“Is it me, Lord?” - June 27, 2021 Pastor Jacqueline Hines

 

“Is it me, Lord?” - June 27, 2021

Pastor Jacqueline Hines 

The gospel of Mark was often put on the back burner for early readers. Not only is it shorter than the other gospels. Mark does not include the story of Jesus’ birth, or the Sermon on the Mount, or parables like the Good Samaritan or the Prodigal Son. According to Acts 12.12 Mark’s mother’s name was Mary. Mary was a common name, just as many today share the same common name. Mary held prayer meetings in her home. Some traditions suggest that it was Mary’s home where the Last Supper was shared. I have to remind myself that Mary was the mother of Mark, but Mark is not named among Jesus’ 12 disciples. The names of the 12 are Peter, James, John, Andrew, Bartholomew (or Nathanael), James, Judas, Matthew, Philip, Simon, and Thomas.

Mark’s gospel really wants us to see that Jesus is a healer in chapter 5. There are about 40 miracle stories in the gospels and about 30 of them are about someone being healed. Just as in the bible, healing happens in a wide range of ways and areas of our lives. We ought not to think of it as simply in our body, for healing happens in our relationships, in our animals, in our community relations. Forgiveness heals. Healthy habits heal. Repentance and righteousness heal, but most of all love heals.

In chapter 5 alone there is more than one word for healing. There is  Sozo (sode'-zo) transliterated to mean to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction, injury or peril, to save a suffering one from perishing, to save from disease, to make well, heal, restore to health, to preserve one who is in danger of destruction, to save or rescue. Iaomai  (ee-ah'-om-ahee) means to cure, heal, make whole, free from errors and sins, to bring about one’s salvation. Hugies (hoog-ee-ace') is transliterated to mean sound in body, restored to health, made whole, not deviating from the truth.

Disease and distress can be complicated and even mysterious. There are some things even doctors cannot explain about what goes on in our bodies and minds. That is a good reason to trust God with our whole being. God can work around the unknown, the places where there is no light. God can maneuver around our weaknesses and broken pieces and fulfill a wonderful purpose in our lives. God can!

In Mark’s story, Jesus hears a father’s plea for the healing of his dying daughter. Then he feels the tug on his tassels from a woman who has suffered, bleeding for twelve years, going from one practitioner to another and no cure was in sight. Then, when Jairus, a spiritual leader in the synagogue was told his daughter had died, Jesus said she was just sleeping.

These two stories both focus on a female who was either dead or dying. Mark’s focus on the feminine is a message in itself. His message could be viewed as somewhat political, inflammatory, and indicative of the ongoing struggle societies have to do justice and to love mercy. Societies struggle for balance when boys are preferred over girls and women are to be barely seen and rarely heard. In Mark’s day, that’s how the power was played. That’s what the economy showed. No matter what or where a society is, somebody is always at the top and somebody is always at the bottom. Power can be reversed from moment to moment and situation to situation. The struggle for balance is found in every family, every neighborhood, in every government.

We struggle in order to avoid staying at the bottom of the heap and to make it to the top. No one wants to be at the bottom when the bottom is bad. No one in their right mind chooses to live under the Ben Franklin Bridge like a father and school aged daughter I met years ago when they took shelter in the basements of several of our churches. No one wants to leave their country risking rape and robbery after their brothers were kidnapped in the middle of the night and left for dead like the Guatemalan mother who lived in my home for a while.

No one wants to spend weeks and months working to overthrow their government only to see their plans fail and innocent people jailed and killed. Just ask Dietrich Bonhoeffer the German Lutheran pastor who was hung in 1945 for attempting to assassinate Hitler. Just ask the million Chinese gathered in Tiananmen Square China in 1989. In the 90’s I was in class with a young Chinese woman who was telling her experience in China during the Tiananmen Square student protest for freedom of the press and freedom of speech.  I was trying to be sympathetic when I referred to her situation as a disturbance. The professor gently rebuked me helping me to see that by using the word “disturbance” I was minimizing the situation that was known to many as a tragedy and a massacre. Word’s matter. It is good to hear each other’s stories. It is good to grow more sensitive to each other’s joys and concerns. It is God’s way of helping us to bear one another’s burdens. For, a burden shared is half a burden. Hearing each other’s stories is a way for healing to happen.

The woman in the crowd was burdened with a medical condition. Home remedies did not handle it. Doctors did not fix it. She heard that those who went to Jesus were being healed and helped. So she decided to find Jesus and see what he could do for her. Have you ever brought your physical ailments to Jesus? Have you ever asked God to heal you or change something in your life? What did Jesus do for you? What did Jesus say to you? Were you completely or partially healed? Were you challenged to forgive someone or to give something to someone? Were you given a cross to bear and tears to weep that would give you deeper joy and understanding of God, but you still would not want that cross again. Whether or not we even ask, we are blessed, but if you ask, if you have a little talk with Jesus, he will answer.

This woman touched the hem of his garment. She touched his clothes. And Jesus said, “Who touched me?” I have been to worship services where, as the preacher is preaching and the spirit is moving in an extraordinary way, another preacher will get up and touch the preacher’s robe on the shoulder or sleeve ever so lightly. This is understood to be a way of connecting to God. It is a way of affirming that God is present in a special way and that high and holy blessings are right there, not to be missed. It is a way of touching God to get something glorious. Holiness is all around us. God’s blessings for us are within our reach and if we get close enough and touch them, healing and help happens no matter how hopeless and helpless our situation.

This woman was not the only one trying to touch Jesus’ clothes. Matthew 14 tell us that when the men of Gennesaret recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him ³⁶ and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

Old Testament laws have instructions and templates for the design of the sanctuary which we can see in many sanctuaries today, including Bethel’s, but there is also a pattern given in the scriptures for the design of religious clothes. There are instructions for what fabrics and colors to use. There are directions for Jewish men to wear tassels with blue cords on the corners of their robes. This was done, and is still done, to identify them as those who followed the ten commandments, those who were chosen to bless those in need, support the lonely, and help the poor. Today, men and women of God may wear special robes, collars, and crosses as a way of saying, “I serve the living God. I am a child of God. I want to help and heal wherever God leads me and however God enables me.” Clothes identify who we are. Modern healers in America are often identified wearing white coats and scrubs.

It is commonplace to see symbols of prestige on the corners of shirt pockets that identify certain values. At times a designer’s brand name may be on the corners of our sleeves, on the back of the collar, or the brim of a hat. Clothes can send a message. There is a difference between summer clothes and winter clothes and often between men’s clothes and women’s clothes, between Sunday go-to-meeting clothes and Saturday afternoon picnic clothes. If you have three stripes on your sleeves, we know you have earned a doctorate degree. If your graduation ceremony hood is pink around the edges, it identifies you as a musician. In Jesus’ day, it was often the bottom of their skirts, their robes, their hems, their fringes that told their story. Sometimes they called it their wings. God’s love is expressed in Ezekiel (16.8) with a description of God putting the corner of God’s skirts around God’s people or spreading protective, affectionate wings over them. Ruth (Ruth 3.9) asked Boaz to cover her with his “wings” which is the same Hebrew word (Kanaph) for the corners of his robe. In some families if you take someone under your wing, they are under your guiding, protective arms. You are covering them, showing extraordinary concern and care for them. You are holding them close to your heart. With all that love, healing and help is bound to happen on one level or another.

She saw the hem of his garment and it gave her hope. She expected to find shelter under his wings.  She touched the hem of his garment waiting for him to respond and reciprocate, to indicate that he lived up to the symbols that he displayed. She identified with his power and his grace, she acknowledged that Jesus could help her, she saw no symbol in him or on him that repulsed her or made her want to run away. When she touched him, Jesus asked a question. The disciples thought it was a silly question. “Who touched my clothes?” Another version says “Who touched me?”

There is good touch and bad touch. There is gentle touch and rough touch. There is healing touch and there is touch that hurts. There is the “I am here to help you” touch and there is the “Please, for God’s sake, help me” touch. Like Jesus, we know what touch is what. We just need to know who it is. As Christian, we want to be as close as we can to Jesus. We want to be under his warm and protective wings, abiding in his grace and mercy.

For most of us there are at least a dozen places in our minds, our bodies and our circumstances where we need more of Jesus’ help and healing. When Jesus asks the question, “Who touched me?” You may want to cry out “It’s me, it’s me, it’s me oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer. I need a blessing, I need a break, I need help, I need hope, I need wisdom, I need courage, I need strength, I need peace, I need healing. It’s me Lord, I want to be healed in any way you can heal me. “Is it me, Lord? Is it me that you can sense is touching you today?

 

“Go Dad, Fight to Win!” - Pastor Jacqueline Hines June 20, 2021

 

“Go Dad, Fight to Win!”  - Pastor Jacqueline Hines

June 20, 2021

Have you ever been in an argument? Have you ever had a fight? My memories of arguments and fights evoke in me plenty of shame and embarrassment and anger and only a little bit of satisfaction. In grade school, when we knew Ms. Steiner was, what some called “cross,” we would keep our eyes down low enough to the floor to see her thick black shoes coming our way as she walked down each row of her students in Math class. We dared not speak a word. It could just make her angrier. When it was my turn to bring my math answers up to her desk to be checked, she slammed the paper down, scowled, banged the desk and declared that my answer was incorrect. I went back to my seat, looked busy for a few moments waiting for her to calm down, went back up to her desk with the same answer and received her approval. Some things are not worth fighting over.

In 1992 the movie White Men Can’t Jump came out. It argued against the idea that we can know what a person can or cannot do based on the color of his or her skin. Again, in grade school, I harbored the notion that white girls couldn’t beat me up because black girls like me had supernatural strength. Rhonda proved me oh so wrong. As we wrestled arm to arm, I thought to myself, “She’s not going down. She’s supposed to be
going down.” Then she did something I had never learned to do. She picked up some dirt and threw it in my face. The fight was over, leaving a very large dent in my pride as well as in my understanding of race. David defeated the giant Goliath. His faith in God gave him the strength he needed to fight and win! 

On this Father’s Day, we honor Father’s as protectors and providers. Being a father is one of the hardest jobs in this world. That’s why father’s need God. Young dads, old dads, and would be dads need faith in God. God can guide every father to fight a fight and win. Fathers may not win EVERY fight. They may not win every battle. In the end, Godly fathers have the victory. The war is won. With God, we are always on the winning side!

David tells us why he was confident. There are at least three reasons. First, in verse 34 or so he says, “I’m a shepherd.” David was accustomed to protecting, providing, directing, and fighting off predators of all kinds who wanted to eat his little lambs and destroy the sheep he was shepherding. David knows that as a shepherd he can deal with Goliath because he has dealt with many a savage beast. He did it before. He had become confident and comfortable with protecting, providing, directing and fighting predators again. Secondly, David was confident enough to fight Goliath because he had the tools he needed and that worked best for his skill set. He could have put on the protective armor that King Saul had in his castle for him, but David was not used to it. He did not wear the usual armor from head to toe. He used only a rock and a sling shot. Instead he took his enemy off guard. He used the armor of God we read about in Ephesians 6. His armor was invisible to those who would not see. He wore a helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, the shield of faith, his feet were covered in peace, he had the breastplate of righteousness, and the belt of truth. A Godly father may not look like a warrior, he may even look weak and worn, but God works on the inside so that a godly father has all that he needs to provide, to protect, to direct, and to fight predators that try to harm their little lambs.

Finally, David had confidence because he knew God had his back. Around verse 45 he says that Goliath may come with a sword and an ax but David comes with God, not just any God but the God of angel armies. The army of angels was on duty that day when David first fought Goliath. The angels were praising God, encouraging those who fought for right, and fighting to protect God’s people against spiritual wickedness, principalities and powers found on the dark side instead of the side where God’s light resides.

You may remember that in Daniel’s day Christians were persecuted and tortured by being thrown into a lion’s den. Daniel was hungry for the precious word and direction that only God can give in a trying time. He fasted and prayed for 21 days waiting for God to answer. The bible says that God released from heaven an answer to Daniel’s prayer as soon as Daniel prayed it, but the answer was delayed for 21 days because a spiritual battle was happening whether in the atmosphere or in the land itself. Just like God’s angels were fighting to answer Daniel’s prayers, they were fighting to help David defeat his gigantic Goliath enemy. Fathers learn that God has their back. They are backed up with an army of angels.

I asked fathers this week to tell us of a time when they knew that God had their backs. One father wrote: God has stopped me on more than one occasion from killing my kids (LOL). Another father told how his daughter thought it was her fault that he got divorced from her mother. She refused to speak to him for over a year. A trusted friend advised the father to just keep telling her that
he loved her and writing her regularly. It worked. He remained a faithful father and his daughter eventually sent him a valentine card declaring her love for him as well.  Another father notes: God has kept all three of our children safe. We are especially grateful since one of them is in law enforcement. God has been in their lives, and all three are active in their local United Methodist Church.

Being a father is a very, very hard job. There are unspeakable struggles and hardships for all of us, but God sees us through. Whatever battle you face, you do not face it alone. We celebrate all God’s children this day, and especially fathers. Our hearts are glad because, like David in a battle with Goliath, we know that you have experiences as a leader. You are a good shepherd in one way or another and God has equipped you to provide, protect, direct, and fight off predators. You are dressed in the whole armor of God and you know that God, with an army of angels, has your back. May it be so today and always.

 

“Samuel, Rise and Anoint David, for He Is the One!” - Pastor Jacqueline Hines

 

“Samuel, Rise and Anoint David, for He Is the One!”

Pastor Jacqueline Hines

June 13, 2021

 

Last week we saw that God’s people wanted to go in the direction of the rest of the world and have a king. They were not satisfied with having God lead and guide them. Does that sound familiar? We all remember a time when we, like Jonah, go in the opposite direction of where God is leading us. Going against God’s direction ended in catastrophe for the Israelites. Men, women, boys, and girls all paid a terrible price for being out of the will of God.

This week we see that Samuel is not happy that the king he anointed did not work out. Samuel loved and appreciated Saul and was afraid of Saul even though Saul was not right with God. Samuel had a hard time going on to anoint and serve the next king God had chosen. How easy is it to be close friends with people who are not close to God?

Anointing King David was a way of getting God’s people back on track for the good life, the holy life.  One detail of this choosing of a king stands out this morning. When Samuel arrived, the elders were very tense, even trembling. Samuel was God’s spokesperson and when he showed up, they knew that he had a message from God. Everyone knows when God speaks, it’s time to listen. When God speaks it could be good news and it may be rough news. The elders were tense because they knew that Samuel showing up could mean a show down because God was serious business. The days we don’t pray are often the days when we refuse to hear anything but good news and exactly what we want to hear.

The elders accepted the authority of God, so when Samuel showed up, they waited to hear what he was saying just as we wait to hear what a doctor has to say. The elders listened as if they were in court waiting for the jury and the judge to share the verdict.  Like us Christians, they were braced for a spiritual spanking or some expectation that may have for the moment seemed unreasonable and unfair. They were also well aware that they could be blessed with a wonderful windfall. We take the bitter with the sweet.

What Samuel came to tell the elders was to sanctify themselves. What did Samuel expect them to do when he asked them to sanctify themselves? To sanctify is to set apart for a special purpose. We know that every culture has a way of separating themselves in order to better themselves. During the Lenten season the Bishop has called all her clergy to a “Lenten Day Apart” in order to become emotionally prepared for the Lenten season of sacrifice and repentance. In those hours with the bishop, there is worshipping in song, prayers, focused reading, meditation and sermons on certain scriptures with the expectation that after all that preparation we will be able to see God more clearly, follow God more nearly, and love God more dearly. It can be said that God blesses us in those days apart so much so that we are nurtured and strengthened to keep the faith and continue the journey and stand before God with cleaner hands and more humble hearts and enjoying being in God’s presence because God delights in us and is glad we are here.

It is after spending time with God apart from our daily routines, but closer and closer to God that we sing with peace in our hearts a song written by Sadhu Sundar Singh:  “I have decided to follow Jesus…though none go with me, still I will follow.”  Athletes and actors and musicians often set time aside for certain rituals, exercises, and training that they do in order to prepare to be the best that they can be at what they do. Samuel told the elders to sanctify themselves. It was to help them be the best leaders they good be. Sanctification increases Godly character and enables us to do good deeds of mercy and justice for all peoples. How do we make that happen? Do we have to pray certain prayers, light special candles on particular days, sing music, listen to speakers, or study for a religious degree? All countries and all cultures have all kinds of prayers and practices that may include bouquets of flowers, fire, incense, processionals, dances, and drums designed to deepen our connection to God and to one another. What matters most is not what we do and how we do it. What matters is that we are hungry for the things of God and that we are willing to have more of Jesus and we do something to help that happen.

Samuel told them to sanctify themselves, to purify themselves, to make themselves holy. Why? God says be holy for I the Lord your God am holy. Is that even possible? It must be possible or God would not ask God’s children to do it. It is possible. We may not be perfect, but we can prepare ourselves in such a way that we can live a clean life, think clean thoughts, have clean relationships, and come to God in prayer with clean hands. There is a bowl of holy water found in some churches at the door of the sanctuary.  The water symbolizes our need to clean our hands of dirty deeds 

and our mind of dirty thoughts – to repent and present ourselves before a holy God showing that we take God seriously!

We will never be perfectly clean or holy, but by doing all we can to be as clean as we can, things are better than they would be. Just as a doctor scrubs hands before examinations and surgery, so Christians read the word, pray, praise, worship, serve and even sacrifice in whatever way we know how in order to keep evil from germinating and growing in us and to decrease the risk that we pass some terrible sin on to infect those around us.

Some churches have changed dramatically in the last decade or so. Many changes make us sad and afraid and worried. It is not God’s will for us to remain sad or afraid or worried. God’s will is that we keep our eye on the prize – God’s son Jesus, our good shepherd who loves us and leads us in the path that leads to life.

We may become sad when our churches are not crowded, but no matter what the state of the church is, God has a purpose and a plan that we can understand better if we come closer to God and the people of God.

The time to worry is when God does not show up. The time to be sad is when we realize the bible is considered just another book rather than the Word of God. The time to be worried is when a heart becomes hardened and unable to do justice and love mercy.

The truth that sets us free is that God will provide, that God will guide us in ministry – whether great or small, that we are loved with an everlasting love and that love is contagious. We serve a good God. There is none like God, for our God is Holy and calls us to be holy, sanctified, set apart to do God’s will and live life abundantly for God’s sake and for the sake of the whole world.

We are the hands and feet of Jesus. You recall that childhood saying, “The church is not the building. The Church is not the steeple. It’s the people!

A three year old boy learned in Sunday School that Jesus was tempted by the devil. As he was talking to his mom about Jesus, she asked him “Honey, if we were at a store, and Dad and I were in one aisle, and you were in another aisle, and there was candy, and the devil said, ‘You should take some!’

What would you say back to the devil?”

A genuine grin lit up the boy’s entire face and without hesitation he replied, “Oh! I would say thank you!”

It’s not surprising that a 3-year-old missed the point, but as we grow and mature spiritually, we learn better. We learn to do whatever it takes to stay close to God and do the right thing. As we grow, we ask ourselves: where does the devil use me. Where does the devil tempt me?

More than ever we are realizing that we need to be close to God, for there are so many unpredictable, uncertain, unusual, unhealthy, and unhelpful situations that are in our path. As one songwriter put it “I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus. I cannot bear these burdens alone. Jesus will help me. He is a kind, compassionate friend. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. Jesus will help me, victory to win.”

Being close to God is being close to the truth, the light, the way, the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. May we all sanctify and set ourselves apart and find a friend in Jesus today. Amen.

 

“Samuel, Listen to My People…and Warn Them!” Pastor Jacqueline Hines June 6, 2021

 

“Samuel, Listen to My People…and Warn Them!” Pastor Jacqueline Hines

June 6, 2021

In this season of Pentecost, we are reminded that the Holy Spirit is available to empower all people around the world of every nation and station. We can see that all Christians are leaders in one way or another. As a Christian, you may hold official positions in the church or in your homes. There may be people on our jobs who follow you and like you on Facebook. Family members may watch your lives and take your leads on various political and spiritual opinions. Others put their faith in your behavior and believe God because of the way you trust and obey, with confidence that there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Samuel had many followers among God’s people. He had an official position as a prophet – God’s spokesperson - among the people of God. He was considered a very special person because his words made an extraordinary difference in the lives of God’s people. It is no wonder. He was born under extraordinary circumstances. For a long time his mother Hannah was not able to have children. Hannah was so embarrassed about not being like all the other women. The other women laughed at her. Their cruelty may have stemmed from their jealousy, for Hannah’s husband loved Hannah deeply and treated her with respect and compassion, no small thing in any society. In spite of being so loved, Hannah longed very much to keep up with the Jones’s, to stop being embarrassed and to keep the women from shaming and laughing at her.

God answered Hannah’s prayer, she got pregnant and gave birth to her son Samuel. It seemed like a miracle because she had gone through so much. Hannah was extremely relieved to no longer be the laughing stock of the community. She was also grateful, so grateful that she vowed to present Samuel to the priests to serve in the Temple of the Most High God. God not only honored Hannah by giving her a son, but God blessed her son Samuel. When he became a young man, no one could deny that his words produced much, much spiritual fruit.

The people of God should have known better when Samuel warned them to continue loving each other enough to meet together, talk together and wait for God to guide them as God had always faithfully guided them. Samuel was getting old and there did not seem to be any reliable young people who were walking in the ways of God well enough to lead the people. There were not even people in Samuel’s family who could serve. Samuel’s sons were all about the money and they didn’t mind doing harm and breaking Godly rules to get it. Their minds were not on being ministers.

The people knew they would need a leader. Instead of waiting on God, they looked around at what all the other countries had and they decided that they wanted what the others had. They wanted a king. They wanted to show up and show off their shiny crowns and fancy silk robes like all the other countries. Perhaps they also wanted to be rid of the reminders to follow the Ten Commandments. Perhaps they were fed up with Samuel’s calls to repentance and his relentless encouragement to do the right thing. Perhaps they had grown weary of praying and planting seeds and harvesting the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.

Perhaps their covenant with God had become undesirable and they wanted OUT! They wanted freedom to do what they wanted to do when they wanted to do, when they wanted to do it. We want a king!  Samuel directed them to wait on God’s guidance and let God be their king, for God was more than able to fight and help them in any battle.

Verse 19 says, “But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; they said, “No! but we are determined to have a king over us, 20 so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.”

At the end of Samuel’s conversation with God’s people, they decided not to listen to his direction to wait on God to lead them. So God directs Samuel to listen to them instead. He was to get out of their way and let them choose a king. Samuel was also to warn them that in choosing a king while rejecting God and God’s servant would not make them happy. It would make them miserable because there is no king that can love the people and orchestrate good results without the help of God. They were warned, but they did not care about the consequences.

We’ve all been there. We have had one warning or another not to make certain decisions. Fire detectors warn us. Stop signs warn us.   Teachers, preachers, presidents, politicians, scientists, and medical practitioners warn us. A recent news story told of an elevator falling and a man getting a broken leg. The next day, the news added that three men were

fighting and fell into an elevator door with all their weight. The door broke in and they were all injured. To be sure, these men had warnings. They had been warned throughout their lives that fighting is harmful rather than helpful. Warnings remind us what to do and what not to do, but the Holy Spirit empowers us to move forward rather than backward. When the bible refers to God’s people or anyone who is wicked, it not only means we are acting badly, causing pain and trouble, it also means we are troubled, that our conditions are wretched and our situations are full of hardships. God

gets angry and we get angry when we see wickedness. At the same time, God shows healthy boundaries as well as compassion and care, and God teaches us to do the same for each other.

At times we seem totally oblivious to the fact that we are going in the wrong direction. We may be stubborn rebellious, or willful. Sometimes we get used to consequences just like we eventually get used to being in a cold pool. Sometimes we just don’t care.

God warns us because God loves us.  God wants to bless us, to hold us in arms and sing to us (Zephaniah 3.17). God wants to wrap us close in protective skirts (Ezekiel 16.8), to gather us under warm wings like a hen gathers her chicks (Matthew 23.37). Before we even call on God, God knows our hearts and has an answer for us (Isaiah 65.24). We serve a good and loving God! God’s plan is not to make us miserable, but to prosper us, not to harm us, but to give us a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29.11). It is good to always seek God diligently, serve God faithfully and obey God quickly. We ought to praise God every hour and repent every day. Amen.