I remember hearing a story Brother
Henry told on his grandson, Luke. This was the song we just sung
was in the intro to the television program for years. Luke told
Henry, maybe we ought to change that song. And Henry said, why?
Luke said, I think that's the people think that's the only
song we know. That's the only song we knew. It'd be all right,
wouldn't it? That's a good one. All right. Let's look at Ecclesiastes chapter
three. We will read the first 15 verses
of Ecclesiastes chapter 3. To everything there is a season
and a time to every purpose under the heaven, a time to be born
and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up
that which is planted, a time to kill and a time to heal, a
time to break down and a time to build up, a time to weep and
a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to
cast away stones and a time to gather stones together. A time
to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. A time to get
and a time to lose. A time to keep and a time to
cast away. A time to rend and a time to
sow. A time to keep silence and a
time to speak. A time to love and a time to
hate. A time of war and a time of peace.
What profit hath thee that worketh in that wherein he laboreth?
I've seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men
to be exercised in it. He hath made everything beautiful
in his time. Also, he hath set the world in
their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh
from the beginning to the end. I know there is no good in them,
but for a man to rejoice and to do good in his life, and also
that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all
his labor. It is the gift of God. I know
that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can
be put to it, nor anything taken from it. And God doeth it that
men should fear before him. That which hath been is now,
and that which is to be hath already been. And God requireth
that which is past. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, we come into your
courts this evening with hearts of thanksgiving. How thankful
we are for the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world
is truly set in our heart that we could never figure it out.
We could never see how it is that God can save sinners, how
God can be both just and justifier. We could never figure the gospel
of salvation and the person and the work and the sacrifice of
our Lord Jesus Christ. We can never figure it out, never
find it by our own wisdom unless you revealed it to us. Father,
how we thank you for revealing your son to the hearts of your
people. And it is our earnest prayer
that by your grace, we being able to see him one more time. Father, be with our brother Eric
as he comes to open your word to us. Father, uphold him with
thy spirit. Speak to his heart and open his
mouth that he might, in clear and simple terms and the power
of thy spirit, proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Enable
him to preach Christ and him crucified. And Father, I pray
that you'd be with us as we hear. Give us a hearing ear. Give us
a heart that is receptive and will believe the gospel that
we hear preached so that we leave here tonight rejoicing in Christ
our Savior. Father, we thank you for this
occasion where we meet. We thank you for our brother,
Eric. We thank you for making him part
of us. And fathers, I pray you bless
him in preaching in this hour. I pray that you continue to bless
him as he teaches his class every week, as he preaches here and
in other places. Father, bless him richly. for
the good of your people, for your glory, we pray. Bless him
and his family. Cause us not to just expect to
be on the receiving end all the time, but cause us to be a blessing
to him, to pray for him and hold him up in prayer as he, every
week, prepares to minister your word to your people. Father,
bless us. Bless us in our Lord Jesus Christ,
for his sake, It's in His name and for His glory that we pray
and give thanks. Amen. One of my favorite songs. And I'm
going to dedicate it to Eric. It's one of his favorites too.
Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my
heart, not be all else to me, save that
Thou art. Thou my best thought, by day
or by night, waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light. Be Thou my wisdom, and Thou my
true word, I ever will obey. Thou with me, Lord, Thou my great
Father, I Thy true Son, Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee
one. Riches I heed not, nor man's
empty praise, Thou mine inheritance now and always, Thou and Thou
only, first in my heart. High King of heaven, my treasure
Thou art. I, King of Heaven, thy victory
won, May I reach Heaven's joys, O bright Heaven's sun, Heart
of my own heart, whatever befall. Still be my vision, O ruler of all. Well, I won't do something foolish
as introduce our brother Eric to this congregation. And let
me just say this. People, different places, do
an ordination service very, very differently. Everybody, I suppose,
has got their own way to do it. You know, sometimes they make
the man stand up and everybody peppers him with questions. And
I've seen that. I've been taking part in that,
actually. But usually, it's not to test the man's knowledge.
It's to show everybody else how wise, you know, and what everything
these other fellas know. And I said in the message this
morning, there is no reason for us to do that with Eric. We know
him. We know his doctrine. We know
his preaching. And we're thankful for him. And
I thought it best we just do this, this way. We meet together
in a regular worship service, and Eric preached to us. I can't
think of a better way to do it. I can't think really, honestly,
of any other way to do it, because that's what Henry did with me.
So that's why I thought, well, we'll do that with Eric. Eric,
you come preach the message because it's laid on your heart, won't you? Let's open our Bibles together
to Psalm 127. Psalm 127. It's my desire, as Frank said
this morning, as he read there in Titus, to hold fast the faithful
word that we've been taught. He said this, that hold fast
the faithful words he'd been taught by sound doctrine. Sound doctrine,
exhort. and convince the gainsayers.
I looked up that word, gainsayers, and it's basically those that
would refuse to hear this word by nature, by our sinful nature. That's what we do. We refuse
to hear it. I want to read again from Psalm
127. Accept the Lord, build the house.
They labor in vain that build it, except the Lord keep the
city. The watchman waketh but in vain. It's vain for you to rise up
early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so
he giveth his beloved sleep. Low children are an heritage
of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows
are in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of the youth.
Happy. Happy is the man that hath his
quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed, but
they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. Now here in this
text, a couple of things before we begin to look at it. One,
we see something of man's responsibility. Our pastor had an article in
the bulletin a few weeks ago about man's responsibility and
God's sovereignty. And men would try to pit those
two against each other. But they agree, don't they? They
have to. Man has responsibility. We have a responsibility As men, we have many responsibilities. Children have responsibilities.
We're told in God's Word, children, to obey your parents in the Lord,
for this is right. This is right. This is what you
are to do. We have a responsibility to work
and provide for our families. We have a responsibility. Us
men have a responsibility to love our wives. That's not an optional thing.
We're responsible. We're responsible to love our
wives. We all have a responsibility to hear God's Word. We're responsible
to hear God's Word, and not just to hear it, but to believe it,
to believe God's Word. We have a responsibility to raise
our children under the sound of this gospel. Tonight, and every time we stand
in this place, we have a responsibility to declare the truth from God's
Word. To tell the truth about man and
his sinfulness. To tell the truth about God,
who's holy, just, and right in all that He does. To tell the
truth about the Lord Jesus Christ. A responsibility to believe on
His name, to trust Him as our only God, our only Lord, and
our only Savior. Now all that said, we have a
responsibility. But all that said, God is absolutely
and completely sovereign in all that He does. The Scriptures
declare that he'll have mercy on whom he will have mercy, that
he'll be gracious to whom he'll be gracious, that he'll save
whom he will save. We read this, it's not of him
that willeth nor him that runneth, but it's of God. It's of God
that showeth mercy. And with these two points in
mind, I'd like for us to Just for a few moments, look at this
passage of Scripture together this evening. Verse 1, except
the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.
Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. Back in Ecclesiastes 9, 10, we
read this. We read, whatsoever thy hand
findeth to do, do it with all thy might. Whether you're a builder,
whether you're a watchman, whatever it is that the Lord has given
you to do, He says you do it, and you do it with all your might. But don't lose sight of this.
In John 15, our Lord said, I'm divine. You're the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. Without me, without me, you can
do nothing. You're completely and totally
dependent on Almighty God. Except the Lord build the house,
they labor in vain to build it. Except the Lord keep the city,
the watchman waketh in vain." Over in Hebrews 3 verse 4, every
house, every house is built by some man. Every house built by
some man. But He that built all things
is God. Who does the work? To whom, on
whom are we completely and totally dependent? Here's the question. Who gets the glory? Who gets
the glory? The Lord Jehovah. Accept the
Lord, Bill. And that word, Bill, I looked
it up just to make sure, but it means just what it says. It's to build or to make. We're not remodeling. We're not
trying to make things better. We watch that TV show, Fixer
Upper. We're not a fixer-upper. There's
nothing here that can be salvaged except the Lord build, except
the Lord make. This is His Word. This is His
Word. He says, Behold, old things are
passed away. Behold, I make all things. It's His work. And anything apart
from God doing that work, the effort is vain. It's evil. That's what that means. It's
evil. It's useless. Remember those men back in Genesis
11? Turn back to Genesis 11. Let's begin with verse 3. Talking
about the Tower of Babel. These men, they said one to another
in verse 3. They said one to another, go
to, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly. And they had
brick for stone and slime had they for mortar. And they said,
go to, let us, build us a city. and a tower whose top may reach
unto heaven. And let us make us a name, lest
we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole world." Isn't that the language, isn't
that the language of works religion? Let us, let us make, let us do
that, let us build, let us It doesn't say anything about glorifying
God there, does it? It said, let us make us a name. Let us do these things. My friends, if the Lord build
not the house, they labor in vain. They labor in vain to build
it. Their efforts, and we see this,
their efforts may be genuine. Their efforts may be sincere. Their efforts may be all these
things and more than that, but without Christ, without Christ,
they're nothing. It's just a vain, evil effort. And you know, when a house is
built, again, it's something new. If there was anything there before,
it was tore down, and something new is built. When you build
a house, it's His building. It's His building. It's His doing. And in the same manner, the salvation
of a sinner, it's His doing. Salvation is of the Lord. In
fact, He is salvation. It's by His will. It's by His
will. It takes the work of God's sovereign,
eternal, electing love and predestination. Turn over to Ephesians chapter
1. Look beginning with verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. It's by His will. It's by His blood. It's by His
blood. The salvation of a sinner requires
a blood atonement. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. That purchase price, it must
be, it must be paid. And I could bleed out here a
hundred times, but that blood will not do it, will it? Takes the blood of Christ. Precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's by His providence. It's
by His providence. God's providence. His ordering
and directing of all things, those things that we consider
good things, those things that trouble us, those things that
we consider bad things. We know, we know that all things,
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are called according to His purpose. It's by His sovereign
and irresistible grace, the electing love of the Father, the redeeming
love of the Son, and the invincible love of the Holy Spirit that
comes and draws his people unto himself. Paul writing to Timothy,
he said this, Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our
Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be thou a partaker of the
afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God, who hath
saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, according to His own purpose and grace which was given us
in Christ before the world began. It's sovereign, irresistible
grace. You know, we were singing that
song, How Great Thou Art. I sat there as we were singing
that and I was just thinking, I can remember as a kid, I can
remember being seven or eight years old and just blaring that
song out in the back of my grandpa's pickup truck and not having a
clue what it meant. And at the age of 47, as I sing
it today, why I still know so little about it. So it'll take
eternity, won't it, to praise him for his, how great, how great
thou art. He saves us by his gospel. We
read that the world by wisdom knew not God, but it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them to believe. Paul,
writing the Romans, he said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. Our pastor read from over in
Ecclesiastes 3. Verse 14 says this, I know that
whatsoever God doeth, that word doeth, it means make it. Whatsoever
God maketh, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it. God doeth. that men should fear
before Him. In the salvation of His people,
it's His making. It's His doing. It's by His will. It's by His blood. It's by His
providence. It's by His sovereign and irresistible
grace. It's by His gospel. And nothing
can be put to it, and nothing can be taken away from it. What
God does, what God makes, it shall be. That's our hope. That's our confidence, isn't
it? Not in the works of these hands,
but in Almighty God. And then listen. God's preservation. Turn back to Psalm 127.1 if you're
not there. God preserves and He keeps. He keeps His people. Except the
Lord build the house. They labor in vain. Except the
Lord keep the city. Except he keep the city. The
watchman waketh in vain. Except he keep it. Except he
hedge it about. Except he protect it. Except
he save it. Except the Lord keep the city.
The watchman, he wakes in vain. The watchman's efforts are evil
and useless, apart from God's keeping. You know, a little less
than a year ago, just after midnight, you guys probably remember this
happened, but our phone rang, and our home phone never rings
after midnight. Usually if it does, it's only
somebody in the family, and it's usually something that is not
necessarily what we would consider good. I mean, it's pretty alarming
when the phone rings, and it was Kerry. I'm pretty sure it
was Carrie, and Abby answered the phone. Carrie's like, you
see all those lights up on the hill behind the house? We haven't
even heard the dog bark. We haven't heard anything. And
she said, well, what about that car parked in your driveway?
Haven't seen that either. So got out of bed and went outside
to see what was going on. And I was met by a deputy sheriff. About that time, I had him come
out of his front of his house, and Aaron's out on the porch
shining a flashlight, and asked the deputy, what's going on?
He said, well, there's a suspected killer, and we think we've got
him pinned down right behind your house. He was parked there,
and there were flashlights all over the place. He said, this fellow's on the
run, and he's dangerous, We think he's already killed three or
four people. He said, lock your doors. Make sure your car doors
are locked. Make sure your house is locked.
And he said, get inside. He said, if you've got a gun,
he said, I'd suggest you get it out and have it ready. And
so we followed his directions pretty much to a T. We went in
and locked the house up, got the guns out. I had a pistol
on one side of the bed, a shotgun on the other side of the bed. And just stayed up all night.
Stayed up all night. Couldn't sleep. Couldn't sleep.
All I could think about was my family. About our safety. And the next day, they still
hadn't caught the fella. So the next night, same routine. Up, awake, and I don't know. On top of this, there's probably
two or three hundred law enforcement people running up and down the
highway. But about two or three in the
morning, this passage of Scripture came to my mind. Except the Lord keeps it. The
watchman waketh in vain. You know, we could have had cannons
in the house or nothing at all. Except the Lord keeps us. Except
the Lord keeps the city, the watchman, the waitress. And you
know, I read that, I read that passage of scripture and I turned
off the lights and I went to sleep. And I woke up the next
morning thinking, oh yeah, a little, oh yeah, a little thing. He keeps, listen, he keeps our,
he keeps our physical bodies. as He sees fit. But more importantly,
He keeps our souls. He protects and keeps our souls. We are kept. We're kept by the
power of God. Under Him that is able to keep
you from fault and to present you faultless. Think about that. He presents us sinners. Presents
us faultless. in the sight of Almighty God,
pause before the presence of His Lord with exceeding joy,
to the only wise God, our Savior, be glory, majesty, dominion,
power, both now and ever. Amen. Proverbs 2.8 says this,
He keeps the paths of judgment and He preserves the way of His
saints. Think about Joseph. I wonder, when Joseph's brothers
took him and cast him into that pit, what was going through his
mind at that time? These weren't the enemy, these
were his own brothers. Cast him into the pit, and then
ultimately to prison, and then from there, Second only to faith. And he said this, remember his
brother came back to him and he said, you meant this for evil,
but God, Almighty God meant it for good. Just as he kept David. How much time did David spend
running from Saul and fleeing from Absalom? How about Rahab
the harlot? That promise. Hang that cord
in the window. Hang that cord in the window.
And that whole city, for all we know, that whole city was
destroyed and the only folks that come out of there were Rahab
and her family. He keepeth the paths of judgment
and he preserveth the way of his saints. Just as he does for
all of his sheep. Everlast one of them, all, for
whom He died. Look across the page at Psalm
121. David said, I'll lift up mine
eyes in the hills from whence cometh my help. My help, it cometh
from the Lord. The Lord which made heaven and
earth. He will not suffer thy foot to
be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber
nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord
is the shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee
by day nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee
from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going
out and thy coming in from this time forth and even forevermore."
Isn't there hope to be found? Isn't there comfort and rest
to be found in God's Word? Comfort to be found in God's
Word and what He's done for His people and the saving and keeping
of each one of His sheep. Now look at verse 2 of our text.
Let's read on here. He says, it's vain. It's vain
for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread
of sorrows, for so he giveth his beloved sleep. You know, if a man's going about
to establish his own righteousness, if that's the way you'd have
it, if you would seek salvation by
your works, if you would seek salvation by the law, then get
ready to build, and to watch, and to rise up early, and to
sit up late, always asking, have I done enough? Have I repented
enough? Have I resisted enough? Have I given enough? Have I,
have I, have I? They eat the bread of sorrows.
I read this, that Martin Luther used to when he would have an
evil thought pass through his mind, he'd just take a rod and
start beating himself. And he'd done that on a few occasions
to where he just completely knocked himself unconscious. Salvation by the works of the
law. Oh, but listen here. He'd give
it. He giveth His beloved. Rest in Him. Rest in Christ and
Christ alone. Consider this. He said, Heaven's
my throne. The earth is my footstool. What house will you build me?
What's man going to do? What's man going to do for God? Rest in Him. Rest in Christ,
in Christ alone. Turn to Acts chapter 12. Look beginning in verse 1 of
Acts 12. It says, Now about that time
Herod the king stretched forth his hand to vex certain of the
church, and he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased
the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. Then were
the days of unleavened bread. And when he had apprehended him,
He put him in prison and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers
to keep him. Now, that means that there were,
if I understand that right, there were four men, not just the regular
workers in the prison, but four additional men assigned to watch
just Peter. Herod's not going to take a chance
of losing this one. Okay, so he puts four men, and
they worked in shifts, and there were always but at least four
men watching him, intending after Easter to bring him forth to
the people. Peter, therefore, was kept in prison, but prayer
was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. And
when Herod would have brought him forth, Herod's going to bring him forth. Herod's going to have him slain.
Look what it says here. The same night, Peter was sleeping. Not fretting, not wringing his
hands, not saying, what am I going to do? But he was sleeping. And
look where he's sleeping. Sleeping between the two soldiers.
These two men that Herod's going to use to probably slay him. He sleeps between them, bound
with chains, and the keepers before the door kept the prisoner.
He was resting, wasn't he? Resting, resting. Resting knowing that whatever
happened to him was God's will. God would keep him and preserve
him. He slept between those soldiers. The believer can rest right now. Right now, resting in his love,
resting in his righteousness. And listen, we can rest in eternity
knowing this. that we're free, free from fear,
free from doubt, free from worry, free from sin, free from Christ. There remaineth, therefore, a
rest for the people of God. You know, David, when he was,
one of those times when he was fleeing from Absalom, he said
this, I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out
of his holy hip. I laid me down and stood. I awaked. How's that possible? For the Lord, the Lord is the
Savior. Back to Psalm 127. Quickly, let's
look at these last few verses here. Verse three, lo, children
are an heritage of the Lord. Fruit of the womb is His reward.
As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of the
youth. Happy is the man that has his quiver full of them.
They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies
in the gate. What a blessing. What a blessing
to know that not only does the Lord build the house and keep
the house, but he also fills his house. He fills his house. Children are an inheritance. Even though they might at times
seem to be a wage or a burden, listen, they're a gift. They're
a gift of His grace. They're called arrows in the
hand of a mighty man. Spurgeon said this, he said,
we must have our children in hand while they're yet children.
or they're not likely to be so when they're grown. We must point
them and straighten them to make errors of them in their youth. And may we be faithful. May we be faithful to bring our
children, to bring our children to the worship service, to teach
them according to His Word. May it be said of our children,
oh, I pray it be said of our children, what Paul said of Timothy
from a child. From a child, you've known the
scriptures. You young ones, you've been taught
the scriptures from an early age. May we continue to be faithful
to teach you the scriptures. From a child, you've known the
holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation. And as fathers, we're instructed
to bring our children up, to raise our children under the
sound of the gospel, to bring them up in the nurture and admonition
of the Lord. We're told not to provoke them
to wrath, to remember this, that they're
children. How quickly, I've been guilty,
how quickly we're guilty to forget that these little ones are just
that. They'll be grown up soon enough,
and we'll probably remember those days and kind of long for those
days when they were little ones. But he says, don't provoke them
to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition. That's our responsibility. Oh,
that the Lord might be pleased to save them, to reveal the gospel
to them, to put them in His quiver, to a place where they're safe
and secure as arrows in the hand of a mighty man, to point them
and to direct them. He who is mighty, mighty to save. Aren't we thankful? Don't we
have much to be thankful for? Almighty God in His mercy and
grace, He builds the house, He keeps the house, and He fills
the house with His children. Turn with me to one more scripture. We'll close here. Look at Hebrews
chapter 3. Hebrews 3. Look, beginning with verse one.
Wherefore, wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling,
consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ
Jesus, consider the Lord Jesus Christ, who was faithful to him
that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.
For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, and
as much as he who hath built the house hath more honor than
the house. For every house is built by some
man, that he that build all things is God. As Moses was verily faithful
in all his house as a servant for a testimony in those things
which were spoken after, but Christ as a son over his own
house, whose house are we. Believers in Christ, living stones,
a spiritual house in whom Christ himself dwells, dwells among
his people, whose house are we if we hold fast to confidence
and rejoice in the hope of the firmament of heaven. Thank God
for his word. Wasn't that a blessing? That
was so good. I'm so thankful. That's the gospel. I wanted to save a few of these
comments. So after Eric got done preaching,
he didn't want to add anything to his stress before he preached. But I am very thankful for this evening
that we have this opportunity to recognize what the Lord has
done. Eric is such a a blessing to
this congregation. I was thinking about him this
afternoon. What I could say of so many people
here, he's been such a blessing, such a help to me, I just, I
can't even say. But as we looked at in the message
this morning, what differentiates an elder from the rest of the
folks who are always such a blessing is the aptitude, the ability
to preach the gospel. You know, of all the things that
we like to do, this is the function of the church, is to preach the
gospel. And I am very thankful that the Lord's given us Eric
to teach our children every week and to preach here frequently.
I'm very thankful. He was somewhat reluctant to
take on this, I wouldn't even say role, because he's already
doing the role, the title, I suppose, of elder. But this is what I
am confident of. Those of you who've been around
a while, you just run through the list of the names of men
in your head that have been our elders over the past. Just run
their names through your head. Eric Floyd is second to none. Second to none. And I'm thankful. I'm thankful. So after we sing,
what I'd like to do is, Eric, stand right down here. And another
thing that I've seen done, and I guess it's all right. We wouldn't
be comfortable doing it. But whenever a man's ordained,
they have the laying on of hands. Henry said something about laying
our empty hands on your empty head. So that's not what we do. But here's what we're going to
do about this business of laying on of hands. Y'all come by and
give him a hug around the neck. Encourage him. And just like
we remember each other, pray for each other. You remember
every week he's studying to teach our children. So pray for him
and thank God for him. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father,
how we thank you for the gospel that we've just heard. How we
thank you that you build the house, that you preserve it,
protect it, uphold it, you give it life and fill it with children.
Oh, Father, how we thank you. How we thank you that salvation
is of the Lord. How we thank you that you didn't
leave the salvation of our dead sinful souls up to us, but you
took on all the work, all the responsibility of it. and you
fully accomplished it. We thank you for this gospel
of Christ that you've given us to hear and to believe, to give
life to your sheep, to encourage and comfort and edify your people
along the way, to give us strength and encouragement to continue
this journey here below till you're pleased to call us home.
And Father, we thank you for our brother Eric. We thank you
for making him part of this family Father, I pray your richest blessing
be upon him. Continue to bless him with wisdom
and faithfulness and humility as he serves you by serving this
congregation and serving others when they call and ask him to
come preach in other places. Bless him, Father, for your name's
sake, for your glory's sake, and for the good of your people.
All these things, Father, we ask that you would bless this
time of fellowship that we have together with these who are so
dear to us, Father, bless us, we pray. Forgive us of our many
sins. See us and hear us only in our
Lord Jesus Christ. It's for His glory and His name
we pray and give thanks. Amen. One more thing I failed
to mention this morning. I would like for us to plan on
observing the Lord's table Wednesday so y'all can make plans accordingly. Mike, you got a song for us? Number 187. Bless me the time that binds
our hearts in Christian love. ? And above ? ? Before our fathers'
throne ? ? We pour our heart and prayer ? ? Our fears are
woke, our aims are won ? ? Our comforts and our cares ? We share
our mutual woes, our mutual burdens bear, and often for each other
flows the sympathizing tear. When we are sung apart, it gives
us inward pain. But we shall still be joined
in heart and hope to meet again. Y'all wouldn't come behind in
this way. That way is loyal.