Though I'm feeling pretty well, I have had some coughing fits during the service, so that may happen again. But I think we'll make it through. If not, I'll have Elder Ball come up here and he can finish off the service for me. We're gonna read God's Word from Jonah 1, verse 17 is where we'll begin. And then we'll read through Jonah 2. And everything we read tonight is the text that we consider for the sermon. The reading of the Word of God. is part of our worship and hearing what the Lord has to say to us. Verse 17 of chapter one. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly. And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me. Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardst my voice. And that's a reference to Sheol, not to everlasting hell, but to the place of the dead in verse 2 there. And then verse 3, For thou hast cast me into the deep, into the midst of the seas, and the floods compassed me about, all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul. The depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth with her bars was about me forever. Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God." And there, corruption, he's saying that he's saved from death, basically. Verse seven, when my soul fainted within me, I heard the Lord and my prayer came in. I remembered, I remembered the Lord and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. Thus far we read the word of God. May God bless the reading of his word. I don't need to prove to you, beloved, or belabor this point that this really happened. a great fish, whale of some kind, swallowed Jonah. Not to digest Jonah, but to keep him safe for three days and three nights. And then, this is another miracle, verse 10 is true of chapter 2, and the Lord spake unto the fish and it vomited Jonah upon the dry land. Now if you say to me, That's impossible. No one ordinarily could live for three days in the belly of a great fish and then be spit out on dry land and survive. I would say to you, you're probably right when you use the word ordinarily. But then I would say this, ordinarily, Virgins do not conceive and give birth. Ordinarily, seas are not divided so that a path appears, a dry path, between two walls of water. And ordinarily, people who are dead do not rise again to life. But we believe. This is my answer and yours too, isn't it? We believe not in just the ordinary, but in the God that by His power performs miracles. We believe that He did cause a virgin to conceive and give birth to the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that He did make a dry path through two walls of water in the Red Sea when He led Israel out of Egypt. We believe, and that's pictured here in this text, beloved, that the dead are raised again to life by Jesus Christ. We believe then that Jonah was swallowed by a fish, sent by God, and saved alive for three days in the sea. and then spit out alive on dry ground. We believe this because this is what God says happened in his word in Jonah chapter 1 verse 17 and Jonah chapter 2 verse 10. But I also want to call your attention tonight to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Son of God, the Son of God who knows all truth and who knows not only all the truth of Scripture, beloved. He's the one who dwells within the bosom of the Father from all eternity. He knows the mind of God concerning everything. He knows all things. And in Matthew 12, verse 40, He speaks of Jonah and his spending three days in a whale's belly. And Jesus speaks of that as a true event. The Lord Jesus Christ believed this happened. For as, notice those words, for as. Notice how this is recorded in Jonah. This is also confirmed by the words of the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew. But notice also this significant truth Jesus Christ is connecting the reality of one event to the reality of another event and both events are miraculous and Jesus is saying basically you may not you may not deny the reality that Jonah was swallowed by a whale and then spit out because in doing that you destroy a sign of Jesus Christ's burial and his resurrection again the third day These things both really happened. Jonah was swallowed and spit out. After three days, Jesus was buried and raised again on the third day. Now the point of all of this is not to tell you to believe in miracles. You do. But the point of all of this is to marvel at the miracle. The miracle is pointing us to the power of our great God. What's impossible with man is possible with Him. And all of this is pointing to that magnificent statement in verse 9. Beloved, salvation is not ordinary either. To be saved from sin, that's a miracle work of God. Salvation is of the Lord. And what points us to the Lord as the miracle worker of our salvation? What confirms for us He can save us from sin? Well, He's the one who sent a fish to swallow a man one time in the history of this world. and to save him alive for three days in the midst of the sea. What a great God. That's the point. But now, the miracle of Jonah being swallowed by the big fish is not our main focus tonight. That's the book ends. He was swallowed by the fish, verse 17, and he was spit out by the fish, verse 10. But in between, The wonder that we read of is the prophet Jonah praying to God. He prayed, and his prayer Out of the Belly of the Fish is recorded for us in Jonah 2. And we consider this amazing prayer then tonight under that theme, praying out of the fish's belly. First of all, a powerful prayer. Secondly, an answered prayer, and I know that also speaks to the power of the prayer, but it deserves its own point. And then thirdly, a witnessing prayer. There we'll be looking at verses eight and nine. Tonight, beloved, the Word of God speaks to you and me about the wonder of the gift God has given us in prayer. And prayer is powerful. That's emphasized, first of all, when we look at where the prayer comes from. Verse 1, Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly. He's in the sea, he is under the water, he is inside a fish. But, verse 2, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me out of the belly of hell, or Sheol, cried I. The idea is then that we have to see that symbolically Jonah is in the place of the dead. He's as good as dead, and he's crying out of the depths of death to God. Then verse three. tells us before he was in the fish's belly. He cried out, for thou hast cast me into the deep in the midst of the seas, and the floods compassed me about. All thy billows and thy waves passed over me. It's thought that Jonah's describing there his brief, brief time on the surface of the water during the storm. God had cast him into the sea. And what he means by that is the sailors did it, but God used them as his instrument. God wanted me thrown into the sea. It was his will, and it was God's waves and his billows, thy billows and thy waves that were passing over Jonah. But he's praying from in the sea. I will look again toward thy holy temple, verse four. And then verse five, he's describing the experience of sinking into the sea. The waters surrounded me. The depth closed around me. The weeds were wrapped about my head. And beloved, you are meant to look at that symbolism and to think of Jonah being stuck, tied down. This is an inescapable reality. I'm drowning in the sea and I'm being wrapped around with the cords of death. We're going to sing that later in Psalter 426. He's feeling that. Death has its grip on me and I'm stuck. And then finally he reached the bottom. Verse six, I went to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth with her bars was about me forever. That's where he is at first, at the very bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. And it's as if he's in a prison with bars. and the bolts are locked, and there's no way out. And yet, he said it in verse four, I will look again toward thy holy temple. In verse eight, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. So where is Jonah? Remember how chapter 1 said that he tried to run away from the Lord? That's where he is. He is in the place as far as he can get from God. And remember, while we're told here in verse 1, he prayed to the Lord his God. That's a wonderful thing. And that he turned to the Lord, verse two, remember that he was trying to run away from God in chapter one, and that he was even told by the sailors, now is the time to pray to your God. And Jonah at that time was spiritually in a state where he wouldn't, he was still trying to run away from the Lord. And that has brought him into a stormy sea, that has brought him into a position where he's wrapped around by weeds, He's at the bottom of the sea and he's in the grip of death. He's far away from the land of Canaan. He speaks of the temple that's in Jerusalem. And when he was in the sea, beloved, he couldn't use his voice. He couldn't shout a prayer to God. And I know this is going to sound foolish, but I'm gonna speak foolishly. He couldn't use a cell phone. He couldn't use the internet. The only thing he could do was make a silent prayer. I remembered the Lord, verse seven. And that prayer reached heaven. Do you see it? The power of prayer. It makes me think, beloved, of 1 Kings 8 verses 33 through 34. Solomon and the people of Israel have just built this temple for the first time that his father David wanted so badly to build for the Lord so that the ark of the Lord could be in Jerusalem near the king's palace and the people could be sure the presence of God is here with us. He's our covenant God and friend. And then Solomon, after the temple was built, said to God in his prayer, In the dedication, Lord, when thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication unto thee in this house, And so he's saying, Lord, there's gonna be times, and he's thinking more maybe of the Babylonian captivity, but he's saying, Lord, there may be times when we as your people are unfaithful, and where we are going to be disciplined by your hand, and you're going to drive us away, and we're going to be far away, maybe in a foreign land, but Lord, we're going to direct our prayers to this temple, to you, and when we do, hear us, hear us. And that fits Jonah, doesn't it? He, through his sin, has willfully left Israel, fled from God, and now here he is turning back to God, to the temple that Solomon built. And God hears his prayer. Do you hear the encouragement wherever you are? Whenever you look to God and you look to Him in Jesus' name, He will hear you. That's the power of prayer. We are never in a position where, well, you're too far, I can't hear you. We're never in a position where God says, wait a minute, you're calling me from there for help? Those circumstances are too difficult. I can't hear you there. No, Jesus said it, didn't he? And that's basically what we have here in Jonah 2. When you ask, seek, and knock, whatever you ask in my name, my Father will hear you. And all you have to do, beloved, you might think, my prayer's pathetic. Jonah, all he had to do was remember the Lord. That's what verse seven is telling us. Here's his prayer. It was just a brief memory, remembering the Lord. And the Lord saw that, and the Lord heard that. Ah, Jonah hasn't forgotten me, I'm his God. and he's crying out to me in the depths of the sea and of death. Secondly, notice who this prayer comes from. I think you can grasp this, can't you, beloved? That where the prayer comes from shows the power of prayer. It doesn't matter where you are in the world. You cannot be away from the presence of God. He can hear your prayer. But now, does prayer have this power? That even a sinner can use prayer to reach out to God? And Jonah is aware of his sin. That's implied already in verse one. When it says he prayed unto the Lord his God, that beloved indicates a turning. It indicates he knows I was sinning. I was running from the Lord and I wouldn't pray to him. Now I need to, I was wrong. And then in verse three, he understands who is disciplining him for his sin. God cast me into the deep and it's his billows and his waves that are buffeting me, that are punishing me. Verse four, I was cast out of thy sight, and I deserve that. I deserve to be cast out of the sight of God. And then verse six, that idea of corruption, thou hast brought up my life from the pit. The Lord has cast me down into the depths of death, and that's what I deserve for my sin. And then verse 8 too, we're going to come to that later, but this is not Jonah making a statement about other people out there that believe in idols, lying vanities, and forsake their own mercy, but this is what he's saying, I did. I believed in idols, lying vanities, and forsook the mercy of the Lord. And so here he is, a sinner. A stubborn sinner, a willful sinner, a backsliding sinner, a covenant-breaking sinner. And the question is, is prayer given to him? And is it a tool that has the power for a sinner such as Jonah? Or now to put ourselves in that place, a sinner such as me, that I can use prayer, and when I do, I'll reach heaven? I will actually reach the ear of God? Beloved, that's exactly what Jonah 2 is telling us. Prayer is not just for people who are righteous, who are holy and perfect. We can imagine that, can't we? The angels in heaven, they live always before the presence of God. The angels in heaven that still have that estate where they never fell from God, they've never transgressed against God, and they have the ear of God, they may speak to God, that makes sense. But this Jonah. who was told what to do and disobeyed, this Jonah who willfully said, I'm going to run the other way from God. I want to flee from His presence. This Jonah who when he was told by heathens, pray to God. No, I won't pray to God. He may use prayer. Yes. The explanation, beloved, we understand, don't we? is God's graciousness. It is important that Jonah is repentant. It is important that he is no longer fleeing from the Lord. It is important that he prays. But none of that is what impresses God. God doesn't look on Jonah and say, well, your repentance is good enough, or Jonah, your prayer is good enough, and that's why I'm going to hear you and save you. If God answered Jonah according to what he deserved as a sinner, we understand, don't we? God would say, no, I'm not going to hear your prayer. No, your prayer cannot come to me in heaven. I'm going to shut the windows of heaven to you and your prayer. So why then is Jonah able to bring his prayer to God? And the answer is God, first of all, says, I'm everywhere. Wherever you are, however low you are, you can call on me and I will be your ever-present help. The other answer is God's grace. When God gave the gift of prayer to his church, he said, I know exactly what you need. You need a way to communicate with me, the holy God, as the sinners that you are. And do you see what a wonderful thing that is? God didn't say, here's prayer, and this is my gift to the righteous. But God said, here is prayer, the ability to speak to me, to call out to me, to seek help from me, and it's my gift to my sinful people. And so, beloved, this is the answer to all the excuses that we might make for why we don't pray sometimes. That sounds odd, doesn't it? The people of God, we love prayer. We would never make excuses for running from God. We would never make excuses for not talking to God. But we do, don't we? Not now. Not in these circumstances. I'm not ready. It's not time. And how often isn't it the main excuse because of my guilt? I'm not worthy. I know. I know how sinful I have been in my thinking and in my doing. I have willfully turned against God. I can't go to Him. Beloved, God strips all that away here in Jonah 2. Don't you see he's teaching Jonah this? Jonah, you were wrong. And I know, beloved, that the text doesn't say this necessarily in Jonah 1, but you can picture this, can't you? That as Jonah is running away from God, that there are points along the way where he's thinking to himself, you know, I should stop and I should pray. And you can imagine Jonah at those points saying, no, I can't. I can't. I'm too guilty, too sinful. And now here he is in Jonah 2 and God is sending him the message. Jonah, the best thing you could have done anywhere along the way at any point was pray to me. And you understand that, beloved? That's what he's saying to you and me tonight. Have you gone down the pathway of sin? What, you think you can't pray to God now? You need to wait a little longer? You need to go farther down the pathway of sin? No, the time is now to turn to me. I can't help but think of David. He learned the same lesson, didn't he? Nine months. You can imagine him after adultery and murder, nine months of thinking, I cannot go to God. And then finally he had a similar experience to Jonah, God confronting him and the prophet Nathan. And what happened when David repented? Did he find he was right after all? His sin was too great? He had messed up too much? He had gone too far from God? He couldn't find any grace from God? No. The moment he repented, God said to David, your sin has been put away from you. I answer your prayer. And God was saying to David, just as he said to Jonah here, and Jonah too, and as he's saying to you and me tonight, when and where should you pray to me? Now and wherever you are. It's always time to pray. Do you hear God saying that? When you are down, when you feel guilty, the best thing you can do is run to me. Don't you understand? I designed prayer for sinners, fallen, but saved in Jesus Christ, so that you can always come to me, not on the basis of your merits or worth, never, never that, but always on the basis of his merits and worth. You come to God in the name of Jesus, wherever you are, Whatever sin you've committed, that's the power of your prayer. It will reach the ear of God. And I can't help but say this tonight, beloved. I keep track of the advances in technology in our society, and I think of how impressed people are by the new inventions. Hundreds of years ago or so, telegraph perhaps, telephone, and then cell phones and internet. And isn't it something, beloved, that for over 6,000 years, the God of heaven has established and been using a communication system that can't be stopped by storms, can't be stopped by when the power goes out, wherever we are and whenever we need Him, He will hear us. In Jesus' name. Oh beloved, I hope that you appreciate the power of prayer. That here's a man who for several days has been running from God. And the moment, it doesn't take a week, the moment he remembers the Lord, His prayer is heard in heaven. And His prayer is answered. That really is part of the power of prayer, isn't it, beloved? And we need to appreciate that too tonight. Only the people of God, of all the people in the world experience this. Cry out to the God of heaven, your prayer not only reaches his ears so that he hears it, but your prayer doesn't have the power to change God's mind, but your prayer has the power to reach God so that he can change things in your life and in your experience. And so that God can, in tangible ways that you know and experience, answer your prayer. So in verse one, Jonah says this. The text says this. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly. That's astounding. Making the confession this is his God. He's turning to his God. But then notice verse two. And the text is emphasizing this. I cried by reason of my affliction unto the Lord and he heard me. Out of the belly of hell, cried I, and thou heardest my voice." What we find here, beloved, is that there are actually two prayers in the text. First, in verse 1, is Jonah's prayer unto the Lord out of the belly of the fish, but then Secondly, in really the verses that follow is the prayer that came before he was swallowed by the fish. Sorry if I'm confusing you. The reality is that the first prayer in time sequence was when he hit the waves. And as he was sinking to the bottom of the sea. That was Jonah's cry for help. And now what we have in verse one is Jonah has received that help from God. And he's telling us, you have to see it this way. When I went into the water, I was going to drown. I was going to perish. I cried to God and when the fish came in a moment to swallow me, that was God answering my prayer. So that when in verses four and seven he was looking to the holy temple for help, that was Jonah in the midst of the sea. He was surrounded by the seaweed and he felt like he was dead and in the clutches of death, inescapable. And then the Lord sent the fish to swallow him. And Jonah says, he saved me. He heard my prayer and saved me. So that, you can see it, beloved, in verse 9. The second prayer in the belly of the fish is not a prayer anymore for help, it's not a prayer of supplication, it's not a request, a petition, Lord, save me, but it's a prayer of thanksgiving. I'm thankful to the Lord for hearing me and saving me. And so what is Jonah thankful for? in this answer to his prayer? Well, part of it is that his life has been spared. He was sure that he was going to die. That was his experience in the midst of the sea. His description of being in Sheol is saying, not merely this, I've gone down to the grave, but for people in the Old Testament times, Sheol was even beneath the grave. It was the place of the dead, and the grave was symbolic of of a permanent prison, you can't escape the grave, but to go even below the grave, that's what Jonah's thinking. I am swallowed up in death and I'll never escape. And now that the fish has swallowed him, he knows the Lord has delivered him. And he's thankful. In what verse 17 says, beloved, is important. The Lord prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. The Lord planned this, that word prepared indicates. What a God, what a God. Before God gave him the charge to go to Nineveh, God prepared this fish. Before Jonah ran away from the Lord to go to Joppa, the Lord prepared this fish. Before the storm, and before the sailors tossed him into the sea, and before Jonah prayed, God prepared this fish. And then at the moment Jonah prayed, God has that fish there. And you understand that God also planned Jonah's prayer. And that fish swallowed Jonah and saved his life physically. But more than that, Jonah is thankful that he is saved spiritually from his sin. There are some, beloved, who say that Jonah doesn't give a very good confession of his sin here in Jonah chapter 2. Where does he say, I'm guilty of disobeying the Lord? And where does he say, I'm guilty of sinful prejudice? Xenophobia, I love Israelites and I hate non-Israelites. Where does he say even I'm a sinner? But beloved, he is repentant. And if anyone has any doubts about that, first of all, understand that though the King James does not make that very clear, Jonah 2 is a psalm, it's a poem. And in poems, you don't always say things bluntly the way you would in a logical piece of prose. But poetically, Jodah has confessed his sin. Poetically, he has acknowledged, all that has happened to me has happened according to the will of God. We've already seen that. Who threw me into the sea? God did. Who's disciplining me with his waves and billows? God is. Who's the one who brought me down to death in the pit? God has. God has cast me from his sight. And Jonah is saying, all of this is deserved by me. I am a sinner. And then verse 8 again, I do not believe is a general condemnation of idol worshipers, but Jonah's own confession of his sin. I wasn't looking to God. What does that mean? The only alternative is I have been trusting in a lying vanity, myself or some other idol. But now Jonah's praying a prayer of thanksgiving. And he's saying, salvation is of the Lord. You see it, then, don't you, beloved? What is he thankful for? The forgiveness of my sins and that I'm not going to be punished with the death and the hell that I deserve for my sins. The Lord answered Jonah's prayer in such a way that in the belly of the fish, he experienced this. He had the knowledge by faith. I'm not a reprobate. damned sinner. I am a precious, forgiven son of God. Beloved, do you see how God answers the prayers of His church and of His people? Or to make it more personal, your prayers, my prayers. In meditating upon this passage, I don't think I take time enough to think about that. Seems to me that the regular practice that we have in our lives is that we know that we have to go to God to pray for everything. We pray to him for everything we need for our bodies as well as for our souls. And we know what that all involves. Jonah had to pray for God to save his life, for God to forgive his sin, and we pray for many things that we have need of in our lives. We pray for the church, for our families, for our jobs. And then in times of trouble and trial, we cry out to God to help us, to deliver us, to preserve us. Every day, we pray for forgiveness, salvation, and the knowledge, the assurance of that. And I know that we make prayers of thanksgiving. And yet, I do think that there's a tendency sometimes to make our prayers daily, think of these things, and then not stop and think. These are not empty prayers. This is not just a habit. But every day, God is answering these prayers. Jonah 2 is making us stop and meditate on that and appreciate that. So don't just pray for daily bread, but grasp. God has been hearing that prayer that I've been making. Don't just pray for health, but grab hold of this. God has been answering that prayer I have been making. And don't just pray for the knowledge that your sins are forgiven and that you're saved for the sake of Jesus Christ, but marvel at this. When I pray to the God of heaven, he does send his message to me from heaven. He answers my prayers. Thank God for his work for Jesus Christ, especially I'm not sure that Jonah knew that what happened here in this text would be a picture of the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But beloved, we see it and must be thankful for it. Jonah went down to the depths of the ocean, the sea. Jesus went down to the depths of a tomb. He actually entered into death. Jonah did not actually, in this text, die. And, though we know that in the grave Jesus did not suffer hell, it seems that that's part of the picture here, to be in bondage to death. Death that is inescapable. Well, Jesus Christ experienced the everlasting, infinite death of God's wrath. And Jesus, he wasn't spit out the third day, but he rose again. with power over sin and death to bring salvation to you and me. So that Jonah is aware of this and you and I are aware of this, salvation is of the Lord, not mainly now through the fish in Jonah chapter one and two, but through the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the gift that we have to thank him for. And when we seek salvation and God answers our prayer through the preaching of the word, through the reading and studying of his word, and God says to you, you're forgiven. Thank God for that salvation in Jesus Christ. Jonah experienced the power of prayer and God's answer of his prayer. I pray that you experience the power of prayer. and that God is answering your prayers. Finally then tonight we consider that this is a witnessing prayer. Jonah is making a confession in verses 8 and 9 especially that serves as not only his prayer to God but notice It's instruction. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. Jonah is speaking of his own experience, but he uses the plural they because he has a message here. And part of the message may be For pagans, for unbelievers outside of Israel, he's just experienced the salvation of the unbelieving sailors. But we're going to find out that Jonah isn't yet quite so committed to seeking the salvation of unconverted sinners. And so part of the concern probably here, remember, is for Jeroboam too and the people of Israel. Jonah, as a prophet of God, is aware of the fact that the seeking of lying vanities, turning away from God, living in sin, that's the pathway of the people of Israel. And so now he, having experienced that he's a sinner too, who turned away from the Lord, but now has learned that he needs to turn back to the Lord. Salvation is in the Lord. He's giving a testimony that he wants the other people in the church in Israel to hear. Do you sympathize with Jonah? Can't you say this too? I know what it's like to turn from God, to trust in myself, to trust in the things of this world. And so my testimony, and beloved Jonah, isn't this beautiful? His testimony's not this. I'm the prophet, I've done right, and you're the sinners that I'm coming to to admonish for your sins. But Jonah's an example of a beautiful thing that we ought to put into practice. That when we go to people to deal with them in sin, and if somebody's looking to idols and turning away from God, they're living in sin. And we need to go to them and say, I'm coming to you as a fellow sinner. I know, I know the folly of this. In fact, I think Jonah is saying, I'm the biggest fool. I know how foolish I am. I'm a prophet of God. I know the Lord. I'm able to confess the truth about God that He's sovereign. He's the God who made the heavens and the earth. He's the God who we need every moment of our lives. We need to obey Him. We need to trust in Him. We need to live for Him. And I, for a period of my life, refuse to do that. And I serve myself, I serve lying vanities, and now I see how foolish that is. Beloved, let's hear his testimony. Let's listen to him. Don't disobey the Lord. Don't put your trust anywhere besides in the Lord. But then, Let's make this our testimony, too, to the world and to each other in the church. It is vanity. It is wrong. It is useless. It's nothingness to turn away and trust in anything but the Lord. Then verse 9, now what? But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. The self-centered prophet who wouldn't serve the Lord, I'm not going to do what God tells me, now has a renewed heart. He's humble. He's sacrificial. Lord, use me however you want, whatever the cost. I will trust and praise the Lord. No more disobedience. No more backsliding. No more turning from God. But I will give myself to the Lord, and this is what his mission is, remember. Not just to obey the Lord's command, but his mission is to tell the world. Salvation is of the Lord. Beloved, may this be our life that we pray to God. We cry out to Him wherever, whenever we can, that we experience that He's the God of our salvation, He answers our prayers. And then may we be ready to carry the message to the world. No, no, don't believe in anything but God and find your salvation in Him. May that be the message of this church and of our lives, amen. Father in heaven, bless thy word unto our hearts. May we be strengthened and encouraged in prayer, not only for ourselves, but for thy church and for the lost. And we thank thee, Father, that when we come to thee in the name of Jesus Christ, that thou wilt hear us. And we know that doesn't mean that we get whatever we will. but that whatever thou dost will, which is for thy glory and for the good of thy church, thou wilt do, even the saving and the rescuing of sinners like us and like those who are lost and still need to be saved. Lord, send thy salvation, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. 426. Based on Psalm 116, notice stanza two, the cords of death held me in deep despair, the pangs of hell like waves by tempest driven roll o'er my soul. By grief and sorrow riven, I turned in my distress to God in prayer. And then he sent salvation. We'll sing of that too in stanza four. Let's sing 1, 2, and 4, 426, 1, 2, and 4.