[0:00] We're going to begin our service singing to God's praise from Psalm 84. Psalm 84, at the beginning of the Psalm to verse 6.
[0:13] How lovely is thy dwelling place, O Lord of hosts, to me, the tabernacles of thy grace, how pleasant, Lord, they be. My thirsty soul longs vehemently, he faints thy courts to see.
[0:27] My very heart and flesh cry out, O living God, for thee. Behold, the sparrow findeth out an house wherein to rest, the swallow also for herself hath purchased a nest.
[0:41] Even thine own altars, where she save her young ones forth, may bring. O thou almighty, Lord of hosts, who art my God and King, blessed are they in thy house that dwell, they ever give thee praise.
[0:57] Blessed is the man whose strength thou art, in whose heart are thy ways. Who passing thoroughbred as veil, therein do dig up wells. Also the rain that falleth down, the pools with water fills.
[1:13] And so on. These verses, Psalm 84, 1 to 6. How lovely is thy dwelling place, O Lord of hosts, to me. How lovely is thy dwelling place, O Lord of hosts, to me.
[1:39] The tabernacles of thy place, O Lord of hosts, to me.
[2:09] My very heart and flesh cry out, O living God, for thee.
[2:29] Behold, the saddle findeth out an house wherein to rest, the swallow also for herself hath purchased a nest.
[3:05] In thine own altars, where she save her young ones forth, may bring.
[3:22] O thou almighty, Lord of hosts, who art my God and King.
[3:39] Blessed are they in thy house that dwell, they ever give thee praise.
[3:56] Blessed is the man whose strength thou art, in whose heart are thy ways.
[4:15] Who passing thoroughbred as veil, then enter dig up wells.
[4:32] Also the rain that falleth down, the pools with water fills.
[4:50] Let us join together in prayer. Let us pray. Let us pray.
[5:25] Let us pray.
[5:55] Let us pray.
[6:25] Let us pray. Let us pray. Let us pray. way that you direct our thoughts to petition the one at your right hand so that you will intercede for us in meaningful ways that we may know that you are God indeed, that we are not overwhelmed by the constant spirit of atheism that pervades the atmosphere in which we must live, the denial of God or the power of God or the will of God to do whatsoever you have purposed in this world. You have declared the two in your word, you have directed our attention to it through your word, you have quickened many who have yielded their lives to the Christ of the gospel and he has so directed them to put their faith in him for time and for eternity. So help us to remember this as we continue in your presence, joining with others who may not be present with us physically but as part of this congregation we trust that they have their minds upon our gathering. They would wish to be with us, they would desire to be here in our midst but circumstances dictate otherwise. There are those who have clearly demonstrated in a lifelong allegiance to Christ
[8:11] Christ that they are his and that their longing is to be with them where he is. We bless you for them and we pray that even as they join with us in worship at their own hearth that they may know through the instrumentality of your spirit that you are at work in our midst. Remember those who are deprived of liberty to attend because of ill health, we remember those of our fellowship who are confined to home, to hospital, to places appointed for the elderly and their care. We pray also for the hospice and those who are found there who are engaging with the last enemy even in the illness that has overtaken them. We pray for grace to be apportioned to them according to need, thankful that amongst all the trials and tribulations that afflict the just, many as they may be, many as they may be that the Lord has promised to be with them all. We pray for the blessing of the Most High to be upon the preaching, the proclamation of the Word of God throughout our island community and the nation that is part of our own experience. We have been born into it. We have not chosen to be what we are. We are by reason of our birth. We are Scots. We are governed by a parliament that we may not have chosen. We are subjects to a king that we have not in any way been responsible for enthroning. And yet we are obligated by reason of the fact that the God of heaven who ordains all things, even our providence that you have so ordained the king to be king over us, the parliament to be the parliament that serves the people, however badly they may do so. We pray for them as we are required that they may be directed to do good and not evil, that they may be the means of appointing the things that they may be the things that they may be the things that they may be the things that are God honouring rather than things that are to the detriment of the faith once given to this world of ours. We pray then your blessing upon us as a nation, upon the nations of the earth, remembering as we do constantly the places of the world that suffer deprivation.
[11:08] Some because of war. Some because of war we think of the Ukraine and those who are suffering extraordinarily in these places. We ask that you would remember all who have grief and sorrow and pain and who are under the heel of the oppressor in so many different ways.
[11:31] remember then we pray and may you soon turn the one that is responsible for such evil away from doing what he is responsible for doing so we remember that nation as we remember all the nations of the earth that are suffering from want from poverty from lack of food, from lack of water from lack of medical provision there are so many places in the world that suffer from deprivation of all sorts and we pray for them and ask that you would give relief remember the proclamation of the word of God in such places may you empower those that you have sent out with the gospel to preach the gospel freely and unambiguously to fear no man but to declare Jesus Christ and him crucified the alone saviour of sinners that you would encourage men and women young and old to bow the knee to the king of kings lord over all that he may direct their lives so here are petitions at this evening remembering all that we leave in your care and keeping we pray again for those for whom this time of year is a sore bondage because of their griefs and their sadnesses that are perpetuated by empty places that they lovingly look upon that can never be filled again so we remember the grieving and the sorrowful and we pray for them that you would encourage them to look beyond their time of sadness to the one who ordains all things and doeth all things well watch over as we pray the short time that we have together bless your word to us and hear our petitions in Christ the Redeemer's name
[13:30] Amen We're going to sing now from Psalm 102 the first version of the Psalm Psalm 102 the first version and we're singing from verse 23 to the end Psalm 102 Psalm 102 shall continually endure and in thy sight
[14:52] O Lord their seed shall established be sure We can sing these verses from Psalm 102 the first version of the Psalm from verse 23 to the end My wanted strength and force ye have abated in the way my wanted strength and force ye have abated in the way and ye my dear share and or far came to the end
[15:55] Take thou me not away From age to age eternally Thy years and you'll have stayed The firm foundation of the earth All whole time thou hast laid The heavens also are the work Which thy own hands have made Thou shalt forever
[16:58] Morn and youth But it shall perish all Yea, every one of them white souls Like to our God men shall Thou as a best you Thou shalt them change And they shall change it be But thou the same art And thy years are to eternity
[18:00] The children of thy seven Shall continually endure And in thy sight, O Lord Their seed shall be established You We're going to read from the New Testament Scriptures The Epistle to the Hebrews And chapter 13 The last chapter of the Epistle Hebrews chapter 13 Reading from the beginning Let brotherly love continue
[19:02] Be not forgetful to entertain strangers For thereby some have entertained angels unawares Remember them that are in bonds As bound with them And them which suffer adversity As being yourselves also As being yourselves also in the body Marriage is honourable in all And the bed undefiled But hoodmongers and adulterers God will judge Let your conversation be without covetousness And be content with such things as you have For he hath said I will never leave thee Nor forsake thee So that we may boldly say The Lord is my helper And I will not fear What man shall do unto me Remember then Which have the rule over you Who have spoken unto you
[20:02] The word of God Whose faith follow Considering the end of their conversation Jesus Christ The same yesterday And today And forever Be not carried about With diverse and strange doctrines For it is a good thing That the heart be established With grace Not with meats Which have not profited then That have been occupied therein We have an order Whereof they have no right to eat Which serve the tapernacle For the bodies of those beasts Whose blood is brought into the sanctuary By the high priest for sin Have burned without the camp Therefore Wherefore Jesus also That he might sanctify the people With his own blood Suffered without the gate Let us go forth therefore unto him Without the camp Be his reproach
[21:04] For here we have no continuing city But we seek one to come By him therefore Let us offer the sacrifice Of praise to God Continually That is the fruit of our lips Giving thanks to his name But to do good And to communicate Forget not For with such sacrifices God is well pleased Obey them that have the rule over you And submit yourselves For they watch for your souls As they That must give account That they may do it with joy And not with grief For that is unprofitable for you Pray for us For we trust We have a good conscience In all things Willing to live honestly But I beseech you The rather to do this That I may be restored to you The sooner Now the God of peace
[22:04] That brought again from the dead Our Lord Jesus That great shepherd of the sheep Through the blood of the everlasting covenant Make you perfect in every good work To do his will Working in you That which is well pleasing in his sight Through Jesus Christ To whom be glory forever and ever Amen And I beseech you brethren Suffer the word of exhortation For I have written a letter unto you In few words Know ye That our brother Timothy Is set at liberty With whom if he come shortly I will see you Salute all them That have the rule over you And all the saints They of Italy Salute you Grace be with you all Amen May the Lord May the Lord add his blessing To a reading of this word And to his name Be the praise Let us sing now
[23:07] Psalm 107 From the beginning Down to verse 9 Psalm 107 From the beginning Praise God For he is good For still his mercy's lasting be Let God's redeemed say so Whom he from the enemy's hand did free And gathered them out of the lands From north, south, east and west They strayed in deserts pathless way No city found to rest For thirst and hunger in them Faints their soul When straits them press They cry unto the Lord And he then frees from their distress Them also in a way to walk That right is he did guide That they might to a city go Wherein they might abide Oh that men to the Lord Would give praise For his goodness then And for his works of wonder Done unto the sons of men
[24:09] For he the soul that longing is Doth fully satisfy With goodness he the hungry soul Doth fill abundantly And so on These verses Psalm 107 From the beginning Praise God For he is good For still his mercy's lasting be Praise God For he is good For still his mercy's lasting be Let God's redeeming So whom he from the enemy Standed free And gathered them Of the lands
[25:12] From north, south, east, and west This redeemed desert A blessed way No city found to rest For thirst and hunger In them face Their soul when straight Them pressed They cry unto The Lord and he Them frees from their distress Them also in a way To walk
[26:16] The brightest needed guide That they might to a city go Wherein they might Abide Oh that men to the Lord Would give Praise for his goodness And for his works Of wonder Done Unto the sons of men For he the soul that longing is
[27:22] Doth all insatisfy With goodness He the hungry soul Doth bill abondently Can we turn for a short while To Hebrews chapter 13 We can read again at verse 14 For here we have no continuing city But we seek one to come Here we have no continuing city But we seek one to come As we looked at the text That we were considering this morning By way of introduction
[28:24] By way of introduction We noticed that the apostle Paul Set about emphasizing the duties required to be carried out by Christians First of all with regard to God And then with regard to their fellow believers And the author of this epistle Some suggest that it is one and the same That it is Paul who wrote this epistle to the Hebrews Although it is not It is an epistle that does not bear his name Many do believe that he actually did author it And some of what Paul says If not everything that the apostle says in this epistle Is consistent with what Paul teaches But you will notice if you read through the epistle
[29:28] That the writer or the author of this epistle Also encourages believers to show fidelity to God To remain steadfast in the faith They are as Christians encouraged to Even as we read in the last chapter here To remember their fellow believers To show brotherly love And to be able to show hospitality to those who are Believers Or to anyone really Because sometimes when they did that They were able to entertain as he puts it Angels unaware We want to focus on this verse
[30:38] Bearing in mind Bearing in mind that while these teachings These instructions are part and partial of the epistle The main focus of the writer is the passion of the Lord Jesus Christ He focuses on the passion of the Lord as being someone who from start to finish is seen to be greater than Many of the things that Hebrews had previously given place to They had given the primary place to the worship of God Using the symbols and the types of the Old Testament They had given the primary place to those who are the men of the faith Neglecting at times to understand or to see that they were men of faith
[31:45] Rather than those that were to be followed and trusted in In the sense of putting their soul in their hands He doesn't doubt the place that Moses has or that Abraham has or that any one of these Exalted saints have But sometimes people lose sight of the place that they have within the purposes of salvation So part of his ministry is to direct attention to the place these people had in directing others to Christ And that Christ would always have the preeminence amongst them So throughout the epistle we have that And we are reminded that it is Christ who is the sin offering Christ who is the great high priest who makes that sin offering
[32:50] Christ is the mediator between God and man Christ is the one entrusted with intercession on behalf of the people that bear God's name He, as we read in chapter 8, he is one after the order of Melchizedek A mediator of a better covenant established on better promises Well, that is important because that lies at the heart of the text that we are looking at this evening The person of the Lord Jesus Christ may be veiled in these words But the reality is that the person who has placed their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ is the passion of which this verse speaks Here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come
[33:53] So we can unravel that if you like, explain that, unpack it as some would have it By recognizing that what we have here is a statement of fact describing to us that there are two cities One of these cities is a city that is perishing By its very nature it is perishing The other city, by contrast, is a city that endures There are these two cities There are these two cities One perishes or perishing And the other is destined to endure And the third thing that we have there is that those who are Christ's Those who are the Lord's people Those whose affections Those who are on Christ Those who are on Christ
[34:55] Looking to Christ Looking to Christ Are those who are looking to That city that endures Because of What that city Implies to them We seek one To come The city that is perishing What is perishing then, first of all Now it's It seems when we look at this verse And we take it in isolation And even when we take it in isolation It's very difficult for us to To understand where the apostle is coming from When he speaks about a city Because That hasn't really been mentioned Made of a city In the immediate context He speaks of a camp By which We can believe That that camp Is speaking about the holy city
[35:57] Jerusalem The camp outside which The The sacrifice of Christ Was carried out Was carried out Was outside The city walls of Jerusalem But that goes right back to The practice As God entrusted it to them Where The offerings of the Old Testament The bodies of those beasts Whose blood is brought into the sanctuary By the high priest for sin Are burnt without the camp That then We are told Is the Forerunner The The type Of Jesus Christ In his death What happened In his case When he was Put to death On the cross Outside the city walls On the rubbish dump Of the city So in that sense
[36:59] In that sense This is where we find The city that is spoken of And while the city of Jerusalem May for the most part Have a positive Slag to it As a city It is The residence of God It is the place Where God's people worshiped It is the place Where the ark of the covenant Was taken Where the people of God Travelled regularly In their festal occasions To offer worship to God The city The holy city of Jerusalem Was their destination In that sense That city was a city That was precious to them And precious to them But Whether they understood it or not Or whether it is meant to be understood In this way
[38:00] In this passage That city Is not a city That Is meant to endure I have never been to the holy land But it is A place where Many religious people Go to this day You get Jews And you get Arabs You get Muslims And you get Christians Gravity towards this place That is In their way of thinking A place that is still holy A place that is still A place recognised for For God's presence And God's provision To their spiritual needs And yet The reality is All that was meant To be secured By that city Is No Longer Relevant All that took place
[39:03] In the history Of the New Testament church As we are directed to in Christ Has now taken place Historically Historically We may mark it As a place That God Appointed to Vail His glory That's fine But it is a city That has perished In that respect A city Like every other city Destined To fade away But Jerusalem Is not the only city That we can see There are many Notable cities I suppose That we could speak of I was trying to think Of some of them As I prepared this The cities that That If you go back In the bygone history Of the world There are famous places That were once Celebrated Because Of their glory Places Such as Babylon We talked about Babylon Recently
[40:04] As we looked at the The book of Daniel But there are other Places that are not Mentioned in the Bible Cities like in Peru Machu Picchu Places that Are So disappeared From the history That they That There is a question mark About their existence We've all read perhaps In our youth about Troy And the Trojan armies But some question Whether that place Actually existed Whether that nation Actually existed Whether it belongs In the folklore In the myth Of the world And yet Troy Was a nation And the capital city Was Troy And if it did exist That there is no
[41:05] Memory of it Today Physical memory of it Other than In our Records Of Of the world They have long Disappeared So in that sense There are those Cities like The city that is Referred to here That do not Continue They are not Destined to remain They are remembered But they are no Longer A place that we Can go to There are cities Of course that are Built in the ruins Of others Rome for example Is a city that Exists today That exists today But it is said To have been built On the rubble Of another London is no Different There are There are Aspects of the Original city there But what exists today Is nothing like What was once there The passage of time Erodes Not just the memory But the physical
[42:07] Elements that Bring that memory To be But that is not all The apostle Has in mind He is speaking Of the city That is You know I think In John Bunyan's book He talks about The town of man's soul He talks about This place That is A temporary Residence For the soul Of man And in that respect The bible teaches us That our body Our frail body Is just that Because it is only Destined to exist To exist For as long as we Reside in it And our residence Is not Is not meant to go on It is a temporary
[43:08] Residence That is why In some parts of the scripture It speaks about The tent Of Of Of our body The tabernacle Something that will Fall Something that will Perish The apostle James The apostle James Tells us Something about that You know he speaks In chapter 4 About The kind of world In which We live And the kind of people Who live in that world He says Go to now Ye that say Today Or tomorrow We will go Into such a city And continue There a year And buy and sell And get gain Whereas ye know not What shall be On the morrow For what is your life It is even a vapour That appeareth
[44:09] For a little time And then vanishes away The apostle Recognises The frailty Of our human Existence And I think At the heart of what The apostle is saying Is that he is speaking About the city That Reminds us Of our natural Frailty No matter how Seemingly Indestructible We all are We are We are We are We are We like to think That we aren't If you are a bit like me When you meet somebody You haven't met For a long time And they say to you You are looking good You haven't aged a bit No it does you good To hear that said to you Doesn't it Somebody saying to you You haven't aged a bit Well if they had my bones And my muscles And my back
[45:11] They would know That Part of me is Certainly aging And I am feeling Every bit of it And you see that When you see Meet people That you have known For a long time People that were Immensely strong Physically And you thought You admired them And you thought So much about them And all of a sudden You meet them And you see Age has Has left its mark on them We're not really meant To live in this world We sang these words In the psalm My wanted strength And force He hath abated in the way And that's the way The Bible explains to us How we are by nature Here we have no continuing city Whoever we are And however much we feel That is the way it is
[46:12] It's a sad state of affairs Is it not? It would be desperately Grim If that's all there was to it I'm speaking to A crumbling city Today Tonight A crumbling city Every one of you Your stones Your rocks The cement is coming out Of the cracks Your foundations Are shaking And that's the way it is For you Even the youngest of you But if that was all I had to say to you To make you feel So bad about yourself That would really be A grim situation I'm not going to kid you And say Don't you think about that Because that's what Some people will say Don't let them make you Think about that Avoid the issue Ignore the issue That's not going to solve it
[47:16] That's not going to make it go away But what is the answer Well the answer is this What the answer That the apostles suggest to us Here we have no continuing city But we seek one to come There is a city that is not Destined to crumble And corrupt and decay There is another passage Which we find in this epistle Strangely enough It's in the midst of a A series of verses That are speaking to us About those men and women Of the faith In this epistle Chapter 11 We read the following Verse 13
[48:20] These all died in faith Not having received the promises But having seen them afar off And were persuaded of them And embraced them And confessed that they were strangers And pilgrims on the earth They understood their predicament They were tent dwellers Their city was crumbling around their ears But the following said They that say such things declare plainly That they seek a country And truly if they had been mindful of that country From whence they came out They might have opportunity to have returned But now they desire a better country That is unheavenly Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God For he has prepared for them a city
[49:24] And that is the difference you see It makes However Optimistic you may be about life in general There is no escaping the fact that Life as you live it Is exactly that A life that is lived And soon having lived your life Life that will be In the past tense In the past tense You go back to the Old Testament And you'll see there A genealogy of the people of God And in that list of people Some known, some unknown They say about them That they were living And then they died Without exception They died Every one of them And the The apostle
[50:28] As he writes this letter Is not going to ignore that simple truth But the truth that makes it all different As far as he is concerned Is this That these people desired a better country These people who are God's people Whose eye is upon the Lord Jesus Christ Understand that provision has been made for them So that once they vacate the city Once this tent is folded up Once this crumbling edifice Comes down into the ground That there is something other than that Prepared for them Some of you will know the name John Owen And John Owen said the following He was a Puritan And by reason of his Puritan beliefs Which are strongly If not uniquely
[51:31] Biblical He said the following The following Is this This is a Puritan To the Lord Jesus Christ In the everlasting Enjoyment of Him Remember that statement Because some people have a different opinion As to what Heaven is And most of them intend to go to Heaven Most of them expect to go to Heaven But think again of what Owen says Heaven is a habitation With God In the everlasting Enjoyment of Him Heaven is the desire In the bottom of the sighs and groans Of all believers Whatever outwardly may give to them occasion In other words Whatever it is that causes them
[52:33] To sigh Loudly And deeply The causes of a ramble in this world God's people Have their eye fixed Upon that place That He has prepared for them Now what we know about this place We could go to many scriptures To find that But recently we've read Together from the book of Revelation and I'm going to quote Two or three verses from that book You'll be familiar with the words Because they're words that were spoken By the Apostle John As if he was given As if he was given A table top A mountain top To gaze into Heaven itself And what he saw in Heaven Is a description of what Heaven is like
[53:36] In chapter 7 he says this Therefore are they before the throne of God And serve him day and night in his temple He that sitteth on the throne Shall dwell among them They shall hunger no more Neither thirst any more Neither shall the sun light on them Nor any heat For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne Shall feed them And shall lead them into living fountains of waters And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes Now if you think about these words for a moment And you John And you're looking into Heaven What is it you're seeing?
[54:20] What are the things that must grip your mind? He's seeing the crown He's seeing the throne He's seeing the one sitting on the throne He's seeing the people who are with the person who is on the throne He is seeing what that person is doing for them The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne Feeding them Leading them into living fountains of water And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes Maybe we don't understand what that means We join with many speculating Asking questions What does that mean?
[54:58] Being led to fountains of living waters What does it mean to be fed By Christ In Heaven Then Towards the end Of this epistle John's Gaze into glory He sees A city That's what he sees And a city And a city has twelve gates And every several gate was of pearl And the street of the city was pure gold As it were transparent glass I saw no temple therein For the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb Are the temple of it And the city had no need of the sun Neither of the moon to shine in it For the glory of God And the Lamb is the light thereof And the nations of them which are saved Shall walk in the light of it And the kings of the earth Do bring their glory and honour into it And the gates of it
[56:01] Shall not be shut at all by day For there shall be no night there And they shall bring the glory and honour Of the nations into it There shall in no wise enter into it Anything that defileth Neither whatsoever worketh abomination Or maketh a lie But they which are written in the Lamb's book of life There are many other passages That we could refer to One thing I'm fairly confident of Is this, that most Christians Will have spent some time Reflecting on these words And words similar to them Because most Christians Know that this is not All there is to it That their life here in this world Is not all there is to it That there is something that lies beyond the grave That there is something that is beyond death That there is something That there is an experience that they will enjoy That is unlike any experience that they have had in this world
[57:06] There is a city upon which Their affections are set And they want to familiarise themselves with it Is that not what you do Christian?
[57:23] You familiarise yourself With the streets upon which you intend to walk And the activities that you intend to enjoy And the practices that you will have And take delight in Like John Owen said You will have everlasting enjoyment of Him And like many who have a vision of heaven Which is You take God out of it You take Christ out of it You take worship out of it You take anything to do with Solemnity or holiness or goodness out of it It is just a very shabby Understanding of what this world Has to offer That they consider best
[58:25] They are looking forward to going there It is said of I am just going to finish with this really I was thinking of Many countries such as our own But not so much our own That if a visitor from another country Is coming as a tourist Into our country They will enter the country carrying a visa A visitor's visa or a tourist visa And there are rules governing that visa They can only stay for so long There are certain things that they will not be allowed to do They won't be allowed to work Unless there is terms Explicitly attached to that visa That allows them to do that There are many countries that will interview A person who is entering the country
[59:28] And they will interview them and want to find out Why are you visiting our lovely country? Why do you want to come here? Why do you want to come here? And it is a very key question Because some of them They are visiting for the wrong reasons Some of them say We are here to do And where are you going to go?
[59:50] And their knowledge is so limited They can't really answer And what kind of Do you have money to sustain you during your time And they have limited resources Who are you going to be staying with?
[60:01] Where are you going to be staying with? Where are you going to be staying with? The questions are simple But they have no answer for them Unfortunately You don't have to have a visa to get into heaven And you won't have to be interviewed by anyone To ensure that you gain access But your knowledge of heaven And what it involves But your knowledge of heaven and what it involves Will need to be far greater than the knowledge Some people possess of the heaven they intend to go to What the writer of this epistle is saying Is that there is a city And its builder And its builder Is God He has established the foundation of this city Those who reside in this city Are a peculiar sort of people They are marked out by
[61:03] By certain truths That make them recognizable Whatever they are They know the Lord They love the Lord They know why the Lord Is taking them to heaven To be like himself And to enjoy his company And to enjoy the company of those who know him That's the occupants of this city And if you are not one of them The reason for that is because you don't know him Are you a seeker of this city That will last Through ages Endless ages A city that will endure A city whose foundations Are established and sure Well may you know the Christ Who will make your life in this world Life in this world Worth enduring Worth enduring Even though the life itself
[62:05] Will not endure And the only way that is possible Is by entrusting your soul To the keeping of the Christ Who is the saviour of sinners We are going to conclude Singing the words of Psalm 23 Before we do Let us pray Heaven Blessed God As we come before you In this Time of Worship The very beginning of this year We give thanks for the opportunity And we pray that it would be blessed Who is that arise Would be gazing upon the one Who is the one who entreats us to know him And to know him is life eternal Watch over as each one cleanses from sin In Jesus name Amen We sing as we said the 23rd Psalm The Lord my shepherd
[63:06] Will not walk He makes me down to line pastures green He leadeth me the quiet waters by My soul he doth restore again And me to walk doth make Within the paths of righteousness Even for his own name's sake The final verse Goodness and mercy on my life Shall surely follow me And in God's house Forevermore my dwelling place Shall be We are going to sing the whole of the 23rd Psalm The Lord my shepherd I'll not want The Lord my shepherd I'll not want The Lord my shepherd I'll not want He makes me down to line In pastures green He leadeth me
[64:08] The quiet waters by My soul he doth restore again And me to walk doth make Within the paths of righteousness In for his own name's sake Yea, though I walk in desert Yet will I fear none ill
[65:10] For thou art with me And thy rod And thy rod And staff be cut For still My table thou hast farnished In the presence of my ghost My head thou dost With oil anoint And my cup over lost And my cup over lost Goodness and mercy And my cup over lost Goodness and mercy To all my light
[66:11] Shall surely follow me And in God's house Forevermore God's shuttered My dwelling place Evermore my dwelling place shall be.
[66:43] Now may grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit rest and abide with you all, now and always. Amen.