For our Scripture reading this morning, we read together Psalm 104, as well Acts 17, verses 22-31. Psalm 104 and Acts 17, verses 22-31. As we now give our attention to the reading of the Word of God. Praise the Lord, O my soul. O Lord, my God, you are very great. You are clothed with splendor and majesty. He wraps himself in light as with a garment. He stretches out the heavens like a tent and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters. He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind. He makes winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants. He set the earth on its foundations. It can never be moved. You covered it with the deep as with a garment. The waters stood above the mountains, but at your rebuke the waters fled at the sound of your thunder they took to flight. They flowed over the mountains. They went down into the valleys to the place you assigned for them. You set a boundary they cannot cross. Never again will they cover the earth. He makes springs pour water into the ravines. It flows between the mountains. They give water to all the beasts of the field. The wild donkeys quench their thirst. The birds of the air nest by the waters, they sing among the branches. He waters the mountains from his upper chambers, the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his work. He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate, bringing forth food from the earth, wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread that sustains his heart. The trees of the Lord are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. There the birds make their nests, the stork has its home in the pine trees, the high mountains belong to the wild goats, the crags are a refuge for the conies. The moon marks off the seasons and the sun knows when to go down. You bring darkness, it becomes night. And all the beasts of the forest prowl, the lions roar for their prey and seek their food from God. The sun rises and they steal away, they return and lie down in their dens. Then man goes out to his work, to his labor, until evening. How many are your works, O Lord? In wisdom you made them all. The earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number, living things both large and small. There the ships go to and fro, and the Leviathan, which you form, to frolic there. These all look to you to give them their food at the proper time. When you give it to them, they gather it up. When you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things. When you hide your face, they are terrified. When you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. When you send your spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth. May the glory of the Lord endure forever. May the Lord rejoice in His works. He who looks at the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke. I will sing to the Lord all my life. I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. May my meditation be pleasing to him as I rejoice in the Lord. But may sinners vanish from the earth and the wicked be no more. Praise the Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord. Then Acts 7, beginning at verse 22, the context of Paul's visit to Athens. Verse 22, Then Paul stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said, Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription, To an unknown God. Now what you worship as something unknown, I am going to proclaim to you, The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands, and He is not served by human hands as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth, and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being, as some of your own poets have said, we are His offspring. Therefore, since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image made by man's design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world of justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead. If you would also turn with me in the back of the Psalter hymnal to Lord's Day 10, page 17. Lord's Day 10. Considering, indeed, the providence of God. Questions and answers 27 and 28 of Lord's Day 10, page 17. As I read the questions and together we confess the answers. What do you understand by the providence of God? Providence is the almighty and ever-present power of God by which he upholds as with his hand heaven and earth and all creatures and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty, all things, in fact, come to us not by chance, but from His fatherly hand. How does the knowledge of God's creation and providence help us? We can be patient when things go against us, thankful when things go well, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing will separate us from His love. All creatures are so completely in His hand that without His will, they can neither move nor be moved. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we began to consider last week, we believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. He is the one in whom we place our trust. He is the one upon whom we are founded. And since it is true that He created all things, that means that we believe that all things, even ourselves, owe their existence to God. Now, boys and girls, what I mean is that we would not be apart from God. And I don't mean to say that we wouldn't be here in this place or that we wouldn't be at this point in history, but we would not be, period. We would not exist apart from God. And since that also is true, then we must necessarily ask, well, what's next? What happens with all of this? What happens with all that He has created in heaven and on earth? What happens with me? Boys and girls, did you know that only the Christian can answer these questions confidently? In fact, only the Christian has an answer for these questions. Only the Christian can confidently say, as the Catechism says, that all things, in fact, come not by chance, but from His fatherly hand. Anyone who does not truly believe in the triune God cannot even have confidence for the next day, or hour, or minute, or even second. But the believer has confidence in the providence of God. Providence. Again, now this is not a word that you will find recorded in the Bible. It's a theological word gleaned from the study of Scripture to describe how God deals with His creation, what He does with that which He has made, how He takes care of it. The word providence, you see, includes the word provide. And the word providence comes from both Latin and Greek words which mean to foresee or foreknow. And this then leads to the thought of making provision for, providing for what is to come. Answer 26 of Lord's Day 9 spoke of God upholding and ruling His creation by His eternal counsel and providence. His eternal counsel and providence. This is like a plan. His eternal counsel and the execution or carrying out of His plan. Providence. Boys and girls, think a little bit of maybe planning a family vacation six months down the road. You plan for it, and throughout the next six months, you see to it, your parents see to it, that the details are carried out so that that vacation can become a reality. In His eternal counsel, God has designed all things, planned all things, and He makes these plans real through His providence. Now, the Catechism uses the very same word picture or metaphor three times in this Lord's Day, in these two questions and answers, to describe how God provides. A very simple illustration. Hand. The hand of God. And this illustration is for our benefit and for our comfort. We could say that providence is living out of the Father's hand. And for God's people, it's not as if He is dangling us, and we might fall at any moment, but He holds us in His hand. This is such a beautiful story for God's people. And even as children, the hand or the hands of our fathers and our mothers tell a beautiful story. For children, there is comfort that flows or should flow from the hands of their father. Even parents, when they enjoy their first child, when that child begins to mature and grow and begins to recognize the parents with their arms outstretched and their hands stretched out toward that child, The little child, even before the child can walk, also raises his or her arms because there's comfort in the arms and hands of the parent. But there is comfort that flows from the hands of a child's father even when the child is disciplined, or should be, because they know that that discipline is couched in love in their father's hands. And that child knows that those hands seek to provide all that the child needs. Yet congregation, the hand of our Heavenly Father, provides perfectly. And therefore I preach to you the provision of the Father's sovereign hand. This provision gives certainty for creation and also comfort for the Christian. Again, the last part of Answer 27 says, All things in fact come not by chance but from His Fatherly hand. This is something that God makes clear in His Word. Jesus says in Matthew 10, verse 28, of sparrows, not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will. And Proverbs 16, verse 13 says, the lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. You see, beloved, if everything were left up to chance or fate, then nothing would make sense, would it? There would be no rhyme or reason to life, and all we could do is walk around being unsure of what happens next. Life itself wouldn't matter. it would have no meaning. Again, from moment to moment, you never know what's next. The sun could come racing through the universe and destroy everything in its path. The oceans of the world could all of a sudden flood all ground. Half of the people driving down the street could all of a sudden drive on the wrong side of the street. And of course, this sounds crazy, doesn't it? And that's because it is. Chance isn't possible. Luck isn't real. Of course, the gambling institution today reminds us that they've got all kinds of games of chance. Just come and try it out. But it's simply not true. It might be chancy for you and me. And God commands us against that sort of thing. But even in that industry, it's not chance. Again, the writer of Proverbs says, the lot or the die is cast into the lap. But it's every decision, it's every determination is from the Lord. Beloved, chance isn't possible. Why? Because all things depend upon the one who created them. Question 27 asks, What do you understand by the providence of God? And the answer rightly begins, The almighty and ever-present power of God. That's the first thing we are to think of when we think of God's providence. The almighty and ever-present power of God. Boys and girls, God is omnipotent. That means He's all-powerful. All power belongs to Him. He is the source of power. He's the source of all power that exists. He's also omnipresent. That means He's present everywhere all the time. We also speak of the fact that He's omniscient. He knows everything. He knows it perfectly. And beloved, His power was not only life-giving in the beginning, but His power is also life-sustaining throughout time. And the truth is, I believe, that if God would remove His sovereign hand for even one second from what He has made, from His universe, everything would stop and cease to exist. Paul says, for in Him we live and move and have our being. Is this something that we can fully comprehend? I certainly can't. But if God would completely remove His power from all that He has created, even for a split second, it would crumble, disintegrate, be destroyed. But the beauty is we don't even have to imagine that. Because He won't do it. It won't happen. And we know that because of God's eternal counsel. He has a plan for everything. And as believers, God has revealed to us in His grace that His plan includes a new heaven and a new earth and everlasting life with Him for His people as He has also provided our satisfaction for sin. The providence of God is that with His almighty and ever-present power, He upholds heaven, earth, and all creatures and so rules them. It's not chance that directs creation, but the certainty of the Father's sovereign hand. The certainty. His hand is sure. In other words, beloved, you can depend upon the hand of God. He upholds or sustains all that He has made, and that means that God makes sure that things do what He created them to do. The earth continues to spin on its axis by the power of God so that day and night continue like clockwork. It continues in its orbit around the sun so that the seasons continue on schedule. Notice again verse 19 of Psalm 104. The moon marks off the seasons and the sun knows when to go down. We mentioned ocean a moment ago. Notice the last part of verse 8. Speaking of the waters, they went down into the valleys to the place you assigned for them. You set a boundary they cannot cross. Never again will they cover the earth. And at the same time, the earth brings forth vegetation at the appointed times. Notice verse 14. He makes grass grow for the cattle and plants for man to cultivate, bringing forth food from the earth. Verse 15, God maintains that perfect balance of creation in which the planets and the stars stay in their orbits. As Job says, He stretches out the north over empty space. He hangs the earth on nothing. But also, the delicate balance of life is in His sovereign hand. As for example, spiders control the insect population. And we know that the examples can be as many and various as creation itself. But the point is that from the burning power of the stars to the life of the tiniest microorganism all life comes from and is upheld by God because of His power. His almighty and ever-present power. We exist by and in His power. Even the intricacies of our bodies, beloved. Things that unless you're a doctor or a nurse or some medical specialist, you really can't understand. The intricacies of our bodies continue to work unconsciously to us by God's upholding life power. Absolutely everything depends upon God for life. As the psalmist says in Psalm 145, the eyes of all look to you and you give them their food at the proper time. And Psalm 104 tells us that even the senseless animals know this. as the lions seek their food from God and as all of God's possessions wait for the Lord to give them their food at the proper time. And you know, it's really amazing that even the senseless animals, brute beasts, understand this. But man, who is able to think and reason, who was created in the image of God, rejects this truth. Both of these psalms, Psalm 104 and Psalm 145, talk about the hand of God and that when it is open, creation is satisfied with good but when he closes it when he hides his face creation faints and expires and returns to the dust now boys and girls you can understand this a little bit think again of your father's hand your mother's hand if they have something that you need even that you want the only way you can have it the only way you can receive it is if they extend their arm toward you and open their hand but if they keep their arm close to their body and their hand shut tight, you cannot have whatever that is. Our God opens His hand toward His creation. And at times He closes His hand. Our Heavenly Father governs heaven and earth and all creatures. Again, this takes place not by chance, but certainty. God created all things with an intended purpose and goal, and He guides, directs, and governs toward that goal. God directs all of creation so that His purpose is accomplished. All of the events and the experiences of life and of this world are governed by God, and beloved, that includes the pleasant things as well as the unpleasant things. Amos 3 verse 6 says, If there is calamity in a city, will not the Lord have done it? God sent Joseph to Egypt, as you recall, through the wicked deeds of his brothers. Proverbs 16, verse 9 says, A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. God hardened Pharaoh's heart against Moses and Israel. And even after the third plague carried out against the Egyptians, the magicians came to realize, the magicians of Egypt came to realize and confess that this is the finger of God, but not Pharaoh. The Lord sent the droughts and the famines recorded in Scripture. And by God's grace, we know that He even uses the sin of man to accomplish His purpose. Again, Joseph told his brothers that what they meant for evil, God meant for good. He governs sinful man in such a way that man's simple actions serve to further God's plan. King Cyrus of Persia was a tool in the hand of God for God's people. We also read in Proverbs 21, verse 1, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord like rivers of water. He turns it wherever he wishes. Some of you may have read in the paper a short time back, a letter to the editor which I also read dealing with the events of September 11, the terrorist attacks, and the writer, I believe he began, Where was God? Where was God when this was going on? As if to say, was He off on some faraway vacation, just forgetting about His creation? Did He simply remove Himself because He didn't want to know what was going on? Where was God? But even with that, we must understand that this was a part of His plan, and all the world is indeed to hear His message, to prepare for I Am coming soon. Beloved, God's government is so complete that not even a hair falls from your head apart from His will. Boys and girls, think about that. Sometimes you comb your hair and a lot of strands of hair come out in the brush or in the comb. And God knows about every single one of them. Even the little things in life, like that strand of hair, as well as the ups and downs of life are governed by the Lord. You see, He doesn't only have His hand in the big things like earthquakes and hurricanes and tornadoes and forest fires and any grand thing that may happen, sending a man to the moon or to Mars or whatever. But even the little day-to-day things that we take for granted are governed by Him. And the Catechism points this out when it says, He so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, Prosperity and poverty, all things in fact come to us, not by chance, but from His fatherly hand. Now we need to admit that it's easy to claim God's providence when the rain is plentiful, when the crop is abundant, when there's plenty of food, when our health is good, when riches line my pockets. Because we like to look at these things as proofs of God's fatherly love, right? Aren't they? Not necessarily. But yet it's easy to claim God's providence in those things. But it's harder to say that the downs of life, the drought, the lean years, sickness and poverty, it's harder to say that these things also come by His fatherly hand. But isn't it comforting to you that none other than God controls and directs these things as well? That's comforting, beloved, because then we know on the one hand that he can change things at a moment's notice should he desire. But also that as believers we know that these things are working toward our salvation for our good by God's grace. If Satan was in ultimate control of the downs of life, there would be absolutely no hope. It's true that to consider the downs and the difficulties of life as gifts of and proofs of his fatherly love to his people is difficult at times. and it can only be done by faith. But that also is real for the Christian because I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And because Christ endured the absolute worst that could ever happen to me and even beyond that, therefore I have confidence. I know that these things work for my good. But the truth is that those who don't consider God in fruitful years will fail to see Him in lean years. If He is forgotten in prosperity, He will be hard to find in poverty. If God is ignored in times of health, then one may very well miss His comfort in sickness. But also, beloved, we are called to praise Him for His grace that at times may seem harsh. But at times, He takes everything from one in order to give that one Himself. And there's no greater gift. And then he teaches us to confess with Paul, I have learned in whatever state I am to be content. The provision of the Father's sovereign hand gives certainty for creation. That for you and me and all things, nothing happens by chance. But also, as we've already touched on a bit, it gives comfort for the Christian. It's comforting to know that my Father sits in the throne room of heaven, of the universe, with the controls in His hand. But then, of course, knowing this is nothing without a benefit. Question 28 speaks of the prophet, the help to us, of knowing God's providence over creation. How does the knowledge of God's creation and providence help us? We can be patient when things go against us, thankful when things go well, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing will separate us from His love. All creatures are so completely in His hand that without His will they can neither move nor be moved. In His grace, as this answer teaches us, God teaches His children patience, thankfulness, and trust. And then through these, in turn, we demonstrate our love for God. First of all, we are called to be patient when things go against us or as the older version of the catechism says, patience in adversity. But now that almost sounds like a contradiction in terms, doesn't it? Adversity. Patience in adversity. Because adversity, when things go bad, when things go against us, that produces uneasiness. It makes us anxious. We become impatient. And you see, it's natural to want out of adversity. and indeed as Christians we don't have to like adversity and we may ask God to remove it to take it away but while He sees fit that we experience adversity when things go against us we are called to patiently endure it. And by God's grace we can do just that because we know that whatever this adversity may be it is the provision of His sovereign hand for my good. We may not always totally understand the adversity or the reason for it. Rarely may we know that. But the Christian's comfort is that this adversity is also in good hands. A little earlier I talked about the Allstate insurance man. He wants, in the earlier service, of course, he wants us to believe that when we insure with him that all things, we are in good hands, of course. And that may indeed be true until we read the fine print. But with God, there is no fine print. All things mean all things. We are in His good hands. But now what is godly patience? Well, it's not simply resigning with an unwilling heart to adversity because nothing can be done about it anyway. It's not just a passive endurance and an oh well, that's life kind of attitude because it can't be changed. Oh well. Christian patience means that God's will, even in adversity, even when things go against us, that God's will becomes our will. Christian patience is to trust that all things work together for good so that one doesn't drag the cross grudgingly throughout this life, but that one bears it up and carries it joyfully because this is God's will. And I'm not saying here that we have to have a smile plastered on our face all the time or that we'll never cry and shed tears. That's not the case at all. But the believer has a joy-filled heart and is able to patiently endure adversity. This is patience that rejoices in adversity because in it God provides a reason to rejoice. As Hebrews 12, verse 6 tells us, For whom the Lord loves, He chastens and scourges every son whom He receives and as God's children. What a reason to rejoice in adversity because by faith, it confirms to us that we are indeed children of God. And He uses affliction to purify us and draw His children closer to Himself. Beloved, what profit! What help in God's providence! What comfort for the Christian! But for those who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. They are not children of God and adversity is then God's hand of punishment leading them and pointing them to eternal punishment. And therefore the discontentment and the anxiousness that they feel is a symptom of and a foretaste of eternal torment and suffering. But His provision is also to profit the Christian by teaching us to be thankful when things go well. patience in adversity, thankful in prosperity as the older version of the catechism says, when things go well. Now boys and girls, you might think that that's easy. It's easy to be thankful when things are going well. It's easy to be thankful in prosperity. Who isn't thankful when they have many good things and no worries? But the truth is that prosperity such as wealth and possessions often makes people independent and self-sufficient and proud and thankful to themselves and sometimes even discontented because oftentimes one who has much always wants more. But especially independent. And this is completely opposite of what we truly are. All things, all of creation, as we said earlier, is completely dependent every second of every hour of every day upon the only one who is independent and that is God. When we think of this dependence, we might think that for people, for human beings, that only includes what I might call the mechanical things. And I mean the things that are really unconscious to us like air to breathe, lungs inhaling and exhaling oxygen, the heart beating, blood flowing, our brain working, our vital organs doing what they're supposed to do. Sure, God has to handle those things. We don't even think about them. But you see, when it comes to prosperity, we have something to do with it, don't we? If we've worked hard, we earned it. We deserve it, right? No. Remember, God upholds and rules even us. Our labor might very well be and often is the tool that He uses to grant us prosperity, but not always. Not always. And our labor might also be the tool He uses to surround us with adversity. God and God alone provides us with prosperity, not my own hands. And only when I remember that by grace through faith, only then will I be humbled in God's provision and be thankful for it. Thankful because I didn't deserve anything. Thankful because God didn't have to give me anything. Sometimes we don't learn thankfulness and prosperity until we have first learned patience in adversity. For example, one doesn't really appreciate freedom until that freedom has been taken away. And one doesn't really appreciate health until you are ill. And again, for those who do not believe, the prosperity that they might enjoy is really leading them further away from God and it will testify against them on Judgment Day because they did not see the hand of God in that provision. and their pride will be turned to panic when they see Jesus Christ come again to judge the living and the dead. Prosperity does not always mean God's blessing. But there's one more thing, as the catechism tells us. The Christian also has comfort for the future with the provision of the Father's sovereign hand. And for the future, we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing will separate us from His love. All creatures are so completely in His hand that without His will, they can neither move nor be moved. Now, in a sense, God has a leash on everything. Paul says in Acts 17, verse 25, because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. And in saying that, Paul confirms God's control over all. In the beginning of Job, you recall, that we are taught that Satan can do nothing unless God allows him. And we know that mankind, our society, worries today about so many things. Society worries about the future, about the ozone layer, about world overpopulation, and many other things. And in truth, we are not to misuse that which God has given to us. And we are to take the precautions God provides and to use them in faith and trust. Recycling really is a good thing, therefore. But the Christian has good confidence. What is that confidence? that nothing can go wrong with God's plan. Think about that for a moment. Nothing can go wrong with God's plan. And therefore, I never need to say, where was God when those planes hit those towers? We never need to say, where is God, for example, at a time like this in our congregation? You've seen the bulletin. You've seen the list of all the sick and all the different difficulties that our congregation is facing right now. We don't have to say, where is God? Isn't that comforting to you? Even in adversity, beloved, even when tough times assault me, that doesn't mean that God's plan is going wrong. It may be different than my plan. It often is different than my plan. But His is right on target. My plan needs adjusting. Faith in God's provision, providence, enables His children to be calm and well-balanced even with respect to the future. And that means that we will not act radically when rumors strike. That means that we will not become anxious when danger threatens, knowing that our God will not give His people more than we can bear, but will provide the way of escape. But again, for unbelievers, the future is so uncertain, it's frightening, and all they can do is either continue to look over their shoulder and wonder what's next, or be completely ignorant of what's taking place. But when Jesus Christ comes again, they will cry out for the mountains and the hills to cover them for the presence of His glory. With confidence, we may sing, It is God's hand that leadeth me. As parents, we have such an important responsibility to teach our children the truth of the Word of God, Including this comforting truth of the providence of God. To teach our children that we live out of the Father's hand. Safely protected in that hand which can hold the whole universe. That we may teach our children and must teach our children that nothing can go wrong with God's plan. No one can damage it. No one can change it. But you know, beloved, all of this does not mean that we will not become wounded or get scarred in the battle. God does not promise that, but He does promise that no created thing shall be able to separate us from His love, which is in Christ Jesus. You see, everything can be taken away from us. Absolutely everything can be taken away from us, but not the love of our Heavenly Father. Not the love of our Father. That's our most precious possession. That's the possession that we are to teach our children about. And that is ours only for the sake of Jesus Christ. Only by grace through faith in Jesus Christ can the Christian be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and confident with regard to the future. Our Heavenly Father leads His children toward their glorious home that those who have loved Christ's appearing, those for whom He died might receive the Father's eternal provision. And ultimately, God's providence is for His glory as seen in our Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus was our provision against God's wrath and punishment for sin that God might be glorified and that His power over and against sin and Satan might be demonstrated. And beloved, because we own that truth, we may live in joy. Indeed, the Christian may enjoy life even looking forward to the future. We may smile. We may laugh because of the joy that is to fill our hearts. Because congregation, a joyless Christian, is a contradiction in terms. But for those who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ by grace through faith, apart from repentance and faith, God provides for them too as He prepares those who reject Christ to suffer eternally in the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. But in His grace, through the provision of His fatherly hand, God prepares His children for Jesus' sake to inherit the kingdom prepared for them from before the foundation of the world. Beloved, as you live in and from the sovereign hand of God, may you be comforted that God cannot and will not be surprised. May you be comforted that He knows the end from the beginning. And may you be comforted that He never lets go, never, ever lets go of those who believe by His grace in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. So do you live in this comfort? Only with the comfort of the provision of the Father's sovereign hand can we sing, content whatever lot I see, since tis my God that leadeth me. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, we confess that so often we like to take things into our own hands. We praise You for the reminder that You have given to us this morning that our hands are weak. Our hands can do nothing apart from Your sovereign hand. We thank You for the comfort and the assurance that each one of us may have, young and old, That you keep us safe in the palm of your hand. That nothing happens by chance. But that your plan is perfect. It can never go wrong. It will never go wrong. And that indeed, all things work together for good to those who love you. Father, may we go forward in this confidence, looking forward to the future, when Jesus Christ comes again to take his people home. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.