[0:00] Welcome to our service this evening. I shall welcome to those who are visiting with us. As we come together to worship God, we pray his blessing and his word to us this evening.
[0:15] We're going to begin singing from Psalm 91. Psalm 91, at the beginning of the psalm, we're singing to verse 6.
[0:27] Verses 1 to 6.
[0:57] That doth waste at noonday openly.
[1:31] So on down, we shall sing his verses 1 to 6 of Psalm 91. He that doth in the secret place of the Most High reside. He that doth in the secret place of the Most High reside.
[2:01] Under the shades of heaven, the Almighty shall abide.
[2:17] I of the Lord my God will save.
[2:29] He is my refuge still. He is my fortress and my Lord.
[2:47] But then, and trust thy will. As you are in the secret place of the Most High. As you are in the secret place of the Most High.
[3:01] The Most High. The Most High. The Most High. The Most High. The Most High.
[3:13] The Most High. The Most High. The Most High. The Most High. The Most High. The Most High. The Most High. The Most High.
[3:24] The Most High. The Most High. The Most High. His repentance still ends. His feathers shall be high in thy trust.
[3:43] Under His wings shall be His faithfulness.
[3:56] Shall be a shield that falls unto thee.
[4:08] Thou shalt not be to thee a flame.
[4:19] For tether shalt the night. Nor for the apple that does fly.
[4:37] By day by day is night. Nor for the best shall rest the false.
[4:56] In darkness secretly. Nor for destruction.
[5:10] Nor for the best shall not be to thee.
[5:21] Let us join together in prayer. Let us pray. Most gracious God, as we come before you this evening hour of worship, we give thanks for the opportunity afforded us by which we can call upon your name, do so publicly and lead others in the sect of worship.
[5:52] Not only can we do so corporately, but we can do so personally. Make business with our God on our own behalf and on behalf of others.
[6:05] We give thanks for the opportunity to do so. At any time that you have opened a way to us by which to approach a throne of grace in and through the person of your son Jesus Christ.
[6:28] We give thanks that he ever lives to make it the session for us. And that does the great high priest of his people. When we find ourselves incapable of intermitting our need or making it known in a way that we feel is in accord with what the need is.
[6:53] We sometimes find ourselves inarticulated and find ourselves struggling for words, especially when the circumstances of life are struck as stone.
[7:11] Yet he is such a one who not only knows us perfectly, but knows our need in such a way as to be able to plead our cause and do that on the basis of his own merits.
[7:28] We pray that you would remind us afresh of the gift that he has given to his people. Not only do they have a way of access, but they have the assurance that their voice is heard, that the Holy Spirit is one that fills their mouth from on high.
[7:54] And as we petition the heavens this evening, may our petitions be in accordance with your revealed will to us. We bless you and thank you that you are able to hear and answer prayer.
[8:10] And that not only can we believe that we are heard, but that our prayers are answered, but that there is a special unction given to your people when they are in concert, when their desires merge, and where they come together to seek the things that are not selfish, but to the glory of God.
[8:35] And we pray that that may be true of us even this evening, as we are intent upon hearing what your word has to say to us. May we be desirous that that word would be meaningful, not only to ourselves, but to others.
[8:51] We pray that you would bless our homes and our families this evening. We pray that you would bless all that are near and dear to us, especially those of our number for whom concerns are many.
[9:04] We pray for the housebound. We pray for the hospitalised. We pray for the frail elderly confined to care homes. We pray for any who may be in the hospice ministered to at the point where they are approaching near death.
[9:22] Although none of us can say with any certainty how close we are to that point. We know that there are some, and they have been told, that their illness is beyond a cure.
[9:37] And with that burden upon their hearts, we pray that you would enable them to pray to the Most High God, that you would answer their greatest need by directing their attention to Christ.
[9:54] And we pray that you would remember any such throughout our community and beyond. We pray for your blessing upon the preaching of the word.
[10:06] We ask that you would bless those who are preachers, those that you have sent out to declare the unsearchable riches of Christ, those whose desire it is to direct attention to that Christ, that he may be to them the altogether lovely one, that the affection that they have for him may be something that fills the eyes of those who hear the proclamation of truth, that they may know that the Christ that is spoken of is someone that is known and that knows the one that is speaking of him.
[10:45] So we pray that you would bless the word, that it may be shed liberally upon fields that are ripe and ready to receive it.
[11:00] That the day will come when there will be a growth of that seed, a ripening of that seed as the harvest of the Lord. We pray that you would remember the Church of Christ worldwide.
[11:15] We begin with our own congregation here. We pray for our presbytery. We pray for our denomination. We pray for all who seek to set Christ before the mind's eyes of sinners, whoever they may be, whatever their lot is cast in this world.
[11:35] Be they in the villages, the towns, the townships, the cities of our land. We pray that you would remember those many that are indifferent to their spiritual well-being.
[11:48] Wilt thou not in mercy pour out your Spirit upon us? That they would come from the depths of outbeing a cry that is resonating with many.
[12:00] What must I do to be saved? That it may be saved. That it may be saved. That it may be saved. That it may be saved. That it may be shared. And that men and women would encourage one another to seek the Lord while he is to be found, to call upon him while he is near.
[12:17] We pray, Lord, that you would remember this world in which we live. Remember our nation. Those who govern us. Whether it be Westminster or Hollywood.
[12:28] Remember our local council and those who serve the community there. Pray for our Queen. As we have heard, she is suffering at this moment in time from COVID, like many others.
[12:43] And we know that illness does not pass any of us by. Whether we are poor or rich.
[12:54] Whether we are high born or low born. It matters little. And death will inevitably visit our doors. And there is no escape for any one of us.
[13:06] But we give thanks that there is a gospel that declares to us the provision made for those who are heading for the grave.
[13:17] That the day will come when the graves will open and all who are in Christ will rise up to the glory of his name. We pray for this world in which we live, where there are many hardships to be experienced and seen in the lives of so many.
[13:37] We see places where war is ongoing. Some on the brink of war. Some engaged in civil war.
[13:47] We pray that you would bring peace into such theatres of war. That your name would be the name around which many gather as a banner.
[14:01] And that your name would be over them in love. Hear our petitions, we pray. Blessing your word to us as we read it and as we sing it.
[14:13] And as we meditate upon the truth that contains. We pray that you would continue to watch over us cleansing from many sins.
[14:23] They abound in our life. We are sinful from the crown of our head to the soles of our feet. May we apply to the cleansing power of the shed blood of Christ.
[14:36] And know that through that we are persuaded of its efficacy. Bless us together, forgiving sin in Jesus. Amen. We are going to read from the scriptures of the Old Testament.
[14:52] Reading in the book of Psalms. Reading from the book of Psalms and Psalm 17. The book of Psalms and Psalm 17.
[15:06] Read the whole Psalm. Hear the right, O Lord. Attend unto my cry. Give ear unto my prayer. That goeth not out of faint lips.
[15:20] Let my sentence come forth from thy presence. Let thine eyes behold the things that are equal. Thou hast proved my heart.
[15:31] Thou hast visited me in the night. Thou hast tried me and shalt find nothing. I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.
[15:42] Concerning the works of men. By the word of thy lips they have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. Hold up my goings in thy paths.
[15:53] that my footsteps slip not. I have called upon thee. For thou hast heard me, O God. incline thine ear unto me. Turn to me and hear my speech.
[16:05] And hear my speech. Show thy marvelous loving kindness. O thou that savest by thy right hand. them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.
[16:18] Keep me as the apple of the eye. Hide me under the shadow of thy wings. From the wicked that oppress me. From my deadly enemies who compass me about.
[16:30] They are enclosed in their own fart. With their mouth they speak proudly. They have now compassed us in our steps. They have set their eyes bowing down to the earth.
[16:43] Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey. And as it were a young lion lurking in secret places. Arise, O Lord. Disappoint him.
[16:54] Cast him down. Deliver my soul from the wicked. Who choose thy sword. From men which are thy hand, O Lord. From men of the world.
[17:06] Which have their portion in this life. And whose belly thou fillest with thy hood treasure. They are full of children. And leave the rest of their substance to their babes.
[17:19] As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied. When I awake. With thy likeness.
[17:31] Amen. And may the Lord add his blessing. To a reading of his word. And to his name be the praise. I am going to sing now some verses from Psalm 50.
[17:43] The second version of the Psalm. Psalm 50. The second version of the Psalm. And at verse 9. Singing to the verse marked 15.
[17:55] Psalm 50. Psalm 50. Psalm 50. I'll take no bullock, nor he goats. From house, nor folds of thine.
[18:06] For beasts of forests cattle all on thousand hills at nine. The fowls are all to me well known. That mountains high do yield.
[18:17] And I do challenge as mine own the wild beasts of the field. If I were hungry. I would not to thee for need complain. For earth and all its fullness doth to me of right pertain.
[18:32] That I to eat the flesh of bulls. Take pleasure, dost thou think. Or that I need to quench my thirst. The blood of goats to drink. Nay, rather unto me thy God.
[18:46] Thanksgiving offer thou. To the Most High. Perform thy word. And fully pay thy vow. And in the day of trouble great.
[18:57] See that thou call on me. I will deliver thee. And thou my name shalt glorify. So I'm missing these verses.
[19:08] Psalm 52, the second version from verse 9. I'll take no bullock, nor he goats. From house, nor folds of thine. I'll take no bullock, nor he goats.
[19:27] From house, nor folds of thine. For reach the forest cattle.
[19:41] On thousand hills are mine. The fowls are all to me well known.
[19:57] That mountains high to yield. And I do challenge us, I know.
[20:12] The wild peace of the field. If I were hungry.
[20:24] I would not to thee for need complain. For earth and all is furnished.
[20:42] That I do. To me of right pertin. That I do. That I do.
[20:53] In the flesh of gold. Take pleasure. Just a thing.
[21:05] Or that I need to quench my thirst. The blood of gold to drink.
[21:20] May rather not to me, thy God. Than skilting offer thou.
[21:35] To thou most high. For thy word. And fully pay thy life.
[21:50] Thou. And then the day of trouble. Be ville as thou are. By will have t good shall you.
[22:20] glorify. I'd like us to turn to the book of Psalms and Psalm 17 which we read together and we can read again at verse 6.
[22:43] Psalm 17, reading at verse 6 I have called upon thee for thou wilt hear me. O God incline thine ear unto me and hear my speech.
[22:57] Show thy marvellous lovingkindness O thou that savourst by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.
[23:10] Keep me as the apple of the eye hide me under the shadow of thy wings from the wicked that oppress me from my deadly enemies who compass me about.
[23:25] And so on. I think we could safely say that the Psalm amongst other things reminds us of the privilege that belongs to the people of God where they are able to call upon the name of God.
[23:53] They are able to pray to God. They are able to speak to him at any time and under any circumstances no matter what these circumstances may be.
[24:14] Now whether we actually do that or not is another matter. It may be for some of us that there are prolonged periods of silence that there are lengths between our kinds of speaking to God.
[24:43] Now we could argue I suppose that habitually every believer prays regularly but mere prayer in form alone does not mean that we are doing business with God that we are communing with God that we are communicating with God that we are before him as those who are in dependence upon him.
[25:23] we can fall into the habit of conforming outwardly without actually engaging our mind in what we are doing without thinking through what our business with God entails what it needs to be through about it what needs to be at the heart of it what needs to be central to our engagement with him in our prayers.
[26:04] I've often noticed and I'm talking about humanly speaking not talking about just in case you're thinking I'm speaking about people who pray because you might think that I'm speaking about those who are praying in the prayer meeting that I'm pointing the finger at somebody I'm not but humanly speaking we've met people and they gush that's the only description that I can give to them it's as if in the morning you've taken the cart out of the bottle and they feel the need to speak and to speak and to speak and to speak and the more opportunity they get to speak the better it doesn't necessarily mean that what they're saying is relevant to most of the encounters that they have it's just the way they are by nature now we can't afford to be like that as
[27:21] Christians who do business with the Lord and in the psalm the psalmist is clearly someone who knows the Lord as his Lord as his God and his knowledge of God makes him want to come to God and to speak to God and to speak to him very pointedly very specifically very directly as to what his need is and how God can address it it is we believe a psalm of David most commentators are of the opinion that David composed this psalm and as you can see if you have a Bible that has headings this psalm is headed a prayer of
[28:22] David and there are one or two psalms that have such a title some suspect that the psalm is a twin of the previous psalm they come together they're separate psalms there's no they're not meant to be joined together as one but there is conformity in the content that makes commentators suggest that some of the content means that we are to understand that they're compatible the desire of the psalmist in both psalms is similar another thing the commentators suggest that it is a psalm of David's old age that he is coming to the end of his days now these things might be relevant to our understanding of these words that we're looking at this evening but what we can address is questions about our own prayer our own prayer life and how we understand it to work out if we ask the question of ourselves when do we normally call upon
[30:00] God when do we normally call upon God and as I said it could be something we do habitually it's something that Christians are meant to engage in habitually not just daily but regularly every day not just morning and evening but upon times where they can do so if they have the opportunity to pray privately and pray for specific things that may be ongoing in their own life or in the life of the family or the life of the community in the life of the church these are things that we can apply ourselves to and give ourselves this focus in our prayers but it may be that more often than not our approach to God is usually one that is the compunction the desire comes out of necessity we need him to do something for us our circumstances are the driver to our approach to God especially where that is revealed in the urgency that is revealed in the sun now there's nothing at all wrong with that there's nothing at all wrong with knowing to come to God when the need is urgent
[31:57] I think we learn from the psalmist we learn from the scripture that this is the wise thing for us to come to God when the need is urgent and we would be foolish not to have that at the heart of our relationship with God sometimes however though there are certain situations we may find ourselves in and we get knocked so badly off out of culture as it were that God is the God of the last resort we use that term often but unfortunately it's not a healthy situation to find yourself in where God becomes the last resort where you act as it were without your first action being to
[32:59] God now in the last psalm that we send here the psalmist says that God encourages us to come to you call upon me in the day of trouble he says and I will deliver you that is something that the believer should grasp and should remember at all times in the day of trouble whatever the trouble may be you can go to God and God promises to meet with you he promises deliverance and that may take a forum that we may not be prepared for I'm not making excuses for God I don't need to but sometimes the deliverance that he comes with may not accord with the petitions that we come to him with we may think we know what
[34:08] God is going to do in answer to our prayer our extremity may be of a certain sort and we know how God is going to answer that because our need our desire is that it corresponds with this answer that we have in our own mind but God's answer sometimes does not meet that need in that way not that he doesn't meet the need but he doesn't meet it in the way that we expect and sometimes that is difficult for us to understand but here David begins with prayer he begins the psalm with prayer hear hear hear the right o lord attend unto my cry give ear unto my prayer that goeth not out of faint lift see his prayer is genuine he's not coming with the prayer of the hypocrite he's not coming with a prayer that is anything other than with an understanding of who he's praying to and what he is praying for and then he does something that we might do having prayed he says that
[35:38] God can can can investigate for himself what kind of person he is thou hast proved my heart thou hast visited me in the night thou hast tried me and shall find nothing I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress concerning the words of men by the word of thy lips they have kept me from the paths of the destroyed what does that say to you that David is telling God there he is informing God that he is the genuine article this person who's offering this prayer is more or less saying my prayer should be heard because of who I am I could be wrong maybe I'm doing David an injustice there but sometimes that's what we do we convince ourselves and we try and convince God that the power of answered prayer is really down to us not not down to the
[36:49] God who is going to answer the prayer it depends upon what kind of person we have it depends on where we are when God hears our prayer it depends on a whole host of things and most of them have to do with ourselves and none of them have to do with God and at that point we need to think again maybe I'm doing David an injustice Dale Ralph Davis in his comments on this psalm says more or less I'm not quoting him exactly but he says we've got three petitions in the psalm and they're spaced between these arguments that David is making he begins with a petition then we have this series of arguments then there's another petition and again he returns to another series of arguments and then again another petition and the same again now whether we have one prayer with three petitions or three separate prayers or whatever what is inescapably the truth is that we cannot deny the need that there is for the believer to come to God and to know the wisdom of coming to God and understanding that whatever the need is great or small that God is the person to the go to person he should not appear anywhere down the line except at the head of it the one that you go to first and foremost and there you make your need known to him and the wisdom of that is not only brought to our attention in the psalm here but throughout the scripture the wisdom of knowing to come to
[39:05] God as the one who is the hearer of prayer and the one who is the answer of prayer the second thing I think we can say something about with certainty is that David knows that God will hear his prayer some have suggested a different wording some of you have quoted him often because I like what he has to say Bishop Paul has a commentary on the psalms and he's very usually on the ball as far as understanding spiritual truth but his opinion I think as far as the verse that we're looking at here is not only the belief that God will hear him but that the wording is that because you have heard me the sweet experience of former deliverances give a comfortable assurance of protection in present and future danger when you read these words the conviction on the part of this person is that he is looking at a
[40:33] God who has already heard his prayer and already proved the fact that he has heard but surely it is true of every believer that you have an assurance that God is the hearer of prayer if you are a Christian tonight you have every assurance that God has answered your prayer in the past every believer can identify former deliverances but one in particular stands out and that is you would not be a believer if you had not experienced the salvation of your soul at the hand of
[41:34] God you would not be a believer if that is not the case and it is one such deliverance one such salvation you are you are convinced of that only God could accomplish whatever else he has done in your life and he may have done many things but I believe a Christian is somebody who in some way shape or form came to God and with this recognition that you were in the words of Psalm 40 for example that you were in the pit that you were caught in the miry clay and you needed someone to set your feet upon the rock and at that moment you turned your face towards God and God heard your prayer he took you from the pit and he took you from the mighty clay and he set your feet upon the rock now in whichever way shape or form that was your experience every
[42:49] Christian can identify with it because there is no greater deliverance than this deliverance when you read various comments on the psalm some of them may take you to Egypt some of them may take you to Babylon some of them may take you to various experiences in the saints of the Bible and speak of the majestic way in which God saves in which God redeems people from terrible situations but there is none greater than the salvation of your soul and on the basis of that salvation you can come to God and believe that the God who has done this can do much lesser things than that if he is asked to when
[43:57] Peter preaches on the day of Pentecost he preaches to people and he wants them to believe and he says to them any that call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved in other words anybody who knows to come to God for salvation can be assured that the God to whom they come with that prayer is a God who will answer their prayer and if you are saved you clearly can understand that when you come to God with whatever petition surely that he is able to hear and able to answer your prayers some can speak of temporal measures some can speak of divine intervention even in spiritual terms in their lives as
[44:58] Christians but none of them will be greater than the experience of salvation at the hand of God I find it personally I find it concerning at times when we listen to the testimonies that we are so impressed with the salvation of renegades because of the fact that they were renegades rather than the saviour who saved them we become obsessively concerned with the kind of sin or the nature of the sins and we lose sight of the fact that whoever the sinner is whatever their sins are it is only one saviour that was able to save them and I suppose there is an actual inclination towards being taken up with that kind of thinking but the emphasis that I want to make as far as reading into the psalm or reading from the psalm what the psalm is to say
[46:13] I have called upon thee and I have called upon thee because I know what it is to call upon you the only living and true God my God and I know for for a fact that when I call that you will hear me and that your ear is turned towards me and that you hear what I have to say because I have that it's not a confidence it's not a self confidence it is an assurance based upon the reality of my experience as your child of God some people say the psalm begins with the expression of a covenant son speaking to his father notice the words of verse 17 of verse 7 how
[47:15] God saves show thy marvelous loving kindness oh thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them who is the right hand of God what is the right hand of God if he is not the man of God's right hand if he is not the son of his bosom into which he has committed all salvation I wonder why he prays show your loving kindness to me show thy marvelous loving kindness that's a question for you and I know some whoever it was made me begin to think along these lines when we're looking for
[48:20] God to show his loving kindness to us is it important that God shows his loving kindness to us or to others so that others will be persuaded that this is God's doing there is the need for confirmation in the part that we would know this is God's doing this is God answering my prayer this is God meeting my need in answer to my prayer if I put it like this well maybe you won't understand it but we'll try it anyway I've heard people and they've explained the conversion of
[49:20] Christians the conversion of sinners they've explained it as a change of life perhaps or a change of direction in life they've explained it looking at it from afar and said this person instead of seeing him as a convert instead of seeing him as somebody regenerate instead of seeing him as somebody in whom God worked in response to prayer they've seen somebody and they explain it away they explain it in terms that they themselves are comfortable with I've seen it and I've heard it umpteen times where Christians are born again through the work of the spirit of the Lord in their life and they themselves may struggle to believe that what has happened is the work of
[50:27] God's spirit they themselves may want God to show them that their prayer has been answered and God is the one who has answered their prayer and their eyes being opened to the things of God is not something that was the result of natural progression simply growth in knowledge I mean I know for myself that this was something that I struggled with that when God was opening my eyes to the truth of his word a word that I was familiar with and when I was beginning to see the truth in a life that I did not have before the suspicion came into my mind and I don't doubt for one minute that that suspicion was planted by the enemy of my soul was that it was just insights that I had that it was just a development in my own thinking that there was nothing supernatural about it there was nothing divine involved in the life that
[51:44] I know had that I didn't have before now a Christian can have that kind of experience I believe but I also believe that the person is not a Christian when he sees the Christian experiencing God working in their life they can put it down to to somebody just moving on from where they were and doing so because they wanted a change of lifestyle or they wanted to go in a different direction I don't know if that's what the psalmist has in mind here show thy marvellous loving kindness who are you going to show the loving kindness to to me who is praying to others who are hearing my prayers or who know that I'm praying is God going to show them that oh thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them certainly the enemy here is something that he is aware of whatever form that enmity takes in whichever way this prayer is stimulated because of the enemy can take many forms but the prayer continues keep me he says as the apple of the eye hide me under the shadow of thy wings if you're a
[53:29] Christian I would be very surprised if you did not pray this prayer if you did not come to God at some point in your experience and pray to God to protect you to preserve you the two pictures are with it I came across this I had come across it before I suppose Warren Wiersbe draws attention to the meaning of the Hebrew word the little man of the eye the apple of the eye the little man of the eye it's a strange translation the original Hebrew meaning of it what he means is that when you look somebody in the eye what do you see well you see a reflection of your own face in the eyes of the person whose eyes you're looking into so the
[54:44] Hebrew describes to us the eyes of the passion but what the meaning of the word is the protection no place as you know and as I know how sensitive the eye is especially that part of the eye if a speck of dust settles on it it irritates it irritates it hurts and the psalmist is saying I want you God to keep me as the apple of your eye to protect it to keep it in such a way that nothing will harm it it speaks of our vulnerability and our fragility and God protects the bird the child of God the way a bird is protective of its skin gathering we used to have hens like many of you here every home we are talking about homes having sheep in the morning we used to most homes had a few hens for eggs and we always used to have a broody hen with several chickens and if anything disturbed that hen the chickens would run under its wings and take shelter when they were small at least and that's the image that the psalmist conveys this is how
[56:23] I want to be protected by you this is my prayer and it is a prayer that the child of God is not oblivious to it's not a prayer that we are ever without we want to be protected by God we want to be kept from harm by God we want God to hear such a prayer so that none of the injuries that can befall us will come our way and is there not wisdom in that the enemies can be many and they can come in any shape or form but what the psalmist is reminding us we can go to God and he is greater than them all see it's burgeon writing about another experiencing God's deliverance he says whatever the trouble may be the
[57:26] Lord makes no exception but promises full sure happy deliverance and he will do it by his own hand from the wicked that oppress me from my deadly enemies who compass me about there are many enemies to the child of God in this world there are many forms that enmity takes but we can go to God who promises to hear our prayers to answer our prayers and to keep us as the apple of his eye God's people are a praying people they are a praying people always and when we struggle to pray that's the time we should pray most that's not strange everyone
[58:38] I believe struggles with prayer not just those who are not Christian but the Christian and our struggles should be a reminder to us that the very thing that causes the struggle is the very thing that reminds us of the need to persevere with prayer I was reading in the afternoon a story of an old lady and she used to meet with a friend and he was just an ordinary an ordinary elder who was somebody she met with periodically but she got word that somebody else was coming and this person she held in higher esteem than the other friend who was coming so when the first friend came she pretended she wasn't there and then she discovered that the other person she was expecting could not come and then she was riddled with guilt she was riddled with guilt and what better what best to do than to pray to
[60:11] God to assuage that guilt you might think that's a minor issue it's not it's a trivial event but for the child of God for the Christian believer there are many things which can hurt our consciences which can wound our conscience to the degree that affects our fellowship with God when it affects our fellowship with God it hinders us and keeps us back and we need God to put it right so it's a bit convoluted at times we need God to put right what we put wrong so that he can put right what we put wrong but there's no answer to that riddle than to go to God to get him to put right what we put wrong and prayer is the medium way and whichever way we discover that if the discovery brings us to him all the better may bless to us these thoughts let us pray most merciful
[61:21] God we pray that you would keep from sight anything that is not according to your will we pray that you would highlight the things that you have brought to light in your word for your word is truth and it reminds us of the privilege that we have of coming to the God of truth that you may speak to us the truth in love cleanse from sin we ask all with forgiveness of that sin Christ amen we're closing psalm psalm 86 we're singing from verse 1 psalm 86 from the beginning of the psalm and we'll sing to verse 7 5 stanzas oh lord do thou bow down thine ear and hear me graciously because I so afflicted am and am in poverty because I'm holy let my soul by thee preserved be o thou my
[62:23] God thy servant saved that puts his trust in thee sither to thee I daily cry be merciful to me rejoice thy servant soul for lord I lift my soul to thee for thou art gracious o lord ready to forgive and rich in mercy all that call upon thee to relieve hear lord my prayer and to the voice of my request attend in troublous times I call of thee for thou wilt answer saint and so on o lord do thou bow down thine ear and hear me graciously o lord do thou bow down thine ear and hear me graciously because thy soul have lifted down undone in poverty because thy holy clan soul thy
[63:47] Lord hath my o thy mas have saved been for aux antes her widuela other wor� i due Save them to thee, I daily cry. Be merciful to me.
[64:28] Rejoice thy servant's soul, for Lord I lift my soul to thee.
[64:47] For thou art gracious, O Lord, and ready to forgive.
[65:04] And rich in mercy, all that go upon thee to relieve.
[65:22] Hear, Lord, my fill unto the voice of my request attend.
[65:42] In troublous times I'll call on thee, for love will not ascend.
[66:04] May the grace, Lord, and peace be with you. God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit rest in a bank with you all love and all. Amen.