The Canaanization of Israel • 05.08.22
Nick Lees   -   May 8, 2022

The Canaanization of Israel
Judges 19

Revealing the depths of Israel’s moral corruption

  1. Men abuse/abandon their calling
  2. Gibeah exchanges hospitality for immorality

Here at Harvest, we value what’s known as expositional preaching. That means our aim is to study a passage of Scripture and expose or explain its meaning and application for our lives today. If you have been here for any length of time, then you know that we are typically walking verse-by-verse through a book of the Bible. Occasionally we’ll break from that trend, but by-and-large, we’re systematically studying the Scriptures. We believe that this will help us to teach the full counsel of God and not skip over the hard parts. Today is an example of that principle; we are going to study a hard passage of Scripture… on Mother’s Day, no less. That’s simply how the breakdown of the book of Judges landed. This is not intended to be a Mother’s Day sermon; this is simply what comes next in the text. *Pause*

Now, Judges 19 reveals one of the lowest points in Israel’s history. What you’re about to see is the Bible doesn’t conceal the depravity of man but exposes it. God shoots straight with us about our sin problem, which helps us understand why we so desperately need a Savior! I want to warn you that we’re going to read some shocking descriptions of sin today. May that remind us even more of our need for Jesus! *Pause*

Last week, as we ended the sermon, we talked about the state of Israel by the end of Judges 18. Do you recall what was said? They look a whole lot like the Canaanites they have replaced, just with a different name. This is what is known as the “Canaanization of Israel”.

  • No devotion to Yahweh
  • No integrity
  • Abundant moral/religious failure

They got to this place by failing to take sin seriously and allowing it to continue unaddressed. They also didn’t train up the next generation to know and love the Lord… What we’re going to read today is the next step in the Canaanization process. Judges 19 is going to reveal the depths of Israel’s moral corruption.

Let’s start by reading in 19:1.

Judges 19:1 (ESV)

In those days, when there was no king in Israel,

We’ve heard this before! This is an indicator that what comes next is not going to be good. Everyone is still doing what is right in their own eyes. No one is leading them towards holiness. Let’s keep reading…

a certain Levite was sojourning in the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, who took to himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.

If you were here last week, then you know this is the second time a Levite has been the focus of things going poorly. Last week the Levite, Jonathan, was out wandering around, failing to fulfill his God-given purpose. The way the author introduces this Levite is intended to make you think, “Uh oh, here we go again… another sojourning Levite!” On top of that, this one has a concubine, meaning a second wife. Polygamy was forbidden by God’s law for his people. This man who was supposed to represent God to the people is already revealing he’s living for self… Let’s see how this plays out.

Judges 19:2–15 (ESV)

2 And his concubine was unfaithful to him, and she went away from him to her father’s house at Bethlehem in Judah, and was there some four months. 3 Then her husband arose and went after her, to speak kindly to her and bring her back. He had with him his servant and a couple of donkeys. And she brought him into her father’s house. And when the girl’s father saw him, he came with joy to meet him. 4 And his father-in-law, the girl’s father, made him stay, and he remained with him three days. So they ate and drank and spent the night there. 5 And on the fourth day they arose early in the morning, and he prepared to go, but the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “Strengthen your heart with a morsel of bread, and after that you may go.” 6 So the two of them sat and ate and drank together. And the girl’s father said to the man, “Be pleased to spend the night, and let your heart be merry.” 7 And when the man rose up to go, his father-in-law pressed him, till he spent the night there again. 8 And on the fifth day he arose early in the morning to depart. And the girl’s father said, “Strengthen your heart and wait until the day declines.” So they ate, both of them. 9 And when the man and his concubine and his servant rose up to depart, his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Behold, now the day has waned toward evening. Please, spend the night. Behold, the day draws to its close. Lodge here and let your heart be merry, and tomorrow you shall arise early in the morning for your journey, and go home.”

10 But the man would not spend the night. He rose up and departed and arrived opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). He had with him a couple of saddled donkeys, and his concubine was with him. 11 When they were near Jebus, the day was nearly over, and the servant said to his master, “Come now, let us turn aside to this city of the Jebusites and spend the night in it.” 12 And his master said to him, “We will not turn aside into the city of foreigners, who do not belong to the people of Israel, but we will pass on to Gibeah.” 13 And he said to his young man, “Come and let us draw near to one of these places and spend the night at Gibeah or at Ramah.” 14 So they passed on and went their way. And the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, 15 and they turned aside there, to go in and spend the night at Gibeah. And he went in and sat down in the open square of the city, for no one took them into his house to spend the night.

The text tells us that the Levite had a strained relationship with his concubine. They split up and she went away from him back to her father’s home. FOR FOUR MONTHS. Maybe he thought she’d come to her senses and return? Who knows why he waited 4 months before going after her… But when he does, it says that his intent was to speak kindly to her and bring her back. It implies that there was quarreling between them. It is likely the man was unkind to her, and he realizes he needs to change his behavior to make it right.

What happens next is the woman welcomes him into her father’s house. The father is even joyful to see him. This is likely due to the fact that having his grown daughter back home brought some level of disgrace upon him. Either way, the father is exceedingly hospitable to his son-in-law. He goes over the top to keep him there for extra days. But eventually the young man is ready to get home and so he refuses to stay another night. Now notice that the day has drawn to its close. It was getting dark. That was not a good time to start a journey in those days. It would have been hard to see and make progress. The roads weren’t always safe. They would need to make it to a city to have safe lodging. But nonetheless, they depart.

On their journey the servant suggests they stay in Jebus (the Canaanite name for Jerusalem) but the master refuses. They aren’t his people! He will continue on until he can stay in a town of Israelites. He expects to receive better hospitality from his own people. So they journey onwards, arriving at Gibeah, a city of Benjamin, just as the sunlight was completely out. The narrator of judges is driving home the darkness of their situation, both physically, and soon spiritually. As was the custom in those days, they went to the city square to wait for someone to invite them in for the night. This was the expectation of hospitality and it would have been the same throughout the civilizations of the Ancient Near East. But look again how verse 15 ends… “for no one took them into his house to spend the night.” This is shockingly offensive behavior! And it is a foreshadowing of the trouble that is to come in Gibeah. Let’s keep reading.

Judges 19:16–21 (ESV)

16 And behold, an old man was coming from his work in the field at evening. The man was from the hill country of Ephraim, and he was sojourning in Gibeah. The men of the place were Benjaminites. 17 And he lifted up his eyes and saw the traveler in the open square of the city. And the old man said, “Where are you going? And where do you come from?” 18 And he said to him, “We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, from which I come. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to the house of the Lord, but no one has taken me into his house. 19 We have straw and feed for our donkeys, with bread and wine for me and your female servant and the young man with your servants. There is no lack of anything.” 20 And the old man said, “Peace be to you; I will care for all your wants. Only, do not spend the night in the square.” 21 So he brought him into his house and gave the donkeys feed. And they washed their feet, and ate and drank.

Finally, someone who is hospitable! But it’s a fellow sojourner, not one of the citizens of the city. Again, this is not a good sign. Where are the Benjaminites who live here?! The details from the conversation with the old man reveal that this traveling party had all the supplies needed to host them. They weren’t even going to be a big burden on someone, they simply needed a place to stay. The old man appears to be a fine host, as he takes care of their animals, washes their feet, and enjoys a meal with them. If only the recounting ended here. Alas it does not. So far there have been hints at the moral corruption of the people, but now we must encounter the more explicit depravity of Gibeah.

Judges 19:22–30 (ESV)

22 As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, worthless fellows, surrounded the house, beating on the door. And they said to the old man, the master of the house, “Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may know him.” (euphemism for intercourse) 23 And the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brothers, do not act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house, do not do this vile thing. 24 Behold, here are my virgin daughter and his concubine. Let me bring them out now. Violate them and do with them what seems good to you, but against this man do not do this outrageous thing.” 25 But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine and made her go out to them. And they knew her and abused her all night until the morning. And as the dawn began to break, they let her go. 26 And as morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her master was, until it was light.

27 And her master rose up in the morning, and when he opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, behold, there was his concubine lying at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold. 28 He said to her, “Get up, let us be going.” But there was no answer. Then he put her on the donkey, and the man rose up and went away to his home. 29 And when he entered his house, he took a knife, and taking hold of his concubine he divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel. 30 And all who saw it said, “Such a thing has never happened or been seen from the day that the people of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day; consider it, take counsel, and speak.”

Before we discuss this any further, I’d like to pray. This is some dark stuff, and it would be good to bring it to the Lord.

Short Prayer – Lord, help us to turn to you with our shock and disgust. May we learn to hate sin as much as you do, especially our own sin. We know that there is a reason this is in your Word, so please help us to do the work of understanding it and learning from it. Please be with us in this process. Comfort those who are struggling and help all of us to glorify you in our response. Amen.

As I said earlier, this passage is about…

Revealing the depths of Israel’s moral corruption

Let’s wrestle with the hard lessons we find here. The first corruption that we see throughout this passage is…

  1. Men abuse/abandon their calling

Let’s talk about how we see this in specific individuals, such as the Levite, the father, and the old man. Then we can get to the larger corruption of an entire town.

From the get-go we are meant to be suspicious of the Levite when we are told he has a concubine. That was a violation of God’s design for marriage. God’s creation ideal for marriage is monogamous marriage between one man and one woman, as we see back in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2). This Levite, a man of a tribe of priests, is revealed to be out wandering around doing what is right in his own eyes, just like the Levite we met last week. This Levite takes multiple wives, and as we saw through the narrative, he reveals himself to be a very calloused and selfish man. His concern is for his own well-being, not those under his care/protection. For crying out loud, he throws her to the mob in Gibeah so that he can be safe. Did you notice that the guy went to bed and got a night of rest while his concubine was being gang-raped?!

Absolutely disgusting. Horrific.

This is nothing like the beautiful creation of marriage that we see in Genesis 2.

Genesis 2:18 (ESV)

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” …

Genesis 2:23-25 (ESV)

23 Then the man said,

        “This at last is bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

        she shall be called Woman,

because she was taken out of Man.”

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

God’s design was intimacy and oneness. Care for each other. Helping each other. This Levite has corrupted God’s beautiful design with his sinful selfishness and taking of another wife. In fact, he is breaking the seventh commandment that God had given the Israelites:

Exodus 20:14 (ESV)

14 “You shall not commit adultery.

Then he throws this woman to the mob, knowing full well what the outcome would be. This is the epitome of wicked selfishness. He gave her life for his. Without any sign of regret.

His actions the following morning are told in such short, cold details that they are meant to drive home how hard-hearted this man was. He has no compassion or care for her. He tells her to get up so they can head home, as if nothing was the matter here… When she doesn’t answer he throws her over his donkey and continues on with his journey with no visible signs of remorse. He would fit in a lineup with the worst of deranged criminals throughout history. Sin and brutality do not faze him. *Pause*

What about the father of this woman? Why didn’t he protect her? Did he not know something was wrong? It’s not normal for a daughter to flee from her husband until he comes for her 4 months later. Why did the dad welcome the Levite with joy? Perhaps he didn’t understand the depths of the man’s corruption. Either way, he also abandoned his calling to protect his little girl. His extravagant show of hospitality is what led to them leaving so late in the night. He put them in danger by keeping them late rather than letting them leave while it was still light. Though not nearly as egregious as the Levite, he still bears some responsibility for what has happened.

Then you have the old man, the sojourner in Gibeah. He too offered hospitality, but it was also to their detriment! Surely, he knew the type of people who lived in Gibeah. He knew what they were capable of, yet he did not warn them to keep going! Then, when the mob came, his response is to offer up his daughter and the concubine! WICKED. He doesn’t even ask the Levite; he just assumes that this is what must be done. These men were protecting themselves at the expense of the women in their care.

These individuals are portraits of the moral corruption of Israel. As men, they all perpetrate evil upon the women in their care. They abdicate their role as protectors and providers to save their own skin.

Throughout God’s law, he had provided instruction for his people to love their neighbor and care for the vulnerable. By living for their own self-centered safety and gain, these men have lived in direct contradiction to what God had called them to do. In light of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, the failure is even more tangible.

Jesus Christ, God the Son in human form, is the model example of manhood. And here is what he said:

Mark 10:45 (ESV)

45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

John 10:10–11 (ESV)

10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Jesus’ example was sacrificial service. He died so that OTHERS may live. Not letting others die so that he might live. When the Apostle Paul was later writing to the church in Ephesus, he directly connected Jesus’ example with the calling of men in marriage:

Ephesians 5:25 (ESV)

25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

Husbands are called to love their wives AS Christ loved the church… And how did Christ love the church? By giving himself up for her! He died so that she might live and be holy. He is the servant-leader par excellence.

What are we to do with this? What are we to do with these polarizing examples?

  • Confess self-centeredness and a failure to love others – where you see it in your life, own it and turn away from it (give an example)
  • Cultivate awareness of the horror of sin and turn from it (tie into last week)
    • No one thinks it will develop this far… but unrepentant sin leads to dark and disgusting places. The cycle of sin gets more and more destructive, as we’ll discuss in a moment.
    • Be horrified by sin. Don’t make peace with it. Don’t be ok with it. Kill sin, lest it be killing you.
  • Recognize your need for the selfless Savior
    • Apart from faith in Christ, humanity is stuck in sin. This whole narrative is a reminder of the hopelessness of a world without Christ. Without Christ, men are depraved, and women are without protection, especially from male exploitation and violence.

So far, we’ve been emphasizing the responsibility of the individual, let’s widen our focus now to the entire city of Gibeah.

What happens in Gibeah is a recounting of unrestrained animalistic lust and human depravity. Let’s summarize that in our second observation of moral corruption:

  1. Gibeah exchanges hospitality for immorality

The Levite passed by Jebus to lodge in Gibeah because he expected hospitality from his fellow Israelites! But instead, he received immorality.

Immorality assumes there is a moral law… That there is an objective standard of right/wrong in the world. The existence of a moral law is easy to prove, and there are numerous ways to do it, but one of my favorites is this… Walk up to someone and kick them in the shin. Now I’m not seriously advocating that you do this! It’s merely an object lesson. But think with me – is there anywhere in the world where someone’s response to being kicked in the shin is a “THANK YOU STRANGER! YOUR KINDNESS WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN!” Absolutely not! What is the universal response to being kicked in the shin!? Shock. Anger. Outrage. Why? Because everyone, everywhere knows it is wrong. You don’t do that to one another! So, a moral law exists.

If a moral law exists, then there must be a moral law giver. Someone had to establish this law within humanity. We know this to be God, our Creator, the one who made us. Without God there is only man-made, subjective morality… Which is what we see on display in Judges… everyone doing what is right in their own eyes. And that leads to anarchy/chaos. The strong victimizing the weak. Warping the God-given purpose and plan of sex.

It’s only because of God and his moral law that we can say with authority that what happened in Gibeah is wrong. Or that anything is wrong. If you remove God from the picture, then you lose the moral law with him and you have no ground to stand on to say one type of behavior is morally right and another is morally wrong.

That’s why our world finds itself in such chaos today. Everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes and has abandoned the idea of an objective source of truth. As one commentator I read pointed out, so many today make ethical decisions based on the societal, cultural standards of the day rather than God’s Word. Or even worse, they make ethical decisions based on how they feel in that moment or what they deem is best for their lives. What is the result of a society that functions this way? CHAOS. VICTIMIZATION. I DO WHAT’S RIGHT FOR ME, EVEN IF THAT’S NOT RIGHT FOR YOU. WELCOME TO MORAL RELATIVISM. This is our reality today. Humanity has not changed since the days of Ancient Israel.

The commentator I was mentioning was K. Lawson Younger Jr. and he goes on to offer this chilling analysis:

Moral relativism prevails. And the more it prevails, the worse the atrocities that people perpetrate on people. Our technological culture does not make human beings better; instead, it provides new ways for them to explore and enact their perversions and evil designs. Neo-pagan America leads the way. (NIVAC)

He’s right. Human trafficking. Internet pornography. Child pornography. You name the perversion and evil design… Without God, our world is in chaos. We see it in Judges 19, we see it in our world today.

God is the standard of right and wrong. And God has clearly communicated in his Word about his standard of holiness. Immorality of any kind goes directly against God’s standard and is morally wrong and evil. In Judges 19:22-30, we witnessed at least four distinct types of immorality: homosexuality, rape, adultery, and murder.

These reveal the depths of Israel’s moral corruption. They have twisted God’s clear calling for holiness in multiple areas of life. Sexual intimacy was designed by God for monogamous marriage between one man and one woman. God makes it very clear that he hates deviancies from this!

Leviticus 18:22 (ESV)

22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.

Deuteronomy 22:22 (ESV)

22 “If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.

Leviticus 19:1–2 (ESV)

19 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.

If you were to go back to Genesis 19, you would read the story of Lot in the city of Sodom. Genesis 19 and Judges 19 are incredibly similar! But one major difference is that Sodom was a Canaanite city! This is another example of the Canaanization of Israel, Gibeah has become the new Sodom.

Both the expressions of homosexuality and heterosexuality are sinful in Judges 19. The mob wants to gang rape the man first, but they can’t get to him, so they settle for his concubine. The text is abundantly clear that they knew her, abused her, and discarded her. And she ultimately dies… whether from the gang’s abuse or from her husband’s abuse once they got home is unclear… Regardless they have murdered this woman… Horrific sin. And we must be able to call it that! If we don’t have a moral law or moral law giver, then we have no ground to stand on to call it what it is… Moral relativity breaks down here! You can’t call it evil. We need the objective truth of God’s Word to make decisive and righteous judgments on this type of behavior.

It is morally corrupt and absolutely sinful. And we must ask, “How did this happen!?” To answer that question, I want to turn once again to the book of Romans. You may recall we turned there last week as well…

This time it is an extended passage that fully explains how Gibeah or America could get to such a level of moral corruption as we see today. We don’t have to use our imaginations to understand what happened in Gibeah because this type of immorality happens all the time in our world today. Just this past week we have found out that the Supreme Court of the United States is considering overturning Roe v. Wade and turning abortion legislation back to the states. Have you seen the fury and wrath that our society has had in response? They are fighting HARD and DIRTY to keep their ability to murder children in the womb. We live in a world that denies objective truth. They are saying, “this is right in my eyes!” Moral relativism reigns. How does that happen in a society? Romans 1 tells us.

Romans 1:18–32 (ESV)

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.

So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness.

They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Romans 1 captures the downward spiral of sin. It starts with men and women willfully suppressing the truth about God. They refuse to acknowledge his existence or authority over us, despite all of the evidence to the contrary screaming out of the created order around them. Because they choose to respond to God this way, they hinder their cognitive abilities to perceive truth – their minds and hearts are deeply impacted by sin. They think they are wise, but in reality, they are foolish. They exchange the glory of God for idols.

And God says that he gives them up to their desires/lusts. He lets them have what they want, and it just keeps spiraling downward and downward from sexual deviancies into all kinds of other sins. These matters are interrelated. Sin begets sin. And sexuality is an area of particular weakness for the human race. Corrupt that and so much of life follows it. The end of this downward spiral is found in v32 – that even though they know what God says about this, that the end is death, they will not only persist on their path, but they will cheer on others who do the same! *Pause*

Is that not what we see all around us today? It’s in the news, on social media, movies/TV, infiltrating the school systems, and everywhere else you might look…

And yet, you cannot change others, you can only change yourself. So, what does God call believers to do today? How should the church respond to the Canaanization of Society?

Here is where I would suggest we start, and these come from reversing Romans 1:

  • Confess the lies you’ve believed – We must take the log out of our own eye first! Confess lies about God, about yourself, about sexuality or any other area of life.
  • Tear down the idols you’re worshiping – if you’ve been living in sin, then remove the temptations and objects of you’ve been living for… so you can…
  • Return to the worship of God – Are you living to please God? Is that what drives your day? Let’s talk about a path to worship God in these areas…
    • Know objective truth – do you know what you believe and why? Are you committed to God’s Word as your source of truth? Are you willing and able to…
    • Stand for objective truth – don’t back down in the face of a hostile world. They are wrong. Don’t let them perpetuate lies.
    • Call out evil while holding out God’s greater plan – Confront the darkness with truth. In a way that demonstrates love for your neighbor. (Remember Matt. 22:37-40 – Love neighbor as yourself!)
    • Show the world God’s better ways – be a living testimony of doing good to others, protecting the vulnerable, caring for the hurting and lost, restoring the broken, leading people out of darkness into the light of Christ and the restorative work he has done!
    • We have many ministry partners that would love to have you help them care for the hurting – Garden Gate Ranch, Agape Pregnancy Resource Center, Ruth Harbor, Freedom for Youth, GVSS, Grimes Storehouse Food Pantry, Joppa, etc.,
    • If you’re married, let your marriage be one of incredible health and sacrificial love. If you’re single, cultivate contentment and joyful service to the Lord. May we all flee from the temptations of misusing our lives/bodies/sexual intimacy with others. Men and women must treat one another with gentleness and holiness and selflessness. When Christians choose to live sinfully, we are perpetuating lies and hindering others from the beauty of God’s redemptive work!

This is a tall order for Christians. Our world is incredibly broken by sin and deceived by their own hearts. Only the truth of God’s Word will be able to penetrate this darkness by the work of the Holy Spirit. And one of the primary ways that those in darkness see the light and hear the truth is by faithful followers of Christ opening their mouths and bringing it to them. I leave you with the powerful words of the Apostle Paul:

Romans 10:14–15 (ESV)

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

May we be a people who preach the good news.

Let’s pray.