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[0:00] This evening is going to be in Isaiah chapter 40, we're going to read verses 1 to 5 and then verses 25 to 31 just at the end of the chapter. But just to put this into context, the previous chapter, chapter 39, is Hezekiah, remember he asked that God would save him and give him more days in life and God listened to his prayer.

[0:24] But then, as providence has it, we see that the king of Babylon sent envoys with a letter and a present to Hezekiah.

[0:35] And Hezekiah showed the envoys of the king, everything in his nation, all the riches, precious oil, silver and gold and so on. And absolutely showed him everything, all the riches that they had.

[0:50] Then if we can read in verse 39, chapter 39, first of all from verse 5 and then we'll read the passage we have there. Where it says, Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord of hosts.

[1:04] Behold, the days are coming when all that you have in your house and that which your father shall store up till this day shall be carried off to Babylon.

[1:15] Nothing shall be left, said the Lord, and some of your own sons who will come from you, whom you will father, be taken away and they shall become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

[1:27] Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good. For he thought, There will be peace and security in my days.

[1:40] And then reading into chapter 40, verses 1 to 5. Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.

[1:59] A voice cries in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low.

[2:12] The uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

[2:24] For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. And then again in the same chapter from verse 25. To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him, says the Holy One.

[2:37] Lift up your eyes on high, and they see who created these. He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might.

[2:48] And because he is strong in power, no one is missing. Not one is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is discarded by my God?

[3:03] Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable.

[3:15] He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might, he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted.

[3:28] But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.

[3:39] Amen. May God bless to us the reading of his own holy word. Time this evening. If we can turn back to the passage that we read, and the title of our sermon tonight is Wait on the Lord.

[3:54] Wait on the Lord. And really, as we are at the beginning of a year, we are, of course, time is passing, and it's already the 12th of February, and we notice changes even in the weather, and the days are getting brighter, which brings for us, and as we see, obviously, the beautiful green fields of Dumfries and Galloway, it's certainly a sign of growth and beauty, and lovely to see what you see, which is, I'm sure that many of you might be taking for granted, maybe not, but it's lovely for us coming from Glasgow and to see what we do see here.

[4:35] And we cannot but wonder what this year is going to bring, what it has already brought. Who would have thought, as 2023 came in as a new year, that we would have this disaster that we have in Turkey and in Syria?

[4:54] And to consider the death toll, I'm sure that they, like us, would have been looking forward, maybe, to a new year. We've seen that even one child was still connected to the mother, given birth in all the rubble, and that child being unsurvived where mother and husband and dad and other children died, that child being taken and now being taken to live in a new home.

[5:25] This couple would have been, I'm sure, looking forward to having this child, but yet, as we heard this afternoon, 33,000 deaths in that two nations.

[5:37] It is quite incredible. To be honest, I don't know how you feel, but over the last two or three years, it's just been a blur. When you're thinking back, you're thinking, because of the two years or so of COVID, you're trying to remember, when was that now?

[5:53] Was that pre-COVID? Was it during COVID? Or was it just after COVID? Things that we think about. It's just something that has been in our lives, and it will always be something, that there's a blur about that time.

[6:09] It was surreal in many ways, what we had to do with lockdowns, and everything that was connected with that nationally and internationally. And continuing into this new year, we see that there's still war.

[6:23] It's about coming to up a year now, since the war began in Ukraine. The danger is, it's forgetting about that. But how can these poor folk forget what is going on?

[6:36] This past year, there's been droughts, floods, led to famines. There's been fires and storms, and all because, they say, of global warming.

[6:46] And on the home front, we haven't had a DC. Our queen died, and we've now got a new king. Last year, we had something, did we not have three prime ministers?

[6:59] In such a short space of time, our economic situation is in crisis. Energy crisis, inflation going through the roof, and rising by the day.

[7:10] And prices are at a 40-year high. So, you can't put wonder, and ask the question, does God know about his people?

[7:23] Does God care about his people? And these questions are similar questions that was being asked by Judah in Isaiah, in the chapters that we read tonight, in chapter 39, and into chapter 40.

[7:40] We read in chapter 39, which is quite subtle, really, and where we see, at the beginning of the chapter, the king of Babylon sent envoy to Jerusalem, to Hezekiah.

[7:53] He wasn't interested about his illness. He just wanted to know what Hezekiah had. And what a fool Hezekiah was to show everything that he had in his nation.

[8:04] This is what we have, all the riches that we have. And when the envoy went back, the king said, I'm wanting that for myself, and all of these things were carried off. And we see that that was the situation that happened there.

[8:19] And what is interesting, that what Isaiah is doing, he's leading the people into knowing that they're going to be taken into exile. But there is also a word of encouragement that we have in chapter 40, where we read, comfort, comfort, my people say to your God, verse 1 of chapter 4, speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare is ended.

[8:44] They haven't even gone into exile yet. But yet he's talking about something like this. What is God doing here? Has God neglected us?

[8:55] Notice what they claimed in chapter 40 and verse 27, where we read there, Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is discarded by my God?

[9:11] Is this what we're like? In the days that we live in Scotland, are we thinking that God is not listening to his people? Has God turned his back? Does he not listen to the cries of his people?

[9:24] But to counter this thought, Isaiah reminds them that how they should consider God at all times, and we see that in verses 28 and 29 in our chapter.

[9:38] Notice what he says, Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God. Oh yes, we know that. That's what we've been taught.

[9:49] We've known that from our youth. The creator of the ends of the earth, he does not faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might, he increases strength.

[10:06] Now, what a contrast this is to the way the children of a Judah were in this passage. What we have, the people, they are fainting, and they grow weary.

[10:20] God doesn't faint. God does not grow weary. The people of Judah grew faint and weary. What about us tonight?

[10:31] Are we growing faint and weary as we work for God? Possibly we do feel like that many a time. There are many circumstances that can get above us, and we are trying to work under the circumstances.

[10:49] But I was listening, I don't know if you do, Al Sabeg's daily readings. Quite often, he speaks about the Christian, and we should never lose the victory sight that we have in Revelation of when the church is home victorious with God.

[11:06] That is our end vision. That is what we are aiming towards. But it is a living hope. It is something that is there, that is ours, in Christ.

[11:18] And the problem is sometimes that when circumstances in our lives, it dulls that vision of victory. And the circumstances get the better of us.

[11:30] But what Al Sabeg was saying, don't allow your circumstances to get the better of you, because your victory is in Christ. That is what the end game is for us, is being with him.

[11:43] So in your circumstances, keep an eye on the end goal. And that is what we have in Christ. That is exactly what Isaiah is doing here with the children of Israel.

[11:57] They are going to be carried off into exile. But that's not the end. They are going to be there for 70 years or so, then some of them will start to come back. But you know what I found really sad about this?

[12:09] And you can read this chapter, yourselves. It may be worth reading when you go home to get the context. It is what Hezekiah said in verse 8 of chapter 39.

[12:21] After he said to him, Isaiah said to him, your children are going to be carried off. But this is what Hezekiah said. Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, the word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.

[12:34] For he thought there will be peace and security in my days. What he's saying is this. As long as it doesn't happen in my day, I'm happy with that.

[12:47] As long as things remain in my day as they are, peace in my day. What about your children and your grandchildren? What about them?

[12:58] Are you not thinking about them, Mezekiah? And that is a picture that we need to remember as a church too. It's not just the here and now. It is what we're leaving behind for our children and our grandchildren.

[13:13] And it's having this vision that children yet unborn will praise and magnify the Lord. That's true. But will it be our children that's praising and magnifying the Lord?

[13:27] Or has God, like Israel, turned His back on His people and gone to other people where they'll praise and magnify the Lord? You see, that's the danger that God will turn His back on us.

[13:43] And there is no circumstance at all where God is going to faint and grow weary. That's our constant. The God that we pray to daily.

[13:55] But the strongest of us, what are we like? Look at verse 30. Even youths shall faint and be weary and young men shall fall exhausted.

[14:09] John L. Mackay in a study in Isaiah spoke here about these young men, youths and young men. Who are they? They were actually, the picture is that they were young soldiers.

[14:21] The best that Judah had. Young men at their vigor of life, the strongest of life, that is them. What are they like?

[14:32] They grow faint. They are exhausted. That is the picture. Now the idea is to overcome, to be overcome by our circumstances and the hardness of life.

[14:46] That is what's happening here. So you see, the first readers of this, they were about to lose hope because they were going to be taken away into exile. They thought of being carried away and that was the end.

[14:58] God has turned His back on us. But we see a transformation take place here in our chapter, verse 31. But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.

[15:15] They shall renew their strength where the faint and the weary are renewed in their strength. How can that come about? Well, He tells us, those who wait on the Lord.

[15:31] It's the ones who wait on the Lord that will be renewed in strength. And this reminds us, and I want you to turn with me just for a short time to Psalm 40. Maybe we should have sung it, but it doesn't matter.

[15:44] We've got it here in our Bibles on page 561. Page 561 in our Bible and it starts to the choir master a Psalm of David. And I want you to notice there what it reminds us of, what he says, what David says.

[15:59] I waited patiently for the Lord. Who are the ones who will have their strength renewed? It is the ones who wait on the Lord.

[16:12] But the Psalmist David says, it's the ones who patiently wait on the Lord. They, notice, He inclined to me and heard my cry.

[16:25] What is this waiting here? What does it imply? What does it tell us? Well, it doesn't mean like, right, I'm going to wait and I'm going to sit back and relax and I'm just going to wait for God to all that God is going to do.

[16:38] I do nothing in my waiting. No, that's not what He's on about. He's on about an active waiting. Waiting. Waiting in the sense that you're busy in the work for the Lord.

[16:50] But you are waiting for the Lord to come into the situation in the busyness of you working for God. As Paul called us, co-workers with God in the work.

[17:03] Not a bystander watching it all happening. No, it is someone that is busy working with the Lord. And what is interesting as well about the word wait is that it means that you rest and trust in the Lord.

[17:20] Resting, not in an idle kind of way, but resting on His word and trusting in His word that God will be faithful in helping us.

[17:33] And this is how you can patiently wait on Him. And there is a sense of anticipation as we wait on the Lord. Do you know what? I've been waiting on the Lord, praying to the Lord about His work, and I am waiting, expecting something to happen.

[17:52] Is that the way we see our lives? Expecting something? Ah, but look at all the knockbacks and all the disappointments we get week in, week out.

[18:03] There is nothing happening. What do you do? You keep on being busy. You keep on waiting upon the Lord because He is your rest and your trust.

[18:14] And when we do that, look to Him and wait on Him, there is a rest in your heart and soul. Because you're resting in His word.

[18:25] God knows better than I do. I just get weary and exhausted by it all. But my God does not. He doesn't get weary. So I trust in Him.

[18:38] And notice what happens in Psalm 40 and verse 1. He inclined to me and heard my cry. I waited. I remember Don McLeod one time.

[18:50] He was a professor in our college and I heard him preaching one time in Psalm 40. It is like God in heaven going like this. Shh! I'm hearing one of my children crying and he inclines his ear down to listen.

[19:07] You know, I think it's one of the most lovely pictures especially of a parent, a mother and a cry of a child. And the child is crying and the mother or the father puts down their ear to them to listen and to hear what is wrong.

[19:22] Have you ever heard a child when they're crying you're very hard to understand what they're trying to say. But what is amazing is how a mother can understand you know, we're looking after our grandson and he's coming out he's only two and he's coming out with words and what does that mean?

[19:38] What's he saying there? But it's incredible how mum knows or dad knows what they're saying. When we cry to God it might not be the best of English that we're saying it in but God understands what we're saying and he inclines is here towards us.

[19:58] And notice what he does and we see that he drew me up from the pit of destruction. This pit of despair that is that we all know what that pit is.

[20:14] We know that we in our own strength cannot get out of there. We are stuck in our circumstances whatever they may be.

[20:27] But notice how lovely this is. He drew me he drew me up. It's not like a yanking up. No. It is like God's everlasting arms being put into the miry clay and lovingly drawing us out of the mess of life so that we are safely in his arm.

[20:50] It speaks of a tender caring drawing he drew me up. That is the way God deals with us. And from what does he draw us up from?

[21:02] Notice he drew me up from the pit of despair destruction or out of the miry bog. Now can you imagine walking about in a miry bog how tiring that is.

[21:19] I remember one of our boys was put on beta blockers at one time in his life and what the doctor said to him was he loved football played football all the time but the doctor said to him see when you're on there it is like running through treacle and I'm afraid you're going to have to give up football.

[21:39] He couldn't run to save himself. It was like walking through the miry clay. That is where God picks us up off. Every step has huge energy sapping effect.

[21:54] And what does God do? He lifts us up out of that and he puts us on solid rock. You know I'm sure walkers and I know Norman and Sheila and some farmers will know all about this.

[22:08] When we're walking through miry clay or mud or everything and you come on to something solid. Isn't it interesting what we do? We stamp our feet to get rid of all the dirt and the mire.

[22:21] Why do we do that? Because we're standing on something solid now. What is that something solid we're standing on? It is Christ.

[22:33] On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground the sinking sand. There is a sense of freedom and enjoyment now that all the weight and the mire has fallen off and there's a spring in our step as we walk because God has lifted us up, drew us up from destruction and put our feet upon a rock.

[23:04] What does this bring about for us? Well notice he said that he took us out of the mighty bog and set my feet upon the rock making my steps secure.

[23:18] Well there's only security in Christ. That is the only place that we're going to find security and you know there's something lovely about this when you are going through and you're wondering if I'm going to sink on this ground but when you get onto something solid you know then that there's security in this.

[23:36] I am safe now. That is what God is talking about. God lifts you out of the mire and sets your feet upon the rock bringing security making my steps secure but also Isaiah 40 and verse 31 where it says that 31 but they who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.

[24:01] See the difference before you were putting your energy in all walking through the mire. God has lifted you out of there put your feet on a rock and now what he's done is giving you extra power because your feet is on something solid.

[24:18] He has renewed our strength and those today who are Christians those of us in Christ he has given us that surety and that security that we know we stand on Christ.

[24:34] This is what waiting on the Lord does for us. He renews our strength and he places us on solid ground. Then we read in Isaiah chapter 40 those who wait on the Lord they shall renew their strength.

[24:51] Then he says secondly they shall mount up with wings like eagles. Not only as your feet on solid ground now you are able to soar like an eagle.

[25:07] How are you able to do that? You see the renewed strength that God has given us it's not natural strength. You are able to do things that before were impossible for us to do.

[25:23] God gives us the strength to do that. And what a lovely picture the picture of an eagle. Do you have sea eagles? Do you have sea eagles in Dumfries? We have them up in the western highlands and we used to have when we were in Luz we used to see one as we used to cross over the moor from Carloway to Stornoway and no joking they were so beautiful in flight.

[25:47] Six feet of a wingspan that these birds have but the eagle is such a good choice here because first of all of its strength secondly of its elegance and thirdly its vision and this is so important for us as Christians to be encouraged God doesn't choose these things just for the sake of we'll choose an eagle just for the sake of it no God chooses these things for a purpose first of all the eagle strength we see God portraying his own strength as the strength of the eagle in Exodus chapter 19 4 I'll read it to save and you can look it up later on if you want where God said to the children of Israel as they were at Mount Sinai just about to receive the law and this is what he said you yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself do you see there's that kind of picture here too of being lifted out of the mighty clay doesn't the eagle do that when the eaglets are about ready to fly what the eagle does it picks away at the foliage of the nest to make the nest more uncomfortable because first of all she makes the nest with sticks and spiky things and then she covers it with wool and her own feathers plucks her own feathers to make it comfortable but as the eaglets are getting older she starts to pluck away at the nest to make it uncomfortable because if she left it the way it was then the eaglet would never leave but she's wanting the eaglet to fly to grow to mature so she starts plucking at that and one day she pushes the eaglet out so as the eaglet will fly but quite often the eaglet are not ready for that and they are falling to the ground but what happens is that the eagle comes along and scoops the eaglet up with the power of her wings and takes her back to the nest until she is ready again to do it you yourselves

[28:04] God said have seen what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself yes the Egyptian army were coming after them and the waters were scattered were scattered east to west of whichever way north or south they walked through that with the army coming but God in his protection carried Israel over like on eagles wings and the waters came and flooded their enemy and killed them there is the strength of the eagle notice what he said they shall mount up with wings like eagles not their own strength but the strength that God has given them but then secondly I think of the elegance of the eagle is there anything in flight more beautiful than seeing the eagle gracefully soaring above you and is there anything anything more beautiful than witnessing a Christian who is soaring in life for Jesus

[29:15] Christ someone that you've met and they display God and Jesus in word and in action have you ever spent time with someone like that and said oh how Christ like that person is it was just lovely to be in his company I think I told you before about Kenny MacDonald who was the minister in Roskeen and when he was studying for the free church ministry in second year I think coming into his final year his daughter went missing in India and Kashmir and for years and years and years Kenny and Rita believed that Alison was still alive and they would go over to search for her but come back after another fruitless journey but there was someone saying someone in his church and he came back like during the week and on the Sunday they were having communion in Roskeen and he preached on the sufferings of Christ on the cross and he did it lovingly and she said I've never seen anyone so

[30:23] Christ like in this world as he preached about his beloved saviour but yet their circumstances were so difficult to lose a daughter in India and not knowing where she was what happens was that in God's love he lifted him hip and soared in the elegance of Christ in his life as he displayed that to the people who listened to the gospel message there's something about Christians who soared isn't there and then thirdly there's the vision of the eagle well just like the seagull the wingspan was said about six feet and they cover an area of 70 square kilometers huge area how are they able to do that to cover such a wide area it is because of their vision which is second to none they say that they can see the smallest of details from a great distance and you know there's something about the

[31:36] Christian whose vision is in Christ that soars in the Lord you see what happens is this and you know it yourselves those who have been maybe you were brought to church coming to church for years and the Bible was just as dry as any other book but you know what God opened your eyes to understand this word and your vision became 20-20 vision clear and you began to understand things that you never understood before it is God that has done that to see the small details and the truth of scripture is made alive for you and in the first instance you believe it and you put your faith in it and God does it stop there no no it doesn't think of us as a young Christian I remember I was given a book I can't remember the title of the book now and I remember when I got as a young Christian this man said to me read that and you'll really enjoy it

[32:38] I didn't understand a word of it not a word but you know I went back to it two or three years later and I really enjoyed it I wasn't ready for it then at the beginning but you see what is happening is your vision is God given and it is a progressive vision and you begin to get more vision the more you delve into God's word and what happens is that you mount up with wings like eagles and from that lofty position you are starting to see things in God's word that you never saw before it's lovely when you hear an old Christian coming out I put it down to memory but when they come out and say do you know what Kenny I never heard that before I never heard that before and isn't that lovely an older Christian someone in their 80s and they're still hungry to hear God's word I want to hear I want to see it from my lofty position that God has brought me to so as to hear and to understand and to say yes

[33:47] I know what you're saying Lord here well we are told about them they will not those who wait those who wait those who mount up on wings and then we see thirdly they shall run and not grow weary in verse 31 there are many illustrations in scripture in regards to the Christian life as being in a race if you can turn to Hebrews 12 with me and there we see the writer to the Hebrews talking about a person in a race what is what it says Hebrews 12 it's on page 1212 in our Bibles page 1212 1212 therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking to

[34:50] Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of glory what do we have here in regards to this what is he talking about what is he talking about here well he's talking about a runner and if we're serious about the race then what do we do we take off every weight that's going to hinder us you don't turn up for a marathon wearing the old fishing gear with wellies and oil skin no you throw these things you throw them off you're there in your shorts and your t-shirt you want to be as light as possible nothing hinders us and what we need to remember about that weight is this or the hindrances he's not talking about sins he's not talking about sins it could be friendship it could be an association it could be a habit it could be a pleasure or it could be entertainment or dare I say it could be religion that is hindering us these things they may be good in themselves but if they weigh us down then we must strip them away so as to run the race we have to run the race and then there is of course the sin that clings to us and sin which clings so closely to us what does that mean it means that we are easily entangled by the sins in life well we're never going to run well if we allow these sins to continue in our lives when we do and when we're ready to strip all of that away we are then ready to run the race with endurance that God has set before us now what is interesting about this race is that we all have our own races to run each runner has his own or her own specific race mapped out for them there's going to be obstacles along the way you can be sure of that and we know that the race is a marathon it is not a sprint but the amazing thing is that each of us can finish the race we can all finish the race that is without exception the ones who are in Christ the race that is marked out for us we can finish it and more than likely

[37:40] I couldn't run your race and you couldn't run my race but the thing is this you can finish your race and I can finish mine and yes we can finish well if we continue to do what to put Jesus before us the author and perfecter of our faith looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith so if we wait if we soar like an eagle if we run and then finally they shall walk and not faint they shall walk and not faint Isaiah 40 31 John L Mackay again said that each stage above he said rather than represented successive stages in life's journey each picture reinforces the others in conveying the strength that Yahweh imparts to those who rely on him so whatever we're doing tonight whether we're waiting whether we're soaring like an uncarried on eagle's wings whether we're running whether we're walking doesn't necessarily come one after the other it is whenever any of them come what we know is God's strength is able to carry us and we can rely on that there were two friends there could have been a couple who knows that were walking back to Emmaus one evening after the

[39:22] Sabbath was over and they relied on Jesus heavily by their hopes and dreams but that was dashed one Friday outside Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified and you could really say that that day their hope had died nothing else for it but to go home after the Jewish Sabbath what was the point in staying behind in Jerusalem there was nothing left for them there so they made their journey the seven miles back to Emmaus but they were met by a stranger along the way who walked with them and he asked them what's wrong why is it that you're so sad with your conversation what is the problem if you turn to Luke chapter 24 and there we read in verse 27 Luke 24 and 27 where Jesus it was Jesus who met with them and walked with them in their despondency and there in verse 27 we read where it says and beginning with Moses and all the prophets he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself he speaks to them what does he do he comes into their circumstances and without them knowing it he lifted them above their circumstances because there is something about the one that you put your hope in all is not lost because of the crucifixion it's not lost in fact this is your victory and you know there's something lovely isn't there about walking with Jesus walking with Jesus whatever we're doing it's interesting whatever the

[41:26] Christian's doing have you ever thought of when you see someone in town or someone like that they may be in their way in their way in their mind you wonder you wonder are they walking with Jesus is that what they're doing just now is he is he opening the scriptures out to them up to them while they walk with him along the way who knows before you know it our hearts could be burning within us because we've invited him to come with us on whatever journey that we are on one thing is sure for those who walk with Jesus no matter how despondent you feel at the beginning of the journey if Christ has gone with you before you reach you will have this burning heart or at least you will be lifted above your circumstances because you have rested you have waited and you have trusted in God we sometimes need to do that we need to stop and we need to say

[42:35] Lord we need to go for a walk we need to go for a walk me and you will you come with me because I need you in my situation and you know you know what this journey was like he will open up he opened up their hearts they couldn't but be strengthened and as we see in Luke chapter 24 and verse 33 we read there and they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem oh it was dangerous to do that no one walked at night because of the highways and byways and the thieves and robbers who were in highways and byways but you know what although they were fools before for not trusting in the scriptures now that they got it they are fools for Jesus and there was nothing nothing would keep them back we need to tell the others and notice when they rose they went to

[43:39] Jerusalem and they found the eleven those who were with them gathered together saying oh God had gone before them the Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon then after they got their bit done they then were allowed to pour out their hearts oh you'll never will you believe this that he walked with us to Emmaus and he opened to us the scriptures opened to us the scriptures they told what had happened on the road and how he was known to them and the breaking of the bread well what are our prospects for 2023 well I suppose that depends on whether we wait on the Lord or not doesn't it if we wait on the Lord then you will stand you will fly you will run and you will walk and you will not faint and you will not grow weary if we walk in the Lord we pray that God would bless this year and it is our prayer for you that God would bless you in

[45:06]  Dumfries may God bless his word our closing surrender zero then do that eighty then get a thing for you a hundred and нашего after Peter Bell ami oh d yeah k get it but the