main ones, that
profess this heresy of the oneness without distinction, also hate
the sovereign grace of God. Doesn't that tell you something? Find a Pentecostal that believes
in the sovereign and free grace of God in Jesus Christ. Find
me one church that goes under the name of Pentecostalism and
I'll be amazed. I don't know of one. Cora, do
you know of one? Cora knows about that movement.
She came out of it. So I think it's very telling
that those branches, two big branches of Pentecostal that
latch onto this heresy of the Trinity also despise this other
truth, as many as the Father has given me. Look in verse 3 and verse 4,
and I'm almost finished. And this is life eternal. What
is life? The Father has given me power
to give life. What is life? That they might know Thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. I have glorified
Thee on the earth. I have finished the work which
Thou gave me to do. Now, we make a distinction here
between the Father and the Son and their work because Jesus
Christ just made the distinction. The Father never sent himself.
He sent the Son. There's the distinction. The
Father wasn't born of a virgin, but the Son was. The Father never
suffered on the cross to atone for the sins of his people, but
the Son did. The Father is not the mediator
between Himself and man. That's the Son, the Son of God. No man comes unto Me, to the
Father, except by the Son. Do you see the importance of
making the distinction there? And notice in verse 5, we not
only make a distinction now, in the history of this world,
but this is an eternal distinction. Look what he said in verse 5,
And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with
the glory which I had with thee before the world was. There has always been a distinction. The Son of God is eternal as
the Father. If you could take this morning
and get on the wings of faith and soar back before Adam was
made, before the heavenly bodies were
called into being, before there was the darkness upon the face
of the deep. before there was a foundation
of the world, if you could soar back and stand there and then
fall off the edge of the world and soar back in eternity just
as far as faith will let you, you're going to find three persons
there. You're going to find the Father,
and with the Father you're going to find the Son, and with those
two you're going to find the Holy Spirit, and these Three
are one. They're one now, they'll be one
in the future, and they've always been one. It's a damnable heresy not to
make a distinction between the Father and the Son. Is that not so? I hope this morning
that I haven't lost you. I hope I haven't confused you.
I hope you've understood what I've said. Because I've just
got a feeling that if this oneness movement, this Jesus only, continues
to grow, you're going to run into some of them. And maybe
you'll know how to deal with them when you do. Father, we
thank you. We thank you for the Lord Jesus
Christ that you've sent to redeem your people. Lord Jesus, what
a great job you've done of it. You've taken us who were hell
bound, depraved and ruined, sinners against heaven and sinners against
man. And you've suffered for our sins.
You've died for our sins. You've atoned for our sins. And
now for 2,000 years, you've been calling out your people, calling
them out from the prison house of sin and giving them a new
heart and a new spirit. Open in their hearts to know
You and to know the Father. And You do so by Your Holy Spirit. Thank You for Your Word. Thank You for giving us grace
not to err in it. Oh Lord, we're so blinded. We're
so ignorant. We're so dumb. And yet You've
kept us from erring. You've kept us from falling.
And all the glory belongs to You. Thank you for this dear
people. Thank you for your providence
in bringing us all together here this morning. We pray, as David
has, for those who are very, very sick and they've been sick
for quite some time. Oh, Lord, would it please you
to be pitiful to them and touch them and restore them to health? Those who have lost their spouses
as Jean and Jim and Billy and others. Oh, Lord, topper their
hearts. Be a husband to them. Fill the
void with yourself. Restore their joy and their happiness. Give them contentment with you
to be satisfied. Knowing that you're a husband
that will never leave us, you'll never forsake us. You'll never
leave us empty. Bless this people. Bless all
your churches. Keep us, Lord, from error. Satan
has come out of the pit and he's filled the air with confusion.
And Lord, we're not able to discern. We're not able to resist his
power. Give us grace. Help us. You said
the Holy Spirit would lead us into all truth. O Lord, give
us Your Spirit of promise to lead us, to instruct us, to comfort
us. We pray these things in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ and for His glory. Amen.