Let's open tonight's service
with hymn number 52 in your hardback timinal, number 52, Majestic
Sweetness Sits Enthroned. Majestic sweetness sits enthroned
upon the Savior's brow, His head with radiant glories crowned,
His lips with grace o'erflow, His lips with grace o'erflow. No mortal can with Him compare
among the sons of man. Fairer is He than all the fair
who fill the heavenly train, who fill the heavenly train. He saw me plunged in deep distress
and flew to my relief. For me, he bore the shameful
cross and carried all my grief, and carried all my grief. To him I owe my life and breath
and all the joys I have. He makes me triumph over death
and saves me from the grave and saves me from the grave. Please be seated. Good evening. Let's open our
Bibles to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1. While you're doing
that, Deanna is in the hospital as of this morning, I think.
The one on 436 there in Altamont, and they're running tests. They
really don't know what what's going on with her, either her
kidneys or her heart, but they'll know more, hopefully, maybe tomorrow. So we'll have to pray for Robert's
with her, so. Also, I'm gonna be out next Wednesday
night, and Jeff will be bringing the message, so y'all pray for
him as he prepares to preach next Wednesday. All right, you
have your Bibles open to 1 Peter 1, and we'll begin reading in
verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. You know, I was thinking about
the gospel being good news, and news is always something that's
current, something that's alive, something that affects everything
else that's going on, if it's news. And I was thinking in my
mind, comparing that to a documentary, A documentary is just a historical
review of something that's already taken place. It's not news. And
I hope we never look at the gospel as a documentary. I hope that
the Lord will give us his spirit and enable us to look at it alive
and fresh and new every time we read it and every time we
hear it. A lively hope. a lively hope. We're not just considering something
that took place in history where our hope is alive. To an inheritance,
to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not
away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need
be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the
trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that
perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found under
praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ,
whom having not seen you love, in whom though now you see him
not, yet believing you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation
of your souls. Let's pray together. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we find great hope, comfort, peace, and reason for rejoicing
in the precious promises that you've given to us. And we know
that all of your promises have been made sure they are yea,
yes, and amen, complete in thy dear Son. our Savior. Lord, we pray that you would
be pleased this hour to reveal more of his glory to us, that
we would find ourselves in that lively hope, looking and resting
and believing and waiting and glorying in that which you have
prepared for us in glory, that which has been reserved, that
which is being kept. Lord, keep us. Keep us and forgive
us and cause us, Lord, to come unto thee. We pray for Deanna,
the doctors that minister to her, and we ask, Lord, that you
would give them the knowledge that they need to make a good
diagnosis and to be able to give her treatments that might be
used of thee to give her strength. And thank you for Jeff and Lord
pray that you would prepare his heart with a message and prepare
our hearts for that which you would have us to hear. of Christ,
for it's in his name we pray, amen. Let's all stand together again.
We'll sing hymn number 290, 290 in the hardback hymn. Be still, my soul, the Lord is
on thy side. Bear patiently the cross of grief
or pain. Leave to thy God to order and
provide, In every change ye faithful will remain. Be still, my soul, thy best,
thy heavenly friend. Through thorny ways leads to
a joyful end. Be still, my soul, thy God doth
undertake to guide the future as He has the past. Thy hope, thy confidence, let
nothing shake. All now mysterious shall be bright
at last. Be still, my soul. The waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below. Be still, my soul, the hour is
hasting on, when we shall be forever with the Lord. When disappointment, grief, and
fear are gone, sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored. Be still, my soul. When change and tears are past,
all safe and blessed, we shall meet at last. Please be seated. Thank you, Tom and Joy. There's a line in that hymn we
just sang. Be still my soul, the waves and
winds still know his voice who ruled them while he dwelt below. They still know his voice. Let's open our Bibles to Matthew
chapter 14. Matthew chapter 14. Our Lord's going to perform a miracle
for his disciples that will convince them that the wind and the waves
know his voice. and that he stills them by his
power and at his will. And I hope tonight that these
disciples might learn that same truth and be confirmed in what
we know to be true and what we believe. But what a blessing
it is when the Lord makes it alive and makes it fresh and
makes it new. A couple of Wednesday nights
ago, we looked at the feeding of the 5,000. It's the one miracle
that's recorded in all four gospels. And at the end of that miracle,
the people wanted to take the Lord and make him king. And the Lord withdrew himself
from them. He's already king. But, you know,
I was thinking the disciples would have been on board with
that. They argued over who would be
on his right hand and on his left when he entered into his
kingdom. At this point, they thought that
it was an earthly kingdom. They would continue to think
that even after the resurrection when our Lord ascended back into
glory. The very last thing they ask
him, is it time now for you to set up your kingdom? That's what
they were looking for. So the disciples would have been
all for putting the Lord up and and establishing
what they perceived to be an earthly kingdom. The Lord, in
his mercy, knew that his disciples were in danger, more in danger
with the opinions of men and with their own misunderstanding
as to what the kingdom of God was, then they would now find
themselves that very night. Because after the feeding of
the 5,000, he says to his disciples, you get in a boat and you cross
the sea. He put them in the boat. He sent
them out on the sea. He stirred up the storm. He brought
them to the very, wit's end of their lives, thinking that all
was lost. And then he comes walking on
the water and meets them in their time of trouble. They thought
that they were in more trouble that night, but in fact, they
were actually in more trouble the day before. The Lord said that he told them
before he fed the 5,000, he said, you feed them. And this, he said,
to prove them, for he knew what he would do. Everything that the Lord ordains
for his children is for the purpose of proving them. For he knows,
he knows what he's gonna do. There's never any doubt, there's
never any question about what he's gonna do and how he's gonna
provide for them. And in the trying of their faith,
which is, as we just read in 1 Peter, much more precious than
gold, though it be tried with fire, he proves his children. What does it mean to be proven?
Well, it means that that passage we've read in 1 Peter, we've
looked at this before, It's a picture of a man who takes gold mixed
with impurities and puts it in a bowl and heats it just to the
right temperature so as to separate the gold or the precious metal
and he speaks of gold in 1st Peter chapter 1, from the impurities
and the impurities being lighter than the gold would gradually
float to the top at which point the man would continue to remove
those impurities from the top of the gold. And if you ask him,
when will you be finished with that? And he would say, when
there's no distortion in my reflection. Then I'll know that all the impurities
have been removed. And that process is what our
Lord is doing for us in this world. And there will come a
day when this flesh is put back where it came from, that all
the impurities will be separated and we'll see him as he is and
be made like him. And the reflection of his glory
will be in our face without sin, without sin. In the meantime,
the Lord is proving us, but improving us He has promised, He has promised
to never leave us or forsake us. And to continue, He knew
what He would do. He knew what He would do. He
knew where He was sending His disciples. He knew what was gonna
happen. He knew what dire straits they
were gonna see themselves in. And He knew He was gonna meet
their need. Nothing's changed. title of this. Three of the Gospel
writers record this miracle, Matthew, Mark, and John, and
as is always the case, there's a good bit of difference in the
way in which they express the facts of this miracle but there's
one thing that's consistent between Matthew, Mark, and John relating
to this miracle and that is what they say the Lord said when he
met the disciples on the water. They all three agree. Be of good
cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. Be of good cheer. It is I, be
not afraid. What a precious promise. The
way of the Lord is through the seas. And there are troubles
and winds and waves in this world and in this life. And the Lord
sends every one of them. But in every circumstance, he
says to his children, be of good cheer. It is I. I sent this. I put you where you are. Don't
be afraid. Don't be afraid. This is all
for the purpose of proving you. Proving you to be unable. Proving me to be the one who's
going to deliver you. I read a quote by Charles Spurgeon
recently and he said, we trust a thief as far as we can see
him. Shall we dare treat our God thus? Shall we dare treat our God thus? Are we only going to trust him
as far as we can see him? or when we're in the midst of
the sea, tossed about three o'clock in the morning. That's what time,
the scripture tells us exactly what time it was and where they
were. They were in the middle of the ocean or the sea of Galilee. Experienced fishermen, but knowing
that this is it. The wind, the scripture says,
was contrary to them. They were rowing against it and
getting nowhere. beating their oars against the
boat and making no progress. You ever felt that way? Sure
we have. Sure we have. The Lord's nowhere to be found. Shall we treat him as a thief? Shall we only trust him when
we can see him? Faith is proven to be faith when
we're able to trust God, though all our circumstances seem contrary
to us. That's when faith is demonstrated,
isn't it? Oh, I know that's the kind of faith
you want, wanna be able to trust God in the midst of, whatever
he ordains, whatever he ordains. The Lord, let's read it together. Look at verse 22 of Matthew chapter
14. And straightway, this was right
after the feeding of the 5,000, right after the people tried
to make him king, right after he had said to them, the only
reason you're following me is so that you can have your bellies
full, You're not gonna be my disciple
because to be my disciple, you've got to deny yourself, deny that
you have anything to do with your salvation, take up your
cross, identify with my death as the hope of your salvation,
and follow me. Look to me and follow me. They
wouldn't do that. And straightway Jesus constrained
his disciples to get into a ship and to go before him unto the
other side while he sent the multitude away. Well, there's
a profound picture there, isn't there? The Lord sends the multitude
away. takes care of his disciples,
puts him in a ship, puts him in a boat. How oftentimes we
see that boat as a picture of the church and how the Lord puts
his children in his church and he sends them away, he sends
them out into the sea while he sends the multitude
away. I don't want to be sent away.
Lord, if it's a matter of you sending me away with the multitude,
wide is the road that leads to destruction, and many are they
that find it. Lord, if you're going to say
to me what you said to those Pharisees, leave them alone.
They're blind guides leading the blind. They're all going
to fall into the ditch. Just leave them alone. Oh, Lord,
don't send me away. If the difference is to be just
sent away comfortably, to go back to my home, or to be with
those disciples who are gonna find themselves in peril, Lord,
put me in the boat. Put me in the boat. Prove me
to be unable for my circumstances and prove yourself to be everything
I need. That's what it is to be proven
by God. The Lord's gonna shut these men up to himself. It's
what he always does. It's what he does when he saves
us. He strips us naked of our righteousness and takes away
our fig leaves before he puts that lamb's wool on us and covers
us up with the righteousness of Christ. He has to kill us
before he makes us alive. He has to make us to be a sinner
before we have any hope of being a saint. His strength is made perfect
in our weakness. And when he had sent the multitude
away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray. And when evening
was come, he was there alone. Oh, here's our Lord. He went up to Mount Calvary,
didn't he? What? What prayers our Lord offered
to his Father from that cross? Not the least of which was, Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do. Oh, what a Savior. And he was there all by himself.
The disciples have left him. The father has forsaken him as
a sin bearer. He's suffering the full wrath
of God's judgment for the sins of his people. And he's in prayer
with his father. He's interceding. Peter, before the cock crows,
you're gonna deny me three times, but I've prayed for you. I've
prayed for you. We have an intercessor. The Lord
Jesus Christ, seated at the right hand of God, ever making intercession
for us. My little children, I write these
things unto you that you send not, but if any man send, we
have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. Here's what this is a picture
of, a picture of my life and your life. The Lord sends us
away in a ship out into the sea. sends the multitude away and
he goes before his father alone. Alone. Only he could bear the
weight of the sins of his people. Only he could satisfy the justice
and finish the wrath of God. Only he could do it. And that's
exactly what he did. And here's our hope. Here's our
hope. but the ship was now in the midst
of the sea. Mark actually tells us how many
furlongs the ship was out into the sea and I calculated it up
to be about three and a half miles and I looked it up and
the Sea of Galilee is eight miles wide. So they're pretty much
in the middle of the ocean or the middle of this great, this
great, this great lake. Right out and smack dab in the
middle of it. and they're rowing against the wind. But the ship was now in the midst
of the sea, in the middle of the sea, tossed with the waves,
for the wind was contrary. We've gone out in a boat before
you think you're going to go out in the ocean and you get
in the inlet and you find out the ocean is a little rougher
than you anticipated it and you quickly turn around and come
back in. They couldn't do that. They couldn't go back, they couldn't
go forward, they're in the midst of the sea, they're right out
there in the very middle, they've got no safe place to go. You get out, eight miles offshore
and you look in every direction and you see nothing but water.
And that's where these men were. And then the fourth watch. The
watch was divided up into four watches, three hours each watch. Starting at 6 PM, so 6 to 9,
9 to 12, 12 to 3, now the fourth watch, 3 o'clock in the morning.
3 o'clock in the morning. It's where they are. You ever been tossed about? The
wind's contrary to you. There's no safe place to go.
You look every way, every direction. There's no safe harbor. You can't
just say, well, we're not gonna do this. We're gonna go this
way and get out of this trouble. No, you're in trouble. And it's dark. There's no light,
no direction. What are we gonna do? And the Lord comes. in the middle
of the night, and he says, be of good cheer. It is I, it is
I, be not afraid. Oh, that's the voice I need to
hear. That's the comfort, that's the promise. And when the disciples, in verse
25, and in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them walking
on the sea. Lord knows where his children
are all the time. He knows exactly. He put them
there. He put them there. He sent these disciples out into
this situation. He knew exactly where they were.
And he will allow them to be tossed about and he'll allow
them to, Mark tells us they were rowing frantically and not getting
anywhere. Matthew tells us the wind is
contrary to them. The Lord put them there to get
them to this very place. What a blessing it is to be shut
up to Christ. Got no place to go. Lord, to
whom shall we go? To whom shall we go? You alone
have the words of eternal life. We know and are sure that thou
art the Christ, the son of the living God. The rest of them
went somewhere else. They all left. And that's what
Peter said when the Lord looked to the disciples and said, aren't
you going to go with them? Will you leave me also? To whom shall
we go? Well, they found a place to go.
Why? Because they hadn't been shut
up to Christ. They hadn't had all their options
taken away. If God gives us an option to
come to Christ or to go somewhere else, we will go somewhere else. The will of man will always choose
against God. God must take away our will.
He's got to make us willing. He's got to take away the options
and shut us up to only one place. I've got no place else to go. And when the disciples saw him
walking on the sea, they were troubled. And one of the other writers,
I don't know if it was Mark or John, says that they were terrified.
They were terrified. Now, not only is the sea threatening
their life, not only is it dark, not only are they out in the
middle of this sea, But now there's a spirit coming toward them.
They didn't know it was them. It is a spirit and they cried
out for fear. Not only is it my physical circumstances
that are trying me now, but now I've got this spiritual trouble
that's taking place. Now, you know, it's the troubles
from without and the fears from within. So, I love what David said, the sun
shall not smite you by day nor the moon by night. And there's
the picture. The outward heat of the sun and
the light of the day is our troubling circumstances. The lunar, lunatic,
that's where we get that word from. is the troubling of our
mind and of our soul and our hearts. The thoughts and fears
that captivate us and create, there's where they are. Not only
is it their troubled circumstances, but now their troubled spirit.
There's an aberration coming, there's a ghost coming, there's
a spirit coming. This thing's a lot worse than
just my circumstances. and straightway, straightway. The Lord didn't leave them in
that state long. They cried out and straightway,
Jesus spake unto them saying, be of good cheer, it is I be
not afraid. Peter answered him and said,
Lord, Lord, if it be Thou, bid me to come unto Thee on the water. Bid me to come unto Thee on the
water. I'll come to Christ when the
water gets calm. I'm gonna work on getting this
situation cleaned up or taking care of this sin or fixing this
problem or that problem and then I'll be able to come to Christ.
No. Lord, bid me to come onto thee
on the water. If I'm gonna come to you, I need
to come to you right now in the midst of my trouble. I can't
fix it, I can't. You see, the Lord Lord lets us fix everything
and straighten everything out. And then we think, okay, now
I'll be acceptable in God's sight. That's a self-righteous works
gospel, isn't it? That's not why the Lord puts
you there. That's not why he puts his children in troubled
seas. He puts us in troubled seas to
get us to cry, bid me to come unto thee on the water, on the
water. You know, we often give a lot
of emphasis to Peter's lack of faith. And the Lord rebukes
him. He said, why were you afraid? When he started to sink in the
water, he took his eyes off Christ. But far as I can tell, Peter's
the only man other than the Lord Jesus Christ that ever walked
on water. He got out of the boat. There's great, great demonstration
of faith here, isn't there? The Lord had proved to him and
the Lord put in his heart this desire to come to Christ on the
water. And he said, come. No child of God has ever said,
Lord bid me to come unto thee. Well, the Lord said, nope, can't
come. If any man come unto me, I will in no wise cast him out. The Lord has never forsaken one
of his children. We know the difference when our
small children are using a cry to manipulate us or when they're
really in trouble. Mother and father, I mean, They
can tell right away, that's a real cry. That's not just them trying
to get their way. And you drop everything that
you're doing to rush to the aid of your child. And if you being
evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much
more, your heavenly father? How much more? Oh, our love for
our children is so, it's just sinful. like everything else
about us. You thought that I was altogether
such a one as just, oh, no, Lord, you're not like me at all. You're
holy. He's holy. He's other than we are. And when
Peter was come down out of the ship, verse 29, he walked on
the water to go to Jesus. When he saw the wind boisterous,
he was afraid. And beginning to sink, he cried,
saying, Lord, save me. Here's the whole purpose. Yeah,
how often we take our eyes off of Christ, how easy it is. And
what a testimony of our unbelief and of our sinful nature that
the Lord is always putting us in trouble. I like what Scott Richardson
said, the children of God are either in trouble, going in trouble
or coming out of trouble all the time. And that's by God's
mercy. because we don't see our need
for him until he puts us in trouble, until he puts us in the midst
of the sea in the middle of the night and brings us to the end
of ourselves, we'll not cry to him. We look out over the contrary
wind. I love John's account of this
story because John's account says that when the Lord got on
the boat with them, immediately they were on the other side. Here we are crossing to the other
side in a turbulent sea. And the book of Revelation tells
us John's vision of heaven, he said, and there was no more sea. No more sea. No turbulence, no
trouble, no separation. No, that's for here. And yes,
the way of the Lord for his people is through the sea. Lord save me. Immediately. When he began to
sink, he didn't wait till, you know, you're gonna save somebody,
if you're gonna save someone drowning, wait until they're
almost gone before you try to help them. If they're floundering,
you get in the water with them, they will drown themselves and
you. The Lord doesn't do that. when he began to sink, immediately,
the Lord saved him. What a merciful Savior. Oh, he remembers that we're made
of dust. He knows that man at his very
best state is altogether vanity. Yes, as a father pitieth his
children. We pity our young children. We
don't expect them. We don't expect a three-year-old
to act like a 30-year-old. We expect them to do foolish
things and say foolish things and not be able to deal with
simple tasks in life. And we pity them. And we're there
to deliver them and help them. And as a father pitieth his children,
how much more the Lord pities them that fear him. And we won't
fear him until he proves us. This is the whole purpose of
him proving us, is to bring into our hearts this cry, Lord, save
me. Lord, save me. You know, Peter's gonna have
another encounter with the Lord after the resurrection on the
same sea. And Peter's gonna jump in the
water and swim to shore when he realizes it's the Lord, and
he's gonna pray a different prayer. He's gonna say, Lord, depart
from me, for I am a sinful man. And Peter spent the rest of his
life thankful that the Lord didn't answer that prayer. This prayer he answered, Lord,
save me. Lord, I'm drowning. Lord, I'm
going down. Save me. Immediately he saved
him. And immediately Jesus stretched
forth his hand and caught him and said unto him, O thou of
little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? That not always our case. Full of doubt. It's the sin that
doth so easily beset us. It's the mother of all sins.
It's the cause of all of our problems, doubting God. Treating Him like a thief. Treating
Him like a thief. Trusting Him as far as we can
see Him. But when He gets out of sight
and we get in trouble, we start to doubt. We start to be afraid. The Lord doesn't forsake us. He may rebuke us, he may chastise
us, but he always stretches forth his hand. We're not saved with
the arm of flesh, though we try so often to save ourselves with
our own strength and our own power. We're saved by the strong
right hand of God. And he saves perfectly, doesn't
he? And when, verse 32, they were
coming to the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were in
the ship came and worshiped him, saying of a truth, Thou art the
Son of God. The Lord never started anything
he didn't finish. How many things have you started
you never finished? Oh, all the good intentions,
all the half-baked ideas, all the stuff that I thought I was
gonna do and never finished it. Either there were circumstances
I wasn't anticipated or I got bored or it wasn't a good plan.
One way or the other, it just didn't get finished. That's never
the case with our Lord. He ordains the end from the beginning
and everything in between. And He makes everything beautiful
in His time. And he's never caught off guard
with unintended circumstances like you and I are. And his purpose
is always full, is always completed. And what he purposed in the covenant
of grace before time ever began, he finished it. So that when
he was on Calvary's cross, he said, it is finished. The father
sent me to save my people. and I finished the work that
he gave me to do. And he rested because it was
finished. And when he begins a work of
grace in the lives of his children, he finishes what he started. He sent those disciples onto
the boat. He sent them out into the sea.
He sent the waves and the storm. He did it all to prove them. To
prove them for what they were. And to prove himself for who
he is. It is I. It is I. I love that. You know, some of
our young people can't remember telephones before caller ID. But for most of our lives, if
somebody called you on the phone, they had to identify who they
were. And notice the Lord doesn't say
to these disciples, Be of good cheer. It's me, Jesus. Don't
be afraid." He didn't say that. He said, it is I. They were familiar with his voice. Before caller ID, if Tricia called
me on the phone, she didn't have to identify herself. I knew as
soon as she said, hey, I knew exactly who it was. We lived
in Alabama, I had a good friend that had a lisp and he was funny
as he could be and he would call me on the phone and in his lisp
he would say, guess who this is? I never had to wonder who Joe
Ray was. I knew exactly who it was. They knew his voice. It was that
voice that said to them, Follow me, I'm gonna make you fishers
of men. And they followed him. It was that voice that they heard
on the Sermon on the Mount and all the things that the Lord
had said and promised that they knew exactly. Be of good cheer,
it is I. Don't be afraid. No, we hear his voice and we follow
him. He's the shepherd. The shepherds
would put all their sheep into one big sheep pen at night. And
then the shepherds would come. And someone asked the shepherd,
are all those your sheep? Oh no, my sheep are scattered
in there. Well, how do you know which ones are yours? Well, just
watch. Just watch. And the shepherd raises his voice. and says whatever call he says,
and one by one, his sheep start coming out of that sheep pen. My sheep hear my voice, they
follow me. Don't you love it when the Lord
thinks that Mary Magdalene, you know Mary Magdalene is mentioned
12 times in the gospel accounts? more than most of the disciples
are mentioned. She's the one that the Lord cast
seven demons from. And she's the first one to the
tomb. And we can't help but to think
about, they which are forgiven much, love much. Oh, what love
she had for Christ. And she thought the Lord was
the gardener. And she said, if you know where his body is, just
tell me, tell me and I'll go get it. And the Lord just said, Mary. Oh, Rabboni, which translated
is master. And she clung to him. She knew
his voice. When the Lord speaks, be of good
cheer, eat his eye, don't be afraid. We've heard that voice
before. And he's been faithful. He's
been faithful to his word. When we're unfaithful, when we're
of little faith like Peter, when we don't believe, he remaineth
faithful for he cannot deny himself. He cannot deny himself. And what he starts, he finishes.
He's not going to leave one of his sheep behind. They're not
going to become so entangled in the things of this world that
he's going to say, you know what? I've reached my hand out and
saved you too many times. Never going to say that. You
keep getting afraid. You keep looking at the wind.
You keep doubting me. You keep treating me like a thief.
You only trust me as far as you can see me. I'm just going to
be done with you. Never. Ever, ever, ever, I will
never leave you nor forsake you. And he keeps reaching out his
hand and he keeps putting into our hearts to cry, Lord save
me. And he's gonna finish what he
started. He's not gonna leave a single
one behind. He finished our redemption. That's What we read in first
Peter. Reserved in heaven for you and
you are kept by the power of God unto salvation. Oh, aren't
you thankful? What a miracle. What a miracle. What a miracle worker. What a
miraculous God we have. In our English translations,
we have it is I. But in the original language,
it is I am. It's his name. It's Jehovah. It's the same name that he gave
to Moses at the burning bush when
Moses said, who do I say sent me? What is your name, Lord?
I am. I am the uncreated, self-existent,
sovereign, omnipotent, immutable God. I'm dependent on nothing. I created and sustain all things
by the power of my word. This is who I am. Be of good cheer. I am. Don't be afraid. Our Heavenly Father, thank you
for your word. Might your spirit speak it to
our hearts in life and in truth as the good news that it is.
We ask it in Christ's name, amen. 252, 352, 352, let's stand together. Jesus, lover of my soul, let
me to thy bosom fly. ? While the nearer waters roll
? ? While the tempest still is high ? ? Hide me, O my Savior,
hide ? ? Till the storm of life is past ? ? Safe into the haven
guide ? ? O receive my soul at last ? Other refuge have I none,
hangs my helpless soul on thee. Levi, leave me not alone, still
support and comfort me. All my trust on thee is stayed,
all my help from thee I bring. Cover my defenseless head with
the shadow of Thy wing. Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
more than all in Thee I find. Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
heal the sick and lead the blind. Just and holy is thy name. I am all on righteousness. ? False and full of sin I am
? Thou art full of truth and grace ? Plenteous grace with
Thee is found ? Grace to cover all my sin ? Let the healing
streams abound ? Make and keep me pure within Thou of life the
fountain art, freely let me take of Thee. Spring Thou up within
my heart, rise to all eternity.