The Doxology

I was two or three years old, I'm not sure if I was two or three, because I was two or three and I don't remember. But I was two or three years old when I was living in a very small apartment with my mom and my little little baby brother. And my dad was in the Marine Corps and was stationed overseas. And what we would do is we would, this was before the time of FaceTime or the internet, or any of those things. And so either my mom would write a letter, I wasn't writing anything, I wasn't that smart at two yet, and my brother certainly wasn't, he was just a baby. She would write letters that would get to him whenever, or send care packages. But with those care packages that were sent in the snail mail, my mom would record us on a cassette tape. You remember those, some of you do. She would take this little cassette tape recorder and she would record us on a cassette tape. Now my brother, he couldn't even talk, he would just be going , and whatever. But I could talk, at two or three years old, but it seemed that every time, and I don't remember how many times we did this, I just remember that when I would get recorded as a little child, I just would sing. It's what I would do. My mom still has cassette tapes of me singing "Old McDonald Had a Farm" to my dad. And I sounded like a little, tiny little redneck. That's what I sounded like. "Hey daddy, how you doing daddy?" That's what I sounded like. I grew up in Georgia, that's part of what it was. And I don't know what it was that motivated me to sing, but you've got a child, right, whose dad is overseas, he's not seeing his father. And I don't know if it's what it is inside, but I just decided I'm gonna sing for my dad. Now, you know, Elf did it. If you remember Buddy the Elf. He wanted to sing for his dad, right? It's funny how children are like that, right? It's like an escape valve. Children don't know fully how to process their emotion, how to express their love, how to be able to communicate their gratitude. They don't really know how to do that and so they draw a picture for mom and dad, right? Or they sing a song or they write a poem or whatever. Right? It's just part of kind of what we do. I remember in an interview, it was a number of years ago, with Carrie Underwood, and she was being asked about a song that was on one of the albums that she had done. And the song was titled "The Girl You Think I Am". And Carrie Underwood, they asked her about that song, and she said, well, I think about my dad really often, and as I'm thinking about my dad, I just realize how grateful I am, because he's always been that man in my life who's always told me that he believes in me, that I'm beautiful, that I'm brave, that I'm strong, that I'm fearless. And he's just always held that for me, even when I didn't hold it for myself. And so what did she do when she thought about that? She wrote a song. Because it's something that poured out of her, right. Well, and the same thing could be said, like when songs have a tendency to just pour out in times of gratitude or times of wonder, right, that's just part of what happens. I mean, it's kind of like June 19th, 1865, when word finally got to Galveston, Texas, that the slaves in America were actually free, which is why we celebrate Juneteenth, which is today, by the way. Juneteenth is just a combination of June and 19th mashed together. And it's a celebration that's been going on in Texas for a very, very long time, and actually is now a federal holiday as of last year. And rightly so. And Juneteenth is this opportunity that we have to celebrate freedom. And it's interesting because in, right after that timeframe, after the freedom of the slaves, or at least they got news of the freedom in Galveston, Texas at that time, shortly after that, guess what emerged? A song. You know what the song was called? "Oh Freedom". Rightly so, right? You can imagine that pouring out of this gratitude, pouring out of this thought that I don't know that we're ever going to be able to see this, and now we've seen this freedom and this song emerges called "Oh Freedom". Well, at the close of Romans chapter 11, what happens to Paul when he is thinking about the majesty and the sovereignty of God, and how God has done what he has done with his people, what he has done with his chosen people, Israel, what he has done through now incorporating other people, Gentiles, having an opportunity to come into relationship with the God of Israel, because of Israel's rejection, and how ultimately he's going to come back around and restore Israel, maybe right before his coming or at his coming. Paul is considering all of this, the ways of God with his people, and Paul bursts out into song. That's what he does. It just pours out of him. It's a doxology. It is a hymn of praise, and I wanna give you kind of three characteristics of this song that I want us all to see in the text itself, as we close out our series on Romans 9, 10, and 11. And these are the last few verses in Romans chapter 11, where Paul pours out this song. First of all, it's a song of wonder. Make no mistake about it that Paul is in awe of who God is. And this is a song that he writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And I don't know if he was influenced maybe by some of his upbringing in the synagogue, and maybe he pulled from some of the tunes there. I have no idea if this just came straight out of him, if maybe he was musically inclined, he was gifted and it just came. I don't know. I just know that this comes out as a doxology, as a hymn of praise. And it's a song of wonder. Look in verse 33 with me, it says, Paul starts this way. "Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable his judgements and his paths beyond tracing out. Who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God that God should repay them?" You see, this is how Paul begins. Paul begins with this statement. "Oh!" That's when I thought about that song that was written shortly after the freedom of the slaves. "Oh Freedom". It began with, oh. And then I thought about what Paul was doing here, and this phrase, oh, is a declaration of wonder. It's a declaration of awe. Oh. It's when your friends or your family members come and visit you in Buffalo, and they don't live here and they've never been here before and they say please take me to Niagara Falls. And you take them and then they get there and they finally turn the corner and they see the majesty of the falls and you just see their mouths open and they just say, "Oh!" Or maybe it's that gift that you received and you didn't see it coming, you didn't think that you deserved it. But all of a sudden you get this gift that is beyond your wildest imagination, and all of a sudden you're like, oh, right. It's a declaration of wonder. It's a declaration of awe. It's a declaration of gratitude. And Paul begins after considering all that he has been considering and writing about in Romans 9, 10 and 11, truthfully for the whole letter, Paul says, "Oh, the depth." Now pause there. That phrase, depth, to this ancient world, had to do with the sea. It had to do with the ocean. This is what ancient people would often basically connect to when they thought about depth, because in that day and age, you've gotta understand, they didn't have depth finders like those of you who are fishermen right now, and you go out and go, okay, there's 14 feet right here, whatever. They didn't have depth finders. They didn't have sonar. They didn't have radar. So the deep of the ocean was unexplored and untouched, and you couldn't even go down there, right? I mean, you're talking about the Mediterranean Ocean, where Paul is doing his ministry, and in its deepest parts, it's 17,000 feet deep in the Mediterranean Sea. You're talking over three miles deep in the ocean. If you went to the Pacific Ocean, it's like 36,000 feet deep, which is more than like seven miles deep. Think about it this way. If you've flown on a plane at 35,000 feet way above the clouds, think about that going into the ground, that height. It's insane to think about, right. And Paul is using that as kind of a benchmark to say, oh, the depth. And what he's thinking about is he's thinking about the wonder of God's characteristics. Notice that this song of wonder, Paul is marveling at the depth of the wonder of God's characteristics. Look again in verse number 33. Notice what it says. He says, "Oh, the depth of the riches, the wisdom, the knowledge of God. How unsearchable his judgments and his paths beyond finding out." You see, when Paul is talking about each of these things, and some of the translations say the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, other translations of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. And I kind of, I take it as three characteristics that he's defining right there among these other two as well. When he's talking about the idea of the riches of God, certainly we understand that God has infinite resources, right? We know that. God doesn't need anything from us. God has everything he needs. He's in need of nothing. God has infinite riches. Sometimes we get a little beside ourselves and we're like, God has, he has the cattle on a thousand hills, the Bible says, right. He's got everything. It's a picture saying, God has infinite resources. He knows how to take care of his own. But the idea of riches here, I think, is Paul talking about the beauty of God's gracious providence in salvation for both Jew and Gentile, because that's what he's been talking about in chapter nine, chapter 10 and chapter 11. He says the depth of his riches, the depth of his wisdom. Now when Paul uses the phrase wisdom here, and when he talks about the idea of wisdom, he's talking about God's marvelous plan in and through Jesus. Because for most people, they would look at God the Son coming and putting skin on, teaching us about the kingdom of God, but then getting crucified. They would look at that as foolishness. This is craziness. That God came in the person of his son, Jesus, and that he went to a cross to die. But Paul is marveling at how wise God is in doing what he has done, and how he has done it. Paul also marveled at the wisdom of God compared to the wisdom of the world, when he was writing to the church at Corinth, even earlier than when he was writing to the church at Rome. In 1 Corinthians, chapter one it says, Paul writes this, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, the intelligence of the intelligent, I will frustrate.' Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world, for since in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand a sign, and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God, for the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength." This is what Paul is talking about when he talks about the idea of wisdom. But Paul also talks about it in verse number 33, the idea of the knowledge of God. When Paul is talking about the knowledge of God, this isn't just the fact that God knows everything about everything, that he's omniscient. He certainly is. But this is a word gnosis, where in the Greek language it's actually talking about the idea of God's intimate, personal knowledge of people. Of you. That God has this infinite personal and intimate knowledge of every single person. And then when he talks about how unsearchable his judgements, the idea of judgements is not so much God's judicial decisions, but his executive ones. In other words, how God has put all of this plan of salvation together through his chosen people, the incorporation of the Gentiles, how he's going to restore Israel altogether. Paul is just going, I am marveling at how unsearchable God's ways are and his paths, in other words, his course, or the direction that he chooses to take. It is beyond tracing out. I can't seem to follow this. This is not everything that I would've done were I God, but since God is God, I'm just gonna stand in wonder. That's what Paul is doing, he's wondering at God's characteristics and how unfathomable, how rich, how deep God is. But he's also wondering with rhetorical questions. We do this too, I'm gonna show it to you in just a moment. But he's wondering with rhetorical questions, look in the next two verses, verse 34 and 35. Paul writes, "Who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God that God should repay them?" Do you see those questions? Leave those up for just a second. It's an interesting thing, because when we look at these questions, you could almost look at it in reverse order from the text that we're looking at. When he's asking these rhetorical questions. By the way, the first two are from Isaiah chapter 40, if you were wanting to look those up. He's actually referencing something from the Old Testament. And the last one he's referencing from the Book of Job, chapter 41. And of course, these are all rhetorical because the answer is no one. Who's known the mind of the Lord? No one. Who has been his counselor? No one. Who's ever given to God that God should repay them? No one. Right? We just know the answer to these, when Paul is bringing them up. No one is the answer. But it's as if he's connecting all of these things. Who has known the mind of the Lord? That's when he was talking about knowledge. Who has been his counselor? That's where he's talking about wisdom. Who has ever given to God that God should repay him? That's where he's talking about riches. So you can see it right there that Paul is actually connecting the dots between verse 33 and verse 34, in what he's writing here, right? So he's asking these rhetorical questions, because he's left with wonder. We do the same thing. You remember last year, there's this little football game between Buffalo and Kansas City. Anybody remember that? It's too soon, too soon? Everybody okay. I'm still hurting as well, I'm in therapy, but things are going well. Things are going well. I'm processing. So you've got two quarterbacks who played at an alien level. Things that humans haven't seen ever before at the quarterback position. And I am watching this occur, and here's what I'm saying. "Who plays quarterback like this?" Answer, no one, right? It was a rhetorical question. I wasn't looking for any other answers. That was the greatest display of quarterbacking I've ever watched by two quarterbacks in a game in my life, and the wrong one lost the coin toss. It's how it goes. Fix it, NFL. Fix it. I don't know if you're watching, Roger Goodell. Jim Kelly, if you're watching, get it done. Fix it, today. If it gets fixed. Just saying. Not really. But that's what we do, right? Those of you who are basketball fans, and you watch the NBA playoffs and you're watching Steph Curry, Chef Curry, do all that he does. Shoot from all kinds of angles. I don't know where he's shooting from. You know, he's shooting with his tongue, I have no idea. It's crazy. And I watch this guy play, and I'm thinking to myself, who shoots like this? Answer, no one. This guy's the best shooter I've ever seen in my life. Or if you were watching Serena Williams when she was in her prime playing tennis, if you're a tennis fan, and you're thinking to yourself who plays tennis like this? Answer, no one. These are rhetorical questions, why? Because we're stunned. We're stunned by how incredible and how awesome we're watching what we're watching, and we're blown away by it, right? That's what Paul is doing. Paul is thinking about the nature of God and thinking about what God does and thinking about how God does it, and it's blowing him away. And he's pulling questions from the Old Testament that are rhetorical in nature to say, no one, who has known the mind of the Lord, no one. Who's been his counselor, no one. Who's ever given to God that God should repay them? No one. Because God is God and Paul is humbled and he's worshiping. And he's overwhelmed, because he recognized God is God and we are us. That's why we can be reminded about what God said in the Book of Isaiah, chapter number 55. God said, "'For my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'" That is good for us to remember that God says to us my ways higher than your ways, my thoughts higher than your thoughts. So when you are down here thinking these thoughts, understand that I'm here thinking my thoughts. And my thoughts are good, and my thoughts are pure, and my thoughts are right, and my thoughts are holy, and my thoughts will always be based in righteousness. My thoughts will always be right, even if you don't understand and you don't get it. This is the beauty of what Paul is talking about here. It is a song of wonder. But it's also a song of glory. I want you to notice how Paul begins to continue, or to finish this doxology that he wrote in verse 36. He says, "For from him, and through him, and for him, are all things. To him be the glory forever." You see, what Paul is doing here is he's concentrating on the glory of God. There's no wonder this is called a doxology because that word doxa means glory. When Paul says, to him be the glory, that's the word doxa. Now, when you hear the word glory, there's two aspects to the glory of God that I want you to understand. The first is the intrinsic glory of God. Here's what that means, plain and simple. It means it is the composite of all of the attributes and characteristics of God that make God who he is. This is his intrinsic glory, and nothing you do, nothing you say, nothing anyone does, nothing anyone says, changes that because God is glorious, hard stop. God is glorious. That is God's intrinsic glory. Nothing changes that ever. He has eternally been glorious. He will eternally be glorious. And nothing we do or say will ever have any effect on God's intrinsic glory. But Paul's here talking about attributed glory. That's something that we can offer. We're not adding to God's glory because God's glory is intrinsic, it is who he is, he is glorious, right? But what we are doing is when we get to know this intrinsically glorious God who is so deep in riches and wisdom and knowledge and judgements and paths, that we just respond as worshipers. We respond in saying this is the one that we praise. This is the one that we magnify. This is the one that we glorify. That's attributed glory. And that's what Paul is talking about here. To him be the glory. And he's talking about that, actually, how God is glorified in three different ways. Notice it. The first is that God is glorified as the source of all things. Notice how Paul starts there in verse number 36. For from him. Brothers and sisters, ladies and gentlemen, friends, countrymen, lend me your ear. Everything is from God. God is the source of all things. Everything. The cosmos, when you go outside and you are stunned by the brilliance of the sky that you're looking at, which is just one very, very tiny part of the entirety of the cosmos that God has made, God is the source of that. He's the source of it. The lives that you have and the lives of the people around you, God is the source of all of those lives. That's why we always ought to treat life with dignity and respect and honor, because God is the giver of life. God is the one who makes human beings in his image. But God is also the source of your cat. There's nothing that God is not the source of. God is glorified as the source of all things. Paul says, "For from him are all things." Your boss that you don't love working for comes from God. See, everything's from God. Everything's from God. No, Jerry, evil, evil, and sin aren't from God. Not directly. Of course not directly. God is holy. God is just, God is righteous. God is stainless, God is pure. But the world that God created, he created with the potential for people to say no to him. So even though God is not the direct source, God is the indirect source, because he's the one who has made everything and made for even the potential of that which exists. But that doesn't stain God. That's attributable to us. Everything is from God. God is the source. And God is glorified as the source of all things, including, I think Paul's talking about very specifically here, God's plan to rescue the world in Jesus. He's the source of that. God is also glorified as the sustainer of all things. God is not only glorified as the source of all things, from him are all things. God is glorified as the sustainer of all things, through him are all things. I know that we may call it physics, we may call it gravity, we may call it science, that we think keeps everything where it's supposed to be. I've got another name for it. God. God is the one who holds everybody together. God is the one who holds everything together. And at the moment that God says he wanted it not to be held together, it would not be held together, because when it was never even together, God's the one who said let it be put together, and God's the one who holds it all together. This is exactly by the way what Paul was talking about when he talked about Jesus being the agent of creation in the Godhead. Listen to what he said when he was writing to the church at Colossae. He said, "The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn overall creation. For in him, all things were created. Things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities. All things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things," and here it is, "and in him, all things hold together." Why? He's the sustainer of all things. God is glorified as the source of all things. From him are all things. He's glorified as the sustainer of all things. Through him are all things. But he is also glorified as the goal of all things. For him are all things. That's what the text says. God's glorified as the source, as the sustainer, and as the goal of all things. Understand this, my brothers and sisters. Everything God made God made for himself. Including you. He made you for himself. God is glorified. When we recognize that we are not, we are not able to help ourselves, but only God can bring us into reconciliation with himself. But everything that's in reconciliation with God is right where it's designed to be. 'Cause God has made us and made everything for himself. And God is glorified. Why do you think there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels, when a sinner repents? 'Cause God is glorified. When the world is being reconciled to him, when people are being reconciled to him through his son, who went to a cross to die for our sin, rose from the grave, conquering sin, hell, and death on our behalf, and now by faith in him, we can be reconciled to the Father. This glorifies God. He's the source. He's the sustainer. And he's the goal. He's the source, he's the sustainer, and he's the goal. And you know, when Paul writes, "For from him and through him and for him are all things," Paul also is keeping in mind, by the way, in the context, he's talking about how God's plan of salvation is working out. That's what he's talking about in Romans 9, 10, and 11, right? So think about it this way. Paul is saying, from him, in eternity past, God knew exactly what he wanted to do to rescue the people that he loved, who he knew would fall into sin, who he knew all of this broken world would happen, and God knew from the very beginning what he was going to do, that his own son, the lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world, that this was born in eternity past. From him are all things. Through him are all things. God knew that he would enter into space and time as we know it, and that there is no way that his sovereign eternal plan would be thwarted by anything or anyone, but God would see fit to make sure that it is accomplished just as he said he was, and at the right time, Jesus came, he was born, he lived, he died, he rose from the grave, just as God had promised. Just as God had determined in his own time. From him, through him, and for him. All of eternity will glorify God, when all of eternity sees in retrospect the beauty of the wisdom of God's plan of salvation to rescue the world in and through his beautiful son, the Lord Jesus. That's why Paul says, to him be the glory forever. From him, through him, for him, are all things. That's why this is not just a song of wonder. It's a song of glory. But there's a last piece. It's a song of surrender. You're saying, Jerry, where are you pulling that from? 'Cause you just read the last verse. I did. We're gonna read it again. "For from him and through him and for him are all things, to him be the glory forever." Amen. Do you know what amen means? May it be. Let it be so. Let it be fulfilled. Paul didn't just, listen. This isn't just something he puts on the end of a statement to just add some flavor because it's nice from a literary device standpoint. Paul puts amen right there because he is putting an exclamation point on the reminder that he needs to submit himself to the God that he is in awe of and is in wonder about. You see what this is a reminder of for us is can we say amen to what we have learned from Romans 9, 10, and 11? Can we say amen that the whole of our lives is meant to be for the glory of God?

- [Man] Amen!

- Can we say amen that when we don't fully understand God in all of his ways, we are still yet to be a people who respond to him in worship.

- [Congregation] Amen.

- Do we understand that if our thoughts about God don't bring us to a place of wonder and awe, then our thoughts are not worthy of him? Amen.

- [Congregation] Amen.

- This is what we are learning here. Can we say amen to worshiping God for everything that we know about him, and for worshiping him about the things that we have yet to learn about him? Because that's what Romans 9, 10 and 11 are teaching us. Can we say amen to letting God do what God does, to letting God choose how God chooses, because he's God and we're not? Can we say amen that God can be trusted to fulfill every promise he's ever made, even when it looks like circumstantially it doesn't seem like it's going to happen? Because that's what we're doing. We're surrendering to that God. Can we say amen, that even though sometimes life is hard and sometimes life even seems a mystery, that God is still worthy of our very lives and our very worship, even and especially when we don't fully understand? Can we say amen that God is sovereign, he's wise, he's good, he's faithful, he's just, he's loving, and he can be counted on? This is what we've been learning writ large in Romans 9 and 10 and 11. You see our amen, brothers and sisters, is surrender to God's ways. It's surrender to God's will. And do you know how we do that? Just like Paul did it. We worship. That's what we do. When we understand who God is and what God has done, we are people who worship. Let's bow our heads together. We're not leaving yet. We're gonna take a moment and actually worship through song, because this is an opportunity for us to be able to do that. It would seem silly for us to actually preach through a doxology and talk about a song of wonder and glory and surrender, and not actually respond that way as a people. So Father, I pray that for every single one of our hearts, we would be a people who would be responsive to you, to your word in our lives, to your hopes for us. That God, we wouldn't be so caught up in thinking that we have to understand every single thing about you to be able to worship you. But that we would worship you, and as we do, we would learn of you. We would begin to see you more beautifully and more glorious than we ever did before. So I pray that even now we would pour out our hearts to you, even as we sing as children. Children who are overwhelmed by the majesty and the glory and the beauty and the wisdom and the goodness and the truth and the love of who you are, regardless of what our circumstances tell us. We know your ways are higher, your thoughts are higher, and we trust you for who you are, and we want to respond out of gratitude and out of love with a song. So Father, would you be blessed by the hearts of your people as we worship you together now in Jesus' name. Amen. I'm gonna come back and wrap us up in just a moment, but I want you to stand to your feet and let's together really sing from our hearts to honor the God that we so love. ♪ The rain of darkness has now ended ♪ ♪ In the kingdom of light ♪ ♪ In the kingdom of light ♪ ♪ We're ever under your dominion ♪ ♪ You're the king of my life ♪ ♪ You're the king of my life ♪ ♪ You rein above it all ♪ ♪ You rein above it all ♪ ♪ Over the universe and over every heart ♪ ♪ There is no higher name ♪ ♪ Jesus, you rein above it all ♪ ♪ On the cross the work was finished ♪ ♪ You poured out your life just to give us new life ♪ ♪ Now from the lips of the forgiving ♪ ♪ Hear an anthem arise ♪ ♪ 'Cause Jesus, you're alive ♪ ♪ You rein above it all ♪ ♪ You rein above it all ♪ ♪ Over the universe and over every heart ♪ ♪ There is no higher name ♪ ♪ Jesus you rein above it all ♪ ♪ Let all of heaven and the earth erupt in song ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah to the everlasting one ♪ ♪ There is no higher name ♪ ♪ Jesus you rein above it all ♪ ♪ You rein above it all ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ You sent the darkness running ♪ ♪ Out of an empty grave ♪ ♪ Seated alone in glory ♪ ♪ Enthroned on the highest praise ♪ ♪ You sent the darkness running ♪ ♪ Now out of an empty grave ♪ ♪ You're seated alone in glory ♪ ♪ Enthroned on the highest praise ♪ ♪ You sent the darkness running ♪ ♪ Now out of an empty grave ♪ ♪ Seated alone in glory ♪ ♪ Enthroned on the highest praise ♪ ♪ You sent the darkness running ♪ ♪ Out of an empty grave ♪ ♪ Seated alone in glory ♪ ♪ Enthroned on the highest praise ♪ ♪ 'Cause you sent the darkness running ♪ ♪ Out of an empty grave ♪ ♪ Seated alone in glory ♪ ♪ Enthroned on the highest praise ♪ ♪ You sent the darkness running ♪ ♪ Out of an empty grave ♪ ♪ Seated alone in glory ♪ ♪ Enthroned on the highest praise ♪ ♪ You rein above it all, you rein above it all ♪ ♪ Over the universe, and over every heart ♪ ♪ There is no higher name ♪ ♪ Jesus, you rein above it all ♪ ♪ Let all of heaven and the earth erupt in song ♪ ♪ Sing it out ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah to the everlasting one ♪ ♪ There is no higher name ♪ ♪ Jesus, you rein above it all ♪ ♪ You rein above it all ♪ ♪ Yes you do ♪ ♪ God, you rein above it all ♪ ♪ You rein above it all ♪ ♪ You rein, you rein above it all ♪ ♪ You rein, you rein above it all ♪ ♪ You rein, you rein above it all ♪ ♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪ ♪ Praise him all creatures here below ♪ ♪ Praise him above ye heavenly hosts ♪ ♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ God we praise you, God we praise ♪

- Come on, let's lift it up high. ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Oh we lift you up ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ From everybody ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ God we praise you ♪ ♪ God we praise you ♪

- Stay standing if you will. God is to be praised, for all of his actions, all of his choices, for all time. Whether we fully comprehend them, whether they cause mystery in our minds, or whether we really get it, God is to be praised. God's always right. God's choices are always true. Forever is going to prove to us that every way, every course, every path, every judgment of God's is perfect. It's perfect. You may be here and have never entrusted your life to this God. You can only do it through his son Jesus. Jesus said, "I am the way the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father, except through me." There aren't many ways to get to God. The world tells us that there are. That's why Paul says what we talk about seems foolish to the world, because we talk about the exclusivity of coming to the Father through Jesus the Son, through his cross, dying for the sins of the world, and through his resurrection from the dead. Well call it foolish all you want. It's God. And it's his wisdom and it's his way, and it's his choice. And it was the only one that can save you. There is no name given under heaven by which people can be saved, except the name of Jesus Christ. And if you've never come to that place, I pray that when we dismiss, you'll walk right across the atrium into the fireside room. We'd love to take a moment and talk to you about what it means to have a relationship with Christ. You may be saying well, it's Father's Day, you know, and my family brought me today 'cause I'm a dad and I came and whatever, great. Best thing you could ever do for your family is know Jesus. Nothing better you'll ever do. Nothing, ever. It is the best thing you could ever do. Know Jesus. But even if you're not a dad, you're welcome. You are welcome to know Jesus. Father, I pray that you would speak deeply into each of our hearts, you'd remind us of the beauty and majesty and wonder and awe of who you are. And there are times where when we walk through passages like we've walked through over the last two months, we are reminded that you are awesome, that you are wise, that your ways are higher than ours, your thoughts above our thoughts. God, we thank you for the grace and the mercy that you have shown to us in Jesus, our Lord and our savior. Not because we were deserving, but because you are kind. Because you love, because you are gracious. So may we be people who humbly worship you and glorify you in every aspect of our lives, whether it's being a dad or a mom or a son or a daughter, or a friend or a worker. Whatever it is, God, whatever roles that you've given us, may we use them to glorify you, because you're worthy. You're worthy, you're worthy, you're worthy. Thank you for your kindness to us that you've shown us in Jesus, and it's his name we pray. Amen.