Worship - Sunday, January 9

Oh my soul, I'll worship your holy name. Bless the Lord, oh my soul. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

- Just like a nipple, but you can sleep on the street. - I love it. - I love it, but do you want to do it? - You see everything, you never think. - I'm just trying to stop the screen. - Oh, okay, it's like that. - Yeah, we're over there, right there. - I'm on here. - Just sit there. Can you sit? It's fine. Good morning. We're going to shorten the service a little bit today just because the weather started and it might be okay, but it might not be okay for some. So we're going to Scripture together, and we're going to sing together, and then we're going to just move into our prayer and share time after that. And so let's go ahead and stand. Today we're going to be reading out of Isaiah 26, and we're going to be doing verses 3 and

verse 4, and it starts, you keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord is an everlasting rock. This is the word of the Lord. let's pray God we thank you for the opportunity to gather here today we thank you for those that are watching online and we just ask that our service today would glorify you and we thank you for the perfect peace that you mentioned here that is with us even in our very unpeaceful moments of our life and we thank you so much for the good things that you've given us we thank you for the gospel and for your grace and your mercy in Jesus name amen okay all right so we're going to be singing together and then we're going to be moving into our prayer and share time and if

you're watching online there'll be a slide up with a number you can text if you have any requests or praises or anything you'd like to share with us we can do that here together and then we're going to be muted here during that time so just wait a few minutes and then we'll be back to move into our time of communion. So we're going to be singing together, Behold Our God. Nope, hang on. Rachel didn't do it right. There we go.

Who has held the oceans His hands? Who has numbered every grain of sand? Kings and nations tremble at His voice. All creation rises to rejoice.

Behold our God, seated on His throne. Come, let us adore Him. Behold our King, nothing can compare. Come, let us adore Him. has given counsel to the Lord, who can question any of His words, who can teach the one who knows all things, who can fathom all his wondrous deeds Behold our God, seated on his throne, come let us adore him, behold our King Nothing can compare Come let us adore Him Who has felt the nails upon His hands Bearing all the guilt of sinful man God eternal, humble to the grave Jesus, Savior, is announced to reign Behold our God, seated on His throne Come let us adore Him Behold our King Nothing can compare Come let us adore Him You may be seated.

Thank you. Thank you. It's time to go home to me It's time to go home to me It's time to go home to me

We hold that in love for you It's time to go home to me For today I am one of those who I am The world of love is all over me The world of beauty is only one of those who I am The world of beauty is only one of those who I am The world of beauty is only one of those who I am I know that I can't believe in you. I know that I can't believe in you. I know that I can't believe in you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The great day at the sound of your great name I'll come back, feel no shame at the sound of your great name Every thing has no place At the sound of your great name The enemy he has to leave At the sound of your great name Jesus, the least of the land that once made me fast. Some God had never known how I had left it out. But I know where the prayers were broken.

I'm standing high, from the redneck Humble meters, to see your face I'm standing high, from the redneck I'm standing high, from the redneck I'm standing high, from the redneck At the sun, you're awake As if I'm here, and then I'm ready At the sun, I'm awake It's a dream, it's a dream, it's a dream The end of the day is a great day. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh! We'll be right back. We'll be right back. Thank you. And I'm chosen for you. Yeah. We're going to move into our time of communion now. And we're going to be singing together in Christ alone.

In Christ alone, my hope is found. He is my light, my strength, my soul. This cornerstone, this solid ground. Firm through the fiercest drought and storm. What heights of love, what depths of peace When fears are still, when strivings cease My comforter, my all in all Here in the love of Christ I stand In Christ alone, who took on flesh The fullness of God in helpless faith This gift of love and righteousness Scorned by the ones He came to save Till on that cross, as Jesus died The wrath of God was satisfied For every sin on Him was laid, here in the death of Christ I live. There in the ground His body lay, the light of the world by darkness slain. Then bursting forth in glorious day, Up from the grave He rose again.

And as He stands in victory, Sin's curse hath lost its grip on me. For I am His and He is mine Wrote with the precious blood of Christ No guilt in life, no fear in death This is the power of Christ in me From life's first cry to final breath, Jesus commends my destiny. No power of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from his hand. Till He returns or calls me home Here in the power of Christ I'll stand No power of hell, no scheme of man Can ever block me from His hand Till He returns or calls me home Here in the power of Christ I'll stand

There are, it seems, so many ways that our world is uncertain. We face uncertainty sometimes politically, sometimes financially, sometimes in terms of our health, and it seems that everything in our world is changing rapidly, quickly. It's almost like we're not sure quite what to hold on to. And so as we come to the Lord's table this morning, I want to remind you of what the writer of Hebrews reminded the struggling Hebrew Christians in Hebrews chapter 6. He says this, We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And I want to draw your attention to what we have in Jesus and the hope that we have in Jesus

because the Hebrew writer says something that is remarkable and he emphasizes it in such a deep way. He says this, we have a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. And if you think about it, an anchor is something that holds something steadfast, But the writer of Hebrews doesn't just say that we have an anchor for the soul. He doesn't even just say that we have a sure anchor. He doesn't say that we just have a steadfast anchor, but he emphasizes it in such a way that he's saying we have a sure and steadfast anchor for our soul in Jesus. And then he points out to change. He'll say he has become a high priest forever. The hope that we have in Jesus doesn't tarnish, it doesn't wear out, it doesn't break, it doesn't get old, and it doesn't disappear.

And so just like the writer of the book of Hebrews who took a struggling church in the midst of all kinds of uncertainty and he directs them to Jesus, that's what this meal does for our hearts and our souls this morning. It points us to the place where our hope is steadfast and our hope doesn't move and our hope doesn't waver and our hope doesn't wear out. So we're going to pray and then we will partake of this meal together. Father in heaven, thank you that we have a hope that is sure, steadfast and an anchor to our soul. We thank you that Jesus has gone before us. He didn't leave it for us to try to find a way or to figure out but rather he has gone before us to the place we could not go

and because of that we can be with him for eternity. We thank you for hope. We thank you for the good news and the power of the gospel. We thank you for your strength and your work in our lives. And so this morning as we break this bread and drink this cup, may we look to the cross. May we see the price for our sins. May we see the victory over sin and death and Satan and hell. May our hope be renewed and be strengthened this morning. I ask that you bless this bread and this cup. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Paul, as he writes the church, he will point their minds to the account of Passover where Jesus gathers the true Passover lamb celebrating Passover. And he'll take bread after supper and he will say, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Let's partake together.

And in the same way, after supper, he took the cup, the cup that pointed to the redemption of God's people, and says, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, for as often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me. And then he will say, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Our Scripture reading this morning is from Acts chapter 17, verses 1 through 10. I'm going to go ahead and read through it, and then we'll pray and dive into our message this morning. So Luke writes this, Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, and came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, saying, This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ. And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews were jealous, and taking some of the wicked rabble, they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities shouting, these men who have turned the world upside down have come here also. And Jason has received him. And they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king, Jesus.

And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. And when they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue. This is the word of the Lord. Father in heaven, thank you for your word. Thank you for this account of faithful gospel proclamation. Help us this morning as we consider this church in Thessalonica. Surrounded by persecution, surrounded by struggle. Help us to see how the gospel changes and transforms, how it changes our hearts to love and forgive and to persevere. It changes our outlook on others and brings us together into a community of people we never thought we would find ourselves among. It gives us courage in the face of opposition.

Help us to see that you don't just turn the world upside down, but you turn it right side up, and you have made things new and are changing and transforming us. Thank you for your church and your people. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So as we dive back into the book of Acts, it's been a few weeks since we have been here. We were last in Philippi, and now we come to Thessalonica. And one of the things that sometimes we tend to do as people is we sometimes miss the point or we miss something important because we're focused on something that maybe isn't as important. And I've shared this with some of you before, but when Rachel and I were dating, we were just getting ready to take her home one evening and drop her off.

And so we were in the car. And for whatever reason, I remember what the argument was about other than I was right. And we were in the midst of this argument where I was obviously right. And we're pulling out of the parking lot and over by our mailbox and Eric and Janice's mailbox. Evidently, I didn't see it, but a fox goes running across the yard over there. And Rachel goes, look, a fox. And I'm like, I don't care. I'm going to win this argument, right? I was so focused on winning an argument that in the long term doesn't even matter. That I missed something that was pretty neat. And what happens sometimes when we come to the book of Acts, we focus so much on the history of the church. We have the people and we have the places and the events.

And we're going here, and we're doing that, and the map that shows us where they went. And here's how Paul traveled by boat, and he traveled here by foot. And here's where the church met together in Jerusalem. And all those things are good and healthy, but we miss the point of the book of Acts, is that it's all about Jesus. In Acts 1, verse 1, as Luke begins this second letter to Theophilus, he'll say, my first letter, I talked about what Jesus began to do, And the implication of Luke's writing is that the second letter is about what Jesus continues to do, right? This is what he did in the book of Luke. And now I'm going to tell you what he continues to do ultimately through the church. And what you find Jesus doing throughout the book of Acts is that he directs his church.

He gives them a mission. He equips them with the power of the Spirit. He encourages them in the midst of struggle. He brings a church out of different groups of people that normally would have been enemies with one another. He changes and transforms lives and hearts, and this is what we see happening in the church in Thessalonica. So when we come to Thessalonica, one of the interesting things is Luke has stayed in Philippi, and one of the ways you can see that as you're reading through the text is that the language in Luke changes from we went here, we did this, to they went there, and they did this. So Lucas stayed behind at Philippi, and Paul, Silas, and Timothy have traveled. And after being asked to leave Philippi, they've traveled about 100 miles, and they've ended up in the town of Thessalonica.

And Paul goes into the Jewish synagogue, and he proclaims a message that is wonderful, and it's simple. He said, Jesus is the Christ. And the message is, Jesus is the promised Messiah. He is the one that in Genesis chapter 3 would defeat the serpent. He's the one to whom Abraham was promised that through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed. He's the one who, like Moses, led his people out of slavery and into the promises of God. He's the Passover lamb who stands between us and the angel of God. He's our rock in the wilderness. He's our king who stands between us of A fearful people and a giant. In Isaiah 61 it says this, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has sent me to bring good news to the poor,

to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison for those who are bound. And the message of the Messiah is that He has come to bind up those who are hurting, to proclaim liberty to those who are oppressed, to bring those out of the bondage of sin and darkness to bring the good news, the gospel to those who are struggling and hurting. And Paul will say in 2 Corinthians that all of the promises of God are yes and amen in him. And so Paul comes and he walks through with these Jewish people all through the Old Testament, all of these promises that Jesus is the promised King, he's the promised priest, he's the promised prophet, he is the one who has come and he has saved us from our sins.

And he does it in a very specific way. It says, Paul went in, as was his custom, three Sabbath days. He reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and rise from the dead, saying, this Jesus whom I proclaim to you is the Christ. And so Paul starts by reasoning. And so what that means is Paul doesn't just come in and preach sort of his pet peeve of the day, but the idea of reasoning is that he sort of systematically walks through what God has said in the Old Testament about Messiah and says, I know who the promised one is, and it is Jesus, and it is wonderful. In him there is hope and life and transformation. And then he explains it, and the word literally means to open it up.

We just got done with Christmas, and one of the things as a dad that I like, is you have your little kids and their opening presents, And there's this box, and they have no idea what it is, and they begin to sort of tear it apart, and they see what it is, and they're excited. That's what Paul is doing to the church. He's taking the promises of God, and he's unwrapping them so they see that joy. And then it says he proves it. Now, this isn't Paul's argument. The word here literally everywhere else in the New Testament is used when you're feeding somebody and you set the food before them. That he takes this well-reasoned, well-thought-out, wonderful, open present and he sets it before them and he shows them that it is solid and that it is real

and that it's not just a good idea or a nice thought but this is a real something that will change the way you live. And what you find is this message of the gospel that Jesus is the one who has defeated the serpent. It's through him all the nations of the earth will be blessed. He's the Passover lamb that stands between us and the angel of death that he's the king that stands between our giants, that he's the one who brings good news to the poor, liberty for the captives, sight for the blind. He's the one who lifts the burdens. This changes and transforms us in such a deep and wonderful manner. In fact, you see it in the church in Thessalonica. The first thing you see it is in the life of Paul himself.

Because the gospel strengthens us to love deeply and patiently, especially when people are difficult think if you go somewhere like a restaurant how many times do you have to go back before you give up with terrible service so i was thinking about this because we used to go to the dunkin donuts across the street just about every day or every other day and then with the health shortage and not very good training it seemed like every time we went our order would be wrong order would be upside down they would have our order all these different things happened over and over. And finally, we just said, you know what, that's enough. I'm done with it. And we all have a limited patient, right? If we go somewhere and it just isn't good, maybe we'll give it a second chance, maybe a third chance. In our case, with Dunkin' Donuts, the fourth or

fifth chance. But eventually we get to the point where we say, I can't do this anymore. I'm fed up. I'm done. I'm doing something different. Now think about the Apostle Paul. Acts chapter 17, Verse 2, he went in as was his custom on three Sabbath days and reasoned with them from Scripture. So he goes into the synagogue and he does. And he says, well, it seems reasonable you go to the synagogue. It's reasonable until you understand Paul's reception in synagogues throughout the book of Acts. When he first starts in the synagogues, they invite him in to speak. And then as he begins to speak, they get upset with what he is saying. And then they begin to dispute with him. And you see this progression that goes from disputation to causing him trouble, to seeking to persecute him,

to seeking to kill him, to eventually getting a mob together to throw stones at him until they think he is dead. And now they're constantly in angry mobs attacking Paul. At what point does he say, I'm done going to synagogues? I'm done trying to speak to the Jewish people. I am done. Everywhere you go, right? You argue with me. You beat me up. You throw me in jail. You throw rocks at me until you think I'm dead. I'm done with you. That's not what the Apostle Paul does. It says, as was his custom, he's already been through these terrible things. And you know what he does? He goes back. And he goes back because he deeply loves these people. He'll say this, I am speaking the truth in Christ. This is in Romans 9. I am not long.

My conscience bears witness to me with the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unseeking anguish in my heart, for I wish that myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. You hear Paul's attitude? He says, if I could be cut off so that they could be brought in, I would do that. These are the people who persecute him, who stone him, who beat him. Now think about our lives, right? I struggle to let go when someone wrongs me, right? It's so easy to just bring it back up and back up. And not even just in the past year, right? We can go back 10 years, 20 years, and we can remember exactly how somebody has done us wrong, and we hold on to it, and we become bitter about it.

But notice what Paul does. He keeps going back to the very people who hurt him because of this. In Romans 5, For while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. How much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life? Paul deeply desires the salvation of his countrymen, other Jews, because he's seen how Jesus has taken the enemy, him, Paul, and changed and transformed and loved him even when he was opposed to God. And so Paul says, even when these guys are opposed to God, like Jesus, I will love them. What you see is the gospel. It takes us and it changes our heart and it allows us to let go of the anger and the bitterness and it allows us to forgive and it allows us to love

even when those people are difficult, even when they're hard, even when they hurt us, even when they ultimately try to kill us. In the good news of the gospel, we see a Savior who loves and who perseveres for us and it allows us to treat others in the same way. The second thing you see in Thessalonica is the gospel powerfully creates a new community. We like to divide people up, right? So maybe we divide when we're little. It's like you're playing the game, and it's boys versus girls. And then as we get older, it's men versus women. And we make fun of each other, tell jokes about each other, divide each other up. And then sometimes we divide ourselves up based on location. So a lot of times we talk about where we live, and Rachel says, well, I grew up in Pawpaw.

And I say, yeah, that's West Virginia. She says, no, no, it's the best Virginia. right? You know, the other morning we were eating breakfast and somebody had keto maple syrup instead of real Vermont maple syrup. And I was like, what is this, right? This doesn't belong in my house. And it's like, oh, you're from Vermont, right? So you can make fun of the guy from Vermont because he likes things that are good. And so you have like this division where where we're from is good and where somebody else is from not quite as good, right? We're really good at dividing people up. We divide on race, we divide on social class, rich and poor. We divide politically. In the last couple of years, we divided medically in terms of the virus. We divide, and I don't think this is a word, but I'm going to make it one, we divide churchly.

Well, they go to this church, they go to that church, they go to that church over there. So we go to this church and we divide ourselves up. Just like Paul talks about the Corinthian church, where one says, I'm Apollos, I follow Paul, I follow Peter, I follow Christ. We're still doing the same exact thing today. And we're so easy to divide ourselves up. Look at what happens in Acts 17.4. And some of them, these are the Jewish people in the synagogue, were persuaded and they joined Paul and Silas. As did a great many of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women. So you have three groups. You have the people who are Jewish by birth and Jewish by their belief. You have the Greeks who are not Jewish, but they've been learning about Judaism.

They believe in the one true God. And then you have the leading women, likely the most important women in this town, who were not Jewish, who weren't on the edge like those Greeks were, but who were outright unbelievers. And you have men and women, Jews and Greeks, all of these different people coming together in the church. And what's remarkable about this is not just that these divisions sort of disappear into this church, but it's how long it takes for this to happen. So if you were to plant a church today, and I did a little bit of research on this this week, the average for planting a new church in terms of training and preparation and fundraising and securing a location and building a team averages anywhere from three to five years in our world to plant a new church.

If somebody wants to plant a church, generally, they'll tell them it takes between three and five years to get your new church going. Listen to what happens in Thessalonica. Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days, he reasoned with them from Scriptures. And then, before the next, before the fourth Sabbath day, he's going to get run out of town by an angry mob. Three weeks, he's there planting this church. And this is not a half-formed, wishy-washy, weak church. Listen to these words that Paul has from Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, You became imitators of us and the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction with joy in the Holy Spirit. And in 1 Thessalonians 2, For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God and Christ Jesus that are in Judea,

for they suffered the same things from your own countrymen, for you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, 1 Thessalonians 3. No one, that no one be moved by these afflictions, for you yourselves know that we are destined for this. He says, this has not been easy. So not only does God take, in three weeks, through the power of the gospel, bring a bunch of different groups together, he makes them strong enough that as the church is constantly surrounded by affliction and persecution, before Paul even leaves town, they're strong. Not because they're somehow remarkable, but because the good news of the gospel is remarkable. And they're not just remarkable in terms of their faithfulness. Listen to what he says in 3.6. Now Timothy has come to us and brought us the good news of your faith and your love.

And you also reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us as we long to see you. They're a church that's full of love. They're full of faith, they're full of love, even as the world falls apart around them. And the only way that this happens is through the power of the gospel. The power of the gospel helps us forgive and to love and to go to those things that we normally would avoid. It takes and transforms a bunch of different people into a family, a group who is faithful and loving even in the midst of chaos. And the gospel gives us courage. There's probably all been times where we have been tired and we're worn out. And we just say, I don't think that I can do it anymore. I'm just going to give up.

I'm going to find something else. I'm going to go take a nap. I need to rest. To Paul and Silas and Timothy. I want to read these last six verses. But the Jews were jealous. And taking some of the wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob. They set the city in an uproar, attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. And when they could not find them, They dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, These men have turned the world upside down. They have come here also. And Jason has received them. And they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king, Jesus. And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. They had taken money as security from Jason and the rest.

They let them go. And the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. And when they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue. So notice how this sort of escalates. It begins with this emotion, right? This emotion of jealousy as they see all these people coming to Jesus, right? So people are leaving the synagogue to join this new church. And these Greeks are leaving to join this new church. And these important women who likely brought a large number of resources are leaving to join this church. And the emotion of jealousy begins to build. And that emotion turns into a plot, which turns into spreading rumors, which ultimately turns into violence as this crowd storms a house, kicks down the door, drags Jason and the family out of the house and down to the town council.

They begin to throw accusations at them. And eventually, even though they haven't found Paul and Silas and Timothy, They release Jason and his family on bond. Literally, these guys have to pay what little money they have to be able to be given their freedom. And Paul and Silas and Timothy are snuck away in the middle of the night. Three weeks in this town. Three weeks in the power of the gospel. Now, if you're Paul, Silas, Timothy, you say, you know what? We should go back to Thessalonica. It's not very long. Just a few weeks, maybe a month. And 1 Thessalonians 3 says this, Therefore we can bear it no longer. We were willing to be left behind at Athens alone. We sent Timothy, our brother, God's co-worker, in the gospel of Christ to establish and exhort you in their faith.

So they get down the road, they go to Berea, they leave Berea, they go to Athens. In Athens they send Timothy back to Thessalonica. This young guy who at that point has been with Paul probably not even a year, and he sneaks back into town to encourage and strengthen the church. This very town with the angry mob full of rumors and violence. Seeking to destroy the church. And what happens? Timothy goes back. How would he go back? How would he have that courage to do so? He does so because he is strengthened by the power of the gospel. It's not because he's never of himself brave or good. It's because God is good and God is in control. And what you find is the gospel transforms. Notice their accusation. These men have turned the world upside down and have come here also.

Jason has received him and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king, Jesus. It's interesting, Paul, Silas, and Timothy, and for part of the time, Luke, have only been on the continent of Europe just maybe a few weeks at this point. They've been to Philippi for a few Saturdays. They've been here for three Saturdays. And the power of God is so great. And the power of the gospel is so good that from the outside it looks like the world is being turned upside down. I want you to see this morning the power of the gospel. And the accusers, as they make this accusation, they don't have it quite right. Because the reality is God's not turning the world upside down. He's putting it back the way that it should be.

He is bringing salvation from sin. He is bringing hope for the future. He is restoring relationships. He is bringing us to the ability to forgive and to love and to care for others. He is encouraging us in the midst of our struggles. God isn't turning it upside down. He is putting it back the way it is supposed to be. And ultimately, this comes through Jesus. Not because the church is so wonderful, but it's because Jesus is wonderful. Not because Timothy is brave, but because God is good. And the church in Thessalonica focuses us on the goodness of God and the greatness. And it encourages us to put our hope in that place that doesn't move. Let's pray. Father, give us hope. Give us strength. Maybe this morning we are struggling to forgive. Maybe we're struggling to let go of bitterness.

May the good news of the Gospel that Jesus came and He died for His enemies move our hearts to allow us to forgive. Strengthen us through Your Spirit. Maybe this morning we're really good at dividing. And in our pride, we like to look down on others. May You, through the good news of the Gospel, help us to see that we are all broken by sin. And we are all saved by Your grace. not through our efforts or our goodness. Maybe this morning we're fearful. Encourage us with your power and your strength. Give us boldness for the good news of the gospel. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to stand and sing about the solidness of our hope. We're going to sing the solid rock.

Rock of ages, cleft for me Let me hide myself in thee Let the water and the blood From thy wounded side which flow Be of sin the double cure Save from wrath and make me pure Not the labors of my hands Can fulfill thy lost demands Could my zeal no respite know Could my tears forever flow All for sin could not atone Thou must save and Thou alone Nothing in my hand I bring Simply to the cross I cling Naked come to Thee for dress Helpless look to Thee for grace Foul I to the fountain fly Wash me, Savior, or I die While I draw this fleeting breath When mine eyes shall close in death When I soar to worlds unknown, I see Thee on Thy judgment throne. The rock of ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee.

I want to thank you all for joining us here this morning. Thank you for those of you who are, we're thankful for those of you who are joining us online. We are encouraged by your presence. Just a couple of announcements and then we'll pray, read a verse of Scripture and sing the doxology. We'll be this Wednesday night for Bible study, 7 p.m. here at the church. We're going through Paul's letter to the Thessalonians. We'll see a little bit more of this conflict that the Thessalonian church endured. A little bit more of this opposition as we walk into Thessalonians chapter 2. This week, that's Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Also, as you're getting ready to head home today, I would recommend maybe going out the bottom doors. These front steps are a little icy, or at least they were when I checked them right before communion.

So we put a little salt on them, but just be careful and drive safely and watch out for ice. So I'm going to pray. I'll read from Romans, the 15th chapter, and then we will sing the doxology. Father in heaven, thank you for your church and for your word, for the good news of the gospel, for the power of your spirit, for how you have loved and cared for us when we were broken and far away from you. Thank you that you have welcomed us into your family. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Paul writes this, May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him, above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Thank you. Thank you.