so O help me, Jesus, O help me. And I'll wait with you throughout eternity. Amen. I'd like to welcome you to our service today. If you would, join us in standing. We'll sing hymn number 260. He is angel to the world. Hymn number 260, stand up please. He's a brand new seed through the ages. He's a brand new seed for our children. He's a brand new seed in the wilderness of our God. Hey, hey, hey. He is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. O my Savior, how blessed thou'rt to me. Thou'rt blessed, our God, and able to deliver thee. Amen. Thank you, baby. Praise the Lord from whom all blessings flow, for he has white as snow. I'm redeemed from all my sin and shame, for now and forever, praise His holy name. ♪ Praise His holy name ♪ ♪ Praise His holy name ♪ ♪ To God be the glory now and forever ♪ ♪ Praise His holy name ♪ ♪ God is great ♪ ♪ Then greatly to be praised ♪ ♪ Above all others ♪ ♪ Let his name be raised ♪ ♪ That He alone is worthy ♪ Praise His holy name ♪ Praise His holy name ♪ Praise His holy name ♪ To God be the glory ♪ Praise His holy name ♪ ♪ Praise His holy name ♪ ♪ Praise His holy name ♪ ♪ To God be the glory, to God be the glory ♪ ♪ To God be the glory, to God be the glory ♪ Praise His holy name. Praise His holy name. Praise His holy name. Praise His holy name. You would stand once again we'll sing hymn number 175 it's just like ♪ I have found Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ♪ It's just like Jesus on that day. It's just like Jesus to keep you day by day. It's just like Jesus on your way. It's just like his way at all. Sometimes it's hard to follow in people's eye at all. I'll sing and drink, I'll dance and sing. ♪ It's just like Jesus to pull you out of bed ♪ ♪ It's just like Jesus to keep you in my head ♪ ♪ It's just like Jesus, follow me away ♪ ♪ It's just like He's my God ♪ ♪ Oh, I could sing forever, but I'll keep the song in my head ♪ Please remain standing as we go to the Lord in prayer for our offering. James, would you pray for us, please? Thank you. May be seated. So I appreciate the younger, young people participating in the services today. We are getting ready to go to camp for those who don't know, and so if you would pray for us this afternoon, we'll go on the road, go to camp, be there all week looking forward to what the Lord's gonna do and how he's gonna move. Last week was an important day in the life of the Levas, and so I'd like to have the Levas come on up. Believe it or not, they've been here a year. And boy, it's just like flown by. But I remember them coming and we unloaded the truck and like three or four days later, we took them to camp. So, you know, we baptized them really good. And they didn't complain. Matter of fact, we saw God move in some amazing ways at camp and some great things were accomplished. And I appreciate the fact that Lalo and Miss Caitlin were there. And so we want to acknowledge their anniversary here at the church. And so we have these monetary. Then we've started. a ring that is for our men, our preacher boys. And so after you are on staff for a year, you get one of those. So Rala Lalo gets his ring and take that. And then Miss Caitlin's going to have birthday camp tomorrow, isn't it? And so Miss Caitlin's going to be 18, I think, tomorrow at camp. But so she's gonna be serving the Lord. She just barely qualifies to be a counselor, but I do appreciate so much the Levas and their labor for the Lord. Then we had a young lady graduate this year. And we like to acknowledge our graduates by giving them a Bible. And so Madeline. Madeline Fry graduated. And so we'd like to present her with this. NIV. What are we doing with the NIV. No I'm teasing. Says we had her name put on the front. So you're Madeline Fry for just a little while. Class of 2024 is something you can always look back at. There's a covenant sweet, it was written for me. It's a promise that I could be his. From all my sin and my shame, even heartache and pain, it was signed and confirmed all ahead. ♪ So I rest my case at the cross ♪ For now I have someone to champion my cause ♪ I've been justified, satisfied, oh I have it all ♪ So I rest my case at the cross ♪ Don't feel sorry for me ♪ When you see I'm in need ♪ There's a judge who grants mercy and love ♪ All my burdens he lifts ♪ All my sin he forgives ♪ Every trial is won through the blood So I rest my case at the cross. For now I have someone to champion my cause. I've been justified, satisfied. Oh, I have it all. So I rest my case at the cross. I've been justified, satisfied, O, I have it all. So I rest my case at Thee. Please stand once again, we'll sing hymn number 138, The Haven of Christ. I heard a sweet voice saying, make me your choice. And I entered the heaven of praise. I met a soul in the heaven of bliss. A simple and sweet desire. ♪ And evermore ♪ ♪ I'm filled with myself ♪ ♪ There is favor and grace to me ♪ ♪ I'm filled with love and power ♪ ♪ I'm filled with love ♪ ♪ And my anchor, my soul ♪ ♪ We will not surrender ♪ Our song, our song, sings far and wide, as deep as the sea. ♪ Until the mighty is no more ♪ ♪ But to let us be still ♪ ♪ For the power of strong belief ♪ ♪ In Jesus I'm safe at home ♪ ♪ I'm bound to the Savior if I believe ♪ ♪ I'll sing a hymn of praise ♪ ♪ And say my love is thine ♪ ♪ I've made up my soul with a hymn of praise ♪ ♪ I'll sing a hymn of praise from home ♪ ♪ He treats us the same ♪ See all the wounded, hear all their desperate cries for help, pleading for shelter and for peace. Our comrades are suffering. Come let us meet them at their knee. Don't let a wounded soldier die. Come let us pour the oil. Come, let us bind the cuffed. Let's cover them with a blanket of His love. Come, let us break the bread. Come, let us give them rest. Let's minister healing to them. Don't let another wounded soldier die. obeying their orders. They fought on the front lines for the king, capturing the enemy's stronghold. Then weakened from battle, Satan crept in to steal their life. Don't let a wounded soldier die. Come, let us pour the oil. Come, let us bind the cut. ♪ Let's cover them with a blanket of God's love ♪ ♪ Come let us break the bread ♪ ♪ Come let us give them rest ♪ ♪ Let's minister healing to them ♪ Don't let another wounded soldier die. Let's minister healing to them. Let's minister healing to them. soul. Psalms 116 please. Psalms 116. I'll be honest, usually I reference this portion of scripture at a time of loss, especially when we're dealing with a Christian that's gone home to be with the Lord. I love verse number 15, where it says, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. I don't think that children of God just pass from this earth and it goes unnoticed. I think that the Lord knows all about it. And it's just a very precious verse to me anyhow. But I will attract your attention back to verse number one. If you found that and you can, stand with me in reverence to the reading of the word of God. Psalms 116, verse number one. I love the Lord. Wouldn't it be great, and I hope it's true, that each and every one of us can say that today, I love the Lord. And you might say, well, why should I love the Lord? Well, that's why Psalms 116's here. David's gonna tell us why we ought to love the Lord. He says, I love the Lord, "'because he hath heard my voice and my supplications.'" Isn't it good to know you can, and I'm not preaching yet, this is all free introduction. Isn't it good to know that when you have a need, that you can go to God? I was talking to someone just recently and they said a friend of theirs had fallen and he had his phone and he called the first person that he wanted to talk to and no one answered, called the second person, no one answered, called the third person, no one answered, but at least he could call God, right? It's so good to be able to call upon him and to know that he hears and that he knows our voice and hears our supplications, verse two. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell got hold upon me. I found trouble and sorrow, then called I upon the name of the Lord. O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul. Gracious is the Lord, and righteous, yea, our God is merciful. Lord Jesus, we love you today. We thank you so much for your many blessings to us. We thank you that as the Son, you were willing to go to the cross and purchase our salvation. God the Father, we love you because you love us. You first loved us. And Lord, while we were yet unlovable, you loved us. God, that ought to spark each and every child of God to love you and love you more and more with each passing moment. Lord, I thank you for my salvation. I thank you for the fact that you loved me and cared for me and that you were willing to call me as one of your own. Lord, I pray that you would meet with us today, that you might be honored and glorified through the preaching and teaching of your word. Lord, that you would be lifted up and exalted, that we would be drawn close to you. If there'd be any here that don't know you as their Savior, our prayer is that today they might come to that saving knowledge of Jesus. Thank you for your goodness and your love. We ask these things in your blessed and most holy name. And all the people said, and man, you may be seated. So my first point today is for the first five verses. He hears me and delivers me. I love, as I mentioned there in verse number one, he hath heard my voice and my supplications. It's a great thing to know that God hears us when we call to him. Verse number two, we follow along here and it says, because he hath inclined his ear unto me." I wondered, what is he talking about, this inclined his ear to me? Well, my good friend, Dr. Gill, writes this about inclined the ear. He says, it denotes his readiness to hear. Man, isn't that awesome? He's ready to hear. He hearkens and hears. He listens to what his people say and he hears them at once and understands them. though ever so broken and confused. Isn't it good to know that when our heart is broken and we're in shambles and whatever the trouble is, whatever the problem is, that we can go to God and we can just pour ourselves out before him. That doesn't have to be in a ritualistic way. It doesn't have to be in a, like a form letter that, you know, if you're gonna approach God, you gotta pray this way, and you gotta make sure you include this, and you gotta say it this way, and you better hope that you said it right, or they're gonna send it back, you're gonna have to do it all over again. No, because when we're talking about troubles and sorrows and death, we're a mess. Right? We're a mess, our hearts are broken. There's confusion in our mind. And it's so good to know that I can pour myself out before God. I'll be honest with you, there's been times my heart has been so broken I've got on my knees and I didn't know what to pray. I didn't know how to say it. And so I applied that verse in the New Testament. He understands the groanings. All I could do was say, My heart's, I'm crushed. I don't know where to turn. It seemed like the problem's on this side, problem's on that side. God, I need your help. I don't even know how to pray about this. God, I need you. He's there, he hears, and he understands. And I may not get it all out, and I may forget some of it, but that's the great thing about God, because he knows me. He already knows the stress I'm under, he knows the pressure I'm feeling, and he understands me, and he loves me, and he cares for me. By the way, every child of God is that. Every child of God, he cares for you that way. David says, because God cares and hears me and responds to me, therefore I will call upon him as long as I live. Wow, what a promise, what a promise. Now that's not much for us gray hairs, is it? Because we're probably not gonna be here long, right? But for these guys? If you can grasp that now, that God loves you, and he hears you, and he cares for you, if you can grasp that now, you can carry that throughout your whole life. Right now, everything's good for you guys, I'll just let you know, okay? Looks like you're all eating pretty good, yeah? You got nice clothes on, mom and dad's taking good care of you. But one of these days, you're gonna step out into the mean, cruel world. Oh, I'm already in the mean, cruel world. Oh no, you are not even close to the mean, cruel world. But when you do, it's good to have already established, my God hears me, he loves me, he cares for me, and when my life is a mess, when my heart is broken, I can turn to him. I may not know how to say it, I may not know even what to do with it, but I can turn to him, he cares. I will trust him and I will call out to him. I'll call out to him before I'll call my friends. I'll call out to him before I call 1-800-PRAYER-REQUEST. I'll call out to him. He is the one that cares the most. He is the one, he is the only one that can do and handle the situations and the problems we face. Always start your problems with God. Always turn to Him. Always cry out to Him. I love David. He's my Old Testament character. If I, you know, if there was a character I'd want to be like, I feel like I'm like David. I feel like I ride the roller coaster, you know, and things are good, things are bad, things are good, things are bad. David does that a lot. But David learned through all that he needed God. He needed God's help. And so David says, that he has answered me enough that I know he is my go-to. He is the one that I turn to. In my time of need, I will go to no one else but to God. I will go to no one else, and I will call upon him the rest of my life. Well, let's notice his example here, verse number three. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell got hold on me. I found trouble and sorrow. Do you know what it's like to lose a loved one? That's the sorrow of death. I'm telling you, there's nothing like it. It's tragic, tragic, tragic. Just recently, you may have caught, I mentioned it Wednesday night, you may have caught that this young couple down in Haiti, missionaries down in Haiti, just early 20s, were murdered by gang members. You know, the questions are, why would God allow that? I don't know, when we get to heaven, we can ask God, okay? But God wants to use that for his glory. When your heart is broken, it's been amazing to just kind of watch the things that parents have said and how they've responded. It's been amazing to watch. We're just gonna trust God with this. I mean, what else could you do, right? I mean, you could get Stallone and some of his buddies to go down there and wipe them all out. You could try to go down there and avenge it yourself. That's not going to happen. But you can turn to God, who can do something about it, right? He's the only one who can do something about it. We can turn to God and say, God, I don't understand it. I don't know why these two young kids who loved you, who wanted to serve you, I don't know why these gangs would murder them. I don't understand it, but God, you do. So God, you use it for your glory. You give retribution and vengeance where you see fit, because God knows the heart and the soul. It's amazing, through time, how even murderers can have their lives turned about and serve God. You say, I don't believe it. Well, then you have to kick Paul out of the Bible, right? Apostle Paul was there persecuting the church. His job was to haul Christians off that they'd be put to death. So whether it be the sorrows of death that compass me or the pangs of hell that have gotten hold of me, I have found trouble and sorrow. Isn't it amazing, trouble and sorrow, that you don't have to go looking for it? It has a way of finding you. Yeah, it really does, at least it does in my life. I don't ever go looking for trouble, but it finds me. Trouble and sorrow, what are you gonna do in the midst of trouble and sorrow? What are you gonna do when your heart's broken? Well, let's just do what David said. He said, then called I upon the name of the Lord. And he says, oh Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. What a great prayer. Deliver my soul. God, you're the only one who can do anything about it. I can't do anything about it, but you see my heartbreak? You see the sorrow in my heart? God, deliver me from this. By the way, he's the only one who can deliver you from it. Oh no, preacher, you don't understand. I've got this self-help group. No, no, no, you don't understand. God's the only one. No, no, no, you don't understand. I've taken up drinking. Oh boy, you're really in trouble. I've taken up drugs, because it just kind of numbs the pain. No, no, no. Well, I listen to Dr. Phil. Oh, big trouble. Whoa, whoa, here's the, I watch The View. Oh, you're really in big trouble. I turned to God and I said, God, deliver me from this. There's not a person on this earth more important than God. I love my wife, she's a great counselor, I love her, I turn to her with needs, but there's sometimes she doesn't have the answers and all I can do is say, God, none of my friends know the answer, my wife doesn't know, God, I need you. I need you to deliver me. I need you to do a work in my life. I need you to do a work in my heart. God, I need you to do that work. And if we rely upon any other person or thing or program, we are in trouble. Look at verse five, hallelujah. Gracious, what a word, amen. Gracious is the Lord. You know, Jay would never, ever, come here for a minute, Jay. Jay never does this to be recognized. But you'll notice a lot of times when an older lady's coming down, Jay's right here. That's gracious. Young men, that's something we all need to learn. It's, you know, manly characters and character is not being taught anymore. Dad, you need to pick up on that. You need to teach young men to open doors. Yes ma'am, no ma'am, all those kind of things. But Jay stands here and helps the older ladies down. I just kind of get a little prideful. Someone done something good in his life. He's learned some good things. Our God is gracious. Whether I'm flat on my face, He's there to help me up. If I'm there and I can't take another step, He is there. He is gracious. He is helpful. To not call upon Him is kind of like a slap in the face to God. God, you're not enough, I've got to have this. God, you're not helpful enough, I've got to do this. Our God is a gracious God, thank you, Jake. Our God is a gracious God. He's willing to help us as we stumble through life, as we fall through life, as we suffer through trials, as we suffer through persecutions, our God is a gracious God. And he's not only a gracious God, but he's a righteous God. And he is a merciful God. Have you ever gotten mercy that you didn't deserve? So a few years ago, I was headed out to my in-laws place in Junction, out past Junction City, little bitty town called Miltonville, Kansas. How many of you know where Miltonville, Kansas is? You gotta head there, okay? Or you blink and you drive right past it. Melville, Kansas. So I stopped in Junction City on the far side of town. You can turn and go up by Wakefield and go on over to the farm. And so I stopped and I got a soda, got gas, get in the car. It's a beautiful day. I got the windows down. I'm listening to some good cathedral music. I'm drinking on a soda. I'm just in a construction zone. I don't even realize it. Like at about 65 miles an hour. But the guy behind me noticed. He lit me up. Like, man, I don't need this. I'm just enjoying this beautiful day. I've got good music on. I'm drinking soda. I can't remember why I was going up to visit Cindy's folks. For some reason, I was going up there. He pulls me over, he goes, going a little fast, ain't you? I said, sir, I'll be honest with you. I just stopped and gassed up, got this soda right here. You can tell it's still pretty full. I got good music on. Isn't it a beautiful day? He goes, can I have your license and registration? 65 in a 30 work zone. You know what merciful is? You know, if you'll slow it down, I'm not even gonna write a ticket. That's merciful. That's our God. Man, God, I've blown it. You ever been there, Lalo? To like a bozo and a half? Man, I've blown it. I don't deserve you, God. I don't deserve you to love me. I don't deserve you to care for me. And God said, it's okay, son. Come here, let me love on you a little bit. Now get back in there and go. Gracious, righteous, and he is merciful. What a wonderful God we serve. I don't understand where I'm at, God. I don't understand this sorrow. I don't understand this pain. It's okay, David says, because he's gracious, righteous, and merciful. Our second point is this, found in verses six through 11. He preserves the simple. There in verse number six, we read, the Lord preserveth the simple. I was brought low and he helped me. I just want to start by saying, I identify with this first phrase. I love it. It says, the Lord preserveth the simple. That's me. I'm simple. I've had people come up and say, you know, I really appreciate your preaching style because you just like get it right down there and I'm like, that's where the preaching style is for me, okay? I'm not Dr. Way up here in the clouds, I'm just simple me, okay? I'm thankful that God loves simple people, amen? I mean, I put my overalls on and my bibs and I can become like real hasty, simple, right? And God loves the simple. He's not all about, oh, I've got all this knowledge, God, you're really getting something if you get me. No, no, no, God just wants you to come simply before him. It says the Lord preserveth the simple. You know, the simple sometimes say dumb things and do dumb things, and it's good to know that God still preserves the simple. that he cares for us. David said, I was brought low, and he helped me. I was brought low, and it seemed like everything was falling apart around me, and yet God was there, and he helped me through that difficulty. Verse seven says, the Lord taketh my part with them. I'm sorry, that was verse, chapter 18. Back to verse number seven in 116. Return unto my rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. You ever notice how bountifully the Lord dwells and blesses us? Man, I'm telling you. There's a lot of times my wife and I pull up in the driveway at our house and we look at each other and go, man, God's sure been good to us. Walk inside, see all this stuff, go, man, God's sure been good to us. I climb on my John Deere riding lawnmower And I'm like, man, God's sure been good to me. I'm glad I'm not having to push my John Deere self-propelled more. I'm glad I can ride my John Deere riding tractor. So good, bountifully blessed. If you don't believe that, just look at the news and be thankful you don't live in the Ukraine. Be thankful you don't live in Gaza. Be thankful you don't live in Israel. God has been so bountifully good to you. For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. Now, we can say that my soul from death, God saved me from being killed, and that's happened plenty of times in my life where Someone's been in my lane, and God does a thing, and the car's out of the way, and I go on. But also, because of what we're speaking of in verse number three, the sorrows of death, it could be that he's talking about from the sorrow of death. God's delivered me from that sorrow. Have you ever wondered how you're gonna go on the next day? How am I gonna make it the next day? I remember when my dad died, I was 30, he was 60, and it wrecked me for a little while. I'd be sitting at my office. I worked on a church staff in Topeka, Kansas. I was sitting there one day. I got a letter in the mail. I opened the letter. It was from a young man that had worked with my dad. And he was telling me things about my dad that I never knew that were just very encouraging to my heart. And I found myself just sitting there bawling like a baby. I'm like, I don't know how I'm gonna go on without my dad. Every young man needs their dad to be a leader, to be a help to them. I'm like, how am I gonna go on? How am I gonna do this? God said, I'll be your dad. I'm your father. Trust me, walk with me. He delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears. You ever cried so much you thought, this is the way I'm gonna spend the rest of my life? The sorrow is so great, the trouble is so great, that I'm gonna cry and cry the rest of my life, it seems like, and my feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I believe, therefore, have I spoken and was greatly afflicted. I said in my haste, all men are liars. It's amazing how much God loves us and he cares for us. It brings us to our third point, salvation's benefits. Salvation's benefits, verses 12 through 15. What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me? Think about this. What do you have that you can give God for what he has done for you? What can you give him? Well, you know, there's a few things, right? Like we ought to give our tithe, and we ought to give praise, and we ought to lift songs, hands to the Lord. Those are things we find in the Bible. But other than that, really, what can I give God? I cannot purchase his goodness to me. God's not some genie that I rub this thing and he pops up to answer my prayers according to what I want. Matter of fact, I find in my life that many times my prayers are not answered exactly how I wanted them answered, but they were answered the way God wanted them answered. What can I give God? What benefit do I have that I can give God? Actually, all I can do is give him me. God, here I am. Use me. God, here I am. I cannot render you anything for your goodness and your benefits, but I can give you me. Use me how you would see fit. Verse number 13's an interesting verse. It says, I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. Now, we know that this is a figurative statement. There's not necessarily a cup of salvation. We don't pray and ask for a cup of salvation. It'd be like going somewhere and saying, hey, do you have a bottle of water? What we do is we go to the Lord and we say, Lord, forgive me of my sins and I want you to come into my heart. Forgive me of my sins and become the Lord and Savior of my life. And he gives us salvation. But when he gives us salvation, I want you to think of it as a cup. I don't know if you remember, some of you older members, long-time members will remember when we used to have Dr. Art Wilson come, probably one of the greatest preachers of our era. Dr. Art Wilson, he was one of those guys that could sit down and preach for an hour and a half, and it seemed like 20-minute message. I mean, so full of knowledge. Matter of fact, before Hank Hanegraaff was, they came to him, they wanted him to be Hank Hanegraaff. I mean, just so full of knowledge. As a matter of fact, in the latter days when he preached for us, he got through one time and I walked up to help him off the platform because he couldn't see very well. And he closed his Bible and I said, Doc, do you realize your Bible was upside down the whole time you preached? And he goes, well, I can't see it anyhow. I mean, he just had one of those memories that he just remembered everything. It was phenomenal. Dr. Art Wilson, we had him come one year. and preach leading up to Easter. It was a Wednesday through Sunday, Sunday was Easter, and he preached on the Passion Week of Christ. And one of the messages he preached was the cup that Christ took for us. And he preached about the dregs of that cup. Well, there's another cup. It's the cup of salvation. You'll find it referenced In Psalms 23, in Psalms 23, I'm just gonna turn over there. Psalms 23 and verse number five. Thou prepares the table before me in the presence of mine enemies, thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. What would be in this cup of salvation? I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I have this cup in my hand. What do you think would be in a cup like this? Well, I think we'd find mercy in that cup. I think we'd not only find mercy in that cup, I think we'd find grace in that cup, and forgiveness in that cup, and love from God in that cup, and love for God, and love for the saints of God, and love for the church of God, and forgiveness every day, and mercy new every morning. And we'd find Galatians 5, 22 and 23 there, The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. In other words, we possess a cup. Is your cup running over, or is it empty? We keep it as full as we want. We keep it as full as we want. We refill it by being in the presence of God, by being in his word, by spending time in prayer. Our cup is refilled. We're refreshed. We can draw upon that cup. You say, I just don't know. It just seems like I can't forgive that person. You need more. You need more of the stuff to go in your cup. You say, well, I just don't seem like I have any mercy towards that person. You need to go and you need to get in the word and you need to get on your face for God and say, God, help me. I just find it hard, preacher, to love God. I don't know why. I know he loves me, but I don't know how to love him. Get in the word of God and get on your knees before God. And you say, well, you know, as I think about this cup, I find it hard and I find it difficult to wanna spend time with God, get on your face before God and say, God, help me to love you more. Help me to love others the way you love others. I'm telling you, this cup, it is an amazing cup, and something that should never run empty, but should always be overflowing. As the psalmist said, thou anointest my head with oil, and my cup runneth over. Oh, that our cup might always be full and running over with the blessings of God in our life. And then verse 14 says, I will pay my vows. I will pay my vows unto the Lord, now in the presence of his people. I will pay those sayings, I will acknowledge him, I will exalt him, because he is God, and precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. The hardest thing I do as pastor is bury people. It's the hardest thing in the world. I hate it. I hate it. Now, there is some happiness in the fact when you know someone loved God and they really served God with their life. It can be a happy thing, but I hate the whole process. I just hate it. Now, if you got a baby coming, man, I love it. I want to hold them, I want to see their fingers and their toes, and they can throw up on me, I don't care. There's just something exciting about a baby, but there's something sad when you're holding the hand of someone who's taking their last breath. Went to Shawnee Mission several years ago, and as I walked into the room where one of our church members were, the nurses were frantically working over him. They said, who are you? I said, I'm his pastor. They said, come here. They all parted and moved me to his head, and they said, pray with him. Whatever you wanna say, say it to him. Those are the hardest things I ever did. What am I gonna say? What am I gonna do? All you can do is say, God, your perfect will be done. You'll be glorified. You know, we're all scheduled to die. You understand that, right? And God's not sitting here today going, who's the oldest? That's not the way it happens. It could be the youngest among us. It could be middle age. We don't know what a day holds. That's become my favorite saying, we don't know what a day holds. All we can do is trust God. God, you make no mistakes. I'll cry out to you, I need your help. I don't understand it, I don't know where to turn, I don't know what to do, but God, I'm so thankful that I can turn to you and I know that when someone dies and leaves this earth who loves you, that they're there with you and that brings peace and comfort and helps the healing process. But God, I need you. So our fourth point is found in verses 16 through 19, and I've entitled it The Actions. It says, O Lord, truly I am thy servant. I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid. Thou hast loosed my bonds. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving. I will call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord in the presence of his people in the courts of the Lord's house in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the Lord. I'm gonna summon up this way. Because of time, I'll move rather quickly. We need to surrender to the Lord. God, your will be done, not mine. God, you give me the grace I need to accept what you have done. We need to offer sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, in the good times and in the bad. Well, let's say, God, thank you for the place I get to live. God, thank you Thank you that I've had this tool all these years. It's lasted this long. I don't know why you've allowed what has happened here, but God, thank you for it. God, I don't know why you've called my loved one home, but God, thank you for them. Thank you, I've told God personally, I've told God this many times, God, thank you for the mom and dad you gave me. They molded me to be the man I am. Thank you that they were hard and strict but not enough, but thank you. To learn to be thankful in every situation is so important. To call upon the name of the Lord. Where else can we call but upon the name of the Lord? We need to pay our vows unto the Lord. To do that, I think we need to go to church. We need to be in the presence of God's people. to pay our vows, to let them see that yes, God is real, yes, God is good, and yes, I will serve God till the day I die, and then praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. Why should we love the Lord? Because he has been so good to us. So good. Lord Jesus, I love you today. Thank you for the truth of your word. I pray that this was a blessing and help in the lives of each one here today that you'd be glorified. We love you and we ask these things in your precious name. Amen. Would you stand with me today? I have a moment of invitation. God spoke into your heart. I'd encourage you to come whatever your need. I'll live for Him. I'll live for Him who died for me. How happy then my life shall be. I'll live for Him who died for me, my Savior and my God. I now believe Thou dost receive, for Thou hast And now thanks for a right trust in thee. My Savior and my God. I'll live for Him who died for me. How happy then my life shall be. I'll live for Him who died for me. My Savior and my God. O Thou who died on Calvary to save my soul and make me free, I'll consecrate my life to Thee, my Savior and my God. I'll live for Him who died for me. How happy then my life shall be. I'll live for Him who died for me, my Savior and my God. It's good to be in the Lord's house today. Brother Tracy's gonna come with our announcements. We did find this ring right here out in the parking lot. Someone turned it in, lost it. I'm sure it's a very rare stone. It looks very rare. Ruby ring. Brother Tracy. Right. Well. We have camp. Leaving today they'll be leaving. Immediately after the afternoon service. These. Prayer for the kids and workers that are going. Ask for safety as they travel as well. We'll be having a work day next Saturday from 9 to noon. In case of rain will be the following week. If you are planning to come just bring some work gloves. Baby shower that same day for. Morgan Foster. To. Him. The following week June 16th. Father's Day. As always we're going to have outreach. First Saturday of every month so it'll be. By 6 we'll. Next one at 9 a.m. Door hangers writing cards and make. Personal visits. And please be in prayer for vacation Bible school BBS will be. July 14th through the 17th. Team this year is. Wild live. We'll have a VBS meeting following the afternoon service on Sunday June 9th. Start 1 p.m. July 14th. Meeting after that at 6 p.m. And finally there's a youth con the teens will be going to youth. Con July 30th through August 2nd. More information to come after that. As pastor mentioned, please be in prayer for those on our list, our church family. Also be in prayer for the Bushes. All right. Brother Tom, you close us in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, it's really good to be with your people and with our pastor and with the Lord. Our hearts are happy. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Yeah.