God is for Us

Before we start, actually I wanted to make a quick mention. Last week we, some questions were raised about the old man, new man, sin nature, all those kinds of things. And actually there's a kind of ongoing effort by the elders to kind of, and this has been taught before, this is nothing new at Holly Hills, and I've learned a lot just from the, you know, I used to listen to tapes of Hal for the last 15 years. And I came to Holly Hills in the last five years, so I learned a tremendous amount about the old man, the new man, our sin nature. But as time goes on, some questions come up that probably were answered back historically.

So there's an attempt, there's a little white paper which is not finished. It's in work. And this is a November 4th revision of this paper. So I thought I'd pass it out at the end and I didn't make it. I mean, I think I made 15 copies, but there's enough if you're interested. But and the plan is actually it's possible that I'll be able to do it, try to fit in maybe part of a class you're coming up. down the road here, and we can talk about some of these things in more detail.

And most of you guys really know a lot about this. So, I mean, it's not like we're starting from... That's one of the wonderful things. I mean... So, anyway, this is an attempt to clarify some things, and we're still kind of thinking about it, but it's just, you know, further input, and in fact, we'd like your input if you have questions about, well, maybe you guys, you know, and you're trying to explain it, you overachieved. Maybe it, you know, made it more complicated than it needs to be. So, I'll pass it out at the end here, so...

OK, so only Bob. Yes. This is Roman. Yes. OK. All right. Right. You know, you teach about, you know. Yeah, well, that's one of my fears. Somebody, you know. We're not supposed to have fears. But anyway, you know, I got a call from Bob or Jim. They'll say, Roger, you've got it for tomorrow on a Saturday night. I'm going to do close. But let me just say what a privilege it is to be able to listen to the case when you're not here.

That's great. No, I know. I agree. I think it's just super. I mean, you just. Well, I like the feature that you know, like with MP3 in your player, you can just you can zoom ahead to the end of the class or back and forth or you can just go over the map.

One of the revisions didn't have that feature. So I was going to complain to Microsoft that you took away the little slide bar thing. Well, well, actually, my computer makes now you can't it's not as easy to do on your I don't know. I don't have that. I don't have an MP3 player that I like a iPod or that kind of thing. a boy on your computer is really cool. You just go, and you listen, and you can go back and jump around. I think it's just wonderful.

Okay, well this morning we're up to Romans 8, 31 and 32. And can I get a volunteer, I want to read back a little ways to kind of get the context. And this is a tremendous, as with all of God's Word, this is just a tremendous passage, tremendous encouragement. Could I have someone start, I'd like to read starting in verse 26, 26 through 32. It's a few verses and, Doris, would you? Thank you.

Likewise the spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought. But the spirit itself maketh intercession for us with broanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searches the heart knoweth what is the mind of the spirit, because he make an intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he justified, then he also called, and whom he called, then he also justified, and whom he justified, then he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us, for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Okay, so basically, if you look at the flow there, we come to this verse, and then Paul's going to, let's go to the next chart, he's going to ask a question here. What shall we say to these things? He's asking, he's saying, what shall we say, and we list all these wonderful things that we have, that have been listed before. So if you look at the first little clause there, It's what shall, or it could be translated will.

So it's asking the believer a question. It's asking us, each of the believers, what shall we say, what shall be our response to these wonderful things that were listed? You know, that He intercedes for us with groanings according to the will of God. He causes all things to work together, God causes all things to work together for good. He foreknew us, He predestined us, He conformed us, He called us, He justified us, He glorified us.

So, I mean, there's almost no other response. And that's where the rest of the verse goes to. And we've kind of somewhat answered this already. What are these things? I think if you look back in the context, it's pretty obvious. The things that God accomplished for the believer by the death of his son, in all the preparation for glory. There's a neat little thing here. It's a small little thing. I don't have my pointer here.

The two, it says, what shall we say to these things? That's a prepositional phrase, and the little preposition is pros, and it can be translated toward. or face-to-face, and there's a neat verse that our brother Hal would share many times, and I always benefited by this verse, and it kind of focused on that little pros preposition there. So let's look at Romans chapter 5. In fact, Hal probably, if he did that, he probably pointed this out. But it's really tremendous. Romans chapter 5 and verse 1.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And this time it's translated, we have peace with, it's the same little preposition pros, so as Howe would say, we have peace to feast, peace, I can't even say it. I'm trying to say, we have peace with God and we're face, it's peace to, peace to feast, I don't want to get messed up in that. We have peace which is face to face with God.

So in this case, what's interesting is, We're face-to-face with these things, all these wonderful things, justified, glorified, interceding for us. We're face-to-face with these wonderful things. So it points back to the things that were mentioned before. But that little preposition kind of focuses on these things and the believers to come face-to-face with those.

And it's to influence our life. It's to make us different. In the short term, we look at the trials and suffering and we say, wow, things aren't going well. But he points out, what shall we say? And he uses it in this rhetorical sense. What shall we say to these things? And he's going to answer the question in the B part of the verse. So any additional thoughts on this part or comments?

OK. OK, part B. If God is for us, who is against us? And if you look at the original, there's a couple observations. There's really is supplied. If you notice, it's in italics here. So there's really no is. It's really read, who against us if God for us, which is a little bit hard in English. So the verb is supplied. And also, I have it flipped around from the translation, and this is the way it is in the Greek. The if God is for us is modifying the supplied verb is, and it appears to be a conditional statement. Who is against this if God is for us?

So the question is, what kind of if is this? In the Greek, there's several kinds of if. There's assumed to be true if. There's assumed to be not true if. There's maybe it's true and maybe it's not. So what do you think about this one? Right. And it is what's called first class condition. It's assumed to be true. And some like to translate it sense, and that's fine.

So, basically, I kind of put it in there, so a literal translation, and the verbs are gone, who against us, in view of the fact, God for us. Doesn't sound real smooth, but that's the way it comes across. So the point is, you take all the things against us, and then you say, but God. And all those things are negated. If God is for it, you know. And I think that's why it's flipped around. It just comes across better if God is for us, who is against us. There's no comparison. But I think it's kind of instructive to see this, you know, how it kind of lays out here.

Okay, and then we have another question? Sure. What's going on there? Right. And actually, we're going to we're going to get into that. We're going to we're going to get into that there. And actually, the handouts. We had this new system here. Let me get your hand out. I know you don't have a handout. And Margaret's coming, too. So I give her a handout. And Margaret, you get your. Thank you, sir. I was getting one from all of us. OK. We're going to get to that. That's my next question after this little observation. We have another little preposition here. Today is a lot about prepositions.

This is a little preposition, hupere, which can be translated for the sake of or on the behalf of. It's saying, literally, who is against this in view of the fact that God is on behalf of us. A little bit hard to read there. And there's some verses that I thought that really kind of amplified this God being on behalf of us. And there are a lot. And actually, we're going to have like, this is like part one of God for us, so to speak.

Let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. And these are all verses that use this little huper preposition. 1 Corinthians 15. Can I get someone to read verse 3, 1 Corinthians 15 verse 3. Thanks. So right here, in this case, the little preposition here is, you know, for our sins. So you'll see this preposition used many times in terms of what God accomplished at the cross, for our sins. And then there's another case in 2 Corinthians, chapter 5. Turn over there. 2 Corinthians, chapter 5. And it's translated, okay, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 15, or actually how about 14-15? Vonnie, could you read that?

For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one dies for all, therefore all die. And he died for all, but they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf. Yeah, actually in this case, It seems a little strange, but it's actually, on behalf, is this little preposition. And then the last one is back in Romans.

I have in Romans chapter 9. I'll go ahead and read this one. Chapter 9, verse 3. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ, for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. And here it's translated, for the sake of.

So basically, taking those other verses there, this preposition, Who is against us in view of the fact that God is on behalf of us or is doing things for the sake of us? Now comes the question that Bob was pondering there. Who is against us? This is a big question. You look up for the Christian, you say, boy, this world isn't too friendly out there. I wanted to look at the biggest view, and obviously individually you can look at a lot of things, but I think the broad view is what I kind of looked at. So does something occur to you without looking at your paper? You ought to think, you know, when somebody says, who's against us? You ought to think of this. I mean, you ought to just be like that. I mean, that's... I appreciated that, and I learned that, you know, from Holly Hills, listening over the years.

What are the foes for the believer? Everything outside of the faith. I mean, everything. Okay. What are the categories of that? Keep going. The world, the flesh, and the devil. Wonderful. That's exactly what I was looking for. Within that category, you can subdivide that category.

The world system. Is the world friendly to Christians? Not at all. Not if you read the papers, listen to any newscasts. It's incredible. The world is very friendly to all kinds of people, but not to Christians. Actually, that's an indication of the truth of God's Word, I think. Good answer, Margaret. This certainly isn't exhaustive. I listed a verse. What's neat is, there's the foes of the Christian, the world, the flesh, and the devil, and God has dealt with these.

In terms of the world, in Galatians 6.14, But may it never be that I would boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. And I like to think of when I was crucified, I was crucified with Christ. That accomplished, being crucified to the world. And there's more in there. I looked at it and I said, boy, there's a lot more in that one. down that path for a while, but not this time. Actually, what's cool is Vern's going to do Galatians here after a short little series. After Isaiah, the short little six-week series, he's going to start and do Galatians. So we'll get a chance to... Are we going to do Galatians for three years? To try to do what Hal did?

It was a long time. A long time. No, I think we're going to do that made a more compact approach. Anyway. OK. And then we have the. And if you think about, just kind of backtracking, the world is external to the believer, right? That's an external influence. The world can tempt us, the world can put us down, the world can do all kinds of things to us, exclude us. The flesh is an internal thing. That's internally within us.

In Romans 8.3 it says, For what the law could not do, weak as it was to the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as an offering for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. So the flesh is talked about as... The flesh can be a scripture both... It can sometimes just mean our physical body, which is arms, legs, which is... In many cases it refers to the what contains the sin nature. And then thirdly, the devil, which is another external force.

Therefore, since children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death he might render powerless, same word as in Romans 6.11, to take off line. Satan's been rendered powerless or taken off line. Him, who had the power of death, that is the devil. So God has dealt with who's against us. So that's why you stack up God against anything, and God is victorious. So in the macro view, that's what's against us. Any other thoughts, Bob? I think it builds on what Jim talked about the last couple of weeks, particularly last week.

The question is, who's being conformed? And that confirmation is not of the old man or of the new man, but the confirmation is us individually to positional, you know, relationships that makes our condition increasing. And if this doesn't stem from position, I mean, we've missed the whole Roman up until this point. I mean, do we believe on a daily basis that our old man's been crucified? I know. You look at the world system and... But God said it's a done deal. It is. Believe it. Exactly. And that's the point. And I think our verse here, 831, God is for us. That is our mindset. That is the mindset of the believer. God is for us. I may go through difficult trials, things that, from the world's perspective, are terrible. Actually, along that line, I wanted to just think about this. Let's look back at talk about a bad day or many, many days.

Back in Genesis with Joseph, this is one of my favorite verses in scripture. Of course, it's like, listen to J. Vernon McGee, every verse is his favorite verse. Every book, every verse. Genesis chapter 50. Look at verse 20. This is when Joseph has revealed himself to his brothers, and his brothers realize that he is all-powerful.

They could be history, just like that. But he comforts them. I think of this many times when difficulties come along. And people many times have very bad intents toward us. In verse 20 of chapter 50. And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about the present result to preserve many people alive. You know, God meant it, you meant it to me for evil, God meant it to me for good.

So, and many times we don't have the view in the short term, we don't have that short term view. In fact, we may never see, you know, this is a reconciliation of all, we may never see that reconciliation in this time period. We may go to be with the Lord and still, people still, you know, The world will still be against us if he hasn't come yet.

So that's neat. God wants us for the long-term view. He is for us. And we're going to see that. In fact, actually, we're going to see that through the rest of this chapter. Other thoughts? I couldn't get enough of God at Forest, so I got some more verses here. So I just have these listed here.

Romans 5.8, but God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. You know, I did a little search. It's really cool. You can do it these days. I just did, for us, I just searched on for us. And I got, I don't know, I mean just an incredible number, just an incredible number of verses. And all of them, you know, really good.

I mean, I just had to kind of filter another one. Actually, this is very recent, right? In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us, with groanings too deep for words.

In Galatians 3.13, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree."

All the marvelous things that God has done for us. And if that isn't enough, there's a whole bunch more here you can look at at your own leisure. Ephesians passage is that God gave himself for us and so on. There's just a tremendous number of wonderful verses. But what's neat is, and let's go on to the We start in verse 32, and he's going to, not only do we look at the macro picture, he's going to delineate some details of him being for us. And I think verse 32 starts part of that, explains part of that.

He who did not spare his own son is the first clause in that. And it's going to go on and explain more of that. So if you look at that kind of broken down, What's interesting is that this is one of the times when there's an untranslated particle in this, which I think is kind of... I looked a few places and I didn't find many people made a big deal about this, but I think it's there for emphasis because we read God is for us, who is against us, and it would be He who even did not spare His own Son. And I actually like what Wiest has done. he kind of renders it, indeed, indeed, he who did not spare his own son. And this is in the era, it's a past point, fact of time, God did not spare his son, present reality. So it's, indeed, he did not spare his son. And that little G in the Greek is actually a couple of places that kind of use that phraseology, or use that little particle.

So let's just look at. So let's look at Luke 18 and some of these aren't really just kind of interesting that. Yeah, in this case it's kind of interesting, isn't it? This is about the widow. It goes back to verse 4. And for a while he was unwilling, but after he said to himself, even though I do not fear God, nor respect man, yet, and that's actually the little particle there, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, lest by continually coming, she will wear me out. Very true of human nature, you know, the squeaky wheel gets attention.

So this little particle is used just for yet, so yet in that case. And then in Ephesians, we don't have to turn there, but it talks about, what does it talk about in Ephesians? I actually forgot. Let's turn there, I guess. Ephesians 4, 21. I think it's in, yeah, if indeed you have heard, yeah, verse 20, but you did not learn Christ in this way if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him just as truth is in Jesus. So it's used for emphasis, emphatic particle, used for emphasis. I believe it's the word in that text, It's translated indeed, if indeed, in verse 21. The indeed is this word. How does yours read? So be. So be.

And if you ever want to check me out, this is not all magic and stuff. I mean, you can go in and you can, not knowing Greek, there's just so many wonderful aids. I mean, it's just wonderful. You can search on, and I use it a lot. I don't feel like my Greek is all that good. I use Strong's numbering system. You search by numbers. Every word, Strong, this guy Strong, incredible. He cataloged every Greek word by its root word and gave it a number. So if you know the numbers, you can search for this word. So you just go out and search for it, and you can do it that way. So it's available. It's just incredible. Good stuff. There's a neat thing in that last verse in Ephesians 2 that you mentioned is so relevant to what you're teaching today.

In effect, it's the believer who's fallen into the walk of the ways of the Gentiles. And, you know, the conclusion of that whole section, in terms of the old man theology, is that we have not learned Christ, right? I mean, in the deed that you've heard him, in other words, you missed the point here. It's applied theology, isn't it? Learning position, who we are in Christ, the old man being crowned.

Has that become part of your life? I mean, you can hear it and you can hear it, right? You hear it and then that becomes part of you and you act upon that and trust that by faith. I mean, that's where it's at. That's great. And that's so much that God paid forward to the New Testament. Right, right. So now the word...

In the first part, indeed, he did not spare. The word spare is negated. God is not sparing his son. He did not spare his son, but the root word is spare. To spare a person, to forgo infliction, or evil, or retribution. But God didn't do that. And what's interesting I found, and we're going to see it in a second here, that's really consistent with God's character. He has to, as a righteous God, He has to punish sin. He cannot overlook it. And He righteously did that to His Son. And there's just some really cool things in here that kind of come out of this little phrase. So let's go to the next one. Let me just kind of keep going here. So here's a wonderful verse.

This kind of amplifies, God is righteously going to judge all mankind, all his creation. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to the pits of darkness, reserved for judgment, and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher righteousness with seven others when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly. So God didn't spare the angels. He didn't spare the ancient world. He righteously judged his Son on our behalf, which is incredible, so that we would not be judged. He took our judgment, so that we could be spared.

Okay, well this is kind of neat. Vern talks about it and others talk about it. There's a Greek translation of the Old Testament called the Septuagint. And many times you can use that as an aid because the thought is, well, if a Greek-speaking person looked at and translated the Hebrew to Greek, he matched up the Greek words with the Hebrew words. So you get other insight into that.

So there's a word, the same word for spare, or did not spare, appears in Genesis 22, a very familiar passage. Genesis 22, 16 and 17. And this is the account with Isaac, the offering of Isaac. And let me just start in verse, I'll start in verse 15. Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sands which are in the seashore, and your seed shall possess the gates of your enemies. So if you go back to verse 16, the not withheld is the same word.

When the Greeks translated the Hebrew, they used this word. So that's a neat connectivity, neat insights you can get between Old and New Testament. So we see that was a foreshadowing of what God would do with His Son. Now, it's also interesting that we have he who even did not spare his own son. And it's not just his son, it's his own son.

It's personalized. And this is the word idios, expresses what is one's own. One's own private property. My house, the house that I own, is called private property. I don't have public events. I don't want to say it. It's my private property. It's not open to the public.

In this sense, this is God's own Son. It's His very own flesh and blood. These are my children, my own children. They belong to me. So it's kind of emphasized. This is my own Son. There's another verse that Actually, I have it right here. In Romans 8.3, which we covered earlier, and we actually read it earlier, for what the law could not do, weak as it was, through the flesh, God did, sending not just his Son, but his own Son, personalizing it. So it personalizes that God is sacrificing his own, his own Son. Just kind of a neat little thing that came out of this.

Now the next clause, but delivered him up for all of us. He who did not spare his own son, his personal, private, dear son, but, and actually, the but here, there are several buts in the Greek. This is one that speaks of a strong contrast, but who delivered him over for all of us. Once again, a past heiress, past point, fact, with results forever. A one-time occurrence with results for all time. Delivered is this word, parodidomai, to give up, to give over.

Actually, I have some verses here that I thought were kind of good. Actually, I didn't list them there. Let's look at Romans chapter 4. Romans chapter 4 and verse 25. Would someone like to read that? He was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justifications. Right. So here's this word, parodidomai, to be delivered. He was delivered over because of our transgressions, not his.

And then in Galatians, actually you can almost, Galatians 2.20. Can someone do that from memory?

Someone read the whole of Galatians 2.20? Doris?

I'm sorry, I thought you were there, I didn't mean to... I know, I like that song too. Go ahead. I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God. He loves me, and delivers himself up by me. Interesting. Delivered himself up. Delivered himself up. But delivered him, he delivered himself up. Kind of interesting, you know? The triune God.

And then lastly, in Ephesians chapter 5. I'll read this one. Ephesians 5. Let me start in 5.1. Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. So here's who gave himself up.

So just a wonderful, and all these are just tremendous. You need to spend lessons just on each of these little declarations here. But don't you see how God is showing us how he's for us? He did not spare his son, but strongly delivered him over for all of us. And then lastly, actually here's a literal who gave himself up on behalf of us all. And lastly, how will he not also freely give us all things?

So before I go to the next part, what do you think? Is this good times? I get my Mercedes and my golf clubs and my ski ranch. Is that what he's promising here? How do we know that? Is there any clue in this little clause that might tell you that it's just not, hey, everything my heart's desire, I get. Anything that might in that little thing, in that clause, that might tell you that.

And it wasn't obvious to me at first. It took a while. And the way it's rendered, I'm complaining about the translators. If they ever gave me a job of translating the word, I'd say, help, I couldn't possibly do it. But is there anything in there that kind of is a clue about the all things? Excellent, excellent. As Hal would say, you get a star, or you get a gold star, or whatever.

He never gave gold stars out. I don't remember him ever doing that. No, he talked about that. I got a little bit ahead of myself here, but let's talk about the freely give first, and then we'll get the with him, which I think is just key. All things are with him. In fact, it makes no sense otherwise. Everything we have is with him. How will you not freely give us all things?

The word here is charizomai, to show favor or kindness. And I had a couple of verses here I thought were just good. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. I'm giving you a lot of places to turn here today. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 12, it says, Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God.

Boy, I just really thought this was cool. As Bob was pointing out, we're to know the things freely given. So that really ties it back even better. They're with Him, and we're to know the things. It's not like, boy, you've got all these great things, all these wonderful worldly things. No, we're to know the wonderful declarations that we have with Christ. We're to know that. I didn't look up which know that is, but I thought it was just really, really good. Okay, so let's go on here. Here's a little thing. I was just sitting there yesterday thinking, Boy, this verse is kind of cool.

God did not spare his own son, but strongly says, but deliver him over for all of us, therefore freely gives us all things with him. And if you think about it, what verse comes to mind that we have that God, it's a complete non-deal, we have everything we have. What verse This is hard.

It occurs to me, but how is it going to occur to you? The verse that, when I think about the, are we asking God, is our prayer, God give me, give me more, what's the right word? I want more of you. You hear that mean, I want more of God. Well, is that really, that's not, you know, hasn't God already done that?

I'm kind of beating around the bush here. In Ephesians chapter 3, we have every spiritual blessing There's none excluded. We have it all. And the thing is, we don't know it. That's the problem. We're to know that we have those, and believe that, and trust that.

And then, kind of looking back, all the things freely given, in Romans 8.28, all things work together. God works all things together for good. And then literally, I like what Weiss did here. How is it possible that He shall not, with Him, in grace, give us all things?

That's how he renders this clause here. I thought that was really good. Okay, so now I want to just kind of look ahead here a little bit. I tried to go through in color code, if you will, God for us, and who's against this thing. So I went through in the I'm not sure I did a super job, but if you look through, this is kind of the gateway to the rest of the chapter. He's going to declare some wonderful things and show us how God is for us, unmistakably.

So if you trace through with the red in verse 32, we just covered it, but deliverance for all of us, same for us. He just freely gives us all things. And then if you jump down to 35, who will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus? And then down we're overwhelmingly conquerors through Him. What can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus? And then the negatives, even the negatives He answers against us. Who will bring a charge against God's elect? And he just counters that. God who justifies. Who is the one who condemns us? Christ is he who died, yes.

And then it talks about in 36, we're put to death for all these things, but we're overwhelmingly conquerors. So we have a wonderful, this is a really tremendous part of scripture to encourage us that God is has completed his work in terms of what we need, and we're to believe it and act upon it and trust him for that. So next week we'll do 33 and 34. So other questions or thoughts? Well, let's close in prayer then.

Dear Father, we thank you so much, Lord. We thank you for this day, Father. Thank you for your word, Lord. Thank you that we can know that you are a forest, and there's nothing that you haven't dealt with that's against us, you haven't provided for, and we can trust you for those. And as with Joseph, Lord, we may have times when things are against us, but we are to realize that that you will use those things that are against us for our good. And Lord, we're thankful that we can trust you in all situations. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.