Thank you for taking the time to listen to one of the recent sermons preached at Wilton Baptist Church. It is our desire as a church to strive together in building a faith, family, and future that honors and glorifies our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If we can be a help to you in any way, please visit our website at wiltonbaptistchurch.com. It's good to have Pastor Betz back serving with us, so thank you for that good song. 1 Chronicles 16, and your copy of the scriptures today, 1 Chronicles 16. And yesterday, there was a beautiful wedding here, and the couple, I'm sure, will be back maybe in a couple weeks, and you can greet them. And we were praying that I could give a message and talk through the whole ceremony without coughing, and God answered that prayer. That was the first time in several months that I spoke for 30 minutes without coughing. And so I'm really hopeful for when we return, we're going on a short trip to visit family, and we'll be visiting Ohio and Indiana. We'll miss you next week, but look forward to the following Sunday to be back here. And so you can pray that that cough is all the way recovered and healed by the time. That'd be really good by the time we get back. So thank you for your prayers. for the cough recovery and for the travel. A lot of people are traveling this summertime. It's a busy time, and please be sure to plug in to Vacation Bible School and the different events coming up, the teen event coming up this Saturday as well. There was a pastor and a bus driver who went to heaven. The bus driver got a big, beautiful mansion, large rooms, just a beautiful place. The preacher got a one-room house. He went to Peter, I don't know why people think you'd always be talking to Peter, but he went to Peter and said, how come I got a very small place and the bus driver got that big, beautiful house? I preached the good news all of my life. Peter replied, when you preach, people fell asleep. When a bus driver drove, people prayed. We're going to talk about prayer. Of course, that's just a humorous story, but we're going to talk about prayer today. You see the image there of the Ark of the Covenant, and this passage includes the Ark. It would have looked something kind of like the drawing or the rendering there on the screen. The Ark of the Covenant rested in several locations in biblical days. And in fact, just last week I read an article that excavations are underway in Israel in a little place called Shiloh. One of our daughter's middle names is Shiloh. And the Ark rested in Shiloh for 350 years. That was before it actually went up into Jerusalem. And they found what could be the actual tabernacle that was built where they would actually house The Ark. They found a place, they're excavating that, and they're looking at that. That's current, that's happening right now. We know it was in Shiloh because of Joshua 18, it describes that. The Philistines, after it rested in Shiloh, captured it for a time. In 1 Samuel 4, the whole chapter there, Eli was a priest, and his sons and some other people thought, let's take the ark out. We can get some wins in the battle against the Philistines if we take the ark out. They lost the ark. The Philistines captured it, they cut the heads off of Eli and Hophni and Phinehas, the boys of Eli. And so they had the ark for a little bit. The Philistines, they were oppressed by God. By the time you look in 1 Samuel 7, Things are not going good for them. And so they're oppressed by the Lord. They say, we don't want the ark anymore. They gave it back. They didn't want it. So then it ends up in a place called Kirjaz-Jerum. It was there for just a little while. Later on, King Saul becomes the king. He puts it in a place called Nob, N-O-B. David took it to a place called Obed-Edom. And maybe you recall the story in scripture where they put it on a cart, they're pulling it with some animals and The road is bumpy, and the ark starts to fall off of the cart. And a man named Uz, I believe, he reaches up to steady the ark, and he dies immediately. David's very disheartened by this. He should have really carried it like it's made to carry. You see the poles on either side. It was made to be transported under the power of a man holding on to it, or four men holding on to it with their arms. not holding the ark, but the actual staves, the wood going through. Well, in our passage today, David takes the ark to Jerusalem. It's been some time since the incident when the man dies as they were transporting it the first time, and now they're transporting at the right time, and David is excited, and he's praising God in our passage today. Look in the verses beginning in verse one, 1 Chronicles 16. So they brought the ark of God and set it in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it. And they offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings before God. And when David had made an end of offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord. And he dealt to everyone in Israel, both man and woman, to everyone a loaf of bread. and a good piece of flesh, and a phlegon of wine." That word phlegon actually means pressed, something pressed together. It's believed that that's actually like a raisin cake, so it's kind of like dessert there. You've got some meat, you've got some bread, and then a raisin cake for dessert. And he gives that to everyone in Israel. It is a day of celebration. And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord and to record and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel. Asaph, the chief, next to him, Zechariah, Jehiel, Semiramoth, Jehiel, Mataneah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-Edom, Angeal, with their psalteries and harps, but Asaph made a sound with cymbals. Asaph is a musician as well. Benaiah, also Zeal, the priest with trumpets continually before the ark of the covenants of God. And so we find in this passage, and we'll look through down to verse 36, because he gives a song from verse 8 all the way down to verse 36. Now, I'm looking at this and I'm thinking that is a short or actually a rather long song. When you think about how our songs are today, our songs are not very long. In many cases, maybe a stanza or two or three stanzas and you have your chorus. I mean, this goes on for several verses. And it's a lengthy song, put to that Hebrew, Judaic sounding music, perhaps, as it's played. And there's two other psalms, in the book of Psalms, two other psalms that have a lot of the same items mentioned in it. Now when we eat dinner, we say something like this, who's going to give thanks? Or would you return thanks? We'll say something like that. David is returning thanks to God. He's using a song, and at the very beginning of the song, he talks about prayer time and time and time again. and that we should be interested in this for this very reason as well, that with even music, this song is about worshiping God, and it's about offering prayer and offerings and Bible teaching and music and fellowship and gathering and Bible reading and praising God. It was like a church service as they were carrying the ark up to Jerusalem. And so David was praising the Lord. This song teaches us how to praise the Lord and giving thanks to God in prayer. I read a story about a missionary in China a long, long time ago, and he was living a defeated life. Everything seemed to be in touch with sadness, and although he prayed and prayed for months for victory over depression and discouragement, his life remained the same. He was consistently discouraged. He determined to leave his work and go to another place for a while and pray till victory came. So he went to another city, and he reached a place where he found another fellow missionary, and he walked into the home of this missionary who was going to host him for a while, and he saw on the wall this plaque with these words, Try Thanksgiving. Try Thanksgiving. Try giving thanks to God. The words gripped his heart and he thought within himself, have I been praying all this time and yet not praising God? He stopped and began to praise the Lord. It uplifted his heart. And the hiding away to prayer and how he had been agonized when he was praying, now he's included praising God in his prayer. And things started to change in his life. Wonderful blessings came in his soul because he started not just to say, here's all my problems, Lord. Here's all my problems. Here's all my problems. I'm praying. I'm praying. I'm praying. He said, God, thank you for all your blessings. Thank you for all your blessings. And at the same time, you can also then, of course, pray with all the problems and things that you're facing. Notice in verse 8 how it's emphasized that we give thanks. Give thanks unto the Lord. This is the first verse in the song. Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon His name, make known His deeds among the people. The word give thanks, it means to use or to hold out the hand. to physically hold out your hand. I'm going to give thanks. I'm going to return thanks. And so it actually has to do with the motion of your hands. We think of it mostly as something in our mind, or heart, or something I'm thinking. But this word, to give thanks, to return thanks, the extension of the hands. That reminds me of a passage in the New Testament, 1 Timothy 2.8, I will therefore that men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. God wants us to come to him in prayer, very significant, and you can be animated. Some of you are very animated when you talk. You know, you're making motions and this and that. You can do that when you pray to God. You can do that. And giving thanks, Lord, thank you for this blessing. Thank you for your work here. Thank you for answering prayer that you gave to me. Now, notice the word call is used. He says, call, the next part of the verse there, call upon his name. It means to address by his name, to call, to use his name, to cry out, to pronounce a name, almost like I'm gonna call to somebody to get their attention, call. The same word is used in Jeremiah 33, three, call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not. I want to challenge you today with this truth that praising God begins with prayer. Praising God begins with prayer. So we should praise God prayerfully. All of us should consider, how am I praising God? How do I pray? Do I keep asking? Do I keep throwing all my burdens? And we should do that. But in our prayers, we should also include, Lord, thank you for who you are. Thank you for what you've done. Thank you for the gift of salvation. Thank you for answering this prayer. Thank you for working this out. And sometimes, folks, we just need to stop counting our problems and start counting our blessings and tell that to God. And David is doing exactly that. He didn't say, what about this guy who died on the way over here the last time? He didn't say, look at all the problems with these Philistines over here, this problem in the family, this thing over here. He is praising God, and we should do Let's bow for just a moment and give thanks. Father, we do thank you for this passage. And as we look at the next several verses, we pray that you would teach us how to praise you in prayer, how to be thankful in our hearts and to express that very carefully to you. We thank you that you hear our prayers. We thank you that you're meeting with us right now. And we commit ourselves to you that you would use this hour to challenge and change our lives all for your glory. We pray in Jesus' name. So praising God begins with prayer. David blessed the Lord and the people blessed the Lord as the ark was coming in to Jerusalem. Now notice in verse 7, On that day, David delivered this first, the very first thing he did that day, delivered first this psalm, that's this psalm that we're looking at, to thank the Lord into the hand of Asaph and all his brethren. Now, it describes some of these people here who were used of God. Notice how those who are recording in verse 4, he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord and to record. He found some people with good handwriting. If I was there, he wouldn't have asked me to help him out, because my handwriting's not that sharp. Maybe he would have asked you. But whatever the case is, he found some people that were good at recording and writing out in Hebrew what was taking place on that day. And then he gives this whole list of things that he's thankful for, and this prayer, and this way of worship, and this whole song, all of it is written down and recorded. I wonder, in our lives, if I ask you this, you may have this, do you have a prayer list? And you would say, I probably do. You know, on Wednesday nights, I come and I write down some names and I'll use that prayer list for that week. And it has names of people who need salvation, people who are recovering, people who are going to have a surgery, problems that are happening. And so maybe you have a prayer list. We should have a prayer list. So let me ask a follow up question to that then. Do you have a praise list? Do you have a praise list? Lord, thank you for this family member. Thank you for this answered prayer. Thank you for, and then have a whole list. I challenge you that if you do not have a praise list, that you would develop one. Just get a sheet of paper and start writing some things down that God has done in your life. There's so much to thank God for. If you are struggling with your emotions, and I'm discouraged, or I'm down and out. It's summertime, but I feel like it's the dead of winter in my soul. And I'm just having such a struggle with life and circumstances, and I don't know what all is going on. If you feel like that, if you feel like that all the time, often, or some of the time, here's something that will help you. Write out 100 blessings that God has given to you in your life. 100 sounds like a lot. You mean 100? Listen, when you get to 100, you'll say, That wasn't that hard. I think I can come up with another hundred. You really would. Start counting your blessings. It'll help you in so many emotional and spiritual ways. And then in your times of prayer, express thankfulness, verbalize praise to God for his work. Now notice in verse six how these men are there continually, Benaiah and Jehaziel, the priests with trumpets, continually before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. Now, when you read continually, you think, okay, they are there on Saturday, they are there on Sunday, I'm talking like in the Hebrew week, They're there on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. They're back there at Saturday, and they're just blowing those horns all the time. You know, I can't get that music out of my head because they keep blowing those horns. That's not what they're doing. The word continually means every time there was a set time with the people to get around the ark, they were playing their horns. They were playing their instruments. They were playing their music, if you would, and they were doing what God had called them to do. It doesn't mean every moment, but what continually means in this context, in this passage, means at consistent times, but it's not only consistent times, but at set times, at appointed times. For example, we have Sunday school that meets at 10 o'clock. That's a set time. It meets from 10 to about 1045. We have a morning worship service that you come to this morning, and I'm glad for that. Okay, it starts at 11 o'clock. And I try as best as possible that we ensure that it starts right at 11 o'clock. I like to start right on time, you know, top, top type thing. And it goes for a certain period of time. Then we have a 6 o'clock on Sunday night. It's that time. It's an appointed time. That's what the word continually means. We have a prayer time at 6.30 on Wednesdays, and then between 7 o'clock and 7.10 generally we transition from a prayer time corporately together to a Bible preaching. We'll sing some songs to the Lord. and will gather around the Bible for a Bible study. Those are set times. And so the word continually means these guys got there and they started to do the thing that God had called them to do at specific times. Now, when you think about that and make that application to church like we are doing, if I'm coming late consistently, I'm going to miss maybe the first prayer. I'm going to miss the first song that's sung. And guess what? I'm missing part of the appointed time. If I leave early, if I leave early, I may miss the final prayer. I may miss one of the most important times of the church service, which is the invitation where we are responding back to what God's doing in my life. I may miss one of the songs that are sung at the very end if I leave early. If I get here late, if I leave early, I may miss something as part of the appointed time of the service of meeting with God. And so it's very important to be here. It's also important to be here during the actual appointed times that are happening as well. So I want to encourage you with that. Praising God begins with prayer, and praising God should be done prayerfully. Some people say they're praising God, but it's sloppy. Very sloppy. It's not planned. It's like, well, you know, if it happens, it happens. Maybe you'll praise God, maybe not. but that's not the way that it should be, maybe not thought out. We should be premeditated. We should be very purposeful. I am praising God. I am actively thinking, conscientiously listing what God has done, how good God is, has been to me, and is, and I'm gonna purposefully tell him that. It's a planned out thing. So plan in your heart and life, I wanna praise the Lord. Here's a good question, is prayer, the steering wheel of your life or the spare tire of your life? A lot of times we resort to prayer just like, oh, last resort, man. You know, life's in a tank. I hadn't met with God for a long time, but now I'm gonna put the spare tire on. Now I'll spend time with God in prayer. Why not let prayer be the steering wheel of your life to meet with God rather than a spare tire? One preacher was preaching in a church, filling the pulpit of a friend. And so he went to that church on that first Sunday, and he was going to give the message, and he found a little note up there on the pulpit, and it said these words. It said, don't pray over two minutes. My people aren't used to it. To go on for two minutes. I've read a book somebody compiled that the Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon, They took his prayers, they took his prayers and put it into a book, and it's called The Pastor in Prayer. I'm about halfway through that book, and I like to read that occasionally. And one chapter takes me about 20 minutes to read. And that was his public prayer for Sundays. For me to read it, not saying it out loud, it takes about 20 minutes. That was their public prayer. You know, I think some of us will go to sleep, I'd almost be like, man, is that guy gonna finish praying? Let's go on to something else. I'm being honest with you, you'd think the same thing. How do we do praying at home when it's just you and God? You know, five minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, oh man, that's just, what is it like for you? So then let's address this question, how can we praise God in prayer? We were talking about prayer last week, this week we're talking about prayer some more, What should we do in prayer? How can we look at this? Verses 8 through 36 is this long song that we mentioned. And so here's this message, how to praise God in prayer. Notice number one, rehearse his praise. Rehearse his praise. Verses 8 through 11. Give thanks unto the Lord. Call upon his name. Make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him. Sing songs unto him. and talk ye of all his wondrous works. Glory ye in his holy name. Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord and his strength. Seek his face continually. You get the idea when that word call is used and also when that word seek is used. Seek ye first the kingdom of God. Seek the Lord. And we get the idea of prayer. We use the term sometimes for prayer. And we pray to God. And when we pray, we should rehearse his praise. His name is powerful. It's a powerful name, very clear in verse 8 and also verse 10. Notice we call unto or upon God. We call to His name and we pray to Him. We address Him. We get his attention, if you would. And last week we learned we pray in an awesome name, the name of Jesus Christ. That's the authority by which we are able to get into the presence of God. One person said that although the discipline of prayer, the pathway to God may not bring the coveted miracle that you're praying for. The Christian is challenged to continue conversations with God. Not that the father needs to be reminded of human problems. so much as mankind needs to be reminded of God's presence and God's power. And so his prayerful name, praise God for that. We can glory in his name. The word glory is used here, it's the word halal, and it means to be clear. The word sometimes is used to be clear, like as a sound. I can hear that sound, it's very clear. Sometimes it's used to give glory, the word glory, when it has to do with a color, like the color gold or yellow, depending on how your eyes work, that's very clear to me. Sometimes that word is connected to hearing very clearly or seeing very clearly glory. Think about it this way. I see very clearly God's glory. When I hear God's voice, I hear His glory in His voice. It is crystal clear. Glory in His name. And the word glory continues in its definition to make a show, to boast, to rave, and to celebrate. I'm going to celebrate God. I'm going to glorify God. I can hear Him very clearly. I can see Him very clearly. It's just amazing who God is. I want to glorify Him. So how can we glorify His name? Here are several ways throughout Scripture. We can give a sacrifice. That happens in 1 Chronicles 16, verse 29, and we'll get to that verse in just a little bit. Here's a verse that has to do with the very same thing, Psalm 96, 8. So you can glorify God with a sacrifice, with an offering, going to church. coming to his courts with thanksgiving, coming to his courts with praise, meeting with God, meeting with God's people. We're here, and guess who else is here? It's God. It's not just me and you. There's another person in this room with us today, and it's God himself. And so give a sacrifice, go to church, live holy. Psalm 29.2, given to the Lord, the glory due unto his name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Holiness is a beautiful thing to God. we should be happy. Psalm 105.3, glory ye in his holy name. Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. If I have the poochie lip all the time. If I have a pouty mouth, pouty like, oh, everything's not good, you know, and poochy lip, like that, you know, and I don't practice that that much. Maybe I should practice that so I could illustrate it better for you. But if you live like that, that's not glorifying God. It's not. If that's your expression and that's how you live your life, that's not glorifying God. Complaining tongues, discontent hearts, Do not glorify God. We should be happy in Jesus. We should be happy in him. Next then, we have this power, this powerful work of God in verse nine. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works. And notice how we're to make known his deeds. In verse nine, among the people make known his deeds. David was praising God because here's what the ark represented. As they were bringing the ark in, The Levites are carrying it in here, and they're going up to Jerusalem. They don't go, there's no temple there, there's no temple there yet. They're going somewhere in Jerusalem, and going up to Jerusalem's always uphill, somewhere on Mount Zion is where they're headed. So they're going uphill, and David is rejoicing because everywhere that ark has been, everywhere that ark has been, it has represented the presence of God. the presence of God. And we don't have a picture of it up there again, but between the two cherubim was a seat, if you would, or it was called a throne. And it was whenever out in the wilderness, whenever God would meet with Moses or he would meet with the people, the presence of God would descend upon the tabernacle. and the presence of God would descend upon that ark. Everywhere it went, it represented the presence of the Lord. And David was rejoicing. This means that our God is meeting with us in Jerusalem. And folks, think about how different it is, how much better it is for us as Christians today, after the resurrection. because Jesus said, I will never leave thee, Lord, for safety. He's always with us. He ascended. He said, I'll send you another comforter. He sends his Holy Spirit. The presence of God is always, always in the life of the Christian. And he says to tell other people about it in this verse, we should be rejoicing that we have the presence of God in our life. He says, go tell other nations about it. Think about the gospel privilege that we have. The message is a privilege to give out. It's also a responsibility to give the good news to those around us. So rehearse his phrase. Number two, remember his promises. Remember his promises, verse 12 to verse 26. Remember his marvelous works that he hath done. his wonders and the judgments of his mouth. O ye seed of Israel, his servant, ye children of Jacob, his chosen one, he is the Lord our God. His judgments are in all the earth. Be ye mindful always of his covenant, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. even of the covenant which he made with Abraham, and of his oath unto Isaac." Keep in mind this is a song, this is a tune, it was put to a tune or to music. "...and hath confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant, saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance, when we were..." but a few, even a few, and strangers in it. And when they went from nation to nation, and from one kingdom to another people, he saw for no man to do them wrong, yea, he reproved the kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. Sing unto the Lord all the earth. Show forth from day to day his salvation. Declare his glory among the heathen, his marvelous works among all nations. where great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. He also is to be feared above all gods, where all the gods of the people are idols, but the Lord made the heavens." We need to remember his promises. When you pray, rehearse his praise. Just count those blessings and say it to God. Remember his promises. Now, we have a lot of Bible promises that are for us. A lot of these promises in this passage were to the people of Israel in particular. when they were in Egypt, and then later on when they were wandering in the desert. These were particular ones to them. Notice his work in verse 12, the wonders. God gave Israel the promised land. God said hundreds of years before, and God delivered on the promise. He delivered them from their enemies, just like He said He would do. God made a promise to David. David, I'm going to give you the kingdom. And there will always be somebody on the kingdom in the line of David. And He came through on that promise, and that continues even today. When you think about when Christ comes back in the millennial kingdom. He appeared to his people, just like 1 Kings 9.3 says, the Lord said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication that thou hast made before me. I have hallowed this house which thou hast built to put my name there forever, and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually. He appeared to his people and said, I'm going to let my presence be made known, and He came through on that promise. That's His work. How about His Word? We read it several times. We have the word judgments in verse 12. That's a word that's used throughout Scripture. to describe the Word of God. We have the word judgments again in verse 14, and also the word word in verse 15. If you read Psalm 119, you'll know what I'm talking about. There's 10 different terms that are used as descriptions or names for the Bible. So we see some of those here. We have his work today. His Word as well. Remember His promises in His Word. Notice the judgments of His mouth, things that God said. Psalm 19, 9. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous all together. Not only do we have His work and His Word, we have His will. We can remember His promises, the ones He made to Israel, the ones He made for us as well. We're looking at a passage in the Old Testament. An Old Testament covenant. And I just read part of the covenant. It was rehearsing part of the covenant there in verses 16 through 23. Today we have the New Testament. Thank God for that. We have promises in particular to us who are living today. And then he mentions creation. There's the world creation in verse 24 through 26. In particular, verse 26, it's the Lord God who made the heavens. All the gods of the people are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. It was God's will to give the Old Testament and that first covenant, and it's God's will to give us the New Testament and the second covenant, the covenant of blood through the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And then the world creation. that it was all God's plan. Everything's falling out according to the plan, the will of God. So remember his promises, be thankful for those, rehearse his praise, and then number three, rejoice in his presence. Rejoice in his presence. We emphasize how David was excited, the ark was gonna be there, but notice as the passage in the song continues, verse 27. Glory and honor are in his presence. Strength and gladness are in his place. Given to the Lord, ye kindreds of the people. Given to the Lord, glory and strength. given to the Lord the glory due unto his name. Bring an offering and come before him. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Fear before him all the earth. The world also shall be stable, that it be not moved. Let the heavens be glad. Let the earth rejoice. And let men say among the nations, the Lord reigneth. Let the sea roar and the fullness thereof. Let the fields rejoice in all that is therein. Then shall the trees of the woods sing out at the presence of the Lord, because he cometh to judge the earth. O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. And say ye, Save us, O God, in our salvation, and gather us together, and deliver us from the heathen, that we may give thanks to thy holy name, and glory in thy praise. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel forever and ever. And all the people said, Amen. and praised the Lord." That term, amen, when you hear somebody say, amen, it means so be it. It's an affirmation of what's being said. I'm in agreement with that, and I'm thanking the Lord for it publicly by saying amen. And so rejoice in his presence. One of the greatest tragedies in life is not unanswered prayer, It's unoffered prayer. And you think about praise and connect that. We need to be praising God as well. How do we do that? How do we understand his presence and rejoice in it? We need to be going to him. In verse 27, going to the Lord. Glory and honor are in his presence. How do we get into the presence of God? Last week we looked at this. It's going through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have access to the Lord Himself, to God Himself. We can go to the throne room of grace by the grace of God. We can go right in there through the name of Christ. So be going to Him. And when we go to God, we have His glory and honor in verse 27. That's because our lives are with Him. Glory and honor are in His presence. So when I come to God, I'm in His presence in prayer. I'm ushered into the throne room of God because of Jesus Christ. My prayers, I'm going right in, in before the Lord in prayer. And through Christ, let the face of God shine upon you. His glory and honor are right there. Spend time with God. How am I spending time with God? The Bible reading and prayer. That's a conversation with God. God's word talks to us. We talk to the Lord in prayer. Be going to him in Bible reading and prayer. And while we see his glory and honor, we have his strength and his gladness. It's evident in our lives because we're with him. We're with him. Now, how is it that some Christians can endure such troubles and other Christians are like this, trouble, trouble, and it's always up and down, up and down, and it's like they're not enduring. We're going through different passages about the root system, Christian roots, if you would, on Wednesday nights. How is it that some seem to be enduring and others are not? It's because some are spending more time in his presence than others are. It all has to do with the presence of God, our being in the presence of God. Now, God is always with us. Aren't you glad for that? I mean, we have the promise, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. The Holy Spirit takes up residence. He's living in your heart if you're saved today. Our problem is not that God's not with us when we're having those low moments and when we're going up and down so much. I'm not with God. I'm not with God. God is always with us, but we're not always with Him. For example, you can be in the same room as one other person, but your mind could be somewhere else. God's always with us, but sometimes our mind is somewhere else. The direction of our heart is somewhere else. And so He's always with us, it's when we get off onto other things. The preacher I mentioned, Spurgeon, he said this in one of his messages I was looking at recently. He said, first, allow me to address the children of God. Do you not see, my dear brethren, the best mark of your being sons of God is to be found in our devotion? Behold, he prayeth." And he was quoting a passage. Well then, does it not follow as a natural consequence that the more we are found in prayer, the brighter our lives and our evidences will be? Perhaps we have lost the evidence this morning of being with the Lord. You do not know whether you're a child of God or not. I will tell you that you lost your confidence, you lost it in your closet." He was talking about a prayer closet. I speak what I have felt. I have often gone back from God, never to fall. So finally, I know that I have often lost that sweet savor of His love, which I once enjoyed, and I've had to cry. Those peaceful hours I once enjoyed, how sweet their memory is still. and they have left an aching void the world can never fill." This great preacher, he went on to say, I've gone up to God's house to preach without fire or energy. I've read the Bible. There's been no light upon it. I've tried to have communion with God, but it's all been a failure. Shall I tell you where it commenced? It commenced in my prayer closet. I had ceased in a measure to pray. Here I stand and do confess my faults. I do acknowledge that whenever I depart from God, it is there it doth begin. Oh, Christians, would you be happy? Be much in prayer. Would you be victorious? Be much in prayer. Prayer is the ship that bringeth the richest freight home. It is the soil which yields the most abundant harvest. And brother, when you rise in the morning to do your business, and the business presses upon you that you're hurried, you're hurried, and you go down into the world and you're hurried, and all you do maybe is give God the end of the day. He went on in that passage to say, why not just start the day out with God? Aren't we so pressed? Man, we get up, We put our feet out of the bed, we touch the ground, and it's like a lift off, boom. Let's go get it done. Go get it done. We gotta pray. We gotta stop and pray. We need to be giving glory to him, verse 28 and 29. Your glory, you can give to God. Your strength, you can give to God. Your respect, you can give to God by glorifying his name. Your offerings, you can give to God. Your worship, you can give to God. in the beauty of holiness. And finally this, be glad in him. There are six ways that the Bible speaks about being glad. There are six ways, I'll just read them quickly to you. By meditation, Psalm 104, 34, that's spending time with God. By being quiet, I find it interesting, kind of like that be still, know I am God. By being quiet, that's Psalm 107, verse 30. By rejoicing, that's one way to be glad in Jesus in Psalm 118, 24. Psalm 119, 74 says to fear the Lord and to have hope in the word of God. And so if we have fear of God, we are glad. because we're hoping in the Word of God. Psalm 122.1, let us go into the house of the Lord. So meeting with the Lord on a consistent basis with the people of God, that can help you be glad in the Lord. In Psalm 126, verse three, the Lord has done great things for us, whereof we are glad. In other words, count your blessings. Count your blessings. When upon life's billows your tempest tossed, when you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done. Are you ever burdened with a load of care? Does the cross seem heavy? You are called to bear. Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly, and you will be singing as the days go by. When you look at others with their lands and gold, think that Christ has promised you his wealth untold. Count your many blessings. Money cannot buy your reward in heaven, nor your home on high. Count your blessings. Folks, let's be a people who practice actively when we pray. praising the Lord. Let's bow together for a moment to meet with God. Thank you for your listening and participating in the service today. Praising God begins with prayer. The Bible says that we can learn and teach one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual singing. That's what David was doing. He taught us in that passage, in that song, how to pray and how to give thanks to God. Maybe you need to rehearse his praise more often. Maybe there's some promises you just need to thank God for and remember those. Maybe there's some rejoicing that needs to take place. I hadn't been as happy as I need to be in Christ. I need to rejoice that he's right here with me. Count my blessings that he's given to me in my life. Maybe in our invitation you say this in response to the first question, I see the need for more time in prayer. I see the need for more time in prayer. God has challenged me with that. May God help me spend more time in prayer. I see that as a need. Anyone in your life, just raise your hand quickly. God bless you. A lot of hands, good. I think all of us honestly could say, God help me pray more, to spend more time with you each day. And maybe you'd like to make this promise to God. Lord, I want to dedicate myself to praying more. Maybe it's five more minutes. Friends, it won't happen if you don't set a time. Remember the appointed time earlier we talked about, a continual time? You need to set a time for it. Maybe you need to stop everything, turn the device off, set it down, turn the computer off, set the phone aside, and get alone with God. It takes some discipline when you think about it. It takes some planning to pray and to meet with God. Lord, I dedicate myself to praying more. Maybe it's five more minutes. Maybe you have some other length of time in mind, but Lord, help me to pray a little bit more. I'm dedicating myself to this. If it means setting a time, turning something off, changing the schedule, Lord, I want to spend more time with you in prayer. Anyone like that, you want to make that promise to God. God bless you. Good. God bless you. Very good. Let's do that. Just a short time, you can put your hands down. Just a short time, we have a teen event. Teenagers can be saved there. Teenagers can be called to ministry. We have a vacation Bible school where young people are gonna hear the gospel and families in turn can be touched with the power of the gospel. We need to pray for that. The revival meeting is just about 32 or 33 days away. We need to pray that God would do a great work in our hearts and lives. and that we have a terrific outpouring of the blessing of God here. Let's take these things to God in prayer. With God's help, let's do that. If you wouldn't stand as the piano begins to play, however God's working in your life, take a moment, meet with God. Give him that decision that you just made. Lord, help me with that prayer. Making that time, changing the schedule, whatever needs to be done. Let me praise you. Maybe I've been asking. Maybe I've been complaining, here's all my problems. Let's count some blessings and then express that to God. His presence is just as real to you and it should be just as real to you as it was for David when that ark came into town. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the fact that we can pray that we have this incredible privilege in the name of Christ to come into your presence. We do pray that as we offer up our requests and problems and what should we do about this or that, that at the same time would calm our hearts and focus our attention on how good you are and the blessings you've bestowed. And let us take time to praise you and to rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ. Many folks raised your hand, making commitments to pray more. Lord, I pray that you would enable them by your Spirit. Let them be reminded of this each day. And we ask for your help with all these decisions. Thank you for hearing our prayers. Thank you for this passage and good example it is for us. We ask for your blessing as we go from here. We look forward to what you'll do again tonight. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Well, thank you for being here with us today. And my family, we're going to drive a little bit today and then stop and get halfway to help us visit with some more of our family members who are getting sick at this time. And so we pray for us. Josh, your car's going to bring a great message tonight. That's at six o'clock. And then we'll have some good fellowship following. I think we have a couple of announcements. So have a good afternoon. Thank you. As I mentioned, this Saturday, we have our Teen Summer Spectacular. We do have a few slots that could be filled if you can help volunteer from 11 o'clock to 3 o'clock this Saturday. You would see my wife or myself today, and we can plug you in a few places, but if nothing else, please be praying for that. We have quite a few youth groups from around the area that'll be coming, and then a youth pastor from up in the Hudson Falls area that'll be preaching, and so pray for that day that God will bless in a multitude of ways. There's some lists of things up on the bulletin board out there. If you can help with any of the items for doing some summertime cleanup, please see that, and you can get to that this week, and to be able to help make this area look nice that God's given us. Tonight, we'll continue with the volleyball and cornhole. If you'd like to stay afterwards, we'll do both of those. We'll put the cornhole out and then have the volleyball set up as well. And so if you'd like to stay around and fellowship after the evening service, please plan on doing that tonight as well. And then teenagers, don't forget next Monday, we leave for camp and we'll be leaving about 10 o'clock in the morning. So parents, I'll have something for you on Wednesday. And if I don't see you Wednesday, I'll have it for you Sunday. for everything for that but let's be praying for the teenagers as they get ready to go there as well that God would work in a mighty way in their hearts and lives. And then last but not least we are in need of a couple more people to help this year to be a part of the Wilton Baptist Bible Institute and that meets on Thursday nights and meets for about 17 weeks if you're interested. We are taking applications today and through the next couple weeks so if you're interested you can see myself or pastor or even my wife and we'd be glad to get you signed up for that. It's a great way to be able to get involved in the Word of God, to be able to study, and you can take it for a three-year timeframe and be able to get some credit for that, even for some classes as well. And so if you're able or willing, please see us and we'll be able to get you some more information on that. All right, let's sing our closing song. What a day, glorious day that will be. What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see, and I look upon His face, the one who saved me by His grace. When He takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land, what a day, glorious day, that will be.