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How do you begin? All right, so before I begin, I want to say thank you to the entire praise team, but also especially to the gardeners. They were in Honduras and emailing and talking to me on the phone about this morning, which I call commitment. And then a second one to the Baber family.

Welcome back. As I understand it, came rolling in at midnight, and leading from the front, they demonstrated where the priorities here are, and they've come back to the family. So it's good to see you all here. Turn with me to the book of Nahum as we get started this morning.

Before we read our text, I would like to give a little bit of an introduction to it. And first, I was listening to John MacArthur give a sermon on Nahum, and his introduction was that this is clearly a book prophetically written about traffic in Los Angeles. If you would like to understand the punchline and where he derived that from, you'll have to go listen to his sermon because I won't give it to you.

Yeah, see, putting in a little hook there. But also, I doubt many of you. Recall with much clarity, but to remind you, it was roughly a year and a half ago, I did a sermon from the book of Micah. And in doing so, I mentioned that there is, in my mind's eye, a three-book unit, Jonah, Micah, and Nahum, that tells a story of a city named Nineveh.

And in this story, Jonah goes, as many of you are aware, and preaches and tells them to repent. And they do. Nineveh repents. Micah, though not primarily written about or to Nineveh, mentions that Nineveh will be the tool to bring judgment to Israel, Nineveh, and Assyria. So we see that in the span of give or take 50 years, they move from repentance to opposition.

Then move forward from Micah to Nahum, and we see in another span of give or take 50 years, they've moved from opposition to God to themselves being punished for that opposition. It's the rise and fall, if you will, of the people of Nineveh. And we see in Nahum chapter 1, verse 1, the burden against Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum, the Elkeshite.

So this entire book. Is within the context and written to and about Nineveh. It completes, in some sense, the saga that I had already begun when I preached in Micah. So I wanted to come and complete that story for you. And while this book, we're not going to go through every example, while this book is about the judgment on Nineveh, I also want to bring your attention to the name Nahum.

It means Comforter. A book of judgment given by a prophet named Comforter. And we'll, I think, see something of this as we go through today. So join with me as we read chapter one of Nahum, verse 15. This is our text for today. Behold, on the mountains, the feet of him who brings good tidings, who proclaims peace.

O Judah, keep your appointed feasts, perform your vows, for the wicked one shall no more pass through you. He is utterly cut off. And in going through this verse, I would like to focus your attention on the last part especially. We're going to, in a sense, go through this verse in reverse order.

Because the wicked one shall no more pass through you. Through you. This leads me to ask: who is this wicked one? And I may have already, in my introduction, given you an idea of where we're going with that. But let's understand who this wicked one is. Next, reading through this, I want to know: this is a proclamation.

The proclamation is in black and white, but what does it mean? How do we understand it? What is being said in this proclamation? So we'll ask that question and answer it. And finally, as we look at the verse, there is some instruction for how to respond to this proclamation dealing with the wicked one.

So, first of all, who is the wicked one? As I've already said, this book and the entirety of the context of this book is about Nineveh. And there is to be no confusion on that anywhere. We see here the wicked one is Nineveh. So, who is Nineveh? And what do we understand about Nineveh?

Well, first of all, Nineveh is, at the time of this writing, the capital of an empire, Assyria. This empire that had lasted for roughly 2,000 years and was a superpower by any definition for at least 700 years of that history. We could quibble. There's different definitions of who is a superpower for how long.

But my opinion that I'll stick to, this makes them the second longest lasting empire in power without interruption behind only the Byzantines. This is nothing to cough at. Not only this, but they were an empire known for its violence, known for being a conquering people. In fact, and I didn't put it up here, Nineveh, the name and the primary focus is on a goddess that they worshipped called Ishtar, who was a goddess of war.

And that's really, that defines who these people were. They were a warrior people. And we have examples of how they behaved. Sennacherib, tested in 2 Kings there, came through, and just shortly after Israel being wiped out, Sennacherib came in, opposing Jerusalem. After this, you had another emperor who came along and passed through the land on his way to fight Egypt, ultimately Egypt becoming a vassal state.

So you have this warrior people who, for the entirety of their history, are fighting, who are conquering, who are passing through and subjecting Jerusalem. They are subjecting Judah and all of Israel as we know it. And just to give you an idea of where they were located, let's look at the location.

If you see on the west side there, that's the Mediterranean Sea. You've got the fertile crescent where the green is, and that box there is the heartland of Assyria. And to put it in a modern-day context, Nineveh circled there is modern-day Mazul. Which, by the way, fascinatingly enough, was, and in context of other scripture we won't necessarily look at, pasture land, sheep and goats, and a few farmer folks around the area all the way up until hundreds of years later.

When Mazul was founded, it was not on the site of Nineveh. It was across the river and expanded to cover the area and overtake it, and the ruins were not found until, relatively speaking, lately. So that gives you an idea of where they're located and who the Ninevites are in rough terms.

But I think we need to be considering a little bit more than just this. Because Nineveh is the capital, as I've already said, of Assyria. This book is about the capital and as such, the entirety of the empire. This is about a kingdom. An entire people, not just and restricted to the people living within the city limits, if you will.

I would contend with you. And as such, you have this people described in chapter 1, 9 through 11. Read with me, if you will, 9 through 11. What do you conspire against the Lord? He will make an utter end of it. Affliction will not rise up a second time.

For while tangled like thorns and while drunken like drunkards, they shall be devoured like stubble, fully dried. From you comes forth one who plots evil against the Lord, a wicked counselor. And that term there, wicked counselor being exactly the same as the wicked one in our text. So what do we understand about this wicked people from 9 through 11 to help us understand who the wicked one is?

Notice that in verse 11, from you comes forth. So, who is the you in the from you? Drunken conspirators, first of all, in context. It could be any of these who are against the Lord. In specific, you could say Nineveh, or in general, those who are against the Lord.

Comes one. Again, this could be in specific Nineveh or. It could be the king coming out of Nineveh. What I'd like to propose to you, either way, whether it is the king coming out of Nineveh, or whether it is Nineveh coming out of the people, broadly Assyria, either way, you have a superpower leading the way.

They are the hegemon. They are leading the known world, if you will, in their opposition. The king leads his people. The Assyrians lead their allies. You have those for God and those against God. These are the against God camp. This is the whole sum of them they represent.

Look further, if you will. Verse 14, also look at the context here. Notice what does it say here? The Lord has given a command concerning you. Your name shall be perpetrated no longer. Out of the house of your gods, I will cut off the carved image and the molded image.

I will dig your grave, for you are vile. I'll point out something interesting here. The primary deity that the Assyrians as a whole followed, from which they derived their name, was Asur. After the fall of Nineveh, worship of this particular false god, this idol, Virtually speaking, died out, and very soon after was completely gone.

They did not want to worship a God who could not conquer, who could not defend, who was proven to be false. So you have this people who are leading the world and they are spreading their worship of their false God, forcing them to worship this false God at the end of a blade.

And then ultimately, that which they represent, opposition to God, is forcibly destroyed. So those, the wicked ones, the wicked counselor, the ones who are counseling and leading the world in opposition, that is the wicked one. As such, and looking at verse 9, a question for us this morning: Do you oppose God?

Or you could put it another way: who do you worship? Do you worship God or fill in the blank? Because that's your only two options. Do you worship God or fill in the blank? There, in fact, is a demonstration of who God is if you are opposing Him.

Go back and read the entirety of chapter 1 up to our particular text this morning, you'll see who it is that you are opposing if you are opposing God. If you're casting your lots with Nineveh. And if you are, I'd present to you that there is no hope.

And that's an odd thing, perhaps, for me to say. That doesn't sound right. You're supposed to say, oh, there is hope. Oh, there's always hope. Well, no. Allow me to double down in case you can't read the text. Let me make it clear for you. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 12.

Remember that you were at the time separated from Christ, alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 1 Thessalonians 4, 13, but we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, speaking to Christians, but about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

I believe, related to this, Mark chapter 3, verses 28 and 29, Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven, the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter. But whoever blasphemies Against the Holy Spirit, never, I say again, never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.

There are only two camps. You can follow the example of Nineveh, or you can follow God. You can oppose God, or you can worship God. And if you oppose God, there is no hope. We'll continue looking with this said, understanding who the Wicked One is, and perhaps that's some of you in this room that can identify with the Wicked One.

What then is the proclamation? What can we understand is said of them? And in this, we will look at that proclamation. First of all, what is the delivery of that proclamation? And I'd suggest to you that two things come out of this text. One, that this proclamation is imminent and unavoidable.

It is imminent and unavoidable because we see that the feet of him, and I'd like to focus on this word, the one who brings good tidings. If you look at the word, it's actually the idea is of one who receives the good tidings. But it's receiving the good tidings with the purpose of delivering them.

Think about a courier who gets orders. Orders from his captain to take to somebody else. I receive the word to take elsewhere. I receive it in order to give it. And this is the idea, they're bringing a message. The feet of the one who has received the message, let's say, mission that has been given.

And by the way, I find a certain amount of irony in this. This idea of one who has received in order to give, because is not Nahum himself receiving as prophet a word to deliver to us? In turn, are we not, by virtue of reading these words, receiving a message?

And I would contend, with the purpose of delivering that message. There are layers within just this one word, which I would really enjoy going to great depth beyond just this, but I think the idea in general is related here. But it doesn't stop there. They've received in order to give.

They are on the mountains. They are on the way, and they proclaim peace. This word, if you dig into it, causes the peace to be heard, causes to be heard. The idea is, I have my mission, I've received the word to give, and it is given. It is completed.

Nothing has hindered the message from being given. Nothing has stopped the message. Received and delivered, signed, sealed, and given. So we see it is caused to be heard. It is unavoidably understood. By the way, this happened within history. This is of Nineveh. Nineveh is destroyed. Nineveh, as I showed you on the map, is far to the east.

It would have taken time for them to receive the word of what happened when Nineveh is destroyed. The couriers with the good news would have been coming across the mountains, probably coming from the east, either from the north or across the Mount of Olives, and declaring, Nineveh has fallen.

It is complete. It has happened. They cannot receive news to give you unless the thing they are going to give you has happened. This news, this good proclamation is completed, and the news of it is on the way. We are ready to receive it, and I would contend by reading these words, have received it.

With this said, I would like to look at this idea: the behold on the mountains the feet of him who brings good tidings. This is, in fact, not the only place where either these exact words or something very similar appear. If you look, I would like to look.

At Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 9. Isaiah 40 and verse 9. O Zion, you who bring good tidings, get up into the high mountain, O Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength. Lift it up, be not afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God.

Look also at Isaiah chapter 52 and verses 7 through 8. And you see something very similar. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, Your God reigns.

Your watchmen shall lift up their voices. With their voices they shall sing together, for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord brings back Zion. Notice one is Zion speaking, the other is Zion being spoken to. In both, however, and in Isaiah 52, the watchmen in hearing the news begin to echo it.

If you look in Zechariah chapter 14, we see another very similar idea going on. In this text, it's speaking of Jesus. And it says that, starting in verse 4, on that day, his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the mount shall go northward, the other southward.

And you shall flee to the valley of the mountains, of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. You shall flee as you have fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come and all his holy ones with him.

All his holy ones with him. Jesus will come. We will have peace. From now, from the times of the Old Testament through now and up to that day, this same declaration is given, including the day when Jesus' feet step down on the Mount of Olives, and we with him, when those he brings with him are declaring.

I would contend with you, in a very real sense, God has declared, and because God has declared, we can declare it is. So. We do not have the authority to do so if it were not for God's declaration. So we see the declaration is imminent, it is unavoidable, and we are to make that proclamation, which tells us a few things about, more things about the nature of its delivery.

It is conveyed by people. As we see in this text, the good news is spread by people. When you look at how this phrase is used in Romans chapter 10, verse 5, we declare the gospel. God has chosen for his own reasons to use us to tell people the good news.

It is sensible. God has given us a scripture which we can read with our eyes, which can be read to us and heard with our ears. The Holy Spirit speaks, but I believe that by and large, if not entirely, he speaks through our senses. It is not some warm, fuzzy little feeling that I feel, as many other individuals would have us say.

Just go with your heart. What does your heart tell you? He has told us the truth. He has communicated it to us sensibly and caused us to understand all of it. Caused us to understand it. As we see throughout the first chapters of Romans, as we see regularly, the Spirit communicates and illumines the word to us so that we can understand what we've heard, and we are without excuse with what we see.

We have the good news, the proclamation. We know of the wicked one, we know of what is going to happen to them, as we're going to look at in just a second, and we know it because of those who are sent, because of the revelation of God clearly understood.

So, what is the content of this message? As we've already hinted at just a little bit, well, it's four things in brief, I would argue, and let's look at each one in turn. First, the good tidings. It is good tidings. And this kind of goes back to in the introduction where I said, you have a book of judgment, and in this book of judgment, we are comforted.

How are we to understand this? It is good that evil is punished. And we've seen this in Revelation a good bit. In Isaiah chapter 43, verses 3 and 4. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush, and Seba, in exchange for you.

Because you are precious in my eyes and honored, and I love you. I give men in return for you peoples in exchange for your life. The fact is that there are those who will not come to salvation, who oppose God, the wicked one, and they will be punished.

God loves them, but he gives them willingly, as he is reaching to us with the good news. Death is the result of sin, but he saves. And in this, I'd like to just for a moment recognize the day that it is, Memorial Day. And in trying to explain what I mean by these good tidings through judgment, it is not exactly entirely one-for-one, but something to think of.

We are sad for those who died, who died for, in our case, on this day, for our country. But we would not undo it. The thing that was purchased is too precious. Some things are worth the giving of life. We remember the sacrifice. We have a memorial set aside to them.

And we, at the same time, are glad for the thing that they purchased. Need I remind you, God gave His Son, willingly gave His Son, Jesus, who gave up His life as a ransom for us, a much more precious gift for a much more precious reason, and it would not be undone.

The fact is, there is a price that must be paid, and it is either paid by the one who sins or it is paid in Christ who saves us. But the price is paid. And the fact that the price is paid and that there is justice is good news.

It is a good thing that there is justice, and it is a good thing that the enemies of Christ are sacrificed for their sins. They pay eternally for their own sins since they did not accept the gift given. The next thing I will point out: peace. This is the next content of what is coming.

Peace, a word that is familiar to us, shalom. And this idea here is used throughout Scripture that the war is won. You have those opposed to Christ, but when the war is won, that means the war is over. That means there is no one left opposing God. And this is part of why it is good tidings, because the opposition is ended, cut off, as we'll see in a moment.

It's the idea of safety and security. It's the idea that we can rest in knowing that nobody and nothing will come against anymore. Something that the Israelites had not known for their entire existence in Israel. You'll remember going back that they fought coming into the land, and they fought ever since then.

Even with a few moments, it was mere moments of peace. They never really enjoyed the full thing. Which leads us to the idea that the wicked one will no longer pass through. And the words here, if I was to be a little bit wooden, not continue again to pass.

It's the idea of a cycle. And I really appreciate Pat, wherever you went, the lesson this morning. I really enjoyed that because you begin to see, and knowing the history and You all to come to Sunday school to see this history. You begin to see some of these things they're going through.

This idea of them coming through, Israel, the northern kingdoms is destroyed, and then Jerusalem is besieged. Shortly after that, as we talked about earlier, Assyria comes through the land. They're not even worried about Judah. They're worried about Egypt. They come and they sack Thebes. And en route, they loot and harm the land.

And then later, Neko from Egypt passes through the land, going the opposite direction, kills Josiah. And it's just this ongoing and continual cycle. And this begins a section I'd like to point out to you in this in the next couple points I make. What is this idea of total victory?

What is the idea going on here? Because, as we've already said, as we note in verse 8, you have God's general enemies and what God does to those who oppose him. In verse 9, it asks the question about those who oppose God and the fact that they will not rise up.

In verse 14, you have this idea again that it's those led in idol worship. And then we understand that the wicked one, Nineveh, those who follow them, the proclamation that they will be cut off and we will have peace. And this causes something that I wrote up there.

But didn't really mention in the outline. A tactical pause. This should cause everybody to wonder: if you didn't ask the question before now, let me bring it to mind. What is the point of a peace that's not really peace? What could this possibly mean? Because the fact is, Nineveh, the city, fell in 612.

But as I just said, Neco, the Pharaoh, passed through in 609 only a few years later. Passed through, killed, destroying masses of people. Afterwards, the Assyrians were utterly wiped out a few years after that, and then the Babylonians came. The exiles began. After this, Judah started a string of being controlled by foreigners and in different ways and different shapes.

And we can go through the entire history, as to some extent you did this morning. And this, by the way, has continued all the way up to present day, and even in present day, while they are not necessarily captivated by anybody, they are nonetheless terrorized constantly. This leads me, I'd like to share very briefly one of my favorite poems I've shown.

Shared it before with the Yags, and it should be familiar to many of you. Then, from each black, accursed mouth, the cannon thundered in the south, and with the sound the carols drowned of peace on earth, goodwill to men. It was as if an earthquake rent the hearthstones of a continent and made forlorn the houses born of peace on earth, goodwill to men.

And in despair, I bowed my head. There is no peace on earth, I said, for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men. Then peeled the bells more loud and deep. God is not dead, nor doth he sleep. The wrong shall fail, the right prevail with peace on earth, goodwill to men.

Most of y'all, or at least many of you, are familiar with this as it has become a well-known song. What you may not be familiar with is the story behind it. Longfellow's wife was burned to death in 1861. His son was wounded in the Civil War in 1863.

He wrote this poem in 1863 after a hiatus from writing anything and publishing anything that followed his wife's death. And it was published a few years later. This was likely one of the first things he wrote after these tragedies. And it, I think, captures, as does when you read these words, a thought that many of us have.

What are we to do with this reality? In fact, we're promised in scriptures, if you were not aware, we are promised pain and suffering. Not just an experience of the Israelites, but our promise as well. Go and read Matthew chapter 24, verse 9, 2 Corinthians 4, 8 through 10.

This is our lot in life. So why, if we know that, why do we continue and why do we get these words? We're going to look at this more in depth in a second, but first let me suggest to you, soldiers fight not because it is easy, not because they understand the entirety of what is going on.

And you could give many answers, but I'll give my personal answer. Why does a soldier fight? Because they have hope. If they don't have hope, then they either surrender or they go into a fruitless Meaningless attack and without any aim or desire. They're not actually fighting for their country anymore, as we've seen in some places and sometimes in history.

But those who fight, who really fight, do so because they have hope. If you oppose God, as I said earlier, you don't have that hope. There is no fight. The fight is over for you. If you are on the side of God, if you believe in God, if you follow God, you do have that hope.

And this gives us, after our pause thinking about this, how do we respond from the text? Not just my words, but from the text. There's two imperatives within verse 15. In the middle of the verse, O Judah, keep your appointed feasts. Perform your vows. Keep and perform. Keep your feasts.

And in this, it's talking, I believe, about the feasts from the law. You can go back and read about what these feasts are and understand them in Exodus and Leviticus 23. In Leviticus 23, too, it defines the idea of feasts with the words holy convocation. I find this incredibly fascinating because holy ensures.

If I was trying to get the idea of what holy means across, it would be set apart. Convocation means to assemble together. The word then, holy convocation, wrapped up in the word feasts, becomes an oxymoron, a set apart coming together. But that's exactly what we are doing today.

And by the way, the feasts as described, the seven feasts that are outlined, include the Sabbath days, which in a church setting in the new covenant is the Lord's Day. We celebrate the Lord on the Lord's Day by coming together out of the world. I find this a beautiful thing that I could spend more time on.

But that's the first command that we are given in response to our text. The second, complete your vows. And it's not entirely 100% clear. You ask the question, what vows? This idea could be, we're under siege, you make vows to the Lord. If you get us out of this, I'll give you, you know, and some commentators suggest that.

But I would tend to look back, if you look at Joshua, there's a history of Israel as a people making vows. If you look at the vision of the people, Look back at Joshua chapter 24, verses 21 to 25. You see one such place. Joshua 24, 21. And the people said to Joshua, No, but we will serve the Lord.

So Joshua said to the people, You are witness against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord for yourselves to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses. Now therefore, he said, Put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord God of Israel.

And the people said to Joshua, The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey. So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. Then, fast forward a few generations, 2 Kings chapter 23, verses 1 through 3, the law was lost.

And Josiah, after they find it, commands and brings the people together, as we read in 23, verse 1. Now the king sent them to gather all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to him. The king went up to the house of the Lord, and with all the men of Judah, and with him all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great, and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant, which had been found in the house of the Lord.

Then the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord to follow the Lord. Lord and keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul to perform the words of this covenant that were written in the book.

Then all the people took a stand for the covenant. So you have examples of the vows that they have made through the years repetitively. Do you notice anything odd? Again, we have the context of our verses. You have wicked ones opposing God, and God has declared they will be punished and judged.

Therefore, do this. Command, do this, because of Nineveh falling. Is this a new command? No. Go back, by the way, I find this interesting. We read before at the beginning of the mess, at the beginning of the service, I read from 1 John chapter 5, which talks about the Son being worshipped if you truly worship the Father, about the gospel coming through the Son.

A new command I give you, wrapped up in the Son. And yet it's not a new command. It's the same command. A consistent command through all of Scripture. We have here a new context and an old command. Just as we have today, I would recommend to you. We have a new context, our context, an old command.

God will destroy and cut off the wicked one. Other wicked ones will continue to show up. Each individual, wicked one showing up individually in history will be cut off. And eventually, and we'll see this tonight as we begin looking at chapter 2, eventually we will see the conclusion of the matter, as we've been talking about in Revelation and over and over, and perhaps you can see in verse 15 in some sense.

But at the very least, every wicked one that comes up will be cut off. And we're to continue. So, my look at this. How am I to interpret these words? What am I to do with this idea as we're contemplating it? Keep the feasts, keep gathering together. No matter what happens, be it natural things.

Like COVID, things like diseases and sickness, and let me put it this way: when we give our marriage vows, we often say, in sickness and in health, you do not part away from the one you love simply because of those things. And I get it, lest anybody jump up and down.

If you're, you know, deathly ill and you can't get out of bed, that's what it is. But understand me correctly. You don't leave God because you get sick one day. You don't stop worshiping God because you don't feel good. The government comes in and says, stop doing this, stop gathering together.

You don't stop worshiping the one you love because a third party, whoever it is, tells you to. You can't be held. You cannot be stopped. You will pursue the one you love. And because of that, we see here the continuation of our feasts, of our worship of God and our vows to Him, our obeying His commands.

I don't also, society begins to tell me these things are right. It is okay to sleep around. It is okay. For two men to get married. It's okay to do all these things that God has commanded us not to do. No, the one I love who loves me has said otherwise, and I follow him no matter what.

Whether it is a physical conflict, as in the case of Nineveh, or the ideological battles that we face, whatever the nature of the conflict we are fighting in this war, and it is a war, we are nonetheless to continue. We continue the fight, not because it is easy for us to do, and not because we will see the end of the fight.

Some of us will fall, some of us will be hurt, but we continue anyway. Nineveh falls. Your opponents in this life will fall, and whether you see it or not. The individuals that heard this prophecy, some of them may have passed before it was fulfilled. That doesn't change anything.

Their commands are the same. Whether you make it to see the fulfillment or not, in the individual case or in the ultimate case, it does not matter. We continue because we have hope and know what has been declared. That is the good news. I can believe and trust in a God who is in control.

I can believe and trust in a God who is ultimately going to end the war. All opposition will cease. That is what it means to be a Christian. That is what it means to be a believer. So the question is: the good news has been declared. The result has been declared.

So for you in this room, is this news that has been declared good news? Are you encouraged and comforted knowing why we fight? Or is this the bad news that you're on the wrong side? In which case, I would encourage you to stop opposing. Instead, submit to the Lord.

And that is our word today. Pray with me, if you will. Dear Lord, I thank you. For those of us in this room who have been serving you, I thank you that no matter the pains, no matter the hurts, that you have given us the good news, that we know you are in control, that we can trust you, that we can.

Believe in you and what you have said, that we can worship and serve you in the knowledge and hope that every enemy will be silenced, that the war is not in vain, that you are in control and that you love us. I pray this.