WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.879 It's great to be with you guys tonight after two weeks of being back in the States. 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:13.080 We were longing for this Scottish summer as we were enjoying the sun in Alabama. 00:00:13.080 --> 00:00:14.080 Just doesn't compare. 00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:17.719 So like literally Kelly and I were like, we can't wait to get back. 00:00:17.719 --> 00:00:18.719 It's too hot here. 00:00:18.719 --> 00:00:25.000 I don't know how we did it for 45 years, but it really is great to be back with you guys. 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:28.280 Excited to be speaking tonight on Psalm 67. 00:00:28.280 --> 00:00:30.280 It's a song that has been dear to me. 00:00:30.280 --> 00:00:36.240 A few years ago, I watched a mini series called the Pacific, which is about the battles fought 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:39.200 in the Pacific Ocean during World War II. 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:45.960 It was amazing to see what links the allies had to go to in order to end the war. 00:00:45.960 --> 00:00:51.079 One of the things that they did is they sent back one of the heroes of earlier battles. 00:00:51.079 --> 00:00:55.880 He won the US Congressional Medal of Honor, which is the highest honor that a person in 00:00:55.880 --> 00:00:58.040 the military can win. 00:00:58.039 --> 00:01:04.799 He was given the Congressional Medal of Honor, and then he was sent back to the US in order 00:01:04.799 --> 00:01:10.319 to travel around the country and drum up support for the war. 00:01:10.319 --> 00:01:17.219 And basically the idea was that in order for us to continue this fight and to end this war, 00:01:17.219 --> 00:01:22.400 we have to keep those back home engaged and supporting it. 00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:29.280 It does not happen if the people back home aren't engaged with us in supporting the war. 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:35.360 Meanwhile, in the Pacific, the soldiers themselves, they were easily losing sight of the mission 00:01:35.360 --> 00:01:37.120 based on their circumstances. 00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:42.600 So for instance, the enemy was trying to get them to lose focus on the bigger mission 00:01:42.600 --> 00:01:44.080 by just at night. 00:01:44.080 --> 00:01:45.360 They would send planes over. 00:01:45.360 --> 00:01:49.360 They wouldn't bomb, but the allies didn't know that they weren't going to bomb, so it 00:01:49.360 --> 00:01:50.960 would keep them awake at night. 00:01:50.959 --> 00:01:55.159 Soon bombs were about to drop just because planes were flying over, and all of a sudden 00:01:55.159 --> 00:02:01.119 now instead of focusing on the mission at hand, they're focusing on their present circumstances. 00:02:01.119 --> 00:02:08.319 Now that reminded me so much of us as the church and the mission of God. 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:13.319 Oftentimes we get caught up in our present situation, our present circumstances, and 00:02:13.319 --> 00:02:19.240 the enemy uses that to take our eyes off the war that is going on around the world, the 00:02:19.240 --> 00:02:23.920 spiritual battle for men's and women's souls. 00:02:23.920 --> 00:02:29.120 And also, if this is going to happen, if God's mission is going to succeed, which we know 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:36.600 it will, we'll talk about that later, but really we have to stay engaged wherever we 00:02:36.600 --> 00:02:38.960 are, even back at home. 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:43.960 It's easy for us to get caught up in things and forget about the battle that is waging 00:02:43.960 --> 00:02:48.480 for men and women's souls, and we need to be engaged back at home. 00:02:48.479 --> 00:02:54.599 Now for me, I was in seminary when I would say God's mission went from my head to my 00:02:54.599 --> 00:03:00.479 heart, where I knew things about God and his mission, but it really began to sink deep 00:03:00.479 --> 00:03:06.280 into my heart, where I started asking the questions, what is my part in this mission? 00:03:06.280 --> 00:03:13.919 And this passage, Psalm 67, was a big part of what God used to open my eyes and to move 00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:17.399 things from my head to my heart. 00:03:17.400 --> 00:03:22.760 Now what Lewis just read, it starts out, may God be gracious to us and bless us and make 00:03:22.760 --> 00:03:25.319 his face to shine upon us. 00:03:25.319 --> 00:03:32.159 That your way may be known on earth, your salvation or your saving power among all nations. 00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:36.680 Now this Psalm begins with a prayer that might sound pretty familiar. 00:03:36.680 --> 00:03:42.560 In fact, we hear it often as a benediction from Numbers chapter 6, verses 24 to 26, which 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:48.680 says, the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and 00:03:48.680 --> 00:03:55.240 be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. 00:03:55.240 --> 00:03:59.360 Now one of the differences between the passage in Numbers and this passage here in Psalm 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:02.159 67 is that Numbers is a benediction. 00:04:02.159 --> 00:04:08.640 It's a pronouncement of God's promise over his people, whereas Psalm 67 is actually a 00:04:08.640 --> 00:04:11.800 prayer saying God bless us. 00:04:11.800 --> 00:04:15.840 We're asking this blessing to be on us as a prayer. 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:21.680 He's requesting this from God for a purpose that we'll talk about in just a second. 00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:26.080 Another difference that you might notice is Numbers says, the Lord bless you and keep 00:04:26.080 --> 00:04:27.080 you. 00:04:27.080 --> 00:04:30.319 Well this passage says, may God be gracious to us and bless us. 00:04:30.319 --> 00:04:36.280 It uses the name God instead of the covenant name Yahweh, which we translate the Lord. 00:04:36.279 --> 00:04:41.679 And one commentator said that this could be because it's more like an evangelistic pamphlet 00:04:41.679 --> 00:04:48.239 where the nations don't know the covenant name of Yahweh, but the generic name for God 00:04:48.239 --> 00:04:53.599 that demonstrates the Creator, Sustainer, all powerful God of the universe, they might 00:04:53.599 --> 00:04:54.959 understand that language. 00:04:54.959 --> 00:04:59.839 So one commentator, which I thought was interesting, said that this could be like an evangelistic 00:04:59.839 --> 00:05:02.000 pamphlet. 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:07.199 You don't know the nations don't know the covenant name of God, but we want you to. 00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:13.560 We want you to know this covenant God who we call Yahweh the Lord. 00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:18.600 And the prayer he says, be gracious to us means show favor on us God. 00:05:18.600 --> 00:05:22.160 Give us your unmerited, undeserved favor. 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:25.040 Have pity on us, have mercy on us. 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:26.240 He says bless us. 00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:32.319 Now this idea of blessing for an agrarian society like that back then, they would think 00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:37.120 things like bless us with fertility in our crops, fertility in our family so that we 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:42.759 can have children, bless us with peace from our enemies so that we can live peacefully 00:05:42.759 --> 00:05:44.160 in the land. 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:48.800 It carries this idea that we thrive and we prosper. 00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:54.040 He's asking God, help us to thrive, help us to prosper. 00:05:54.040 --> 00:05:56.040 And even more than that, give us your presence. 00:05:56.040 --> 00:05:59.280 Let your face shine upon us. 00:05:59.280 --> 00:06:01.000 Give us your presence. 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:02.000 Why? 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:03.280 Why is he asking this? 00:06:03.280 --> 00:06:05.240 We want to prosper. 00:06:05.240 --> 00:06:06.520 We want to have your grace. 00:06:06.520 --> 00:06:07.960 We want to have your presence. 00:06:07.960 --> 00:06:09.040 Why? 00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:15.360 We have a purpose clause there in verse two that says, for the purpose that, that your 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:22.800 way may be known on earth, your salvation or your saving power among all nations. 00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:30.639 We want you to do this to bless us so that the nations can know your salvation. 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:32.199 We want the nations to be saved. 00:06:32.199 --> 00:06:36.240 We want them to experience your blessing, God. 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:38.199 Let the people's praise you, he says. 00:06:38.199 --> 00:06:40.000 Let all the people's praise you. 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:42.840 That is a, it's a causative statement. 00:06:42.840 --> 00:06:44.720 Make this happen. 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:51.000 We want more people to worship you, to sing and be glad, to have joy because they know 00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:53.199 you, the one true God. 00:06:53.199 --> 00:06:55.800 Make this happen, God. 00:06:55.800 --> 00:07:02.040 Bless us so that the nations can be blessed. 00:07:02.040 --> 00:07:07.240 He says it another way in verse four, where he says, let the nations be glad and sing 00:07:07.240 --> 00:07:14.600 for joy, for you judge the people's with equity and you guide the nations upon the earth. 00:07:14.600 --> 00:07:21.560 He's saying, let the nations be glad with the effect that the people's will know you 00:07:21.560 --> 00:07:28.760 as the ruler, that they will understand that you are the judge, you rule over them. 00:07:28.760 --> 00:07:33.920 And then that word guide us that, that you, and you guide the nations upon the earth. 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:38.840 This is the same word that she used many times in the Old Testament, where God is describing 00:07:38.840 --> 00:07:42.200 how he intimately leads his people. 00:07:42.199 --> 00:07:46.800 For instance, Psalm 233, when it says, you lead me in the paths of righteousness, that 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:49.439 is that same word there for guide. 00:07:49.439 --> 00:07:53.879 It's how God intimately leads and guides his people. 00:07:53.879 --> 00:08:00.719 And the Psalmist is saying, we want this nation, the nations to have this intimate special 00:08:00.719 --> 00:08:04.319 relationship with you. 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:07.879 Be their guide, be their ruler. 00:08:07.879 --> 00:08:11.959 Bless us so that this can happen. 00:08:11.959 --> 00:08:16.439 Now as I was reading some commentators on this, there's some that think that this was 00:08:16.439 --> 00:08:18.719 before the exile. 00:08:18.719 --> 00:08:21.120 Some even think that David wrote it. 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:25.240 Spurgeon said, I can't imagine it being sandwiched in all these Psalms of David and this not 00:08:25.240 --> 00:08:28.199 be one of David's Psalms. 00:08:28.199 --> 00:08:33.919 But basically, we know it's at a time when the nations were seen as enemies. 00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:38.720 They're the ones that disrupt us from following God like we should. 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:42.440 They're the ones that keep us from having blessing and having peace. 00:08:42.440 --> 00:08:44.960 They're always presenting war. 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:46.600 We're threatened by war. 00:08:46.600 --> 00:08:51.800 I mean, you can think, for example, Jonah and how much he despised the Assyrians and 00:08:51.800 --> 00:08:55.120 did not want to go to Nineveh. 00:08:55.120 --> 00:08:56.480 That's the situation. 00:08:56.480 --> 00:09:00.200 The nations around us are the enemy, the threat. 00:09:00.200 --> 00:09:02.600 They threaten your blessing. 00:09:02.600 --> 00:09:08.759 And the Psalmist is saying, let them be blessed as we are blessed. 00:09:08.759 --> 00:09:15.080 And in fact, bless us so that they can be blessed. 00:09:15.080 --> 00:09:21.600 These nations that threaten our thriving and prosperity, may they rejoice and be glad and 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:24.560 sing for joy because they know you. 00:09:24.560 --> 00:09:32.440 Now that's pretty radical and maybe even countercultural to them, but it's actually a very old concept. 00:09:32.440 --> 00:09:39.520 Because, you see, this was actually the same thing that was promised to Abraham in Genesis, 00:09:39.520 --> 00:09:42.760 chapter 12, verses one through three. 00:09:42.760 --> 00:09:48.400 That passage says, now the Lord said to Abram, go from your country and your kindred and your 00:09:48.400 --> 00:09:52.280 father's house to the land that I will show you. 00:09:52.280 --> 00:09:57.840 And I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great 00:09:57.840 --> 00:10:02.320 so that you will be a blessing. 00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:05.000 I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you. 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:06.400 I will curse. 00:10:06.400 --> 00:10:13.080 And in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. 00:10:13.080 --> 00:10:22.200 In your seed, other passages say, in you Abraham, Abram, all nations of the earth will be blessed. 00:10:22.200 --> 00:10:29.140 I'm going to bless you so that all the families of the earth can be blessed. 00:10:29.139 --> 00:10:35.879 We see this again in Exodus 19 verses five and six. 00:10:35.879 --> 00:10:41.480 It says, now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall 00:10:41.480 --> 00:10:46.960 be my treasured possession among all peoples for all the earth is mine. 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:53.200 And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:57.000 These are the words that you shall speak to my people, Israel. 00:10:57.000 --> 00:11:03.440 God is saying, as my people, a kingdom of priests, you are to be a nation of people who are like 00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:06.759 a bridge between me and the nations. 00:11:06.759 --> 00:11:12.879 You as my people are supposed to be the go between, between them and me. 00:11:12.879 --> 00:11:18.799 You are to be the means by which all nations will come to know me, God is saying. 00:11:18.799 --> 00:11:22.279 And that's right before he gave the law. 00:11:22.279 --> 00:11:28.000 We also see this in many other passages, one of my favorites that was just pretty eye-opening 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:33.559 for me too was in First Kings when Solomon is dedicating the temple. 00:11:33.559 --> 00:11:41.839 In about verse 44 through 46 somewhere in there, he says that as a foreigner comes and 00:11:41.839 --> 00:11:47.360 he's going to hear about your mighty arm and your outstretched hand, your outstretched 00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:50.079 arm, your mighty hand, he's going to hear about all your great works. 00:11:50.080 --> 00:11:54.920 And when the foreigner comes to you and prays towards this house, hear them so that all 00:11:54.920 --> 00:11:57.680 the ends of the earth may know you. 00:11:57.680 --> 00:12:02.600 Even when Solomon is dedicating the temple, he's essentially saying what Isaiah said 00:12:02.600 --> 00:12:10.320 and Jesus repeated later that my house should be a house of prayer for all the nations. 00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:13.879 You're not supposed to just store up these blessings. 00:12:13.879 --> 00:12:20.679 You are to be blessed so that you can be a blessing to others. 00:12:20.679 --> 00:12:26.039 As I mentioned, this is all over the Old Testament and ultimately we're going to find this promise 00:12:26.039 --> 00:12:33.159 fulfilled in Jesus the Messiah who through him, the Bible says that we have every spiritual 00:12:33.159 --> 00:12:36.879 blessing in the heavenlies. 00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:41.799 Every spiritual blessing through Abraham's seed, Jesus Christ. 00:12:41.799 --> 00:12:46.359 But we're not just blessed so that we can have nice, comfortable lives that we can personally 00:12:46.359 --> 00:12:53.519 thrive and prosper, but also so that we can be a blessing. 00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:58.120 We are blessed to be a blessing. 00:12:58.120 --> 00:13:06.279 The psalmist begins and ends this psalm with bless us so that all the peoples of the world 00:13:06.279 --> 00:13:08.879 may know you. 00:13:08.879 --> 00:13:15.679 God blesses us for the purpose of the world coming to know him. 00:13:15.679 --> 00:13:19.360 It's not just so we can have better lives here on earth. 00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:21.279 It's much bigger than that. 00:13:21.279 --> 00:13:27.600 But he pours out his richest blessings on earth so that all peoples of the earth can 00:13:27.600 --> 00:13:33.279 know the salvation of our God. 00:13:33.279 --> 00:13:38.320 Do we view blessings in this way? 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:41.879 Do we view money in this way? 00:13:41.879 --> 00:13:47.440 We want to say our money and biblically it's God's money, we're stewards of it. 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:55.040 Do we view our possessions in this way that God has given me so much blessing so that 00:13:55.040 --> 00:13:59.520 the ends of the earth can come to know him? 00:13:59.520 --> 00:14:01.879 What about our time? 00:14:01.879 --> 00:14:06.280 Do we view our time as a gift to us that we're still breathing and we're here? 00:14:06.279 --> 00:14:12.399 We have this time allotted to us so that the ends of the earth may know him. 00:14:12.399 --> 00:14:15.959 Our homes, our technology. 00:14:15.959 --> 00:14:18.799 We're just talking this week how distracted I get by googling stuff. 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:21.399 Like if a thought comes to my mind, it's like I feel like I got to know the answer and I 00:14:21.399 --> 00:14:22.399 just Google it. 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:27.480 It's like, do I view technology as like I have this phone that is crazy with all that 00:14:27.480 --> 00:14:35.759 can do so that the ends of the earth may know the salvation of our God. 00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:41.439 Now I'm not trying to put this another law on us where we're like trying to scrutinize 00:14:41.439 --> 00:14:45.360 every decision we've ever made and every decision we're making right now and say, is this for 00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:47.000 the sake of the nations? 00:14:47.000 --> 00:14:49.759 There's another verse that would tell us it's got to be for God's glory. 00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:54.000 We should scrutinize everything in that way for God's glory, but we basically just need 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:58.840 to ask ourselves, do we pray in the same way that the psalmist prays here? 00:14:58.840 --> 00:15:04.720 God I really want you to bless us here so that my neighbors here can know you, but also 00:15:04.720 --> 00:15:09.759 people in the ends of the earth, people in the Middle East, people in the Far East, people 00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:16.600 on the other side of the planet can know you and sing and be glad for joy. 00:15:16.600 --> 00:15:18.879 Is this our heart? 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:21.120 Because we know it's God's heart, right? 00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:26.200 It's all throughout Scripture and ultimately at the very end in Revelation we see how 00:15:26.200 --> 00:15:31.639 things are going to end where people from every tongue, tribe, nation, and land are 00:15:31.639 --> 00:15:35.840 going to be together before the throne singing praises to our God. 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:37.480 This is going to happen. 00:15:37.480 --> 00:15:40.120 We know it's God's heart. 00:15:40.120 --> 00:15:42.720 Is it our hearts now? 00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:47.559 I do think we need to ask ourselves a question and ask the question, do we have our eyes 00:15:47.559 --> 00:15:52.159 on God's mission in the world? 00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:56.720 I was pretty devastated not too long ago when I saw that one of my favorite restaurants, 00:15:56.720 --> 00:16:02.080 Butterburger and Homie's Pizza, the Quarter Mile closed, that was a pretty dramatic statement, 00:16:02.080 --> 00:16:07.920 sorry I'll be that dramatic, but I was sad when it closed down and if you go there right 00:16:07.920 --> 00:16:15.519 now we get back from Alabama and we're walking down and we see this big sign where Homie's 00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:24.720 and Butterburger used to be that says, life's too short to share. 00:16:24.720 --> 00:16:29.879 That's crazy all, like someone had actually gone and put like sticky notes that's like 00:16:29.879 --> 00:16:33.639 life's too short not to share, you know? 00:16:33.639 --> 00:16:36.360 But that is how our hearts are wired up. 00:16:36.360 --> 00:16:43.040 You wake up in the morning, your default mode is, life's too short to share. 00:16:43.040 --> 00:16:51.080 God is saying, I bless you so that the ends of the earth can know me. 00:16:51.080 --> 00:16:56.080 In fact, speaking of sharing, Paul says in Ephesians 4,28, I love this, he's talking 00:16:56.080 --> 00:17:01.360 about, he said, let the thief no longer steal but rather let him labor, doing honest work 00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:08.079 with his own hands so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:09.600 That's the heart of the believer. 00:17:09.600 --> 00:17:14.759 I'm not just, Paul didn't say, hey, get a job so that you stop stealing people's stuff. 00:17:14.759 --> 00:17:18.079 He says, work hard with your hands so that you have something to share with those in 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:19.440 need. 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:21.480 Is that our heart? 00:17:21.480 --> 00:17:26.320 That God bless us so that the people around me may know that you are good and know your 00:17:26.320 --> 00:17:31.880 ways and that they can sing and be glad for joy. 00:17:31.880 --> 00:17:35.360 The Christian life is not hoarding God's blessings. 00:17:35.360 --> 00:17:40.200 In fact, you've probably heard this illustration a lot, but I think it's just such a good illustration. 00:17:40.200 --> 00:17:45.960 In 2018, I went to the country of Jordan and got to float in the Dead Sea. 00:17:45.960 --> 00:17:51.799 It's pretty amazing how you just, it's almost like someone said you can't drown in it because 00:17:51.799 --> 00:17:54.279 you just automatically float in it. 00:17:54.279 --> 00:17:55.279 It's dead. 00:17:55.279 --> 00:17:57.360 Nothing can live in it because there's so much salt. 00:17:57.360 --> 00:18:02.039 I think they said like 10 times the salt that's in the oceans is in the Dead Sea. 00:18:02.039 --> 00:18:03.960 No life can exist in it. 00:18:03.960 --> 00:18:05.360 Why is it dead? 00:18:05.360 --> 00:18:09.279 Why is there so much sediment and salt in it? 00:18:09.279 --> 00:18:12.079 Because there's no outflow. 00:18:12.079 --> 00:18:18.159 Fresh water will even flow into it, but because it just collects and then the sun evaporates 00:18:18.159 --> 00:18:24.919 it just leaving behind sediment and salt and stuff, there's no outflow. 00:18:24.919 --> 00:18:27.159 And the Christian life is a lot like that. 00:18:27.159 --> 00:18:33.480 If you're just like trying to take in, take in, take in without an outflow, that is not 00:18:33.480 --> 00:18:38.359 the recipe for a thriving, godly walk with Jesus. 00:18:38.359 --> 00:18:41.199 That is not his way. 00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:44.840 But many times we view our lives like the Dead Sea. 00:18:44.840 --> 00:18:46.240 It's like it's all about me. 00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:49.640 Bless me, bless me, bless me. 00:18:49.640 --> 00:18:56.080 And we have to ask ourselves the question, is God's mission, God's heart for the world, 00:18:56.080 --> 00:18:57.680 is that our heart? 00:18:57.680 --> 00:18:59.519 Is that on our hearts? 00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:01.080 Is it on our radar to pray? 00:19:01.080 --> 00:19:04.600 Let the people's praise you, oh God. 00:19:04.600 --> 00:19:07.480 So what can we do? 00:19:07.480 --> 00:19:12.200 I think one of the things is just continually asking ourselves this question, keeping it 00:19:12.200 --> 00:19:13.200 on our minds. 00:19:13.200 --> 00:19:19.039 Like I said, our default mode is to wake up and just to be all about us, to grumble and 00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:25.039 complain when things don't go wrong, to maybe rejoice, but also when things are going right, 00:19:25.039 --> 00:19:27.079 it really seems to be more about us. 00:19:27.079 --> 00:19:30.920 How can we put the world on our minds? 00:19:30.920 --> 00:19:34.160 It doesn't happen by default. 00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:41.240 It takes praying the Psalm like this, bless us God, so that the ends of the earth may 00:19:41.240 --> 00:19:42.880 fear you. 00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:46.320 One of the things, not to embarrass Kelly, I didn't ask her if I could give this illustration, 00:19:46.320 --> 00:19:49.080 but I have done it before, so I think it's okay. 00:19:49.080 --> 00:19:53.759 But one of the things that I just had just loved about my wife is the way she, just the 00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:57.680 Lord had done a work in her heart for the world. 00:19:57.680 --> 00:20:00.640 And she wanted to incorporate this into our family. 00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:06.040 So when we adopted the boys, one of the things that she did is she decorated their room with 00:20:06.040 --> 00:20:09.800 a theme of children around the world. 00:20:09.800 --> 00:20:14.160 She's like, I want to teach them early on about the world so that they can love the 00:20:14.160 --> 00:20:17.440 world as God loves the world. 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:24.759 That's pretty crazy that my wife would decorate a room in our house based on God's heart 00:20:24.759 --> 00:20:27.000 for the world. 00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:32.519 But those are the kind of things we have to do to remind ourselves, to pray these things, 00:20:32.519 --> 00:20:38.000 to build it into our lives, to incorporate this into our families, to teach our children, 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:40.079 and to pass it on. 00:20:40.079 --> 00:20:44.759 Practically, I guess the first thing we can do is just pray. 00:20:44.759 --> 00:20:51.000 Pray this Psalm, but also think about how can we incorporate the world into our private 00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:53.000 prayer lives? 00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:59.640 Are there places that stick out to you that maybe I could just pray for this place? 00:20:59.640 --> 00:21:03.319 Are there places that you've heard of recently that maybe the Lord put on your heart, but 00:21:03.319 --> 00:21:08.000 it's easy to kind of go away and you're like, no, I want to bring that back and pray that 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:16.119 God would send salvation to that place and to that people? 00:21:16.119 --> 00:21:23.439 The Virgin said, it would however be wrong to let our charity end where it begins as some do. 00:21:23.439 --> 00:21:29.559 Our love must make long marches and our prayers must have a wide sweep. 00:21:29.559 --> 00:21:35.319 We must embrace the whole world in our intercessions. 00:21:35.319 --> 00:21:42.039 We've got this kind of what I thought was an urban legend in our ministry back in the 00:21:42.039 --> 00:21:44.639 U.S. 00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:49.520 Some of you guys might know the guys from Kentucky that the long ways are connected 00:21:49.520 --> 00:21:51.720 to, Andy and Neil. 00:21:51.720 --> 00:21:58.160 Well, in that church in Takes Creek, Prez, there was, they were kind of noticing like, 00:21:58.160 --> 00:22:03.240 we're seeing a lot of just good young Christian leaders. 00:22:03.240 --> 00:22:06.600 People are going to the mission field, people are going on staff with ministries, people 00:22:06.600 --> 00:22:11.480 are going to seminary and church planning, all from this one little place in Kentucky 00:22:11.480 --> 00:22:13.800 called Corbin, Kentucky. 00:22:13.799 --> 00:22:16.240 This is a place no one's ever heard of. 00:22:16.240 --> 00:22:18.000 I didn't even know if it was on a map or not. 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:20.759 I had to actually say, is this story true? 00:22:20.759 --> 00:22:22.480 It was confirmed it is true. 00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:23.639 So they go digging around. 00:22:23.639 --> 00:22:28.799 It's like this little place in rural Kentucky where all these things like what's happening 00:22:28.799 --> 00:22:34.480 in that place that all these godly people, these good Christian leaders are actually 00:22:34.480 --> 00:22:35.919 impacting people around it. 00:22:35.919 --> 00:22:36.919 What's in the water there? 00:22:36.919 --> 00:22:38.359 Like what are they doing? 00:22:38.359 --> 00:22:44.079 So they began to research and ask around and what they found is every Friday morning for 00:22:44.079 --> 00:22:51.159 years and years and years, a bunch of grandmothers would get together with the school yearbook 00:22:51.159 --> 00:22:58.479 and pray through every name in it week after week after week. 00:22:58.479 --> 00:23:02.119 Sometimes we might say, well, at least we can pray. 00:23:02.119 --> 00:23:03.559 Like that's the least we could do. 00:23:03.559 --> 00:23:06.759 Do you understand how powerful prayer is? 00:23:06.759 --> 00:23:13.960 What could happen if we as a church began praying for the nations? 00:23:13.960 --> 00:23:18.440 The Lord has designed it where he works and answer to our prayer. 00:23:18.440 --> 00:23:20.400 So that's the first thing is we need to pray. 00:23:20.400 --> 00:23:24.519 We need to pray for our own roles in this. 00:23:24.519 --> 00:23:27.559 We need to keep the nations in our private prayer lives. 00:23:27.559 --> 00:23:32.079 We need to pray together for the nations. 00:23:32.079 --> 00:23:39.199 Now the second thing I would say is we need to think about how we can send, whether it's 00:23:39.199 --> 00:23:42.839 people, whether it's resources. 00:23:42.839 --> 00:23:47.519 And I say that and one of the things that I realize that I would probably love to hear 00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:53.679 some of you talk about is just the role that Scotland has played in missions throughout 00:23:53.679 --> 00:23:58.000 like the modern missions era. 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:05.400 It's pretty crazy to think that this place was once one of the largest cinder of missionaries 00:24:05.400 --> 00:24:08.079 in the world. 00:24:08.079 --> 00:24:10.799 Lord do it again. 00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:15.680 But in order for him to do a work like that, first we have to pray that he would do a work 00:24:15.680 --> 00:24:21.640 like that, but we just got to be as a church and individually committed to seeing God worshiped 00:24:21.640 --> 00:24:23.799 to the ends of the earth. 00:24:23.799 --> 00:24:30.799 It's got to become a part of our heart, a part of our prayer and make efforts to send. 00:24:30.799 --> 00:24:36.240 And I've been so encouraged by the efforts that I hear of David and Neil and different 00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:42.639 guys that are with the free church trying to make sure the mission of God is happening. 00:24:42.639 --> 00:24:46.759 And I know a lot of times there's an objection of like, man, there's so much work that needs 00:24:46.759 --> 00:24:48.559 to be done here. 00:24:48.559 --> 00:24:53.639 Why would we focus over there when there's so much work that needs to be done here? 00:24:53.640 --> 00:25:02.040 And we hear that question a lot and Acts 1-8, some people will say that first in Jerusalem 00:25:02.040 --> 00:25:05.759 and we've got to reach Jerusalem first, then all G in Samaria and then the ends of the 00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:07.560 earth like it's some progression. 00:25:07.560 --> 00:25:11.080 Like we get this done and then we move to that and then we move to that and that's just 00:25:11.080 --> 00:25:13.640 not the way it goes. 00:25:13.640 --> 00:25:18.759 In fact, if you read through the book of Acts, in fact, when I first got here, Corey and 00:25:18.759 --> 00:25:22.800 Derek were preaching through Acts and so just in the last year this has been preached. 00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:26.919 But just how the Lord even used persecution to make that happen. 00:25:26.919 --> 00:25:32.119 He spread them out from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria in Acts chapter 8 and then the 00:25:32.119 --> 00:25:35.480 ends of the earth in Acts chapter 11. 00:25:35.480 --> 00:25:40.759 God is committed to his mission and this isn't just a like, well, there's so much work to 00:25:40.759 --> 00:25:41.759 be done here. 00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:43.599 Absolutely there's work to be done here. 00:25:43.599 --> 00:25:46.039 So much work. 00:25:46.039 --> 00:25:50.559 But that doesn't mean that we don't have our heart for the world, our eyes on the world 00:25:50.559 --> 00:25:55.679 and our prayers going for the world as well because that is God's heart. 00:25:55.679 --> 00:25:59.960 In the spirit of the Olympics, I came across this quote. 00:25:59.960 --> 00:26:00.960 I thought this was great. 00:26:00.960 --> 00:26:05.119 Eric Little says, it has been a wonderful experience to compete in the Olympic games 00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:07.240 and to bring home a gold medal. 00:26:07.240 --> 00:26:11.720 But since I've been a young lad, I've had my eyes on a different prize. 00:26:11.720 --> 00:26:17.919 You see, each one of us is in a greater race than any I've run in Paris and this race ends 00:26:17.920 --> 00:26:22.200 when God gives out the medals. 00:26:22.200 --> 00:26:29.360 That guy could have had a totally different life with fame, fortune, all the success, 00:26:29.360 --> 00:26:31.800 but his heart was for China. 00:26:31.800 --> 00:26:36.680 God had done a work in the life of his family and his heart, his own heart and he says, 00:26:36.680 --> 00:26:38.519 I got to go back to China. 00:26:38.519 --> 00:26:44.160 And when we view God's blessings in light of Psalm 67, it puts our eyes on a different 00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:46.880 prize. 00:26:46.880 --> 00:26:51.640 So may the Lord do that as we seek to send. 00:26:51.640 --> 00:26:53.040 So pray, send. 00:26:53.040 --> 00:26:58.480 Another thing I would say is someone use the word welcome. 00:26:58.480 --> 00:27:03.680 When you look at our city and you look at the number of nations that are represented here 00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:07.440 in our city, the nations have come to us. 00:27:07.440 --> 00:27:12.680 And instead of seeing all the peoples that are here as a nuisance because there are a 00:27:12.680 --> 00:27:16.600 lot of peoples around here and I have to remind myself, this is for the good of the city. 00:27:16.599 --> 00:27:25.279 And God can use this and we get it, but God has brought the nations to our city. 00:27:25.279 --> 00:27:29.599 What if instead of getting frustrated with how hard it is to walk the grocery store, 00:27:29.599 --> 00:27:33.079 but instead we pray for those people that we're bumping into. 00:27:33.079 --> 00:27:36.599 That we pray for those people that stop to take all the pictures and get in our way on 00:27:36.599 --> 00:27:40.000 the pavement, right? 00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:41.480 God has brought the nations to us. 00:27:41.480 --> 00:27:45.119 How can we welcome them to our city and into our homes? 00:27:45.119 --> 00:27:49.959 Obviously, the universities are a big part of that and how can we bring uni students 00:27:49.959 --> 00:27:54.839 into our homes so that the nations may know him? 00:27:54.839 --> 00:27:58.359 Maybe that's the reason you've been blessed with a home. 00:27:58.359 --> 00:28:05.039 Welcoming people, the nations here in our own city, in our own homes. 00:28:05.039 --> 00:28:10.719 But we have been blessed in order to be a blessing to the world. 00:28:10.719 --> 00:28:13.559 Is this our heart? 00:28:13.559 --> 00:28:16.200 One last quote from Spurgeon. 00:28:16.200 --> 00:28:21.480 He says, God deals in a way of mercy with His saints and then they make that way known 00:28:21.480 --> 00:28:29.159 far and wide and the Lord's name is made famous in the earth. 00:28:29.159 --> 00:28:34.679 And that needs to be the desire of our hearts, that God's fame, that His glory would be known 00:28:34.679 --> 00:28:37.480 throughout the earth. 00:28:37.480 --> 00:28:41.960 So when we hear this benediction for God to be gracious to us and bless us and make His 00:28:41.960 --> 00:28:48.200 face to shine upon us, may we have the heart of this almas that says, and we want that 00:28:48.200 --> 00:28:54.120 to happen so that the nations can be saved. 00:28:54.120 --> 00:28:59.600 Because we envision that day in Revelation 7.9 where every tongue, tribe, people and land 00:28:59.600 --> 00:29:05.880 are represented before the throne, singing praises to the Lamb that was slain on our 00:29:05.880 --> 00:29:07.200 behalf. 00:29:07.200 --> 00:29:10.960 Through whom we have all blessings. 00:29:10.960 --> 00:29:16.360 Bless us Lord that the ends of the earth may fear you. 00:29:16.360 --> 00:29:18.680 Let's pray. 00:29:18.680 --> 00:29:22.759 Father, we thank you for your word. 00:29:22.759 --> 00:29:31.279 We thank you for this Psalm that really shows us and even convicts us that it's a right 00:29:31.279 --> 00:29:36.440 prayer to pray for you to bless us. 00:29:36.440 --> 00:29:42.680 But we should pray that you bless us in order that we may bless others. 00:29:42.680 --> 00:29:48.480 That we would be a conduit, like a pipe from your blessings to the rest of the world. 00:29:48.480 --> 00:29:52.480 And God, we want the peoples to praise you. 00:29:52.480 --> 00:29:57.480 We want to think about that day when we will be with people from every tongue, tribe, nation 00:29:57.480 --> 00:30:02.799 and land, singing praises to the one who saved us and gave us life. 00:30:02.799 --> 00:30:08.119 The one who deserves all honor and glory and praise Jesus Christ. 00:30:08.119 --> 00:30:09.599 We long for that day. 00:30:09.599 --> 00:30:13.119 So in the meantime, we do pray that you would bless us. 00:30:13.119 --> 00:30:19.319 But help us to have a heart like yours so that we are on mission with you. 00:30:19.319 --> 00:30:22.359 And we pray all this in Jesus' name. 00:30:22.359 --> 00:30:32.919 Amen.