Stand Still and See the Salvation of God

A few, a number of years ago, we were keeping a feast of tabernacles up in Nova Scotia.

Our boys were still in school and with us at the time. We sent them home right after the feast. They were big enough to travel, come back and stay on their own and get back into school. While Debbie and I took a few extra days and went up into the upper part of Nova Scotia on an island that is called Cape Breton Island. A very picturesque spot kind of reminds you of Scotland, they say, and it does. Settled by a lot of Scots.

One night we were staying in a little, quaint little inn and I was walking through the hallways and I happened across looking at some of the old pictures on the wall that places like that tend to have. There was one little, it wasn't a picture, it was a plaque with a saying on it. It looked like a poem so I stopped to read it. It turned out to be an address that had been made back in 1939 by England's King George VI. It was done just three months into World War II, this was 1939, it was kind of his end of the year New Year's message to the British Commonwealth at the time.

It received a lot of press and notoriety through the years. You probably have heard it yourself. But I remember writing it down and thought I was really struck by it. It was the first time I'd ever run across it. And I remembered it many, many times and written about it over the years.

And here's part of what he said that the part that really resonates in the middle of winter at the darkest time of the year, and certainly on a calendar basis as the world turns to the page to a new year, it has its application certainly at a time like this, but also at a time of trial or transition in anyone's life. And what he said to the Commonwealth nations at that time is this, and it was kind of a poetic approach.

It says, I said to a man who stood at the gate of the year, give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown. And he replied, Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way. Go out into the darkness, put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way. It's actually from a larger, it stands from a larger poem that I believe is called the Hand of God, written by some poet from a long, long time ago.

As I said, they have an immediacy in the midst of a dark winter when we peer into the dark nights and yearn for longer days, more sunlight and certainly warmer weather. They happen to have an application, as I said, for any particular time of trial or transition that we might be also going through in our lives and even during this time within the Church. You know, when we look into the Bible, this idea of putting our trust and our life in God is an idea that is woven really throughout God's experience with His people, from the ancient story of Israel all the way down into our life and our time today.

And as we face times of challenge in our walk of faith, it is always incumbent upon us to remember thoughts such as this, to remember God is in charge, that God is working out a purpose and a plan.

And as we in the Church of God struggle to remain faithful to His Word, to His way of life, a people who go against the grain of society. Here we are on December 25th, meeting for our service here on God's Sabbath. For the world, it is not just a typical Saturday. It is obviously Christmas, Yuletide celebration, as we all know. That's why the roads were rather vacant driving in this morning.

I could zip right up the interstate. But I did notice a lot more gas stations are open this year. I guess they need the money. But there seemed to be a lot more places open this year. Even I even saw McDonald's that was open. So this is a day that we muddle through in one sense.

We have decided on a life that goes against the grain of the rest of society and the rest of the world. And that presents even itself its own challenges, as we know, as it separates us from relationships, sets us kind at an angle to society, to family, to friends, and creates its own struggles that we have to work through on a regular basis. And we make our life around that. And we have no problem with that, but from time to time, it pulls at us. We, in essence, put our life into the hands of God.

And we ask God to lead us forward in our life. And we know that He is in charge. Christ is the head of the church. We read those scriptures. We read of God's miraculous intervention for His people and continual guiding hand. And we seek to apply those stories and those principles at every turn of our life, and especially at times of either personal or collective struggle and challenge that we have. And we should, and that's why God has them there. That's why we have a whole book of promises, of stories that tell us how to meet those challenges. I was reading a Wall Street Journal editorial this week, and it was talking about the Chronicles of Narnia. I think there's a new one that's just come out this season. The stories that C.S. Lewis wrote and the fantasy stories that have allegorical themes, certainly of the Bible in many ways. But the one story upon which I think the most recent one is based is called The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. And the article in Wall Street Journal that came out this week was talking about that. And it made an interesting point. I'll just share that with you here, because I think it also helps us understand how we really look at God's promises and God's Word and a lesson we draw from that. But the story of this C.S. Lewis story, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, opens, it says, with a memorable line.

It says, quote, There once was a boy named Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.

Eustace liked books, Lewis wrote, if they were books of information and had pictures of grain elevators or of fat foreign children doing exercise in modern in model schools. In other words, Eustace didn't have time for the types of stories that C.S. Lewis wrote and thought were important stories about brave knights and heroic courage. Throughout the story, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C.S. Lewis tells us repeatedly that Eustace's biggest problem is that he has, quote, read all the wrong books. Lewis cites this as the reason that Eustace is overwhelmed when he first arrives in Narnia and finds himself in a dragon's lair, quoting from the book, Most of us know what we should expect to find in a dragon's lair. But as I said before, Eustace had read only the wrong books. They had a lot to say about exports and imports and governments and drains, but they were weak on dragons. So Eustace didn't know how to deal with a dragon when he found himself in a dragon's lair. We read the Bible and we should learn from the stories of the Bible that tell us how to deal with a dragon, in this case, Satan. And what he throws at us, what he throws at the church collectively, what he throws at us individually, what life throws at us, what we even stumble into ourselves. We read the Bible and the stories of the Bible to learn how to deal with those, how to react, to have faith, to have confidence. And if we read the right stories and if we learn the right lessons and if we remember them with God's help, we can meet every dragon that we encounter and know how to react to it because we've read the right book. In this case, we've read the Bible. That's what's important. That's what is important for us. You know, when Israel had its back against the Red Sea in Exodus 14, God said something to them that was important. Let's look, turn to Exodus 14, verse 13.

Exodus 14, verse 13, Moses said to the people, Do not be afraid.

Stand still, see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today.

For the Egyptians, whom you see today, you will see again no more forever.

They had their back up against the sea on one side and Pharaoh's armies on the other.

That's where we get the expression between the devil and the deep blue sea.

Likely. But God had led them safely through that trial. He brought them out of Egypt and He had brought them to this point and that lesson, don't be afraid. Stand still, see God, see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish. Still is with us today. They had to learn that lesson of faith. It took them a long time. Most of them didn't learn it as we know the story of Israel, but many did. As we look at the path we've all trod in the church, a few of us are still treading that path. Many who have come and gone have gone off into other pursuits, other ideas, and are no longer a part of us. We know that. We've talked about it and we wonder about it and we grieve about it from time to time as well. But the church endures. The church always will endure because Christ said that He would be with it, the church, until the end of the age. And no matter what the numbers are. You know, brethren, one thing I will have personally and several of us, especially the leadership this time, we have determined we are not going to number the church of God. We're not going to calculate numbers. We're going to do what's right.

That doesn't mean we are not concerned with individuals. We are. And we don't treat any individual, minister, member in a cavalier, arrogant way. But we don't calculate and make a decision based on numbers. And might doesn't make right. Numbers don't always mean that they may be in the right. We will act on principle. We will act on our processes. We will act upon our God's word. And we're not going to number to see who's with us, how many are with us, and make that the sole criterion upon which a decision may be made. At any stage of the operation, David numbered Israel. David was a righteous king. But you know what happened in that story?

You don't number the church of God. And we are a work of faith. We put our life in God's hands.

We have to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. When Israel moved on into the wilderness phase of their experience, he told them to follow him in the cloud throughout their years in the wilderness. And he told them not to move unless and until that cloud moved. Let's look at that over in Exodus 40. In verse 37.

Cloud that covered the tabernacle of meeting, the glory of the Lord.

It says in verse 37, When the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would go onward in all their journeys. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey till the day it was taken up. This is what they had literally seeing them. Sometimes we've wished we had a cloud guiding us. We thought about that back in 93, 94, 95, didn't we? And you know, today I'm sure people are thinking they see a cloud moving. And I think that they are sincere in that. I'm not questioning anyone's sincerity.

God told them to follow Him in the cloud throughout their years. He eventually led them to the Promised Land as He promised that He would. That road, as we know, had twists and turns.

Many that they didn't expect. Those that followed Him trusted God and they obeyed His voice.

And you know that it took a generation to die off and another generation finally reached the Promised Land. But they moved when God moved. And that's the decision, I think, at times that we have to make individually and collectively, but we need to be very, very patient. We need to be very, very sure when we make those decisions. One of the things that has helped me to know that myself, I suppose, has been another story, another lesson from Scripture.

And that's over in 1 Kings 19, the story of Elijah. I remember thinking about this one a long time back in 1995. 1 Kings 19 was Elijah. He was troubled by the direction of Israel in his day.

He challenged the prophets of Baal. God used him in a very powerful way.

And a drought was called. Fire came down from heaven at the prayer of Elijah. At the end of that drought, pretty heady stuff that he had to deal with. And then, when Elijah himself even went through a personal crisis and wavered because of the attack from Jezebel upon him, and he fled, again, after God had worked a dramatic miracle through him, he got scared, feet of clay, and he fled off into the wilderness. And he had this experience when he was in the cave in 1 Kings 19. And verse 11, this is after he had begun to question God, feel sorry for himself, verse 11, he said, God said to him, Go out, stand on the mountain before the Lord, and behold, the Lord passed by. And a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord. That would be a powerful wind. But the Lord was not in the wind, and after the wind, an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. Now, all of these were very powerful, frightening experiences. If you've ever been in an earthquake, do you know just how frightening that can be? If you've ever watched a fire do its work, you know, if you ever had a fire almost get out of control in your house, or in your backyard burning leaves, or situation, and you, I have, and you have this momentary panic of fear that it's going to get out of your control. And fire is a very, very dangerous element.

Obviously, an earthquake is too, and certainly when a wind comes up, these are all fearful events. God was not in any of these large manifestations.

But verse 12 tells us, after the fire, a still small voice. And so it was, and when Elijah heard it, still small voice, that he wrapped his face in the mantle, he went out, and he stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him and said, what are you doing here, Elijah?

That still small voice. You know, in 95 when we came to a point, we heard a still small voice.

Events came to a point where we saw that we had to move, and we saw where God was moving us. And we moved into the United Church of God at that time, and formed that. I do believe, because I was at that founding meeting in Indianapolis, and the events that transpired from there as we started even, came up here and started this congregation, started the one in Indianapolis, I do believe that when we took that name, the United Church of God, and bound ourselves as brothers, together, certainly in the ministry, to do what we were intended to do, and all of us together as members and ministers, I believe that God honored that, and I believe God put His name on it.

And I think that God is still there. That's my still small voice. I have not seen any evidence of that and a need to move. I never saw it through any of the ups and downs that we've had in the 15 years of the United. There was a breakup in 1998. We had a division, some ministers and members divided off then. I've lived through fluctuations on the council, and the ups and downs that we've had as we've moved forward, and the ideals, the principles upon which we bound ourselves together at that time are still in my mind. They are still there to, as a set of guiding principles by which the people of God can do the work that has been put in front of us. That still small voice speaks to me there. I don't see any reason, and I've, you know, when I was in a minority, in terms of not even on the Council of Elders and having to deal with the variations of administration, if I can put it that way. I never dreamed in my mind that I needed to go off to another organization. I watched one of my brothers in the ministry dealt with to a point where he was terminated by the then administration and council. Only the council can terminate an employee.

And I have seen that, and I didn't feel like I had to go out and start a blog and contemplate, you know, an insurrection. I was privy to the elements and the discussions, and I knew what the issues were. But my training and thinking has never been to work against those principles and agreements by which we bound ourselves. So I've, you know, I've seen a lot of things happen over 15 years. We've had a lot happen within the United Church of God.

And, you know, I still hear that still small voice, and that's what I lean to.

Sometimes you have to pull, as Elijah did here, he pulled a cloak over himself to kind of shield himself from this. Verse 13, it says he wrapped his face in the mantle going out into the wind and the earthquake. And sometimes, you know, when things happen, you kind of just want to pull a blanket over you and tell the storm passes. Well, this time I've been in the middle of it, and I've had to live through it all and deal with it. I would have much rather have been in a different position, or certainly that it just didn't happen whatsoever, but such is what it is.

Elijah, he heard God here, and he followed God. He re-engaged and kept going.

You know, in the New Testament Church, Christ tells us that the road to the kingdom will be narrow, and few there be that find it. In Matthew 7, let's look at that. Matthew 7, verse 14. Let's read verse 13 and 14. It says, Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way, which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

The Church of God is always going to be small, various times smaller than you'd like to think and imagine it to be. When Christ here spoke of the broad way and the narrow way, his disciples would have immediately begun to think about the roads and the highways of Judea in their day. And there were basically two types of roads. There were the broad avenues, and there were the narrow country avenues. As the roads wound their way through what was Israel, that land, there were international highways, the interstate highways of their time, that flowed from Egypt up through Israel and then eastward all the way into Babylon and Persia.

And those roads were broad, they were big, but what they did is they went along the easier routes, along the coastal route, one of the main what was called the King's Highway, went up near the coast on a broad plain, and it was through the populated centers.

And when they were broad, they were easy to be traveled. The other roads wound through the Judean hills and the high lands, and they were narrower. They were in the rural areas.

And one of the things really that Jesus is saying here is that those who traveled the broadways would always go through the larger metro areas where the culture and the religions existed, and they would be influenced by those. They would be near the pagan influences and the temples, especially in the lands of Egypt and on outside of Israel. Those, especially in Israel, that were the narrow roads would have been in the rural areas where there was less influence from the world and from society. And so when he said, broad is the way that leads to destruction, those that traveled those broadways would have more temptation, more problems, and it would be an easier road to go. So he was really drawing a number of different threads into the idea here that helped them to understand just how hard it would be to travel the narrow road, but how more productive it would be because of the protection and the lack of influence from the culture and the world that would be weighing upon them. But it's nonetheless an avenue. It's a way of traveling along the road that we have to go. Jesus also told his disciples that his sheep would hear his voice in John chapter 10. John the 10th chapter.

Verse 11, he says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.

And then verse 27, he says, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand. I and my father are one. God's sheep hear his voice.

We have to make sure we hear the right voice, stay close to God. I think that as we look at the examples, Christ's voice is always going to be in the place where his will is being done.

It is certainly always going to be within his church. We have to be able to hear that voice and relate to that voice. His voice is going to be in the place where the principles and the way of life are being taught on a regular basis, where the gospel of the kingdom is being preached. In Matthew 28, verse 19, a mark of the people of God in the church, Matthew 28, verse 19, this commission that Jesus gave to his church, he said to them, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. And so the voice of the shepherd, the chief shepherd, is going to be where that way of life is being taught. And where in that body people are striving to learn and to live by the example and the principles of the teaching of the kingdom. When we focus on that, when we keep coming back to that, we will be hearing the voice of God and we will be learning. That voice is going to be in those locations. The church is going to be established and those there are going to also hear a still small voice that is going to allow for growth in knowledge and in the grace of Jesus Christ. In 2 Peter 3 verse 17, we're told to grow in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. That's where we will find ourselves. That's where we will hear that voice. And thirdly, we will hear that voice in the place where the gospel of the kingdom of God is being preached strongly to the whole world. That is the commission to the church. All I've ever wanted to do since being on the council of elders is to preach the gospel and to endeavor through my involvement there to advocate, be an advocate for the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom of God. If I'm evil for that, so be it. If I'm making a mistake by that, so be it. But that's been my... when I put my name forward three years ago to be on the council, that's what I told the rest of the ministry in my write-up that I wanted to be a part of helping the church advance in its mission of preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. And because I believe that that is where God's voice is and how he wants it that placed and accomplished. And I believe that that is a sign of the church of God. So that's been, you know, behind what I've been involved with. You know, that's it. I can't say anything more than that.

Each of us need to ask ourselves why we are where we are in the church. Did we follow any man?

Did we follow any group? Did we follow a family member? We're all influenced by one another.

Certainly to a good degree we should be, by good examples, by encouraging words. But, you know, each of us stand before God. Each of us are responsible to hear his voice and to follow that voice in doctrine, truth, in the gospel, and to follow it where we hear it and where we are placed. You know, I didn't follow any individual out of the worldwide church of God.

I think I followed Christ out of that organization when his voice was no longer there.

And I followed Christ into an organization of the church where that gospel was going to be preached and the principles and the way of life was going to be followed. When I saw that it was time to move to another place. That's where I found myself. That's where you found yourself.

There was a commitment to preach the gospel and to prepare a people. And we've been endeavoring to do that. I marvel at times, and even in this particular crisis, just as we have actually been able to walk through some doors of television and the internet to more strongly and effectively preach the gospel, that we hit ourselves or run into a brick wall with this situation that we've come to, to thwart it and to run it down.

I, you know, the philosophy of preaching the gospel and how it should be preached at times becomes a smokescreen for inaction or not getting it done. And I've listened to a lot of ideas that were essentially seeking to divert resources away from preaching the gospel and those things that would truly unite us. You see, when I was growing up in the church, for many, many years, there was a voice that I did hear that told me that helped me to understand why I was called now, why we all were called now rather than in the future, in the time of the great white throne judgment pictured by the last great day. Why are we called now in this age?

Why not later on? Valid question we've all asked. The man told me, principle that I've always lived by, we're called now in advance of that time to be a part of the work of preaching the gospel.

And to the degree that our hearts were involved in that work was the degree to which we were converted and growing spiritually as Christians. I had that put into me as a young man and had believed it then and believed it now. It was a voice that spoke to me. And I have said many times, while certainly being on the council to the men assembled, that if we truly desire to be together and unified, the example that we've had in our time in the church, the greatest times of unity that I can point to in the church of God in the last 60 plus years have been when we were united together in preaching the gospel. We've always had people that came and went and little groups would split off here and people had disagreements. Whether it was a certain arcane ideas about doctrine or personality issues or whatever the normal things that happen.

But the moments of accomplishment and the moments of unity that I can point to have been when we have been united in preaching the gospel. And that has flowed, that would flow through the organization to a degree where we were mission focused, we were outwardly focused, we were not consumed with the warts and wrinkles of our own selves. Those don't go away necessarily, but to the degree that we were focused on a mission, we were able to move forward together and those things have a way of working out as God's Spirit works within us to the larger calling. And that's the voice that I heard.

And that to me has been the path to unity out of the midst of our issues of the last 20 years in the church that led to so many different splinterings out of the worldwide church of God.

Because I saw over 20 years ago efforts to water down the mission and to thwart the efforts to preach the gospel long before we ever had to leave that organization. And so we've had our challenges in getting focused and directed on that in the United Church of God, even though from the very beginning our first principle was that we were going to provide for the preaching of the gospel. And we've had fits and starts in getting to that point. And now just as we get things together, and especially with a talented group of people, especially young people on the internet and in television production, to visualize and to present and package the truth, truths of God, the message of the kingdom, for a large world audience have come together.

I'm privileged beyond today to work with a group of young people who've grown up in the church, come through our programs of education in the United, capture the vision, and have the talent and the skills to visually present the truth on television and on the internet. We've had a group, we've had a team of young people working on the internet behind the scenes for many months now to, in a sense, relaunch our whole internet presence in the United Church of God to maximize what we're doing with television and with the web to more powerfully reach people with the truth.

And that is about to be launched. And then I see that we have to go through this again.

So the things that have been working behind the scenes to make this voice that much more powerful have been supplemented by all of these issues. That's why I've always said, look, what the man taught me, put your heart into the work. The rest will follow.

To the degree we have our hearts there is the degree to which we are growing spiritually.

And that's why we are called now. So I still hear that voice and that opportunity to be preached where we are. It's still very, very clear. God says to follow, Christ said to follow him. He said to feed my sheep. And so I still hear it right here in the United Church of God, where God placed us to rest and to be a part at this particular point in time.

And so, as all of us look at where we are, what's taking place, sort it all through.

Let's be patient. Let's learn from these examples. I went through number 16 the other day and read through the story of Korah. I'm not going to go through that here. I just refer to it here. And I'm not... there's lessons there. Let me tell you one big lesson that I learned in reading number 16 of the situation of Korah and those that rose up against Moses.

Moses fell down on his face when he was confronted with those who challenged him.

And I... you know, we should all fall down on our face in humility before God.

But we all stand before God. We're all going to be judged by God.

I can tell you that the Council and the Administration have fallen down on their face before God. I've been in some of these meetings of late in Mr. Luecker's office, Honor Council, and I will tell you this. We do ask God on our knees in prayer before even the smallest meeting takes place. It's not just a cursory stand-up prayer. We get on our knees and we ask God to guide our discussions and guide our decisions.

That man, Mr. Luecker, set us a remarkable example of looking to God and trusting Christ to guide his church. And he and his staff and we on the Council, we get on our knees.

We talk God. We talk to God and we look to God. So you can learn a lot about Cora, and I'm not wanting to bash anybody with the Cora story. I've been called Cora a number of years ago. So I've been there. I'm not really wanting to bash anybody with that.

I turn to number 16 and I read where Moses fell down on his face. Another story that I've looked at is that of Gamaliel in Acts chapter 5. Do you remember that story? Acts the fifth chapter, where the Jews were resisting the apostles, putting them in prison, putting them on trial.

Verse 33, they were just furious and they plotted to kill the disciples in their own little council, the Pharisees. In verse 34, one of them named Gamaliel, a Pharisee, stood up. He was a teacher of the law, held in respect by all the people, and he commanded them to put the apostles outside for a little while. He cleared the room and said to his fellow Pharisees, men of Israel take heed to yourselves what you intend to do regarding these men. For some time ago, Theudas stood up, rose up, claiming to be somebody. A number of men, about 400, joined him. He was slain, and all who obeyed him were scattered, came to nothing. After this man, Judas of Galilee, rose up in the days of the census, drew away many people after him.

He also perished, and all who obeyed him were dispersed. Now I say to you, keep away from these men. Let them alone. For if this plan or if this work is of men, it will come to nothing.

But if it's of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest you even be found to fight against God.

That's another story I think about. That's why I said earlier in my announcements, this is not a time to demonize. This is not a time to beat somebody over the head with a story about Korah. We're not done with each other. We're just not. And while we should rightly protect the integrity and the assets and the people God has given us in the United Church of God, if some decide that they have to depart and form another organization, then let's just look at this story and let's let God decide. That's what Moses said even back in Numbers 16.

Mr. Lucre was at the party and funeral last Sunday, and he stayed over with for an extra day, and he met with the leaders of the Living Church of God, Mr. Meredith, Mr. Ames, and Mr. Wannail, who the three kind of leaders of the Living Church of God. I have to understand, Mr. Lucre was, he worked for Rod Meredith many, many years ago. Forty years ago, he was the assistant to Rod Meredith over the Church Administration in Pasadena days. And Mr. Lucre was there to, out of respect for Mr. Apartheid because they were all very, very close friends. He even spoke for a few minutes at the funeral, which was a kind of a breakthrough in itself, that Hancock's can tell you. He read the eulogy that the council had sent to the Apartian family, and then he gave a few comments based on his experiences with Mr. Apartheid. But then he stayed over for a day to just confer and to tour their office and to meet with them. And don't start any rumor. We're not merging. There's not any talks of merging at this point, and that wasn't the discussion. But he was relating to us the discussion part of it at least. He had two hours with him in lunch, and it was a cordial relationship of colleagues. And they're where they are. We are where we are.

They had to go through their reorganization about 13 years ago, from global to living.

And now we're going through our own throes right now. And, you know, I won't say I don't know what all was discussed. I won't even try to relate what Mr. Luecker said to us. But it was a very cordial, friendly discussion. And, you know, I think it will probably lead to further consultation since those two gentlemen know each other and whatever may be there. Three years ago, two of those men, Mr. Ames and Mr. Boonayl, had visited us in our office in Cincinnati. So there's already been visitations back and forth. And there needs to be more consultation. And to the degree that can take place, that will be good. And we'll let God do His work in whatever way. And that's why I say we're not done with one another. So let's move through the time and let God do His work and His will with us, with our brothers who feel they have to separate from us and form another organization. And let's move on with the work that God has given us. And let's let God work with all of us in His good time and good way for the future. Let's listen to His voice. Let's be protective of one another. Let's let God protect us with His guiding hand and lead us into the kingdom that He's promised to all of us. Let's stand still and see the salvation of the God.

See the salvation of God. And, you know, as we're kind of standing in the dark at this time of year, literally in the darkest time of year, and at a dark time spiritually, let's remember the words of that poem. And let's put our hands in God's hand and let Him lead us forward by His voice and by His protective care. And let's stand still and see God's salvation at this particular time. If we do that in patience and in godly love, then all things will be clear for us personally and for the Church of God, which we'll endure in God's good time. Let's stand still and let's see the salvation of God.