For her my tears shall fall, and they do. For her my prayers
ascend, and they do. To her my cares and toils be
given, till toils and cares shall end. Would that that were more
true. So that's a hymn to aspire to,
isn't it? Alright, Psalm 122. Psalm 122. I drew your attention to the
title because It has a meaning. The Song of Degrees of David. David is a sweet, sweet psalmist
of Israel. He was a harpist. He played the
harp. And I would imagine that he was very skillful on that
harp. I would have liked to have heard him. I thought about this
when I prepared this. The Lord sang a hymn together
that says, spoke like he did, and I'm quite sure no one sang
like he did. Perfect pitch and gorgeous melodic
voice. And had he chosen to play an
instrument? But David was a sweet psalmist,
and he wrote these songs or psalms, that's what they mean, psalms
of praise and psalms of prayer, most of them. or one or the other
or both, praise and prayer unto the Lord. They were unto the
Lord and for the Lord's people to sing. David sang these. I love the thought of him sitting
on the hill watching those sheep play in his harp and singing
these psalms unto the Lord, like Psalm 121. I lift up my eyes
under the hill singing, playing his harp, or in his palace singing
praise and his prayer calling on the Lord. Thank the Lord for
music. Thank the Lord for these psalms
and songs, spiritual songs. The word degrees means elevation. Song of degrees. There are 15
of them beginning with 120 through 134. Songs of degrees, 15 of
them. It means to elevate. To elevate. These are psalms to elevate or
raise our thoughts and our minds upward, heavenward, to lift us
up, as it were. These should lift us up out of
the miry clay, out of the muck in the mire. Our thoughts are
so often earthly, aren't they? Base, sensual, covetous, aren't
they? Like the song we sing out while
we grovel here below. In vain we strive to rise. Well,
these psalms are not in vain. They're written to raise us up.
Psalms of degree to set our thoughts and affection on things above.
We need that, don't we? We go out in the world and we
get down, a downcast like Psalm 42. It says, Why art thou downcast? Hope thou in God. So these psalms
are written to give us hope in our God. and set our affection
on things above, to look for a heavenly city. So he begins this way, to lift
us up. I was glad when they said unto
me, let us go unto the house of the Lord. Now, David wrote
this personally. He said, I was glad when they
said to me. We can't enter into any of God's
Word unless it means something to us personally. And David,
you remember Psalm 84, how I love that psalm. He said, how amiable
are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. Oh, he said, I envy the
sparrow. When he was in exile, when he
was away from the house of God, the reading of the Word and the
worship of God's people, he said, I would like to just be a sparrow
in a rooftop to hear the Word and hear the singing. And so
he said from his heart, And I believe we can say from our heart, I
was glad when they said to me, let's go to the house of the
Lord. I was glad. I'm so glad. So glad. There was a time when if you
had said to me, let's go to the house of the Lord, I wouldn't
have wanted to come. It was the furthest thing from
my mind. Furthest thing from my mind.
Some of you have children, grown children, even teenagers, that
why is it so hard for them to sit and hear the Word of God,
sing these songs? It's impossible until the Lord
makes them glad. It's impossible because we're
dead in sin. And so I'm so glad that somebody
said to me, I'm glad I'm glad. You know, nothing reveals the
true state of your heart more than this, that you're glad to
come here where the Gospels preach, where the Word of God is proclaimed,
where God's people meet to worship God. Nothing reveals the state
of the heart more than that. Nothing. I was glad. David said,
I was glad when they said to me, let us go into the house
of the Lord, the house of God. The house is a dwelling, a building,
an abode where someone abides. The house of the Lord, the Lord's
house, is not a building. He doesn't dwell in buildings
made with hand, but He does dwell in the midst of His people. His
house, His temple, is His people, His church. So that's who this
is talking about, His church. I'm not talking about a building.
This building is not the church. I have tried to make it a rule,
tried to change my vocabulary when talking about the church
house. Always when I'm talking about
this building, I try to say I'm going to the church house. OK, the church, we're the church. We don't go to church. We are
the church. We go to the church house. But
this building is the house that houses the house of church. OK. It's not the building, but
it's the people of God. They're the house of God where
the Lord dwells with them and in them. And it's called by many
names. The church is called by many
names in the Scripture, Bethel. Bethel, the house of the Lord.
Bethel. Old Jacob built an altar, remember,
and we're going to get to that in Genesis. Lord willing. Bethel. He started out there and he always
would get away and then he'd need to go back to Bethel. He'd
go back to Bethel and he was renewed again. A house of God. It's called a house of prayer.
The Lord said my house should be called a house of prayer.
This is where God's people meet to call on God together. What
a blessing that is, isn't it? I don't like to pray myself for
you. I mean, I don't. No one likes
to lead in prayer. You men that are called on to
do it. I don't even like to do it at home. But it sure is a
blessing when someone does, isn't it? When someone does it on your
behalf and your hearts are united together. This is a house of
prayer. It's a house of praise. It's
a house of worship. Do you remember the Pool of Bethesda? The Pool of Bethesda where many
impotent folk were laying, lying halt, withered, impotent, and
there was a man waiting? Bethesda means house of mercy. House of mercy. This is a house
of mercy where the Lord takes impotent ones and submerges them
in the pool of His mercy and His blood. It's a house of feasting. A house of feasting for the hungry. A house of learning. A house
of rest. A house of repose. A house of
peace. In the world you shall have tribulation.
But you come amongst God's people and you want peace. I was glad. So David said, I was glad when
they said unto me, David said, I'll be glad and rejoice in thy
mercy. This is what we're glad of, in
thy mercy. David said, thou hast made me
glad through thy work. He said, thou hast put gladness
in my heart more than times when their, speaking of the world,
more than the times when their corn and their wine increased.
In other words, what makes the world glad is the increase of
things. David said, the gladness you
put in my heart, your work and your mercy and so forth, is much
greater than their corn and wine. I was glad. The Lord has put
gladness in God's people's heart and they're glad when they can
say, let us go unto the house of the Lord. And in that same
Psalm 84, I almost dealt with that Sunday, It says, Blessed
are they that dwell in thy house, they will be still praising thee. Meaning, if they dwell there,
that's where they're going to stay. Even in the hoary hairs,
even the old age, Psalm 71 says, they'll be dwelling there. That's
where they'll stay. David said, One thing that I
desired, and that's what I'm going to seek after, that I may
dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. Behold
the beauty of the Lord in choir in his temple. I'm going to say this, it might
embarrass them a little bit, but Mindy said to me on numerous
occasions, she said, I hope we're as glad and as enthusiastic about
hearing the gospel as your dad and mom are when we are that
age. Two of the most enthusiastic
hearers in here are the oldest one. One is almost 90 years old. I hope I'm as glad to come hear
the gospel and rejoice in it and as enthusiastic in hearing
what they've heard how many thousands of times, just as joyful and
just as glad to hear it as if it were the first time. You say,
that's just because you're their son. Well, I don't think so. I think it's because they're
sons of God, sons and daughters. Well, I was glad when they said
unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Well, who said this
to me? They. Who said this? I was glad when
they said unto me, someone said this to me. Let's go to the house
of the Lord. You know who it is? The Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. gave commandment to save me, and said, Come. Revelation 22, 17 says the Spirit
and the bride say, Come. I wouldn't have come if they
hadn't said, Come. I wouldn't have come if the Holy
Spirit hadn't said, Let's go to the house of the Lord. Aren't
you glad they said to you, Let's go. We're going. Thou hast given
commandment. Not just commandment, but fetch
me. I said Sunday, I believe I could
mention the Pentecost name, just mention that name every time
we meet together, it would make you glad. Because that's every
one of our stories, isn't it? The Lord sent His Spirit through
the preaching of the gospel to fetch us, to say unto us, come
on, you're coming with God's people. It's not an invite, not
an invite, but He compels us, He brings us. He said, I was
glad when they said unto me. He put gladness in my heart and
made this a glad thing to come to the house of the Lord. And
the older I get, I really am more glad to come here
all the time. Verse 2. He says, Our feet shall
stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Our feet. David and his companions,
God's people, our feet shall stand within thy gates. Our feet. My feet once were found
everywhere but here. You found me everywhere but here. I wish I hadn't said Sunday what
I said where I was when I was talking to that friend of mine.
Anybody catch that? Well, I said it without thinking. I may edit it. I don't know.
Maybe not. Just trying to show you that
I didn't know. You don't know better. You don't know when you're
young, do you? And I'm trying to hang on to
my old buddies and still go in places with them that I shouldn't
go. I shouldn't have gone and don't
now, but I meant well. At any rate, my feet have been
places like a brother said to me one time. He had some business
to attend to in a city and came back. I just came back from places
I wish I hadn't been. And my feet were once found everywhere
but here, and now I'm glad my feet are standing right here
in front of you, right now. That's your feet. They're at
the table. My feet were once swift to run
the mischief. Now, I find them walking toward
the house of God. My feet were once standing in
the way of sinners. don't stand in the way of sinners,
the way of the scorners. Now we stand with the saints,
don't we? Now we stand on the rock Christ Jesus. Now we stand
for the truth. I love Martin Luther, and the
Lord greatly used that man. But if he'd only made one statement
all his days, it was worth it all. When he was confronted by
a world of false religion, And he stood alone practically in
the face of all those God-haters and truth-haters. And they told
him to recant, to renounce the truth, to quit preaching this.
And old Martin Luther stood alone. And he stood there and he said,
here I stand. I can do no other. That's the
way I want to be, don't you? I want to stand for the truth.
I do. You do. We do stand for the truth.
And can you say, can you not say from the heart, I can do
no other. I can't abide any other. I cannot
tolerate any other. I cannot be any other place than
where the truth is. He said, our feet shall stand
within thy gates, O Jerusalem. The gates of Jerusalem. Jerusalem,
he said in verse 3, is built as a city that is compact together. Jerusalem. Yeah, let's go over there. Go over to Revelation 21. This
is where John saw Jerusalem, the city, coming down from God
out of heaven. And this is why we know that
Jerusalem that David is speaking of is the people of God. And the New Jerusalem is not
a literal city, but it's the Church of God. Look at it with
Revelation 21. All of the revelation is mostly
symbolic. These things like the Old Testament
types and shadows and pictures, that's what this is. Verse 2,
Revelation 21, I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming
down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride. adorned for her husband. That's not talking about a place.
A place is not the bride of Christ. The Lord isn't wedded to a city,
a place, a building, but a people. The people of God are His bride. His church is His bride. And
it says in verse Verse 10, "...he carried me away in spirit to
a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the
holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the
glory of God. And her light was like unto a
stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal."
Not a place, it's people. The light. The light of Christ
who is that jasper stone. And walls and gates. He talks
about walls and gates. What need is there for walls
in heaven? There's no enemy. What need is
there for gates? There's one place that says the
gates will not be shut by day or night. What need are there
for gates? When the Scripture says, open
up the gates, Psalm 24. Well, these gates, and it talks
about the gates, you know, and the walls and the foundations
of many different Go back to Psalm 122. But the gates and
so forth, pearly gates, you really think Peter's going to be standing
there opening a pearly gate? Come on. Who is the pearl of
great Christ? A gate is symbolic of, you know,
when a place has gates, That means you own it. If you have
a plantation or an estate and you
have walls around it and you have gates for entrance, somebody
owns that, don't they? Somebody owns that. Somebody
erected those walls. What does the Scripture say?
Salvation is for walls and bulwarks. It's our safety. Who is our salvation? A wall? No. Christ Himself. Thou art a wall. The gate. Who's the gate? Huh? The way into the city? Christ
said, I am the door. I am the door. The way in. The gates. Pearly gates. A gate means a place that is
under ownership. Somebody owns this place. God,
someone owns His people. A gate tells us that it's an
exclusive place, that not anyone can be there, members only. We
are members of His body. He's the one that brought us
into His fellowship. A gate is a symbol of protection,
isn't it? A gate. The Lord is all those
things to us. Christ is our pearl and Christ
is our protector. And he says, Our feet shall stand
within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem. Jerusalem. The word Jerusalem means a city
of peace. A city of peace. A place of peace.
Founded peace. And it became a peaceable place
when... You know who founded Jerusalem? You know when Jerusalem started?
David. It was held by the Jebbesites.
It was held by the enemies of God. And it was a pagan idolatrous
place. They had idols all over the walls.
It had walls and they had idols all over it. And they said, the
people, the Jebbesites that were inhabitants there said, you can't
come in here. David was coming. Remember? David
was coming to take that place. And they said, you can't come
in here. They had their idols all over the place. And David
took the stone. He took it. Kind of like false
religion, free will religion. He took it. It's his. It belongs
to his. And he called it from then on
the City of David. The City of David. Built by someone. Look at it. Built as a city.
Built it. Christ said of Peter's confession,
when Peter said, thou art the Christ. Remember what our Lord
said? Thou art Peter, a rock, a little stone, and upon this
rock, upon your confession of faith in me, I will build my
church. Psalm 127 says, Except the Lord
build thou a laboring vein of death. It's His church. He built
it. It's built on the rock, Christ
Jesus. It's built by Him, for Him, on
Him. Christ is the rock upon which
it's built. Christ is the building in which
we dwell. And Christ, like Zerubbabel,
will someday lay the founder of the topstone with cries of
grace unto it. The building, the church of God,
is Christ's work. Now that's why David said, You've
made me glad through Your blood. So it's a building, a city, built
by our Lord, compact together. See that? Compact and it's joined
together. Let me just read this to you
from Ephesians. It says this in Ephesians 4,
When our Lord ascended on high, He gave gifts unto the church
and apostles and so forth for the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, edifying of the body of Christ. Edifying means building up. The
edifying of the body of Christ until we all come into the unity
of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God under a perfect
man, created perfectly in His image, under the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ, no more children tossed to and
fro, carried about. It goes on to say the whole body
is fitly joined together and compacted. compacted by that
which every joint supply. In other words, and make it and
work it together, the effectual working of every part increases
the body, edifying itself in love. In other words, vitally
joined together, every member of the body of the church has
a part. And like members of our body,
from the little toe to the mouth, they all have a purpose. And
let not the little toe say, I'm no good. I'm of no use. I'm of little value. Has anyone
in here ever lost a toe? Anybody? Well, you've stumped
it, haven't you? You've mashed your toe, haven't
you? Don't laugh, Mindy. One time
I dropped a bowling ball on my toe. And on Saturday night, I
had to limp into the pulpit on Sunday morning, and my wife,
Laughed at me. Anyway, if you lose a toe or
stump a toe or mash a toe, that's the most important member in
your body. Yes, it is. Every member is compacted, joined
together, vitally joined together by Christ according to the grace
given us, the measure of the gift given to us, and let each
member of the body serve in their capacity. And it's for the edifying. That is, we're working together.
For the edifying of the body to do what? Lift up the head. Lift up the head. So he says,
our Jerusalem is built by our Lord, compact, joined together,
vitally joined. Verse 4, where the tribes go
up. Tribes of the Lord. Tribes of the Lord. There were
twelve different tribes in Israel. And you know what those tribes
are. They're the sons of Jacob. By this time, all those tribes
were greatly, you know, large numbers, weren't they? Not just
12 men, like Judah and Benjamin and so forth, but thousands,
even millions of people. So they were so different, weren't
they? It's so different. I thought
about this. The tribes go up. Our Lord has a people out of
every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue under heaven. All
different. Down in Mexico, they look so
different. Those Mayan Indians look different.
They talk differently in other countries. But we're all brethren. The one thing that all the tribes
of Israel had in common, they were all sons of Jacob. And the
tribes are God's people. Israel. Spiritual Israel. Jacob
have I loved. All of them. Simeon and Levi,
they were a sorry bunch, weren't they, John? They were a sorry
lot. Those sons of Jacob. All but Joseph. They were a sorry
bunch, weren't they? To a man. But the Lord loved
them. The sons of Jacob. So it is with all the tribes
of God. It says they go up. When they
go to the city of God, when they go to the church house, when
they go to the house of the Lord, they go up. Go up. Now, it's not always the
case that the actual church house is on a hill. It would be more
appropriate if it were. It would be more fitting if it
were. I've often thought if I was going to build a church house,
I'd build it just exactly where the Lord said it. Set it on a
hill above this work. But it's not, sad to say. We're
kind of down in a hole here. The church at Cottageville is
just down in a hole there. But nevertheless, when you leave
this world, when you come out of this world, this world is
base and lowly, and this world is a miry place. The world is
a slough of despondent. And when you go to the church
house where God's people meet, boy, you're going up. to the holy hill of the Lord,
Mount Zion. That's where we go to the spirits
of just men. The holy hill of the Lord, Mount
Zion, where the Lord loves. He loves the gates of Zion and
all the habitations of Israel. We go up. This is a high and
a heavenly calling to go up to the house of the Lord. Oh, I
was so glad when they said unto me. You're so privileged. You've found favor. He said to
you like He did to Mary, you've found favor. Blessed art thou,
Sherry. You're highly favored among women.
You get to go up to the house of the Lord. It's a high privilege, a holy
calling, a heavenly calling. Well, to what do we ascend? To what do we go to up there? Well, it says, verse 4, unto
the testimony of Israel. The testimony of Israel. Why
do we come here? Why do we go to the house of
the Lord? What made David glad? The testimony of Israel. God
put that testimony when He first brought the children out of Egypt. The testimony of the Lord. An
ark of the covenant. A mercy seat. The very end is
the testimony of God. The Gospel of Christ is what
that's talking about. Here's the testimony. Here it
is, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His
Son. This is the record. This is the
testimony. This is the testimony of God. Are you in Christ who
of God is made unto us? Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. This is the testimony of God.
This is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. A glorious thing
we come to hear. Undeserved, but great privilege.
And we go up, verse 4, to give thanks under the name of the
Lord. To give thanks. To give thanks. David in Psalm
100. Psalms have really been blessing
me lately. More so than usual. I wanted to preach from Psalm
100. But in that he says, enter into his gates with thanksgiving. And into his courts with praise
be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good,
and his mercy endures forever." To give thanks under the name
of the Lord, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful. Aren't you thankful He's merciful?
Gracious. Aren't you thankful He's gracious?
The God of all grace, Redeemer, Savior. Oh, give thanks unto
His holy name, the Lord Jesus Christ, the name of the Lord.
Verse 5 says there are thrones set. There are set thrones of
judgment, thrones of the house of David. What's this mean? Well, I went over where our Lord
talked to the disciples, and He said in Matthew 19, He said,
You will sit with Me, those of you who have forsaken all and
followed Me. He said, You will sit in the
throne of His glory, and you also shall sit upon twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And that's always been
kind of a mystery to me. And then over in 1 Corinthians,
Paul said this. Listen to this. This is interesting.
in light of these thrones of judgment and the apostles. He said, Do you not know that
the saints shall judge the world? If the world shall be judged,
you ought to be able to judge the smallest of matters. I believe
what this is saying is, set thrones of judgment in the church. The disciples whom the Lord said
would sit on twelve thrones that judge Him, The Apostles' Doctrine. Remember when the church in Acts
2 says they continued steadfastly every week, day in and day out,
in the Apostles' Doctrine and prayer and breaking of bread.
Okay? What the Apostles set forth. When our Lord said, what I do,
greater things you will do. That is, more fully they will
build upon His Word. The Lord is the judge. He set
down the judgments. The judgments of the Lord. The
commandments of the Lord. The apostles built on those.
Built on those. And they set forth things in
the epistles that are good judgment. See? Thrones. Reign. To reign. Not advice. The Lord
doesn't give advice. They didn't give advice. These
were true and righteous judgments. We need this, don't we? Thrones
of judgment in this world, this reprobate society we live in
where there's no judgment, their minds are void of judgment. We've
got good judgment. Someone's reigning and ruling.
And He sent some good men over us. Some good men over us to
judge, like the saint. You know, the church, well, can
you imagine? I've often thought what it would
be like to live in a society that had a king like David over
it. Can you imagine? Can you imagine having a president
like Solomon? What if our president was a godly
man like Solomon? Can you imagine? It's impossible
to imagine what our society would be like. Well, the church does. The church does have men that
the Lord has sent over it of the house of David. You see that? Of the house of
David. Solomon. When David died, the
Lord raised up Solomon. I bet they thought, oh, no one
will take David's place. Solomon. Well, then Solomon died. Then it split and all that, but
the Lord didn't leave his remnant, did He? He didn't leave Judah
without. And He raised up men like Asa,
Josiah. Hezekiah. Any of those men. Any of those men. Jehoshaphat. Huh? We've got some, don't we? Thrones, judgment, men that have
the rule over us, but there are men like David said, he that
ruleth among men must rule in the fear of the Lord. Fear of
the Lord. The house of David. If there
are men like David, men after God's own heart, they will. Now
here's a closing exhortation and some promises. It says in
verse 6, pray for the peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper
that love thee. Pray for the peace of the church.
Our Lord said pray without, through the disciples, said pray without
ceasing, didn't he? Without ceasing. Pray for the
peace of the church, because she has many enemies. Many enemies. that would like to cast them
down, break their bands asunder, the heathen rage and the people
against the Lord, against His anointing. He said, let's break
these bands asunder and cast them away from the He that sits
in the heaven's land. Because He has them. He has them
under His protection. But pray for the peace of the
church. He says, here's the promise,
they shall prosper that love Those that love the Lord certainly
prosper, don't they? And those that love His people,
and we prove that love by serving, by giving, shall prosper. Shall
prosper. Our Lord said it's more blessed
to give than to receive. And you'll prosper, He said.
The Lord will prosper you, both spiritually and materially. Yes,
you might not be rich materially, but you'll have all you need,
ever need. You'll never be without. And you'll be prosperous spiritually. You shall prosper. Those that
love the church, that love God's people. Verse 7, peace, he said. And here's David pronouncing
peace, blessing on the church of God. Peace be within thy walls
and prosperity within thy palaces. I just thought of John, what
he said in praying for the people of God. Do you remember what
he said in 3 John, I believe it is? Yeah, he said, here's
my wish for you. He said, I wish above all things,
what I want more than anything, even for myself, is that you
may prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospers. Let that be our heart's desire
and prayer to God for Israel. is that they might prosper. The
Lord will certainly bless those that make peace. Verse 8, For my brethren... This
is why David prays and tells us to pray. For my brethren and
my companions, say. They're my brethren. And he tells
us to love like brethren, doesn't he? I've always loved these verses.
David said, My brethren, my companions. I've always loved these in Psalm
119. David said, I am a companion of all them that fear Thee. That's
my buddies. That's who I keep company. Companion
means keep company with. That's who I keep company with.
I'm a companion. They are my companions, like
the disciples were the Lord's companions, of them that fear
Thee. And then he goes on down to say
in that same Psalm 119, it says, They that fear Thee, will be
glad when they see me. They that fear thee will be glad
when they see me. Isn't it? You know, there's nothing
more wonderful than to come here and your brethren greet you sincerely
and glad to see you. My, my. My, my. Now in what centers we are, the
Lord has to do that, doesn't He? For my brethren and my companions'
sake, this is my prayer, this is my hope, this is my heart's
desire. I will now say and pronounce this blessing upon the church
of God and pray for it that peace be with them. Peace. May this
be a house of peace. May I be a peacemaker. Because
of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek thy God. Because
of the house of the Lord our God, I need this house. I need
to come here. to have a place to come where
I can sit and hear the Gospel. I'm looking forward to Brother
David coming here so that I can sit and be restored and renewed
and preached to. I'm looking forward to that.
We need a place where the Gospel is preached. We need it. Our
children need it. Our grandchildren need it. And
so David said, I'm going to seek the peace of it and I'm going
to buy God's grace endeavor to build it up and help it and serve
it and do what I can. For her, my cares and toils will
be given. Our Lord, we thank You for Your
house, Your people, Your church, the place that You Put Your name there, Your truth,
Your gospel, how we thank You, Lord. We don't thank You as we
should. We take You for granted. We take the truth for granted
and Your mercy for granted. We forget, like children of Israel,
we forget Your mercies. Many times we provoke Thee, and
yet You remembered for us Your covenant and mercy. And You bring
it back to our remembrance and we loathe ourselves and hate
ourselves and are sorry and repent and come back to Thee and You
receive us graciously and we thank You. Thank You, Lord, for
the gospel of sinners, the gospel of mercy and grace and forgiveness
of sins through Christ our Lord. How we thank You for it. Keep
the gospel coming from this place. Keep Your people coming to hear
it. This is our hope, our help, our comfort, our strength, our
everything, Lord, our life, our peace, our joy, our gladness
in a world full of trouble. Keep this place as a lighthouse
in a dark world according to your will. Bless your church
everywhere in Christ's name. Amen.