The Biblical Response to Evil

Good morning, Cross Church Phoenix. I'm Pastor DJ. I'm the campus pastor here. So, I haven't had a chance to meet you yet. Welcome and come find me afterwards. I see some new faces. It's always wonderful uh to have. And if I have met you before, hello again and good morning. I want to start off by thanking everyone for coming out yesterday to the uh church workday. did a wonderful job um getting some things done around the church, not just cleaning it, but even fixing some things. And for that, I am grateful. I want to start off this morning with an announcement I reserve for this time. Um and that has to do with what we're going to be doing today and tonight. Uh as you know, or maybe you don't, we're going through a series through the book of 2 Corinthians called Ready for Harvest. I was covering the back half of 2 Corinthians and we were supposed to be preaching 2 Corinthians 9 this morning. Um but due to some of the events happening this week, us Phoenix campus and all of our campuses are um going to be addressing the biblical response to evil. So if you have one of the worship, one of the handouts, you may or may not already have one. If you want one, it's just a blank sheet of notes because we're not going to have an outline today. just kind of covering this topic of the biblical response to evil. And then the following week, next Sunday morning, we'll be in 2 Corinthians chapter 10. Part of uh sermon prep and message mapping is you work ahead. And so we have everything mapped out through Easter and into summer and um it it would move a lot of things. So we're going to be covering 2 Corinthians 10 next Sunday. You say, "Well, what's going to happen with chapter 9? Are we not going to just cover it at all? No. So, here's what we're going to do. We are going to have Sunday night service here tonight at 6:00 p.m. All are invited. And I am not one for a bait and switch. I cannot stand that. And I'm going to tell you what you're going to get. If you come tonight, 6 pm in here, we're going to sing some songs and I'm going to preach teach through 2 Corinthians 9. That's what we're going to do. It's going to be, I think, a blessed time, a wonderful time, more time in God's word. Uh, so we'll be here, doors will be open about 5:30. You can come and we will have Sunday night service 6:00 p.m. in here and you are invited to that. For those of you with children, as you know, we have child care for birth through 6th grade on Sunday mornings for Sunday night. And I know it's short notice, so mark mark it up, take a note. If you want to come back, you're w come on back. But we are going to be offering child care for ages five and under. Ages five and under. And if you have a six-year-old, bring them on in. Have them worship with us uh together. But we're not going to have all through sixth grade. We'll just have ages five and under. We will have child care for that. Now, normally the first thing I would tell you is to open your Bibles to our text. And I must confess that I didn't know where to tell you to open to because there's so many passages that deal with this issue of the response to evil. If you think about it, all of scripture from Genesis 3, really from the fall through the new creation, the new heavens and the new earth, it's the whole story of God's response to evil and sin in the world. It's the whole story of redemption. So, where do we begin? Well, I do want to ask you to open your Bibles to Psalm 37. And if you don't have a Bible, there's one in the seat back in front of you. You can use that and make it your Bible. We have replacements. You can have that. Take it home. We just ask you bring it back either next week or tonight. Um, but we are going to read scripture together. We're not going to be camped in Psalm 37 this whole time, but I am going to do something a little different as well. I am going to ask that we stand as we read God's word together if you can. If you're not able to, that is totally fine. Your your hearts stand with us. Uh but I'm going to read Psalm 37:es 1-13. And we're just going to stand in honor of God's word as we do so. So Psalm 37 begins this way. It says, 'Do not be agitated by evildoers. Do not envy those who do wrong, for they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender green plants. Trust in the Lord and do what is good. Dwell in the land and live securely. Take delight in the Lord and he will give you your heart's desires. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in him and he will act. Making your righteousness shine like the dawn, your justice like the noon day. Be silent before the Lord and wait expectantly for him. Do not be agitated by the one who prospers in his way, by the person who carries out evil plans. Refrain from anger and give up your rage. Do not be agitated. It can only bring harm. For evildoers will be destroyed. But those who put their hope in the Lord will inherit the land. A little while and the wicked person will be no more. Though you look for him, he will not be there. But the humble will inherit the land and will enjoy abundant prosperity. The wicked person schemes against the righteous and nashes his teeth at him. And this is my one of my favorite parts. The Lord laughs at him because he sees that his day is coming. You can be seated. Well, by now I'm sure you've heard all of the evil going on in the news and in the media this week. Charlie Kirk, an outspoken conservative political activist and an outspoken Christian, was publicly murdered on Wednesday. He led an organization called Turning Point USA, which was headquartered here in Arizona. And he would go around to different college campuses. He really had a niche with the young people, with college age kids. And he would go around and have open dialogue about the issues of life. Everything. It wasn't all politics. It was many different things. And he would just invite people to talk. It was dialogue and open. As a free speech advocate, he just enjoyed those things. But as I said, it wasn't always political. He would preach and share the gospel of Jesus Christ wherever he went. He stood for biblical values and he would preach and share the gospel everywhere at college campuses across America. Well, not only was Charlie Kirk's life mercilessly taken, but we got the news of the murder of Arena Zerutska minding her own business on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was a Ukrainian refugee fleeing the war with Russia, seeking refuge in America. I don't know if you see it, but I see some irony there. She flees war. What do you flee war for? To survive and to go somewhere safer. So, you flee war, come to America, and die in a supposedly safer place of refuge in a senseless stabbing on a train, minding your own business. And during Charlie Kirk's incident, which garnered most of the media attention and understandably so, there was another school shooting in Colorado on the same day. It went a little less noticed, but it happened. And all that comes on the heels of someone blindingly shooting into a Catholic school in Minnesota last week, killing innocent children sitting in church. We are surrounded by evil. And that's just public evil. The evil we know from the news because it's a big enough name or a story to make the headlines. Plenty of other evil goes unnoticed because the news either doesn't catch wind of it, the names aren't big enough for it, or they just don't care. For example, we also live in a world in a in a country that murders thousands of babies every day. You say, "Well, is that some inflated Christian number?" No, it's not. Secular pro-abortion researchers report that the US had over 1 million abortions in 2023. It's not a Christian organization. You can look this up yourself. Over 1 million. So, let's do the math. If the number were exactly a million, which we know it's over, but let's use an even number. 1 million divided by 365 is 2,739 aborted babies per day. Or to drive the point home a little more clearly, 114 per hour, the length of this service. We are surrounded by evil, violence, and death. And the only thing worse than evil is the celebration of it. We've seen that in the media as well, people celebrating the death of Charlie Kirk, for example. But that doesn't come as a surprise to scripture either. Paul tells us in Romans how that happens. You want to know how that happens? Happens when people reject God in truth. Paul says about people who rejected God in truth this Romans 1:29. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, hotty, boastful, inventors of evil. If you invent new ways to commit evil, he goes on to say, "Disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless." Sound familiar? Though they know God's righteous decree, verse 32 of Romans 1, that those who practice such things deserve to die, get this, they not only do them, they not only do them, but they give approval to those who practice them. So what is Paul saying? How on earth can people give approval to those who practice murder? I'll tell you how. Rejection of God and biblical values. That's how it's plain and simple. We live in a world that celebrates evil and death. And so, how do we respond? Right? That's the point of this. What is the biblical response? Well, I'm going to give us three. But before we do, let's pray. Father, we thank you for this morning. Thank you for your word and that it addresses all of this. And Lord, we're not alone in 2025. Lord, your people have struggled with this um for thousands of years. People who love you, wondering why these things happen, but you know, and you are good. You are sovereign and in control. God, help us to be submitted to you and your word and your Holy Spirit's guiding in Jesus name. Amen. Well, if you're taking notes, our first response to evil is this. We trust in God's sovereignty. We trust in God's sovereignty. If your response to all this evil is why why does God allow these things to happen? Why allow so much evil? Well, you'd be in good company. That question permeates scripture. God's people wondering why evil abounds is all over the Bible. And I'll just give you a sample. Psalm 10 is King David crying out to God asking him to do something in the face of evil and wickedness. Jeremiah asked the same question in Jeremiah 12:1. He says, "Righteous are you, oh Lord, when I complain to you, yet I would plead my case to you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive? This is perplexing for the prophet Habach. The prophet Habach cried out to God asking very pointed questions. In Habach 1:2, he says this, "Oh Lord, how long shall I cry for help and you will not hear or cry to you violence and you will not save? Why?" This is the prophet pouring out his heart to God. He says, verse three, "Why do you make me see iniquity? And why do you idally look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me. Strife and contention rise. So the law is paralyzed. He's saying the law can't do anything about this. Is paralyzed. This is how bad it is. Justice and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous, so justice goes forth perverted. That's the prophet Habach. And in each of those passages, if you were to read Psalm 10 or Jeremiah or Habach, the the solution ultimately is to trust God to take care of business in his time. And as we look into the New Testament, trusting God's sovereignty with evil is is the is the same response. Taking vengeance for yourself, trying to solve the problem of evil yourself is not the answer. In Romans 12 19 to 21, Paul says, "Beloved, never avenge yourselves." It's pretty holistic. Never, but leave it to the wrath of God. For it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For by doing so, you will heap burning coals on his head. And then he says this, verse 21, "Do not become overcome by evil. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." We don't overcome evil with more evil and take matters into our own hands. We leave it up to the Lord because the bottom line is we all sin and have been evil in the sight of God. When did Christ die on the cross for you? when you when you were his friend. Did he die on the cross for DJ when DJ was his friend? No. It says while we were his enemies, Christ died for us. He loved us when we were his enemies. We don't overcome evil with more evil. We overcome evil with good and we trust God that he will repay. So we first must trust God's sovereignty. Our second response to evil is number two, we stand firm with the armor of God. We stand firm with the armor of God. Jesus reminds us that Satan is the father of all lies. He is the thief who comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. We must know something. We must know that our battle is not against flesh and blood. If you're battling people, you're fighting the wrong battle biblically. That's not my opinion. God is saying, "You're fighting the wrong battle if you're fighting against people." Our battle is not against people. People are not the enemy. The enemy is the enemy. Ephesians 6:12, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but this is what we do wrestle against, against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. That's the battle." Well, then how are we supposed to fight that? Glad you asked. He tells us in Ephesians 6:13, "Therefore, because our battle is against spiritual evil, therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may may be able to withstand in the evil day." And having done all to stand firm. What I love is he repeats the word stand three times. Withstand in the evil day. Having done all to stand firm. Verse 14. Stand therefore. Stand, stand, stand, stand, therefore, verse 14, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times, times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication to that end keep alert with all perseverance making supplication for all the saints. What is Paul trying to say? Truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, the word of God, the power of the spirit, prayer, all these things are how we fight back. Spiritual warfare is real. This isn't a game. This isn't some fantasy. This is real life. This is what you're what we're seeing. You say, "How on earth is this going on?" It's this is the impact of spiritual wickedness in the world. That's what you're seeing. And we shouldn't be surprised because Jesus warned us about it. If we stand for Christ, we will be hated. It's not a might be, it's a will be. You will experience, we will experience evil opposition. Jesus said, "The world hated me first." Not, "They didn't like me. I wasn't their cup of tea. I They weren't real big fans." No, they hated me. Strong language. They hated me first. Don't be surprised when it hates you. A servant is not above his master. And the master Jesus Christ suffered hatred from the world. And you as his servant, I as his servant. Do we expect anything different? You say, "Oh Lord, you went through all that, but like me, I serve you, but like I ain't going to go through." A serpent's not above his master. He's leading the way. And so we can expect spiritual opposition, evil opposition. We can't be surprised when the world hates biblical truth, hates us, hates Christians. In the New Testament, we see multiple acts of evil committed against those who love God and stood for truth and righteousness. John the Baptist was beheaded. Why? Why was John the Baptist beheaded? Because he stood for righteousness. What he had done was he rebuked King Herod for divorcing his wife and marrying his brother's wife, Herodiius. And it cost him his life. Why? Because Herodiius hated John the Baptist because he rebuked King Herod for marrying her. And she can't stand him. And one day, King Herod's birthday came along. So he threw himself a little birthday party and Herodiius daughter is doing a dance likely contextually likely a sensual dance and there's probably drinking. So Herod is likely drunk and watching a young woman dance. He likes it. He's attracted to it. And he says, "Come here. Anything you want up to half the kingdom, I'll give it to you. You name it, I'll give it to you cuz he's drunk and and liking this woman. And you know what she says? Give me John the Baptist head on a platter. And the king does it. Goes down into the prison cell and they take his life. For what reason? Because a drunk king enjoyed a sensual dance from a woman and made a commitment that he had to follow through on. Is this a useless, senseless death? Because he stood for righteousness and he stood for truth. He was hated and killed. Why did they stone Steven in Acts chapter 7? They stoned Steven in Acts chapter 7 because he preached the truth and people didn't like it. That's why. But do you remember what his response was? They're stoning him and he's not going to survive this. He's dying and he has a vision of Christ. He sees Christ standing. Fascinating. He's standing there and you know what Steven says about the people throwing stones at him. He echoes Jesus words on the cross. He says, "Lord, Lord, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. They're killing a man of God who's giving them the truth that they need. They don't have a clue what they're doing. God forgive them. He's praying for people killing him because that's what his savior did. And that ought to be what we do. Pray for our enemies. Pray for those who persecute us. Paul himself went from being a persecutor to being the persecuted. Why? because he went from hating truth to loving and proclaiming the truth. He went from hating Christians because he didn't think that Christianity was right. You remember he's a he's a Pharisee of Pharisees. Like he can't stand Christians at the moment when before he gets saved. He thinks Christianity's got it all wrong. They don't have the truth. So he persecutes them. He hates Christians cuz he doesn't think it's true. He went from that to being a hated Christian because he came to know the truth and then proceeded to preach it. What's the common denominator in all this? Proclaiming truth and standing for righteousness that results in evil opposition. Will we stand firm with the armor of God? So, we trust God's sovereignty. Number one. Number two, we stand firm with the armor of God. And third, we glorify God by making Jesus known. We glorify God by making Jesus known. When Jesus was confronted with tragedy, death, and evil, his responses were gospeloriented. For example, Luke 13, Jesus is doing ministry and some people come to him. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, did you hear what Pilate did to the Galileans in the temple? And here's what happened. Galileans had come to Jerusalem. This is likely during Passover to worship in the temple. And they're offering sacrifices in the temple. And some of Pilate's men, some of his soldiers come in and slaughter a bunch of them. They kill worshippers in the temple. And we don't have a reason why in scripture. We don't know why, but Pilate and his men come in and they kill worshippers in the temple who are Galilean from Galilee, from the north. And you know what Jesus said? Jesus doesn't go into a long theological um response to the problem of evil. He doesn't give them a systematic theology on why this occurred. You know what he said? Cuz this was big time. This is plastered. This would be in the Jerusalem Republic if they had a newspaper. If they had social media, this event would be plastered all over. This is the news, the talk of the town. Pilate randomly killed Galileans in the temple. And it literally says Pilate mixed the blood of Galileans with the sacrifices. Cuz as they would make many, many sacrifices in the temple, animal blood would flow. This is very vivid picture. But what it says, if you go in and you kill a bunch of Galilean people worshiping, their blood will mix. And so they're there and what it's saying is that as as animal sacrifice, blood flows, they go into the temple, massacre these guys, their blood is flowing with the blood of the sacrifices. It's what it's saying. You know what Jesus says? He says, ' Do you think that those Galileans were any worse sinners than you guys who are telling me this than you who are reporting this? Do you think that because well, they're really bad sinners that um God decided that they would die that way. Um but you guys are like still sinners, but like you're better sinners. So like you guys weren't there at the temple when it happened. So good for you. No. Jesus says, "Do you think they were any worse sinners than you?" Then he says this, "Unless you repent, you too will likewise perish." What is Jesus doing? He's giving him the gospel. He's telling him to repent. Today is the day of salvation. Jesus even goes on to give a second example, one that's not really an act of evil, a tragedy. A tower in Saleom falls and kills 18 people. And Jesus says, 'What about that? You guys came and brought the report about what Pilate did to the Galileans. Um, or what do you think about that tower who that fell and killed 18 people? Do you think that they were any worse sinners than you that they suffered such a fate? And he says the same thing, unless you repent, you will likewise perish. Very sobering. But he gave him the gospel. That's what he did. Or we could go to John chapter 11 with Lazarus. Now, this wasn't the story of Lazarus isn't an act of evil. He is dying of a sickness. He's sick in John 11. And Jesus knows about it. Mary and Martha whom he loves sent word to Jesus saying, "Lazarus, whom you love, is sick. Jesus knows." And he doesn't go. He delays and then he waits until Lazarus dies and he tells the disciples, "Lazarus is sleeping. I'm going to go wake him up." And I love this because I think there's a lot of comedy in it. But the disciples don't get it, right? And so Luke gives us a little clue. He's like, "Well, because the disciples response, they say, well, if he's just sleeping, he'll he'll wake up, right? Like he'll be fine." And Jesus is like, "Okay, guys, let me but let me put it to you plainly. Lazarus is dead." Okay, now let's go to Bethany. And so he goes to Bethany. And on the way, Martha's the first one out to meet him. He doesn't even get to their house. He gets Martha comes out, meets him, and you know what she says? She says, "Lord, if you had been there, my brother would not be dead." And if you read the rest of the chapter, Mary does the same thing when she sees Jesus. Lord, it's a good place to start. Lord, what does that mean? He is sovereign. Lord means authority control. Lord, I acknowledge that you're Lord. But if you had been here, this wouldn't have happened. You could have prevented the death of my brother, Lord, and you did it. What does Jesus say? He says, "Your brother will rise." And then she of course says, "I know, Lord. I know. I know he'll rise at the last day. There'll be a resurrection of everyone." So she's got good esquetology, which is good end times theology. She knows what's coming in the future. Yes, there will be a resurrection of everyone in the last day. And then Jesus looks at her and says, "I am the resurrection and the life. and those who believe in me will never die. And then he and then he asked her this question. Do you believe this? What is he saying? The resurrection is not dependent on a time frame. The last days are not like the the power behind the resurrection. It's not like the resurrection at the last day is unlocked. the power is unlocked by the last day. Like the resurrection's on some countdown and when the last second hits, the power of the resurrection releases and everyone's raised. That's not what he's saying. He's saying, "I am the resurrection and the life." The resurrection is not about a time. It's about a person, me, Jesus Christ. I'm standing in front of you. I am the resurrection and the life. What does that mean? I ain't got to wait till the last day to raise Lazarus. I can raise Lazarus right here, right now if I want to. That's what he's saying. And he does. But if you read the whole chapter, you say, "Why all the heartache? Why does he delay? Why does he wait? He waits until Lazarus has been dead for 4 days to do anything. Why?" Because no one's going to say, "Lazarus is just swooning. Lazarus just passed out. He'll wake up." No. Four days. And I'm not going to get I'm not going to really get into what a dead body looks like 4 days later. Okay? Been there. But you don't want to know. But I'm going to tell you right now, he's de he's he's dead dead. And Jesus comes and he resurrects him. He raises Lazarus from the dead. And you know the whole point of the story. The whole point in spite of all the heartache, pain, sorrow over death. The whole point Jesus gives it to you in the text. He says that I that the son of God may be glorified. And many would believe it was gospeloriented. Why all this pain and death? Why allow Mary and Martha to go through the pain and the sorrow of losing their brother to glorify God and that many would believe and many do believe when he's raised gospel oriented. And what I love about John 11 is it does give us a glimpse into Jesus's own emotion. He experiences it as well. It doesn't leave that out. Before Jesus raises Lazarus, Lazarus, there's a ton of weeping. There's crying. People are all sorrowful and everyone's just wailing and weeping. And Jesus weeps as well. He feels the pain and sorrow of sin and death. He feels the weight of evil. You think you don't like evil? You think you don't like death? He hates it. and doesn't like it all the more because he's holy God. He's perfect and righteous. You think you don't like evil? He hates it all the more. And he feels it as well. He feels our pain. Hebrews 2, he feel he went through what we went through. So we have a merciful high priest who's been where we are. So when we face death, tragedy, and evil, our response is to say the world needs the gospel all the more. Luke 13, Jesus says, "Repent, guys." John 11, this is for God's glory and that many would believe. Do we believe that no matter what happens, who dies, or what evil we see next, we could go home, turn the TV on, and see another tragedy? Do we believe that if people believe in Christ, they'll never die? because that should be motivating. That should drive us. This is about urgency. Our response to evil in this world is to make Jesus known to the glory of God now in this sinick world because we believe we are convinced that he is the resurrection and the life. He's the only hope for the world. And if we believe that, if we are convinced of that, we should go do something about it. We should be going and telling people about Christ cuz that's their only hope. So our response to evil is trusting God's sovereignty. He's in control. We're not. We stand firm with the full armor of God. Meaning we don't compromise truth even when the world hates it. When we get fiery darts, arrows thrown at us, we stand firm and then we glorify God by making Jesus known. It's our response. We shine light brightly into this dark place. Paul warned Timothy that this is what it would be like in the last days. Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:1, he says, 'But understand this, young Timothy, who's the pastor of a church at Ephesus. Well, there's all kinds of problems there. He says, "But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Sound familiar? And that's a different list than in Romans. Paul repeats some of those to drive the point home. We live in a we're living in these last days. Then he tells Timothy a little further down in verse 12, "Indeed, Timothy, indeed, all who desire, all, not just you, Timothy, all. All means all. You and I, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. While he continues in verse 13, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. What is he saying? Evil's going to go from bad to worse. This was 2,000 years ago. It's going to get worse. Evil will. Paul said in Romans, they'll become inventors of evil. And we know that evil will go from bad to worse. But as for you, verse 14, but as for you, Timothy, as for us, Cross Church Phoenix, as for us, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you've learned it. What's he saying? Hold tightly to what you believe. Hold tightly to the word of God and what you've been taught in the scriptures. Hold on to it. Evil will go from bad to worse. We can expect it. It shouldn't be a surprise. Paul warns us of it. Jesus warns us of it. What do we do? We remain steadfast. We trust God. Stand firm and make Jesus known. That's what we do. I want to take some time to pray for a few minutes. And the direction I'm going to give is simply this. Um, we're going to spend a couple minutes praying. um right where you are. You could pray with your family if you're sitting with family or if you're by yourself, you pray to yourself. And I also want to say that if you want to come to the altar and pray, you can. You can kneel, sit, stand. You can pray however God leads you. But I would like us to pray and I'll give you some direction here. But ultimately, we are going we are coming before the throne of grace to intercede on behalf of our nation, our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world and our ministry here of making Jesus known in North Phoenix. So, take a few minutes. I will uh close us out when when the time comes and invite the worship team up. But for right now, pray however God leads you. Let's do that now. [Music] If you're still praying, don't let me stop you. You can still continue to pray on your own. Um, I'm going to close us in a word of prayer and invite the worship team back up. But Father, we turn this all over to you. We don't understand it all. We might have questions, but we know that we're in good company when we ask questions. Questions about evil, questions about treachery and wickedness and those things. We don't have all the answers, but we know that you do. I pray God that our response would be godly and biblical. That we would trust you and your sovereignty even when it doesn't make sense to us. That we would trust you. That we would stand firm. Stand firm with the armor of God that you give us. Stand firm in truth and righteousness with the spirit, with the sword of the spirit, with the scriptures, with the gospel, with faith, and with prayer. That's how we take our stand as believers. and God that we would glorify you in making Jesus known because we live in a dark place. But we know we know that the light is not outdone by the darkness. The darkness has not it says overcome the light. And it won't. It won't. We already know that you win. We've read the end of the story. You win. But God, I pray that we be faithful. God, help us in Jesus name. Amen. Let's uh stand as we sing our last song.