Amen and amen.

Church, would you please stand for the reading of God's Word?

I'm going to read Romans chapter 4 verses 13 through 25 with a cough drop.

So give me a break.

God's Word says, for the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not

come through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherence of the law

who are to be the heirs, fate is null and the promises void. For the law brings wrath,

but where there is no law, there is no transgression.

That is why it depends on faith in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed

to all his offspring, not only to the adherent of the law, but also to the one who shares the

faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.

As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations.

In the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist,

in hope he believed against hope, that he should become the

father of many nations, as he had been told, so shall your offspring be. He did not weaken in faith

when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old,

or when he considered the

barrenness of sarah's womb no unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of god but he grew

strong in his faith as he gave glory to god fully convinced that god was able to do what he had

promised that is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness but the words it was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness.

But the words it was counted to him were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also.

It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead, Jesus our Lord,

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