Using the Methods of God, Part 2

Recap: The Message and the Man of God

0:02 introductory way with the church at Ephesus, particularly the materials scripture affords us for answering such questions as, how did the church come to be at Ephesus? What were the factors which God used to give birth to and establish the church, which later became the recipient of that great letter which we intend to study in a very close and consecutive manner. The Lord willing, next, not next Lord's Day, Pastor Chanter will be with us, but the following Lord's Day, beginning then in chapter 1 and in verse 1. But using materials which scripture gives to us and a little light shed upon some of these questions from secular sources, we have considered the city of Ephesus and its people. What were they like prior to the coming of the gospel of Christ? We have seen that that city was in a very real sense the epitome of what heathenism could produce. It had its great temple, it had its temple worship, but coupled with all this religiosity was this moral bankruptcy and this terrible spiritual darkness so that the apostle can say that the people were without hope and without God.

1:26 They were without God in the world. They were by nature the children of wrath fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And we looked at the labors of the apostle Paul and his companions and the fruit of those labors in the establishment of the church and in a challenging of the very structure of the heathen religion which centered around the temple constructed to Diana, the great goddess of the Ephesians. And now for the passage.

1:56 In the last three weeks we've been seeking to answer the question, how did this come to pass? What does a man do or what do men do or what does God do to bring about such a change in a city to establish a virile church such as the church established at Ephesus? And the general answer which we have seen is that the grace of God working in keeping with the eternal purpose of God is the reason why such a thing comes to pass. And the teaching of chapter one in Ephesians is that all that transpired in those people was that which God did in grace according to eternal purpose. But since God is the God of means, we have been looking in some detail as to consider what means God used to work in his grace.

2:56 And we have thus far considered that it was basically the means which God always uses to establish his church, namely the message of God proclaimed by a man of God employing the methods of God. And so we looked at the message. Would we see other churches established to which instruction such as we find in the book of Ephesians? Would we see other churches established to which instruction such as we find in the book of Ephesians?

3:27 Should come and be of encouragement and strength? Why then we must begin where Paul began, namely in a proclamation of the message of God which he himself calls in Acts 20 a testifying of the gospel of the grace of God, breaking it down in Acts 20.21 to preaching repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, summarized in Acts 20.27 as declaring, But the message comes through men, and in a very real sense, from the human standpoint, the effectiveness of the message will be in direct proportion to the godliness and spiritual reality of the messenger. And so the man through whom God works is set before us beautifully in the 20th chapter of the book of Acts, where standing before the Ephesian elders, he says, He says, He says, A manner of man I was amongst you, a man of humility, a man of compassion, a man of selfless abandonment to the needs of others. Now we come this morning to the last factor in this matter of the means God uses to accomplish his purposes of grace, and it's what I have called the method of God.

The Methods of God: Seizing Platforms and Verbal Communication

4:50 For the church at Ephesus was established not only by the message of God coming through a man, not only by the man of God using any old kind of method, but rather it was the message coming through the man employing the methods which God had given. We've looked at the first two parts of that method. First of all, it involved a seizing of every legitimate platform for an uncompromising, unaccommodating communication of the message. He went into the synagogue.

5:26 He went. He went to the school of Tyrannus. These became platforms for proclamation. Secondly, he exercised every form of verbal communication.

5:38 In Acts 20 and Acts 18 and 19, you find such words as these. Reasoning, spake boldly, testifying, admonishing, declaring, all various forms of verbal communication. So the method of the apostles, then, was to seize legitimate platforms from which he could proclaim the message. Then, as he had his platform to use every form of verbal communication, public and private, for he said, I taught you publicly and from house to house.

The Methods of God: Organizing Converts into Functioning Churches

6:15 And now, thirdly, he carefully organized the living fruit of his communication into functioning churches. Not only did he seize a platform from which he could preach, and then exercise every form of verbal communication in his preaching, but he carefully organized the living fruit of the communication of that message into functioning churches. Now, let me explain the statement, then we'll turn to Scripture to see it demonstrated. As Paul preached, there were some who responded in a positive manner to his message.

6:59 From God's standpoint, as Paul preached, some were effectually called. The Spirit regenerated them and enabled them to perceive the message and gave them a saving sight of the Savior and His salvation. From man's standpoint, as Paul preached, some repented and some believed. They were converted.

7:25 Now, as there was this, this living fruit born through the communication of the message of God through the man of God, what did the apostle do? Did he simply say, alright, the gospel has been the power of God unto salvation to some, it's been the savor of life unto life, and since they're born of the Spirit, and where two or three are gathered together, there God is present by the Spirit. Now, let's just go on to another place, see some more platforms, use every form of verbal communication, and see some more fruit, and then go on. No, he didn't do this.

Scriptural Proof: Paul's Organization of the Ephesian Church

8:01 No, no. Having secured his platform, having preached, having seen some living fruit from that message, he was careful to organize that living fruit into a functioning church. Now, the proof of this statement, turn please to the book of Acts, and chapter 19. The apostle, after a brief stay, at Ephesus, has gone elsewhere, and upon returning, he goes back to the synagogue.

8:41 There he's got his platform. Acts 19.8. He entered into the synagogue and spake boldly for the space of three months, reasoning and persuading as to the things concerning the kingdom of God.

8:55 But when some were hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the way before the multitude, he departed from them, and here's the key phrase, and separated, the disciples.

9:10 Up until this time, there was this mixed group of those who were sympathetic to the message and were the living fruits of that message, along with those who were becoming increasingly hardened under the preaching of the gospel. And at this point, the scripture is very clear that he separated the disciples, and this separating, this calling out of, and this setting, apart from the others, becomes the beginning of the body of God's people at Ephesus. So that there is, even at this point in his evangelistic outreach, a recognizable body of believers. It doesn't say he separated the disciples and their children, but he separated the disciples, those who had adhered to the message of the gospel. And I get a bit weary with some of my Paedo-Baptist friends, who say, well, since the New Testament is silent, as far as any command not to baptize infants, we ought to do it. And the argument from silence becomes their great club. And yet when we read that churches are made up of believers, they say the silence about the children means nothing.

10:25 Well, we can't have our club in one hand, and then relinquish it in the other. If we're going to use the club of silence, let us use it emphatically. And the scripture is emphatic, that Paul separated, unto himself, or unto this separate ministry, those who were the disciples, who had professed adherence to the message, and to the Christ, who was the focal point of that message. Now, a couple of years after ministering in Ephesus, continuing to preach the word from the school of Tyrannus, and apparently sending out the disciples on different preaching tours, so that all of Asia is confronted with the ministry, with the ministry, with the message of salvation, he returns shortly after to visit with the elders from that church. Now, what does this tell us when we read in Acts 20 and verse 17, that he is able to send to Ephesus and call the elders of the church? Well, it tells us that from the time that he separated the disciples in the school of Tyrannus, and the time that he completed his ministry, a couple of years afterwards, he had instructed these people in the whole matter of church order, that there were to be spiritual overseers called elders. Secondly, he not only instructed them as to church order,

11:54 but he took sufficient time to instruct men, who showed the necessary gifts and graces for the eldership, so that in this chapter, Acts 20, he is able to put the whole, the whole future spiritual health of the church at Ephesus, in the hands of these that we would call relative babes in Christ. He is able to say to them, verse 28 of Acts 20, Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in the which the Holy Spirit hath made you overseers, to feed the flock, which he, to feed the church of the Lord, which he purchased with his own blood. I know that after my, my departing grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock from your own selves, shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore, watch ye. So here's a group of people, able not only to positively feed the flock, that they might come to maturity, but discerning enough to recognize error, and to deal with it in the midst of the church. Now how does that happen?

13:06 That after a period of just, probably, three years plus a little bit more time, you have a church, which has a plurality of elders, sufficiently grounded in the truth, that they can feed the people of God, and can beat away the wolves, who would bring in the heresy. Now does that just happen? No, that doesn't just happen. That comes to pass when a man has a clear vision, of what his task in evangelism is.

13:34 Not only to get a platform from which to preach, not only to exercise, every form of verbal communication, but to carefully organize the fruits of that communication, into functioning churches. And so the very fact that the apostle, could call for elders, and lay the responsibility upon the elders, is an indication of his vision, and of his intense activity, in trying to squeeze into a relatively brief time, all the instruction, and wisdom that was necessary, in order to leave the care of this church, in the hands of these, that we would call relative babes in Christ. Now a third evidence of his concern, is that some years later, and the chronology of 1st Timothy, is a very difficult thing, I've been doing some reading, and the more I read, the more I get confused. So you have that problem at times, I have that problem, and I have that problem, and just precisely when, 1st Timothy was written, is not certain, and just exactly the time, when Paul said this to Timothy, is not clear. But one thing is clear, that Paul was so sharp, and committed to this vision, of organizing sound, stable churches, after the pattern of God's directive,

15:03 that he not only gives himself to that ministry, when he is at Ephesus, and then on his way, through calls the elders, and charges them with this responsibility, but sometime later, he takes a great preacher, off the evangelistic tour, and he says, this is what I want you to do, 1st Timothy chapter 1, in verse 3, as I exhorted thee to tarry at Ephesus, when I was going into Macedonia, and why did he leave him at Ephesus? Well, one of the reasons, follows right after the phrase I've read, he wanted him there, to expose error, to establish people in the truth, but then he goes on, to give directions in chapter 2, about what the people of God should do, in their public meetings, how women should and should not, conduct themselves in the church, chapter 3, he deals with the qualifications for elders, for deacons, he gives him a whole bunch of instruction, relative to the function of churches, and he summarizes his purpose in chapter 3, and verses 14 and 15, these things I write unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly, but, if I tarry long, that thou mayest know, how men ought to behave themselves, in the house of God,

16:30 which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of the truth, you see what he's saying? He's saying, if I were coming, this is what I would be doing, what would you be doing, Paul? He said, my primary task in coming back, would not be, new and wider circles of evangelistic endeavor, now that there are some living fruits of that endeavor, my concern would be, to give further instruction, about the life and conduct, of the church that is already established, and since I don't know how long it will be, before I can come back, Timothy, as long as, you're there, and I'm charging you to stay there, you do, in my place, what I would have done, had I been able to stay at Ephesus.

The Funnel Method: A Principle of Apostolic Evangelism

17:19 Now, what does this tell us? Well, on the very surface of things, it tells us, that the method employed by the apostle, was one which involved, what I have called, this careful organization, of the living fruits, of evangelism, into functioning churches.

17:40 He was not content, to have, this platform to preach in the synagogue, and in the school of Tyrannus, this was his burden, and the best way I know to illustrate it, is the illustration of a funnel. Now, will you picture, a big blackboard up here, and on that blackboard is a big funnel, the top of the funnel, is about the width of my arms, and then the funnel is, coming down like this, and here's the spout at the bottom. Now, Paul's method, directed, by the spirit, was the funnel method. In his evangelism, he held out the wide end of the funnel, and wherever he could get a sounding board, for the gospel, he preached that gospel. He preached it freely, preached it fully. But his concern was, that all of the fruits, of that evangelism, should come down, into the narrow neck of the funnel, and drop down into what? Vital, organized, functioning churches.

18:42 See, he was not content to have this wide end, of just preaching, preaching, preaching, preaching, preaching, and just let the fruits of that preaching, do what they would. No, no. He was constantly causing all of those living fruits, to be funneled down into, and involved in, functioning churches, organized after the pattern given to him, by the living God. And so, it's not surprising then, to find, not only, at Ephesus, but in the entirety of the apostles ministry, this principle.

Further Scriptural Proof: Consistency Across Paul's Ministry

19:17 So let's look then, at a couple of other passages, which indicate, that his labors at Ephesus, were not an exception, but were simply another illustration, of the general principle. Notice the pivotal passage, in the 14th chapter of Acts. In Acts chapter 14, we read in verse 21, And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, and to Iconium, and to Antioch. And what did they do, is they returned to these places, where they had previously preached, confirming the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many tribulations, we must enter into the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed for them, elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed. See what the Apostle does? He went into these towns, and held out the open end of the funnel, and he preached, and some were converted, they were living fruits of the ministry.

20:37 Now, rather than say, alright, we'll just leave it to the Holy Spirit now, he's created the life, let him take care of the life, since he brought them to birth, he can bring them to maturity, he didn't have that attitude. He deliberately planned his itinerary, so that on the way back to Antioch, he would stop at these places, to strengthen the believers, and then, since enough time had passed, that men's gifts and graces had come to light, they would see those who were qualified to be true elders, and they would not leave, till they had appointed them to their task, and then solemnly committed them to that task, with prayer and with fasting. Now, this didn't just happen. This was the result of a man who had a clear vision of what the method of God was with respect to his evangelistic endeavor. Now, in 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5, and I use this because the book of 1 Thessalonians is perhaps the first epistle of the epistles of Paul. It's written probably about 45 AD. It is a very simple epistle, in terms of its doctrinal content.

21:55 It doesn't go into the great heights that you find in Ephesians, filled with much doctrine, much practical instruction. But the uniqueness of Thessalonica was that Paul was there probably the shortest time that he was in any area where we know that a church was established. He was there a very brief time, perhaps just a matter of weeks. And yet, when he writes to this infant church, notice what he can say in verse 12 of chapter 5.

22:22 We beseech you, brethren, to know them that labor among you and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you, and esteem them exceeding highly in love for their work's sake. He assumes that they have elders, that they know who their elders are, what the official responsibility of the elders is, and now he's telling them what their attitude should be. Now, does that just happen, that a man should evangelize for a brief period of time, be taken away for another period of time, and then be able to write back and see that the church is constituted and organized along the lines, excuse me, of the directive of God? No, that doesn't just happen. It's the result of clarity of vision put into operation by the power of the Holy Spirit. You find this same concern of the apostle coming out in his letter to Titus. For what was Titus?

23:24 Well, basically, Titus was to the churches of Crete what Timothy was to the churches of Asia Minor. They were not pastors as such, and they were not bishops. They were apostolic substitutes and representatives. They were doing in Crete and in Asia Minor what Paul would be doing if he had been able to stay on.

23:48 So what does he tell Timothy? He gives him all kinds of church directives for the believers at Ephesus, and says, Implement those until I come. And he says precisely the same thing to Titus, chapter 1, verse 5, For this cause I left thee in Crete, to do what? To evangelize the hamlets that had not yet been reached?

24:09 No. No! For this cause I left thee in Crete, to see more souls won directly by your preaching? No. Now, I'm not demeaning preaching in those hamlets. I trust I was sincere when I prayed this morning, and I hope your heart went out with me as we prayed that the gospel would penetrate areas where Christ's name has never been preached. But notice what he says, For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are lacking. Lacking in what?

24:41 In the organization of the churches and appoint elders in every city. And then he goes on to give the requirements for the elders. Now, why does that happen? A man whose compassion for sinners drives him to preach day and night, to sacrifice not only privileges and legitimate liberties, but life itself.

25:04 He says, I don't count my life dear unto myself that I may finish my course. What causes a man to pull a servant of Christ out from so-called frontline evangelism and bury him where the gospels already come, where there already are believers? I mean, isn't this unreasonable? As long as there are souls who haven't heard the message, what right does Titus have to spend all his time in the churches?

25:29 This is the philosophy that pervades in our day, doesn't it? We've got to get the gospel out. Get a platform to preach, preach, and when people get saved, go on, go on. No, no, no, no.

Reasons for the Apostolic Method: Truth, Sanctification, and God's Dwelling

25:43 He said, I am concerned that the living fruits of my ministry in Crete find expression in healthy, biblically constituted churches so Titus, you set in order the things that are lacking. And then he goes on to give these various directions about the appointment of elders, about various facets of church life. Now, why did the apostle do this? Well, I don't know all the reasons, but I think it's accurate to say he did this because he was convinced that the church was exactly what he calls it in 1 Timothy 3.15, the pillar and the ground of the truth. In any given place, what is it that supports the truth as a pillar supports a roof? Or he mixes his figures, so I don't mind mixing them sometimes because he does here. He says it's not only the pillars that support the roof of truth, it's the very foundation that supports the pillars that support the roof.

26:44 The church is the pillar and the ground of the truth so that in any given area, the permanence of truth in that area the proclamation of truth in that area, the embodiment of truth in human lives in that area will be in direct proportion to the health of a functioning church. And it was Paul's great love for the truth that caused him to have such vision with regard to the organizing of functioning churches because he viewed the church as the pillar and ground of the truth. So if it was a crumbling pillar and a shoddy foundation, the cause of truth would suffer. And it was this vision that caused him in the method of God to seize his platform, preach his message, and then carefully organize all of its fruits into these functioning churches. Another reason, Paul had captured something of the biblical concept that we'll deal with, God willing, in more detail in a future Sunday night message in the series on sanctification, the place of the church in the sanctifying process. But suffice it to say that Paul realized that the carrying on of the process of sanctification,

28:12 God had ordained to do this in the community of the saints. That this process did not go on in isolation. A believer here, a believer there, a believer there. But as you read the epistles, again and again, you catch this mood in the apostles' thinking that the sanctifying work of God goes on in the tight-knit community of a true living fellowship, a true church.

28:40 So all of these admonitions, let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, each esteem other better than themselves, endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace, in honor preferring one another, submitting one another to another, the elder be subject, the younger be subject to the elder, be clothed with humility. All of these exhortations are meaningless apart from the perspective that the fruits of evangelism were organized into tight-knit functioning assemblies, if you like the term, New Testament churches. And the apostle realized this. And so his great concern then for these who had been brought into the faith, as he says, I have begotten you through the gospel, what was his longing? Not that men be merely begotten, but that they come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. And he knew that God had ordained that it would be through the church that this process would go on. Therefore, his great concern for the truth, secondly, his great concern for the sanctification of God's people.

29:52 And then I say it reverently, God the apostle knew that God had chosen as his dwelling place in any given area his gathered people. He brings this out so clearly in his letters to the people at Corinth. He says, don't you know that ye are a temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? In 1 Corinthians 6 he deals with the individual believer as the temple, but in 1 Corinthians 3 he says the church is the temple.

30:23 The church is God's temple. He said, I laid the foundation as a wise master builder. Someone else came along and built on it, but you are God's temple. And he wanted his temple to be glorious, not shoddy and shabby.

Application: The Dangers of Disregarding the Church

30:39 He longed for that temple which has not only life, but has structure. He longed that it be structured according to the will and purpose of his God. Well, I don't think I need to labor the point anymore to show that when we state that the method of God imposes and employed by the Apostle involves this principle, we are not merely injecting into Scripture a pet theme, but extracting from Scripture a warranted conclusion. Now, by way of application, may I say several things that I trust will be helpful to us?

31:18 I think it should be obvious to many of us that ignorance and disregard for this principle have been the mother and father of a whole host of problems, and have brought upon us a veritable anarchy in evangelical circles in which every man does that which is right in his own eyes. We've got evangelists and evangelistic movements that say the Church is no concern to me, God's called me to preach the Gospel, and I leave what happens afterwards to the Holy Spirit. My question to such, and it is a loving question, but a firm one, where in Scripture are you warranted to take that position? Where?

31:59 Jesus said, Make disciples, then baptize them, gather them into visible communities, then teach them to observe all that I have commanded you. And that's the whole mandate. And no man has any right to say, my responsibility is just the first. He may say, I have peculiar gifts in the making of disciples.

32:20 That's different. Or I have peculiar gifts in the teaching of disciples. That's different. But those gifts must be exercised within the framework of the whole, and in a context in which the whole perspective is understood and embraced.

32:37 We have evangelistic movements that utterly ignore the issue of the Church. Some of you can't appreciate what this is like, but I can. I was brought up in one, the Salvation Army. I was brought up never once, thinking there was anything important in baptism or the Lord's Supper because the Salvation Army is seeking to function as sort of a Church.

32:58 Yet the position is that since these ordinances have been such a hotbed of controversy through the centuries, it must not be that important. So old General Booth instructed all of his soldiers not to bother with the ordinances. I went to two interdenominational schools where never once was I led to believe that the Church was anything to really get too much excited about. No doctrine of the Church ever taught.

33:24 Training missionaries, training pastors, Christian workers, going out to work. No thought that there'd be just might be something necessary to tie yourself into a Church before you go apply to the mission board. Never once. Never once.

33:39 Those are the people going out doing grassroots evangelism and seeing the fruits of evangelism. Is it no wonder that there's so little doctrine of the Church on mission fields? When those who've planted the churches have been produced by schools that have no doctrine of the Church? By young men and women who've come out of churches that have no doctrine of the Church?

34:01 And then we see this anarchy? It's no wonder. And I don't say this to be critical. It'd be negative.

Application: Vital Involvement in Functioning Churches

34:08 These are merely facts that anyone who looks can see. And it's because the divine method as well as the divine message has been ignored or twisted. And so my exhortation to you as God's people today would be this. If you are a living fruit of God's message, then you ought to be vitally involved with a functioning assembly.

34:36 If you've heard the message of God and God has enabled you to repent and to believe, you have no business being detached from an organized, functioning assembly of God's people. I'm not out pushing for church members. I'm just proclaiming the principle of Holy Scripture. The Bible nowhere recognizes such a person as an unrepentant believer.

35:01 No such thing. No such thing. Neither does the Bible recognize a non-churched disciple. There's no such thing.

35:10 I challenge you to find in Scripture a non-churched disciple as you cannot find a non-repentant believer. When a man truly repents, he believes. And in the whole thrust of the evangelism of the New Testament, when a man became a disciple, he became involved with the functioning body of the people of God. Second exhortation that I would give based upon the principle studied this morning is this, that we as God's people must be careful and must be jealous that in every endeavor which we support with our gifts and with our energies, that this perspective is understood and that we operate in the light of it. Ah, but someone objects and says, are you saying God doesn't bless the endeavors of those who simply get a platform and preach and don't seek to form functioning churches? No, it's not a question of what God may bless. Certainly God has blessed such endeavors.

36:16 The question is this, am I warranted to support such endeavors with my gifts and with my energies if they are not scriptural? That's the question. This is not a matter of condemnation. It's a matter of direction for us as God's people.

Conclusion: God's Delight in His Gathered People

36:33 And if God has given us light, then we must walk in that light, lest the light that is in us be darkness. And so as we begin our study in the letter of Paul to the church at Ephesus, and we see the wonderful truths that he unfolds concerning the grace of God and the salvation of God, let us remember that the very fact that there was a church at Ephesus to which he could send a letter was true because a man of God preached the message of God and employed the methods of God. And as by his grace we seek to follow the apostolic example, may God be pleased to use us to see other bastions of heath and darkness and ignorance stormed by the power of the gospel, Satan's captives released, brought into vital union with Christ, and then gathered together in functioning assemblies with constituted oversight and discipline and direction, that God may get glory through his people thus gathered, that the truth may be established and further proclaimed, and that God will have his dwelling places right under the nose of the devil and all that he has wrought in the hearts of men. If we could but see

37:58 the delight God gets this morning when he looks down in this area, God doesn't look down, we're using anthropomorphism, anthropomorphisms, I know. God's not, he's here, he fills heaven and earth, so I'm speaking now in those human terms. But what delights God as he looks down upon this cesspool of iniquity, the new northern New Jersey, New York metropolitan area. Cesspool of iniquity.

38:26 What brings God delight? Is it those two big skyscrapers going up that are going to be the tallest buildings in the world? No, God doesn't even sniff at those. He could make some ten thousand times higher than that by a snap of his fingers and by a word of his mouth.

38:41 That doesn't impress him. That doesn't bring delight to him. What brings delight to him? May I say you know what brings delight to him?

38:46 You see a body of people sitting here this morning, gathered in his name, with hearts subject to his dear son, trusting in his son, subject to his word, and seeking to govern all of their corporate life according to that word. This is what brings him delight. His delight is in his gathered people, his church, his purchased one. And to the extent that we bring every facet of our lives corporately and individually under the direction of his word, then we bring him more delight.

39:20 For he said, He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he that loveth me, and he that thus loveth me, shall be what? Shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him. The more we obey him, the more he loves us with that love of complacency and delight, the more he will manifest himself to us. And to do so means that his truth is established and proclaimed, and his glory is reflected in the midst of his people.

39:48 Let us bow before him in prayer.