Hallelujah, what a Savior. Hallelujah, what a friend. Saving, helping, keeping, He
is with me to the end. Good singing, good hymns. All
right, go back to Psalm 12 with me. Psalm 12. Psalms, as you know,
are psalms, and they were all meant to be sung, sung to the
Lord. Psalms are a great blessing to
God's people, a constant blessing. You can always get a blessing,
if you need one, from God's Word from the psalms. You can always
turn to the psalms. And somewhere in there, find
something you need. Because the Psalms, you may have never thought about
this, but most of the Word of God is the Lord speaking to us
or about someone or something. While the Psalms, most of the
Psalms are speaking to God. Most of the Psalms are either
Moses or David or even Solomon praying and calling upon the
Lord, speaking to the Lord. And you can just browse through
them and look at psalms like this. Go back to Psalm 3, Psalm
4, Psalm 5, give ear to my words, Oh, Lord. Psalm 6. Oh, Lord,
rebuke me not. Psalm 7. Oh, Lord, my God. Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord. Psalm 8. Oh, Lord. Psalm 9. I will praise
Thee, oh, Lord. Psalm 10. Why standest thou far
off, oh, Lord? Psalm 12. Help, Lord. Help, Lord. And I get great help
from the psalm. And it begins this way, and that's
the title. Help, Lord. That's the subject.
We need help. Help, Lord. That's my constant
cry. Truth be known, when I try to
pray, most of the time, about all that I can get out is help.
Lord, how about you? I don't find myself very eloquent
in private, but just help. Help me, Lord. Help me. Help
us. Help this church, our people. Help our country. Our country
is in sad shape. Help, Lord. He's crying unto
the Lord. We cry unto the Lord for truly
the woe is them that go down to Egypt for help. Thane is the
help of man. But Psalm 121 says, Our help
coming from the Lord. And he's a very present help
in time of trouble. And David is crying about the
evil of the times. That's what he's complaining
about to the Lord. He's crying for help in the midst
of very dark and troubled times, very wicked times that he lives
in. Look at verses 1 and 2. Help,
Lord, for the godly man Caesar, for the faithful fail from among
the children of men. They speak, the men, the world
that speak vanity, everyone with his neighbor, flattering lip,
a double heart do they speak. Bad times, evil times, ungodly
times, when ungodly, unfaithful people, and about all you hear
is vanity coming from their mouth, boasting and lies. David said that of his time then.
If it was bad then, it's worse now. These last days, as in the
days of Noah when the whole earth had corrupted God's way, God's
Word, God's truth, the course of nature set on fire of hell. These are the worst of times.
These are perilous times. These are the last days. Help
us, Lord. Help us. We still have to live in this
work. Keep us from it. Help, he said, the godly man
seeth it. Now, there's a couple of ways
to look at this. I immediately thought of Isaiah
57. It says the righteous perisheth.
No man layeth it to heart. Merciful men are taken away. And the world doesn't consider
that the righteous is taken from the evil to come. Every time
we lose a good man, a faithful man, a righteous man, like a
Joe Park, like a Scott Richardson, my, my, this world is a worst
place for it. We're going to lose a Henry Mayhem
very soon. Help, Lord. Help us raise up,
raise up more godly man. What is godly? Godly means someone
who thinks on God, someone who fears God, someone who loves
God's word, someone who loves God's truth. The word simply
means godlike in character, true, honest, just, merciful, like
God. And he said here in the Psalms,
a godly man seetheth, and the faithful fail from among the
children of men. Faithful. Faithful means true. Faithful means honest. Faithful
means devoted. Fail from among the children
of men. Just 50 years ago, you people who are up in your 70s
and on, you can remember just 50 years ago. That's a short
period of time, isn't it? when there was a general sense
of honesty and decency around one. That there was a general
sense that you could at least take people at their word. A man's word used to mean something. Just 50 years ago it did. And we used to call people Man,
a God-fearing man. He used to say that, didn't he?
A lot. He's a God-fearing man. Not anymore. Not anymore. Can you find one person? Can
you think of one person in leadership? One noted or well-known person
in our country or in the world in a position of leadership,
politics, the journalism, anywhere that you have any respect for
whatsoever, that you believe what they say, that they're not
on the take. Anybody? Can you think of one? I can't. That's sad times, isn't
it? Sad times. Help, Lord. The faith
will fail. from among the children. At times
they're bad when it's the rule rather than the exception that
truth and true men are hard to find. A general decay of truth
and honesty. Vanity. Flattery. Let's speak
vanity. is just all sorts of useless
talk. It says in verse 2, they speak
vanity. Everyone, everybody is talking.
The world is full of talk. It's the most talkative generation. And it was true just a short
time ago that people weren't such big talkers. We're living
in a day of big talk. Vanity. Are everybody speaking
their mind and it's full of vanity? God's not in their thoughts and
not in their speech. And flattery. Flattery. Flattery means to praise one's
self-love. Boasting and bragging. Look at
Proverbs 7. Proverbs chapter 7. Look over
there a minute. Nowhere is flattery more widespread
than in religion. Flattery. Why do you think so
many people are in false religion? Because of flattery. And this
Proverbs 7 is all about the great whore. False religion. And how she gets people. How
she gets people into her trap. He begins this way, My son, speaking
to the sons of God, daughters of God, keep My word, lay hold
on My word, lay up My commandments, keep My commandments and live.
My law is the apple of your eye, bind it upon your finger, write
it upon the table of your heart. It will keep you, verse 5, from
the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her word. That's religion. And it goes
on to tell the story of a simple young man walking through the
street, and she has her eye on him. In verse 13, she caught
him and kissed him with an impudent face. She said, I have peace
offerings. Peace offerings. And she says
down in verse 21, with her much fair speech, she caused him to
yield. With the flattering of her lips,
she forced him. And his great was his downfall.
That's religion. That whole chapter is about false
religion. How that they woo people with their flattery. People won't listen to the truth.
People won't come to hear the Word of God. But they'll go and
see and hear and anything and everything. My neighbor, I like
the young man. I was talking to him not long
ago. about the truth. And I was urging
him to come and hear, telling him what we do here. All we do
is look into the Word of God, what God's Word says about God,
about us, about salvation. One thing, you come. I told him,
you come. If you're a sinner, you need
this. You come. You listen to what
God's Word says. Well, he has yet to come. They
told me the other day, he said, I went to that big game show. This big mega church over here
in Franklin Heights had a big gathering where they got wild
meat of all sorts all over the world, venison and alligator
and all of that. and inviting all the hunters
to come eat this meat, and they had a Navy SEAL stand up and
talk to them. That's how they entice
people. That's how they get them in the
trap. God's not a beggar. That's being ashamed of God's
Word. That's being ashamed of God's truth. That's trying to
sneak something up on people. Besides, they don't have the
truth over there. So it doesn't much matter anyway. People go
there. The gospel is the power of God
and salvation. We don't apologize for it. We
tell men, here's what we do here. Are you interested? Here's what
we do. We preach the Word of God. That's it. Don't have anything
to offer. Like Peter said to that man,
silver and gold have we done, but such as we have given unto
you. This is what we have to give you. Are you interested?
Do you want to know God? Do you want to know what God's
Word says? You want to know the way, the truth, and the life?
You come. They will not come. They will not come. Don't listen
to the truth. But they're enticed, and they're
tricked, and they're flattered. Beware a flattering preacher. Beware. Beware. Times are bad. Look in our text in Psalm 12.
The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips and tongues and speak proud
things. Who said with our tongue will
we prevail? Our lips are our own. We can say what we will.
Who's going to stop us? With our tongue, we're going
to talk ourselves out of it. Times are bad when the enemies
of God and the truth are bold and daring. This is what Matthew
Henry said. See, times are bad when the enemies of God and the
truth become bold and daring, even impudent and outspoken against
the truth, showing their contempt for God and His truth and raising
their fist with a loud voice. Who's Lord over us? Anybody see that bullet at Billboard
going to Roanoke right before we get to Clearbrook? The billboard on the right said,
you don't believe in God? Join the club. And there's a website that you go to. I went to look at it. And it's
a website for people trying to recruit people into rejecting
religion. Rejecting all belief in God. Times are bad, aren't they? An
out-and-out promotion of unbelief. Verse 3, the Lord will
cut off all flattering lips. One of the most striking and
sobering passages of Scripture in all the Bibles, Isaiah 2.
Turn there with me. This is so sobering. Isaiah 2. Look at it, Isaiah 2, verse 10,
telling His people, Enter into the rock, hide thee in the dust,
for fear of the Lord, for the glory of His majesty. The lofty
looks of man shall be humbled. The haughtiness of men shall
be bowed down. The Lord alone shall be exalted
in that day. The day of the Lord of hosts
shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty. upon everyone
that is lifted up, they shall be brought low. Verse 17, the
loftiness of man shall be bowed down, the haughtiness of men
shall be made low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that
day. Again, I remember just a short
time ago where people weren't so haughty and so bragging and
boasting with a man. In fact, the older men used to
tell young men, Don't talk so loud. You better back up that
talk with actions. Really? Remember that? That's
what we were taught when we were kids. Don't be bragging and boasting. Don't be talking until you can
back it up with action. Not so now. Everybody's a big
talker out there. Little children. My, my. Times
are very bad. And I'm reminded of The last
verse in Judges, one of your favorite books in Judges, the
very last verse in the book of Judges said that there was no
king of it in Israel. Therefore, men, everyone did
that which was right in their own eyes. Because there was no
king in Israel, every man did that which was right in their
own eyes, which was wrong. And I blame it all on religion.
I blame the ills of our society on religion, on false religion,
on men standing up, not preaching the sovereign God, a just God,
a holy God who will punish sin. There's no fear of God before
men's eyes because false preachers have stood up and told everyone
so much that God loves them, they don't fear him. And when
there's no king to fear, it says, fear God, fear the king. When
there's no sovereign God to fear, then every man can do whatever
he feels like. And they do. They do. No absolute truth. There's no
right or wrong. Who's to say? Times are bad,
aren't they? Times are bad. Proverb 29 says
this, When wicked the wicked bear rule, the people, God's
people, mourn. When wickedness is promoted,
encouraged rather than condemned, times are very bad. When the President of the United
States promotes, encourages, and puts into law sodomy, our society is given over by
God to evil. You know, we need to speak out.
And we will. We do. We have. But it won't do any
good. It's gone. It's over. It is. Romans 1. We knew it was
coming to. The fact of the matter is, we're
a lot more in the closet than we're out of it. Because man
is to pray. He is to pray. Listen to this. Let me read John Newton, one
of my favorite, the author of Amazing Grace, John Newton. And the title of it is A Trumpet
of Alarm. When God is exceedingly displeased with the people, it's
not necessary in order to punish them that he should bury them
alive by an earthquake or destroy them by lightning. He only has
to leave them to themselves. He withdraws his blessings from
their counsels. He withdraws his restraints from
their passions. And their ruin will follow on
course. If God gives up a people to the
way of their own hearts, they will, they must perish. When
general corruption of morals takes place, when private interest,
or that is self, extinguishes all public virtue, when a evil
and wicked spirit infects every rank and order of the state and
government. When there is a presumptuous
security in the face of danger, when after repeated judgments
there is a contempt for God and vain confidence in themselves
grows bolder and bolder, there is reason to fear that sentence
has gone forth and execution is at hand. But now here's the good news.
Okay? Here's the good news in bad times.
And we have great reason to say, help God, because we've got some
little ones, don't we? We have some children. We have
some loved ones. We have some neighbors and friends
that we're concerned about. And ourselves, that we be not
carried away with the error of the wicked. That's one of the
last things Peter said. Grow in grace in the knowledge
of our Lord. Be not carried away with the
error of the wicked. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Here's the good news in bad times.
We have a God we can go to help for. Our God is God. It doesn't matter what anybody
says. The Lord reigns. He is our God. The Lord reigneth
among the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth. Rejoice in the Lord. And again, I say rejoice. Thy
God reigneth. And He works all things together
according to His will. And Proverbs 16, verse 4 says,
The Lord hath made all things for Himself, even the wicked,
for the day of evil. Rejoice in the Lord. He's working
all things for His glory and for our good. And though men
are false, here's good news, though like David said, all men
are liars, God is true. Though men cannot be trusted,
God can and should. He's trustworthy. He's faithful.
He's true. And God will deal with all false
and proud men. That's what he said there, didn't
he? He said he will cut off all flattering lips, the tongues
that speak proud things. God will, he'll deal with them.
And God will deliver his people from sin, from this present evil
world, and from the evil one, the God of this world, and evil
men in it, and the persecution of it. God will deliver, he promises. Look at verse 5. This is what
he says. For the oppression of the poor, for the sign of the
needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord. I will set him in safety. from him that huffeth at him.
The Lord will hear and the Lord will save the poor and needy. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Theirs is the kingdom of God.
Those who say they are rich and increased with goods and have
need of nothing, okay. God has nothing for them. But those who are poor and needy,
God has everything for them. Christ who is all. They're all
in and out. Blessed are they that mourn over
sin. They shall be comforted. Blessed
are the meek. They shall inherit a new earth. Blessed are they
that hunger and thirst for righteousness. Righteousness. Brother Don Bell
and I were talking about the Scripture that says that we will
dwell in righteousness. How we look forward to that.
A place where there's no more sin. Well, we're not sinning.
There is no more sin. Nothing that maketh a lie. Nothing that is corrupt. Goodness, holiness, justice. I look forward to that. Only the righteous love righteousness.
Do you know that? Do you love righteousness? The righteous Lord loveth righteousness.
And the righteous people love righteousness. And they look
forward to it. They want it. They need it. David said, I will
behold thy face and righteousness. And I'll be satisfied when I
awake with Thy likeness." Only the righteous can say that. Only
the righteous want His righteousness, want to be like Him. Oh, blessed
are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness, they shall
be filled. Blessed are they, the merciful. We're not living
in a merciful world, are we? We're living in a dog-eat-dog
world. Blessed are the pure in heart, real, sincere, not hypocrites. Blessed are the pure in heart,
they're going to see God. Blessed are the peacemakers.
David said, they're for war, I'm for peace. Blessed are those that are persecuted
for righteousness' sake. God said, to this man will I
look. The Lord sits on His throne.
Look up at verse 4 of chapter 11. The Lord is in His holy temple.
The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes behold. His eyelids
try the children of men. He sees. The Lord's seated on
his throne. When you're seated, when a king
is seated, he's reigning and he's ruling. He's not disturbed.
He's not in haste. Nothing disturbs him. He's just
calmly ruling, giving orders, seated on his throne. No need
to get up. Just give orders. He's seated. God is seated. And He sees everything.
And He hears everything. He hears. He hears. Over in Psalm 2, it says, the
heathen rage and the people imagine vain things. And they say, against
the Lord and against His anointed, we're going to break their bands
asunder. And it says, he that sitteth in the heavens laughs. He laughs at the vain boasts
of worms. I keep telling you about my worms.
What if they all got together against me? What if they all
decided they're going to rebel against me? Well, you are, aren't
you? He laughs. Well, I'm not. But you let one
poor and needy sinner... See, God's not going to get up.
God's not going to deal with every proud, boastful, loud... You know, I wish He would. David
said that. David said it time and again,
Lord, it's time for You to work. David said that. It's time for
You to work. They've made void Your law. Look what they're doing
to Your Word, Lord. Look what they're doing to Your
name. Look what they're doing to Your people. Look what they're
doing, Lord. Do something. It's time. Oh, David, it's not time. I'll work when it's my time.
He laughs. So he stays seated. But you let
one poor, needy sinner cry. The Lord hears that. Help, Lord.
Have mercy on us, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according
to the multitude of Thy tender mercies. Blot out my transgression. Wash me throughly from my iniquity.
Forgive me. He hears that. Save us. That's what, in the margin, you
see what it says. In other words, help. Help. What kind of help do we need?
Not financial help. It says, save us. We need to
save us from ourselves. Save us from sin. Save us from
the evil ones. Save us from this present evil
world. And the Lord says, now will I
arise. When he hears one, now I'll arise. Over in Exodus, it says, the
Lord heard the groaning of the children of Israel, which cried
by reason of their taskmasters. the bondage, their oppressors.
And the Lord said, I am come down to deliver them out of the
hand of the Egyptians, to bring them up. The Lord arose and came
back. Two thousand years ago, the Lord got up. He arose and
came to this earth. The Lord of glory, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And He said, as a 30-year-old man, He stood and he said, the
Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He hath anointed me. I'm the
Christ. I'm the anointed one to preach
the gospel to the poor. I've got good news for every
poor sinner. I'm here. He said he hath anointed
me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal
the brokenhearted. Every brokenhearted sinner to
preach deliverance to the captives, to those that know they're captive
to sin and Satan. He sent me to lead captivity
captive. Good news. He sent me to recover
the sight of the blind. He sent me to set at liberty
them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
The Lord, He said, I'm accepting all applications for mercy. All
who apply for mercy are accepted. acceptable year of the Lord.
He arose for the sign of the needy, for the oppression of
the poor. And he said, I'll set him in
safety. Look at verse 6. Now, these are the words of the
Lord. What he just said, the Lord spoke. The promises of the
Lord, as Peter called them, exceeding great and precious promises.
that we might be partakers of the divine nature and escape
the corruption that's in the world through lust by exceeding
precious promises by the Word, the precious Word of God. And
he said the words of the Lord are pure words. Pure words. The Lord's Word is
pure. Oh, my. It's holy. It's just. It's true. That's
how you know it's God's Word. It's pure. It's true. God's Word
says things, tells things as they are. Men don't do that.
God does it. God's Word is right. It's good.
It's just. It's wise. God's Word is tried
in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. That is, the furnace
of affliction. He puts God's people through
the furnace of affliction. He gave them His Word. The flame
shall not hurt thee, I only design thy jaws to consume and thy gold
to refine." He puts them through the furnace and he promises them,
I'll be with you. His word is true. Tried by the
affliction, fiery trials, and it's purified seven times. Purified
seven times. That's the word of perfection
in seven. You know how we know the Word of the Lord is true,
how it's God's Word, how this book is God's Word? You know
how we know, you know what the ultimate test is, the ultimate
proof that this is God's Word? The Word was made flesh. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. He is the living Word. And He
walked this planet. He's the way. We saw Him. He's
the way. We heard Him. He's the truth.
We observed Him die, and yet He lives. He's alive. And when
John, I'm looking for it, there it is, 1 John, John said, We
have handled the Word of life. We handled the Bible, but it
wasn't a book. It was a person. The Word was
made flesh. The Word of life. It was manifest. We've seen and bear witness and
shown you that eternal life which was with the Father and made
manifest unto us. And we've seen and heard and
declare Him unto you that you also may have fellowship with
us, that your joy may be full. The Word. Walk this planet. How do we know this is God's
Word? Because He's God's Word. And He lived it. And he showed
it, and he revealed it. I like this, and I'll close in
just a few more minutes. It says in verse 5 that the Lord
will set the poor and needy in safety from him that puffeth
at him. I'll huff and I'll puff. I'll
blow your house down. I wonder where that old nursery
rhyme came from. Well, you know, they say, we're
going to bring down this house of God. And God said, I'll set
them in safety. Where does He set His people
in safety? In Christ. In our surety. When our Lord
was on the earth, and His disciples were with Him, and He always
went before them and met all their enemies. He met Satan first
thing. Before He met any man, He went
up and was tempted by Satan at all points, like as we are, for
us, as our covenant head. And he met him head on. And he
defeated him as a man. And he always went out before
his disciples. Everywhere they went, he walked
before them. Nobody could touch him. And one
last display in the garden that came to get him and them And
he said, whom do you seek? They said, Jesus. I am. And they fell down. And then
he got up. Now, he said, if you seek me,
you let them go. And they did. And they did. And
then he said, now is the judgment of this world. Now is the prince
of this world cast out. Now, when I go to Calvary's tree,
I'm going to bruise Satan under my feet. Under your feet. He's
going to bruise my heel, but I want to crush his head, his
power, leave captivity captive, bring in an everlasting kingdom,
put away sin by the sacrifice of myself. And he will set his
people in safety. He must, he will, preserve his
people. He must. He will. His name is at stake. And then
it says the words of the Lord. He will protect them for our
sake. Verse 7. The words of the Lord that are
pure that we live upon, we feed upon, our hope. The Word which
David said, You've caused me to hope. He said in verse 7,
Thou shalt keep them, O Lord. He'll keep the Word and preserve
the Word from this generation, this evil generation, from every
evil generation, forever. He's going to keep the Word from
being destroyed by them. And He's going to keep the Word
for His people. Thank God. We saw, we watched a little video
of William Tyndall. Wasn't that a wonderful thing? William Tyndall, whom the Lord
used to give us an English Bible. And there were other men, Martin
Luther, the Lord used him greatly. But it was amazing the Lord's
providence in keeping those men from harm when this huge, huge
monstrous religious religion that was spread over
all Europe at that time, Catholicism, false religion, wanted to snuff
it out, was trying to find a couple of little fellas. who were translating
the Scriptures so everybody could read it. And those men with boldness,
William Tyndall stood before the cardinals and the priests
and all that, and finally the Pope, and said, like Moses before
Pharaoh, he said, God is helping me. I'll have it so that the
plow boy will know more about the Scriptures than you do. See, the truth will set you free.
And the Lord's, His Word, is not going to stop it. Because
it's His Word. And they've tried. They've tried
to burn it. They burned all of Luther's books
that he wrote. And all those books were hand-cut. They burned all his books. They
did that to Jeremiah. Remember? Nothing new. They've
been doing that from the beginning. Remember that Jehoiakim? The
king Jehoiakim? that was reading the book of
Jeremiah and didn't like it and took a penknife and tore it out
and threw it in the fire, tore it out and threw it in the fire,
so the whole thing was thrown in the fire. What did the Lord do? He said,
Jeremiah, take a roll. I'm going to write it again. You can't destroy the Word. Why?
The Master copies in heaven. Forever, O Lord, thy Word is
settled in heaven. And he writes it on the tables
of God's people's hearts. That's why you can't keep God's
people from praying. You can't keep them from the
Word. You can't do it. He will set
them in safety and keep the Word from this generation. Not only
keeps it from them, hides it from the wise and the prudent,
but keeps them from destroying it. Keeps them from destroying
it. My, my. And those who are persecuted.
And people, it could, we could very well be on the precipice
of a time when we will be literally persecuted by the authorities
for just telling the truth of what God's Word said. Did you
ever think it would happen in this so-called country of free
speech? It just may, it just may be around the corner. You
know that? For just telling what God's Word said, calling sin,
sin. Will we stand for it? Will we
stand for the truth? Yes, we will. God's people always
act. Will he stand for us? Yes, he
will. He'll preserve us. He'll preserve
his people. I'm not so sure that that might
not be the best thing that could happen to the church. Right,
Dad? It might not be the best thing
that could possibly happen to the church to have to endure
real persecution for the truth. Who's on the Lord's side? We'll
see. Well, and then David comes right
back to where he started in verse 8. He looks around, and he said, "...the wicked walk
on every side, and the vilest men are exalted." You know, it started back, well,
I started way back before then, but the most decay in religion
and all began with a man named Jeroboam. Jeroboam, the lord
after Solomon, he divided the kingdom. Rehoboam and Jeroboam. Jeroboam was not even a son of
David. He was just a servant. He was
not a legitimate heir to the throne. But God put him in there
to divide the kingdom. Rehoboam, king of Judah, a remnant
from which Christ came. But Jeroboam, it says, was an
idolatrous man. And it says he made the worst
of men, the lowest of men, priests. The worst fellows, he made them
priests. It says whoever wanted to be,
he let them be a priest. Does that sound like today? The
vilest of men. So what do we cry? Help, Lord,
help. It's a dark day, bad time. And
he has promised, I'll set you in safety. Don't worry about
it. You trust me. Nobody can be trusted, but I
can. Trust me. Okay, stand with me. Our Lord and our God, Your Word
is our hope. As it speaks of Christ our hope,
the living Word, our hope is in Him who reigns, who sits and
reigns and rules, in whose hands our breath is and all our ways,
leads, guides, and directs and preserves His people who is a
covenant head, Christ of God, Son of God with all power, all
authority over all flesh. Our hope is in Him. We trust
Him, the ever-living One whose wounds for us plead. Lord, though we are flesh, we
are alarmed by what we see, and we ask for your help that you
would restrain the evil that is in our world. We pray for
our leaders, Lord, that you would restrain them. And you are able
to do a work in the heart of the vilest of men if you are
so pleased. We pray for that. For us and
for our children, but chiefly for thy glory, for thy great
namesake. Lord, have mercy upon us, this
nation. Have mercy upon Your church,
Lord. Preserve us. Keep us. Hold us
up. Give us courage in the face of
persecution. Lord, give us strength to stand
for the truth. Let this church be a pillar and
ground of the truth. And let us shine as lights in
a wicked and perverse generation. Lord, save us and our children.
We stand before you. We're at our wits' end. We know
not where to turn but today. Help us, O Lord, our God. It's
in Christ's name we pray and ask thee, sing. Amen.