And a certain man, lame from his mother's womb, was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple. Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. And fixing his eyes on him with John, Peter said, Look at us. So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said, silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have, I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them, walking, leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. Then they knew that it was He who sat begging alms at the beautiful gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to Him. It has been a little while since we looked at the Song of Solomon, so just a reminder that this is a book that is a picture of the greater than Solomon, who is Jesus. It is a picture book that shows us the love between Christ and His bride. In the Ephesians we're told what it is to have a relationship between a man and a wife, a husband and wife. and that the husband is to love his wife as Christ loves the Church. The Church is supposed to submit, the wife is supposed to submit to her husband as the Christ, the Church does to Christ. And so, then we find in Ephesians chapter 6, that Paul says, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church. So, this is a picture book, and we'll go reading from chapter 6. We'll start at verse 1. So our focus this morning is simply verses 1 and 2. Where has your beloved gone, O fairest among women? Where has your beloved turned aside, that we may seek him with you? My beloved has gone to his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed his flock in the gardens, and to gather lilies. I am my beloved, and my beloved is mine. He feeds his flock among the lilies. Oh, my love, you are as beautiful as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners. Turn your eyes away from me, for they have overcome me. Your hair is like a flock of goats going down from Gilead. Your teeth are like a flock of sheep which have come up from the washing. Everyone bears twins, and none is barren among them. Like a piece of pomegranate are your temples behind your veil. There are 60 queens and 80 concubines and virgins without number. My dove, my perfect one, is the only one, the only one of her mother, the favorite of the one who bore her. The daughters saw her and called her blessed, the queens and the concubines and they praised her. Who is she who looks forth as the morning fair as the moon, clear as the sun, awesome as an army with banners? I went down to the garden of nuts to see the verdue of the value, to see whether the vine had budded and the pomegranates had bloomed. Before I was even aware, my soul had made me as the chariots of my noble people. Return, return, O Shulamite. Return, return, that we may look upon you. What would you see in the Shulamite? As it were, the dance of the two camps. We'll stop there. Well, because I tend to buy books online, I regularly get email notices with offers, and telling me sometimes the latest publications. Most of the time I ignore those advertisements. I can't afford otherwise. But once in a while I see something that catches my attention, and that happened recently. A new book had been published by Sinclair Ferguson, and one of the endorsements came from Derek Thomas. He said, for my part, this is one of the most important and definitive books I have read in over four decades. Now it was that commendation, that endorsement, that prompted me to go out and buy the book. I say that because that is a small picture of what is happening here in the Song of Solomon, chapter 6. Before, in chapter 5, the daughters were asking what it was about Him, the Beloved, that had her so zealous, so eager for Him. They were asking, why are you behaving like this? Why was she so desperately in love with Him? And the question was worded very carefully. If you remember, they wanted to know what about Him was more. Not only why she loved Him, Not only why she was zealous for him, not only why she would want him, because after all everyone has their own beloved, but what it was about him that set him apart. Why was he better? An inappropriate question to ask a man, about a man alone. perfectly appropriate question to ask about our beloved, the Lord Jesus. So we found she answered the question, remember that. And this beautiful commendation comes at the end of chapter 5 and it concludes with the words, his mouth is most sweet, yea, he is altogether lovely, this is my beloved, this is my friend. And so now you notice the question has changed. She's not asking anymore what it is about him that is better, she's asking where he is. Now I want you to consider this morning three things, we could look at a number of things, but I just want to look at three things that this section of scripture in Song of Solomon chapter 6, first two verses teaches us. First of all, it teaches us that doctrine has consequences, or at least it should have consequences. James Durham in his commentary on the Song of Solomon wrote, the great end and design of all endeavors for knowledge should not be to rest in speculation, but to be furthered in practice. So I just want to say, I think it's significant that in God's grace, in God's wisdom, that there is a chapter 6. It's significant that the daughters of Jerusalem did not stop at information gathering. Having learned about Him, well they want to know where He is. I understand of course that there are parts of the church that underestimate the value of theology. Their whole emphasis is practice. And they would say that everything has to be practical. And as far as they're concerned, theology just isn't important at all. I don't have that worry for you as a church. I don't have that worry for this congregation. My worry for you and my worry for me is that we might just enjoy the process of discovery so much that we stop there. Theology... is about God. The whole of the Scriptures is a revelation of Him. And if it doesn't result in action, in practice, then what we are doing is we are misusing theology. Now when you think about it, what we read here in verse 1 of chapter 6 isn't at all the least bit surprising. That's what I hope you'll see as we go through this today. Just look at the description that we read as we studied before in Song of Solomon chapter 5. Remember the marvelous things that she said about him. Remember, they had noticed that she was the fairest among women. They had noticed her unusual zeal. She was a peculiar person, as all Christians should be, as Paul said of Titus. And now, to what she just said about her beloved. Is it any wonder that they would ask where He is? I think right here is the wonderful simplicity of the gospel and the Christian life. The secret to holiness, the way to get action from Christians, is by presenting Christ. Because He's lovely. Because He's wonderful. A sight of Christ changes everything. Jesus instills confidence. He makes us able to believe the promises. He stirs our hearts. He makes us to want to worship Him. He gets us to action. He makes us to action to enjoy pleasing Him. When Paul said, I am determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, he understood that if he could just preach Jesus, if he could just show Christ to the people, that there would be consequences. People would repent. They would believe, they would obey, they would pray, they would worship, they would go to church. The fact is, all of theology is a kind of presentation of Jesus. It's never just about eschatology, what's going to come in the future. It's never just about the structure of the church and how the church should be governed. It's never just about the way a person is to get to heaven. In every part it is Christ. All about Him. Now, of course, if we say wrong things, that's going to have consequences as well. But when Christ is preached, there are consequences. And it's not just because of the preaching or because of the presentation. The consequences are because of Jesus. Our Savior is a joy to obey. Our Savior is beautiful and He is worthy of praise. Our Savior is able and He is trustworthy. The description of the bride in the Song of Solomon chapter 5, of course, did not cover everything. It wasn't meant to. What she did is she answered the question. When they asked, what is He more? She went through and she highlighted some of the main points. And as we looked at it, we saw that she spoke of the atonement. She spoke of the righteousness of Jesus. She spoke of His divinity and His eternity. She spoke of the sweetness of His mouth, His words, the promises that He gives to His people. She spoke of His providence, His works in history. And in every way, the testimony of the Christian is, it's all wonderful to behold, no matter how you consider Him. In every way, the Lord Jesus instills confidence in His people. In every way, the Lord Jesus is lovely. That's why there's a response. That's why in chapter 6, there's action. And so there should be in our lives. But it's not going to happen by you and me always only harping on what we need to do, of course. You see, if I get up every single day and tell myself I need to pray, it's not going to be nearly so effective as getting up every day and looking in faith unto Jesus. You see, if you remember what He is, you will find that you want to pray. If you want to see more sanctification in your life, see more holiness, more likeness to God, The solution is to spend more time looking unto Christ. To drink daily from that well. To remind ourselves again and again the gospel. Well that's the first thing. The second thing I want to look at is the fact that there's a testimony that if it is a godly testimony, if there's the power of godliness, then there's going to be an impact of some kind. This is one of those verses that I think proves irrefutably that the Song of Solomon is a picture of Christ and the Church. What is asked in verse 1 would be wicked otherwise. You don't ask a woman to tell you where her beloved is so that you can join her in seeking him unless the beloved is King Jesus. You see, this is the bride, remember, she was talking to the daughters of Jerusalem who represent the visible church. And sometimes in the visible church, you have people who have a great deal of information, but they don't know the beloved in truth. And so they're asking the question, what is he more? And of course, this has application beyond the visible church to those who are outside the church. Here's what I find so gripping about this verse. The bride has just finished commending Jesus, her beloved. And she was given this opportunity, if you remember, because of her testimony to the daughters of Jerusalem. They looked at the life of this bride, and they just couldn't ignore her. And so then they asked the question, she answered the question, and now they want to know where he has gone. Do you see the part that the bride played? Remember, the bride represents the Christian. Do you see the part that the bride played? First of all, number one, she was different. She was different. That's why they're asking questions. She was zealous for him. She couldn't live without him. They were watching her and she longed for her beloved. She loved him in a way that caused the daughters of Jerusalem to know that he was different. And so they began to ask questions. Are people asking you questions? I think all of us need to ask right now, are our lives raising questions in the minds of people who know us? Do we live in a way that will drive the world to conclude that our beloved is different? Amongst a world of all kinds of treasures, are they concluding by looking at us that ours is different? concluding that He is better. Second, the bride, remember, was ready with an answer. They asked and she didn't stop and say, well, I don't know. She commended Him to them. Do you commend the Lord Jesus to the people you know? You know, it's so easy for us to, say, talk about our favorite restaurant or whatever it may be. And she spoke of Jesus. And she told them why He is better. And look at the results. I know that we cannot always be sure of the results. The results are in the hands of a sovereign God. But wouldn't you agree, isn't this what we want? We want them to ask this question of us. We want them to take an interest in our Beloved. Remember before there was unbelief? The question that they were asking was, in a way, it was actually impertinent. Although it's a good question to ask, from our vantage point, we're glad that they would ask what it is about Jesus that's better. In a sense, it's impertinent. It was a question that should never have needed to be asked. They should have known who he is, why he's better. You see, right here though is a consequence of the power of godliness. The power of a sound testimony. Notice what they're asking as they come to her in chapter 6 verse 1. They're not asking to join the church baseball league. They're not asking for groceries or for money. They aren't asking for friendship and for fun. They're asking about Him. Show me Him. Where's He? It's Jesus they want to know. See, when the church is as it should be, when we are before the world in the way that we should be, this is one of the questions that they're going to be asking. We're going to hear this question more. They will look at our lives. They will listen to us as we talk. And they will ask, where is your beloved? Where is he? So, what did it take to get to this point? I don't want you to think that I am against every kind of programming that there is in the church. But you can't help but notice that it was just two simple little things. Things that could be true in the life of any Christian. There was no program here. There was no special gift or training. There was nothing even barely entertaining to the flesh. Just a believer behaving as a Christian should. Seeking her beloved. Loving her beloved. Living as a peculiar person that a Christian should be. And then second, speaking of Jesus. I understand that for many of us we feel, well I can't do apologetics very well. But you can talk about Jesus. That's all she did. She told them about Him. She didn't say, well let me take you back to Genesis chapter 1 and explain. She began to speak of Jesus. See, that's the point. He is enough. I think the Christians often try to do what the world does. We've seen this in our culture today. We live in an age of technology and we're seeing now Christians come out with their own version of movies and all kinds of things. And often, of course, as Christians do this, we manage to do something. I don't mean to be unkind, but it's not nearly as good usually as it. We just don't compete very well with the world. But we do have something that they don't. And what we have is better than anything they have. What we have is better than silver and gold. We have Jesus. And we need to begin to believe that He is lovely enough to draw them in. There is no need for all the other things. We would need all of that if we didn't have Him. Of course, if you take Christ out of the church, then of course you've got to bring in other things to bring them in. You see, what happens here and what we see is that when by God's grace, eyes are open, things begin to happen. People want to know Him. They can go down the street and become part of any old club. They can do sports and games anywhere. But here, they get Jesus. What does faith do? Faith recognizes His beauty. Faith believes the truth of God's Word or what God's Word says about Him. All the daughters of Jerusalem are doing at this point is they're simply recognizing what is true. They listen to the testimony and they believe it. He is the altogether lovely one. And so with their blindness removed and their eyes open, of course, they ask the question, But then third, I want you to think through with me why they ask the question. I think this is a bit obvious, but I think it's worth us looking at it. It's worth simply saying it. You see, they want to know where He is, not out of idle curiosity. Just out of curiosity, where does He happen to be, His beloved and yours? No, they want to know where He is, so that they can seek Him with her. They want to learn, but they want to learn so that they may have the Beloved for themselves. So that He might be their Beloved. So that they might join the Bride in her pursuits of Him. The Bride is looking for Him. That's what they see when they look at this Bride. She's in pursuit. And He's hers, but you remember, she wants closer fellowship. She wants to meet with Him and to enjoy Him. As she said at the beginning of the Song of Solomon in chapter 1, she wants to be brought into His chambers. She wants to be kissed with the kisses of His mouth. She wants to have Him all night long. And the daughters here are saying, well, we want that too. We want to enjoy Him as well. That's what happens when people are awakened. That's what happens when our evangelism is biblical evangelism. When Christ Himself is preached, people are converted, and their conversion is a conversion to Him. They want God. They want to know the Lord Jesus, and they begin to seek Him. A hunger is born in their souls that can never, ever be quenched. It's so interesting to see, as you look at the society in which we live, what people get excited about. Who gets excited when a famous person comes to town? Some of the people that you and I have no interest in seeing, the crowds we gather to see. If the Queen were to come to Tilsonburg, I'd just be curious to know how many of you would carve out some time to go and have a pee. I speak sometimes of my dating years and I do that because in those days Erin and I lived apart. And let's say it's stating the obvious here, but we lived a long way apart. And during that stage, I grew very fond of the train station at Aldershot, because that was where we on many occasions were reunited. And so the place itself became precious, not because there was anything about the place that was particularly appealing, but because of Aaron. That's happening in a way. With Delph, this church building, which once meant absolutely nothing to me, is becoming more and more precious. Because of the times I've had and enjoyed, I haven't been able to enjoy with my beloved, with my King. See, in the next verse, the bride gives her answer. We're going to look at this in more detail even, Lord willing, next week. She's describing, as we saw before in the Song of Solomon, when she speaks of the garden, she's speaking about the church. So where is the beloved? Well, he's in the church. That's where he meets his people. That's why church is so precious. It's here that he feeds. Here that he gathers the lilies. Here he, on one hand, nourishes his people, he feeds his flock, but he also joyfully gathers up the offerings that his people bring to him. So there's this wonderful exchange. He's bringing something. He's feeding them and gathering up at the same time the worship that they bring. And it's beautiful. And it's not because this building is more holy than any other building. We understand that. But it's because God made promises to the church. He's chosen to meet with His people when they gather together in His name. It's why He gave the church. It's why the Sabbath is such a gift. Now, once the daughters make this discovery, remember, so they ask the question. Their interest is piqued. They want to know where He is. They're asking, where is your Beloved so that we can seek Him? What do you expect is going to come next? Well, you'd expect them to make their way to the garden, wouldn't you? Make their way to the church. Remember what we're seeing here. They want Him. And they've been convinced of His loveliness. They've begun to believe that He is better. So they've asked a question. They've admitted in asking the question that they also want to seek Him. And so now that they know where He is, of course they're going to make their way. There's nothing about this that is unnatural. There's nothing forced about this. I mean, I understand that yes, to the unbeliever there is something very unnatural. In their sinful blindness, they don't care where He is. But what a difference grace makes. So you tell me, who needs to tell the daughters of Jerusalem now that they should go to church? There's no need for a reminder. There's no need for a plea. Maybe a duty, but this is obviously going to be their delight. They want to be where He is. They were asking. They want to meet with Him. They said to the bride that they want to seek Him with her. And now they know where He is. If that's all that is true, then you know exactly where to find the daughters of Jerusalem, don't you? They're going to make their way to the church. So is that how the gospel is working itself out in your life? Is your desire for your beloved resulting in consistency in church attendance? Is church, the place you want to be, is coming here joy? Are you looking forward to Sundays? See, that's the power of the gospel. The gospel makes duty a delight. It makes what seems strange and boring to the outsider, a blessing, privilege to the believer. The only difference between the person who says they're Christian, that nominal believer who has the participating in the visible church, who's not actually united to Christ. The only difference between that person and the non-Christian outside the church, is that the person inside the church doesn't want to be here. The power of the gospel comes in and begins to change a person's heart and they want to be. And it's all so logical. It's all so logical. Because He's better. The daughter's blind eyes, remember, they've been opened now. They want Him. They ask where He is. Having found out where He is, of course, now we know where to find Him as well. Is that same logic at work in your life? I would say that many of you here are very consistent and you're faithful in coming to church, but I would ask this question. Is it flowing out of the same faith, the same knowledge of what Jesus is? I believe some of you would say today, oh, I have discovered what a treat it is to come to church. What blessings this day brings. And so you come with joy, with expectation to meet with God. But I want to go back now to the very beginning and ask the question, is this something that is happening in our community as a consequence of our presence here? Is this something that's happening in the community in which you live, in the community here in Delmar, in Tiltsinburg? I recently shared the influence of a man who I met when I was in my teen years. This was an old man. He was in his eighties and he seemed like he was older yet to me at the time. He took no interest in really anything that interested me at that time. He was altogether unlike me. We had absolutely nothing in common. This man lived in our home for a little while and over the course of that time I realized that he had something that I didn't have. And I wanted it. I wanted to sit at his feet and to learn. I was drawn to him. And this man was so different and yet God used him to change my life forever. From that point I wanted to know God as this man did. It was so obvious from this man's life that God was wonderful. This man knew that. He seemed to know it and he lived like he believed. You see, that's what happened here. That's what happened in this picture that we were given in the Song of Solomon. That's what should be happening as a result of our presence in the community in which we live. And I want to just confess to you, it troubles me as I consider my own life. That's the kind of impact I want to make. I want them, as they look on my life and on your life, to want to know Him. I want them to come asking this question. But if that is going to happen, they need to be seeing something peculiar in our lives. There needs to be a savor of life about us. In a sense, we should all be preaching Jesus. And our message to them must be such that they would want to know not just about our church and about our denomination and our programs, but Him. And I say this is reason for us to be praying again the prayer of chapter four that we looked at so long ago, where it says, Awake, O north wind, come, thou south blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow. This is reason for us to take time, like Mary did, to spend time at the feet of Jesus. Because we cannot tell them what we do not know. We cannot very well commend the Savior who is a stranger to us. But then on the other hand, do you see... Do you see how natural this becomes when a person has been with Jesus? The knowledge that Jesus is better is not like something that you take up and you read in a textbook. It's the knowledge of sight. She has beheld Him. Remember Isaiah and that sight of the glorious King. That vision of God. The vision of the person of Jesus Christ. And the way that that vision changed that man. She knows what He is. She knows what it is to have Him close. She knows what it is for Him to depart and to seem to withdraw Himself from her. And she can't bear it. You can tell her this is her duty. But she doesn't see it like that. And the result here is that neither do the daughters of Jerusalem. Neither do they see it as a duty. It's all desire. You don't have to coax a football fan to go for free to see his favorite team play football. In the same way, you don't have to coax somebody who has beheld the Prince of Glory to go where He is. And when we are doing what is our delight, when Christians are doing what is our delight to do, you can be sure that they will begin to ask us questions. And they will say, what is the Lord? Where can I find Him? And how can I have him? Our longing is to win the hearts of the people of our community. We understand theologically it's sinful blindness that keeps them home when they could be here. I make my way to church on Sunday just like you do and I see all these cars parked in the driveway. I feel sadness for these people. The emptiness of the life that they lead. The loss of what they could be doing on the south. The joy that they were missing as we come together in the place of God to meet with Him. As they stay home and play with trinkets and trivial things. If only they knew what they were missing. The pleasures they could enjoy with God. If only they could see the King. Comprehend the glory that are in Him. The wonder of free grace. See, from this text, that can become a reality. It can become a reality. It doesn't just have to stop. I think sometimes we're a bit pessimistic, and we think that, well, you know, they're all blind in sin, and I'm going to tell them about Jesus, and then they're going to walk away. But that's not the case here, is it? A day may come when they will join us in the pursuit of our beloved. But the means that God uses are Christians. I know God could do it any old way. God is sovereign, isn't he? He's powerful. And God could do it in any way that he pleases, but he has chosen to use Christians. He's chosen to use you. But not typically, not typically through Christians who look like them and talk like them, no. Christians who are different. And Christians who out of the depth of their own experimental knowledge, out of their own relationship, speak well of Jesus. Now we know that He is better, don't we? I don't think any of you would be here if you didn't believe that He is better. But we don't always do very well at commending Him. The solution isn't to go out and take a course on evangelism. The solution isn't just to try harder. The solution is to be more with Him. To spend more time at His feet. more time looking in faith at Jesus Christ. Then we will find that out of that storehouse of knowledge that we gain as we spend time in His presence, it will be easy to speak. We will have things to say, and worthy things. It will not be so hard to speak of Jesus. And it will become to us, I think, as natural as breathing. Which means there's a bit of a lacking in us, isn't there? I'm adding myself, this is something that we lack in our generation. You know, when it's easier to talk to people about the doctrine of election or reformed theology, it's easier to talk about current issues than it is to talk about our Savior. Something's wrong. It's a reflection of what's true of us. The Bible says that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Out of the abundance of what is within. And some people are just so full of love for sports, they can only talk about sports. That's all they ever talk about. Some people, they love their work so much, it's all they ever speak of. Some people love their family so much, they can't get off that theme. And Christians, if they've been awakened to the glory of God, can't be taken off the theme. They love Him. And it says something's wrong with us, doesn't it? The more that, the love that we have, the more we will have to say, and the more joy there will be in saying it. You see, Jesus is the altogether lovely one. He is. He's the Son of God, the King of kings. He's the Savior of sinners, prophet, and priest, and king. He's also our beloved and our friend. He's also the fairest of 10,000. That's better. He's better. But we want that testimony. To be the testimony not only of an intellect that is saturated with good theology. We want that to be the testimony of hearts that are satisfied with His beauty. We want that to be the truth of hearts that beat for God. And this comes not by trying harder, it comes through faith as we look at Him. I think our spiritual poverty, Christians, brothers and sisters, I think our spiritual poverty has to do a great deal of it with the fact that we spend so much time looking at ourselves and so little time looking at Him. When I was a kid, I had this favorite place in the forest that backed onto our yard. And I loved to go to this place. We were blessed to live in a country that had plenty of forest to explore. And there was one spot that was buried in a forest where there was a ravine and there was a stream. And in my opinion at the time, it was one of the most beautiful places in the world. I loved it. And I used to tell my family about it and one day I finally coaxed them to come along with their guests and take the hour-long walk to see it. I was so certain that if only they would see it, they would understand. If they could see it, they would agree it was worth seeing. And I had to share it with them. That's what's going on here. And that, brothers and sisters, is how evangelism is supposed to work. You see, those of us here who have in faith beheld Him, if we've seen even just His cheeks, even just a glimpse, We've been convinced by that look, haven't we? We're longing for His appearing because of it. Here is the most beautiful treasure ever to be seen or enjoyed. Here is a glorious King, and seeing Him, we love Him. And the more we see Him, the more that we look on Him, the more we love Him. And the more convinced we become that if only others could see, they would agree. They would put down their vanities. They would put aside their trivial treasures. They would put aside their frivolous enjoyments. And they would take up Christ with us. And they would gladly give everything for Him. They would agree. They would want Him. And they would love Him. And they would pursue Him. They wouldn't be so half-hearted and so lazy and so indifferent and so worldly. No, they would be fierce in their passion for Him. They would be zealous for Jesus. That's evangelism. That's evangelism. When convinced of that, we go about to tell them not just an idea or a philosophy that we learned at school, but we begin to say to others, you've got to know this Jesus that I know. You've got to see him. I once was blind like you, but now I see. And I want to share him with you. So congregation. Let's go about inviting them. Not like people who are unconvinced. I feel so ashamed of the way that I so often told people about my Savior. All apologetic for invading their time and their space. No. Let's reason with them and let's plead with them. Tell them He is better. Poor boy. The leader. He's better. And by God's grace, they will begin to ask where He is. And they'll say, well, we want to seek Him with you. And come Sunday, they'll join us at the church. Let's pray together. Our Father in Heaven, we are so thankful that this one who is the fairest of ten thousand, this altogether lovely one, this great king of all kings, is our own beloved. That we can dare to call him our groom and to say that we are his bride. Our Father in Heaven, we do, even now, mourn for that marriage supper where we shall see our Savior face to face and begin an eternity of enjoying and worshiping Him. We thank You, Father in Heaven, that by faith and not of ourselves, we can say that He is mine. Our Father, we want to confess the blindness of our stubborn hearts. We want to confess, Lord, that we have often been ashamed of this glorious Savior. And, Father in Heaven, we've often been so very timid. We pray, Lord, that You would give us courage and give us boldness, but most of all, our God, that You would give us a sight of the Lord Jesus, so seeing Him, we would find ourselves somehow strangely compelled, constrained by this love to go out and to tell men Father, that we would be so convinced that He is better, that we would have to tell others, that we would want them to share with us what we have. Father, we are a strange people, we know it. Our sin has so clouded our judgment. And we live, Father, awaiting eternal glory, living on the very edge of that eternity, knowing that we are citizens of Heaven, and yet strangely so often caught up with things that would console them. Father, we pray that we would become a people satisfied with nothing less than You, that You would become our joy and delight. Father, that you would be pleased with the people who are peculiar, who live in the world in such a way that our neighbors and our friends and our co-workers would begin to want to know what we have. Father, I want to thank you for the testimony of a man in my own life, and the way that you used that name. And Lord, we pray that you would make us to be like that. That though we may have very little in common sometimes with the people around us, That still, O God, that they would see that we are different. They would see godliness. That they would see zeal, passion, love. And that they would want to know what we have. Father, we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. We'll join together and we'll sing number 45B. And this is in the blue book, the Psalter number 45B. so so You're here, God said, where will I fall? Put out of mind your father's house, forget your people all. Your beauty, then, the queen of all. With great delight we'll sing, Because He is your Lord, well done, before Him reverently. Let us praise the God, the cause He giveth strong, And by the wealthy of the land, your favor Now it's ours! The princess now all rages, Both glorious to behold, And open all through her gap, Our threads of precious gold. In her choir now, She's taken to the king, To you her native friends are born, your pledge following. With gladness they are led, as people celebrate. They all approach the King with joy within his palace. your children all will stand and you will make them great citizens who rule throughout the land. Our cause you're made to be in every age we have and so Please be seated. We'll continue to worship as we take up