In Peter Allison's sermon, 'The Clash of Powers - 1', the central theme revolves around the powerful work of God in the early church as depicted in Acts 5. The sermon discusses the clash between the kingdom of God and the Sanhedrin, representing Satan's kingdom. The primary power in the church is the preaching of the Word of God, which is described as the power of God unto salvation. Additionally, signs and wonders performed by the apostles serve to authenticate their message and demonstrate God's power over creation, sickness, and spiritual forces. Despite persecution and imprisonment by the Sanhedrin, the church grows as God uses His greater power to thwart the enemy's plans. The sermon also touches upon the offerings described in Leviticus, highlighting the sin offering's role in atoning for the sinful nature of humanity. The message encourages believers today by affirming that the same power at work in the early church is also present in today's church, urging them to stand boldly in their faith.

The cross my shepherd, I have swore, He makes me down to lie in pasture's green. Quiet water's fire. My soul is dark, we're sure again, And we too walk the faith Within the path of righteousness my Lord and Son become the same. My timbre low has turned in shed, in presence of my foes. Of thy foes.

Thy head now dust with oil anoint, and thy cup overflows. That the Lord thy light shall surely shine, and live your heart forevermore, And live your heart forever more, Like every king and queen. His kingdom come as a light, He comes as a light for me, He is head of flesh, O, the King of glory and chastity. The rule of glory is the key. The mighty Lord is near.

In that same God, that great in might, And strong in battle he is. He knows not that you must obey, He will bear out that trouble He knows not that you must obey. The truth is he can give the King The King of glory, the King of glory, The King of glory, the King of glory, The Lord of hosts and the Archimedes, The King of glory be. The Lord of hosts and the Archimedes, The King of glory be. The King of all the living.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. Amen, amen, amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. O be we that know that our true plan Seem to our Lord in cheerful voice, of death, coming before him and his light. Know that the Lord is not in peace, Without a lady in a state.

We are His book, He doth our seed, And for His sheep, He doth our strength. Of us change. O, let the land be filled with praise, Thou first with joy, with joy come true. Come, Christ, rejoice, it's come true. Praise God and bless his name always.

Amen, it's been a joy for you. Always God is in control of you. Why the Lord our God is true, His mercy is forever true. It's true that all hearts burn with soot, And shall always true nature prove. The Lord go now and have mercy on us, In glory and in glory.

The line of swans. He makes me down to lie in God's true stream. In the quiet night. My soul is not with short again, and with long again. My soul is not with short again, and with long again.

My soul is not restored again, And we too walk the faith, to all the faith, within the power of righteousness, before his own insane. Yet thou dost with oil anoint, And like a fuller flow'st. And close. And heaven and earth before my life shall surely come again, I shall surely come again, and live your heart forevermore. He brought that child from day, He with him up and down, And gave the glory and the praise.

The true lawful he is the King, The mighty Lord is near, In that same cross that raised in night, And storm in battle he is. God to me. Give him from your head, be yours, Lord, that you must obey. He will bear all that ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["The Star-Spangled Banner"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] P.S. Psalm 92 Psalm 92 is a psalm, especially for the Lord's Day.

It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to the name of the Most High God. It is good to declare His loving kindness in the morning and His faithfulness every night. It is good to do so on an instrument of ten strings, on the lute, on the harp. It is good to give thanks to the Lord with harmonious sound. So let God's people magnify Jehovah and tell Him how great are His works, His thoughts are very deep.

The senseless man doesn't know this, nor does the fool understand it. But those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. Come. Let us declare that Jehovah is upright. He is our rock.

And there is no unrighteousness with Him. Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace from God our Father in Christ Jesus our Savior. Please join this morning in singing Psalm 146a. 46 a I am the Lord forever, Please, my God, do all my days. Through all my days.

Where your trust and earth and mixes rise above you, friend of saints. And he dices, calls for marriage, married with Him in the name. In the eyes of God our King, Christ is our best-ruing God. For the Lord is not forever. He'll be starting again.

God is giving you the news. And they ask to make you see. God is giving everything to earth, and they are so many to see. Giving everything we will have is here always to be. He will always bring you justice, is here on our city.

He allows brother justice for the sake of those our friends. He gives birth to those who love him, It is heard to those who long there, Sadness past everything else, And the star-spangled banner yet wave, O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. And the star-spangled banner yet wave, O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. O say can you see by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? And the rocket's red glare, The bombs bursting in air, The bombs bursting I love God forevermore.

Through all that we do praise Him, God, in whom I praise the Lord. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, it is with great joy and gladness that we come into Your courts this morning. It is with great thankfulness That we offer our praise to you With voices that you have created and that you have given to us You call us to praise you with harmony harmoniously And we thank You for the ability to do that.

For Lord, all that we have, all that we are, all that we do, We do through You, by Your power, and all that we are You have made us. So we bow this morning before You as Your creatures, and ask that You would come to inhabit our praise, to sanctify us, to set us apart that we may be vessels fit for Your service. We ask that You would come to speak to us through Your Word and by Your Spirit. And that You would give us ears to hear what Your Spirit says to Your church. Father, You are great and mighty.

And we are amazed that You would take notice of us. That you would condescend to dwell in us, to speak to us even. And yet you do. And we praise and we thank you for that. It is you that has made our lips.

It is You that has given us a new heart. It is You that has put a new song on our lips. You have made us new creatures. And given us a new name. You have given us Your name.

You have put it upon us. We thank You. And we bless Your name and we ask that You would equip us this morning to worship You with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength, to do so with understanding, to do so with zeal. Lord, where we have become discouraged may you quicken us Where we have become weary may you strengthen us Where we have become dull and insensitive Lord may you enliven us? May You teach us that we may learn in the school of Christ.

Through Jesus, we pray. Amen. Let us confess our faith together using the Westminster Confession. Let us read responsibly. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.

God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessings in and of Himself, and is alone in and unto himself all salvation, not standing in need of any riches, which we may have any, nor derive any glory from them, but only manifesting this one glory in, by, unto him and upon him. He is the alone fountain of all beings, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things. He is the alone fountain of all beings, of whom, through whom, and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. And a man who is not profitable to God, Is there any pleasure in the Almighty that you are righteous, or is it a gain to him that you make your ways blameless?

You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they exist and were created. Jesus Christ is the blessed and only God to date, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, welling in an unobtrusive light, to whom no man has seen or can see, to whom we honor and have everlasting power. Amen. This is a section of the confession that speaks of the Trinity, God's three persons in one God. And our scripture reading now is Leviticus chapter 4.

We've been seeing the book of Leviticus, which deals with the responsibilities and duties of the tribe of Levi. And it opens in these first five chapters with a teaching on the five different sacrifices. Chapter 4 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, If a person sins unintentionally against any of the commandments of the Lord, in anything which ought not to be done, and does any of them, if the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, then let him offer to the Lord for his sin which he has sinned, a young bull without blemish as a sin offering. He shall bring the bull to the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord, lay his hand on the bull's head and kill the bull before the Lord. Then the anointed priest shall take some of the bull's blood and bring it to the tabernacle of meeting.

The priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of the blood seven times before the Lord in front of the veil of the sanctuary. And the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the Lord, which is in the tabernacle of meeting. And he shall pour the remaining blood of the bull at the base of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. He shall take from it all the fat of the bowl as the sin offering, the fat that covers the entrails, and all the fat which is on the entrails, the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them by the flanks, and the fatty lobe attached to the liver above the kidneys. He shall remove.

As it was taken from the bowl of the sacrifice of the peace offering, and the priest shall burn them on the altar of the burnt offering. But the bowls hide, and all its flesh, with its head and its legs, its entrails, and its oafle, the whole bull he shall carry outside the camp to a clean place where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on wood with fire. Where the ashes are poured out, it shall be burned. Now if the whole congregation of Israel sins unintentionally, and the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done something against any of the commandments of the Lord in anything which should not be done, and are guilty, when the sin which they have committed becomes known, then the assembly shall offer a young bull for the sin, and bring it before the tabernacle of meeting. And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the Lord.

Then the bull shall be killed before the Lord. The anointed priest shall bring some of the bull's blood to the tabernacle of meeting. And then the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord in front of the veil. And he shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar which is before the Lord, which is in the tabernacle of meeting. And He shall pour the remaining blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.

He shall take all the fat from it and burn it on the altar. And He shall do so with the bull as He did with the bull as a sin offering. Thus He shall do with it. So the priest shall make atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them. And then He shall carry the bowl outside the camp and burn it as He burned the first bowl.

It is a sin offering for the assembly. When a ruler has sinned and done something unintentionally against any of the commandments of the Lord his God, in anything which should not be done, and is guilty, or if his sin which he has committed comes to his knowledge, he shall bring as his offering a kid of the goats a male without blemish. And he shall lay his hand on the head of the goat, and kill it at the place where they kill the burnt offering before the Lord. It is a sin offering. The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering.

And He shall burn all of its fat on the altar, like the fat of the sacrifice of the peace offering. So the priest shall make atonement for Him concerning His sin, and it shall be forgiven him. If any one of the common people sins unintentionally by doing something against any of the commandments of the Lord in anything which ought not to be done and is guilty, or if his sin which he has committed comes to his knowledge, then he shall bring as his offering a kid of the goats, a female without blemish for his sin which he has committed and he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill the Sin offering at the place of the burnt offering then the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger Put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour all the remaining blood at the base of the altar. He shall remove all its fat, as fat is removed from the sacrifice of the peace offering. And the priest shall burn it on the altar for a sweet aroma to the Lord.

So the priest shall make atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him. If he brings a lamb as his sin offering, he shall bring a female without blemish. Then he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill it as an offering at the place where they killed the burnt offering. Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour all the remaining blood at the base of the altar. He shall remove all its fat as the fat of the Lamb is removed from the sacrifice of the peace offering.

Then the priest shall burn it on the altar according to the offerings made by fire to the Lord. So the priest shall make atonement for his sin that he has committed, and it shall be forgiven him. May the Lord uphold us according to his word that we may live and not be ashamed of our hope. So this is the first of the offerings, as we've been reading through here, this is the first of the offerings that is not a notice what's missing. It's not a sweet savor, a sweet smelling aroma to the Lord.

As the burnt offering was, as the grain offering was, and as the peace offering was, this is not a... Because this is dealing with our sin. So where the burnt offering, and the peace offering, and the grain offering spoke of Christ's righteousness, of the works that we are able to do through Christ, of the fellowship that we have with the Father, and with God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This sacrifice points forward to Christ's work on the cross to remove the debt of our sin. This is the one that we often think of most of when we think of Christ's sacrifice.

Or when we think of the Old Testament sacrifices, this is what we often are thinking of. This is the one that points to Christ being our sin bearer. Notice also that in this sacrifice, it is burned outside the camp. It's not burned on the altar. Now, it's a little bit confusing because I believe that Chapter 4 also begins to talk about the trespass offering.

I think there's some... But these offerings are clearly differentiated in Leviticus 7, verse 37. It separates all these offerings. This is the law of the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, the consecrations and the sacrifice of the peace offering. So this is, the Bible itself does distinguish these offerings.

There is a difference between the sin offering and the trespass offering. And so some of this chapter is dealing with trespass offerings. But the sin offering, we'll look at trespass offering next week, Lord willing, but the sin offering is what is offered to make atonement for our sinful nature. The fact that we are sinners, that our whole nature has been corrupted. And we might call that original sin, but also the corruption of our nature.

And so there are no specific acts here that are mentioned of this sin because this is what we are as fallen creatures. We are sinners and this is an atonement for our sinful nature. Whereas in the trespass offering, there is a specific trespass that's been committed and there is often, if it's against another person, there is a restitution that's added to the offering, evaluation that's assigned. But this is no valuation. This is an offering where Christ is bearing our sin and making atonement for the fact that we are sinners.

That we are sinners. Well, let us go to the Lord with our prayers of confession and petition remembering as David says, that the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are open to their cry. Our heavenly Father, your name is holy. Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom Come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For to You, Lord, belongs the kingdom and all power and all glory forever and ever. We ask, Lord, that You would assist us as we come to Your throne of grace to offer these prayers to You as You have taught us in Your Word and as You have given to us Your example. We acknowledge, Lord, our sins to You this morning.

We confess especially, Lord, those times, those practical denials where we have in various ways in practice, in effect denied you as our Lord, where we have not trusted in you and in your power to provide for all of our needs according to your riches and your glory. Or where we have been afraid that someone may harm us or bring ruin upon us and have forgotten, or that you are the sovereign, and that not one hair falls from our head apart from your decree. That not one finger can be lifted against us apart from Your decree. And so we ask that You would forgive us for our fears, where we have not had You as our God. Lord, something has become more important to us than You.

Whether it be our wealth, or our reputation, or our relationships, or our health, or the things that You have given to us or our businesses and vocations. Lord, all of these things are Your good gifts. And we ask Your forgiveness where they have become more to us than You. We ask, Father, Your forgiveness We ask, Father, Your forgiveness where we have not honored You as the Lord of lords, as the King of kings, where we have not had you as our God, where we have been embarrassed into silence, where your honor has been trampled, where your name has been dishonored. We ask, Lord, that You would forgive us where we have lived by the fear of man, where we have been ignorant, Lord, of Your Word and of Your works and of Your wonders, where we've been forgetful, where we've had false opinions of You as our God and Father, the one who loves us and cares for us.

Lord, we have doubted of Your love and Your care. We have questioned Your wisdom in our lives. We ask, Lord, Your forgiveness this morning. We ask, Lord, Your forgiveness of any unworthy thoughts that we have had of You. Not even wicked thoughts.

We ask your forgiveness for the self-love that wells up within us. That we do not love you with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength as we ought to love You. And our sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise would become difficult for us where the cares of this world become more desirable or distract us, Lord, from our love to You and devotion to You. Lord, where there has been a heart of pride against others, we ask Your forgiveness. Where there has been a carnal security in the things that You have provided and not arresting in Your provision.

We ask Your forgiveness. Where we have sought to use unlawful means to get the things that You delight to give us. We ask, Lord, Your forgiveness. And where we are doing these things In ignorance, we ask that You would open our eyes and that You would cleanse us. Where we have resisted Your Spirit and the leading of Your Spirit.

Where we have been insensitive or dull to the leading of Your Spirit. We ask, Lord, Your forgiveness, and we pray that You may not cast us away, but that You would renew Your supplications to us. That we might be those who are led by Your Spirit, those whose consciences are sensitive and tender to the conviction of Your Spirit and to the leading of Your Spirit to do those things that You are calling us to do. Lord, may we not delay to follow You. We ask, Lord, that where You have called us to something and we have dragged our feet and rationalized Your call away, we ask, Lord, that You would forgive us.

And that You would yet again give to us another opportunity to serve You and to love You. Where we have been discontent with Your provision for us. For Lord, all that we have is Your good gifts. And where we've been discontent with these things, or envied at what you have given to others or longed for what you haven't given us. We ask that you would teach us contentment with such things as we have.

Lord, we bless Your name. And we thank You that there is forgiveness, that You do remove the guilt of our sin, you remove the shame of our sin. And you give to us, Lord, by Your Spirit, the grace and the power to live above the difficulties, the trials, the tribulations that are before us. We ask, Lord, also for our nation, A nation that has corrupted itself, that has mocked your commandments, despising your laws, that has rejected you as being their king. Yet, Lord, they do so, and we do so, with ingrate foolishness.

We pray that you would be merciful to our land, for you have given much to us. And to whom much is given, Much is expected. You expect much. And you have told us that judgment comes in proportion to our knowledge. To what we know we ought to have done.

Lord, we acknowledge how great have been Your mercies to us that this land should have been founded by those who declared that Your Word, the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament were the standard of truth, and that your law was the just and true law. And a people that put the very words of your Scripture into their civil laws and that sought to honor you in this. And to acknowledge that You are the sovereign not only in the church, but in the state as well. Lord, in how far we have fallen that we have rejected each and every one of Your commandments. Thinking ourselves to be more merciful or more just than you.

And we are reaping, Lord, the folly of our rebellion. We have seen that we have become a sick nation, a diseased people, because Your hand is upon us. We have seen our ability to make things evaporate. We have seen the ascendancy of foreign ownership across our land, that we have become a nation of debtors and not of lenders. And this too, Lord, is what You have promised to those who rebel against your covenant, who return evil for your good gifts and for your mercy.

We ask especially that He would deliver us from the murder of unborn children, as well as the sacrifice of people to demons. We ask, Lord, for your deliverance from the government schools that have raised up so many generations of people, of children, teaching them all manner of immorality and fornication, teaching them that you are not the creator, and denying you of your glory. Father, there is, it would seem, no greater institution of atheism in our land today. And we recognize its power is great, but we know that you are far greater still. We ask, Lord, that you would break the back of this power.

A power that has stolen the wealth of your people, that has robbed widows of their houses and properties, that has robbed your church of wealth that ought to be used for your glory, Lord, is being used to deny your very existence, to ban the mere mention of your name unless it is in vain. We ask, Lord, for Michael, Elliot, and Todd Adams in their labors. We thank you for their call, for their gifts, for their ministries. We ask that you would provide for them, and especially for Todd and his family, that You would provide a place for them to live, and a place and a field for them to labor in. We thank you for your blessing to them and the grandchildren that have been born.

We Thank you Lord for the fruit in their family. We pray that as they enter their later years that you would richly bless this ministry. That you would richly bless them and their family. We pray for Michael and the saints at Dominion Covenant. We ask that you would bless their outreach, their evangelism, and that you would use them to knit together your people in the Omaha area and in the state of Nebraska, to knit your people together in service and in worship, to establish connections, Christ-centered bonds between all of these congregations that they may be supporting each other and upholding each other and strengthening each other in the Lord.

We ask for those that are traveling and away from us today, may your hand, Lord, be upon them, may they enjoy as much as us the preaching of your Word and the fellowship of your saints, and may they rejoice to hear your voice today. We pray for those that are not able to gather with us this morning. Lord, there are many that are not well. We ask for your healing, for your strength for Diane, for our brother Bryn and his surgery, and for others Lord that were not able to make it today. We ask that you would enable them to do so, that you might remove all providential hindrances, that you would enable them to gather with us again.

We lift up all these prayers to you, Father, and also Alexis. And we have prayed for many years. We ask, Lord, that you might draw her to you, that you might especially preserve her from temptation to take the life of this unborn child. We pray that you would bring her to your people who can bring your word to her. That you would bring her under the regular and faithful preaching of Your Word each week.

We thank You, Lord, that she continues to reach out and to respond, but we pray that You would move her to commit to you and to follow you with all of her heart and soul and mind and strength and to forsake this world and its ways. All these things, Lord, we bring to you in the strong and precious name of our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Psalm 32a, David's psalm that speaks of the blessedness of the forgiveness of our sins. Who has forgiven him?

For all who choose never should there be clear, That no one is his sin. And over is his sin. As his love for our new, our new, House of inequity, our new spirit, still at ease. All the news so yet in my field, my days are filled with woes. Only your relentless being guide, Filled with praise, all we are, wondrous day and night, And he died on my heart.

Of my heart. I still I live, now fast to you, our joining will be this. I still I will before you join. I said I will be born again, and worship my own faith. When you release me from my sin, until peace builds a way, the way.

And therefore while you may be found, let all the Godly way. You be the saints who are found in me, His arms of my release. Amen. Please turn to Acts in your Bible, Acts chapter 5. I'd like to begin reading at verse 12.

We have just finished the account of Ananias and Sapphira, and this is the immediate aftermath of that. And through the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were done among the people, and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly and believers were increasingly added to the Lord multitudes of both men and women, so that they brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people, and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed. Then the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him, which is the sect of the Sadducees, and they were filled with indignation, and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison.

But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison door and brought them out and said, Go, stand in the temple, and speak to the people all the words of this life. And when they heard that, they entered the temple early in the morning and taught. But the high priest and those with him came and called the council together with all the elders of the children of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the officers came and did not find them in the prison, they returned and reported saying indeed we found the prison shut securely and the guards standing outside before the door. But when we opened them we found no one inside.

Now when the High Priest, the captain of the temple, and the chief priests heard these things they wondered what the outcome would be. So one came and told them, saying, Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people. Then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council, and the high priest asked them, saying, Did we not strictly command you not to teach in His name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon us." May Jehovah deal with us according to His mercy and teach us His statutes.

Heavenly Father, we ask that this hearing of Your Word might be mixed with faith in us. We ask that it would lead us, it would transform us, it would sanctify us, and would equip us for the work of ministry. I pray that you would sanctify my sinful lips this morning, that from a vessel of clay the riches of your grace and the Gospel may be proclaimed through a vessel of clay that you might be glorified and not man. In Jesus' name, Amen. Well, this is a news story, a true story, from Luke's account of the early church.

And in this news story, account, the apostles are imprisoned for preaching the Gospel. They are beaten, and then they are commanded to never again preach or teach in the name of Jesus. And then they were released. Now If our journalists today were covering this story, the headlines might read something like this. The Jesus fanatics shut down.

Jesus' disciples jailed yet again for violating a court order. Scodus slaps down Jesus' followers. But of course, like today's headlines, the actual story is quite the opposite of what the headlines would lead us to believe. While the headlines aren't exactly false, they communicate a lie in that they leave out the central truth. And that's the central truth that I would like us to focus upon this morning.

And that truth is the great power in this early church. The great power that God demonstrates in and through this early church. You see, this is a clash of two kingdoms that are being played out. This account is the account of a war, of a clash, of a contest between two kingdoms. The Sanhedrin, representing Satan's kingdom, has real power.

They have power of life and death. Their power is, as Martin Luther said, indeed great. And next week, Lord willing, we will look at that power. And that's part two of this clash of powers. But this morning, we want to look at the power that is being exercised in the church.

And the first power that we see exercised in the church, the central and primary power is that the Word of God is being preached. The central and primary power of the Gospel message that all men are under God's wrath and judgment. But as verse 30 says of this chapter, Jehovah God has raised up Jesus and exalted Him to His right hand to be Prince and Savior and to give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins. See, this is the underlying activity throughout Acts, the preaching of the Gospel. At Pentecost, Peter preached this powerful sermon, probably in Solomon's portico, and three thousand are saved.

In chapter 3, Peter and John are going up to the temple at the hour of prayer when they seize an opportunity to preach the Gospel in Solomon's portico in the aftermath of healing a lame man and all of the result that that provoked in the crowds. That preaching of the Gospel there resulted in an arrest and a court order not to preach anymore in chapter 4. But the church grows to 5, 000 people. And despite the court order to cease and desist, they continue to preach. And verse 12 of this chapter says that they were with one accord in Solomon's portico again, where they had been preaching since Pentecost.

And now it's multitudes that are being added to the church. There's no number even given anymore. They are now meeting from house to house, we read, as well. Which means that the church has been exploding with growth, so that many house churches are being set up all over Jerusalem. Meaning these are churches that meet in homes.

Just like when Peter is released from prison a little later, he goes to the house of John Mark's mother where there's a prayer meeting in progress. That's not all of the Jerusalem church there. That was just one congregation of the Jerusalem church. Verse 42 says that daily in the temple and every house they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Messiah. They're preaching that Jesus was the Messiah, the one that the Jews were looking for and had been looking for for generations, for centuries.

And the number of the disciples continues to multiply. You see, this Gospel message is the power of God unto salvation. That's what Paul calls it in Romans. The power of God. The Gospel message is the power of God unto salvation.

Paul told the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 1, for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but To us who are being saved, it is the power of God. And Acts 4, 33 says that with great power, the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. This is a great power in the church. And there is no earthly power that can stop this power of the Gospel. Nothing.

But the second power that we see in the church is The second evidence of power in the church is the many signs and wonders that are being done by the apostles. This is also another evidence of the power that God is exercising in the church. A sign says that through the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were being done among the people. A sign is a distinguishing mark by which something is known. It's a distinguishing mark by which something is known.

A sign is a picture communication. Your car maybe has a lot of signs like that on the dashboard. My car had one like that this morning coming in. It had a picture of a tire telling me that my tire pressure is too low. These signs can communicate all sorts of messages from the engine is too hot, To identifying which switch will turn the windshield wipers on and which switch turns the headlights on.

Those are signs. Signs identify businesses and what the business may provide. Signs tell us what might be at an exit, whether there's food and gas there. These pictures communicate. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are also signs that identify and describe the work of the Holy Spirit.

Baptism is a sign, right? Where with the washing of water is demonstrated our need of cleansing and the work of the Holy Spirit to cleanse us. And the Lord's Supper is a sign of our fellowship that we have in Christ. That we are in Christ. By eating and drinking of His body and blood, we are participating in His sacrifice.

That means His sacrifice, His sin offering, covers our sin. See, this is what is signified in these signs. So these apostles are performing many signs. They're also doing wonders. A wonder is something that astounds.

Something that leaves us stunned or exclaiming, wow! Amazed, maybe even speechless. See, wonders, signs and wonders, authenticate God's messengers and their message. These signs and wonders authenticate these apostles as sent from God, as God's messengers. That's what the word apostle means, as somebody that is sent.

These signs and wonders authenticate that God has sent them. And they also authenticate their message. There are signs that saying this message is true. When God called Moses to go to Pharaoh and demand that Pharaoh let God's people go, the people that He had in bondage there. After Jacob had come down there, Moses hears what God tells him to do.

Remember, this is the man who has fled 40 years earlier because he had killed a man and Pharaoh wanted to put him to death. God's telling him, you go back and you tell that Pharaoh, it's a different Pharaoh, but you tell that Pharaoh that he must let the Israelites go. And Moses says, well, what if they don't listen to me? What if they don't regard me as your messenger that you actually have sent me? Then what do I do?

And God didn't chide Moses for this question. He didn't rebuke him. Because it was a valid question. And God's response was to simply give Moses three signs. He gave him a sign that if he cast down his rod, it would turn into a snake, and if he picked it up, it would turn back into a rod again.

And he gave him a sign that if he put his hand into his coat and took it out, it would become leprous. And he put it in and took it again, it would become clean. And they said if they don't believe those signs, then he gave them a third sign that he could take the water from the river and dump it on the ground, and it would turn to blood. Those were signs that God gave to Moses so that he could authenticate Moses as God's messenger. And many other messengers and prophets in the Old Testament were given signs to authenticate their message and to authenticate them as true messengers from God.

Isaiah, walking naked and barefoot was a sign. Jeremiah was given signs. Ezekiel, These were all given signs. Signs were also given to the people to know the truth of God's words. That what He said would surely come to pass.

But of course, signs and wonders can never authenticate a false message. And as the people of God, we are called, we are responsible to distinguish between the sign of a false message and the sign of a true one. God told the Israelites in Deuteronomy 13, if there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or wonder, and the sign or wonder comes to pass of which He spoke. Because remember, that was a sign of a false prophet. If He gave a sign and it didn't come to pass, then that was a false prophet.

God required 100% accuracy. God's prophets were 100% accurate. If there was even one error, one thing they missed, if one thing that they said that fell to the ground unfulfilled, then they were not a true messenger. God hadn't sent them. But here's a case where a false prophet comes, a dreamer of dreams, and the sign comes to pass of which he's saying, let us go after other gods which you have not known and let us serve them.

Then God said, you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer that dreams for the Lord. Your God is testing you. He's testing you." Here's a false prophet. The wonders came to pass. The sign came to pass.

But His message is false. What He's saying is not what God has said. How do we know that? We know that from the Scriptures. We know that from the Word of God.

If his message is not consistent with the Word of God. In this case in Deuteronomy, it was somebody that was saying, let's go serve other God. God has sent me to tell you to serve this other God over here, a God that you haven't known before. Even if his sign comes to pass, he's still a false prophet and we cannot listen to him because God is testing us to see if we believe His Word. In fact, Jesus also warned about false messengers bearing signs and wonders, telling His disciples in Matthew 24, for false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

So, signs and wonders can never authenticate a false message. And we as the people of God are responsible to test the signs, to test the spirits, to see if they are of God. And that test is whether their message is according to the Word of God. But where their message is according to the Word of God, where it is consistent with the Scriptures, then these signs and wonders authenticated them as true messengers. These were signs and wonders of an apostle.

In defending His apostleship in 2 Corinthians 12. Paul said to the Corinthians, truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance in signs and wonders and mighty deeds. See, these signs belonged to the office of an apostle. You notice in verse 15 that all the people are healed. They brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and couches that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them.

And also a multitude gathered from surrounding cities through Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed." In other words, the shadow fell on some people. Some people were brought from other cities. But on all of those on whom the shadow fell, and all of those who were brought to the disciples, they were healed. See, not every sick or demon-possessed person alive at the time was healed. It was all the people that were brought to the apostles, all the people that fell under Peter's shadow.

Not even Christ healed all the people, healed every person that was sick or demon possessed. We saw that in chapter three when there was a lame man sitting by the temple gate. He'd been lame for over 40 years. And he'd been sitting by that gate. Jesus would have seen Him in the temple.

Jesus went in and out of the temple many times. And He would have seen Him there, yet He was not healed by Jesus. So even Jesus didn't heal everyone. But of all those who were brought to the disciples, all, All were healed. And so we would expect then that when the Apostles pass away, when the office of Apostles ceases, and it has ceased because there are no people today that are eyewitnesses of Jesus' ministry and of His death and resurrection.

And that's what the apostles were. They were eyewitnesses of His resurrection. They were eyewitnesses. They walked with Him. They saw Him, and they testified what they had seen with their own eyes.

Well, nobody has seen that that's alive today. So there are no more apostles in that sense. And so we would expect then that these signs and wonders of an apostle would also pass away. And indeed, we do see far few miracles as the church matures. But these signs and wonders, while they are the signs and wonders of an apostle, were not exclusive to the apostles.

They were promised to believers as well. Jesus told His disciples in Mark 16, verse 17, and these signs will follow those who believe. These signs will follow those who believe. Not will follow apostles, but follow those who believe. In My name they will cast out demons.

They will speak with new tongues. They will take up serpents. And if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. See, the difference is The apostles intentionally healed people.

Peter could say to the man lame at the temple gate, rise, take up your bed and walk. I say to you, rise, get up. And the man would get up. Peter could speak to a man that was lame and command him to get up and he would. That apostolic power, or those apostolic gifts of signs and wonders we don't have today.

But there are still signs and wonders. God still at times performs signs and wonders. Prayers for healing are supernaturally answered. Many times, many people have experienced this kind of supernatural healing where there's evidence, medical evidence, of sicknesses, of illnesses, serious illnesses that are miraculously healed. Demons are cast out even today.

Demonic people are brought under the power of the Gospel and healed and saved. But Thirdly, we see God's power displayed in the church even through judgment. We see God's power displayed even through judgment. See, tyrants want to know more and more about their subjects, the people they want to control and enslave. They want to know where their money goes.

They want to know where they go. They want to know how long they stay. They want to know everything they say and what they write. So they open mail and they read emails and they listen to phone calls and they record everything they can get their hands on in a desperate attempt to know everything they can know about the people they are seeking to enslave. They even want to know what people are thinking.

But they fall far, far short of what the Great Shepherd and Bishop of our soul knows about Ananias and Sapphira. God's judgment demonstrates a level of knowledge that extends to what people are thinking, what they are saying to each other in secret, what their innermost thoughts, what their intentions are, things they may never have said to anyone. This is a level of surveillance and knowledge on what people are doing that the deep state would do anything to get. But these judgments are designed to teach us to fear Him. And so when Ananias and Sapphira fell down dead, as we saw Last week, that sign and wonder brought great fear, a godly fear upon the church.

So the purposes of this power are several. The first purpose of these powers, this power that God is exercising in His church, is to demonstrate God's power. These signs and wonders, the preaching of the Gospel, and resulting in salvation, and even His judgments demonstrate God's power. God's power over creation, over people, over their bodies, whether they live or whether they die, their health, their ability to walk. They demonstrate God's power over buildings, over gates and locks.

Whether they are locked or unlocked, no key is needed. These signs and wonders demonstrate God's power over people's sleep. His power over their ability to see things like prisoners walking out of the prison, and whether the gates of the prison are open and shut. These guards all of a sudden lacked an ability to notice that they were prisoners simply walking out of their prison. They lacked the ability to see that the gates to their prison were open.

Why? The power of God is being demonstrated. His power even extends to where people's shadow falls or doesn't fall. These signs and wonders demonstrate God's power over demons and unclean spirits. Powers that people on their own don't have.

These signs and wonders are designed to leave us in awe of God. They are to impress upon us that there is nothing too hard for God. There is nothing He cannot do. He doesn't need a key to unlock a gate. He doesn't need a guard to open up the door to the prison.

He does it. These signs and wonders demonstrate His great and awesome and holy power. You see, in all these miracles that are being done, you notice there's no set formula. There's no way You've got to do this, this, then you do this, then you do this. There's none of that.

They're healed in all sorts of various ways. Because the power is not in some method. The power is not in some technique. The power is not in some tool. Some talisman.

The power is the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of the Triune God. He doesn't even need means. He might ordinarily use means, but He doesn't need these means. And so we see even Jesus healing in all different ways. Sometimes He spoke, sometimes He touched, sometimes He used mud and spit, and sometimes it was a process, and sometimes it was instantaneous.

And you see it was all different because that's not where the power is. These signs and wonders also open people up to listen to the Gospel when they otherwise might not have given it a second thought. The signs and wonders that demonstrate God's power that cause us to say wow, that cause us to tremble, that cause us to become alarmed at the power that we see in front of us. That opens up people to hear the gospel, to listen to what they otherwise would have completely ignored. And so, signs and wonders often accompany the initial spread of the Gospel into pagan lands where there has not been a Gospel message.

And that's still true today. I know a number of you have read with us Said's letters and the accounts that he has given of signs and wonders happening around him. Amazing signs. And they continue. He's talked about situations where people have gone out of countries where the Bibles were not allowed, closed countries.

And they have come back with boxes of Bibles. In one case, one person knew a guard at a certain checkpoint, and he knew he could get past that guard. That guard would let him past. And he thought he could use that method to bring several boxes of Bibles in. Well, it didn't work out that way.

He got stopped. Apparently, there was a different guard there. And this guard starts opening up his books. Starts opening up his boxes, finds a Bible. And this person that was bringing these Bibles in, Saeed and another friend were waiting for him on the other side of security.

And they were waiting hours, minutes turned into hours. It was near midnight, and they were about ready to leave, thinking that their friend had been captured, caught. When all of a sudden, he walked through the security gates with a big smile on his face. Because this guard that had taken the Bible went back to his office and sat down and started reading the Bible. And after reading it and asking questions, he said, well, my, we need this book in this country.

And he let him through. Or he tells another story where an entire village is destroyed by ISIS. A girl loses her entire family. Not only her family, but All of the village is killed by an attack from ISIS. And just as she's recovering from this attack and seeing everybody killed around her, even her family, there's an army jeep that arrives.

Actually, she set out herself to try and walk somewhere. And just as she's setting out, an army jeep with an army officer arrives and asks where she's going, offers her a ride. And to her recollection, it's just a moment later that he drives up to a house and says, here, you can go to this house. And she walks into that house, and it turns out to be a church in there. Turned out to be this was a village that had the entire village had been saved under Said's ministry a number of decades earlier, 15 or 20 years earlier.

And the entire village was saved in another miraculous way. And this girl was dropped into this place, and when they went back and looked afterwards, there was no record of any U.S. Army presence in that area. And this village was hundreds of miles away from the village where she lived. It's a wonder.

God still works these wonders, especially in areas where the gospel is initially coming. These signs and wonders and this power that God is demonstrating in His church answers the power of the Sanhedrin with a far greater power. The Sanhedrin forbid them to preach Christ, and they excommunicate people who believe in Jesus. And Jesus sends these bold preachers who continue to preach and bring thousands into the church, where the Sanhedrin is excommunicating and forbidding God is raising up bold and powerful preaching and saving many. The Sanhedrin puts those preachers in prison.

God unlocks the doors without a key and brings them out of prison. The Sadducees who control the high priesthood, and they are the ones who are specifically identified in this chapter as being the ones who instigate this persecution, They don't believe in angels. They don't believe in the resurrection, and they don't believe in angels. So God uses an angel to take the apostles out of prison. The council members, the Sanhedrin, The high priests, they walk by lame and sick that they are powerless to heal.

The apostles heal these people. You see, God is using His power to answer, to respond in greater power to the power that the Sanhedrin exercises. God is using this power to stymie the attack on the apostles. You would think this would be easy. The apostles are, they don't have a Delta Force guarding them.

They don't have temple guards guarding them. They're simply they're Teaching and preaching in the temple We would think it would be easy to simply walk in and arrest them and put them in prison and deal with them however they desire. But it turns out it's not quite so simple, is it? They want to arrest them. But they're stymied by the crowds.

If they arrest them with a great show of violence, then they were afraid that they would be attacked by the crowd. When they put them in prison and lock the door, they find that they're not in prison anymore, that they're back preaching and teaching in the temple. They want to kill them. They want to kill them. And they're stymied.

Verse 33, when they heard the answer of the apostles, they plotted to kill them. But they're stymied. They're stymied by one of their own people who presents a very eloquent argument, not necessarily true, but it's an eloquent argument, about why they shouldn't kill them. So you see, God's power is demonstrated even by controlling the words and the thoughts and the arguments within their own court and their plans, what they want to do. They want to stop these people.

They'd love to kill them. But they can't. They're stymied. They put them in prison and they get released. They command them not to preach, and they just preach more boldly.

They have them in their court and they're ready to kill them. They're worked up like they were with Christ, but they're stymied again by one of their own people. So what do we learn from this account, this account of the power of God being demonstrated in His church? We learn, I think first of all, that imprisonment and persecution does not imply that the enemy is winning. In fact, it often means just the opposite.

It means that the church is threatening the enemy. The church is advancing, and the enemy is having to resort to extreme measure in an effort to contain the progress of the church. It's out of desperation that they often resort to this imprisonment and persecution. If the church was weak and failing, they would ignore it. There would be no need.

In fact, this particular round of persecution arises precisely because of the success of the Gospel. Notice in verse 17, then the high priests rose up and those who were with them, and they're filled with indignation. Why? Because there's this power, these signs and wonders. The apostles are preaching boldly.

The multitudes are being converted. Imprisonment and persecution does not mean that the enemy is winning. It usually means just the opposite. Secondly, the progress of The kingdom is not slowed by prison and persecution. It's God who builds His church, who advances His kingdom.

And the progress of His kingdom, and the success of the Gospel, and the growth of the church is not slowed by prison or persecution. The persecution can't stop the Gospel. It can't stop preaching. It can't stop conversions. Even when it seems to us like it might be.

In fact, many times, persecution and prison have the opposite effect. It makes His church bolder. It makes them stronger. But certainly God's plan is not altered or affected in any way whatsoever by these attacks of the enemy. They are all according to God's plan.

God never needs a backup. God never needs a backup. Sin, even sin we see, although it can weaken a church, it doesn't alter God's plan. It doesn't alter what He is determined to do, and It doesn't alter what He is determined to do. It doesn't alter what He is going to accomplish.

But fourthly, this power is in us too. This power that was at work in the early church, it's also at work in us. Paul said to the Ephesians, Now to him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think, how does he do this? According to the power that works in us. According to the power that works in us.

According to the power that works in us, God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, beyond all that we ask or think. We have to think something in order to ask it. But then there are probably things that we think that we don't ask. God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, beyond what we are even capable of imagining Him to do. Can you imagine that?

To Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus, to all generations forever and ever, amen. It may be that God has His purpose for us to be persecuted, to be imprisoned, to face loss of some sort. But it is through those purposes that Christ is being glorified forever and ever. Amen. The Gospel is no less powerful today.

The Gospel is not bound in any way. Do you believe this? Do you know this? Are you assured of this truth? That the Gospel of Jesus Christ So if we believe this, we won't be hesitant to proclaim it.

We won't be hesitant to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Does the Gospel have power to turn a profane, scoffing female pretender into a saint? Yes, it does. Yes, it does. And where they suit His purposes, God still performs His signs and wonders.

And so this account that Luke gives of God's power that is demonstrated in this early church is an encouragement to us. It's not simply a story that we can read and look back on and say, wow, look what God did in the past. The Gospel is not bound today either. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And the same power that was at work in this church is also at work in us today.

Do you live this? And do you believe this? Do you know this? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You for these signs and wonders that You give in Your mercy to strengthen us, for we are weak.

But it is in the power of your might, Lord, that we stand, and it is with your armor that we stand. So we ask that you would enable us and equip us and strengthen us to take your armor, the helmet of your salvation. Not our own works, but your works, your righteousness. Not our own sacrifices and atonements and penances can never atone for our sin, but Lord, Your salvation. We take Your salvation in the breastplate of Your righteousness, not our own, and the girdle of truth.

Not the ideas of men, not the popular doctrines and faiths and philosophies of this age, but the girdle of your truth, your word that endures forever, that is unchanged, your word that is powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. We take that word of truth. And we take the gospel of peace upon our feet, and the shield of faith, a faith that you give to us, not of our own, and the sword of Your Spirit. We ask that having done all, You would empower us to stand. To stand boldly.

To stand humbly, knowing it is not in our own strength. To stand in the confidence that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. To stand in the confidence that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. To stand in the confidence that there is nothing that can stand before your church, than not even the very gates of hell. For we Lord serve a great and powerful Savior.

You Lord are the sovereign. And there is no one that can stay your hand. There is no one that can even say to you, what are you doing? For you are accountable to no one, but all, all of creation and all flesh is accountable to you and will give an answer to you. Father, we bow this morning before Your Sovereign Majesty and praise You and thank You that we can know You, that we can come into Your presence and that You have given to us to share in the death, the burial, the resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.

Lord, may our minds be set above in heaven where You are sitting at the right hand of the Father and not here on earth. This we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Did I say the wrong one? It's in.

In, sorry, I read the wrong one. I was allowed to hide my fate, the Lord to shine upon my way! I have gone through this, now I swore, Your righteousness let me travel way. I swore your righteous judgments now obey. I saw her come in you at night, for though you were yet to know her, best tell me all things are O Lord, according to your will, Let's tell thee of things that I've not Instructed in your judgment's law.

In our judgment's law. I will give us their danger with the value not to forget. Said. God, just above me, through my heart, this passing mirage and this heart, I turn my arm back to you, Lord, to keep it till the end of time. Amen.

Please be seated. Amen. Please be seated. This was Christ's message in the letter that he wrote to Smyrna and sent by the hand of John. He said, These things says the first and the last who was dead and come to life, I know your works and your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich.

And I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days, be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear to hear, let him hear. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death." And we come to the table this morning, and we eat of bread, and we drink of the cup, And Christ's death is shown forth in this table. But it is a death that has won a great victory. It is a death that has crushed the head of the serpent. And so that's why He can say to this church, I know about those who are Jews, but aren't really a synagogue of Satan. Don't fear.

Don't fear those things. Don't fear them. Because by His death, the death that we celebrate, He has defeated Satan. And everything that follows is simply the working out of that defeat. Be faithful, and I will give you the crown of life.

As believers, by our participation in this sacrament, we are participating in His death. We are participating in His burial and resurrection and ascension. Because we are in Christ. And so all of the resources, all of the benefits of these things are ours. We possess them in Christ.

We have been raised with Christ. We have ascended with Him, and we have been seated in the heavenlies with Him. And by our eating, we are demonstrating our participation in His death, and all of the benefits that flow from it. So let us give thanks for this table and come and pray that we might be strengthened. There is grace that is given at this table.

This is a means of grace. It doesn't come because we eat it. It doesn't come merely because our tongue tasted something. But this grace, like all grace, is mediated through Christ and it is received by faith. But it is nonetheless a real and present grace that we seek this morning at this table.

And the Lord promises to give at this table. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, thank You for this bread and this cup, and for all that they signify to us as signs, signs of your victory over the evil one. Signs that are to encourage us and strengthen us and to equip us. And we pray that by faith, Lord, we might receive the grace that You give at this table.

We come in faith, and we ask for Your blessing, and we ask that You would set this bread and this cup apart this morning to be these signs to us. Through Jesus Christ, Amen. Our Lord Jesus Christ in the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread and having blessed it, He broke it and gave it to His disciples, saying, Take eat, this is my body which is broken for you. This do as often as you do it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink of this cup, you show forth my death until I come." He gave the cup to his disciples, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

All of you drink of it. Please come forward. Now, Hymn 223. The The The The The The The ever-present, what's right, I'll see you on the ground. The angel of the morning crown, the glory shown up round, the glory shown up round.

The glory shone above. The glory shone above. Fear not, fear not, my children, That Caesar trouble mine. The tidings of my joy I bring my dear friend, that sees their trouble mine. But I need no great joy I bring, till you end all mankind.

Till you end all mankind. And cry, to you and all mankind cry. To you in David's soundly sing, His heart of David's cry. God of David's pride, the Savior who is Christ our Lord, and this shall be the sign, And this shall be the sign. God have we made you, e'er shall lie, To do that you display.

Way. Nobile wrapped in solid cloth, and in a manger lay, and in a manger lay. Lost to the serpent, nobile, not in a shining crown. The way. The snow-blessed earth can't go thin.

I hear the shining crown. O angels, praising God in us, a blessed and joyful song, a blessed and joyful song. All hail, we thank you God of God, and to thee, earth, O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming, O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming, and to him, the human never ceases. The human never ceases. Please look up and receive the Lord's blessing.

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen. Now bless and be the hope the God, the God of Israel, Who only you and one who sent Him the Innocent.

Who only you and one who sent O from the depths of the eye cry, My voice for you I hear, unto my suffocation's voice, with our attempt to be. Attempt to be. Lord, who shall stand with love for Lord to start the equity that we in the wayest be. I wait for God, I soar the great, Great, my God, my soul, the great, my hope is in its birth. Of the Lord.

I say, Lord, have faith as to watch the morning light to see, Let Israel, the ring of love, O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave, The home of the brave, the home of the brave, And plenty of redemption is ever coming to thee. And from all his images, he is and shall be free. To thee I cry, my voice, O do come near, the wise application's voice, with our attempt to be. Lord, who shall stand with the poor Lord, To start the iniquity? With me.

The chance with me forgiveness is that with the wayest me. I wait for God, That we'll now be as one. I wait for God, my soul the praise, my hope is in its word. I will follow Him, watch, my soul with love and love. I say, Lord, have faith as to watch the morning light to see.

Light to see. Let Israel, O'er in the north, O'er in the mass is near. And let the for we have seen. And when to us redemption is ever coming, redemption is ever come within. No more easy liberties, He is and shall be with thee.

My voice for you come here, and to my supplication's voice give an attempt with me. With our attempt to be. Lord, who shall stand, become, O Lord, shall stand with Thou for long, to strike in equity. The strength within forgiveness is, That with the wayest be. I praise one God, my soul the praise, my hope is in him.

My heart is in the