Get the Picture?

Heavenly Father is right that we should open up our

mouths and proclaim with our lips, with words and in

song that you are holy, that Lord Jesus, you have

paid it all. You are worthy of our praise with

our mouth, But not just our mouths. That's the thing

we've assembled here as a congregation, not just to praise

us with mouths when our hearts are far from you. Lord.

We desire that you would give us true praise in

the inmost places, that our whole lives would praise you. So, Lord,

as we open up your word, would you open up

our hearts? Would you open up our ears? Would you

form in us the character and the truth and the

maturity and the sanctification that only you can do. We

want to step out, We want to step about in faith,

in the obedience of faith. Would you meet us with

the power that only you can provide through the power

of your spirit as we look at your word to

make us more like your son in whose name we pray. Amen.

Scrab our bibles, scrab our Bibles and turn to Isaiah

Isaiah chapter forty nine and fifty Isaiah forty nine and fifty.

Thank you, We'll oh and there we go. I know

how to carry that next time Isaiah forty nine and fifty.

If you don't have a Bible with you, just raise

your hand and keep it up and we will find

you and get you a bible or a bulletin or

a pen or anything that you might need. Just catch

the eye of one of these ushers and let them

know what you need and they'll they'll help you with that,

and turn to Isaiah chapter forty nine. If if you haven't,

let me also remind you to fill out a connection

card this morning. We ask everybody to do that every week.

It's an important pastoral tool for us that we know

that you are here by name. So whether you're a

guest or a member, just please before the worship service

is over, just scan the QR code and the bulletin

and on the seat back and fill out a connection card.

Let let us put your name down there and let

us know you were here. Specifically. You can also include

a prayer request. We'll be praying with you and for

you throughout the week. And if you're new, you can

leave some contact information. We'll follow up with you. We'd

love to connect with you. In fact, right after this

service there's a table called Step one. It's out there

if you can find it in the lobby and we'll

connect with you there. We'd love to answer questions about

what it would be like to be a part of

this church. Help you invite you into that, into the

process of becoming a part of this church. Answer questions

maybe about this text or about the gospel of Jesus Christ,

as we've been sinking about the one who died and

was raised and makes us right before a holy God.

We would love for you to have clarity about that,

even maybe before you leave today, certainly before you disentangle

your self from this community of faith. We want you

to be clear about the gospel. And if you are,

maybe you'll just come to Christ and become a part

of this church body. Okay, Isaiah, Chapter forty nine and fifty. Again,

thank you for your patience. And I know it feels

a little crowded out there in the lobby this morning

because the student ministry is raising money for camp and

you guys are coming through. Let me just tell you

generous spirit here. I've already seen the bid sheets. These

are some well paid students. Let me just say good job.

Thank you for that. Isaiah, forty nine and chapter fifty.

We're going to read our text here in just a moment.

It's got some complexities to it, so I want to

frame this up so that we can best understand it

even as we just read the text together in a moment.

The situation is this, the people of God are in

the midst of some trying circumstances. It is easy for them, yes,

on the one hand, to note the hope and the

blessings that have already been pronounced for them and given

to them. But on the other hand, they are still

not yet back to their homeland, and they are still

beset by all kinds of real needs and real problems.

And in the midst of it, they are discouraged, you

could say, despondent. And we are not much different, truly, we,

as the people of God redeemed by Jesus Christ, have

been given hope and blessings and grace in great measure,

and are still, on the other hand, beset by sins.

We're sinned against. We have real needs and real difficulties,

And it is easy, if our eyes are fixed only

on the circumstances on the ground, to be discouraged, even

despondent and so here God calls his people to lift

their eyes off of not just merely what's going on

around them, but to put them on his plan, what

he's up to, what he's promised, where he's taking this

whole thing, and in so doing boom in the heart

and soul from a place of discouragement to a place

of trust and waiting on the Lord. It's a matter,

you could say, a vision, A vision that sounds like

a fancy word vision. I hear like CEOs talk about

vision and like leaders talk about vision. The term vision

really just means what is the picture that you have

in your mind of what's going on and where it's

all headed. You might have heard this illustration before man

goes up to the work site of a cathedral and

asks the workers there what are they doing, And one

worker says, well, you can see I've got a wheelbarrow

full of stones. I'm taking them from over there to

over there. And he asks another worker what are you doing?

Says well, I think you can see I'm mixing mortar.

And he asks another worker who's sweeping, what are you doing?

And she stops, leans on her room for a minute

and says, I am building a Cathedral to the Living God,

and it will stand on this countryside for a thousand years.

Somebody's got a different forward vision, and that forward vision

is going to make a huge difference in the ups

and the downs, and the discouragements and the outlook of

her every day life. That's the kind of thing that

Isaiah gives us in forty nine and fifty. So we're

going to read it because it has some complexity to it.

I'm just going to call out some structural markers as

we go. I think it'll help us get a grasp

on what is a very sort of fluid poem that

we call the Second Song of the Servant, the Second

Song of the Servant. Isaiah has four songs of the

Servant in his book. This is the second one, and

what we see in the New Testament. Again, just to

help us understand as we read, what we see in

the New Testament, is that the New Testament writers clearly

identify this servant as our Lord Jesus Christ, right, not

just a prophet, this servant, the prophet, not just Israel,

but the true Israel, the Messiah of Israel. That's who

our New Testament writers identify this servant to be. And

the people of God. The people of God who are

referenced throughout are also our New Testament writers identify the

people of God, not just those who are ethnically of Abraham,

as some might have thought, but of those who have

the faith of Abraham. So who that gets to include?

Praise God. Now, let's stand for the reading of God's

Word chapters forty nine and fifty. It's a long one.

There's some complexity. Let me offer some markers along the way.

You read along as I read aloud. In chapter forty nine,

the servant speaks about this refreshingly, gloriously worldwide mission, saying this,

listen to me, o coast lands, and give attention you

peoples from Afar. The Lord called me from the womb,

from the body of my mother. He named my name.

He made my mouth like a sharp sword in the

shadow of his hand. He hid me. He made me

a polished arrow in his quiver. He hid me away.

He said, you are my servant Israel, in whom I

will be glorified. But I said, I've labored in vain.

I have spent my strength for nothing in vanity. Yet

surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense

is with my God. Now, the Lord says, he who

formed me from the womb, and to be his servant

to bring Jacob back to him, that Israel might be

gathered to him. For I am honored in the eyes

of the Lord, and my God has become my strength.

He says. It's too light a thing that you should

be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob

and to bring back the preserved of Israel. I will

make you as a light for the nations, that my

salvation may reach to the end of the earth. Thus

says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,

to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant

of rulers, kings shall see and arise princes, and they

shall prostrate themselves because of the Lord who is faithful,

the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you. Thus

says the Lord. In a time of favor, I have

answered you. In a day of salvation, I have helped you.

I will keep you and give you as a covenant

to the people to establish the land, to apportion the

desolate heritage, saying to the prisoners, come out to those

who are in darkness appear, and they shall feed along

the ways. On the bare heights shall be their pasture.

And they shall not hunger or thirst. Neither scorching wind

nor sun shall strike them. For he who has pity

on them will lead them. By springs of water, will

guide them. I will make all my mountains a road,

and my highways shall be raised up. Behold, these shall

come from Afar, And behold these from the north and

from the west, and these from the land of sign

Sing for joy, oh Heaven's, and exult o Earth, Break forth,

oh mountains, into singing. For the Lord has comforted his

people and will have compassion on his afflicted. But his

people doubt, and in discouragement, they say that that God

has forsaken them. And so God declares back to them

a picture of his commitment to his people. It's glorious.

Back in verse fourteen, but Zion said, the Lord has

forsaken me. My Lord has forgotten me. Can a woman

forget her nursing child that she should have no compassion

on the sun of her womb? Even these may forget.

Yet I will not forget you. You. Behold, I have

engraved you on the palms of my hands. Your walls

are continually before me, your builders, Make haste your destroyers,

and those who laid you waste, go out from you,

And lift up your eyes around, and see they all gather.

They come to you as I live, declare the Lord.

You shall put them on, all on as an ornament.

You shall bind them on as a bride does. Surely

your waste, and your desolate places, and your devastated land.

Surely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants,

and those who swallowed you up will be far away.

The children of your bereavement will yet say in your ears,

the place is too narrow for me. Make room for

me to dwell in. And then you will say in

your heart, who has borne me these? I was bereaved

and barren, exiled and put away. But who has brought

up these? Behold? I was left alone? Where have these come?

Thus says the Lord. Behold, I will lift up my

hand to the nations and raise my signal to the peoples,

And they shall bring your sons in their arms, and

your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders. Kings shall

be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers.

With their faces to the ground, they shall bow down

to you and lick the dust of your feet. Then

you will know that I am the Lord. Those who

wait for me shall not be put to shame. Can

the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives

from a tyrant be rescued? For it, thus says the Lord,

Even the captives of the Mighty shall be taken, and

the prey of the tyrant shall be rescued. For I

will contend with those who contend with you. I will

save your children. I will make your oppressors eat their

own flesh, and that we shall be drunk with their

own blood, as with wine. Then all flesh shall know

that I am the Lord, your savi, your redeemer, the

Mighty one of Jacob. Thus says the Lord. Where is

your mother's certificate of divorce with which I sent her away?

Or which of my creditors is it to whom I

have sold you? Behold your iniquities. For your iniquities were

you sold? And for your transgressions was your mother sent away?

Why when I came was there no man? Why when

I called was there no one to answer? Is my

hand shortened that it cannot redeem or have I no

power to deliver? Behold by my rebuke. I dry up

the sea. I make the rivers a desert. Their fish

die the stink for lack of water, and die of thirst.

I clothe the heavens with blackness, and make sackcloth their covering.

And so now the servant speaks again. The servants speaks

up regarding the qualifications that the Lord God has given

him to bring all of this about. He gives us

these four the Lord Gods. The Lord God has given

me the tongue of those who are taught, that I

may know how to sustain with a word. Him who

is weary morning by morning he awakens. He awakens my

ear to hear as those who are taught. The Lord

God has opened my ear. And I was not rebellious.

I turned not backward. I gave my back to those

who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out

the beard. I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.

But the Lord God helps me. Therefore I have not

been disgraced. Therefore I have set my face like a flint,

and I know that I shall not be put to shame.

He who vindicates me is near, who will contend with me.

Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let

him come near to me. Behold, the Lord God helps me.

Who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will

wear out like a garment, and the moth will eat

them up. Who among you fears the Lord and obeys

the voice of his servant. Let him who walks in

darkness and has no light trust in the name of

the Lord and rely on his God. Behold all who behold,

All you who kindle a fire, who equip yourselves with

burning torches, who walk by the light of your fire,

by the tortures that you have kindled, This you have

from my hand. You shall lie down in torment. This

is the word of the Lord. Thanks Peter, God, thank

you for your focus, your attention, your stamina, both in

your back and your mind. There's some complexity to this

pasage of scripture. Here this vision that Isaiah gives to

the people, and Isaiah means for these pictures to be

incorporated in the forward vision of the people. These people

who are clearly discouraged, even despondent, to lift their eyes

and as you see number of times throughout this passage,

trust the Lord rely on your God, wait on the Lord.

That's what he's calling them to. It's not just calling

to them with a mere assertion. He's calling to them

with a vision, a forward vision of what God is doing,

what God is up to, and he gives it to them.

I think in like maybe we could call three pictures.

Three pictures that Isaiah says, incorporate this into your forward

vision lest you be discouraged. Here's the first picture. Here's

the first picture. The servant's mission to the world. The

servant's mission to the world, which means praise the Lord

to us, to us, and we'll see also through us.

I mean this starts out with a word to the

whole world, to people all over the world. It says,

listen to me o coast lands, which is a Biblical

term really for gentiles. It's one of the ways that

the Bible refers to gentiles. Pay attention, you peoples from Afar.

This is for everybody, This includes San Antonio twenty twenty five.

It's for us. The servant, he says, is going to

be given as a covenant. Praise the Lord. The servant

will be given, not just make a covenant, not just

announce the covenant, not just explain a covenant. The servant

will be given as a covenant for the people, and

in doing so he will ultimately bring this about. The

people will be freed, fed, led, gathered in, gathered and comforted,

says verse nine, saying to the prisoners, come out, appear.

I am bringing about freedom. The servant says, I am

a covenant that will bring about freedom for the world.

It was too light a thing that I be just

to restore the tribes of Jacob. I am being given

as what do we say at Christmas time, the light

of the world. This is for us and not just

freed also fed verse nine. They shall feed along the way,

so they shall not hunger or thirst, and the servant

will lead us. Verse ten. He who has pity on

them will lead them. This is exactly what Revelation picks

up and speaks of the Lamb who is amongst them,

who has pity on them, and who will lead them

and not just lead them, gather them. Verse twelve. These

shall come from Afar. And I don't think you can

get much farther from Israel than San Antonio, can you?

Is it? Like? Not exactly on the opposite side of

the world from the north and from the west, and

they shall be Verse thirteen, they shall be comforted. The

Lord has comforted to his people and will have compassion

on his afflicted. God has basically taken the events of

the redemption of Egypt. You know that story. God redeems

his people out of slavery from Egypt, and he has

taken the story of his redemption from Babylon, calling the

exiles back, and he said, I am doing something greater

and for all the world. This light in my servant

will be of this sort in a spiritual way for

every person in the world, every kind of person, at

least no kind of person will be excluded from this.

Come on coast lands, pay attention to people from from

the north, from the west. I am going to do

this on a worldwide scale as a matter of spiritual

redemption through my servant. And that's what we see in

the New Testament. You who were far off, Paul says,

had been brought near by the blood of Christ. That's

us this picture again, what are we talking about. We're

talking about a picture of what God is doing in

this world and with this future that should move us

to lift our eyes from the circumstances of the day

to day, place them on what God is up to,

and therefore walk in trust instead of discouragement. That's what

Isaiah's about with these people. That's what Isaiah's about with

us people. But not only is this mission to us,

It's also meant to be through us. You see what

Isaiah says about the servant here the light of the

world to gather the nations. This is exactly what Paul

says in Acts thirteen when he says, I gotta go.

I gotta go. Tell everybody about this, because, as it says,

I am a light to the nations. Hold on a second, Paul,

are you saying you're the light to the nations. No,

I am in the light of the nations. I am

of the light of the nations. I'm a servant of

the light to the nations. I worship and follow the

light to the nations. And so I must go. This

mission that has come to you has also been given

to you. It's been given to us. But listen, if

you're here this morning and you are not a believer

in Jesus Christ, you need to understand this is not

a book about some other people long ago. Yes, it's that,

But it's not only that. This is the plan of

God and the mission of Christ that is sent to

you Christian. It's been sent to you, and it's working

through you. And if you're here and you haven't come

to trust in Christ, this call this light that we

sing about, that we proclaim, this light is meant for

you to see and walk towards. That's the first picture

that Isaiah gives us. But between that day, that day

of ultimate joy and singing, you see how the earth

sings and the heaven sings, and the mountain sings, and

people are fed and freed and led and gathered and comforted.

Between that day and this day that includes difficulty needs.

Between those two, the people can get discouraged. Amen. And

so he gives us this second picture. He gives us

this second picture directly in response to discouragement. Do you

see it there? In verse fourteen, Verse fourteen, the people

of God say this, the Lord has forsaken me. My

Lord has forgotten me? Does God forget his people? But

you know that the answer I mean here we are

in church, the church answer is not wrong. But do

we always see it? Do we see that God is

committed to his people. Is that a part of our

forward vision of reality? Or do we sometimes lose sight

of that as we just look at the circumstances of

the day. Okay, I won't make you answer that out loud.

I'm gonna go ahead and do that for you. The

answer is yes, yes, sometimes we don't see it. And

so Isaiah says, I want you to have a picture

of God's commitment to his people, and he gives it

to him in these ways. Number One, see that if

you're his, God can't forget you. If you're his God

can't forget you, He responds in verse fifteen through seventeen.

Can a mom forget her nursing baby? I was talking

to someone in between the services just this morning, and

she said, I want you to know that that's not

just a mental thing. That's a physical thing. Like, I

don't know you you tell me. She's like, if a

mom is away from her nursing baby or that baby

cries out, she hand forget that baby. There's a physical

suffering and distress that she goes through in response to

the suffering of that child. She can't forget that child.

It's not just a mental thing. It's all the way

down to the physical level. I believe you. I've lived

with a nursing mom date number one, date number one

after we had a kid. I don't think we made it.

Twenty minutes, we're back to the house. I can't leave

him here, says I can't forget you. You are carved

into my hand. What a picture. That's what Isaiah means

to give us is pictures. This is his picture. Your

name is been graven into my hands. How will I

forget you? Your mind? I can't Not only can I

not forget you, I have included you. Listen speaking to

us here in San Antonio. Do you realize do you

have a picture? Do you have a picture of the

way God has included you amongst his people. This is

what he says in verses eighteen through twenty one. My

people are going to be gathered so much that they're

not all gonna fit. It's gonna feel crowded. It's gonna

feel like our lobby. There's not room for me. This

place is too narrow for me. He says to the

people that his people at the time, there is going

to be so many of y'all throughout. They're gonna be

gathered throughout all the world. My real people that they're

they're gonna you are gonna put them on like jewelry,

like a bride puts on jewelry. It's gonna be glorious.

And not only that, not only can he not forget you,

not only has he included you, He's welcomed you in

as family. That's what it says in verses twenty two

through twenty three. I'm gonna raise my signal, God says

to people all over the world. And they're gonna come

in like family. Kings are gonna be like your fathers.

Queens are gonna be like your mothers. They're gonna honor

my people. They're gonna join them. Those who wait for

me shall not be put to shame. They won't be forgotten.

They're gonna be included. They're gonna be family. Just trust me.

Look at what I'm doing. I will ultimately rescue you,

he says in twenty four through twenty six. I can

rescue whomever I want from whatever I want. Everyone will

know that I am the savior of my people. That's

the picture that God wants us to have of what

He's doing and where this is all going. And then lastly,

this He says, include this in your picture, include this

in your forward vision. I can discipline you without severing

from you. I can discipline you without severing from you.

I can't forsake you, I can't forget you, but I

can discipline you. That's what he's speaking about. In the

first few verses of chapter fifty, when he says where's

the divorce certificate, what he's saying is, yes, yes, I

separated from you. I distanced myself from you, but it's

not final. You don't have a divorce certificate. You can

show me. Yes, I put you away for your sins.

I disciplined you, but it's not forsaking you. He says, yes,

I sold you into a slavery. It's true, for your sins,

I was discipline you, but it's not like I was

one of those guys who owed so much money I

had to sell you. I wasn't broke, I wasn't in debt.

I had purposes in this. I can discipline you for

your transgressions. I can do it without severing from you.

I am committed to my people. Those who trust in

me will not be put to shame. I am like

a mother with a nursing baby, I can't. I couldn't

forget you. You were like one whose name I have

carved into my hand. How can I forget my people?

I want to ask you. Does your forward vision of

what God is doing, what He's all about his big

plan is Does your vision include a clear biblical picture

of how committed He is to you?

Not because of anything you've done, not because of anything

you've earned, but because of the work of Jesus Christ

and God's love towards those who are His, those who

are trusting him, He will.

Not let down. Do you have a clear picture of

His commitment to you? If you're here this morning and

you would say, I don't think I'm a believer in

Jesus Christ, I'm not trusting him as you're describing. I

have a couple of questions. What would a clear picture

of a living God's commitment to you like this do

in your heart? How would it change the way your

soul interacts with your world? How would it change the

way you conduct yourself and speak to others and act

in this world where you are headed. If you had

a picture of what kind of commitment God has to you,

how might it change where you think you were headed

in this world. I know there are other questions we

could ask, and I think we should ask them. Here's

a couple of questions I want to brack it out

for right now, Like how could you know that these

claims from scripture are true? Good question? How could you

know that this is true? Is this a true picture?

Let's set that aside for a minute, just a moment.

Or what would it take to really belong to God?

How does one become someone who really belongs to God?

Great question, Let's get to it in a moment. What

I want to ask you is what would it take

to trust him? What would it take? What would he

have to do to move in your conscience? What would

he have to present to you in scripture? What would

you have to see in the life of his people

or become convinced of to move from I'm not trusting

this Jesus or his work too. I'm willing to put

my life in his hands. It's a real questions. I'm

not trying to answer it for you, but I'd love

for you to answer for yourself. We'll come back to

those other questions in just a minute as we deal

with this third picture, because the next picture that we

see in the last and final picture here is how

does this mission of God to the world, How does

his commitment to his people actually get worked out? How

does this work? And that brings us back to the servant,

this third picture of the servant and how God has

qualified him. That's what the servant speaks of here. The

servant is completely qualified to call on you for trust.

That's what he says. I'm calling you to trust, and

I'm qualified to do it. That's his exhortation. Let him

who walks in darkness and has no light trust in

the name of the Lord. And then he lays out

these qualifications from God's hands. He says, Number one, I've

received teaching. That's what he says. In verse four, he says,

verse four, the Lord God has given me the tongue

of those who are taught. I can speak a word

to him who is weary and sustain him. Interestingly, this

is almost exactly how the New Testament speaks of Jesus,

come to me, you who are weary and heavy laden,

learn from me. Says I've been qualified by the Lord

God through being given obedience. He says. In verses five

and six, he says, the Lord God has opened my ear,

and I wasn't rebellious. I didn't turn back. I gave

my back to those who strike. I didn't hide my

face from disgrace or spitting. Again. Interestingly, this is exactly

how the New Testament speaks of Jesus Christ. Though he

was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.

And what did he suffer, Well, Matthew says, they spit

in his face, slapped him. And yet, and yet the

servant is also qualified by the Lord God through his vindication,

as it says in verse seven and eight, says, the

Lord God helps me. Therefore, I have not been disgraced.

I've set my face like a flint. This is also

how the New Testament speaks of Christ. Vindicated by his

resurrection and knowing what was to come, he set his

face toward Jerusalem to experience crucifixion on your beath. That's

how this vision is coming together. Last servant is qualified

by the Lord God by being given judgment in his hand,

says in verses nine through eleven, says, the Lord God

helps me. Let him who walks in darkness and who

has no light trust in the name of the Lord.

But Behold, all of you who kindle the fire, who

equipt yourself with burning torches, walk by the light of

your fire. You'll have this from my hand Torment judgment.

This is exactly how Jesus speaks of himself. And John

says for judgment, I came in the world. All authority

in heaven and earth has been given to me, he says.

In Matthew and elsewhere it says, this one who became

a man has now been given the authority to judge

all mankind. Because he became a man, he died as

a man, and he was judged for the sins of mankind.

This is a picture of a servant completely qualified to

bring about the future that God has described here. And

this is the servant's exhortation. Look up and trust God,

look up and rely on the Lord. Christ is calling

you to trust the results of his redemption. This trust

isn't something he's just calling you to though. It's something

he's won for you. In all of these things, Christ

has been validated in his teaching, lived it, and he

died for it in his obedience. He lived in perfect

obedience to the Father, and he died in perfect obedience

to the father. In his vindication, God rose raised him

from the dead, and in judgment, the New Testament says

he is rightfully appointed judge. So Christ calls you to

trust in God's plan and lift your vision higher than

your circumstance. As the one who's won that vision for you,

that future is yours because of him. Don't forget your

Jesus by letting your eyes fall merely to the circumstances

on the ground. Maybe the most important takeaway I could

give you this morning, don't forget your Jesus by letting

your eyes just fall merely to the circumstances on the ground,

when He has won for you a vision of the

future that is so much bigger and for the unbeliever

this morning, that brings us back to the questions we

sort of bracketed out before, like how could you know

if these claims of scripture are true? Or how do

you become a person who really belongs to God? The

answer to both is having an encounter by faith with

this servant, with the living Christ, to trust him and

to trust his work the Bible. By those means, the

Bible says that you become a person who really belongs

to God and if you trust him, then you trust

what he says to trust in, which is the scriptures.

He backs them up. It kind of reminds me of

this testimony I heard recently from from a guy named

Paul kings King's North. Paul kings North is a British intellectual,

was a environmental activist, and as an intellectual, he you know,

wrote a lot of books and was on the you know,

British lecture circuit and had a very humanistic and secular

view of where is this all going, what is happening

in this world and who's in charge of it? And

the only answer that he had resources for was nothing

good is happening, and when we're in charge? And so

he explored Buddhism, and he explored actually wiccan really and

then he made a mistake. He actually prayed, God, if

you're out there, show me the truth. And he began

to be moved in his conscience towards the things of Christ.

And he began to see in the pages of scripture

the living Christ and the truth of who Jesus is

and what He's done. Even began to have dreams about

the Living Christ. And he told his wife, I've just

asked God if he's out there to show me the truth.

And his wife, who wasn't a Christian, isn't a Christian,

said you're going to become a Christian and he said,

in his British way, I am not. He did not

want that. Yet God again moved through scripture, moved in

his conscience, moved him to the truth of who Christ

is and what He's done. And just a few years

ago Paul kings North became a Christian and was baptized.

And now here's the thing. He has a completely different

vision of the future. What's happening here, where this is

all going and who's in charge? Now? Paul kings North

will tell you in his very intellectual, very British way,

the servant is on mission to the world. It's to

me and it's through me. The Lord is committed to

his people and the servant is qualified to get it done.

Would you stand upry, heavenly Father, we ask that you

would in fact move through this vision that you have

given to your people, that we should have, that we

should should get clarity on, that we should be driven by,

that we should be moved by. Lord. Would you lift

our eyes off of the mere circumstances of the day,

and put our eyes on these clear pictures of your mission,

your commitment, the qualifications of your servant and what he

has done to bring about this future for us, for us, Lord,

And as you do that, would you also compel us

forward that the light of the world that has been

shown to us, we would also show to others. That's

the mission you've given us, and we asked that we

walk it out with clear vision and trust in Jesus name. Amen,

let's sing m hm.