2 Peter 1:15

For this reason, I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as the Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover, I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease.

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Father, we pray for the presence of Your Spirit this morning. We know that wherever two or more are gathered in Your name, there You are in their midst. Jesus, You promised that You would be with us always, even to the end of the age, and so we thank You for Your presence today. We pray that You, by Your Spirit and through the working of Your Word, would transform us by the renewing of our minds, that we would be able to show in our daily lives this week Your good and perfect will. We ask this in Jesus' name, and all those that agreed said, Amen. You can be seated.

According to Peter, there are certain things that need to be repeated, certain truths that need to be stated again and again, over and over again, because we have a tendency to forget. We have a tendency to lose sight of things that are important. And so Peter writes here that I’m not going to be negligent, but I’m going to continue to remind you of these things, even though you know them and you are established in the present truth.

Which is why this morning I want to go back to a passage of Scripture that we've studied before. It's probably familiar to many of you, some of you, back in the Old Testament, a 3,000-year-old text found in the Psalms. So if you’d open to the Psalms, it’s the biggest section of the Scriptures, right about in the middle of your Bible, and go to Psalm 19, a psalm of King David.

David, as he was probably out in the field, maybe while he was a young shepherd boy, considering his surroundings, looking at the sky and all that was around him, wrote these words in Psalm 19, verse 1: "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows forth His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and rejoices like a strong man to run its race. Its rising is from one end of heaven, and its circuit to the other end, and there is nothing hidden from its heat."

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned, and in keeping them there is great reward.

Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me, and then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

One of the most outspoken atheists of the 20th century, perhaps one of the most famous atheists, was a man by the name of Bertrand Russell. Just prior to his death, he was interviewed, and the interviewer asked him a simple question: "Mr. Russell, what if when you die, you come to realize that you were wrong, and your atheism was not true, and you happened to stand before God one day?" Russell responded and said, "Well, if that happens," which of course he highly doubted.

He said, "If that happens, I will simply say, sir, you did not give us enough evidence." Three thousand years ago, however, a young man, probably a shepherd boy at the time who would become king, David, as he was sitting there among the flock in the fields near Bethlehem, near Jerusalem, looked at the earth and the sky. Night by night, he saw the stars, and morning by morning, he would see the sunrise and go through its course. He said, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the earth shows forth His handiwork."

Was David wrong? Was Bertrand Russell wrong? One of them has to be wrong; they can't both be right. Was it that David was simply influenced by the monotheistic culture that he grew up in? Did he just have a confirmation bias that tended towards theism? Or maybe it was that Bertrand Russell was highly influenced by his naturalistic culture of the 20th century, and he had a confirmation bias towards naturalism.

Two thousand years ago, the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans chapter one, "Since the creation of the world, God's invisible attributes have been clearly observed, being understood by the things that are made, even God's eternal power and Godhead, so that man is without excuse." Although humanity knew God, they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, and they would not glorify or worship Him as God or give Him thanks. Rather, they became foolish in their imaginations, and as a result, their minds became dark and confused. They began to glorify the creation instead of the Creator who made it.

So, you have these three perspectives: Bertrand Russell, who I will tell, "Sir, you did not give us enough evidence"; David, who said, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the earth shows forth His handiwork"; or Paul, who stated that God's invisible attributes are clearly seen, being observed in the things that were made.

A couple of years ago, just before Christmas, an American author, speaker, and radio host by the name of Eric Metaxas wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal. It said this: "In 1966, Time magazine ran a cover story asking, 'Is God dead?' Many have accepted the cultural narrative that He, God, is obsolete, that as science progresses, there is less need for God to explain the universe."

Yet it turns out that the rumors of God's death were premature. More amazing is that the relatively recent case for His existence comes from a surprising place: science itself. Here's the story.

The same year that Time featured the now-famous headline, the astronomer Carl Sagan announced that there were two important criteria for a planet to support life: the right kind of star and a planet the right distance from that star. Given that there were roughly one octillion, which is one followed by 24 zeros, planets in the universe, there should be one septillion, or one followed by 21 zeros, planets capable of supporting life, according to Carl Sagan. With such spectacular odds, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI, a large and expensive collection of private and publicly funded projects launched in the 1960s, was sure to turn up something soon. Scientists listened with this vast radio telescope network for signals that resembled coded intelligence and were not merely random.

However, as the years passed, the silence from the rest of the universe was deafening. Congress defunded SETI in 1993, but the search continues with private funds. As of 2014, researchers have discovered precisely bubkis—zero, nothing. What happened? As our knowledge of the universe increased, it became clear that there were far more factors necessary for life than the two that Sagan had proposed. His two parameters grew to ten, then to twenty, and eventually to fifty. Consequently, the number of potentially life-supporting planets decreased accordingly. The number dropped to a few thousand planets and kept on plummeting. Today, there are more than 200 known parameters necessary for a planet to support life, every single one of which must be perfectly met, or the whole thing falls apart. The odds of life in the universe are simply astounding.

Point number one: God is not silent. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the earth shows forth His handiwork. David says, "Day unto day they utter speech." Who utters speech? The heavens and the earth. Every single day they are speaking; "night unto night they reveal knowledge." There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.

Every single day and every single night, creation is crying out that there is a God. You don't have to be particularly intelligent to see this truth when looking at creation. There is no speech nor language, no place on earth where the voice of creation is not calling out to people to behold that God exists.

He says in Psalm 19, verse four, "Their line has gone out throughout all the earth." The line of creation, the voice speaking that God is, extends to the end of the world. Another translation states, "Yet their message, the message of creation, has gone throughout the earth and their words to every place in the world." What is the message of creation? It is simply this: God is, and He is not silent. No one is beyond the reach of this message from God.

This is what we refer to as general revelation. General revelation is that by which God reveals Himself in that which is made. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the earth shows forth His engineering handiwork. When we see these things, we are hard-pressed to say that there is any other source from which they came than the One who put them into place.

Two thousand four hundred years ago, the Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote, "Should a man live underground and converse with the works of art and mechanism, and should afterwards be brought up into the open day and see the several glories of heaven and earth, he would immediately pronounce them the works of such a being as we define God to be." In other words, any thinking person looking at what has been made would surmise that it is indeed something that was created.

This principle applies to something as simple, yet complex, as this phone. When you look at it, you know that there is a designer, a creator, some source that made it. It didn't come about by random chance or mutation over billions of years. The heavens declare the glory of God.

John Boyce, a priest and the Dean of Canterbury in the 16th and 17th centuries A.D., wrote, "The preaching of the heavens is wonderful in three respects. First, as preaching all night and all day without intermission. Secondly, as preaching in every kind of language."

And third, preaching occurs in every part of the world.

Point number two on your outline: Man is without excuse. I think it's important to remind you of these things, though you know them and are established in the present truth. God is not silent, and man is without excuse. It's good that I remind you of these things because we live in a culture that totally goes against them. In fact, we live in a culture where, if you believe what the Bible says—and many of you here today do, I assume—if you believe what is written in the Scriptures and that God created, you are looked down upon as a simpleton and an idiot. It’s not that you are just the village idiot; you are part of a village of idiots in the culture we live in today.

This discussion has risen to a fever pitch in the last 20 years in our nation, especially as there has been a debate in politics and education about the issues of intelligent design. Should it be taught alongside biological science? Should this mechanism of creation or intelligent design be included in the curriculum? We are constantly told by our culture that if you think this is the case, then you are the fool. This is phenomenal because if any person were to propose that this phone came about by random chance of mutation, they would be laughed out of the room as a simpleton and an idiot.

Yet, when we look at the structures—whether they are subatomic structures or astronomical structures—through the microscope or the telescope, what do we find? We find intricacy of design at the deepest levels. Yes, among biological scientists, you will find many who believe in evolutionary science, claiming that random chance of mutation over millions and billions of years led to us. However, you will also find many scientists in mathematics, physics, and other fields who assert that there simply has to be someone who has ordered these things. It couldn't have happened just by random chance of mutation.

Many times, those who study the deepest levels of genetics, particularly when examining the human genome, come to the conclusion that there has to be a creator. Even the foremost atheist of our day, the greatest evangelical atheist, Richard Dawkins, was featured in a video that Ben Stein produced several years ago, which discussed this whole issue of intelligent design.

He is the last person to be speaking in that documentary. Perhaps you saw it. Even he admits, when pressed by Ben Stein about the intricacy of design and the fine-tuning of the universe, that perhaps the planet was seeded by aliens. How is that not an intelligent designer? Call it what you will—seeded by aliens, an intelligent designer, or God. Something had to make this come about in the way in which it is. Man is without excuse. There is deep complexity in creation, from the subatomic to the astronomical.

Point number three on your outline: Creation proclaims God's existence and glory. It's good to be reminded of these things because we are being pressured by our culture to be quiet. If you believe the things of the Bible, that there is a God who spoke these things into creation, you're considered a fool according to the culture we live in. So, it's good to be reminded that science often confirms what the Scriptures reveal about the intricacy of design and creation.

We should not be afraid of science, church. Don't be afraid that science will prove there is no God; it will never prove that. It continues to prove that there is a designer. Three thousand years ago, a simpleton—a guy who would become king in Israel—said, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the earth shows forth His handiwork." Aristotle said the same thing. The Apostle Paul, one of the greatest intellects of all time, said the same thing. You can go down through the list and find this constantly: Creation proclaims the existence of God and His glory.

David continues in the second half of Psalm 19, verse four. He says, "In them," that is, the heavens, "He, God, has set the tabernacle for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and rejoices like a strong man to run its race. Its rising is from one end of heaven and its circuit to the other end, and there is nothing hidden from its heat."

In beholding creation, David observed a scientific reality that he speaks of in poetic metaphor. Sometimes people get a little baffled by poetic metaphor, but what is David saying?

Here, when he says the sun follows its circuit, it's like a bridegroom coming out of its chamber. What does that mean? It means that the sun comes up every day at the right time. It is there and it follows its course all the time. It's like an incredible mechanistic clock, at the greatest detail, like a Swiss watch. It always follows its pattern and its course.

This was reminded to me in a simple way just in the last couple of days. Our daughter, Addison, was assigned a project for her first-grade class. She needed to watch the moon rise and sketch a drawing of the moon. This weekend, that was her homework, and we were talking about it. My wife and I discussed it last night, and I said, "Well, there might be a problem."

"What’s the problem?" my wife asked. The moon doesn’t rise until 2 a.m. How do I know that? Because you can search it on Google and find out when it’s going to come up in this place. Why do we know that? Because everything follows its course as God created it to do. Unfortunately, she didn’t get to stay up until 2 a.m. to watch the moon rise, so we had to figure something else out.

This is what we refer to as general revelation. When we look at God's revelation through His creation, there are at least three things that we can learn about God through general revelation. First, we can learn that God exists. Secondly, we learn that God is intelligent. Third, we learn that God is powerful.

The same is true when we look at something like this device here. We know that there is some company, some group of designers that made this. They exist. We also know that they have intelligence; they have the ability to architect and engineer the devices and the software to make this thing run. They have the power or resources to make it all come to pass. God, in the same way, is intelligent and powerful.

Through general revelation, you can come to the lowest level of faith, which the author of the book of Hebrews describes in Hebrews chapter 11. He says in verse six, "Without faith, it is impossible to please God. For he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." The lowest level of faith is this: God exists, and He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Now, here's the dilemma. Humanity, man in his fallen state, and every single one of us are in our fallen state.

When looking at the evidence of creation and general revelation in our fallen state, we will nearly always default to idolatry. This is what Paul spoke of in Romans chapter one, where he says they took the glory of God and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

In his fallen state, when presented with general revelation, man will default to idolatry. I am here to tell you that atheism is idolatry; it is simply the worship of nature. It involves worshiping all the processes of the universe and saying, "Look at all these amazing things that the universe has been able to do." This is a simple idolatry of the creature rather than the Creator. It is a denial of God, most often stemming from a hatred of God or an unwillingness to submit to Him. If I can say that He doesn't exist, then I don't have to follow His word. Virtually every single atheist, when pressed, always comes to that point where they say, "I don't want there to be a God."

Man in his fallen state will default to idolatry because he does not want to retain God in his mind. He does not want to glorify Him as God or yield to Him. Therefore, it is necessary that there not only be general revelation but also special revelation.

When we make the turn in Psalm 19 from verse six to verse seven, David moves from general revelation, where the heavens declare the glory of God and the earth shows forth His handiwork, to special revelation. He states, "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey in the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned, and in keeping of them is great reward."

In Psalm 19, verses one through six, David gives general revelation, stating that the heavens declare the glory of God. Then, when he comes to verse seven, he emphasizes that the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. This marks our transition from general to special revelation.

What is special revelation? It's exactly what Peter talks about in Second Peter, chapter one, where he says, "Holy men of God spoke as the Spirit moved them." For us to know more about God than that He simply exists, that He is intelligent and powerful, we need to know the specifics about what God wants and what He is like. He has to tell us in a language that we can understand. This understanding allows us to sing songs like the last one we sang today: "This, I believe in God, the Father. I believe in Christ, the Son. I believe in the Holy Spirit. Our God is three in one. I believe in the resurrection that we will rise again. I believe in the name of Jesus."

For us to be able to say all of that, none of it comes by general revelation. It all must come by special revelation, where holy men speak as God moves them. There has to be this revelation, as we see in Psalm 19, verses seven through eleven. The law of the Lord is perfect. In these five verses, David gives us six descriptive titles of the Scriptures, six characteristic qualities of the Scriptures, and six divine effects of the Scriptures.

In talking about special revelation, he first gives us six descriptive titles. You can circle them in verses seven through eleven if you'd like: first, the law of the Lord; second, the testimony of the Lord; third, the statutes of the Lord; fourth, the commandments of the Lord; fifth, the fear of the Lord; and sixth, the judgments of the Lord.

Then he moves from the descriptive titles to the characteristic qualities of the Scriptures. He states that the law of the Lord, the testimony of the Lord, the statutes of the Lord, the commandments of the Lord, the fear of the Lord, and the judgments of the Lord are first perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true, and righteous. This is the quality of God's judgments, His law, and His testimonies.

Finally, he moves to the divine effects of the Scriptures. What do they do in us? The law of the Lord, the commandment of the Lord, and the statutes of the Lord, which are perfect, right, sure, and pure, have several effects. He says, number one, they convert the soul; secondly, they make wise the simple; third, they rejoice the heart; fourth, they enlighten the eyes; fifth, they endure forever; and sixth, they bring warning and rewarding.

They bring a warning and a reward. You see, we can't know who God is, what He is like, and what He wants through general revelation. So, it is necessary that God reveal Himself and speak to us in a language that we can understand. This is often where the naturalist objects and says, "I don't believe in revelation. I have a hard time with revelation." It is important sometimes to put it into terms that we can understand, even the naturalist.

You may remember, because some of you recall when this happened. I just read about it. Back in the late 1970s, there was a cover story in Popular Mechanics about the first new machine that would become the very first personal computer called the Altair, developed by a company out in Albuquerque. They sent out these articles in Popular Mechanics, talking about this great machine and the things they figured it would be able to do. But really, all it was was a gray box with red lights on the front of it. It was a giant desk paperweight, if you will, because it had no language. No one had written a language that could speak to the computer, telling it what we wanted it to do.

There was a young guy at Harvard, a geeky-looking guy with big glasses named Bill Gates. He and his buddy, Paul Allen, read that article and figured they could write a language for this. They did, and they flew out to Albuquerque to show how their language could communicate what we wanted to this machine. Suddenly, the computer revolution had begun. Now, here we are, 35 to 40 years later, in awe of what has been accomplished.

What was that? Here is this creation of man, this box that has potential. But without a language where we, the creators, can speak to it and say, "I want you to do this," it is worthless and can do nothing. What is that? Well, there is some special revelation—man speaking in a language that the computer can understand to be able to do that which man wants it to do. This is what God has done through special revelation. He has given us His law, His testimony, His statutes, His commandments, His fears, and His judgments so that we would take that and know what He wants. We would be wise, we would be converted, and we would rejoice in heart.

Point number four on your outline: God has gone to great lengths to make Himself known. God has gone to great lengths to make Himself known.

David goes on in Psalm 19, verse 12: "Who can understand his errors?" Through general revelation, we would never know where we are going wrong. But through special revelation, we can ask, "Who can understand his errors?" The psalmist continues, "Cleanse me from my secret faults." How can we know the areas where we've transgressed? Only through special revelation.

The psalmist also prays, "Keep back your servant from all presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression." He concludes with, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer."

How can we walk in a way that is pleasing to God? How can we speak in a way that is right before Him? Only by special revelation from the Scriptures. This is why we are so committed to the Scriptures here at Cross Connection. This is why we go through verse by verse, chapter by chapter, through the Bible.

Some on the outside may look at this and say, "What a waste of time! What a foolish endeavor to go through this archaic passage of Bible literature from all those thousands of years ago." Yet through this, His servant is warned, and in them, there is great reward. We are and will always be committed to the Scriptures.

We must endeavor to make His greatness known. The heavens are not silent; they declare the glory of God. The earth, the inanimate earth, shows forth His handiwork every single day without intermission. They speak of the glory and power of God. Should it be any different that we, His highest creation made in His image, with minds and mouths, would keep quiet?

We must be those who work and endeavor to declare the greatness and glory of God, to make it known to every person we come in contact with. This is again why we are so committed to the Scriptures—not only studying them together when we gather here, but also making them known. We make them known through TV, the internet, and audio going out throughout the world, with missionaries going to the most remote parts, but also making them known in a very special way.

In the time that I have remaining today, I want to introduce you to some friends of ours who have been partnered with our ministry for many years. Would you welcome with me, Bill and Donna Davis? I first learned about this couple when I was about 14 or 15 years old in the youth ministry here at this church. There was a documentary, a short little video that they showed in Sunday school one Sunday about this couple serving God in the Philippines. They were just images on a screen, and let me tell you, they looked a lot different in those images back in 1994 or 1995.

It wasn't until about five years ago that a friend of mine here in the church, many of you knew Ron and Mary Hendricks, invited me over to his house to meet some friends of theirs named Bill and Donna Davis. I did not put the connection together at first, but while I was at Ron's house having dinner, I was talking with Bill, who was sharing with me all the things he had been doing. It hit me in just a moment: wait a minute, you're the people that were in that video I saw when I was a kid.

For most of their lives, Bill and Donna have served the Lord in the Philippines among a group of people called the Palo Wano. They have dedicated their entire lives to translating the Scriptures into the language of those people. These people did not have the Bible in their language until Bill and Donna went there in the early 1980s, and God has used them powerfully. Bill is here to give a little bit of an update on what has happened in the last several years.

So, Bill, I'm glad you're here. Thank you. We have finally finished the New Testament. God's special revelation has been translated into the Palo Wano language. This church is one of our partners and one of the largest single donors toward the printing of this and the recording of the audio version. We wanted to take a moment this morning to present a copy of the New Testament to Cross Connection and to thank you from us and on behalf of the Palo Wano people. We have a plaque here for your huge part in seeing this come about.

God's Word is now in the hands of the Palo Wano people, and they are no longer on the list of unreached people groups. Thank you, Bill. I know from talking with you that early on, your plan was never to be a Bible translator.

You've expressed that you weren't the best at language. How did that happen that you came about endeavoring to give your life to this? I had five years of Spanish in junior high and high school and hated it. However, when we got into the mission training and then onto the Philippines, God led us to a group that needed a New Testament translation, and we felt that was what He had for us to do. We had training and consultant help along the way because it was a huge job, and eventually, we were able to see it done.

Donna, what was it that God used to lead you to step out and leave everything that was comfortable and known here in Southern California to go with this lunatic? How did that happen? I was looking for that lunatic out there. He had to be tall and want to be a missionary. I didn't get saved until I was 16. I was raised in an unsaved home, but God led me to an awesome church and a youth pastor who really preached the Word and taught us to make Jesus Lord of our lives, and I did that. Along the way, a missionary came and shared about people in the world, tribal people who had never heard the name of Christ. That seemed really unfair to me, and God touched my heart. So after that, I was looking for a lunatic. Lo and behold.

When we read the Scriptures, we have to grasp or understand things that are 2,000 years old in another place and time, describing things we've never seen. We already have this translated for us, so it's kind of just interpreting what's being said there. What are some of the difficulties in trying to take some of these things and translate them for people who are islanders and not living in the deserts of the Middle East in a totally different time?

Exactly. The Palawano live in a rainforest, and they're close enough to the ocean to be familiar with that. They've never seen a lake, and they have never seen a desert. So the idea of sand that you would walk through for days and months is a very foreign concept. Some terms, like God's grace, are thrown around as a very short word, but think of all the meaning that's packed into that term. It was a challenge to come up with the right word. By the time we were done with the translation project, the younger generation didn't understand the word we were using for grace. We had to find a new, more current term. It was like a Bible study plus a language puzzle.

That was my ministry to a great extent. Now that this is complete, obviously your work's not complete. What are you doing now? What's God doing now?

The reason we went to the Palawano, as Donna mentioned in the first place, was that we believe everyone deserves to hear in their heart language. God has commanded us, as the church, to take His special revelation and make disciples of all nations. There are still thousands of groups like the Palawano who haven't heard of Christ, have not heard the gospel, and do not have any of the Scripture in their language.

There are missionaries going out to do that, and we're involved in training them specifically in the areas of language learning and culture learning so that they can do what we did. What's exciting, too, is that a lot of these missionaries now are non-Western Filipinos, Indonesians, Chinese, and Indians who feel like God is handing them the baton to run with it and take the gospel. They can go to places where you or I, with our American passports, would not be welcome or would cause a lot of excitement. We are involved in training them as well so that they can take the name of Christ out. Everyone deserves to hear in their heart language, and that's what we call our blog, heartlanguages.org.

Donna, how can we be praying for you guys now at this point? One of the things coming up a little later this year is a big trip for us to Thailand and then to India. In Thailand, we'll be working with other missionaries in the areas of culture and language learning, trying to develop some course materials that will be really handy for people learning those languages that aren't on Rosetta Stone and so forth. There are no courses for them.

Then, over in India, Bill is going to be going around training and consulting with missionaries who are trying to learn the languages in India, with the idea of eventually training Indians to be missionaries. It's kind of a challenge for us, a big thing coming up, so we'd appreciate prayer for that.

How can people connect with you aside from out here at the table? You can stop by our table afterwards, pick up some flyers or a prayer card with a picture to remind you to pray for us, sign up for our updates, or go to heartlanguages.org and sign up. After the first service, we met Tom and Kay Olmstead. They, after the summer break, are kicking off their Connect group on Friday, September 9th, and they want to invite everyone.

To come there as a meet and greet with us, if you all come, we'll probably have to get a permit to spill out into the street. Details will be in the bulletin next week, I guess. So that's brand new, and we'd love to have you come and meet us, ask questions, or stop by the table in the meantime. I'd like to see you flip through the New Testament, see what it looks like, and chat with us.

Awesome! Well, we want to pray for you guys today. We're glad that you're here. So why don't you step down here, anyone who wants to come up and lay hands on Bill and Donna for this next stage of ministry that God has for them? It's been a blessing that we, as a church, have been able to be a part of this, to partner with them, to see the Scriptures translated into the Palo Alto language. We are continuing to partner with them, and who knows what other languages are going to be birthed from this as they minister to a new generation of missionaries?

So would you stand, and let's pray together for them. Father, we do pray for Bill and Donna. We thank you for the work that you have done in and through them for their entire adult lives. We pray, God, that as you continue to use them, you would bless and open doors that no man can shut. Direct their steps and provide for their needs.

Thank you for the work of New Tribes, Wycliffe, and other groups that are translating. What a privilege it is to be able to partner with that and to pray for the missionaries who are being trained right now or are on the field, translating languages to put the Scriptures into these languages. Many of these languages don't even have a written alphabet. Not only are they figuring out how to learn the language, but then how to create an alphabet and translate the Scriptures.

So we pray, God, that you would be with them and strengthen their hearts and minds as they dedicate themselves to this work. We thank you for Bill and Donna, we thank you for this translation, and we ask, God, that you would use it in a magnificent and powerful way. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Amen. God bless you guys. It really is a blessing to be able to be a part of this work and, as a church, to see the special revelation of God go to the uttermost parts. What you do here in serving as a part of this church and giving to this church makes you a part of that work. It doesn't happen without us being involved and helping. So praise the Lord for all that He is doing through this church here in Southern California. Amen. Father, we thank you for your Word.

Your word is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. It transforms us, God. We have been transformed by the renewing of our minds as we have considered the scriptures together. By your word, we have been warned and instructed in the ways we are to live and walk. We pray, God, that you would help us to live out your word this week.

We praise you for the presence of your Spirit in our lives, enabling us to do just that. Use this church, Lord, to a greater extent. We praise you, Jesus. It’s in your name we pray, and all those that agreed said, Amen. Amen.