Church, turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 90. If you're looking in one of the Pew Bibles,
that is page 465. Psalm 90. Let me read that. I'll read the whole psalm for us this morning.
A prayer of Moses, the man of God. Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. You return man to dust and say, return,
O children of man. For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past,
or as a watch in the night. You sweep them away as with a flood. They are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning. In the morning it flourishes and is renewed.
In the evening it fades and withers. For we are brought to an end by your anger.
By your wrath we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins,
in the light of your presence. For all our days pass away under your wrath. We bring our years to
an end like a sigh. The years of our life are 70 or even by reason of strength 80. Yet their span is
but toil and trouble. They are soon gone and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger?
And your wrath according to the fear of you. So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart
of wisdom. Return, O Lord, how long have pity on your servants? Satisfy us in the morning with your
steadfast love that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have
afflicted us for as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be shown to your servants and your glorious
power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us and establish the work of our hands upon us.
Yes, establish the work of our hands.
Well, once again, we're approaching the end of another year.
And this year is also the end of a decade. By this time next week, the second decade of the 21st century
will be history. That doesn't happen that often. Think for a moment about where you were a decade ago
at the end of 2009. Some of you weren't even here.
Or two decades ago, anticipating Y2K. Remember that?
Now, for many of us, this week between Christmas and New Year's is a time when we get a break.
We get a little break from the normal routines of school or work.
Maybe it's a time where we visit with loved ones or at least call or write to them from afar.
But I think it's also an appropriate time as we prepare to begin a new year and a new decade
to take stock of where we've been and where we're going.
Sometimes I think we can get so caught up in the day-to-day things that we can lose our spiritual focus.
We can lose sight of our priorities and purpose and perspective.
This week, I looked over the last 12 months of my Google Calendar.
That doesn't encapsulate all my life, but it reminded me of a lot of things that I had done over the last year.
It gave me many things to be thankful for, a longer list of things than I would have remembered on my own.
It helped me to begin thinking about how do I want to invest my time?
What are my priorities going into this coming year?
Well, this morning and next Sunday, we're going to look at two psalms
that can help us to close out another year and decade and begin a new one
by looking to our ever-present and ever-faithful and everlasting God.
This morning, we'll look at Psalm 90.
Next week, we'll look at Psalm 147, a song of praise.
And then in the second week of January, we'll begin a new sermon series
in the end of Luke's Gospel, Luke 19 to 24.
Last year, we looked at the middle of Luke's Gospel.
This year, we'll be looking at chapters 19 through 24.
So you can look forward to that in the new year.
But today, we're looking at this psalm, Psalm 90.
Now, you can organize or structure this psalm in a couple of different ways.
You can see it in terms of past, present, and future.
Verses 1 to 2, look back on the past.
Verses 3 to 12, face up to the present.
And verses 13 to 17, look forward to the future.
And that's a valid way of seeing the psalm.
And we'll sort of see that progression as we walk through it.
But another way of seeing the psalm is as a stairway.
Now, if you open up your bulletin to the center page, to the sermon notes page,
you'll see a diagram that looks like a stairway going down and then back up again.
So the psalm begins, as it were, on top of a mountain.
And then it leads us down into a dark valley.
And then it leads us back to the mountaintop.
And so this morning, I want to lead us through this psalm together.
For each section, for each step on the stairway, I'll point out a key word from the psalm.
Now, let me speak for a moment to all the children who are here.
I have a challenge for you.
I want you to listen for the key word in each section of the psalm
and write it down on the stairway in your bulletin.
Now, if you can't write yet, when you hear me say the key word or the next step on the stairway,
you can nudge one of your parents and say, write it down.
All right?
And your goal is to get all seven of the key words,
one on each step of the stairway, by the end of the sermon.
All right?
And then you can show it to your parents at the end of the service,
or show it to me, or whatever you want.
But that's your challenge, all right, for this morning.
And when we get to number seven, when we go down the stairway
and get back to the top, then the sermon's almost over.
All right?
So, here's the first one.
You get the first step on the stairway right away.
Verses one and two.
You notice the first step on the stairway is above.
It says V1-2.
That means verses one and two.
The key word is God.
And the main point of these verses is God has always been there.
Now, this psalm is a prayer of Moses.
Most likely, Moses wrote it in his old age,
after he had led the Israelites through the wilderness for many years.
There are some similarities between this psalm and the last words of Moses
recorded at the end of Deuteronomy in chapters 32 and 33.
So, for example, the psalm begins,
Lord, you have been our dwelling place.
And Deuteronomy 33, 27, Moses says,
the eternal God is your dwelling place.
Same word.
And underneath are the everlasting arms.
That's a wonderful thing to think about.
God is our home and holding us up by his everlasting arms.
But I want you to think about Moses' life for just a minute
and what it would mean for him to say God has been our dwelling place.
Think about how much of Moses' life he had spent
as a homeless man or as a wanderer
or as someone who was in between different places.
Right?
So, as a young child, Moses was adopted.
Now, he had a wonderful adoptive mother,
the daughter of Pharaoh himself.
He was well taken care of, but he was separated.
And he knew he was separated from his biological parents
and from his relatives.
And many of them were enduring great hardships.
Then, as a young adult, he did something very foolish and immature.
And it was impulsive and he had to flee.
He had to run away for his life.
And he spent many years in the land of Midian as a foreigner.
And then he goes back and, you know, leads people out of Israel.
But then where does he lead them to?
They're wandering in the wilderness.
You know, most of Moses' life was spent displaced, homeless, or wandering.
But Moses came to know and rest in the eternal God as his true home.
Through all of his wandering, through all of his homelessness,
through all of his being displaced and being in between,
he came to know my true home is found in the Lord.
Several years ago, I was talking to an older man who had become homeless.
He had lived in the Columbus house for several months.
And he said, during the time that I was homeless,
I learned what it means when the Bible says that God is a shelter.
He said that, you know, I'd known that, I'd known about that all my life,
but that took on a new meaning for me when I, through my experience.
Now, I wonder if you can look back on your own life.
You know, maybe you've never been homeless, or maybe you have been homeless,
but can you see through all the changes and chances
and all maybe the ways you've had to move from one place to another?
Maybe you feel sort of in between, not really settled here.
Can you see that the everlasting God has always been there?
Let me use a pulpit mic.
So that's where Moses begins this song.
By looking back on God's sheltering care over him.
And, not just over him, but over the people of Israel as a whole.
Lord, you've been our dwelling place.
He's speaking to the people.
You've led us through the wilderness.
You've been the one constant in a constantly changing world.
And he looks back even before, not just on his own life,
not just on the people of Israel's experience,
but he looks back all the way to the creation of the world.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
wherever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting,
you are God.
From eternity past, God has always been there.
And that's where Moses begins in this wonderful psalm with God.
But then Moses goes on.
He takes a step down the stairway.
And he goes on to the next section.
And the key word in verses 3 to 6 is dust.
People are dust.
You return man to dust.
So if verses 1 to 2 look back into the past upon God and his eternity,
verses 3 through 6 look squarely at the present,
at human mortality and transience.
Or you could say if verses 1 and 2 look back to the creation of the world in Genesis 1 and 2,
verses 3 to 6 look back to the consequences of the fall in Genesis 3.
The phrase translated children of man in verse 3
could just as well be translated children of Adam.
That word man is Adam.
And of course in Genesis 3 God says to Adam,
after he and Eve have sinned,
you are dust,
and to dust you will return.
So this psalm is reminding us
of the consequences of our fallen condition.
Now verse 4 goes on
and says a thousand years in God's sight are like yesterday
or even like less than a day.
A watch in the night.
Now Genesis tells us of a few human beings
who lived extraordinarily long lives.
But even the man who lived the longest, Methuselah,
did not make it to a thousand.
969.
You see, Moses' point here in verse 4
is that even the longest human lifespan,
is only a drop
in the giant stream of time.
Verses 5 and 6,
Moses uses three metaphors
to describe the shortness
and how quickly human life changes.
He says,
our lives are swept away
as in an overwhelming flood.
Our lives are like a dream
that vanishes
when morning comes
and is quickly forgotten.
Our lives are like grass
that quickly flourishes
and just as quickly perishes.
Human life is constantly being renewed,
but it's also constantly fading.
And you know,
the longer you live on this earth,
I think the harder it is
to deny or avoid these realities.
Yes, the world is constantly
being renewed and sustained,
but at the same time,
it's constantly decaying
and wearing out.
Our fresh ideals
will often be frustrated,
our new clothes
will eventually wear out,
even our very names
will one day be forgotten.
You know,
the vast majority of people
who have ever lived
on this earth,
their names,
their life stories
have been completely forgotten.
We may go around thinking
that we are so important
and so indispensable,
but the reality is
we will all one day die.
And the world can go on without us.
And all of our proud delusions
of grandeur and self-importance
will die with us.
And as we come to the end
of another year,
it's very important for us
to face this fact.
We don't really like to face this fact
in our society today,
but the Bible confronts us
and speaks very plainly to us
that we are mortal,
we will all die,
and life is transient.
That means it will change
very quickly.
Those are some of the most obvious
and undeniable facts
about the human condition.
All right,
we live in a world
that emphasizes statistics
and evidence-based outcomes
and information,
but have we reckoned with
the most consistently verified
statistic of all?
Every single human being
whom we have ever seen
or interacted with,
including ourselves,
will one day die.
We are dust.
And to dust we shall return.
So that's the second step.
But then Moses goes on
to the third step,
the next section,
verses 7 to 11,
and he takes us one step further
and he says,
why?
Why is human life
so fleeting and fading?
Why is our existence
so tenuous and transient?
Why are we constantly
wearing down and wearing out?
And the key word
in verses 7 to 11
is sin.
We are dust
because we are sinners.
And our sin
calls forth God's wrath.
Now,
that
is not a very popular idea.
The idea that we are sinners
and that our sin
calls forth God's anger
and righteous judgment
against us
is not
something you will
necessarily hear
today.
But the psalm
over and over
says
that it's true.
Verse 7,
we are brought to an end
by your anger.
By your wrath
we are dismayed.
Verse 9,
all our days pass away
under your wrath.
Verse 11
asks a question,
who considers
the power
of your anger
and your wrath
according to the fear
of you?
It's a rhetorical question.
In other words,
verse 11 is saying
most of us don't face
this reality.
Most of us
don't consider
the power
and the justice
of God's wrath
against sin.
Most of us
don't want to deal with that.
We don't have the resources
to deal with that.
And so we
just try to
not think about it
or deny it somehow.
But again,
the Bible confronts us
with this reality.
Now,
what is God's wrath?
We need to define
that word.
God's wrath
is not an arbitrary
fit of rage.
His wrath
is not just like
all kinds of human anger.
No.
God's wrath
is his righteous
displeasure
at our moral corruption.
In other words,
God looks at
the world.
He looks at
how human beings
deceive and oppress
and vilify one another.
He looks at
our greed
and pride
and self-centeredness.
He sees our
illusions
and our idolatries.
And God is not
pleased
with what he sees.
And God sees
not just the appearance,
but God sees on the heart.
And God is not,
God will not
simply enable us
to go on
and on
in our present state.
verse 8
tells us
that God sees
not just our
obvious sins,
our iniquities,
he also sees
our secret sins.
Which means
not just the sins
that we hide
from others,
but also the sins
that we hide
from ourselves.
You know,
most of us
are at least
partially blind
to our greatest
weaknesses
and flaws.
You want to know
how I can prove that?
look at almost
any marriage.
Almost inevitably,
one spouse
will identify
significant flaws
and weaknesses
in the other spouse.
Some spouses,
I see,
are laughing
because you get the point.
Which the other spouse
hardly recognizes
at all.
This will happen
sometime in your marriage
if it hasn't happened
already.
The question is
how will you deal
with these things
when they come to life?
light?
Will you harshly
throw them
in your spouse's face?
Or,
will you
be conflict avoidant,
turn away,
pretend they're not
really there,
but you sort of
know they're there,
but you don't want
to deal with them?
Or,
will you lovingly
and respectfully
express them
to your spouse?
And then,
when they come to light,
when they come to the surface,
will you respond
with denial
and indifference?
or with
some soul-searching
and seeking to grow?
You see,
the way you deal
with these things
will either strengthen
or strain
your marriage.
See,
marriage is intended
in part to be
a high-definition mirror
that reveals
the darkest depths
of your own soul.
Why?
Because God
designed marriage
to be a pale reflection
of the presence
of God,
the all-knowing,
all-seeing,
ever-present other.
Now,
marriage is also
intended to be
a window
into the steadfast
love of God.
Right?
That's also what
spouses are to embody
to one another,
is not only someone
who can call a spade
a spade
and tell it like it is
and can point out
the weaknesses
and flaws
that you're blind to,
but can also
stay with you
and love you
through them.
You see,
marriage,
like this psalm,
is intended to help us
face our deepest flaws,
face our most troubling
realities
in the presence
of someone who loves us
with unfailing love.
That's what this psalm
is doing too.
Right?
We've gone from
the mountaintop
looking back on God
and his eternity
down into the valley
of our present
human condition
that we are dust
because we are sinners.
And so in verse 12,
we come to the bottom
of the valley
and to the central prayer
of this psalm.
So teach us
to number our days
that we may get
a heart of wisdom.
The key word here
in verse 12,
wisdom.
Moses prays for wisdom.
And Moses is showing us
that we can only
gain true wisdom
when we face
our mortality,
that is our own,
that we'll die someday,
and our transience,
or not just transience,
and our sinfulness,
our mortality
and our sinfulness.
Right?
These are the most unpleasant
realities of our human condition,
but they're also
the most undeniable realities.
Tim and Kathy Keller
put it this way
in their devotional
on the Psalms.
They say,
if we do not face
these things,
we will not be wise.
We will be constantly
shocked
by what people,
including ourselves,
are capable of
and by how life
swiftly takes away
everything we love.
We will trust
in our own abilities
too much,
and we will seek
satisfaction in things
that we will inevitably lose,
face,
sin,
and death,
or be out of touch
with reality.
Those are strong words,
but according to the Bible,
wisdom is
getting in touch
with ultimate reality.
And so this psalm
leads us from the mountaintop
down into the valley
of the shadow of death
so we can get in touch
with reality,
that we can become
truly wise,
that we can see the reality
about God
and about ourselves.
But you know what?
The good news is
the psalm doesn't end here.
Psalm 90 doesn't leave us
down in the valley
of the shadow of death.
And if we only read up
to verse 11,
we might think that this psalm
is just a downer.
And we might even be tempted
to despair.
But once we've gone
all the way down
into the valley,
once we've faced
our mortality
and our sinfulness,
the path begins
to look up once again.
Why?
Because the God
of the Bible
is not only a God
of truth
and righteousness
and even wrath,
but he's also
a God of mercy
and steadfast love
and hope.
The Bible talks frankly
about death and sin,
but death and sin
do not have
the first or last word
in the Bible
nor in this psalm.
So we go on
to the next section,
verses 13 and 14,
and the key word
of this section,
step five,
the key word is
mercy.
God has mercy.
Return, O Lord,
how long have pity
or have mercy
on your servants.
Satisfy us in the morning
with your steadfast love.
Now these verses,
verses 13, 14, and 15,
echo and respond
to verses 3 through 11.
You see the steps
going down
sort of correspond
to the steps going up.
It's not an arbitrary structure.
So verse 3,
God says to humanity,
return to dust.
But here Moses cries out
in verse 13,
return, O Lord.
Return, O Lord,
to your people
and have mercy
on your servants.
In verses 5 and 6,
the grass is renewed
in the morning,
but by evening
it fades and withers.
But look at verse 14.
Moses says,
satisfy us in the morning
with your steadfast love.
And God's steadfast love
does not wither
and fade in the evening.
God's steadfast love
endures not just for a day,
not just for a lifetime,
but for all eternity.
And then in verse 9,
Moses says,
our days pass away
under your wrath
and our years come to an end
like a sigh.
But then in verse 15,
Moses prays
that we would have joy
for as many days
as you've afflicted us,
for as many years
as we have seen evil.
You see,
Moses believed
that the one true God
could somehow reverse
the cycle of death
and sin
that human beings
had fallen into
and can't get ourselves
out of.
And Moses believed
that God would hear
and respond
when his people
cried out to him.
But you know,
today,
we can see something
that even Moses couldn't.
We can see how God
responded to his people's cries
and we can see
how God intervened
to reverse
the cycle
of death
and sin
and wrath.
Right?
We just celebrated
the Christmas,
we're in the middle
of the Christmas season.
And what do we celebrate?
God has come
to us
with mercy.
In the person
of his son,
Jesus,
he has entered
into the darkest valley
of our human existence.
He did not just speak
to us
from the mountaintop
like he did
at Mount Sinai
in the Old Testament.
He has entered
into our darkest valley.
God became
a real human being,
Jesus Christ.
He embraced
our mortality.
and our transience.
He experienced hunger
and thirst
and weariness
and pain.
And even more than that,
he faced
the reason why
we,
our lives
were mortal
and transient.
He faced,
he bore the burden
that we could never bear
of our sin
and God's wrath.
God's life.
He died on the cross
offering his life
as a perfect sacrifice,
as an obedient sacrifice.
And he endured
God's righteous judgment
in our place
on our behalf
so that we
could be
set free
from it.
So that he could,
he came to meet us
in our darkest valley
so that he could bring
us back up
to the mountaintop
of eternal life
and joy
with God
forever.
That's what
Jesus came to do.
He came on a rescue
mission.
And he calls
all of us
to repent,
that is to forsake
our sin,
to leave behind
our self-centeredness
and to cling to him,
to trust in him
and look to him.
And he promises
that for everyone
who turns
to Jesus,
that our sins
will be removed
as far as the east
is from the west.
You see,
through Jesus
we can be brought
out of the valley
of death and sin,
raised with him
to new and everlasting
life with God.
And that's our hope.
Have you
turned to Jesus?
You can turn to him
today
and know his mercy.
Praise God
for his mercy.
God's mercy
lifts us up.
And then verse 15,
God's mercy
continues,
brings us to the next step
and the key word
is joy.
God's mercy
gives us joy.
Satisfy us
in the morning
with your steadfast love
that we may rejoice
and be glad
all our days.
Make us glad
for as many days
as you've afflicted us,
for as many years
as we've seen evil.
Brothers and sisters
in Christ,
as we look ahead
to this coming year
and even to the coming
decade,
we have a reason
to rejoice.
Why?
Most of all
because of the unchanging
gospel of Jesus Christ.
God demonstrated
his own love for us
in this,
that while we were
still sinners,
Christ died for us.
And his love
has been poured
into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit
whom he has given
to us.
Paul says,
since we've been
justified by faith,
we have peace
with God
through our Lord
Jesus Christ.
Christ.
We have access
by faith
into this grace
by which we stand
and, Paul goes on
to say,
we rejoice
in the hope
of the glory
of God.
Not only that,
but we rejoice
in our sufferings.
You see,
even amidst
our sufferings,
we can experience
joy.
Because when we
experience our
sufferings in union
with Jesus,
our sufferings
aren't in vain.
When we walk with
Jesus through affliction,
he promises to produce
in us endurance,
character,
and hope.
Maybe you're going
through afflictions
right now.
Whether it's
relational conflicts
or financial burdens
or physical illness
or emotional weariness
or trouble at work
or trouble at school,
almost all of us
will face afflictions,
difficulties,
trials,
in some form or other
in this coming year.
It's just part
of human life.
They're almost
unavoidable.
I mean,
they are unavoidable.
anyway,
at some level.
But think about it.
Are you experiencing
your afflictions
in union with Jesus?
That means,
are you asking Jesus
to do his good work
in you
despite and even
through the afflictions
you're experiencing?
Right?
Sometimes we're tempted
when we're going
through afflictions
just to sort of
be like a snail,
right,
that retreats
into its shell,
right,
and doesn't want
to come out.
Right?
Sometimes we're tempted
to sort of draw
back from the light
and the love
of Jesus.
And the invitation
is to draw near
to him
because he is near
to us.
He is walking
with you
through these afflictions.
You are not alone.
He even feels
for us
in our sufferings.
And he promises
that he can work
despite and even
through them
to accomplish
his good purposes.
Martin Luther
once said,
Affliction
is the best book
in my library.
Now,
Martin Luther
read a lot of books.
Some of us
like to read
a lot of books.
And that's good.
But Luther
says afflictions,
more than anything
else in this world,
can teach us
to become wise
if we walk
with Jesus
through them.
Well,
that brings us
to our last
key word,
verses 16 and 17.
The key word
is hope.
God's mercy
brings us joy
and that joy
fosters hope.
Now,
the word hope
doesn't actually
occur in the psalm,
but these last verses
express a confident
expectation
and anticipation
for the future.
Let your work
be shown
to your servants
and your glorious
power to their children.
Let the favor
or the beauty
of the Lord our God
be upon us.
And then twice,
the psalmist
repeats the last line.
He says,
Twice,
establish
the work
of our
hands.
You see,
the first half
of the psalm,
that stairway down,
focuses on
our human limitations
in light of
God's greatness.
And it leads us
to humility.
Our life is fleeting
and fading.
We will all
one day die.
We are far more
deeply flawed
than we ever dared
to admit,
and we deserve
God's righteous judgment.
Those are all
humbling truths.
And God knows
that we need
to be humbled.
But the second half
of the psalm
focuses on the
transforming power
of God's love,
God's mercy
that brings us
joy and hope,
hope for eternity
and hope
for each day.
You see,
the downward
part of the
stairway
is meant
to humble us,
but the upward
part of the
stairway
is meant
to give us
hope,
even when we're
down in the
darkest valley.
Hope for each
day.
The apostle Paul
wrote,
1 Corinthians 15,
58,
Therefore,
my beloved
brothers and
sisters,
be steadfast,
immovable,
always abounding
in the work
of the Lord,
knowing that
in the Lord
your labor
is not in vain.
Now,
Paul says this
at the end
of an entire
chapter about
our future
hope.
He talks about
the bodily
resurrection of
Jesus and
especially the
future bodily
resurrection promised
to believers at
the end of the
age.
But then he
brings that hope
into the present
day.
At the end
of the chapter,
he says,
remember,
your labor
in the Lord
is not
in vain.
You know,
sometimes we
can look at
the world
around us,
especially if
we spend a
lot of time
reading news
headlines,
and we can
be tempted
to throw
up our
hands in
frustration.
We see
decay and
decline,
and we
are just
annoyed by
it.
Or sometimes
we look at
ourselves,
we look at
our own
lives,
we see
the years
passing by,
perhaps
longings yet
unfulfilled.
Perhaps our
bodies are
growing weaker,
or our
future prospects
are growing
dimmer.
Maybe we
look back
with some
regret or
disappointment.
But those
are opportunities
to look to
Christ and
find hope
in him.
An old hymn
says this,
swift to its
clothes ebbs
out life's
little day.
Earth's
joys grow
dim,
its glories
pass away,
change and
decay in
all around
I see.
But then
the hymn
writer says,
O thou
who changest
not,
abide with
me.
And then
he goes on
and says,
I need thy
presence every
passing hour,
what but your
grace can
foil the
tempter's
power,
who like
thyself my
guide and
stay can be
through cloud
and sunshine,
Lord,
abide with
me.
And then
he goes on
to a verse
of triumphant
confidence in
the face of
uncertainty.
He says,
I fear no
foe with thee
at hand to
bless.
Ils have
no weight
and tears
no bitterness.
Where is
death's sting?
Where grave
thy victory?
I triumph
still if thou
abide with
me.
Right?
If we are
remaining with
Jesus, if he
is abiding in
us, then our
labor in the
Lord is not
in vain and
we can look
to the future
and to
eternity and
to each
day with
hope.
Charles Spurgeon
wrote this,
God will never
suffer this
world, which
has once seen
Christ's blood
shed upon it
to be always
the devil's
stronghold.
Christ came
here to
deliver this
world from
the sway of
the powers
of darkness.
One day,
men and
angels shall
unite to cry,
hallelujah,
for the
Lord God
omnipotent
reigneth.
What a
satisfaction it
will be in
that day to
have had a
share in
the fight,
to have
aided in
winning the
victory for
our Lord.
Happy are
they who
trust this
conquering
Lord and
who fight
side by
side with
him, doing
their little
in his
name and
by his
strength.
Someone sent
me that
quotation this
week and
he added
this,
blessed to
be able to
do some
of our
little in
his name
together.
Isn't
that why
God has
put us
here as
a church?
Sometimes
it seems
like a
little thing,
our efforts
seem small
and our
successes
seem modest,
but God
says he
is with
us.
And he
has called
us together
to labor
side by
side for
Christ's
sake and
to do
our little
in his
name together
so that
his work
might be
shown to
our city
and his
glorious
power to
our children
and his
favor would
rest upon
us.
And by
his grace
he might
establish
the work
of our
hands.
Jesus
promised
that if
we abide
in him
that he
will enable
us to
bear fruit
that will
last.
To the
glory of
the Father.
So brothers
and sisters
may we end
this year
and begin
a new
one with
humility
and with
hope.
Let us
pray.
God
I'm going
to close
by reading
the prayer
for the
new year
that's
written
in the
bulletin.
This was
written a
couple of
hundred
years ago
and expresses
the humility
and the hope
that we see
in this
psalm.
So as I
lead us
in prayer
let's take
this opportunity
to entrust
ourselves
and this
coming year
to our
good and
faithful
Savior.
Oh love
beyond compare
you are good
when you give
when you take
away.
When the sun
shines upon me
when night
gathers over me
you have loved
me before the
foundation of the
world and in
love you
redeemed my
soul.
You love me
still in spite
of my hard
heart in
gratitude
distrust.
Your goodness
has been with
me another
year leading
me through a
twisting wilderness
in retreat
helping me
to advance
when beaten
back making
sure headway.
Your goodness
will be with
me in the
year ahead.
I hoist
sail and
draw up
anchor
with you
as the
blessed pilot
of my
future
as of my
past.
I bless
you that
you have
veiled my
eyes to
the waters
ahead.
If you
have appointed
storms of
tribulation
you will be
with me
in them.
If I have
to pass
through tempests
of persecution
and temptation
I shall not
drown.
If I am to
die I will
see your
face the
sooner.
If a painful
end is to
be my lot
grant me
grace that
my faith
fail not.
If I am to
be cast
aside from
the service
I love I
can make
no stipulation.
Only glorify
yourself in
me whether
in comfort
or trial
as a chosen
vessel always
fit for your
use.
We pray these
things in
Christ's name.
Amen.