Show Notes
Pastor Christopher Chelpka
1 Samuel 30:21-31 "Gifts in the Kingdom of God"
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] You would remind us who we are in a world that is so confused about identity, in a world where there are so many pressures to be this or that thing, or this or that person.
[00:00:14] Lord, we ask that you would secure us, secure our hearts in the knowledge that we belong to you, that we are yours, your children, the sheep of your pasture, your elect, the loved ones of God.
[00:00:34] Lord, what a joyous thing it is to be known by you and to receive all the gifts of your goodness and grace.
[00:00:43] We ask now that as we come to the reading and preaching of your word, that you would continue to instill and infuse and press these truths on our hearts, that we might greater understand the kingdom of God, our place in it, and you to whom all praise belongs. We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.
[00:01:08] Please remain standing and let's turn our attention to 1st Samuel, chapter 30, 1st Samuel 30.
[00:01:30] I'll remind you just a moment, just a little bit of the context before we read.
[00:01:36] David went out to war with the Philistines, but was sent back to a city that he had been given to them, a city called Ziklag.
[00:01:46] When he arrives, he finds that another group, the Amalekites, had burned the city and taken all the wives and children.
[00:01:55] He and warriors go to recapture their spoils and save their families, and they are successful because of the mighty work of God. There were not very many people that did this. This was a small group, and yet they defeated this great army of the Amalekites.
[00:02:18] But on their way there, there was a group of men that were tired for good reason, and they stayed behind watching the baggage while others went into battle. Now as they come back from that battle, they meet up with these men who had stayed behind and there's a little bit of a conflict. So let's hear God's word this morning. So this is chapter 30, verse 21, first Samuel 30, 21 then David came to the 200 men who had been too exhausted to follow David and who had been left at the brook Besor and they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. And when David came near to the people, he greeted them. They then all the wicked and worthless fellows among the men who had gone with David said, because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except that each man may lead away his wife and children and depart.
[00:03:20] But David said, you shall not do so, my brothers, with what the Lord has given us, he has preserved us and given into our hand the band that came against us, who would listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage they shall share alike. And he made it a statute and a rule for Israel from that day forward to this day.
[00:03:49] When David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the spoil to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord.
[00:03:59] It was for those in Bethel and Ramoth and the Negeb, in Ramoth, of the Negeb, in Jattir, in Aroer, in Sifmoth and in Eshtehoma, in Rakhal, in the cities of the Jerimelites, in the cities of the Kenites, in Hormah, in Borshon, in Aphak, in Hebron, for all the places where David and his men had roamed.
[00:04:27] You may be seated.
[00:04:43] So, sharing, sharing.
[00:04:48] Sometimes it's very easy and sometimes it's very hard.
[00:04:52] We all know this, right?
[00:04:54] It's easy when you know somebody's going to share back with you.
[00:04:58] You give a present at this party, and you know that they're going to give you a present at the next party.
[00:05:04] Or it's easy to share.
[00:05:06] And this could be gifts, it could be your time, it could be your energy, your emotional energy.
[00:05:14] When you share with others, it's easy when you know that they're going to be your friend, that they're going to give you something in return.
[00:05:24] It can also be easy to share, although we don't call it sharing, but giving things to others when we feel like we owe it to them, right? They've earned it in some way, maybe our honor, maybe they've done a certain amount of work.
[00:05:38] In these instances, sharing or the giving of our things to others are less difficult.
[00:05:45] But there's other times when it can be really hard.
[00:05:49] Try to think about a time, maybe even recently, when you found it difficult to share something.
[00:05:57] Like I said, maybe it was some of your time, maybe it was some of your heart, maybe it was money or some object.
[00:06:08] It can be difficult to share when.
[00:06:11] When we really, really like the thing that we have.
[00:06:15] If you, let's say your mom makes a big, delicious casserole, your favorite food, and you love the middle piece, or maybe you're an edge person, you get that piece that you want, but it's kind of one of just a few. And then your brothers and sisters ask you if they can have some.
[00:06:38] Oh, it's so hard.
[00:06:41] It can be really hard to share why? Because you love it so much.
[00:06:46] You love a thing. Or maybe it's not just because you loved it, but it's because you've worked really, really hard for something.
[00:06:55] Maybe you have put in hours and hours and hours of work to get a car or a special toy or anything big or small, and you get it, and it's brand new and you just got it. And then somebody says, could I borrow it? And you go, I don't really like that idea.
[00:07:19] Because you just worked so hard to get it. Not only do you love it, but you feel and you do deserve it.
[00:07:26] You've rightfully worked and strived to get something, and now it's almost like they're just getting it for free.
[00:07:34] And there's something about that that feels not fair.
[00:07:41] There's all kinds of other things. And I'd encourage you to think about this a little bit.
[00:07:45] Next time you find it difficult to share, ask why is this difficult?
[00:07:51] Why is this difficult? There's something underneath that feeling that's driving that. Maybe it's a sense of fairness, maybe it's a sense of love. Maybe it's duty or obligation. It can be a lot of different things. I encourage you to think about that.
[00:08:07] The soldiers, some of the soldiers in this story are finding it difficult to share.
[00:08:13] And David makes it a rule to share in a really important passage that tells us a lot about God and his kingdom, this kingdom of redemption that we all belong to, a kingdom that David is foreshadowing and prefiguring here that's ultimately fulfilled in Jesus.
[00:08:37] We want to think about this this morning. Why is sharing important and even essential for Christians?
[00:08:46] Now, I'm going to say up front, I'm not going to focus on this, but I'll say we don't always have to give all of our things to anyone who asks. That's not what I'm saying.
[00:08:56] There's wisdom in these kinds of things, but we also don't want to qualify these things to death in such a way that we excuse ourselves from any kind of act of love.
[00:09:08] We don't want to excuse ourselves from sharing because as I said, it's important and it's essential part of the Christian life.
[00:09:20] And today we'll think about why that is what that looks like.
[00:09:25] My hope is that as we think about this passage this morning, this truth will become more important to us and we'll see that sharing makes sense as Christians. And not only does it make sense, but it even is a joyful thing.
[00:09:42] So the thing to focus on this morning is this aspect, this truth about God's redemptive kingdom, that it is a gracious one.
[00:09:53] And because it's a gracious one, that affects how we act, what we do.
[00:09:59] It affects the way that we give.
[00:10:02] Now when I say gracious, what do I mean? I mean we receive something and there's an aspect about the kingdom of God that isn't due to us because we earned anything.
[00:10:16] In other words, we belong to the kingdom of God, we belong to his work, we receive his benefits, his presence, all these things, not because we earned it, but because he gives it freely to us.
[00:10:31] In other words, God shared with us when we didn't deserve it. In fact, it was just the opposite.
[00:10:39] It was not that we had earned it, but we sort of dis earned it. If I could put it that way. We didn't. Only we not only failed to merit it, but we demerited it.
[00:10:50] The Bible tells us that because of our sins, the wages of sin is death.
[00:10:56] The Bible tells us that because of our sins, God's wrath is being stored up against us to be revealed on the last day, the day of judgment.
[00:11:07] And so as people who are in Christ and the Bible says there's no condemnation for us, judgment has passed. We have to look around, see ourselves as citizens of this kingdom, and ask ourselves what happened here? How did I, who is someone who earned God's wrath, now am called his son, his daughter?
[00:11:30] How is it that I, as a person who had sinned against God, rebelled against God, did not love him, and did not love my neighbors, and in many ways in my flesh, still struggle with these things?
[00:11:42] How is it that I can belong to him?
[00:11:46] How can I, as someone who's unworthy and full of shame and someone who's committed so many terrible things, be worthy of the blessings of eternal life?
[00:12:00] There's nothing that I've done or you've done in our lives that we can look at and we say, well yeah, there's a lot of messed up things but man there that was worthy of eternal life.
[00:12:10] Nothing even comes close. The scriptures say that even if we did all that we ought to do, we've simply done all we ought to do.
[00:12:20] This is an amazing thing to belong to Jesus, to be known by him.
[00:12:27] How is it that this can be?
[00:12:30] The answer is because the kingdom of God and its king are gracious. The kingdom of God is a gracious kingdom and its king is a gracious king.
[00:12:42] And we see that demonstrated here in 1st Samuel, chapter 30 based we see that God's kingdom is a gracious kingdom because it's based on God's work. This is what David understands.
[00:12:54] So the soldiers come back, they see these other people who were too tired. They didn't fight. And that's true.
[00:13:02] Those who did fight, fought hard. They had marched for a long time. They were in an extremely long battle. It was dangerous, it was difficult. And they come back and here are these men, and they haven't done that work.
[00:13:19] Now, you could say sitting with the baggage is an important part, and indeed it is.
[00:13:26] They did play a part in this work, but that's not the foundational principle. Why this sharing is important in the kingdom, because we see, for example, that the elders of Israel are also given gifts, and they weren't even with the baggage there at the end of the chapter.
[00:13:45] So they're upset.
[00:13:48] They say to David and these soldiers, they say, because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we recovered, except that each man may lead away his wife and children and depart.
[00:14:04] How gracious of them to give them back their wives and children, right? So they say, okay, you can have your wives and kids back. And then. And then notice the word too, and depart. And it's like they don't even want to be with them. You can see because of what's happened, there's. There's internal struggles. These worthless fellows, these worthless and wicked fellows here among the people of God are saying things that ought not to be said.
[00:14:34] They give some rationalization for it that we can maybe resonate with a little bit.
[00:14:39] But the Scripture evaluates them. The Holy Spirit evaluates them, and we should evaluate this behavior in the same way, wickedness and worthlessness.
[00:14:49] All right, so what's David's response? Verse 23:1. He forbids it. He says, you shall not do so, my brothers.
[00:14:57] And then he gives us some theology with what the Lord has given us.
[00:15:05] He begins to undermine a problem that they have in their thinking. Our theology affects the way that we act, what's going on. They think that they deserve this stuff. They think that the spoils are theirs, that that edge piece or center, depending on which one you are, belongs to them because it's theirs.
[00:15:27] But David reminds them, you have this because the Lord gave it to you.
[00:15:34] This is not your right. This is not your great honor. This is yours because you received it.
[00:15:41] And this is true, as we saw in the details of the battle. And David talks about this. He says, he gives some more detail to this. He says, he, the Lord has preserved us and given into our hand, the band that came against us.
[00:15:58] So the kingdom of God is established because of God.
[00:16:07] The redemption of God's people, the salvation of the people, of the women, of the children, of the men. This all happened because of who?
[00:16:16] Because of God and God's great work.
[00:16:20] Now we can say it's gracious and not based on man's work because of what David says here. It's based on God's work. David's victory over Amalek was because of what God had done, not because of what the men had done. Which meant that the re. The reason they had the spoils was because of what God had done, not because of what the men had done.
[00:16:45] This point, beloved, gets emphasized even more if we step backwards and remind ourselves how they even got into this mess.
[00:16:53] This isn't just some random battle that happened. This is happening because David did. Did what he was not supposed to do. And he fled, Judah, into the arms of the Philistines, along with the men who went with him.
[00:17:08] They left. They left the Lord, they left the land. They left because they were scared, because they didn't trust the God. They did not have in their hearts, the faith that they needed to follow the Lord. And so they took a sinful shortcut.
[00:17:28] That's the context in which God saves them.
[00:17:31] God is gracious in this, and he gives them great victory.
[00:17:35] So that's David's victory over Amalek.
[00:17:38] What does David's greater son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, do?
[00:17:43] He doesn't just defeat a local enemy at a particular time. Jesus defeats sin itself, the devil, all the evil ones. Jesus defeats death, which comes to every single person.
[00:18:01] And what are the spoils of Jesus? Great war against sin and death. And the devil. What are the victories that he? Or what are the spoils and the benefits that he gives so many?
[00:18:14] Forgiveness, honor, glory, eternal life, the Holy Spirit, the fruits of the Spirit, communion and fellowship with one another, with him. Courage, bravery.
[00:18:27] So many things come to us because of Jesus victory.
[00:18:33] So what happens when we fight against this principle that God, that God is the one who did the work, that God is the one who earned the spoils.
[00:18:47] We fight against God.
[00:18:50] It's not just being selfish, although it's that. But by focusing on ourselves, by thinking we somehow earned this, we somehow did this, we received this for ourselves. And therefore this person doesn't deserve this, and that person doesn't deserve this. Or maybe you even put it on yourself and you say, I don't deserve this, I don't belong.
[00:19:09] All this fighting against this principle of grace means fighting, fighting against God.
[00:19:16] When we refuse, when these soldiers think about them for a moment and then we'll apply it ourselves. When these soldiers refuse to share the spoils, what are they doing?
[00:19:27] They're essentially saying the spoils belong to them because they rightfully earned them.
[00:19:34] They're denying the work of God, which is why David corrects it in the way he does.
[00:19:40] But by denying the work of God for them, in a way, they're denying their own share in it, and they're denying the share that rightfully belongs to others.
[00:19:51] When we fight against the principle of God's gracious work, we hurt ourselves, we hurt others, and we fight against the Lord.
[00:20:03] But when we embrace that principle of grace, when we say, the Lord did this, the Lord won the battle, what happens now?
[00:20:14] Are our hearts filled with protection and covetousness and selfishness?
[00:20:20] No. When we recognize that God has won the battle, that God has given us more than we deserve and a surplus upon surplus of these things, we say, here you go, and here you go and here you go. And it doesn't feel like a burden.
[00:20:36] Our hearts are filled with joy, aren't they? When we recognize we have so much, we can so freely give it to others because it was first given to us.
[00:20:50] This is.
[00:20:53] This principle is illustrated a number of ways. One of Jesus parables, of course, that man who is forgiven also all of that money, that great debt that he was owed, and then he went to someone who was owed a very little amount, and he refused to forgive his debts and threw him in prison. Right? And you sense the unfairness of that. But the flip side of it's also true. What should happen when you are given more than you could ever deserve, more than you could ever really handle on your own.
[00:21:30] It is a gift that we can give and we can give freely to others, and it becomes a joyful thing.
[00:21:39] When we embrace the kingdom of God as a gracious kingdom, it means you can enjoy the spoils of the war instead of being protective about them or fearful about losing them because you didn't even earn them in the first place. God did it, and he gave them freely to you.
[00:21:58] It means you can enjoy your solidarity with others instead of being protective and fighting and pushing and shoving and elbowing. It means embracing and bringing others in and saying, you can have some and you can have some, and we can share these things together.
[00:22:14] And then we'll say, finally, instead, when we embrace the graciousness of God's kingdom, instead of fighting against God and the gifts that he just gave to us. We give him praise.
[00:22:27] Imagine going to your own birthday party and your parents and your friends shower you with gifts and then you get really mad at them all.
[00:22:37] How's that going to go?
[00:22:39] How's that going to feel?
[00:22:41] No, when we embrace the love that is given to us, there's joy in those relationships.
[00:22:48] Thank you.
[00:22:49] Praise you.
[00:22:51] And we celebrate together.
[00:22:54] We see that the graciousness of God, of God's king, or we see that God's kingdom is gracious because it's based on God's work and also his generosity.
[00:23:05] Not only did God do the work, but he was generous with the work.
[00:23:11] And he is generous in a way that reminds us that it all belongs to to Him.
[00:23:18] Would you turn with me to Matthew, chapter 20? I want to read to you another parable from our Lord where He helps us to understand this.
[00:23:30] As you're turning there, I'll remind you that this is very different from the way the world typically works.
[00:23:39] Much of our lives are built around a principle of you do the work, you get the reward. And that's true in a lot of instances. But Jesus wants us to really, really, really, really, really, really, really understand that the kingdom of God, the redemptive kingdom of God, is different.
[00:23:58] It's so different that it might upset you.
[00:24:02] It's so different that it might confuse you.
[00:24:06] It might make you feel weird. It might make be something that's hard to get your heart around.
[00:24:15] Nevertheless, it is what it is, and it's a really good thing. It is what it is because it means we can be a part of it. Listen to what Jesus says.
[00:24:24] This is Matthew 20.
[00:24:27] For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
[00:24:34] After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
[00:24:39] And going about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace. And he said to them, you go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right, I will give you. So they went going out again. About the sixth hour and the ninth hour he did the same. And about the 11th hour he went out and found others saying or others standing. And he said to them, why do you stand here idle all day?
[00:25:03] They said to him, because no one has hired us.
[00:25:06] He said to them, you go into the vineyard too. And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last up to the first. And when those whom he hired about the 11th hour came, each of them received a denarius.
[00:25:26] And when those who hired first came, they thought they would receive more. But each of them also received a denarius.
[00:25:34] And on receiving it, they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, these last worked only one hour. And you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.
[00:25:48] But he replied to one of them, friend, I am doing you no wrong.
[00:25:53] Did you not agree with me? For a denarius, take what belongs to you and go.
[00:25:58] I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you.
[00:26:03] Am I not allowed to do what I choose? Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?
[00:26:14] So the last will be first and the first last?
[00:26:21] You see what I mean?
[00:26:24] I don't know about you. I find it personally very easy to relate with these other workers.
[00:26:30] Wait a second.
[00:26:32] I worked really hard.
[00:26:34] I was in the sun, I was sweating. I got the sunburn. This guy just showed up and he's getting paid the same thing as me.
[00:26:44] On a principle of works. It is not fair, but notice how the parable begins.
[00:26:53] He doesn't say the principle of works is like. He says the kingdom of heaven is like.
[00:27:02] And that's because the kingdom of heaven is not based on a principle in which we do a certain number of things and then get rewarded for that thing in which God gives.
[00:27:16] God gives to those who are great and mighty. Great and mighty things. And to those who are last and dishonored or weak, or with the baggage, or late to the game, or became a Christian later on, or struggles with their sin and rejects them.
[00:27:36] No, he gives to them more than they deserve.
[00:27:42] Why?
[00:27:43] Because he's generous.
[00:27:47] He's generous.
[00:27:49] The kingdom of God is gracious because it's based on God's work, God's possessions, God's time, God's plans, God's victory through Christ.
[00:28:01] And the kingdom of God is gracious because it's based on his generosity.
[00:28:06] He is a generous God. He doesn't just do the work, he also is generous. And David exemplifies that as he gives to these soldiers. And he says, you belong to this kingdom. We all are under God. We all receive this together. And then also to the elders of Israel. Jesus demonstrates that in this parable.
[00:28:29] And of course, Jesus demonstrates this with his own life.
[00:28:34] When we think about the generosity of God, consider this verse. This is Second Samuel. I'm sorry. Second Corinthians, chapter 8, verse 9. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake, he became poor so that you by his poverty might become rich.
[00:29:00] Because we belong to Jesus Christ, the One who gave up Himself for us, who humbled himself and gave of his life, who suffered the wrath that we deserved. We have everything we could ever need.
[00:29:17] We have a hope and an inheritance that is so solid, so secure, a life that is so rich and so abundant, that giving a little bit or even a lot of the things of this world, even giving our life, doesn't compare to the things that we are receiving in Christ.
[00:29:39] In him we have a surplus of blessings, a surplus of gifts. The Holy Spirit himself and life everlasting.
[00:29:51] That's not something you want to reject.
[00:29:54] That's not something you want to fight against.
[00:29:57] The gracious King and the gracious kingdom of God is something we want to embrace and receive as quickly and as often as we can. Because it's a part of that grace, or it's because of that grace that we can live, and not just live, but live in joy and live in generosity.
[00:30:21] And the way this plays out in our lives is often by sharing.
[00:30:26] It's often by giving of ourselves in the name of Jesus. We don't always have to say that, but we're thinking it, we're feeling it. As we give God the glory and honor for all we do. We live in that life and we give to others.
[00:30:43] At the beginning of 2 Corinthians 8, Paul says this.
[00:30:48] We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia.
[00:30:54] For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.
[00:31:06] For they gave according to their means, and as I can testify, they gave beyond their means of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints.
[00:31:21] So let me summarize that this is an example of what we see. What happens when the joy of the Lord and the graciousness of the Lord and belonging to this kingdom of grace fills our lives. What happened in the churches of Macedonia? What is Paul saying?
[00:31:38] He says that they were under a severe test of affliction and they had extreme poverty.
[00:31:45] Rough, difficult, the kind of thing that keeps you awake at night, makes you wonder what's going to happen the next day. The kind of thing that often keeps you scrambling for resources and all these kind of things.
[00:31:58] What happened, though, to the Macedonians, even though they had Very little.
[00:32:03] When they heard about the need in Jerusalem, they begged for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints.
[00:32:17] They're saying, just because we're really, really, really poor, don't forget about me and don't exclude me from taking part in the gift in supporting these other believers who are also under hardship.
[00:32:33] Where does that come from?
[00:32:36] Where does that kind of selflessness come from?
[00:32:39] How do they give not only according to their means, but even beyond their means and out of this extreme poverty?
[00:32:47] Well, Paul says because of the grace of God that was poured out among the churches.
[00:32:55] I hope that you know something of that feeling, because if you do, you are tasting the joys and the wonders and the goodness of belonging to the Lord Jesus Christ to experience that joy, the joy of giving of ourselves, the joy of coming back from the battle of the Lord, having the spoils of the Lord, seeing those in need and saying, here's some for you and here's some for you. I've got more than I could ever handle.
[00:33:34] It's a wonderful thing.
[00:33:36] It's a thing that blesses others. It blesses, it gives praise to God, and it demonstrates with such love and power the principle of this kingdom, the graciousness of it.
[00:33:54] So the next time you're in a position to share and know that you should, but are struggling to do it, and I'll do the same.
[00:34:02] We'll think together about all that God has given to us and is giving to us, about the ways in which he loved us before we loved him, about how everything that we have comes from him, and how we don't need to be afraid of losing or of missing out.
[00:34:23] Because God, who is generous and who has saved us in Christ, gives us all the things that we need both in this life and in the life to come.
[00:34:33] Let's pray and ask for God to continue to bless us with his grace.
[00:34:38] Our Heavenly Father, we thank you that the men who had to wait behind, we're not left behind in the blessings of the kingdom of God.
[00:34:51] We thank you, Lord, that as we survey our own lives and we see ways in which we are tired and defeated, ways in which we are sinful and struggling as we look in the ways in which. And we see ways in which we have not been sharing, not been loving, not been generous, that you would forgive us and bless us.
[00:35:16] We have nothing to give to you.
[00:35:19] We have no victory that we can bring to you and say, look, here's what I did.
[00:35:27] Now bless me, Lord. You know it's true.
[00:35:32] And we are trying to humble ourselves and say to you it is because of what you have done and not us, that we are who we are, that we have what we have.
[00:35:45] Lord, fill us with these truths. Put down our pride, overwhelm us, overcome us with the knowledge and the joy of your generosity.
[00:35:58] Help us not to fight against you and the war that you have won on our behalf.
[00:36:06] Instead, Lord, help us to be receivers and thankers and praisers and sharers and givers and lovers.
[00:36:15] Help us to be people that shine brightly with the joy and the goodness of God that has been so which and which you have so wonderfully worked in our lives.
[00:36:30] Lord, your grace is really too marvelous to hold fully in our hearts. It's infinite and wonderful.
[00:36:38] Lord, we ask that you would wrap us up in it. Help us to breathe it in and breathe it out. Help us to shine with the light of God in this world that others would see. And those who do not yet belong to your kingdom, this redemptive kingdom, would come to know you.
[00:36:59] Lord, we ask that they would help, that you would help them to see how amazingly powerful you are, how gracious you are and the great victories you have won over sin, over shame, over guilt, over death and over the devil.
[00:37:18] Lord, we submit ourselves to you and find that in you we are more than conquerors. Through Christ Jesus who saved us, strengthen us in his love and strengthen our generosity.
[00:37:32] We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:37:39] Let's stand together and respond to God this morning by singing him 429 Come, thou fount of every.
