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We as a church are going through the book of Hosea, and we come to Hosea Chapter 5. This is a chapter about discipline.

When I was growing up, I was disciplined quite a bit. I'm not a very good boy, I'm a naughty kid. And so my father, my mother, they will discipline me with a cane. And sometimes when they don't find the cane, they will discipline me with a clothes hanger. And when I'm particularly naughty and they cannot find the cane nor the clothes hanger, they will just use a belt. Sometimes the leather end, sometimes the buckle end.

I would also remember a time where I was particularly naughty and they made me kneel at my gate on grains of rice. So my neighbours will walk by and know that I've been a naughty boy. I've been disciplined quite a bit when young.

Then when I went to a school, I was a, again a naughty boy. I did not like to conform, I did not like to stay still. I.. I like to talk and I was particularly talkative, talking about other things while my teacher is teaching.

So, many times I'll be asked to sit under my table. But sometimes I will have to stand on the table or stand on the chair. I got used to it after a while. Then when I went to the army, I would be punished or disciplined with push-ups - plenty of it. And the one that I hate most is to sign extra duty, have to stay in-camp when all my friends are out there in the weekends.

I suppose in Singapore when you commit more serious crimes like robbery or theft, you may be sentenced to jail, prison, or you may receive strokes of cane. And all these disciplines are intended to wake us up. All these disciplines are to inflict pain so that we will pay attention, so that we will learn and that we will turn.

The book of Hosea Chapter 5 leads us to the subject of discipline. Last week we saw in Chapter 4, God acted like a prosecutor in a court of law, accusing and establishing the guilt of Israel. They were unfaithful, they were adulterous, they did not love God even though they promised to love God. They did not obey God but they went after other gods, other lovers.

Now in Chapter 5, God now is like a judge who will pronounce the sentence of discipline upon the people of Israel. But the purpose is not so to destroy them utterly, but that they may learn and turn. Because at the end of the chapter we read, "I will return again to My place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face, and in their distress earnestly seek Me." [v15]

So God punishes or judges or disciplines Israel, not to utterly eliminate them, but that they will learn, so that they will be sorry, so that they will be humbled, so that they will turn and seek God's face.

So Hosea 5, I've entitled this sermon, last week was 'Faithless and Fickle', today is 'Learn and Turn'.

The big idea here is God pronounces a sentence of discipline, so as to expose the hypocrisy and the sin of the nation, that one day, they as a people will learn and turn back to God.

Now last week, er.. Hosea Chapter 4, we had only two points. Some of you feel cheated. So today, Hosea Chapter 5, we have five points. Plenty for you to chew on but I want to assure you, because it's five, we will not move.. urh, we will not dilly-dally but we will move quite fast. And these five points are the five things I see in Chapter 5, as God develops this story for us.

1. Israel's Leadership Is Culpable
The first thing I'd like us to notice in Chapter 5, if you are to read it, is that God holds Israel's leadership culpable. They are guilty as charged. They are responsible for this sinful mess the nation is in.

He opens in verse 1, "Hear this, O priests! Pay attention, O house of Israel! Give ear, O house of the king!" I think it's very obvious he's dealing with the leaders. The first shot given is: You leaders are responsible. You leaders are culpable. Just as we saw last week, God laid a lot of emphasis on the corruption of the priests.

So we are reminded again, it's the priests, the king - the entire leadership of Israel has gone astray. They have become 'a snare and a net'. They have been stumbling blocks. They have become a trap for the people of Israel.

It's ironical because God uses these two places to convey that sense of irony. Mizpah means a watchtower, something high. Tabor is a mountain, something high. And these people at high places are supposed to be a source of blessing for the people. They were supposed to serve the people, lead the people well, but instead, they became a trap. They became a snare. They became a stumbling block. They led Israel astray.

Instead of leading Israel to worship and to enjoy and to know and to serve the true God of Israel - Jehovah, these leaders led Israel to worship other gods.

Therefore, God says, "Pay attention, listen, give ear, take note; judgment is coming for you." As a result of the corruption of the leaders, the people together with the leaders 'have gone deep into slaughter'. There's bloodshed, there's violence, as we noted in Chapter 2. And so, 'I will discipline all of you' [v2].

So first point is straightforward. Israel's leadership is culpable. And I repeat what I said last week, 上梁不正下梁歪. Because the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam is also crooked. And because the leadership is gone astray, the people have followed likewise.

And it is so important for us, even today, to be mindful about leadership. I'm not talking about our country, I'm focused upon the church, I'm focused upon spiritual leadership.

False teachers are a dangerous bunch. And it is a very dangerous thing for us to flirt around with false teachers. It's a very dangerous thing for us to say, "Oh, let me, I.. I..I understand this preacher. I know he's wrong here, he's deceptive here, he speaks lies here. But you know, I'm so wise, I can eat the fish and spit the bones." It's dangerous to do that. The Bible is very clear that we are to avoid false teachers. Romans 16, for example.

You know, the problem of false teachers was not just, or false priest was not just during Hosea's days. Even in the days of Jesus, He exposed the religious leaders of His time. He said to the Scribes and Pharisees, these are the prominent religious leaders during the time of Jesus. He said to them, He said about them, "When you successfully lead someone into your religious belief or sect, 'when he becomes a proselyte (a convert), you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves' " [Matthew 23:15].

Why? Because you make them hypocrites. And they outdo you in hypocrisy. You religious leaders are a bunch of hypocrites. You worship Me with your lips but your heart is far from Me. And when you lead someone into your gang, into your sect, you make them worse. You don't lead them to Me, you lead them further from Me.

Spiritual leadership - how important it is. It's emphasized right from the word go in Hosea 5.

I think in our church, we need to be mindful about spiritual leadership. I'm not talking just about the pastors, elders, deacons but I'm thinking about those who have spiritual influence. Care group leaders, discipleship group leaders, Bible study group leaders.

And we pray that God will, by His mercy and grace, raise up more leaders. But we don't just want more as in just to fulfil some numerical figure we want. But we need the right kind.

And so maybe this is a little segue. We just want to share that the shepherds, the pastors, the shepherds in our church, we.. we got together and we are working on how we can equip and train more effective leaders, godly leaders. And I guess more details will be shared with you in due course. But hey, this is really important because that's how Hosea starts off here in Chapter 5.

2. Israel's Traitorship Is Visible
But the second thing I'd like us to take note is that the betrayal, the traitorship of Israel is very obvious to God. It's visible to God.

They probably thought, "Hukh! God doesn't see, God doesn't know." That's why God says in verse 3, "I know," hukh, "I know (you) Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me; for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore; Israel is defiled."

You think I'm like a blur husband who doesn't know that you're having flings with other gods? I know what you're doing. I see all that you're doing. Your betrayal is just too obvious for Me.

"Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God" [v4a]. They cling on so much to their sinful deeds that they cannot turn to God. They love their gods, they love their sins way too much. "For the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the LORD." [v4b]

"The pride of Israel testifies to his face . . ." [v5a]. Israel is so proud and sinful that they do not grieve over their sin. They do not repent over their sin. And that stands as a witness against them. So Israel and Ephraim will fall. 'They will stumble, and Judah will also one day stumble with them' [v5b].

You think I do not know what you're doing? Oh no! I know you, Ephraim, and Israel, you're not hidden from Me.

I think a few months ago, I read in the news about this story of 'dine and dash'. Heard about something like this? People go to the restaurant, they eat, they order all that they want and after they have finished their meal, they just walk away. They don't pay. And this became news.

Two men - maybe you'll be able to recall this story, 'Two men arrested after multiple dash uh..dine-and-dash incidents amounting to $2,000 worth of unpaid bills'. So the restaurant owners were very upset, of course. And they reported this in social media and so on and eventually these two men were caught.

These two men probably thought that if we could eat in some place where it's crowded, nobody would notice us, nobody would remember us, and after we eat we just pretend to go toilet. And we will never be caught. And they actually got away from many incidents. Probably the restaurant owners didn't find it worthwhile to lodge a police report and so on and so forth. And these guys thought they could get away.

But... in Singapore, very hard to get away, because you always have CCTV. CCTV everywhere, they capture your face very clearly. And I'm pretty sure our government has a good database of our photos. These guys thought they could eat and get away and nobody knows, but there are lots of CCTVs.

And in our lives, we think that we can sin against God, hide ourselves, pretend God doesn't know but God has a mega CCTV. God's CCTV is ultra, ultra HD. It does not just see your acts and your words but it sees your heart! And God knows the adulterous thoughts; sinful, rebellious thoughts we have even against Him.

Do you know what's scary about God? Yes, I use this word 'scary'. Do you know what's scary about God? What..what causes man to have an aversion towards God? Like..like I..I don't want to think about God. You know why? Well, you would say, because God is holy. He's pure and we are sinful and dirty. We feel a sense of guilt and shame and fear when we think about God's holiness. That's true.

We also fear God because He is a God of power and justice and He will judge sinners.

But another thing that causes us to have the fear of God, another attribute of God that causes us to tremble and shiver, is because He's omniscient. It's because He knows all things, sees all things. And that's why it's scary.

You know, you can have a father who is very righteous, you can have a father who is very fierce but if he's blur, you're not scared of him. He don't know anything! I can always copy my homework and he won't find out. I can always play my computer game and he doesn't know. For all his holiness, for all his power, he can't do anything to me because I'm smarter than him. He has no CCTV.

Oh but you can't do that to God. He's omniscient. He knows everything!

Jonathan Edwards, he wrote, "Though they are ignorant of God (in other words, men in general don't really know God; left to himself he's blur), yet from what they hear of Him, and from what is manifest by the light of the nature of God, they do not like Him. By His being endowed with such attributes as He is, they have an aversion to Him." His attributes include holiness, righteousness, sovereignty, power and so on.

"They hear God is an infinitely holy, pure and righteous Being and they do not like Him upon this account. They have greater aversion to Him because He is omniscient and knows all things."

What's the problem with Israel? Their leadership - haywire. Instead of being a blessing, they become a trap and a snare. And Israel, in their stupidity, like all of us, in their folly, assume that God doesn't really know what's going on. God says, "I hold your leadership accountable and your betrayal is all too obvious for Me."

The third thing we notice in Hosea 5 - well by the way, I hope you today will shudder. Thinking about the omniscience, the all-knowing attribute of God, you will realize today, one day all of us will have to give an account of all that we have done and said and thought and there will be nothing hidden. Everything will be exposed. Will we be able to stand before the Holy God on that day? That CCTV will be all too obvious.

3. Israel's Worship Is Hypocritical
The third thing, however, we notice in Hosea 5 is that Israel's worship is hypocritical. Sad. They pretend God doesn't know or they say to themselves God doesn't know and they pretend to love God and worship God when they don't.

We see that in verse 6. "With their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the LORD. . ." So, these people, even though they're living in bloodshed and violence and injustice, they still pretend to worship God. They, on.. on the days of worship they bring their sheep, their flocks; they sacrifice, they, oh.. look so good! But God says, "This is all a sham. This is all a pretense."

'Because they still deal faithlessly with Me', they still involve themselves with sin and their children are 'alien children' [v7a]. Not that they are ETs or predator or whatever but that they are foreign to God. They do not love God. They do not worship God. These children worship other gods.

But the people of Israel like to bring their sheep and flock to worship God! It's all a show! It's hypocritical! It's a sham. It's almost like a man who is cheating on his wife and he goes home every day and says to his wife, "I love you dear." And every day instructs the florist to send a rose to his wife - every day.

Now if the wife doesn't know about his affair, if the wife doesn't know about his cheating, oh she will say, "Oh what wonderful roses! What a lovely husband." But if she knows that he is cheating on her and every day comes home and says 'I love you' and gives her a stalk of rose, she will find it absolutely disgusting! Why this hypocrisy?

And yet that's what people do to God. That's what Israel did to God. Israel flirted with other idols, sought other nations for help and not God. And Israel brings a rose every day; a sheep, a goat, a lamb and say, "God I love you." Are you serious?

And that's what many people do. I fear. We come to church on Sunday morning, we give God our sheep and goats. We give some money into the offering bag; now we don't even have offering bag. But we.. we say we give something to.. to God, to church. We sing with gusto 'I love you Lord'.

We sing even with - maybe in Gospel Light you all don't sing so well but, maybe in other churches, they sing and they emote and they tear and.. and..and they sit there and they tolerate bad preaching. Even in Gospel Light you tolerate bad preaching and say, "Aiyah, just 'tahan' [Malay, tolerate] half an hour, 40 minutes. This is my sheep and goat to You, God."

And for that one or two hours you say, "I give it this to You." But for the rest of the 160 over hours, from Monday to the next Sunday, you live like everyone else. You lie, you cheat, you steal, you commit adultery and you say, "I love You Lord. I'm a Christian you know."

Really? Is that someone who follows Jesus and loves the Lord and knows the love of God? I don't think so.

I said last week 'Godlessness is not incompatible with religion'. In fact, there are a lot of godless people in religion. To them it's just a show. To them it's a way to placate a blur god as if he doesn't see your heart. But not the God of the Bible. Not the God of all creation; He sees all things and our hypocrisy is disgusting before God. Just as Israel was repulsive before God.

4. Israel's Hardship Is Intentional
Chapter 5 moves on and we realize now Israel's hardship is intentional. Because they are betrayers, because they pretend and because God has spoken to them over and over and over and over again and they will not turn. Well, God is going to send tremendous hardship that they may learn and turn.

We read, "Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields" [v7]. The new moon is a.. something that you read of in Isaiah and so on where they, they have their monthly feasts and worship of God. But instead of being a time of joy and feasting, it will be a time of mourning and devastation. There will be poverty, there will be grief that comes upon you.

'Blow the horn, sound the trumpet, sound the alarm' [v8]. 'We follow you' is best understood as 'behind you, O Benjamin' because this is a language of war. There will be war. There will be an invasion. Hardship is coming to you, Israel; and to Judah where Benjamin is a part of.

"Ephraim shall become a desolation . . ." [v9a]. Not only is there war and invasion, you will lose and you will be devastated. "Among the tribes of Israel I make known what is sure" [v9b]. This is done deal, this is confirmed.

"The princes of Judah have become like those who move the landmark" [v10a]. In those days, you don't have territorial boundaries drawn by the government. It's dictated by this landmark that you drive into the ground. And if you're dishonest, you shift your landmark. You want more land? You just shift the landmark. And they cheat and they steal from one another.

And God says, "The princes of Judah are deceptive, dishonest people." Just another crime, another sin added to that list. And so God 'will pour out His wrath like water' [v10b] upon this land. They are so corrupt. I will send judgment upon them.

"Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because he was determined to go after filth. But I am like a moth to Ephraim" [v11-12a]. So the idea here is that there will be larvae from moth. They lay eggs, they turn to larvae and for larvae to turn into the moth, they need to eat. They eat on clothes, they eat on fabric. So God says, "I'm going to eat up your nation."

"And like dry rot to the house of Judah" [v12b]. Like a sickening pain in your bones, a decay amongst you. I will be like this to you! I'm going to eat you up. I'm going to send a war and devastate your land.

"When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound" [v13a] - however, they did not turn to God. Hukh, they.. they 'turned to Assyria, they sent to the great king' [v13b]. But you know what? These foreign nations could never help you, could never save you.

"For I will be like a lion . . ." [v14a]. You know why they can't save you? Because I am the One. God says, "I am the One who will tear you like a lion. I, even I." If you are not sure who is inflicting all this, let me say this again, "I, even I." [v14b]

God is to be feared. He's not Santa Claus. He deals with sin. He deals with rebellion. And He can be fierce in His dealings.

"I will, I will tear and go away; I will carry off" - like just a lion that takes away the prey - "and no one shall rescue" [v14b]. You're doomed, you cannot escape. "I will return again to My place, until they acknowledge their guilt . . ." [v15].

So the hardship is intentional. Who sends it? God. Who is behind all this? God.

You know, sometimes as a church, Christians, we.. we are very scared to say that God inflicts pain. We almost feel like it makes God unloving. Isn't it? A lot of people don't like to say that sickness can be from God, pain can be from God, disaster can be from God. We don't like to say that.

But the Bible is crystal clear. God does send pain and sickness and disasters. But I want you to know that the hardship, sometimes, oftentimes, is not just to eliminate you. But it's to help you. It's intentional so that you may learn and turn.

It's to make you pay attention. It's to help you to sit up and realize that I've sinned against God. So that maybe, in your lifetime, you may be rescued from your rebellion and sin and truly know God. God does that as an act of mercy, oftentimes.

Last week, I was on my way to church in the morning. I took my usual route; 'route' or 'route' [pronouncing differently]. I was about to turn into PIE [Pan Island Expressway] when I saw from a distance, some guy in uniform with a cap, just blocking the entrance to the PIE. He, I think from a distance, was arranging some red cones at the entrance.

I thought, "How strange!" I've driven this route for years and I've never seen anybody do that. And then I drove nearer and I noticed that a bus was ahead of me. And this man removed the cones and allowed the bus to enter PIE. So I thought, "If a bus can get through, surely I can." But when I drove nearer, the guy said [waving hand gesturing 'no'], put the cones back [waving hand again]. I said [hands gesturing why, what's happening and getting a similar response].

You know, I was like thinking to myself, "Who is this guy?" I mean, he doesn't.. there's no uh, you know, traffic police bike with the bright lights. He's just a guy in uniform with a cap. And he allowed the bus to go through; I don't see why I cannot go through. But he said [hands gesturing 'no']. I said, "If I don't go, I'll be late you know. My timing to church 'zhun zhun' [Hokkien, very accurate/precise] one neh."

I mean, if I don't get to PIE, I have to make a big round; I do not know where I will end up. I was not prepared. I have half a mind to say 'I don't care'! Vrooooo..... [gesturing driving his way through]!

But I thought to myself, it will not be so nice if on Monday morning, you open your Straits Times and read 'Pastor drives over Policeman'. And they realize it's from Gospel Light Christian Church. Erh, that would not be so cool, so I 'bopian' [Hokkien, have no choice] ah, 'guai guai' [Hokkien, obediently] avoid that entrance and go somewhere. Half my mind is saying, "What is this guy doing to me? Why does he stop me? Why does he make me late? Why...? A bus can go through what!"

Well, got my head around figuring a route to.. to..to church, Sunday morning. And then the next day, I read 'Large tree falls on car along PIE, trapping passenger'. A large tree blocked the entire four lanes of PIE. Then I thought to myself, "'Heng' [Hokkien, fortunate] ah!" 'Heng' I never run over the policeman because I'll be stuck behind the tree. And I will not even maybe get to church.

So this guy with the cap - I thought he was a hindrance, I thought he was a nuisance. But he actually saved me. He freed me from being trapped. He redirected my path. He caused me to turn, that I may safely arrive.

So often we look at sickness, we look at pain and we say, "Why..? Why..why don't you let me go?" There's a purpose behind it. Sometimes it can be very severe pain. But it is always with a purpose.

I read this week, someone in our church wrote this. And it is said, "I started to listen to PJ's sermon every Sunday. However, my heart did not fully open to accept Christ into my life until October 2022, when I was facing a very difficult time. I met So-and-So, telling her about the burdens in my heart that no one seemed to understand at that time. She listened to me patiently and told me that sometimes God uses difficult time to awaken people's heart. It was the moment I realized I'm nothing without God's grace to save us from our sins."

I dare say, in a group like this, there'll be many of you who have one time in your life experienced certain hardship that has caused you to pause, to stop and to turn. To realize that you're not the captain of your ship. You're not in charge of your life. But that there is a God who is calling out to you. Who is causing you to sit up, pay attention, that you may learn and turn, repent of your sin and find salvation - forgiveness through His Son.

Israel's hardship is intentional. God still loves Israel. And the pain was designed for their good.

5. Israel's Fellowship Is Conditional
Why is this important? Because finally, Israel's fellowship is conditional.

To really, really have a right relationship with God, you require humility and repentance. There's no other way. There's no other way man can have a right relationship with God, if we are still proud and we still hang on to the love of sins.

God says in Hosea 5, "I will return again to My place . . ." The language here is like that of a lion. The lion tears up the victim, returns to his lair. I leave it dead. I will return again to My place until I'll come back to you when you 'acknowledge your guilt and seek My face, and in your distress earnestly seek Me' [v15]. I'll come back to you. I'll embrace you when you acknowledge and seek Me.

By the way, this is really interesting. Because what God is saying here is not new. It's not like He's giving you something that has never been spoken of before. Because when God prepared Israel to enter the Promised Land; before they entered, God already said, "There will be a day, you will sin against Me." I already saw the future. I already see the future.

But on that day, 'you will seek the LORD' - this is Deuteronomy uh. A long time before Hosea. But God, even then, already said, "But from there . . ." From that point, you will disobey Me. "You will seek the LORD your God and you will find Him, if you search after Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in tribulation," when you are in this distress, "and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your God and obey His voice." [Deuteronomy 4:29-30]

So God's condition is very clear. You have to seek after Him with all your heart, with all your soul, and obey His voice. Then I'll return to you.

I was in my devotional reading, coming to 2 Chronicles Chapter 7. One of the most famous verses; a lot of preachers love to preach on this for revival. 'If My people who are called by My Name shall humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven . . .' [v14].

It's true, because before God said this, Solomon also prayed this. Chapter 6, Solomon prayed this and offered sacrifices and there was a fire that consumed the sacrifices, meaning God says, "Yes, it is true." And God made it clear when He said it Himself, "If you will turn, I will heal your land. If you humble yourself, I'll come back to you."

And so, today, it remains the same. We all are a sinful people. We all are. It's just some people are more honest about it and they don't hide, but there are others who are not honest about it and they want to hide. Thinking that God does not have a CCTV, thinking that they can fool God with their hypocrisy.

The fact of the matter is all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All of us are alienated from God. All of us will face the judgment of God but, there's a way back. Key word here - 'Repent'.

When Jesus was walking on earth, the summary of His message, at least in the beginning, is this: Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand [Matthew 4:17]. When John the Baptist was on earth, he said, "Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand" [Matthew 3:2]. There is no way you can come to know God until you're willing to repent.

Repentance is acknowledging and grieving over your sins that you will turn to God and seek His forgiveness. Forsake your evil ways. That's what repentance is.

And you can repent today because God has demonstrated His love for you in sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die and to pay for your sins. He says, "I've sent you a Saviour. I've given you the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Will you today humble yourself, turn?"

Maybe God today has given you hardship, pain, suffering. You are tempted to be angry at God and complain against God. I say, "Please don't." Because God may be just like that police officer freeing you from being stuck in life, freeing you from the judgment that is to come. He's calling you to turn; He's calling you to learn and turn.

Hosea is a wonderful book about hesed. What is hesed? The loyal love of God despite Israel's unfaithfulness.

We are all an unfaithful people. We sin against our Creator who gives us life and breath and everything that we enjoy. Don't stay that rebel. Learn and turn. Repent of your sins, believe in Jesus Christ. I pray you will know God's love in your hearts today. Let's bow for a word of prayer together.

The message of Hosea is the message of God's stunning loyal love. It's what the whole Bible is about, really. That whilst we are yet sinners, God sent His Son. This is love, that Jesus would die and pay for our sins.

Would you today learn and turn? Would you today say, "I am a sinner, Lord. I am guilty as charged. And there is no way I can save myself from my sins. There's nothing I do that can atone for my errors and sins."

But friends, I want to tell you today, there is a Saviour for you. The Bible tells us the Son of God came into this world to be born as the unique God-Man. And God says His Name shall be called Jesus. Why? Because it means God saves. He shall save His people from their sins. There is salvation and forgiveness for you.

But you've got to be willing to humble yourself and to turn. Maybe all the pains you're going through today is God funnelling your attention to your need for Jesus. He's leading you. He's leading you like a good Shepherd. Yes, there may be that rod that needs to be inflicted onto my body sometimes. But that good Shepherd is leading you to green pastures. That good Shepherd is leading you to know God, to everlasting life. This is hesed - the loyal love of God.

I believe right here, right now, there are men and women who God is speaking to. There are men and women today who are going through hardship and are not able to figure out why. Let me perhaps tell you why.

It's intentional. It's God drawing you to His heart. He's calling you to come home to Him. He's telling you, "My Son has died for you, to save you from your sins. Would you repent? Would you humble yourself? Would you learn and turn?"

I'd like to say a word to my brothers and sisters in Christ too. You're going through hardship and pain and suffering. May I remind you that God is a God of loyal love. And He said, "All things work together for good to them that love God." Yes, it's heartbreaking. And you may not know exactly how and why.

But I tell you today, His love for you is loyal and steadfast. And all the pain you're going through may be His way of leading you to higher ground. Leading you to repent, leading you to draw near.

May we as a church rejoice in the Lord! May we as a church trust and give thanks. He leadeth us.

So Father, this morning, thank You for Your Word. We pray You'll bless Your Church. Cause us to learn and turn, to confess our sins and to rejoice that You are faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Thank You You're such a magnanimous, generous God; merciful and gracious. Draw us near. We thank You in Jesus' Name, Amen.

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