chapter 23 and we're going to pick it up where we left off last week in chapter 22 but

I think you'll see why here we're only doing one chapter tonight in a moment so why don't

we pray we'll ask God to bless our time together in his word if you would please join with me

loving heavenly father would you just settle us and quiet our minds and enable us by the Holy

Spirit to focus our attention on you and not all of the busyness of our day

and week and lives and Lord we want to be able to concentrate. We don't want our minds to wander.

We don't want to miss anything that you have for us tonight, especially

in this chapter that's before us tonight. Lord, we know that you have a word fitly spoken for us

here in your word. And we want to have ears to hear what it is that you're going to say to us

as your church, as your people.

Lord, if it's an encouragement or even rebuke or correction or instruction or whatever it is,

Lord, we want to receive it with open hearts.

So Lord, thank you.

Thank you that this chapter is in our Bibles.

It's going to be tough in a couple of spots, but it's a good tough.

So Lord, thank you. We love you so much in Jesus' name. Amen and amen.

All right, so the chapter before us tonight, those of you that read ahead to stay ahead, you

may already see what's ahead, but it is arguably one of the most scathing indictments

in all of Scripture rivaled possibly by only Matthew's Gospel chapter 23, ironically enough,

when Jesus rebukes the scribes and the Pharisees.

I think this is probably right up there on that level.

It is brutal.

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