We're going to read God's word in two separate places this evening. First of all, let's turn to Romans chapter one. Romans one, there we'll read the first seven verses. Verse seven here. Contains what is the salutation and the benediction. The sermon this morning is on the opening part of the worship service, the salutation and benediction. At least one of them is found here in Romans 1, verse 7. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which he had promised afore by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, by whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name, among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ. To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints, Grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Then let's turn together to the Old Testament Book of Psalms, Psalm 124. Psalm 124. Verse 8 of this psalm, the last verse of this psalm, contains what is called the vodum, or vow. Psalm 124, If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say, If it had not been the Lord who was on our side when men rose up against us, then they had swallowed us up quick when their wrath was kindled against us. Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul, Then the proud waters had gone over our soul. Blessed be the Lord who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers. The snare is broken and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. That far we read God's word this evening. Tonight, beloved, we take up our fourth study in our series on public corporate worship. We have studied so far three great biblical principles of worship. The first was that public corporate worship is a covenantal assembly gathered to meet with Jehovah God face to face. From that principle, we drew a few other principles of worship. We saw that public worship must be simple, that it must be centered on the word of God, that it must be experiential, joyful and reverent. And we saw that the audience of our praise and worship is God. Secondly, we saw that a great principle of public worship is that when we gather together in this covenantal assembly before the face of Jehovah God, This meeting between God's people and God is carried out in the form of a dialogue between God and us. God speaks and we respond in the worship service. It's covenantal communion that's taking place as we gather in public worship before God's face. And then thirdly, in our last sermon in this series, we saw that public corporate worship is regulated by God himself. He tells us in his word what elements should be in the worship of his name. He tells us the character of worship. Worship, we saw, must be after God's own heart. This evening, we begin now to go through particularly the various aspects of biblical worship as we seek to carry that out in our church. Protestant Reformed worship is biblical worship. That's not to say that it is the only biblical worship. There are other orders of worship and there is other worship in other churches that is true biblical worship. There's also much pseudo-worship in many churches that is not biblical worship and is in fact displeasing to God. But from now to the end of the series, the point is to through the lenses of Holy Scripture and through those principles that we've already discussed, to focus on the particular elements of worship as they are seen in Reformed worship generally, but more specifically in our own worship service here in Calvary Protestant Reformed Church. This evening, we begin to do that by covering what has been called the opening service. The opening service. If you take out your bulletin and look on the front cover at the order of worship, I'll show you what the opening service is. The opening service is the first part of the worship service that includes the call to worship, if that's part of the actual worship service. Some people disagree on that. The call to worship, silent prayer, the doxology, the salutation, the votum and the benediction. Those aspects make up what's called the opening service. The opening service is, in a sense, introductory. Not less important, but introductory. All of it has God lovingly drawing us into his presence in the worship service, and we willingly coming as one body to gather before him in covenantal love and praise. So let's look at that this evening. Under the theme ushered into his presence the opening servants. Theme of the series is Oh come let us worship. The sermon theme is ushered into his presence the opening servants. Let's look first narrowly at each element the elements and then secondly we'll take a step back a bit and look at the character of this part of the service as a whole. And then thirdly we'll take a big step back and look at the whole thing broadly and see the comfort we get from this opening service, the elements, the character and the comfort. So we begin tonight with the first aspect, the call to worship. It's debated whether or not the call to worship and silent prayer following it are part of the actual worship service of the church. Some people would say that it is not. I'm not really all that interested in that debate here in our worship service and in most worship services that have a call to worship. There is nothing really to indicate that it's not part of the worship service. If you asked anyone that was present, they would say that when the minister comes and speaks the call to worship out of the word of God, that's the beginning of the worship service. And besides that, the concept of a call to worship is a biblical concept in all of salvation. God is the sovereign God who calls us to himself. It's not us who say first, I will come to him, but it's him who says first, come to me. And his sovereign, irresistible, irresistible voice calls us to himself in the garden after Adam and Eve fell into sin. It wasn't Adam and Eve that went and sought out Jehovah God, but God came to Adam and cried out, Adam, where are you? He called Adam out of his hiding place and said, Adam, come out into my presence. Come see me. Show yourself. God called Adam to himself. When Israel was led out of captivity in Egypt and unto God at the base of Mount Sinai in worship, It wasn't Israel who initiated that deliverance from Egypt. But God says in Hosea 11 verse 1, out of Egypt I have called my son. He called them to himself. And this is true also then of the public corporate worship service of the church. It is God that calls his people together in the call to worship. God calls this meeting. He irresistibly beckons us to gather before him in public worship. And so then the scriptures contain inspired calls to worship, such as the one that is the theme of our series from Psalm 95, verse six. Oh, come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker. You see, beloved. We must be called. We have to be called by His almighty voice to come into worship. We are lost on our own. And even though worship is the chief end of man, as we have seen before, it's the highest function of the human being. And even though the human cannot conceive of something greater than what happens in the public worship of the church, God Himself meeting with His people, even though that is true, If God did not call us, we wouldn't come. It takes faith to see what is happening here in the worship service, that God is truly meeting with his people. And we are so earthly minded by nature and so blind spiritually that if not called to it, we would not understand. We would not see it. We wouldn't come. The call to worship draws us to our God. And as God calls us here to himself, it's that call that enlivens us, enlivens our faith to see what is actually taking place here. God is calling us to come close. He's saying, I am going to come meet with you. Come to me. We will gather together. In response to that call to worship, we have silent prayer, first of all, The purpose of silent prayer is to set our hearts aright, to prepare our hearts to meet with our God face to face, to come into His presence. And even though in silent prayer we all pray as individuals here, preparing our own hearts, what is happening is that we are all individually preparing our hearts to come together as one body, as one body before Him that is a spiritually prepared body. a body that is spiritually ready to meet with our God face to face. The silent prayer should be that for you. It should be setting your heart right before him to come into his presence to meet with him for worship. And then secondly, we respond to his call to worship with praise in the doxology. Beloved, when we sing the words of the doxology, let us not do that without thinking and understanding what we are singing. Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Called by God to come gather before Him in worship, In singing the doxology, we are immediately aware that in this assembly of our local congregation, it is simply an expression of the grand assembly of all the saints and the hosts that worship Jehovah God. In the doxology, we join the voices of all creation, all God's people that are upon this earth, and all the hosts in heaven, says the doxology. And we exalt our God as we come before him. We're part of the grand universal body. We join that body in all of creation itself and adoring our God as he calls all of it as one body to come and worship before him. Then, having called his people to him and the call to worship and his people now prepared and gathered before him, assembled in his presence, God greets us in the words of the salutation. Salutation means greeting. That's what's happening there. It's God greeting his people. It's one phrase and it's very easy to just let it go by without paying any attention to it. But it's a phrase that is so important for us and so important for our worship. Love it. Congregation. in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's God greeting you. Beloved congregation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Or from Romans 1 verse 7, Beloved of God called to be saints. God greeting His people. It's God Himself who speaks these words from His Word. The minister says them, but he says them on behalf of God. It's God's greeting to His church. And that's how we must hear those words at the beginning of the service. Why would it really matter all that much if the minister thought that you were beloved of God? That doesn't really mean anything. What matters is that this is God's estimation of me as I come before his face. If God says this to me, that I am his beloved and he tells you this in the greeting, This is who you are, in my estimation, beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ. In this greeting, God addresses the congregation as a whole, beloved congregation, just as the Apostle Paul addresses the entire congregation at Rome in Romans 1, verse 7, with that inspired greeting, beloved of God, called to be saints. And even though there might be unbelievers present in the worship service and we welcome unbelievers into our worship service, this is the congregation of God that is gathered here. And God speaks to us as his congregation. A wheat field might have weeds in it, but it's still a wheat field. So, too, the congregation might have unbelievers present and might have the carnal seed gathered with it. Yet it is the congregation of the living God, and God speaks to her that way. And in this congregation, both young and old are addressed. Children are addressed as well as adults as we bring them into worship with us. Those who are weak are addressed right along with those who are strong. Those with less gifts are addressed along with those with greater gifts. They are greeted as one body, gathered before the living God. And He calls us all together His beloved. The word beloved is used because so often in the New Testament, the people of God are addressed that way as God's beloved. And because the Apostle Paul uses that word in the inspired greeting of Romans 1, verse 7. Beloved of God called to be saints. What a wonderful word to hear from Jehovah God as we gather and meet with him face to face. Beloved, you are the objects of my love. We have sins that we carry with us into the presence of Jehovah God. We think back on a week, and perhaps in silent prayer, we think of those sins. We're conscious of them. We bring them in our hands for the worship of Jehovah God. We bring them, of course, to lay them down at the foot of the cross that our beloved Savior might forgive them and take them away. But is it not true that sometimes one wonders Does God really want me in His presence? Sometimes we see our sins so clearly, and we think, does He really desire that I come here before Him? Perhaps we think back on great sins that we have committed. Does God really want me to gather with His people, to meet with Him face to face? Is that really my right? And then He calls us, beloved, Besides that, we're often troubled by what is happening in our lives and in the world around us. Things aren't always easy for the people of God, are they? We come to the service with the words of Psalm 124 upon our lips, those words of distress. Verse 2, men have risen up against us. Verse 3, their wrath is kindled against us. You think there, perhaps, of Christians who are enduring persecution right at this very moment. But it applies to us as well, as the Church of God is always scorned in the world, and we in our country are being more scorned as Christians. We come with the words of verses 4 and 5 sometimes. Then the waters had overwhelmed us. The stream had gone over our soul. The proud waters had washed over our soul. The troubles that we face sometimes lead us to feel that way. They're sometimes that great It's as though the waters are about ready to crash down over our head, to flood over our soul, to take us under and to destroy us. And then, beloved, we come into the house of God, and God speaks to us, Beloved, esteemed, valued, prized, adored, And He doesn't wait to call us His beloved. I find this personally so beautiful, that He does not wait until the end of the service. After we have read the law and are conscious more of our sins, after we've come to Him in prayer, laid our sins down, perhaps then maybe we could understand that He would call us beloved. But He doesn't wait as soon as we come into His presence. Beloved, He says to us, as though He can't wait to tell us who He seems. us to be. He doesn't hold back, even though we come with those sins in our hands. He says it publicly. He announces to all the world, these are the objects of my love. He doesn't say it privately, but publicly he declares, these are my beloved people. He speaks of us publicly with the same word that he spoke of his only begotten son, publicly. You remember what God announced publicly to the world at Jesus Christ's baptism? He called out to all the world, This is my beloved Son. And so too here, beloved, when we are gathered in the worship of God's name, He pronounces publicly to all the world We are His beloved, His adopted sons and daughters, dear to Him as His only begotten is dear to Him. Faith believes that. Faith takes hold of that. Faith knows that He's saying that to me as I gather in the public worship service of the church. And faith believes that because He says, beloved congregation, in the Lord Jesus Christ. If I wonder, can I really believe that He says that of me? Maybe He says it about other people that are gathered, but does He say it about me? The undoubted assurance, the proof that this Word comes to me as He speaks it to His body is because we are beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, united to His Son, the One who redeems and takes us to Himself. In Him we are beloved as He Himself is beloved. Again, in response to God's sovereign voice in the salutation or the greeting, from the heart we speak. We speak the words of what is called the Vodum. The word Vodum means vow. It's a vow that's expressed by the congregation of God It's a vow of prayer and of praise, and it's the direct quote from Psalm 124, verse 8. Our help is in the name of Jehovah, who made heaven and earth. And this vow, beloved, this vodum, this vow is our response to the fact that Jehovah has just greeted us by calling us beloved. We have come with those troubles in our hands, those spiritual troubles of our sins that we carry, the troubles of our lives. And Jehovah has called us His beloved. And so we come now with those troubles. But we know now that we're safe, since He has spoken to us that we are His beloved. We know we are comfortable in his presence. We know we are safe in his presence. And so now, not only do we speak the words of distress of Psalm 124, but now that he has greeted us this way, we also take upon our lips the words of comfort, the words of trust in Psalm 124. Verse two, the Lord is on our side. Verse six, he has not given us as a prey to their teeth. And therefore, corporately, because He has called us beloved, we join with one voice and one body and we respond to Him. Our help is in the name of Jehovah, the maker of heaven and earth. Because He has called us His beloved, we can and we will vow that to Him. Whatever trials we bear, Whatever sins we bring, because He has spoken that word to us, we come and invoke His name, invoke His help. We are saying to Him in that vow, God, we don't turn to the things that the world turns to for help in this life. We turn to Thee. We call upon Thee, the maker of heaven and earth, Thou art the God who is in control of all things, the one who has power to help us in the troubles of our life and to deal with the sins that we bring. The one who is Jehovah, the God of the covenant, and the one who has now just expressed his covenantal love to us by calling us his beloved children. We know now that in our pilgrimage on this earth, we are safe and we vow to thee that our eyes are fixed upon thee For all of our help in this life, nothing else will we turn to. When we say those words, we're not just saying then that our help is in the name of the Lord for the duration of this worship service. But we're saying that in all of our life, our help is in the name of Jehovah. That's where we turn. In all of our life's journey, He is our aid. He is our strength and assistance. And we trust that He will lead us to glory at the end of our days. the congregation that speaks this to God. That's true, even though it is at least right now in our service, the minister who says it. The minister functions sometimes in the worship service in such a way that he speaks the words of God. To the congregation in this dialogue, but then at other times he speaks the words of the congregation Back to God in this dialogue. And that's what's happening here in the Vodum. We don't always think about that with respect to the Vodum because it follows so quickly upon the greeting or salutation. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, our help is in the name of Jehovah, maker of heaven and earth. Sometimes we just think it's just one sentence, but it's not. It's a dialogue. God is greeting us. Beloved congregation, and we respond to God. Lord, our help is in the name of Jehovah, the Maker of heaven and earth. Perhaps you can think of it like this when the minister says, on God's behalf, the words, beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, He is facing you. And even though the minister doesn't actually do this, you can picture in your mind That in the other words, the words of the votum, it's like he turns around and speaks on your behalf to God. Our help is in the name of Jehovah, maker of heaven and earth. Although that's OK, that the minister speaks this. It's worth us talking about. Whether or not it would be beneficial for the congregation to say those words in unison. The words of the vote. Consistory has the right to decide that perhaps it's something worth considering. It's worth considering because it would perhaps highlight the fact that this is indeed a dialogue between God and his people, and it would perhaps do better justice to the priesthood of all believers. But regardless, it is the response of the congregation to Jehovah God that we trust in him. We love him. We depend upon His strength, and we've come to meet Him face to face. The final aspect of this opening service, beloved, is the benediction. Jehovah speaks by pronouncing His benediction upon us. Often, that benediction is from the words of the Apostle Paul in his epistles. For example, Romans 1, verse 7, that we read this evening, Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, then often the words through the operation of the Holy Spirit are added to make it explicitly Trinitarian. Perhaps, though, better than adding words that are not found in the actual text of Scripture, perhaps it's better to use the benediction of the Apostle John in Revelation 1, 4-5, which is explicitly Trinitarian. Grace be unto you and peace from him which is and which was and which is to come. and from the seven spirits which are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead. Amen. With this benediction, God is blessing his people. He blesses the congregation that is gathered here. There's another benediction or blessing that takes place at the end of the worship service. That's often the benediction that's found in the last verse of 2 Corinthians, although there are others there too. With this benediction, at the end, God is also pouring out his blessing upon his people gathered here. Therefore, both at the beginning and at the ending of our service, there are benedictions, blessings of Jehovah God that follows the example provided for us in the epistles of the apostles in the New Testament. The apostles use benedictions or blessings like bookends in their epistles, one at the beginning, one at the ending, to show that God blesses his people as they come into his presence and that he blesses them as they leave his presence and go out. God blesses his people and delights to bless his people. Again, this is something that God speaks. It's not the minister who is saying this. God is pronouncing this through the word, of course, through the minister speaking the word. And he's pronouncing that his grace and mercy and peace are upon the congregation assembled before him. When he does this, he is not saying, I really hope You have grace, mercy and peace in your life. Or this is my desire for you, that you have grace, mercy and peace in your life. But we'll just have to wait and see what happens. But rather, beloved, he is setting his grace, mercy and peace upon us in the benedictions of the servants. In the Old Testament, when Isaac accidentally gave his son Jacob the blessing that he actually wanted to give to Esau. Esau cried out to Isaac, Take it back. Take back the blessing that you gave to Jacob and give it to me instead. And how did Isaac respond to that? Genesis 27 verse 33. I have blessed him and he shall be blessed. Isaac understood that the pronouncement of the blessing was not just something that could be given and taken back. It could not be reversed. It was done. It was spoken. So serious was the blessing that it pronounced what would actually happen. And so, too, beloved, when God pronounces his blessing upon us in the worship service, he is not simply out of a whim, just giving out a nice, touchy-feely wish for us in our lives. This is His pronouncement upon His people. It affects what it speaks by His Spirit. We have His grace. We have His mercy. We have His peace in Jesus Christ. And we know that because He pronounces it upon us in the benediction. Isn't that what we need? When we come to the house of Jehovah God, if we must know anything on Sunday morning and Sunday evening, is it not that God's grace, mercy and peace is upon us? Everything in our life, even if it doesn't make sense, as we're walking into the house of God, can be seen through those lenses. God's grace, His mercy and His peace is ours. And all things work for our good. That He loves us. We're reconciled to him, that he views us as objects of his pity and his powerful mercy. It's love. And so finally, we respond with the first Psalter number of the service, a song that should always be a song of praise and adoration for the benediction. Perhaps, beloved, you will notice that these aspects of the opening service are not all strictly the elements of worship that I mentioned last time are demanded by the Word of God, demanded by the regulative principle. These aspects of the opening service, which I am going to call minor elements, are part of the worship service of the church, but they don't represent the main meat of the worship service. They are biblical elements. They are, for the most part, direct quotations of scripture, and they go back in reformed worship all the way, at least to the time of Calvin in the Reformation. And in the case, at least of the benediction, it absolutely must be there. It must be in the worship service of the church. But these opening aspects of the service are not the essential elements of the meeting. They are the opening service, the introduction, if you will. It's like the introduction to the sermon. The introduction to the sermon is part of the sermon. It is the sermon. But it's not the main body of the sermon. It's not the meat of the sermon. So, too, the opening service, the opening aspects of the service are an introduction to the main elements of the service. Now, when I say minor elements, that does not mean unnecessary elements any more than the minor profits means unnecessary profits. The opening service is necessary, absolutely necessary. And it's necessary simply by virtue of what the public corporate worship service is. This is the covenantal assembly. This is God's people coming to meet with Jehovah God face to face. The purpose of this opening service is to usher us into the presence of Jehovah God. We don't come into God's presence presumptuously. We don't come into God's house and just randomly start speaking to God as though we happened to bump into Him on the street and struck up a conversation with Him. There's a certain formality to the fact that we are coming to this meeting with Jehovah God. He is the God of heaven and earth after all, the majestic one, the high and holy one. And we are creatures. There must be then a proper leading into his presence. There's a proper way in which we are drawn into this communion and fellowship with God. For example, much like if you were called to come before a king in the Middle Ages. If you were called to come before a king in the Middle Ages, you wouldn't just waltz yourself into the throne room and start speaking to the king as though the king were any other man. There had to be the proper introductions that take place, the proper formal way that you are ushered into the presence of the king. The king would draw you in in the proper, formal fashion. He would call you to come in. You would respond, perhaps, with an expression of humility and praise for His Majesty the King. And then, perhaps, He would greet you with His greeting. And you would respond by expressing that you are in need of His help, and you come to Him and not to anybody else. And then, perhaps, He would receive you by putting His blessing upon you. And then, and only then, Would you get to the heart of what your meeting with the King was about? That is exactly what is happening in the opening service. God is leading us into His presence, and He's doing it in such a way that we know who He is as God of heaven and earth, our Sovereign, and we know who we are as His creatures. There is the proper way to be ushered into His presence. And in the opening service, We are formally brought into him so that the heart of the meeting can take place. But at the same time. Not only is there a certain formality. To this ushering into the presence of Jehovah God. There is also. a certain familiarity. For this God is not only our sovereign, the creator, the majestic king of kings, he is also our friend. It's like that one who is called into the presence of the king in the Middle Ages, except now not only is he a citizen of the king's kingdom, But he's also the king's son. In that case, there would still be formality. He is a subject of the king after all still, but that formality would be infused with familiarity. It would be infused with overtures of love and warmth and grace and tenderness. This too we have in the opening service of the worship. The formal structure is there to usher us into the presence of God. But that formal structure is filled with overtures of love for God's people who are his sons and daughters also. It's filled with language that breathes love and closeness and sonship. calls us his beloved as he greets us. We're not random citizens of his country. We are citizens that are also his sons and daughters. And he tells us we are loved. He breathes out upon us not some vague, cold blessing, but he pronounces the blessing of his heart as he puts that upon us as his sons and daughters. Grace to you and peace, my children, he says. The ones that I adore and that I draw to myself. And when we sing in response, beloved, we sing, yes, because he is sovereign, but because he is all love to us in his sovereignty. And we vow in the Vodum that he is our help, not only because he is king and able, but also because he is father and willing. It's this wonderful combination, you see, of formality and familiarity in the opening service that makes it so perfectly and beautifully covenantal. The covenant is a relationship between God, who is the friend's sovereign, and his people who are his friend's servants. It is a structured fellowship. There's formality and familiarity in the covenant. And therefore, when we come into God's presence, there must be the recognition that he is God, the God of heaven and earth, the high and lifted up one, the God who is a consuming fire, the God who in his holiness is perfectly just and so far above us. But at the same time. There must be the recognition that this God is our father, that he loves us as his sons and daughters. that he is the friend who has redeemed us and calls us to himself in love. In the opening service, there is a biblical and precise representation of the covenant relationship as we are ushered in to the presence of Jehovah God. And having been brought into his presence this way, then then we can engage and the main elements of the worship of the Church, in sweetness and peace and closeness, communion and love. Then, in the main body of the service, God speaks to us His law. He absolves us of our sins. He speaks comfortable words to us in His Word. And we respond to Him in that close, heartfelt meeting with vulnerable prayer, heartfelt love, deep adoration, songs of praise, giving of the heart to Him in the service. Do you see? You see how it works? There are two voices in the world today that speak to us about life and purpose, meaning and joy. There is on the one hand, the voice of man. And there is on the other hand, the voice of God himself. The voice of man calls out to us, tells the church That all meaning and purpose and joy and peace is to be found in pursuing whatever is temporal in whatever the world pursues. This voice cries out to God's people too. It's a voice with no authority. It's a voice that does not recognize the voice that is above and beyond the voice of man. Ultimately, this voice is the voice of Satan himself. And like He said in the Garden of Eden, Satan calls to the church, come in fellowship with Him. Come close to Him. He says to us through the world that at His side are pleasures forevermore. Here by Me you will find meaning and purpose and joy. Beloved, in the opening sermons, there is a different voice that calls out. This voice is the irresistible voice that calls to us from above. It's the voice of Jehovah God, who is our Creator. The voice of the One who is our Savior. It's the voice that has true authority. It is the voice that speaks beyond the limits of human reason and understanding. It's the voice that is able to tell us who we are, why we are here in the world, where we are going, And it's the voice that speaks to us of what true peace is, true joy and true meaning. It's the voice of divine love that calls out to us in the opening service of public worship. And this is the voice. Draws us in. Fellowship with himself. It's the voice that says to us here. and closeness to Me, and fellowship with Me in My Word, there is meaning, there is purpose, there is joy, and there is peace. And in the opening service, we come by faith. We respond to this God. We say to Him, Lord, we have no desire to be led by the voice of man. Thy voice is the voice that we heed. Thy voice is the voice that we listen to. Yes, at thy side are pleasures forevermore. By thy grace, we will hear thy voice. We will fly to thee. We will not look to the world for comfort and for help. We will not look to the world to be our source of strength. We will worship thee. We will come to thee for help and for joy. and for peace, and we will turn our backs upon the world and leave her behind. And then, beloved, in the opening service, ushered into God's presence, God tells us that we are His. And He gives us the experience that, indeed, it is not at the devil's side. But as Psalm 16, verse 11 says, In Thy presence is fullness of joy, and at Thy right hand are pleasures forevermore. Amen. Let us pray. God, we're thankful that Thou didst condescend to meet with us face to face. Be worshipped as Thou didst meet with us. Encourage us to carry on in service to thy name. Amen.