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Open on YouTubePastor Paul Condrell teaches on John the Baptist's wheat-and-chaff metaphor as spiritual judgment, using parables and cultural examples to explain the difference between faithful believers and those who reject God. Sarah Pryor shares her testimony of growing up in the Church of the Brethren and entering ministry. The service includes prayer for safety during an unprecedented winter storm.
Good morning, brothers and sisters.
Good morning.
I mean, good evening, I'm sorry. Yeah, just habit. Welcome to Wilmington Community Evangelical Church Saturday Night Live featuring Sarah Pryor, Kevin and Julie Lee, and Paul Condrell. And this program is videotaped in and broadcast in front of live audiences. Well, this is a very unique experience for all of us because we are going to experience a very unique winter storm in many years that we have not seen. I hope everyone is well prepared, ready to shuffle the snow and some de-icing tomorrow morning and enjoy the Sunday for a warm and a safe at home or whatever you're doing. So let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you so much that we have this opportunity that we can worship you on Saturday night. This is one of the very rare experiences that we have had in the past, and probably is the first one I have experienced that we have this, the service on Saturday evening. Please give us the wisdom and strengthen our belief that we can serve you and not let the tomorrow's winter storm that would defeat us, that will seperate us from you so we are more closer to you and to listen to your words for your guidance that will lead us to go through tomorrow's winter storm. And please bless everyone for a safe and warm Sunday and even on Monday morning. In your name we pray. Amen.
Welcome everyone. I don't know if the people in the livestream can hear it, but the projector is making a very awful sounding fan noise. Everyone please stand, and we hope that the screen will remain up. For the livestream, the screen is going to be on there regardless of whether or not it's here physically, right? Then it's fine. If it cuts out, you can always Turn around behind you to the TV for the lyrics.
For those that are here in person.
Oh, I've heard.
Oh, I've heard a thousand stories of what they think your life But I've heard the tender whisper of love in the dead of night as you tell me that you're pleased and that I'm never alone. You're a good, good Father. It's who you are. It's who you are. It's who you are. And I'm loved by you. It's who I am. It's who I am. It's who I am. And I see many searching for answers. Far and wide, but I know we're all searching for answers. Only you provide, as you know just what we need before we say a word. You're a good, good Father, it's who you are. It's who you are, it's who you are, and I'm loved by you. It's who I am, it's who I am, it's who I am. 'Cause you're perfect in all of your ways. 'Cause you're perfect in all of your ways. God, you're perfect in all of your ways. To the world, love so undeniable, I, I can hardly speak. Peace so unexplainable. Unexplainable love. I can hardly fake as you call me deeper still. As you call me deeper still. As you call me deeper still into love, love, love. You're a good, good Father. It's who you are. It's who you are, it's who you are, and I'm loved by you. It's who I am, it's who I am, it's who I am, your good, good Father. It's who you are, it's who you are, it's who you are, and I'm loved by you. It's who I am. It's who I am. It's who I am.
You were the Word.
You were the Word at the beginning, one with God the Lord Most High.
Your hidden glory in creation Now revealed in you, our Christ.
What a beautiful name it is. What a beautiful name it is. The name of Jesus Christ, my King. What a beautiful name it is. Nothing compares to this. What a beautiful name it is, the name of Jesus. You didn't want heaven without us.
So Jesus, you brought heaven down.
My sin was great, your love was greater.
What could separate us now?
What a wonderful name it is. What a wonderful name it is. The name of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ my King. What a wonderful name it is. Nothing compares to this. What a wonderful name it is. The name of Jesus. What a wonderful name it is. The name of Jesus.
Death could not hold you. The veil tore before you.
You silenced the boast of sin and grave. The heavens are roaring the praise of your glory, for you are raised to life again.
You have no rival, you have no equal, now and forever, God, you reign. Yours is the kingdom, yours is the glory, yours is the name above all names.
What a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus Christ.
My King.
What a powerful name it is. Nothing can stand against. What a powerful name it is. The name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is. What a powerful name it is. The name of Jesus. Jesus Christ my King. What a powerful name it is. Nothing can stand against. What a powerful name it is. The name of Jesus. What a powerful name. What a powerful name it is. The name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus.
All right, before you're seated, um, let's take a moment to greet our neighbors in this evening time that is very rare.
Hello, how are you? I never known this man.
I've never met you before.
Good evening. I'm tempted to say good morning, but yeah, well, hello. My name is Sarah Pryor, wife of James. Yeah, um, we're happy to be here. Um, yeah, we've officially been part of this church for almost a month now when James accepted his role as part of the ministry here. Um, and I think we have all just felt so welcomed. So yeah, we're happy to be here. Um, and since I don't know very many of you, um, too well yet, I thought I might share a little bit of my own story of faith and journey that's brought, um, me here today. So, uh, I grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It's probably about an hour from here. Um, and my family, which was me, my mom, and my dad— I don't have any siblings— um, we're members of the Church of the Brethren, which is a denomination in the Anabaptist tradition. My parents had deep friendships at the church., with other parents, but their children were all boys, and I was very shy and didn't talk to boys, so I didn't have many friends of my own there. Um, I sat in services and attended Sunday school, but I had a really stunted comprehension of the gospel, um, or the Christian life. I mostly thought of it as like a club that we belonged to, um, and I remember praying to make Jesus the Lord of my life pretty much anytime I heard an invitation to do so because I thought, I'm not taking any chances, I have to make sure this sticks. So I just did it over and over again. I didn't understand. Um, and then in middle school I met a girl, a girl named Abigail in my science class, and she became one of my best friends. And there was a joy in her that immediately struck me. She was and still is probably the most truly joyful person I know. And something else about Abigail is that she talked about Jesus, like in her normal, normal life. She just talked about Jesus. And I remember this striking me as a little bit odd, and then I thought to myself, I'm a Christian too, but I don't have what she has. And it was like she had access to some sort of like deeper goodness or beauty that I couldn't see. But I came to find the source of that goodness and joy that I saw in her was a relationship with Jesus. And I had not witnessed before such a relationship in my life, um, and it opened my eyes to what it means to really be a Christian beyond attending church or doing church activities. Um, so fast forward about 6 years to my freshman year in college. I went to the University of Pittsburgh, um, and when I got there, I immediately sought out a college ministry to join thing to do, um, which is how I got involved with Cruel, which used to be called Campus Crusade for Christ, uh, and I was all in. I started to be mentored by a woman, um, on staff late in my first year, and I began leading Bible studies as a sophomore. My mentor and I went through some materials that would be for like a new believer, explaining things like And I remember naively thinking to myself as we were doing this, I know this stuff, I don't know why we're going through this. Except I didn't know it, I didn't know it fully. Donelle, my mentor, opened up to a drawing of a chair on it. And I think if any, if any of the youth in the room were at youth group one, one night, I think James has talked about this example before too. But drawing is a chair, and it said, are you the lord of your life, or is Jesus the lord of your life? And it literally wanted you to draw on the seat of the chair a cross or the word self. And I just looked at her kind of strangely as I wrestled with that question and said, um, I think we're kind of just both on there somewhere. Like, I don't, I don't really know. Like, can we just both be be like orbiting around the chair. Um, but I knew what I wanted the answer to be, and I was beginning to see that phrases like Jesus Christ died for my sins, um, is not just a statement of historical fact but something that foundationally changes my life now and in the future. Um, and it was around that time too that I began to lead worship at crew gatherings and then later at church. Um, which is something I never once considered even though I've been involved in music my whole life, playing clarinet, um, being involved in choir. But, um, yeah, something about that always had just stricken my nerves. But, um, praise God, that's gone now. But I could talk about music for a long time, so I'll just wrap up and say that the story of my life is coming to see that Jesus is infinitely better and more beautiful than I once thought and can lead my life infinitely better than I ever could. Thank you.
Next, a scripture reading. So tonight we're going to read Luke chapter 3, verses 2 through 9 and verses 16 through 17. So, well, since we have a lot of words to read, so please just be seated and just read along. And in front of the audience virtually, please read along with us. Let's begin. During the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance of sins. And it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: Voice of one cycling in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. And the crooked shall become straight, and the tough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. He said before the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, You bloodthirsty harlots, who warned you to follow the wrath of God? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to speak Do not say to yourselves, "We have Abraham as our father," for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree, therefore, that does not bear fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water, but he who is A Mighty One is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, to clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire. May God bless us all with these words.
Thank you, Tommy. Good evening. Nice to see everybody. We were wondering how— if everyone got word that we were having this new time. And I want to give James Pryor credit for coming up with this idea to shift to Saturday night instead of trying to do a Zoom service, which would have been awkward at best. So we've heard of John the Baptist, but we don't really consider his words to except when he said, "Behold the Lamb of God." But in Luke— and we are in Luke with this series— he uses a metaphor that would be very commonly understood among those people in his audience who were in an agrarian society. So who knows what is chaff? You can see the picture there. I know at least one gentleman does. If you ever went to a restaurant in China that was a kind of low-end restaurant, restaurant and you ate the rice, looked in the bowl of rice, you might find a few grains of rice that still have the chaff on them. And if you put it in your mouth, you kind of have to spit it out. You don't want to eat the chaff. It's not good. And it's meant to be sifted— what do you call that?— threshed away. And so once you've threshed it, then you can get rid of the chaff and what you've got left Is the grain. This is what I'm looking for. So here is the picture of John in the middle of Jordan River, and you can see, uh, two people now that are representing the chaff and the wheat. And can you see which is which? Who can look in that picture and tell me where— which people are the wheat and which people are the chaff? Anyone?
Matthew?
The one in the middle is John with his hand up. No, let's not include John in the— it's all the other people, not including John. Who would be the wheat and who would be the chaff? He's the thresher. Jacob? This group over here on the shore, it looks like they're waiting to be baptized. Which are they, Jacob? They're wheat. And where are the chaff? On the left. Which ones, up there or down here?
Down here.
Down here, why?
Because they're like Romans.
They're Roman soldiers. They look like Romans. Whoever the actors were that did this didn't know what real authentic Israeli Pharisee guard uniforms looked like. So they do look like Romans, don't they? I believe these would have been the Pharisees or representatives of the leadership of Israel that were going down to watch. Did they want to get baptized, these guys down here? No, they didn't want— they just wanted to watch and see what was going on and see, check it out. But these other people, I believe, on both sides, they are the ones who he's calling the wheat, and the chaff are those who don't even care about, don't want to be baptized. And what we're going to see is that these— this old guard, or the people who don't want to be baptized, are the representatives of the nation of Israel, the Old Covenant. And these new people that are being baptized, they're kind of getting a new start on their whole— they're getting this call from John to be baptized back to the Jordan River. Remember, they crossed the Jordan River the first time to form a nation in the book of Exodus. And now they're going back into Jordan, they're going to be baptized, and we're going to get a whole new nation. But this time it's invisible, and that's why we're calling it Luke God's Invisible Nation. So what we're going to see now, I'm going to go through— as we go through several records in Luke, we're going to look on the left side are going to be the things that remind us of the chaff, and on the right side will be the things that are the good guys. So in this case, we already saw the soldiers had no interest in being baptized. They didn't want it. And remember last week we learned some people thought they didn't need a physician. They said, "I'm not sick. I don't need a physician." These people, "I'm not a sinner. I don't need to be baptized." But some of them knew that they did. And we are going to see then, as we read, John goes on to address these people who are the chaff. He says, "You brood of vipers." What's a viper? A snake. Is that a nice thing to call people? It's a compliment to say, "Yo, you look like a snake," right? No, it was an insult. "Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" And he accuses them and says, "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire," as if he's saying that is what's going to happen to the leadership of the temple. And so He's calling them trees that don't have fruit. But it's interesting, He says you could have fruit. He's asking them to bear fruit. He's saying you could still repent, there's still time. He's not saying, "I'm going to burn you up." He's saying, "You should bear good fruit and then you won't have to be in that category anymore." So that arrow kind of represents the movement, that John, his purpose isn't just to put people in a box or to accuse them or to burn them up. He's wanting to teach them where they can go in order to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem. So he goes on then to say, as we read, the people were in expectation and all questioned in their hearts, is John the Christ or the Messiah? And he said, no, I baptize you with water, but the Christ who is coming He's coming, will baptize you with fire. And as we read, it says, "His winnowing fork is in His hand." Now I got a picture of a winnowing fork. So how many of you have ever threshed wheat before? Okay, good. See, did you do that in America or in China? In China. How about you? Also in China, right? Yeah.
If you—
next time you go as a tourist to China, you can ask for the winnowing tour and you can and get all those— get on the farm and do some of that. So yeah, once you've got the threshing going, you got to get rid of all the straw so you can see what you're doing. That's what— and the analogy then is saying his winnowing fork, the Messiah, when Jesus comes, he's going to be separating the wheat into his barn and the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. And when he does that, it's part of this transition, as we've spoken about before, of the Old Kingdom, the Old Covenant. God's visible kingdom is now going to be turned into his invisible kingdom. The old— the visible kingdom was called Israel. Who can tell me what the new kingdom is called? What is God's new kingdom called ever since Israel? After Israel, what's the new— what's God's kingdom called? The church, Christianity, the new Israel. And so God— and Jesus is now King. He was on the throne of David. There was a promise made to David, you're going to have a king on your throne forever. Well, is, is Jesus in Jerusalem on the throne? He's not. He is on an invisible throne. He is the King of the visible kings. He sits on the throne of David. So here we have— now you can see I've labeled on the left, we got the chaff that are going to be burned. The people that are too proud for baptism, like barren trees, or on the other hand, those that will be gathered together, like the church assembled, are like the wheat who are humble and who are fruitful. So now I was struck, and I have to ask this question, which is, why does God care? Why does he want to burn people up? I mean, does he have to do that? I mean, that seems like a pretty drastic measure. What did they do? That was so bad? And is God's wrath, at that degree of wrath, justified? So we want to look in the book of Luke a couple other spots to try to find some hints of that. Who remembers when Jesus got angry? Yes, you do. Was it this time? And he went through the temple where they had all the traders and the bankers and the money changers, and he went through and he turned over their tables. And let all the animals out of their cages or something like that. And He was angry. Why? He explains why. He said, "It is written, 'My house shall be a house of prayer,' but you have made it into a den of robbers." So He didn't like that. And why? It's not only that these people were not following God themselves, but they're getting in the way of other people. So they're interfering by taking the spot in the temple and the things they were doing, requiring people to change their money before they made offerings in the temple. They were interfering with God's plan and the relationship that He had with His people. And that's what put them in this category that was worse than just average bad guys, bad guys that stopped other guys from being good guys. And so after, just a few verses later, like 10 verses, in the Book of Luke, after he cleanses the temple, he goes on to tell them and to confront the leadership with this story. A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. And when the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect some of the fruit, as he should because he's the landlord. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. So he sent another servant, but they also beat and sent him away empty-handed. So he sent yet a third, and this one also they wounded and cast out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send them my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.' But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir. Let us kill him so that the inheritance may be ours.' And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? And Jesus says to their face, straight in their faces, he says, he will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others. Luke goes on to say that the the leadership that were listening, they perceived that he was using this parable to accuse them. But— and they wanted to arrest him right on the spot, but they didn't because they feared the people. Well, Jesus did take away that vineyard. That vineyard was the nation of Israel, was destroyed some years later within that generation after his resurrection. And now he's given it to this new invisible group we call the church or Christianity. So we see then this last thing here, the things that— reason these people had to be eliminated or discarded or put out of God's people is that they were obstructing not only the relationship with God, but they were also in the way of God's plan for what he was trying to do with his people. So he took authority away from the chaff and he gave it to the people who he considered the wheat. So does that seem like a legit— right, that's pretty justified. You can see how they weren't just, you know, get drunk once in a while or some kind of malfeasance, but they were really interfering with God and opposing him directly. Now I also wanted to look at a couple other— remind you of a couple other stories that Jesus told that give us a picture of this contrast between, you could say, good guys and bad guys, or people he wants you to emulate and people he wants you to not emulate. And the first one is this story of— what's this story? Who recognizes it? The Good Samaritan and the two people. It's not the guy who's injured here, but there's a man up on the hill, the priest or the Levite. He saw the injured man, but what did he do? Walked on by. He's too busy, important, other things to do. So he didn't care. But this Samaritan, he went, reached out to him, and took care of him. So this is a contrast between what God wants us to do or what he doesn't want us to do. He's showing through these examples. He told another story. It was not a story, this is a true story about how he visited the family of Lazarus, and the two sisters were both in the presence of Jesus. One was listening very closely. The other was busy, but she wasn't listening. She was distracted. And that also gives us a picture of how we can be in a better relationship with God. And then the third one here is where— what story is this? Prodigal Son, yes. The one brother who took and spoiled and wasted his father's inheritance, and then he came home. His father forgave him, and the father celebrated his return. But did the older brother celebrate? No, he couldn't celebrate the younger brother. He was worried about himself. He wasn't happy at all, was he? And then there was the time when Jesus healed 10 lepers, and they all were so happy and excited. But the— and the one— sorry, the one went— are you helping me or am I, am I helping you? Okay, I got it. So the one decided, hey, I should go back and thank the guy who healed me, which he did. But the other 9 were healed but didn't take the time to celebrate the man who had helped them. And final one here is where Jesus— one time some parents were bringing their kids to see Jesus so he could pray or bless them, and the disciples said, "Stop! Go! Get out of the way!" Pushed them away. Can you believe it? And Jesus saw them. His own disciples were rebuking the parents. And Jesus said instead, he said, "Let the children come. Don't hinder them, for to such belongs the the kingdom of God. He had a heart for the next generation, and he wants us to do that too. And so here we see these qualities. And so what I want to think of— it's not that if you do these things you will be burned, but I want to think of them as more of an allegory, like burning out impurities. You know how— let me go ahead to this. You know how when you want to make a pure gold or pure silver, or any kind— you take these rocks, basically this ore, and you refine it down and down and to burn it up in these really hot furnaces and all the impurities burn out. And what's left is the good stuff, the gold or whatever it is. And so this chaff, I want us to think of these stories and think of we— this is something that we can still grow into. It's not a matter of being saved or not saved or eternal life or not eternal life. It's a matter of us growing up in maturity, or being sanctified is sometimes the fancy word that we use. It's like purification that goes on through our whole life. Do you all know the story of Esther, right? When she was an orphan and she was brought into the king's harem, and they prepared her for 12 months. And you know what they did for 12 months? They gave her beauty treatments. Finally, she was ready to see the king. And I think of this as kind of like our Christian beauty treatments. We need a little bit of help. And so these stories are there to help us not do those things like those certain people avoiding strangers or being jealous or distracted or not thankful, but to be like the good examples that we have on the right as we gather together like wheat instead of acting like we have a lot of chaff. So that is what it looks like. We don't want to have to— sometimes it hurts a little bit when we get purified, right? When we burn some of the things that need to be burned. And some of our testimonies you've heard like that. And so this time it really is the end, as they say. This is that story only in Luke, the Gospel of Luke, that records about the two criminals on either side of Jesus. And one of them yelled at him, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "We are receiving the due reward of our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong." And indeed he hadn't. And he went on to say, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." And Jesus said to him, "Truly I say to you today, you will be with me in paradise." And so it is a matter of a real life when we don't act like this guy. He said, I deserve to be saved, and Jesus isn't Christ. But the other man is saying, I deserve punishment, but Jesus is the King. And that's why he was the one who was told that he would have eternal life, even though he was a criminal that was worthy, evidently, of the death penalty, he nonetheless had eternal life. So here was Peter after Jesus' resurrection, and they were gathered around on the seaside. And you remember the story when, when Jesus asked Peter, he said, 'Do you love me? Do you love me?' In Luke, the version of the story, he says, 'Peter, you need to strengthen your brothers.' and in John it says, Peter, feed my sheep. And so from this message today, this is the call to action that I want to leave with you, and that is that in this process of purification or gathering together as we do as wheat, we, we're in it together. And so we encourage us in this kind of environment that we can see that happen, and where it's like Sarah was talking about this Sister Abigail that helped her, even though she'd been around the information, wasn't all that new to her mind, but she got to see it in action. And then, of course, she was able to participate in the different ministries and be part of that, how we share or we experience the love of God together by strengthening each other and feeding each other. So I want to end there with a prayer and say, Father, we are— Thankful for the lessons of Luke, for the, the prophets. We know they were in an unusual time when in this nation of Israel that was going through all the trouble with, with Rome, and, and they had gotten to such a state that they didn't recognize their own Messiah. At least some of them didn't. So Father, I'm grateful that some remnant did and that you have created and built this church to this day. Just pray that we are aware of the chaff that we still harbor in our lives, and that one way or another that we can see it burn away— distractions or jealousies or bitternesses. Just pray that we learn to love each other, especially our younger brothers and sisters in the church, just as we do our children. We put up with a lot of their silliness. So I I pray that we will be mindful of your word, that we'll bring— take it to heart, and that we'll have time in the next few days to spend time with you and to reflect on that. Pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.
All right, everyone please stand for a song of reflection. Lord bless you.
Lord bless you and keep you. May his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. Lord, turn his face toward you and give you peace. Lord, bless you. And keep you. May his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. Lord, turn his face toward you and give you peace.
Amen.
Sing it! Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. The Lord bless you and keep you. Make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face toward you and bless you. Give you peace. Singing amen, amen, amen. Singing amen. Amen, amen. May his favor be upon you and a thousand generations, and your family and your children and their children and their children. May his favor be upon you and a thousand generations, and your family and your children and their children and their children. May his presence go before you and behind you and beside you and around you and within you.
He is with you.
He is with you in the morning, in the evening, in your grumbling and your going and your weeping and rejoicing— He is for you! He is for you! He is for you! He is for you! He is for you! He is for you! He is for you! Singing amen! Amen! Amen, amen. Sing it. Amen, amen, amen. One more time. Amen. Amen, amen. Sing it, amen, amen, amen.
Okay, it's announcement time, but before we make any announcement, Are there any first-time visitors to our church? Wow. Yeah, please introduce yourself.
We're Eber and Caitlin Condrell, Paul and Ceci's sons.
This is my son Peter and my daughter Esther.
Oh, welcome! Wow, welcome!
We're here for a visit. We're here permanently.
Alright! I guess Pastor Paul has more influence on anybody else. Anybody here is first time visiting our church? Anybody?
No?
Okay. All right. So the first announcement, if you have made any contributions to our church, you should have received an email receipt for your generous contributions. If you have not, please contact Treasurer Juliet Tang, and her information can be found in the church bulletin. And also our church bulletin is always available at the, uh, uh, wcc.churchcenter.com. Next one is a mom call, is on Tuesday, next coming up Tuesday, January 27th at 6 PM in the lounge. Every Wednesday at 7:30 PM there's an online prayer. Actually, there are several groups that. And for the English ministry, there's online prayer, and the detailed link can be found at the WhatsApp. If you do want to get on with WhatsApp, please contact either Pastor Paul Condrell or Elder Michael Badarola. Sword and Light Fellowship, January 31st, that would be next Saturday at 4 PM. The building expansion, since we have met the goal, so the planning committee will soon be formed, and we will soon learn more about this exciting expansion project. Okay, so are there any other announcements? If not, please rise for Dr. Sology.
Thank you, Sarah. Please remain standing. I went and did a special bad weather benediction. So I found some scriptures from the Psalms and a couple other places that we can keep in mind over the next day or two because we may need it. The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who live in it. The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run to it and are safe. The Lord will watch over your coming and going, both now and forevermore. The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Be still and know that I am God. 'Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.' Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. So I leave with you that— with that, and God bless you all. Thanks for coming.










