WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:01.040 Hello, friends. 00:00:01.120 --> 00:00:02.399 This is Pastor Creighton. 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:05.679 Thank you for listening to Newsong Church's Sermon Podcast. 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:12.480 Newsong Church exists to lift high Jesus Christ in Port Perry as we worship, grow, and serve. 00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:14.000 We'd love to connect with you. 00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:18.239 You can find our contact information at newsongportperry.ca. 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:23.039 Today we continue our sermon series, The Gospel According to Samuel. 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:33.039 Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? 00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:46.000 So, Father, give us grace to receive with weakness or meekness the implanted word which is able to save our souls. 00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:50.719 Grant that we would be doers of the word and not hearers only. 00:00:51.679 --> 00:00:58.000 And God grant us grace to seek first the kingdom and your righteousness. 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:00.560 And it's in Christ's name that we pray. 00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:01.520 Amen. 00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:03.359 Please be seated. 00:01:09.359 --> 00:01:17.359 We continue today our journey through 1st and 2 Samuel to find the gospel in it. 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:27.680 Last week we encountered 1 Samuel chapter 8, where Israel has asked for a king like all the nations. 00:01:28.159 --> 00:01:30.159 The king they got was Saul. 00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:35.599 And Saul, in today's reading, has been given a mission from the Lord. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:44.480 Israel's covenant God and the King Eternal, to whom all obedience is owed, has given Saul a task. 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:52.079 Today we saw that Saul refused to follow through in full obedience to God's word. 00:01:53.280 --> 00:02:08.000 And when Samuel, the prophet, catches up with him, Saul is self-congratulatory, self-deceived, self-interested, and so much so that his greeting to Samuel, as one commentator puts it, is downright jaunty. 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:16.800 Saul has not taken to account the full measure of his failure, nor considered the consequences that follow. 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:28.000 In our experience of Christian discipleship, are we wary of our own inclination towards Saul's sort of partial obedience? 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:32.879 Are we self-satisfied with half-hearted measures? 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:39.520 We might say the words of the confession that apart from grace there is no health in us. 00:02:40.240 --> 00:02:44.000 But do our hearts acknowledge the weight of this reality? 00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:52.080 Do we keep up the appearance of doing what God wants, going to church and serving on committees, giving to charity, all good things? 00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:58.000 But do we do them without a heart that longs after God and who He is? 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:03.680 1 Samuel chapter 15 makes it uncomfortably clear to God's people. 00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:09.439 Partial obedience to God's word is wholly disobedient. 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:12.639 That is W-H-O-L-L-Y. 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:15.520 Wholly disobedient. 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:25.360 Thus, partial obedience, which is really disobedience, rightly deserves the Lord's rejection. 00:03:25.919 --> 00:03:31.840 So, friends, we continue this journey and find ourselves in 1 Samuel 15, but I'd like to make a confession. 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:34.479 I don't like 1 Samuel 15. 00:03:35.039 --> 00:03:40.319 Do you ever find a passage of Scripture you just don't like and sometimes would prefer to skip over? 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:45.120 I don't like it because it confronts my own self-satisfaction. 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:51.120 God's word in 1 Samuel 15 doesn't let me off the hook. 00:03:51.280 --> 00:03:59.520 It doesn't let my own inner soul's inclination towards self-congratulating half-measures off the hook. 00:03:59.840 --> 00:04:08.080 See, I would rather take the easy road of partial obedience and obey God's word only when it makes me feel good about myself. 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:19.279 Or when it's not too inconvenient for me, or when it doesn't ask too much of me, rather than take the costly road of full obedience. 00:04:20.079 --> 00:04:28.240 But saints, as with other scriptures, I don't have to like 1 Samuel 15 to submit to it as God's true and trustworthy word. 00:04:28.879 --> 00:04:32.160 After all, I believe there's good news for us here. 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:41.040 Where partial obedience results in rejection, full obedience results in a greater glory than I can now imagine. 00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:56.720 And it's only by God's generous grace that we could hope to put full obedience into practice, which means that my obedience has more to do with what God has done for me than what I can do for God. 00:04:57.439 --> 00:04:59.360 And friends, that's good news. 00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:04.240 That's the grace of full obedience on display here. 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:08.000 So I encourage you to turn with me to 1 Samuel 15. 00:05:08.079 --> 00:05:16.160 If you've got your service bullet in front of you, if you've got your Bible or your Bible app, go ahead and turn there. 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:18.399 What's going on in 1 Samuel 15? 00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:20.959 Well, Israel has asked for a king like all the nations. 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:24.639 We saw that last week in chapter 8, and the king they got was Saul. 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:29.920 Samuel is directed by God to anoint Saul as king over Israel in chapter 10. 00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:40.720 And while Saul is initially faithful to the Lord, and he commands Israel to military victories against their brutal enemies, his character is ultimately found out. 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:46.879 He's dishonest, he's arrogant, he's people-pleasing, he's self-centered. 00:05:47.040 --> 00:06:01.759 And in chapter 13, Saul is willfully and openly disobedient to God's clear command, and Samuel's subsequent rebuke tells us that Saul's poor character disqualifies him from being king over God's people. 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:12.560 Saul may win military victories, like the kings of other nations, but his heart is far from the humble and obedient king over Israel that God is calling him to be. 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:15.279 So here we are in chapter 15. 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:20.079 Verses 1 to 3, Samuel delivers a mission from God to Saul. 00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:23.360 It's time to destroy the Amalekites completely. 00:06:23.839 --> 00:06:27.439 Leave nothing standing, take no spoil. 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:34.000 Now, at this point, this kind of divine mandate can raise for us some questions about God's character. 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:36.079 These are important questions, too. 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:41.040 Surely we may think a loving God can't command this kind of annihilation. 00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:50.240 Now, the truth is this question will have to be a sermon for another Sunday, but I want us to acknowledge something from God's word at this point. 00:06:50.959 --> 00:07:01.680 This mandate is not a matter of capricious ill will on God's part towards the Amalekites, just like God arbitrarily doesn't like this people. 00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:11.680 Rather, this mandate is a matter of executing divine justice, justice to which all nations, including Israel, are subject. 00:07:12.079 --> 00:07:25.120 The Amalekites are the archetypical plunderers, as one commentator puts it, and in verse 2, the voice of the Lord says, I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:37.920 See, the Amalekites attacked a fledgling Israel when they were fleeing slavery in Egypt in Exodus 17, and God promised then that the demands of justice would one day be met. 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:39.920 And today's the day. 00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:51.279 So imagine that a vulnerable person was assaulted, and the judge threw out the case on the grounds that it would be really rather unloving to punish the wrongdoer. 00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:54.720 What would that say about the character of the judge? 00:07:55.600 --> 00:07:59.839 See, God's love and God's justice are not opposed to one another. 00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:07.040 No, God can only be considered truly loving or benevolent if God answers in justice. 00:08:07.439 --> 00:08:11.920 So the point is this Saul is given clear instructions from God. 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:22.560 But what happens? 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:36.559 Verse 9, just before our reading, Saul and the people spared Eggeg the king, and the best of the sheep, and the oxen, and the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. 00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:40.960 Saul, as king of Israel, has been partially obedient. 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:51.919 Sure, he's battled against the Amalekites, sure he's spared their king, perhaps as a prize, and together with the people, took the best of the cattle rather than devoting them all to destruction. 00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:54.320 But the Lord makes it clear. 00:08:54.720 --> 00:08:58.879 Saul's partial obedience is wholly disobedient. 00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:03.600 Saul, therefore, is rightly rejected as King of Israel. 00:09:03.759 --> 00:09:07.600 There's no partial credit for partial obedience. 00:09:07.919 --> 00:09:09.440 So we pick it up in verse 10. 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:19.919 The word of the Lord came to Samuel, I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments. 00:09:20.159 --> 00:09:23.600 So right off the bat, what does Scripture mean by God's regret? 00:09:23.759 --> 00:09:26.639 What does it mean that God regrets making Saul king? 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:29.039 Has God made a whoopsie daisy? 00:09:29.919 --> 00:09:37.039 So it's puzzling to consider, especially when verse 29 tells us that our sovereign God does not have regret like human beings. 00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:48.240 So the Hebrew word here can be translated to repent, relent, or be sorry, and at first reading it can sound like God's made a mistake, and God wants to go back in time and make a different decision. 00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:50.080 But this is not a divine mistake. 00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:55.679 God does not make whoopsie daisies, nor is he surprised by the outcome of his decisions. 00:09:55.919 --> 00:09:59.919 I think Genesis chapter 6 gives us a clue to the meaning of God's regret. 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:14.720 We see here this word used in the introduction to the flood narrative, where God saw the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and Genesis says the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:19.039 Was God surprised by the wickedness of fallen humanity? 00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:19.679 No. 00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:35.840 God knew perfectly well the consequences of humanity's sin before creation, and before the foundation of the earth, God purposed himself to create humanity, even though we would fall into sin, because he himself was equally committed to our redemption. 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:46.480 But God's foreknowledge does not exclude a feeling of regret, feeling grieved that humanity suffers under the yoke of sin's corruption and devastation at all. 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:50.799 So here the Lord regrets making Saul king. 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:58.159 He's not surprised by Saul's turning away and disobedience, nor are there things that are beyond God's control. 00:10:58.639 --> 00:11:10.000 But divine foreknowledge does not stop God from experiencing the real grief of witnessing the corruption and devastation of Saul's sin manifested in his disobedience. 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:12.240 Friends, I think that's a comforting thought. 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:24.000 For those of us who feel grieved, or for those of us who burn with the feeling of injustice, God is not so transcendent, so unlike us, that he cannot feel what it is that we are feeling. 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:25.679 Yes, God is sovereign. 00:11:25.919 --> 00:11:35.600 Yes, nothing comes as a surprise to God, but God can enter with us into that feeling of grief, just like God feels grieved as Samuel feels grieved. 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:40.559 So Samuel is sent to confront Saul in verses 12 and 23. 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:48.000 And when Samuel arrives on the scene, he's made aware that this disobedient king has set up a monument for himself. 00:11:48.159 --> 00:11:50.240 Did you catch that in verse 12? 00:11:50.639 --> 00:11:57.840 He receives a greeting from Saul that's not, that's nothing if not equally self-congratulatory. 00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:01.919 Saul says to Samuel, Blessed be you to the Lord. 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:05.519 I have performed the commandment of the Lord. 00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:10.399 Hey Samuel, did you see what an amazing job I did? 00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:12.799 I'm awesome. 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:15.840 I did everything God asked me to. 00:12:16.080 --> 00:12:17.679 I am amazing. 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:25.360 Are there times where we expect to be recognized or rewarded simply for performing the Lord's command? 00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:29.759 Do we build our own monuments to our own piety? 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:33.279 Maybe the Lord's words ring in our ears. 00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:36.960 Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:45.279 Saul is busy congratulating himself on his amazing job, but Samuel hears the sound of the unslaughtered cattle nearby. 00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:54.399 The fact is, Saul rendered God's command only partial obedience, which is really to say, Saul disobeyed God's clear command. 00:12:55.039 --> 00:13:01.440 Samuel challenges Saul in his disobedience in verse 14, but Saul shifts the blame. 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:04.639 Well, the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen. 00:13:04.720 --> 00:13:11.840 And again in verse 20, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, but the people took the spoil, verse 21. 00:13:12.559 --> 00:13:22.240 Saul's story is clearly contrary to what God's word tells us to be true in verse 9, that Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep. 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:24.559 See, it's not my fault, Samuel. 00:13:24.799 --> 00:13:26.399 I did the best I could. 00:13:26.639 --> 00:13:29.759 It's the people's fault that the spoils are still here. 00:13:30.639 --> 00:13:35.200 Maybe we can see that blame shifting so often follows disobedience. 00:13:35.519 --> 00:13:39.279 Do we shift the blame for our partial obedience? 00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:44.720 Well, I would have done what you wanted, God, but so-and-so is such a jerk. 00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:48.159 You can't seriously expect me to love my neighbor. 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:51.279 It's not my fault. 00:13:51.679 --> 00:13:55.279 The woman you gave me, she gave me the fruit of the tree. 00:13:55.519 --> 00:13:56.480 I ate. 00:13:57.440 --> 00:14:01.679 Do we rationalize our partial obedience to justify ourselves? 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:05.759 Do we dress up disobedience to make it look like obedience? 00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:07.360 See, that's what Saul does. 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:11.679 The people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord. 00:14:11.919 --> 00:14:14.159 They did it for a good reason, Samuel. 00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:16.480 They were going to sacrifice, they were going to worship. 00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:20.639 Maybe it's not what God asked for, but they did it for a good cause. 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:27.600 It's a little like saying, sure, I embezzled money, I committed fraud, but I was going to give it to the church. 00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:30.240 Well, maybe some of it to the church. 00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:48.960 See, the wild thing about sin is not so much that we commit it, but that our own sinful and self-deceived hearts so often tell us that we are doing an amazing job for God while we're doing exactly what God condemns in his word. 00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:57.679 Like Saul, we can slip into self-congratulations for our own disobedience. 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:05.679 Samuel makes it clear to a king whose partial obedience is really disobedience. 00:15:06.080 --> 00:15:13.919 Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? 00:15:14.559 --> 00:15:20.559 Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. 00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:35.120 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry, because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you from being king. 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:45.200 Saul, for all your pious trappings and self-congratulations, you have missed completely the heart of the matter. 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:47.919 This is a matter of your heart. 00:15:48.480 --> 00:16:05.360 You think God's content with burnt offerings and sacrifices and outward elaborate displays of self-styled piety, but God is only content with a heart that is set upon full obedience to his word. 00:16:06.159 --> 00:16:10.879 Anything short of full obedience is disobedience. 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:18.720 It's rebellion, iniquity, and idolatry, and it's rightly rejected by the Lord. 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:26.559 So in verses 24 to 31, Saul expresses his own regret and confesses his sin to Samuel. 00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:33.279 Now we ought to keep in mind that sincere repentance is always met with God's forgiveness. 00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:42.240 1 John 1 9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 00:16:42.480 --> 00:16:45.039 We can take that promise to the bank. 00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:51.519 But that doesn't mean that the damage done in committing the sin in the first place is thereby erased. 00:16:51.919 --> 00:16:55.200 See, Saul's confession is two things. 00:16:55.519 --> 00:16:58.320 One, it's too little too late. 00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:03.679 Saul's partial obedience has been exposed as what it is, disobedience. 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:07.759 And so he's disqualified himself from the office of king. 00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:17.359 It's a little like a judge caught riled up in bribery and corruption, miscarrying justice. 00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:23.599 This judge can be exposed, this judge can say, I'm sorry, but this judge has no business sitting on the bench anymore. 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:30.480 The kingdom has been torn away from Saul and will be given to someone better who we'll meet in the next chapter. 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:33.680 Saul's confession is too little, too late. 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:37.759 His confession is also self-serving and not genuine. 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:39.440 Let's look at verse 30. 00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:43.279 Saul begs Samuel not to leave him, but to come with him. 00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:45.039 I have sinned, Saul says. 00:17:45.200 --> 00:17:47.119 Sure, I've done the wrong thing. 00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:52.319 Yet honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel. 00:17:52.559 --> 00:17:59.039 In other words, Saul is saying, It's true, I messed up, but I still want your public support, Samuel. 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:02.160 I'm still about building up my kingdom. 00:18:02.880 --> 00:18:07.119 Saul is, in a way, still building up monuments to himself, isn't he? 00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:09.839 Saul has failed. 00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:16.559 And it's because Saul has failed that Samuel carries out the justice that Saul didn't perform. 00:18:16.799 --> 00:18:22.960 And in a sobering scene, verses 32 to 33, Samuel executes King Ageg. 00:18:23.519 --> 00:18:28.160 And we see in the reading, or pardon me, we end the reading where we started. 00:18:28.400 --> 00:18:33.200 The Lord regretted that he made Saul king over Israel. 00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:38.720 The Lord is deeply grieved by Saul's disobedience. 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:50.160 Samuel here understands partial obedience is wholly disobedient, and disobedience is rightly rejected by God. 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:56.480 So what does this word in 1 Samuel 15 mean for us at New Song today? 00:18:57.119 --> 00:19:04.640 If partial obedience is wholly disobedient and rightly rejected by God, then the inverse must be true. 00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:08.960 Full obedience is rightly accepted by God. 00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:18.880 And in fact, as the scripture witnesses, it's the only thing that can be accepted by a holy God who calls his people to be perfect as he is perfect. 00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:25.519 So, disobedient sinners, obey harder. 00:19:26.640 --> 00:19:31.039 Pull up your bootstraps this week and really, really obey this time. 00:19:33.119 --> 00:19:50.400 Anyone who's honest with themselves enough to recognize their own sinful and fallen spiritual resemblance to Saul acknowledges their own inclination to self-deception, self-interest, and self-congratulations. 00:19:51.519 --> 00:20:02.160 We are not above patting ourselves on the back for doing an amazing job for God while we're doing exactly what God condemns in his word. 00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:06.160 All we like sheep have gone astray. 00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:10.640 We have turned everyone to his own way. 00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:14.079 So where does that leave us before God? 00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:24.160 Left to ourselves, we cannot supply the full obedience that God's word demands and save ourselves from rejection. 00:20:25.359 --> 00:20:32.880 But where we have failed, like Saul has failed, there is one who remains faithful. 00:20:33.200 --> 00:20:41.759 The Apostle Paul writes this by the one man's obedience, the many, that's us, will be made righteous. 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:46.480 That is, acceptable before a holy and perfect God. 00:20:53.519 --> 00:21:02.240 All we like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord has laid on him, his suffering servant Jesus, the iniquity of us all. 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:15.599 See, Christ steps into our place and serves as our mediator, and his full and perfect obedience to his Father satisfies God's righteous demand on our behalf. 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:31.359 Where Saul pridefully sets up a monument to himself and renders only partial obedience, which is really disobedience, Christ humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. 00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:39.839 See, Christians refuse to place our trust in the self-righteousness that our own partial obedience supplies. 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:45.920 Instead, we place our trust in the full obedience of Jesus our Savior. 00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:54.319 And by faith in him, Christ's full obedience is credited to us as righteousness. 00:21:55.519 --> 00:21:58.720 And yes, we are called to obey God. 00:21:59.200 --> 00:22:02.480 If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:19.200 The saving grace of Christ does not leave us indifferent to God's word, but it is by grace that Christ, through his indwelling Holy Spirit, enables us to live the life of obedience that we otherwise cannot. 00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:40.160 And when we fall short of full obedience, which like Saul, we sinners will, we come to God, not building our own monuments, but in humble repentance, resting assured that by His grace our sin is forgiven. 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:50.880 So complete is the Holy Spirit's work of renewal in our lives that even our motives for repentance are cleansed and sanctified. 00:22:51.279 --> 00:23:01.920 Fear of God's rejection is exchanged for the assurance of our Heavenly Father's forgiveness, Christ being our witness. 00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:15.920 So, saints, your obedience to God relies more upon what God has done for you in Christ than what you can do for God on your own power. 00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:20.079 Let your heart long after Him. 00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:43.519 Let grace bulldoze self-satisfaction and half measures of partial obedience, and in the context of repentance and renewal, come to the Father's arms, keep his commandments and love, and find by his grace a renewed heart. 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:48.480 So, Lord, we pray, teach us full obedience. 00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:50.720 For Christ's sake. 00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:51.680 Amen. 00:23:54.319 --> 00:23:56.000 Thank you for listening today. 00:23:56.160 --> 00:24:01.599 We worship a generous God who calls us to follow Him in giving willfully, cheerfully, and sacrificially. 00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:08.319 Newsong Church's mission and ministry is 100% funded by the generous gifts of those worshiping and journeying with us. 00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:16.079 If you'd like to offer a gift towards Newsong's ministry, please visit Newsongportperry.ca giving for more information on how to do that. 00:24:16.240 --> 00:24:19.359 May God bless you and keep you today and every day.