Redemption City Church
David: Poet, Warrior, King Part 6 (Josh Bachand) 07/14/24
1st annual chapter 20 beginning in verse 12. This is now page 228 of the two-bed bible in front of you. 1st annual chapter 20 beginning in verse 12. 1st annual 20 beginning in verse 12. In Jonathan's bed to David, the Lord, the guy is real. He was dead. When I had found it on my father's, about this time tomorrow, or the three days before, if he had filed his oath toward David, shall I ask him and his father to you? For shouldn't he please my father to do you harm? The Lord do you still to Jonathan and more? Also, if I do not disclose it to you, you send me away, but you may go to safety. May the Lord be with you as he has been with my father. If I am still alive, show me the steadfast love of the Lord that I need on my body. Do not cross your steadfast love for my house forever. When the Lord put up every one of the enemies of David from the face of you. In Jonathan David coming into the house of David's hand, may the Lord take vengeance on David's hand. In Jonathan David swearing in, by his love per hand, for he loved him as he loved himself. This is the word of the Lord. Well, good morning Redemption City Church. Good to see you all here. Thanks for the welcome. That's good. Sometimes you throw that out there and you don't know what you're going to get in response. That was good. Well, my name is Joshua Beshan for those that don't know me. I'm a member here at the church. And I also, for the next period of time, get the honor of being the pastoral resident here, just a nutshell means that I get to learn and kind of hone in my skills so that I can better serve the church and just grow and develop as a pastor. And so one of those things that's part of that is I get to preach a few times a year. So we find ourselves in the middle of a series titled David Warrior Poet and King. And we find ourselves today in the Book of 1 Samuel chapter 20. So if you want to put a finger there or get a bookmark in your Bible, we're going to be picking up in verse 1 when we get into things. So find that first Samuel chapter 20 verse 1. We'll get going. So I started college in the fall of 2011. And as that like comes out of my mouth, I'm realizing I'm going to have to start like being a little more non-descript with when I started college. And in the summer of 2011, I attended college in Joplin, Missouri to a place called Ozark Christian College. Now for some of us in the room, Joplin, Missouri and 2011 may not mean a lot to you, but for people in southwest Missouri, 2011 in Joplin, Missouri met a lot. In 2011, in the month of May, an F-5 tornado ripped through Joplin, Missouri for about three miles, decimating so many buildings. It even hit the hospital there in town and ended up killing over 200 people. So this is a big, big event. So I started college with that as like my backdrop. Like you would still drive through in the fall down the main road and it's just chaos. Like I just don't know how to explain it to you better than you had to see it, right? And so I was at a Bible college doing my orientation week. And when you do orientation week, you get that fun, you get to play games. But since we were at Bible college, we had a night of worship. And we had a night of worship in the park. And the backdrop for that park was the hospital that was hit by the tornado. And so we worshiped and at the end of the night of worship, they gave us a call, a challenge. And they had these pieces of siding that were ripped off of a house, and they chopped them up in the little blocks and they wrote down names and ages on them. And on those names, those ages were people who had passed away from the drop on tornado. And so they gave us these and the challenge was that you would pray for that person and their family for the whole entire school year. And so I picked up my piece of siding and the name on mine was Zachary Delbert Treadwell. And in that moment, I made a promise, a covenant with God, that I would pray for Zachary and his family for the whole entire duration of my freshman year of college. And this morning, we're going to be talking about the idea of promises and covenant a lot. If you know what a promise is, you kind of already know what a covenant is. A covenant is kind of just like a promise, but like way more intense, right? I even hesitate to say I made a covenant with God. Because if you look at the idea of covenant in the Old Testament, there was a phrase that people would use that we would cut a covenant. And so if I made an agreement with somebody or I made an agreement with God, what would happen is we would take an animal, cut it in half, and we would walk through that animal as a way to kind of signify that if I break my side to the bargain, I might as well be like that animal, right? And so to set the stage, this is what we're going to be talking about today. Not just promises, things that I say and I hope to keep later, but deeply rooted. Covenantal is really the best word to use, promises between people and between God. And so we're going to see a lot of promises and covenants between David and Jonathan. We're going to see a lot of promises made in the name of the Lord. And where we pick up today in 1 Samuel 20 is David and Jonathan are in a desperate situation. David is trying to avoid the wrath of King Saul. And back in chapter 18, Jonathan and David made a covenant with each other of love and of friendship. And this covenant, as we see today, is going to be tested, but it's also going to be extended upon. It's going to grow. And in fact, today, all three main characters in our story, David, Jonathan, and Saul, are all under their own kind of pressure. And we're going to see where their allegiances lie. And we're going to see the essence of who they are and what they believe and what they are committed to as we go through this chapter today. Through this story this morning, my aim is to illustrate how this text shows that love and covenant leads those who reside in it, the peace. And we're going to work through this idea in three main parts. And verses 1 through 23, we're going to look at the idea of how covenant leads to doing unfathomable things. And in verses 24 through 34, we're going to look at the idea of there is no stability when covenant is broken. And then finally in verses 35 through 42, we're going to examine the idea of blessing, peace, and assurance in covenant. And my pastoral aim for this morning is this. That we would find peace in the unshakable promises and covenant that God has laid before us. God, we just thank you so much for this day, for who you are and all the good things that you give to us. God, this morning, just speak to us through your spirit. Help us to hear what we need to hear. Let us have open ears and open hearts to receive your word this morning. It's in your name we pray. Amen. As we pick up this morning in verse 1 of 1 Samuel, chapter 20, we see that David is on the run. He is fleeing again from Neoth of Ramah where he and Samuel just had an encounter with Saul directly where the spirit of God showed up and showed Saul, frankly, who is in charge. David, though, is still in danger because Saul will stop at nothing to make sure that David is dead. And this text uses the word flee. And this is the second of four consecutive fleeing narratives that we see in the book of 1 Samuel. And I love this word flee because it squarely puts us in David's frame of mind right now. When you are fleeing, you don't have a plan. When you are fleeing, you are trying to get out of there and get to safety. And so David is already fleeing to Samuel. And now David has to flee again. He is going to the safest person that he knows, which is Jonathan. And David and Jonathan, they start their interaction and they start their interaction with David asking three questions. And depending on your view of David to this point in the story, these may be completely rhetorical. He asks, "What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father?" David cannot comprehend why Saul would want to kill him. The only thing he can do is try to think that he might have done something to Saul to anger him or may have sinned against him or sinned against God. This does not make sense. David is searching for an answer even though there is none. He sums up his questions up with the statement that Saul is trying to kill him. Jonathan very quickly denies that fact, which a lot of times the step outside of this we as the reader kind of look at that and go, " Jonathan, are you following the same story that I'm reading?" But you have to think back to chapter 19. Saul made a covenant with Jonathan that he would not kill David. So he thinks things are good, peachy keen, hunky dory. But David insists that he is at death's door. And that Saul has been hiding this from Jonathan because he knows about their friendship with each other. He knows that if Saul tells Jonathan, Jonathan is going to protect and try to save David. And what's amazing is Jonathan doesn't ask for any further proof. He doesn't examine this thought anymore. He just simply takes David at his word and responds to David by saying, "Whatever you want me to do, I'll do it for you." Jonathan at this point proves his worthiness as a friend and his adherence to their covenant that was made back in first time. Samuel chapter 18. I think honestly that there's no greater gift than that of a true friend. But I also think there's no greater betrayal than that of a friendship being broken. David's kind of a weak point in his life as far as relationships go. It had to have hurt when Saul broke his friendship and relationship with David. It had to have hurt. And he had to have been wondering, as he was approaching Jonathan, would Jonathan do the same thing? Had he somehow been convinced by Saul, was this covenant that they had made still true, still good? And I think for David to hear whatever you want me to do gave him great assurance and security and call him to hear that he had someone in his corner. He had someone for him. As Dale Ralph Davis puts it, he quotes, "David's life at this point is uncertain." But his covenant with Jonathan is not. A question that I think all of us need to consider is where, who, and what do you go to when you're hurting? Who, where, and what do you go to when you're hurting? The answer that we all strive for in some capacity as Christians is God. And I think David's running towards Jonathan is a reaction of turning towards God in his time of trouble. Let me explain. This entire covenant that they have is based off of a covenant of love and friendship in God. Running to a friend is not necessarily opposed to running to God in your times of trouble. God uses people all the time to accomplish his purposes. Trusting in the Lord does not look like an emotionless, candid response of just saying, "I shall consult the Lord." Right? We see later on in the story of David that he, his emotions and his feelings are anything but mild and contained. David and Jonathan's covenant with each other takes inspiration from and even directly mirrors the covenant that God has with his people. This covenant that was explained by Mike a few weeks ago started off as a covenant of love and of friendship. However, the simple covenant gets clarified and expanded upon with every passing verse. I'm going to throw a little chart up on the board. These are just the big ones that I saw, but you could make a pretty good case that there's over 10 different covenantal agreements in this passage. But first, we get the idea in verse 8 that David and Jonathan are kind of reaffirming that previous covenant. Right? That they kind of remind each other of what they had promised before. Jonathan makes a covenant to disclose Saul's intentions. If I find out that my father is trying to murder you, I will let you know. David takes an oath to keep the line of Saul and Jonathan. John says, "Even if I die, or even if you are in trouble, please don't kill me and if I'm alive, don't kill me." Excuse me. "And will you keep the line of my people intact?" And then we see the judgment of David's enemies and reaffirmation of their love. And in verse 42, we get the covenant to go in peace. "The Lord shall be between you and me and your offspring and my offspring." This idea of covenant in this story is strong. And this passage and this theme will continue into the next parts of our story we're looking at this morning. This covenant that David has between himself and Jonathan leads David to asking for help from someone who has every right to be his enemy. This covenant leads Jonathan to sticking his neck out for his friend. Even though it may get him killed, Jonathan makes a choice to go and disclose Saul's intentions to him knowing what it could lead to. It leads to a plan and a promise for David to show kindness and love to Jonathan, who based off of the social and cultural conventions of the day, had no business receiving it. To expand upon verses 14 and 15, Jonathan asks David to show him the kindness of the Lord. Not only to him, but to his entire family line. If David becomes king, the first action you would do as a king would be to make sure that the previous king, all of his descendants were killed. Because you didn't want people making power plays for the throne. You didn't want people walking up saying, "I have a right to this throne. I have a right to this power." And so the kings of the day when they took over would make sure an entire family line that led to the throne was decimated. There was nothing left. And so Jonathan's appeal for kindness is unconventional. It's quite frankly undeserved. But David's promise to extend it is radical. This covenant mirrors the covenant of God and his people to this point in the biblical narrative. So far we've had exile, kindness, judges, prophets, king. God has shown his extraordinary kindness and patience for his people. Because all along the way he has had every right to end it. Yet God has remained faithful. Even when Israel was not holding up their side of the bargain, God was still kind to them. Covenant leads to doing unfathomable things. It's a beautiful story here in first Samuel chapter 20 and the whole narrative of the Bible. So Jonathan decides to develop a plan with David. Where he will go to dinner and he will find out if Saul really does want to kill David. Then Jonathan will give a secret message to David. And if the coast is clear, come on back. You can hang out. Everything's cool. But if things are not okay, if Saul does still want to kill you, then you need to get out. You need to run. So if we pick up in verse 24, we see that this plan that they've developed is being set into motion. David goes and he hides out in a field behind a rock. And Jonathan goes to dinner with his father to find out if David is still in danger. If he's still a wanted man. And so the scene is set and Saul sits down for dinner. And he glances around the royal table and he looks over to Abner Seat and, okay, yeah, yeah, Abner. Okay, good. You're here with us this evening. And he glances over to Jonathan Seaton. Okay, Jonathan. Yep. You decided to come to dinner tonight. He glances over at David Seaton. He didn't see David. And tonight's just not a normal night of dinner. This is a ceremonial feast. And he looks at David Seaton. The only idea he could come up with in his mind is just, man, this is a really important meal. David just must have gotten too close to a dead body. And he's ceremonial, ceremonially unclean. And he can't attend dinner this evening. That must be what had happened. And he goes back to eating his dinner. What? Like, are you kidding? Like literally Saul at this point is insane. Right? It does not cross his mind that David may not want to attend dinner with him because every time Saul and David occupy the same space, Saul tries to pin him to the wall with a spear. Right? That might be a little bit of the reasoning behind why David isn't at dinner that evening. But another interesting factor that factors into all of this is, well, monarchy! Right? monarchy's a weird thing. We don't get it today in our modern cultures. It's strange. Even though the king was wanting to kill David, this was not David's excusal from his kingly duties. He still had to do the things that he was expected to do. Right? And so, in monarchy, your allegiance is to the king regardless of your mood, his mood, or the king's actions. He is the king. What he says goes. So, they have dinner that night, and day two of the ceremonial feast rolls around, and Saul is suspicious. He sees yet that David is not again at this dinner, and so he asks David's best friend Jonathan. Jonathan, where might David find himself on this very important night? And Jonathan gives a very straight answer. He doesn't give an answer that is David is forsaken the kingdom, or David no longer wants to be a part of this. He just gives a straightforward answer, and says, well, you know, he wanted to spend a couple of days with his family, and I said that was fine. I figured that was okay. And Saul loses his mind. He goes off of the rails. He starts by insulting his mother using very, very colorful language in the Hebrew. He tells his son that his whole life, that Jonathan's whole life, has been worthless, that he is worthless, and he is no good. And then he tells Jonathan that he needs to bring David before him so that they can murder David. And when Jonathan so much as even questions that idea, Saul reaches down, picks up a spear, and hurls it at Jonathan. Now, Saul has a lot of problems, but I think he has two main problems that I would like to talk about this morning. The first problem he has is that he has forsaken literally everything that made him who he was. Saul is at the point of his life where the throne is the only important thing in his life. Family, friends, God, any past covenant he has made is gone. And all that matters now is his power and his line. But here is Saul's second problem. His throne and kingship is not his to hold on to. God has already anointed David. The die have been cast. The scene has been set. The decision has been made yet Saul refuses to accept it. And on top of all, this Saul knows that this is coming because the spirit of God is no longer with Saul. This isn't a surprise. This isn't something that's catching him off guard. He knows. And a lot of times when we read Old Testament stories, we sometimes struggle to identify with the characters. And I know I'm guilty with this myself, right? Well, look at a story and go, "Oh, you silly Israelites. How do you not get this? How are you so selfish?" Or we look at someone like Saul and just say, "Saul, just let it go, man. It's very clear. You've got to walk away from it. Grow up a little bit." But before we go and we judge Saul, I want to take a moment to think about ourselves. At the end of the day, Saul is angry. And what we know about anger is anger... Anger is a secondary emotion, right? It's caused by underlying and undelt feelings, emotions, and problems. And I think if you were to consult this anger iceberg, you would see that Saul is dealing with a lot of these things, of the insecurities, of the desperation, of the things that he cannot control. And Saul's decline from the throne has been steady. It didn't magically happen overnight. And I see a man who lacks introspection and humility. A man who got so focused on one thing that nothing else mattered. A man who just a few chapters ago in this story wanting God's favor so badly. Yet he'd never stopped to consider his standing with God. He'd just been doing his own thing. He never stopped to examine and ask himself, am I holding up my end of this covenant with God? Or am I just doing what I want to do? Told this point in the story is a man with no covenant. He has nothing binding him to anyone or anything else. And the result is instability, chaos. Covenant brings grounding, perspective, grace, understanding. Because you are my son, I will love you no matter what. Because you are my people, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Because I follow God, my life is oriented towards seeking and following God with my whole heart. Having mental statements that ground us, that gives stability, it's all lacks any of those. He tried to murder his son. He no longer follows God and makes that his priority. It's all his loss. It's all in his life is set on a trajectory of loss and disappointment. The Jonathan knows for sure now that it's all once David dead. Very clear in his mind. And he's going to stop it nothing to make that happen. So Jonathan goes out into the field while the servant runs out ahead. And Jonathan shoots some arrows beyond him so the servant can pick them up. And he states loudly, "Is that arrow not ahead of you?" And then he adds an extra line. "Hurry! Be quick! Do not stay!" The second line not being a part of the agreed-upon script given David a little bit of a clue that he needs the bolt and he needs to get out of there fast. And Jonathan sends the boy back into town. He hands them all his equipment, all his things. And David, instead of fleeing, takes the risk. He has to see his friend one more time. You have to understand that Saul wants David dead. He knows Jonathan and David are best buddies. Saul's goons could be spying on Jonathan at this very moment. They could have been tracking him and waiting to see if David does not emerge, but David does not care. David runs out from behind the rock to Jonathan bowing before him, holding him, kissing him, crying with him. At this moment in our story, this is a goodbye between the deepest of friends. They know that they may never see each other again. That Saul may kill one of them, or even both of them. And Jonathan delivers this line at 1 Samuel 20 verse 42. Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, because we have sworn both us in the name of the Lord, saying, the Lord shall be between me and you, between my offspring and your offspring forever." And he rose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city. This line, given the stakes, is beautiful. Jonathan tells David to go in peace. Not in peace of prosperity, not in peace of safety, as other uses of Shalom may be, but rather in the peace of the Lord. The same piece that David writes about in Psalm chapter 4, where David says, "Answer me when I call to you, my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress. Have mercy on me and hear my prayer. Know that the Lord has set apart his faithful servant for himself. The Lord hears when I call to him, in peace I will lie down in sleep, for you, a Lord, loan God, make me dwell in safety." And what is the reason that David should have this peace? Why should he feel peace from the Lord when Saul is on the prow, when Saul is on the hunt to kill him? Well, David first has a friend. A friend who has a covenant who is to protect and serve him and has a covenant with God. With a covenant with a God who says he will remain faithful to his people. God's covenant gives David and Jonathan peace. Now, Jonathan to be completely human for a moment, when he told David to go in peace, he may not have actually a hundred percent believed what he said. There may have been room for doubt. If you think Jonathan said that with the whole earnest of his heart and he believed that to his core, I'll let you have that. The text isn't very clear. But either way, what we have to acknowledge is he has some level of faith, some level of understanding that whatever happens to him, whatever happens to David, through Saul God is faithful and just. That is the only way you can look at your friend in the face of this immediate danger of looking at the face for both you and say go in peace. You have to believe with your whole heart that God is faithful and that he is true. It calls the mind Psalm chapter 2. Why do the nations conspire in the people's plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed saying, "Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles." The one enthroned in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them. He rebukes them in anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, "I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain. I will proclaim the Lord's decree. He said to me, 'You are my son. Today, I have become your father. Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance. The ends of the earth, your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron. You will dash them to pieces like pottery. Therefore, you kings be wise. Be warned your rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule and trembling. Hiss the son, or he will be angry, and your way will lead to your destruction for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him." Simply put, no matter what happens, no matter Saul's plans or what he gets away with, God wins. Why? Because God promised. He made a covenant with Abraham that the nations will be blessed through him. He made a covenant with the Israelites that he would be their people. And he made a covenant with David that the Messiah would come through his line and through his descendants. And that Messiah would not only just be some other king, but he would be the eternal king, establishing an eternal kingdom. And for those that put their faith in King Jesus, we get to join in this covenant of an eternal kingdom. And in this covenant, in this king, we find peace, hope, assurance, forgiveness, for sin. This is what the writer of Hebrew talks about in Hebrews chapter 9 verses 15 and 18. He says, "Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the First Covenant." So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time. Not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eerily waiting for him. God's covenant to us through Jesus brings us salvation and forgiveness of sins. And we can put our trust in that. Been affirmed all throughout the scriptures. That God is true to his promises. God has proven faithful through the totality of scripture and has shown and continues to show his glory and his grace in our daily lives. I started this sermon with the story about me praying for Zachary throughout my whole freshman year, and made this promises covenant with God. And my freshman year of college was probably the worst year of college, and not academically. That was great. It was just the way things unfolded. At some point in the middle of my freshman year, I got a phone call. And my friend said, "Hey, your friend Seth got in a car wreck. They're lifeliding him to Joplin." And I didn't really know what to do in that moment, but I knew where he was going because the one hospital, as I mentioned, had been hit. So there's only one hospital left in Joplin. And so I just got in my car and I drove to that hospital. And fortunately, faithfully, the family was already there. We met. We stayed together the whole night and got to walk through that journey with them. But in the end, Seth was alive. He was okay. He just ended up losing his legs. And this was a kid that I would drive to school every day with me in my last two years of high school, and we would talk about our hopes and our dreams. He was way better at basketball than I was. His goal for that year was to learn how to dunk. He was so close. And he lost that chance, that ability. And a little bit farther into my freshman year of college, I get another call from my mother and she says, "You come home. We have to talk." And I come home and she goes, "No, you can't come home. You got to go to your brother's school. You need to meet us there." And I walk in and I see my brother and he's never looked like this before, and he's in the middle of a mental break. He declares that he wants to do some things to harm himself, and he's not going to stop until that is accomplished. That was cool. He got retching the watch, and he had to go spend some time to get some help to work on that. And a little bit later in that year, there's someone called a residence director. Just randomly in the middle of the night, he passed away. And I remember in the midst of all this, there was one day after class that I left class because I just couldn't hold it together anymore. I've been white knuckling this and just trying to get through and keep to my studies and just forget the problems for a minute. And just class had ended and I needed to go talk to someone about it, but I again refused. And I ran into a bathroom stall and I just remember punching and kicking that bathroom stall and screwing me up. Why would you do this? Why would you punish Seth? Why would you punish my brother? I deserve this. Make me have this. He had hope. He had dreams. Why not me? Why is this happening? And I just remember being so broken. And somewhere along towards the end of that freshman year, extreme home makeover started putting these advertisements on the television. They were coming to Joplin that they were going to start building some houses for people who had been victims of the Joplin tornado. And I don't quite remember how this took place if I like walked by the television or if I looked it up on YouTube, but something just kept drawing me to that and I hate extreme home makeover guys like that show. Not for me. Not for me. But something drew me to that. And I remember just sitting there and as that show unfolded, my jaw hit the floor. Because Zachary Delbert Treadwell's family was one of the families that had received a house in the extreme home makeover. I remember thinking back, I kept that promise to God that I would pray every night. There were nights where I looked at that and cynically prayed. They weren't good prayers. They're nothing the right home about. And I'm not saying that my prayers got them a house. That's not the point of the story. The point of the story is that in that moment, God showed his covenant to me. He showed that even though in the midst of my suffering, my chaos and the lives of others around me that he still cared, that he was still good. And that was true. And that remains true to this day that God is good and God is who he says he is. And whether or not you're in the midst of a storm and you need some help to see that. Or whether you could look back at your life and see those moments where God's faithfulness and his covenant promises rang true. I just pray for you that those would be illuminated to you. That you would see how God has been faithful and how he continues to be faithful to this day in your life. As we wrap up our story, as we wrap up our sermon today, I just want to propose four ideas to you to take home. That you can try to hopefully give you one more perspective and the opportunity to see and declare the faithfulness of God. One of those that I think is a really neat opportunity is a prayer tracker. This can look a lot of different ways. It could be an excel sheet. It could be a handwritten thing. But just simply on this day I started praying for this thing and here's what I prayed. And then when that prayer comes to be whatever the outcome, right down the date and what the outcome of that prayer was. And it's amazing to go back and look through that big and small that's provided for you. Another way is just to journal. A lot of great ways to interact and do that. For some of us we just need to write down what we're feeling that day. Some of us need prompts. But to be able to have this living breathing book to go back and look through, oh I was here. But now because of the faithfulness of God I'm here. Another thing that I want to encourage you to try to do is just write down three ways God has been faithful to you. Go home and pray and reflect and just say God where have you evidenced your glory and goodness in my life in the past. Just reveal those things to me and write those down. Put those somewhere where you can see them each and every day. And for those of us that are maybe in the middle of the storm maybe that are in the midst of this chaos and it's really hard to see God in his covenantal promises right now. I just want to propose this question to you. Where, who, and what do I go to when I'm hurting? And do those things lead me back to God? God we just thank you for the stay. We just thank you for the opportunity to gather, to hear from your word, to sing songs of praise declaring the truth of who you are and what you have done and God I pray this morning your faithfulness would just abound in our hearts. Through your spirit, through reflecting on our lives we would just see all the ways that you have been good, that you have been faithful and how you continue to evidence that in our lives each and every day. God I thank you for all the things you do for us since and your name let we pray. Amen. At this time I want to transition to our time of communion.