Psalm 119 — Psalms 119

0:00 Yeah, so Drew's right. I can keep you guys here as long as you're willing to stay. Just... I'll you what, let's go to the Lord first here in prayer. Heavenly Father, we do want to thank you for this day, this Sunday.

0:22 We thank you for your word. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for the redemption that you provide. We just pray that this message will go out today and give you glory and honor. We pray that our hearts will be open to receive the message herein.

0:40 We pray in Jesus' name, amen. So if I'm a little bit rusty up here, just say a quick prayer. It's been, I don't know, three years maybe since I was up here last preaching. And the way this came about, we're in the book of Psalms, and I'd been studying Psalm 119 for about that long, a couple of years now, because it's an interesting psalm that has so many different movements that you can take. I actually put together a bit of a flow chart in, if you have me back, I think I've got eight more sermons already prepared on Psalm 119.

1:22 And it's all over the place, kind of like my mind. So it works out well for me. Twenty four years. What's that? That would be twenty four years.

1:34 Exactly, twenty four years. So you're to get some interesting things today. We're going be speaking in tongues. Okay, we've got a little bit of Hebrew lesson and got a little Latin lesson for you. So there we go.

1:50 There's our tongues. But so again, give you a little bit insight into me. I pretty much have to have a thesis for just about anything that I do. That's not right, wrong, or indifferent. It just is.

2:07 So let me share with you what my thesis was as I prepared for this. And this is it. So if you think along with me, I'm going to read it through once, then I'm going to have Zach is going to read Matthew five seventeen for us. And then I'm going to have Josh also refer to Romans three twenty one, is that what he read this morning, which is interesting how that works together. So here's my thesis.

2:31 If then Matthew five seventeen, Christ is the fulfillment of the law, and salvation is by grace through faith, does Psalm 119 matter? Right? So really didn't think I can get up here and talk about Psalm one nineteen if I didn't think it mattered. So I had to convince myself, first of all, that Psalm one nineteen today still matters. So if then, Zach, read Matthew five seventeen.

2:59 Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

3:06 Thank you. Then, Josh had an interesting assignment, well Christa had an interesting assignment where they had to go to a Jewish temple on Friday as part of her college course in world religions, and they sat through a Jewish service. And so in our first meeting tonight or this morning, Josh actually read this verse for us.

3:31 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.

3:38 So based on these two scripture verses, do I think that Psalm 119 applies to us today? So I'm going to give you my insights on why I think Psalm 119 does apply. Give me a little bit of freedom up here to express my thoughts the way that I'm going to express them. And again, if you feel like I'm getting bogged down, say a quick prayer for me so that I can get back on focus. So here's what I want to do today in the time that we have.

4:36 So that's what I'm going to do. So the first thing that we want to do is we want to take a look at Psalm 119 and the construction of Psalm 119. Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible. So when Drew says, Oh, you've plenty of material, he's absolutely right. I have plenty of material.

4:54 Interestingly enough, it takes fifteen minutes or so to read Psalm 119. So it's an extremely long chapter in the Bible. It seems at some times that it might be repetitive. You might be bored reading Psalm 119. Let me take a little bit of a sidebar right here and suggest this.

5:16 Some of us have, at times, taken Proverbs and read a chapter a day in Proverbs, right? 31 chapters in Proverbs, thirty one days in most of the months. I'm going to suggest that you take in eight verse increments and read one section subset of eight verses a day. All right? Because I think that taking Psalm 119 down to bite sized pieces might help us understand exactly what Psalm 119 is saying.

5:56 So Psalm 119 is 176 verses, and it's divided into eight subsets. Each subset represents a Hebrew letter, so a Hebrew letter in the alphabet. It's an acrostic. Psalm 119 is an acrostic. So every verse, every verse of each subset, right?

6:25 So there's eight verses in each subset. Each one of those verses start with the letter of the alphabet. So the first eight verses all start with Aleph. The first word in the first eight verses starts with the Hebrew word Alef. The second one, Beth, Gimmel.

6:52 There's your Hebrew lesson for the day right there. So there's 22 verses. Now, I don't trust anybody. I don't trust anything. So I wanted to sit down and really get into the meat of it.

7:06 Is that really true? And since I don't understand Hebrew, I have to back off and say that I agree with the people that know Hebrew, that done the research, and that offered that up to us. Okay? So that is how it's broken up. That's basically the construction.

7:26 And it's been come to be known as the Saints alphabet. So again, my suggestion to you is to take a day, read the first eight verses and to meditate on those eight verses. See what the Lord puts in your heart based on those eight verses. Again, the saints alphabet. There are 10 different words.

7:58 They are synonyms of divine revelation. Every single verse in Psalm 119 uses a synonym, at least one synonym that talks about divine revelation, except for two verses. There's only two verses that don't do that. All right, do you want those verses? I'll give you those verses.

8:37 So the only two verses that do not contain one of those words I should have this should have been easy to remember. One hundred twenty two and one hundred thirty two. Verses 122 and verse 132 are the only two verses that don't have one of these words that identify with divine revelation. Well, what are those 10 words? These are the 10 words.

8:57 Okay. Again, I used a little bit of my own freedom here. Right? And I put a word in front of it. So the first one is His word.

9:08 His judgments. His is capitalized referring to God. His righteousness. His statutes. His truth.

9:18 God's law. His ways. His testimonies. His commandments, and His precepts. So each one of these words in Psalm 119 refers back to divine revelation.

9:37 All right? Law, right? The word law we hear all the time. And that's basically what it's referring to. Okay?

9:46 So one of these words is in every single verse of Psalm 119, except for 122 and what'd I say, 132? Yep. Okay. So those are the only two places that those aren't. Okay.

10:00 So now let me read for you. Like I said, it takes fifteen minutes. I'm not going to read the entire chapter. Although I honestly don't think that it would be bad if I would. Forgive me too, because this is the first time where I'm actually up here using my phone as my Bible.

10:46 Beth, how can a young man cleanse his way by taking heed according to your word? With my whole heart I have sought you. Oh, let me not wander from your commandments. Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I may not sin against You. Blessed are You, O Lord, teach me Your statutes.

11:10 With my lips I have declared all the judgments of Your mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies as riches. Much as I will meditate on your precepts and contemplate your ways. I will delight myself in your statutes. I will not forget your word.

11:32 So if you take a look at or you listen to the verses that I read, there really isn't a true pattern of thought that proceeds through it, except for the fact that those 10 words are intermingled there. Matthew Henry, I think is who I got this from. He refers to these as short, sudden breathings of his soul. And it is Matthew Henry. Short, sudden breathings of his soul.

12:11 So the author has these short, sudden breathing. Now think with me, all right? We're all human beings. We all go through different trials. We go through different parts.

12:23 Have you ever gone through a day where the only thing that you can do is either literally or figuratively get on your knees and cry out to God and not make complete sentences, but you're giving some utterances to God. Dear Lord, help me. Right? Dear Lord, help me through this. God, what can I do next?

12:55 What should I be doing? How should I be reacting? So I'm I'm gonna suggest that the author had these different short breathings, compiled them, and then constructed Psalm 119 through the power of the Holy Spirit, of course. All right? So as we look through this or look at this, this is the only way that it makes sense to me.

13:22 Because I can't see doesn't mean it didn't happen, right? This is Bob Markovich. I can't see that being scripted. I think that there was a process behind it. I think that there was a thought pattern behind it.

13:35 I think that it was constructed specifically and created as an acrostic to maybe allow for easy memorization. Allow for easy memorization. So again, those are my thoughts. I can't find anything biblically that will support me on that. But that's what it seems like, right?

14:00 These sudden thoughts or bursts. How did Matthew Henry put it again? Short and sudden breathings of his soul. So I think those were compiled and they were put into what we see today as Psalm 119. What I think it does you consider our lives and what is going on in our lives, pain, pressure, and preoccupation, if we're to sit back and praise God, which this is definitely a Psalm of praise, it helps us to relieve these pains, pressures, and preoccupations of the day.

14:57 All right, so those are my thoughts construction of Psalm 119. You may agree, you may disagree. If I said anything that you think is horribly wrong, make sure you confront me when we're done here, and I'll be happy to engage you in a conversation about it. Okay. So the next thing I want to do, so that's construction.

15:42 I've defined redemption here for our purpose because I want to make sure that we all have a clear thought. Redemption secures us a place in heaven with Christ. That's what redemption does. Okay, this is extremely important if you read this. If on the street I gave Psalm 119 to somebody, and I said, this is the religion, in quotes, that I live by, and they read that, I don't think without the aid of the Holy Spirit, that a person would read that and think that there's something else that is necessary in order to get to heaven.

16:23 I think that they would read that and think as long as they behaved, as long as they were good, as long as they followed the statutes, as long as they followed the precepts of God, that they would be okay. All right? That is not what we're talking about here. That is not what redemption is. All right?

16:45 Thank you. So my favorite dead old guy, right? Isn't that what Chris calls them? Dead old guys is Spurgeon. Of course, some of you here know why Spurgeon is my favorite, but we'll leave that for another time.

16:59 This is what Spurgeon, this is a message that he preached. It's actually, it's number ten twenty nine. I would suggest that you look it up, Google it, and read it. It's an interesting read. It's actually called Call to Holy Living, which in my opinion Psalm 119 is.

17:20 It's called a holy living. Here's what Spurgeon says. It is a very great fault in any ministry if the doctrine of justification by faith alone is not taught most clearly. I will go further and add that it is not only a great fault, but a fatal one. Amen.

17:42 For souls will never find their way to heaven by a ministry that is not absolutely clear on the most fundamental of the gospel truths. We are justified by faith and not by the works of the law. The merit by which a soul enters heaven is not his own. It is the merit of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. There are over 4,000 religions in this world.

18:18 There is only one that teaches redemption not based on works, not based on what you do, not based on how you live your life, not based on how you treat your wife, not based on how you treat your children, not based on what kind of drug you should do, not based on what kind of snake you can pick up without being bit. Alright? It's the only one, over 4,000 religions that are out there. It's the only one that redemption is brought about through what somebody else did. Right?

19:00 And what somebody else did with us that provides redemption for us and secures us a place in heaven with Christ is... Here's your Latin lesson. Sole fide. Sole fide. Right?

19:22 My son's got three or four years of Latin, so I called him to make sure that I pronounced it right. And as far as he's concerned, I did. So he's got four years of Latin. Does anybody else have four years of Latin? Okay.

19:31 Oh, okay. Anyhow, So sola fide. Is that right? We'll go with that, right? Sola fide.

19:40 Sola fide. Sola fide means... And this is interesting too. And quite frankly, this could actually come back and help me later in my thought here. All right.

19:51 Salvation through faith alone. All right? Alone. Sole is alone. So it's actually, they flip the words in this language, Sole fide, alone faith.

20:02 We would interpret it as salvation through faith alone. That is the only way to have redemption, through faith in the work that Christ did on the cross. Okay? So if we go back to my thesis, we go back to the verses that were read, Christ's death, burial, and resurrection were the answer to the law, the fulfillment of the law. So are we bound by the law today?

20:44 Are we bound by the law today? If the discussion is redemption, the answer is no. Are we bound to behave according to the law? I kind of think we are. I kind of think that once you're saved, you want to.

21:06 I kind of think that the entire process of sanctification is about understanding the word of God and living according to the word of God. That's just one guy's thoughts here. Sola fide salvation through faith alone. What I got here? You know, I like to disclose everything because that's just the way I'm made up.

21:28 This was the verse that I was going to use specifically today about salvation alone or salvation. But thanks to the two gentlemen with verses that came to me during the worship service, I added those. But take a look at Ephesians chapter two, verse eight through 10. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any one should boast. All right?

21:55 I don't know how we can drive that home any further. If you believe that the Bible is the word of God, if you believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God, then you must believe this, that it is not your works that get you into heaven. All right? Salvation through faith. Now, my background.

22:19 This is the only body of believers that I've been attending ever since I got saved back 11/17/1985. So I've been coming here a long time. I had hair. I actually had a mustache and a beard back then. Then I got married and my hair fell out.

22:40 I'll never forget the day I shaved my beard off. Caleb and Lydia were crying. So I grew up back to shave it off again to make him cry again. No. But we seem, when I say we, my observations of myself, my observations of us here, maybe sometimes we don't include the tenth verse enough.

23:02 For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for what? For good works. All right. Good works, does it save? No.

23:13 But we are created for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Psalm 119 kind of beforehand. I don't know. If I understand time, yes. Psalm 119 came beforehand.

23:32 So can I use Psalm 119 as my thought process for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them? I think I am. I think I can. I don't know. The elders, you might think differently.

23:47 But I think that gives me the evidence right there to say, yes, Psalm 119 does matter, right? My thesis. Does Psalm 119 matter? Absolutely it does. Because we are called to do good works.

24:42 Now, I define redemption. I'm going to define what I think holiness is as well. Devoted to the service of God. Devoted to the service of God. So I would ask you a question.

25:01 If in fact you are redeemed, my voice is changing again. If in fact you are redeemed, are you devoted to His service? Are you devoted to the service of God? And if you're not, I would like to encourage you to be. And I'm going to attempt to illustrate for you why I feel that is necessary, that we should be devoted to the service of God.

25:41 You know what? I'm going to insert this here. It flies in the face of everything that we do in The United States Of America to be devoted to the service of God. Thought about this for a long time. We pray for the people across the pond that have nothing.

26:03 We pray for them. Fortunately, there are some Christians in China that pray for us because we have everything. I actually thought about this, and it would have illustrated something great, but it might have made all of you feel uncomfortable. It certainly would have made me feel uncomfortable. To speak today wearing what I wear when I'm not working.

26:29 This is what I wear when I work. All right? Nancy kind of mentioned this yesterday. We had a garage sale yesterday. We cleaned out.

26:39 I got to sell my dresser drawer, right? So all my clothes had to come out, we parked them somewhere else. And Nancy goes, well, that's all you wear anyhow, right? Just a pair of shorts, a T shirt and a vest. That's me.

26:55 This isn't me. This isn't me. You don't know me. You know the facade that I put up. You don't know me.

27:04 I don't know you. I know the facade that you put up. Right? But that is, in our world, we think... You know what?

27:15 We think that God is blessing The United States Of America. Is he really? Right? We claim to have so many Christians. Are they really Christians?

27:24 Are they redeemed Christians? Right? You can't put the word Christian next to it if you're not redeemed. Would you agree? All right?

27:33 You might study some of what Christ preached, but unless you're redeemed, you're not a Christian. So I hate the IRS. Right. But you know what? Who cares?

27:53 Who cares if they take half of my income? Right? Because the Lord can provide anything that I need. I spent eight years. A lot of you probably don't know this.

28:04 Maybe it was ten years. Eight to ten years, I worked for by market capital, the largest company in the world. All right? The largest, without a doubt, the largest insurance company in the world, although I didn't do insurance. In that time period, I flew over a million miles on one carrier, all domestic.

28:28 Is that what God really has for me? Maybe at that time He did. Maybe I was learning something, maybe He was teaching me something, but is that really me? Is that really me? You know what, actually, I started to grow my hair back in this last week and was giving an abrupt, yeah, you might not want to do that, Because there's not much there.

28:47 But the point that I'm trying to make is we are in a world today that I'm not so sure yeah, that we were conforming. Great word. We are trying to conform to the world. We are trying to conform to the world. Do you really need a new car?

29:07 Do you really need to spend money doing this, that, and the other thing? I'm just asking. I'm not trying to point the finger at anybody, because quite frankly, if I'm pointing the finger, it's really pointing at me because I'm talking about my thoughts. So, you know, I'm throwing myself under the bus here. Psalm 119 is a call to holiness.

29:50 Now that's really cool. Does anybody else have a computer that will put the Hebrew script letter next to that? I cut and paste it from the internet. Psalm 119. Blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord.

30:09 So I'm looking at this and I'm wondering what exactly does that say? Blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord. And I'm not so sure that I knew exactly what that said. So I decided that I would go to the Hebrew. Where'd it go?

30:33 Oh, there it is. All right. These... By the way, for the young kids, if you need to memorize Scripture, Hebrew uses a lot less words to say the same thing than English does. So this is it.

30:52 And I've worked on this. I've worked on this. And I think I'm pretty confident I'm saying it right. Escher, Tamim, Dorach, Halach, Torah, Yehovah. Alright?

31:05 There's two words in there that everybody here should know, right? What are they? Yehovah is God. Torah is? There we go.

31:17 So that's it. Say it together. Escher, Tamim, Derech, Halach, Torah, Yehovah. Okay, Josh is that kind of how they were talking on Friday? Yeah.

31:30 The Hebrew language is a great language. So here's what I did. I decided that I would tear this verse apart. And this is what I came up with. That wasn't supposed to happen either.

31:44 These were supposed to fall into line. Did you guys mess up with my computer back there? All right, I'm giving the whole secret away. Escher means happy. And I recall Christian Eichele, I believe, is the one that was up here six months ago or so that brought that word blessed, means happy.

32:07 Tamim, complete or whole. Darech, way or journey. Halach, walk or live. Torah, instruction or law, and Yehovah, God. So this is my creation of that verse.

32:38 This is how this verse helps me. Happy are the complete in their journey who live in God's instruction. Happy are the complete in their journey who live in God's instruction. Okay. So let's talk about that as we break it down by that.

33:08 So happy are the complete in their journey who live in God's instruction. If you take a look at this from a Christian point of view, somebody that is redeemed, how many in here are happy all the time? How many think that you should be happy all the time? I agree. After studying this, I think we need to be happy all the time.

33:40 Now, what's the definition of happy? I think there's a difference between the emotional definition of happy and the realistic definition of happy. Happy are the complete in their journey who live in God's instruction. Now, if we take a look at this, just like Sole Fide, right? They reverse the words a little bit.

34:00 So I'm saying that you have to live in God's instruction. You have to live in God's instruction in order to be complete in your journey and therefore be happy. All right? This one verse, in my opinion, sets out the rest 118 verses. This is almost like the introduction.

34:30 If you want to be happy, if you want to be complete, if you want to live your life accordingly, then take a look, read Psalm 119 and see how these different laws or statutes or precepts should be in your life. Happy are the complete in their journey who live in God's instruction. Again, let's go back to modern times here in The U. S. Let me throw this out for you.

35:05 So yesterday I was blessed to be able to have the entire day to just sit and contemplate what I was going to say today or what I had been preparing to say today. And it was one of the best days that I've ever spent in my life. It really was. Right? Now that doesn't mean...

35:32 I'm not saying I love my family. I love spending time with my family. It's a different type of best. So I spent the entire day, or majority of the day, with these words, with these verses, walking through a park. I actually did 20,000 steps yesterday.

35:49 My meter counted 20,000 steps, which is over nine miles. Just contemplating what the Lord has to say. And again, the finger's pointing at me and I'm thinking, am I living a life devoted to Christ? And these are the thoughts that popped into my head. If I truly believe that what Spurgeon said, that it's more than a disservice to lead somebody to believe that salvation could be gotten another way, can I feel confident about my life, what I'm doing?

36:27 The fact that I have a mortgage payment, does that give me the ability to do what the Lord wants me to do? Is the purpose of man? To God. Am I glorifying God in everything that I do? Irenaeus wrote, The glory of God is man fully alive.

37:05 What's your definition of fully alive? The glory of God is man fully alive. When I look at fully alive, I look at a number of different things. Number one, if the Lord calls me to go on the mission field, can I go? I'm settled with debt on a mortgage.

37:23 Probably not. If the Lord calls me to go to a mission field and I'm not saddled with debt, am I fully alive, ready to go? Probably not because I'm in arguably the worst shape of my life right now. So can I really go to Haiti for the next six months and live? Probably not, not without getting really sick.

37:42 And again, I'm not suggesting this for any of you. I'm saying this is the way Bob Markovich looks at this. And is my journey the journey that God wants me to be in? Am I fully alive? And you know what?

37:58 I'm going to say this. I don't think you can be fully alive in The United States, wholly living for God, if you're going to conform to what everybody else does. If you're going to conform what a simple majority of the people do. Right? We live lives that are masked by unrealism.

38:14 That's what we do. That's what we do. Am I saying I'd like to give up everything I have and go? Absolutely, would. I would.

38:27 I really would. Because I'm not so sure that my journey is the journey that God wants me to have. People ask all the time, I'm not really sure I know what the Lord wants me to do. I'll tell you what, if you're not sure what the Lord wants you to do, spend time in Psalm 119. Spend time about taking a look at your journey, your life, what you are doing, and are you living your life for God?

38:49 I can't answer that question for you. I can only answer it for me. All right? So I came up with an acrostic of my own and it worked this time. All right.

38:59 I came up with an acrostic of my own. I'm going leave you with that. I'm going to do one more thing. Acrostic of my own. All right.

39:20 And I can come up with a bunch of scriptural verses that support this, but just think about it: Joy. Happy. Be happy. You know what? You are waking up I'm pointing the finger at me.

39:31 I wake up in the middle of the night, and I'm concerned about finances. I'm concerned about my daughter in college. I'm concerned about my other daughter in college, thinking about going to college. She's far away from college. I'm just giving you a randomness of the thoughts that come into my mind.

39:48 I'm worried about taking the trip to West Virginia. I've to go to West Virginia this week. Hate going to West Virginia. Sitting in a hotel room twiddling my thumbs. So I need to have joy.

40:04 I need to be happy. If I'm being woken up in the middle of the night and I'm more concerned about that than the statutes of God, point the finger at me, I'm wrong. If I wake up in the middle of the night and I can praise God, you know what? I'm thinking that's probably a good life. That's joy.

40:25 Oh, others. I didn't change this, Denzel. If you guys are in the first service, Denzel was thanking Nancy for providing for the meal tonight, he said, Others. That would be me. So others.

40:44 If we live our lives putting others first, which is biblical, I think that's going to aid our journey. Universe. God is the creator of the universe. If he could speak a word and create everything, can't he change you and me? He created the universe.

41:09 He can change me. He can change this heart. Redeemed. I was throwing back and forth. I want to use the word redeemed or do I want to use the word rich?

41:19 We are rich with mercings. We are rich with blessings. We are rich because of what Christ did for us. And we're redeemed because of what Christ did for us, not what we did. And we are a new creation.

41:38 We are a new creation. You know what? Here's something. You can't, it is impossible to follow the precepts of God unless the Holy Spirit lives in you. That's the only way it can be done.

41:51 You can't do it on your own. You have to be a new creation in order to live your life the way you're supposed to live your life. Everlasting. Our life on earth is a wisp. It's a wisp.

42:14 But we have an everlasting relationship in heaven if you are redeemed with the creator of the universe. We should live our life like that. Who really cares if I live in a 3,000 square foot home? My rewards are everlasting. They're in heaven.

42:41 Why? Your statutes, O God. Your statutes, O God. So our prayer should be, how do I follow those statutes? We can only do it with the Holy Spirit, but we should be focusing our lives on that, on the statutes.

43:07 So that's my acrostic. You know how painful that was for me to do? Because that's not the way I think. I felt it was appropriate though. I figured all those out while I was walking too.

43:20 Clears the mind and it loses, burns some calories. So the last thing that I want to leave you with, this is Alfred Snead. I think this goes hand in hand to what I just talked about. Fully surrendered, right? It's not in our books, or at least I couldn't find it in our books.

43:52 Surrender, fully made. Thou hast my ransom paid, I yield to thee. Fully surrendered, life, time and all, all thou hast given me held at thy call. Speak but the word to me, gladly I'll follow thee now and eternally. Obey my Lord.

44:19 Fully surrendered, silver and gold his, who hath given me riches untold. All belong to thee, for thou didst purchase me, thine evermore to be Jesus my Lord. Fully surrendered, Lord, I am thine, fully surrendered, savior, divine, live thou thy life in me, all fullness dwells in thee, not I, but Christ in me, Christ all in all. Kind of felt that that hymn alone touched on everything that I had to say. So I'm going leave you with this.

45:02 Be happy. Be happy. The Navy SEALs have something when they meet each other. They say easy day, right? The only easy day was yesterday.

45:13 I'm going to say, be happy. Meet another Christian. Be happy. Because by being happy, that completes or helps us to complete our journey. Be happy.

45:23 Be a happy Christian. Let's close in prayer. Dear Lord, we do want to thank you for the word that you have brought before us today. We just pray that you open our hearts and our minds and allow us to use it in the way that you want us to. Just pray, Lord, that with these thoughts today that You are glorified and honored.

45:46 And we just pray that You'll continue to be glorified and honored if somebody continues to dwell on these thoughts today. We do ask You to bless the meetings that we have coming up. We think specifically of the DVBS meeting coming up rather quickly after this service, followed by Awana tonight. We pray that the gospel message will go out clearly. Lord.

46:13 We pray for your guidance on Jake as he prepares to do that or finalizes his thoughts on that. We just want to be in prayer for that, because we don't want anybody to have the wrong idea. We want everybody to understand that redemption comes through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and his death, burial and resurrection. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.