God is in Control

Thanks very much, Casey and Steph, and good morning, everyone.

If you have your Bible open, please keep it open.

If you don't have an open Bible, you might well find it helpful as we go through,

because we haven't read the whole passage, but I will refer to quite a lot of it as we go.

Welcome to General Election Week.

It feels a bit momentous, doesn't it?

If the polls are even vaguely accurate,

we're likely to have only the third change of governing party in the last 45 years,

and that feels, in many ways, quite a big deal.

Or at least it did until this week I was reading Daniel chapter 11.

Daniel 11 · chapter mention

And Daniel 11 is looking not just at a period of decades, but at a period of centuries.

And he's giving very much the message that kingdoms will rise and kingdoms will fall,

rulers will become powerful, and then they'll be defeated.

But at the end of everything, what really matters is that God is in control.

I think Maggie said God will win, and that is absolutely right.

So as we come to a General Election Week, let's have confidence in our God.

Whatever happens, our God is in control,

and ultimately our God will be seen to be the God of gods.

There was something else to do with the General Election that came to me

as I was looking at these passages this week.

And that is how we get our information and our understanding.

And I think it comes essentially in three ways,

which I think are relevant as we look at this section of Daniel.

Some information we get about the election is straightforward,

relatively easy to understand.

It's in the interest of the political parties to have slogans

that come across as simple and straightforward,

and people can say, yes, I identify with them.

So in this election, the Conservative Party is promising it will cut our taxes.

Labour Party is promising it will grow the economy.

And the Liberal Democrats are promising that they'll sort out social care.

Simple messages that we probably can understand,

at least at a high level, without anyone explaining them to us.

I think there's that in these chapters in Daniel.

Now, they are long and they're complicated.

But if you were to read through them and try to make sense of them,

I think you would get some key messages.

And they might look something like this.

Chapter 10 has material about conflict in the heavens.

Now, it gets complicated, but we can understand there's something in there

about conflict in the heavens.

Chapter 11 is about chaos on the earth.

All these rulers who come and go,

and there's lots of detail in there which we'll come back to.

But the message is there's lots happening in our world.

Everything is temporary.

No ruler is forever because only God is eternal.

No.

And that then brings us to chapter 12,

which gives comfort for God's people.

And it says,

despite all the troubles that we see in our world,

and Daniel saw plenty as this message was given to him.

Despite all that, it will come right in the end.

The dead in Christ will be raised,

as Paul says, and is foreshadowed here.

And overarching it all is the message that's overarching the whole book of Daniel.

God is in control.

God is the person who is ultimately in control of our world.

And if we trust him, we can have total confidence in him.

So at a high level, then, we have some understanding of what's in the chapters.

Going back to the election,

there is also quite a lot of information that comes at us

that we might find quite difficult to understand

until someone explains it.

So, for example,

the SNP is lobbying for taxes to be increased in England.

And you might say,

well, what business is that of the SNP?

Well, the reason they're doing it

is that if taxes are raised in England

and the money goes to fund the English NHS,

then Scotland will benefit from Barnet consequentials.

Some of you may understand what that means.

Some of you probably don't.

I suspect none of us would

unless someone had explained it to us

or we'd read about it.

But it's factual information.

The Barnet formula is something you can find

and you can understand.

You don't really have any controversy

about what it is.

And so when we come to these chapters in Daniel,

there are some things that we wouldn't understand

if we just read it.

So most of chapter 11,

it's a long series of events that are prophesied.

And we very quickly, I think, get lost

as we read through them.

But if you have a good commentary or a study Bible

and you read that,

the commentary alongside Daniel 11,

it will explain to you exactly

how Daniel 11 was fulfilled in history.

It is a remarkably accurate account

of what was at the time of Daniel in the future.

And everyone, all the experts agree

on the main details of that.

Doesn't matter who you ask,

they will agree about it.

There's then a third level of information understanding

to do with the general election.

And that's areas where the experts

don't necessarily agree.

So all the parties are making promises.

They're all saying we're fully costed.

And some of the experts are saying,

actually, you haven't taken account of this

or this is a bit of a dodgy assumption.

And the experts may not necessarily agree

on what's what.

And that is one of the difficulties,

I guess, for us as voters.

We're given information.

Some of it we can understand easily.

Some of it we can understand with a bit of effort.

But some of it we're going to just have to decide

who we trust,

which of the experts we think

has potentially got it right.

And that's the third element

we find in these chapters.

Graham highlighted it last week

that there are all sorts of views

of the prophecies that are made

in the book of Daniel

and the visions that he had.

If you were listening to Graham last week

and you listened to me today,

you probably will see reasonably clearly

that we don't agree

in our understanding of some of the details.

And that's fine.

And we're not going to fall out over it.

It's difficult stuff

that people won't always see the same way.

But where Graham and I definitely do agree

is that while the detail is important,

the really critical things are the big picture.

The big picture that God is in control of our world

and that he will bring about his purposes in the future.

And that's not up for debate.

That is not disagreed on

by those who hold to the truth of the Bible.

God is in control.

There's conflict in the heavens we'll think about.

There's lots of chaos on earth,

lots of things on earth we don't understand

and we probably are quite distressed about.

But God is in control.

We can take comfort from that

and from the fact that Jesus is coming again.

Kingdoms will rise and fall.

Evil beings will do their worst.

But there's a glorious future

for those who trust in God.

Now, with that by way of introduction,

let's have a look at the passages.

And we're only going to be able to go over

very superficially this morning.

There's a lot of detail here we won't cover.

We'll try to get the main messages out of it.

So at the beginning of chapter 10,

Daniel positions for us the time of what's happening.

This is quite significant.

He says,

In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia.

Now, in terms of the timing of Daniel,

this means it is the last thing that happens

in the book of Daniel chronologically

as well as in the flow of the book.

It is sometime after Daniel was put into the lion's den.

He's an old man.

He's probably in his mid-80s at this point.

What's also significant about the timing

is that when Cyrus became the king,

when the Medes and Persians conquered Babylon,

that set in train a return of the Jews

back to Jerusalem.

We read about it in the book of Ezra

in the early chapters,

how Cyrus decreed that the Jews

were going to be able to go back to Jerusalem

and to rebuild the temple.

Archie, a few weeks ago, looking at chapter 6,

talked about the yearning for home

that the Jews had.

And that yearning for home

seemed to be being realised

as some of Daniel's compatriots

went back to Judea.

But then they had problems.

There was opposition

and the work stalled.

It stopped.

And it may be that the point we're at now

is where Daniel heard about

the difficulties in Jerusalem.

Heard about the fact that the thing

which undoubtedly caused him great joy

that his people were able to return

actually seemed to be going wrong.

And perhaps that is the background

behind the whole of this section.

It is God coming to Daniel

and saying,

yes, it looks as if things are going wrong,

but don't worry,

I am in control.

Whether that's the right interpretation or not,

as we look at the beginning of this passage,

Daniel is in mourning.

In verses 2 and 3,

he says he mourned for three weeks,

he went on a very restricted diet,

and he didn't use ointment in the heat

to make things a bit more comfortable.

He was also, as always,

engaged in prayer,

and it looks as if he was particularly

asking for understanding from God.

Perhaps I say understanding

for why things seem to have gone wrong

in Jerusalem.

And as he's doing that,

he has a vision.

He sees a man dressed in linen.

The man has a gold belt on.

He has quite startling features

that we read about in chapter 10.

He has a voice that is thunderous.

And as Daniel hears it,

he falls down to the ground.

He appears to go into a deep faint.

The people who are with him

don't see the vision,

but they're terrified

and they run away.

There's a question then,

well, who is it that Daniel sees

in the vision?

What is the vision

that Daniel sees?

So we note

that there are striking similarities

between the description here

of the man Daniel sees

and the description of Jesus

in Revelation chapter 1

Revelation 1 · chapter mention

when John sees him

in a vision there.

The white robes,

the belt,

the striking features,

the sound of his voice,

and the fact that in Revelation

John falls at his feet

as if dead

and Daniel here also

falls to the ground.

So it's possible

this could be an appearance

of the Lord Jesus

before his incarnation.

Several points in the Old Testament

where that's a possibility,

I think it is here.

So John falls into this deep faint.

He falls asleep

and he's wakened

by a hand touching him.

And he's then given

a message by this person

which again is quite disturbing.

So who is it that's talking

to Daniel here?

Well, you might naturally think

it's the same person

as in the earlier verses

and it might be.

But it's noticeable

as we read these verses

that the person

who's speaking to Daniel

talks about how he needed help

from Michael.

Michael, one of the leaders

of the angel,

the archangel Michael,

whoever it was,

needed help from Daniel

to overcome a spiritual being.

And that doesn't tie in,

does it,

with it being the Lord Jesus,

the God incarnate,

the one who is all-powerful.

So it may well be

the person we're looking at here

is not the Lord Jesus

but is an angel

come to bring the message

to Daniel.

So possibly we're looking

at two separate people.

The one the Lord Jesus

in the earlier verses,

the other an angel

in the later verses

and in support of that

the earlier verses

clearly talk about a vision.

The later verses

clearly are quite physical

because the person

touches Daniel three times

and so does someone

who is physically there with them.

I'll leave that tentatively with you

if you're so inclined

you can go away

and have a think about it.

But the purpose of the messenger

is to reassure Daniel.

And he does it by the way

he touches him

and gives him back his strength.

He also does it by twice

calling him highly esteemed.

So Daniel very quickly learns

this isn't someone

who's come to judge him

or to condemn him.

It's someone who's come

to encourage

and to raise him up.

But the message

that the angel of it is that gives

is actually very difficult

because it's a message

about a battle in the heavens

a conflict in the heavens.

The angel talks about the fact

that when Daniel started praying

21 days ago

he wanted to come

and to reassure him then

but he was held up

by the king of Persia.

He later talks about

the king of Greece.

And this brings us

into territory

I think most of us

are fairly uncomfortable about

if we think about it at all.

That there are heavenly beings

who have a real interest

in this world.

Spiritual powers

both good and evil.

Here it is at the level

of nations.

It is kind of patron angels

if you like

influencing what happens

in the nations

of our world.

It's also true

that the Bible would teach

that there are spiritual powers

taking an interest

in us individually.

Maybe the most influential book

on this

in making people aware

of spiritual powers

was C.S. Lewis'

Screwtape Letters.

Quite old now

but many of you I'm sure

have come across it.

Screwtape Letters

are a series of letters

from a senior demon

to a junior tempter

about their work

in the life of someone

who's just called

the patient.

They're trying to

divert this person

away from God

and to tempt him

in all sorts of ways.

Now it's a work of fiction.

We're not to take

what C.S. Lewis writes literally

but he is trying both

to help us

to understand

the subtlety

of much of the temptation

we face

and to bring us

to a realisation

of the existence

of spiritual beings.

He says this

in his introduction.

There are two equal

and opposite errors

into which our race

can fall about the devils.

One is to disbelieve

in their existence.

The other is to believe

and to feel an excessive

and unhealthy interest

in them.

They themselves

are equally pleased

by both errors.

So on the one hand

we have a lot of people

who would find this

too difficult teaching

to understand

and say no,

can't believe that.

And then we have

a rather smaller group

of people

who take an excessive

interest in demonic activity

and to become

really obsessed

as they think about it.

C.S. Lewis says

both errors are wrong.

We need to take

a balanced view of this

to understand

that there are

powers out there

that we don't

understand fully.

but not to become

so caught up with them

that we lose focus

on the main thing

which is our relationship

with the Lord Jesus.

Paul covers this

in Ephesians.

He says,

our struggle

is not

against fresh and blood

but against the rulers,

against the authorities,

against,

sorry,

I'm struggling to read up there,

I'll read back here,

against the powers

of this dark world

and against the spiritual

forces of evil

in the heavenly realms.

And he then goes on

to encourage us

to put on

the full armour of God

so that when the day comes

we'll be able

to stand our ground

and after doing

everything

to stand.

Paul's advice there

is very important.

We need to be aware

that there are

evil forces

out there.

But we also need

to know

that the way

to combat them

is not by becoming

excessively interested

in them

but to put on

ourselves

the armour

of God.

Truth,

righteousness,

gospel readiness,

faith,

salvation,

God's word.

And alongside that,

Paul says,

to support one another

in prayer.

We are all engaged

in a spiritual battle.

We all face temptations

in our lives.

It's important

that we individually

put on the armour

that Paul talks about

and that we collectively

pray for one another

and recognise

we are all

in that battle.

We're not able

to triumph by ourselves.

We need to be much

in prayer for one another

that God

will support us

in it.

There's lots more

we could say about that.

We haven't got time

this morning

but I hope

that is some help.

Let's move on

to chapter 11.

Chapter 11 is very long

and as I said

it is very complicated.

The messenger here

is looking

into the future

and he's making

prophecies.

We're not going

to go through it

in great detail.

I'll summarise

the passage for you

but let me just make

two general comments

first.

The first thing is

as I've said

this is a very

accurate prophecy.

What we read

about here

which was given

to Daniel

is in the future

then

but we can look

back now

if we have

the historic

information

and we can see

that almost

all of it

until we get

right to the end

almost all of it

has been fulfilled

very accurately

in history.

So much so

that it's quite

often suggested

well this must

have been written

after the event

it is so accurate.

I don't believe

that's the case.

Our God knows

the future

as well as the past

and he is well

able to bring

this kind of

prophecy to us.

But we have here

a very accurate

account of what

happened historically.

But then the second

point is that

this is not just

a history lesson

for us.

Some people would

find it really

interesting perhaps

some people would

find it deadly

boring to go

through the history.

But that's not

the purpose of what

the messenger

is saying here.

The purpose is

to give Daniel

and those who

would follow him

confidence in God.

That God does

know the end

from the beginning.

That what happens

will be as God

allows it.

And then as we

get into chapter 12

that ultimately

God will be

triumphant

and his people

will be vindicated.

And I suspect

that people over

the few hundred

years after Daniel

as they were

facing oppression

from all sides

as Israel was

constantly under

pressure

they would be

able to look

at these prophecies

here.

And they could

say yes

we look in the

past and we

see these

have been

fulfilled

perfectly

by God.

And so we

can have

confidence in

the future

that things

will happen

as God

has decreed

it.

So let's

just very

briefly talk

through the

chapter.

The detail

is interesting

for some

but it's

possibly less

important than

the big picture.

So the bit

that we read

at the beginning

begins with

Cyrus who

was the king

of Persia

at that time

and then

says there

will be

four kings

that will

follow him

over a

period of

about 200

years.

The fourth

of these kings

is the one

who is going

to be richest

and most

influential

and that's

generally

identified as

Xerxes.

Xerxes you

may remember

as the king

in the book

of Esther

that Esther

and Mordecai

have dealings

with.

He wasn't

the last

king of

Persia

but it

was the

time of

Xerxes

that the

influence

and power

of the

Persian

empire

started to

wane.

Xerxes

went to

war against

Greece

and he

was soundly

defeated

at the

battle of

Salamis

and the

decline

of the

Persian

empire

can

probably

be

dated

from

that.

We

then have

in verse

three

we have

a mighty

king

who will

arise

and that

king is

Alexander

the Great.

The king

who in

the early

30s

looked around

him and

wept as

he said

there are

no more

worlds for

me to

conquer.

An

enormously

successful

leader

and general

who then

died at

the age

of just

32.

When

Alexander

died after

a little

bit of

infighting

his

kingdom

was

essentially

divided

into

four.

Four

different

areas

which

are

represented

by

the

points

of

the

compass.

Now

the

key

kingdoms

that

are

referred

to

in

this

passage

are

what

are

called

the

king

of

the

north

and

the

king

of

the

south.

The

king

of

the

north

is

Syria.

It

is

the

Seleucian

empire

in

Syria.

The

king

of

the

south

is

Egypt.

It

is

the

Ptolemaean

empire.

And

these

two

empires

for a

long

period

were in

battle

with

each

other

for

control

of

that

area

of

the

world.

And

you can

if you're

so

inclined

read

through

from

verse 4

to

verse 20

and if

you've

got a

comment

you can

see the

historical

side

of

that.

But

there's

a lot

of

plotting,

there's

a lot

of

treachery,

there's

a lot

of

warfare

going

on.

And

poor

little

Israel

is

caught

in

the

middle.

Between

Syria

and

Egypt

it

is

the

one

that's

kind of

squeezed

in

there

and

never

seems

to

get

on

very

well.

You

have

quite a

number

of

verses

that

are

about

just

one

king

who

is

described

in

verse

21

as

a

contemptible

person.

We met

him before

in chapter

8.

His name

is

Antiochus

Epiphanes.

And he

was a

Syrian

ruler

who was

very cruel,

who was

very vicious,

and by

a

combination

of

deceitful

diplomacy

and

brute

force,

he had

a lot

of

success

against

Egypt

and

in

controlling

the

nations

round

about.

And in

particular,

he was

someone who

really was

against

the Jews.

As you've

heard to

briefly

in this

passage

in verse

28,

it is

not the

full force

of what's

happened

there.

In verse

28,

it says

he will

take

action

against

Israel.

The

action he

took on

his way

back from

a campaign

in Egypt

was extremely

cruel and

very

vicious.

But that

was only

beginning,

because the

next time

Antiochus

went down

to Egypt,

he was

defeated by

the upcoming

Roman army.

Rome, of

course, would

be the

power in

the future.

And as

he went

home,

he vented

his fury

against

Israel.

And one

of the

things he

did, and

again we

talked about

this a

couple of

weeks ago,

one of the

things he

did was

to stop

the normal

sacrifices

in the

temple,

to set

up an

altar to

Zeus

there,

and to

sacrifice

pigs on

it, real

anathema

to the

Jews.

Antioch

Episanes

was a

cruel,

godless

man, and

you can

see that

if you

read through

the verses

in the

chapter.

Now so

far we

have

something

that is

historically

very

accurate.

But then

when we

come to

verse 36

it's a

lot more

difficult to

see what's

going on.

It looks

as if it's

still talking

about

Antiochus,

but there's

nothing in

his life

that corresponds

to what's

there, and

indeed nothing

in the

lives of

his

successors.

So what's

going on

here?

Well, one

suggestion, one

thing that

people would

hold to

is that

what we

see here

is Antiochus

as a

type, as a

foreshadowing

of what

will come

in the

end days.

A

foreshadowing

of someone

who's even

worse, who

will completely

fulfil the

prophecy

here.

The person

who is

described in

the Bible

as the

Antichrist

or the

man of

sin.

Now, if I

pursue this

view just a

little bit

further, the

70 weeks that

are talked

about in

Daniel, 70

periods of

seven years,

and within

them you

see at the

end of

week 69,

God's

anointed is

put to

death, so

that could

be a

reference to

the Lord

Jesus.

And then

the thought

is there's

quite a

long gap,

gap of at

least around

2,000 years

in there

before the

70th week.

Before the

70th week,

the church

is taken out

of the world,

as we read

in Ephesians,

1 Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4,

and then this

man is let

loose.

He makes a

number of

alliances, but

at the end

he really

rises against

Israel, makes

his base

there as he

fights wars

on all

fronts.

And in the

end he is

roundly defeated

by God and

by his

army.

Now, I'll give

that to you for

your consideration.

It is one view,

as I say,

this is a

difficult and

in many ways

controversial

area, but

here is one

possibility for

it.

But let's

move on to

chapter 12

as we come

towards the

conclusion.

If chapter 12

might make us

despair for the

world around

us, that there

is so much

evil going on,

there are so

many people of

ill will in

leadership, and

we can see that

today as much as

Daniel could see

it or the

vision presented

it to him.

There is a lot

in the world that

should cause us

real distress as

Christians.

But chapter 12

is there to

give comfort to

God's people.

It starts with a

time of great

distress.

Jesus called it

the tribulation,

but ultimately

it says God's

people will be

triumphant.

One of the

things, one of

the glorious

things that will

happen is that

those who have

died believing

in God, believing

in Jesus, will be

raised to life

again.

And here in

Daniel in the

Old Testament, we

have something that

has developed in

much more detail in

the New Testament.

In the immediate

context, Daniel may

be talking specifically

about the Jews, but

as we look forward, we

know from what Paul

writes and what we

read in Revelation

and elsewhere that

everyone will be

raised to life.

All those who have

died will be raised

and they will be

raised either to

eternal life or to

eternal judgment.

That's in verse 2 of

chapter 12.

Multitudes who

sleep in the dust of

the earth will

awake, some to

eternal life, others

to shame and

everlasting contempt.

All of us will be

judged.

All of us will need to

face the Lord Jesus.

If we haven't trusted

in the Lord Jesus, if we

haven't put our faith in

him as the one who

died on the cross to

take our sins, that

judgment will be to

eternal condemnation.

If our trust is in

Jesus, if we have put

our faith in him, we

will be raised to

eternal life.

And, says Daniel, there

will be rewards, special

rewards for those who

lead many to

righteousness.

I would take it that

that is those who

particularly communicate

effectively the message

of hope through God,

through the Lord Jesus,

us, and to, through

that, our instrument

when bringing others

to him.

And I think,

ultimately, this is the

key message we need to

take from these

chapters.

God is in control, and

when the Lord Jesus

returns, there will be a

judgment, there will be

reward, and there will

be punishment.

Those who trust in

Jesus will rise to

eternal life.

those who don't will

rise to eternal

judgment.

That is a very solemn

thought, isn't it?

And if we are Christians

today, as we see a world

around us with people who

don't know the Lord Jesus,

perhaps have never heard

the message about him,

it should be a real

challenge to us to tell

them the gospel of Jesus,

that they may have hope

that they will be raised to

eternal life and not to

judgment.

And perhaps all of us, as

we think about these things,

we need to examine

ourselves and to make

sure that our trust is in

Jesus and that we know

that one day we will go

to be with him.

Now, our time is pretty

well gone, so I'm not

going to go into the

latter part of chapter 12,

which is about timing.

There's three and a half

years in there.

If you want to talk about

it later, I'm happy to do

that.

I think the key mistake

from that, there's a lot

we don't know about the

future, and particularly

about the timing.

We don't know when the

Lord Jesus will return.

But let me end by

returning where we

started to the general

election.

If you vote in the

general election, your

vote will probably be

based on a combination of

things.

Part of it will be your

priorities.

Which of the parties'

priorities chime with you?

Part of it will be what the

parties have promised.

Is it realistic to expect

what they've said?

And is it desirable that

these things should happen?

But ultimately, I suspect,

for many of us, it's going

to come down to trust.

Do we really trust these

politicians to do what they

say?

Do we trust that they

actually are able to if they

want to?

And do we trust that they

have our best interests at

heart?

In our country, here, time and

time again during the

election, the level of

trust in politicians is

very low.

And we may well vote in

the expectation that

ultimately we may well be

let down.

I hope as we've studied

the book of Daniel, this

section, but the whole of

the book, that we can see

that God can be trusted to

care for his people.

Parts of the book come

across as a bit weird,

certainly very difficult to

understand.

Parts of it are very heavy.

That you really need to

think carefully about what's

being said, and even then

you may not fully understand

it.

But the big message, the

message in chapter 1, when

Daniel and his friends take a

stand on eating food, and God

honors that.

The message in chapter 3, when

Shadrach, Meshach, and

Abednego refuse to bow down to

the idol and are thrown to the

fiery furnace.

The message in chapter 6, as

Daniel refuses to stop his daily

habit of prayer and is thrown

into the lion's den.

And the message of the more

difficult bits towards the end.

It's the same message.

If we are faithful to God, if we

live faithfully in difficult

times in a lion's den world, as

Darcy's title says, then God will

be faithful to us.

We may face opposition.

We will face opposition if we're

standing firm as Christians.

We may face great difficulties in

our lives.

And there may be times when we're

looking around us at what's

happening, and we say, why?

Why, God, do you allow this?

But ultimately, God is in control,

and we can trust him for the

future.

As John says in his epistle, the

one who is in us is greater than

the one who is in the world.

So let's go away from this series

with our confidence in God

increased, with an understanding

of how great our Heavenly Father

is, that he is in control of

everything, and that ultimately he

will be seen to triumph as that

victory has already been won by the

Lord Jesus on the cross.

God will be seen to triumph as

Jesus is recognized as the King of

Kings and Lord of Lords.

God will be seen to you in the

world.

God will be seen to you in the

world.

Let's join together in prayer.

Our Father, we thank you for your

word.

We thank you that although this

passage is in many ways very

difficult, yet what it brings across

to us is a God who is in control, a

God who cares for his people, and a

God who ultimately will vindicate those

who trust in him.

We thank you for the Lord Jesus.

We thank you for his death for us on

the cross.

We thank you for his resurrection,

which gives us the assurance that

those who die knowing him will also

be raised to eternal life.

Help us to trust him.

Help us to be faithful in this time,

and help us to be those who, like

Daniel, put our confidence in God and

see his blessing in our lives.

We thank you for this time together.

We thank you for your word.

We pray you continue to be with us in

the time of fellowship we have

together over lunch.

We give our thanks in Jesus' name.

Amen.