So good to be with you again this morning. It's been a while. I went to look up when the last time we were here was, and I couldn't find out because I had gotten a new laptop just before I went to Zambia last month because my other one died. And not, well, not everything transferred. the right way to my new one. So I have no idea when the last time was I was here. But anyway, we are thankful to be here with you this morning. Denise told me that you changed the time of your service, that it ends at 1130. So I'm going to have to be quick. She did say just kidding. But maybe she wasn't, though. I don't know. But again, Jennifer and I are really thankful to be here with you. We're thankful for God's provision for you, for your new pastor. I had a nice conversation with him. And just praise the Lord. It took a while, but it sounds like he really blessed. And so we're really rejoicing with you on that. I just got back a couple of weeks ago now from Zambia. We were in Zambia, I was, and May, my wife, did it, accompanied me this time. So it was really, both were very long trips without her. So May and July, we were there for two weeks each time. And so it's been two weeks now since I've been back, and I was thinking back on that on last year. We did the same thing last year, May and July. We went to Zambia, and then we moved on August 15th. So we were home for two weeks before we moved from Massachusetts to New Hampshire, Concord, New Hampshire. So in a couple of days, it'll be about a year since we have been in Concord, New Hampshire. Takes a little longer to get here from Concord than it did from Lowell area in Massachusetts, but we're happy to be here. We moved up to Concord. Most people, when they're our age, they downsize and they go south. We upsized and went north. So it's been a little change for us. It's funny, it's a little bit less than an hour north of where we were before, but it's like light years difference. And it's been a while trying to get used to everything there, but we're thankful. Our daughter lives on the same street. That was kind of our requirement to move there. If there was a house for sale on the same street, we would consider moving. And I don't know if it's fortunately or unfortunately, a house came up for sale on the same street, and so we moved. So praise the Lord. Our daughter has two children. Our son-in-law and daughter have two children. I probably told you this before, they're adopted twin girls, they're 12 now, and they're a little bit of a handful, so we're thankful that we can be a little bit closer and be a help to them. And since that time, God's plans are always, you know, They're unknown to us, but they're known to God. And since that time, our daughter has come down with some medical issues that really make it important for us to be there. And God knew that. We didn't. And so we're thankful that we can be there. I got this really long paper for my notes here. don't usually, so I'm gonna be lost in my paperwork here. Anyway, I'm thankful this past week, I've been just really praying about what to share with you this morning, and I trust that the Lord has directed me to what would be appropriate for all of us. I know it was just an encouragement to me. I remember years ago, Well, probably not that many years ago, but I was reflecting back. I have been safe since 1987. I was 37 years old at that time. And I'm one year short of doubling that age. So, I'm 73 now. So, half my life I was unsaved, half my life I've been safe basically. And I do praise the Lord for saving me. And this psalm, Psalm 37, we'll be looking at this morning. This psalm, I can't always remember things like a week ago, so don't trust me to remember things like 36 years ago. But Psalm 37 was such a blessing to me at the time of my salvation. A lot of things were going on at that time. I gave up my business as a dentist. My mother was working for me at the time, so she lost her job. There were all kinds of issues within the family. and so on, so it was a time of rejoicing in the sense of my salvation. My wife had prayed for almost 14 years, so praise the Lord, you know, God was faithful in answering that prayer. But it wasn't an easy time for us back then, both personally with family issues and such and also financially, but God was so faithful to us. I remember Psalm 37 was a psalm that I read, I would say every day I read this psalm for a period of time, probably years, a few years, Psalm 37, because of the message in it and just what was going on in our lives. And I was trying to figure out what to title this. I'm not really big on titles, but I guess the thing I came up with was don't be afraid to trust God with your life. Don't be afraid to trust God with your life. God is so faithful. And this psalm talks about, well, one person titled it, The Heritage of the Righteous and the Calamity of the Wicked. So it's really a contrast between righteousness and wickedness. It's kind of a section here. Psalm 34 is pretty much the same kind of a subject matter. And so comparing the righteous with the wicked. And one of the impetus for this, for me looking at this psalm was, I was reading this past week, just a story in the news story, doesn't really mean anything, but this particular rich man had just bought a house in Florida for $65 million. $65 million. And you know, it just kind of struck me at the time, not that I was, like, envious, but I'm like, I would love to live in a $65 million house for one day. You know, I mean, for one day, just to see what it would be like. $65 million. I'm sure it wasn't worth $65 million in terms of the house. It's probably more where it was, next door to Tiger Woods and that. But, you know, sometimes, Sometimes as Christians we can get envious of the world and worldly people and what they have compared to what we have. And I felt that way for a little bit. I don't know how long. 10 years, no. Just this week, I just felt that way for a short period of time that, man, to be able to even have that much money to think about spending it on a house. I'd like to be there for just a short period of time. But you know what? With God, we have much more than that, much more than that. And so this Psalm 37, it tells me in my Bible it's a psalm of David. It's more of a teaching psalm, kind of more like a Proverbs chapter, more so than like a devotional type of a psalm. There's a lot of bullet points, we'll say, in it. So it's not so much a psalm of devotion, but it's a psalm that really I think helps us to put things in place in our lives and what God has done and what God will continue to do in our lives. One person called it the great riddle of the prosperity of the wicked and the affliction of the righteous. Prosperity of the wicked. Sometimes we struggle with that. Prosperity of the wicked. Or we can say the unsaved. Unsaved sounds a little bit nicer, but it's the same kind of thing. But the prosperity of the wicked. Have you ever felt that way? I don't know. I think at times I feel that way. That, you know, it doesn't seem to make sense to me. But obviously it makes sense. This is what God has. And I remember when I gave up my business, And my wife and I, our two children, you know, we had nothing. We had nothing. And we were really in a bad way financially. And I remember an event that one time this well-meaning person, we needed a new car. And so this well-meaning person gave us their car. And it would have been better to have given it to the junkyard, but they gave it to us. And I remember thinking, This car is just junk. And one day, I was in my driveway. I had to change the radiator in this car. And I am not a mechanic. I'll say that right at the beginning. I am not a mechanic. I looked at it. I mean, this was an old car. I can't even remember what kind it was, but it was an old car, and I looked, okay, it seemed like it would be relatively easy to change the radiator in this car. And I'll say I did it. I really did it. And it didn't leak. I mean, the car ran after this. I really did it. I was really proud of myself. But I barely know how to change the oil in a car. In fact, I don't change the oil. I take it somewhere else. Let other people do it. But I remember I was in my driveway with this junk car changing the radiator. And the person I knew drove up. And I knew this person had money. And I just, I wanted to hide. I felt like, here I am with this junk car, trying to change the radiator. Here comes this person that I knew, and I knew they had a lot of money. But leave it to God. Leave it to God to make sense out of something like that. This person that I was embarrassed in front of handed me a check for $10,000. Now, how often does that happen? Not very often. I wish it happened more, but, you know, it doesn't happen very often. But here I was embarrassed at this time. to be in the situation I was in compared myself with the situation that this person was in. But God used that, used that person to meet a real need that we had at that time. And so Psalm 37 has been special to me. I would like to take the time to read the whole Psalm before we start looking at it, but I gotta be done by 1030, so I can't take that time. But basically in this Psalm, David recommends eight things to us to help us to understand that we don't have to worry about the wicked. We don't have to be envious of the wicked. And we don't have to be afraid to trust God with our lives because God is so faithful. He cares about us. He loves us. And so in the beginning of the Psalm, verse one, Psalm 37, he says, fret not thyself because of evil doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For why they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb. Fret not. Don't be angry. Don't get agitated about these evildoers. And don't be envious. Don't be envious of them. It's interesting. These two verses I just read, if we go ahead to Proverbs chapter 24, I remember I was reading Psalm 37 every day, and I was reading five Proverbs every day for a long time. I should get back to that, it was such a blessing. And so in Proverbs chapter 24, verse 19, it says this, fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked. For there shall be no reward, no reward to the evil man. The candle of the wicked shall be put out. Now it's interesting as I was looking at this psalm in more detail, I read that during this time, the time of David, people didn't understand the afterlife. People thought, okay, when people die, they die. But we know when people die, they stand before God, right? And the wicked, those who have never trusted in Jesus Christ as their Savior, God will say, depart from me, I never knew you. But for those of us who have trusted Jesus Christ as our Savior, we'll be ushered into eternity with God, into heaven. What a contrast, what a contrast, and what a blessing. But people during this time of David, they thought, okay, you know, they die. We die, they die. You know, it doesn't seem fair, but no, it is fair. God rewards the righteous and he punishes the wicked. So don't be envious. Don't be angry or jealous of these people. In Proverbs again, chapter three, verse 31, We'll go back and forth here a little bit. Proverbs chapter three, verse 31. Again, similar thought here. Envy thou not the oppressor and choose none of his ways. Choose none of his ways. One of the things that I was thinking about that brought my attention to the psalm again is in a few, not next month, but in October, I have to speak in a chapel in a Christian college. And I've been praying about, Lord, show me what to speak on. And actually, I thought, OK, Psalm 37. You know, the college-age kids that that probably battling with some of these issues, envious of those that are seemingly prospering in the time that we're living in. In Proverbs 23, verse 17, again, we have a similar thought. Proverbs 23, verse 17. It's a lot harder to find verses up here than it is in the pew. Proverbs 23, verse 17. Let not thine heart envy sinners, but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. Don't be envious of sinners. Now, I don't go around in my life, I don't want you to think I do, but I don't go around in my life being envious of sinners or the wicked. I'm not envious of those who have a lot of this world's goods or pleasures in this world. I am not. I'm so thankful to be saved. I'm so thankful for what God has done in my life. I'm so thankful what God has given us and has not given us. I mean, God has just been so faithful to us, my wife and I, and our family. And I am not really envious of the wicked, but as we look at the news today and the wickedness in our world and what is going on, and sometimes we say, God, just come down and punish these people, you know what I mean? Do something, but no, that's not. That's not God's way. And so anyway, so David tells us, he gives us these eight recommendations. And it's not going to take that long to go through eight of them. So I have five minutes. No, I won't say that again. So anyway. The first one is this fret not, don't be agitated, don't be angry, don't let it cause your spirit to be upset that the wicked prosper in the world that we live in. What does it say in verse three, the second recommendation? Trust in the Lord. And trust in the Lord. The second recommendation is probably the biggest recommendation, although I could say that about all of them. But trust in the Lord. Have faith. Have confidence in the Lord. Trust in the Lord. And what does it say at the end of that phrase? And do good. Trust in the Lord and do good. Be busy. Be busy. Be actively obedient to God. Be actively obedient to God. Serve the Lord with what? Gladness. Serve the Lord with gladness. Be excited about serving the Lord. Be excited about what you're doing for the Lord. There's joy in serving Jesus, right? I mean, there's joy in serving Jesus. Let that be the thing that helps you to separate this maybe sometimes envious feeling between the prosperity of the wicked and the needs that a lot of Christians have, financial needs and whatever. Trust in the Lord, Proverbs chapter three verse five says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not, what, on your own understanding. We can never understand this, we'll say dichotomy between the prosperity of the wicked. Don't try to figure it out and don't be envious of the wicked. There's joy in serving Jesus. And let that be the thing that helps you in that problem that you might have. Our outward attitude depends on our inward, what's going on inside of us in our heart and our heart's relationship with God. I mentioned we were in Zambia in May and July, two weeks each time. We had a team of people. I think 17 in May and 13, 12 in July. During that time, during that time, four weeks, four weeks in Zambia, probably like 15 days of clinic time, almost 2,000 people heard the gospel. 2,000 people. It was 19 something. 2,000 people. There's joy in serving Jesus. How many places can you go and in 15 days share the gospel with 2,000 people? How long would it take you to walk the streets of Palmer, Massachusetts and share the gospel with 2,000 people? I'm so thankful for the ministry God has gave us. I looked it up today. I am not a numbers person. People ask me, oh, how many teeth have you taken out? How many patients have you seen over your lifetime? I have no idea. I have no idea. The teeth thing is probably like thousands, thousands of teeth. I have no idea. About 2,000 people in 15 days. This morning, just this morning, I said, OK, I got to, I was curious. I got to look this up. So we've been, I think, 30-some times out of the country doing this kind of ministry. in some ministry in the states over the years, 26 years now, it's been. And if we say, if we say, okay, 37 times, if we say, okay, 100 people heard the gospel each time, so how many people is that? I don't know, 3,700 times. If you say 500 people heard the gospel, How many people is that? I have no idea. I mean, but, you know, we have to see. We have to see how God is using us in our life today. Each of us, not just me. I mean, and it's not just me that goes on these trips. It's not because of me. It's just, this is the way it happens. The third recommendation is in verse four. Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart. Delight thyself in the Lord. Find your pleasure in God, not in things. Find your pleasure in God, not in things. I have this running battle with my wife. I wanna buy a boat. I want to buy a boat. She says, where are you going to put it? I'm like, I don't know. She says, there's no water around us. I said, doesn't matter. I want to buy a boat. Then I say, OK, if I can't have a boat, I want to buy a pickup truck. She says, what do you need that for? I don't know. I just want to buy one. Now I want to buy a trailer. She says, what are you going to put on the trailer? I don't know. I mean, you know, that's just a utility trailer. Then she gets scared when I say, I want to buy a motorcycle. Things. Now, there's nothing wrong with having all of those things. And people do. There's nothing wrong with that. But we need to delight ourselves in the Lord. Find our pleasure in the Lord. That is going to counteract any envy we have towards the wicked, keeping in mind where the wicked end up and where the righteous end up. If we are delighting in the Lord, we are going to be seeking things that are pleasing to who? To him. delighting in the Lord. We're going to be doing things that are pleasing to him. I remember when I was saved. Well, I don't remember. I remember being saved sometime in the past, March 27, actually. I remember the day, 1987. So anyway, I remember at that time, well, shortly after that time, telling God, I want to serve you with my life. And somebody would say, well, what do you want to do? I have no idea. I want to serve the Lord with my life. And I remember telling the Lord, even if it meant not being a dentist. I mean, some people say, yeah, you shouldn't be a dentist. But I mean, even if it meant not being a dentist, throwing away everything, you know, schooling and all of that, even if it meant I wanted to serve the Lord with my life. And look what God did. I mean, I can't believe it sometimes. Who thinks of a dentist as a missionary? Not in your wildest dreams have you ever thought of that, a dentist as a missionary. Who would have thought that God would allow me to use that training that he allowed me to have to affect so many lives in a spiritual way? in a spiritual way. People ask me all the time, how many people were saved on these trips? How many teeth did you pull out? You know, how many patients did you see? I say, you know what? The question we all need to ask is how many people heard the gospel? Isn't that our responsibility? Isn't that our responsibility? We are ambassadors for Christ. We need to be sharing the gospel with people. And to be able to do that by being a dentist, it's unimaginable. Delight thyself also in the Lord. And he what? He'll give you the desires of your heart. Sometimes people think, ah, if I say I'm going to do whatever God wants me to do, it's going to be something horrible. I mean, that's so far from the truth. Ephesians chapter two, verse 10, well, I'll say my life first, if we can put it that way. We are his workmanship, and Christ sees it. And see, now I can't remember. We are his workmanship. Let me read it. See, I told you, you know, you can't find things and you can't remember things when you stand up here. Gentiles eat. Ephesians 2.10, for we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Created in Christ Jesus unto good works. God, the purpose for my life is a purpose for your life. The good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. God has a plan. God has a plan for your life. He has a plan. for my life. He is not going to ask us to do something that he has not prepared us to do. We just walked into this ministry. It's not something we thought, OK, this is the thing we're going to do. It's something that God did for us. And I'm so thankful, because when it gets hard, I can easily say to God, this was your idea. It wasn't my idea. You figure it out. You help us. No, I don't say that to God. But that's the truth. That's the truth. I used to tell my son. He's 40-something years old now, smarter than me. I used to tell him, I know God wants you to be a dentist. He'd look at me, and he said, Dad, God hasn't told me that. He kept so far away from math and science as he was going through school, so far away from it. There's no way he was ever going to be a dentist. That's not God's plan for him. That was not God's plan for him. I'm still holding out. You know, he's in his 40s now. Maybe, no, not really. But I mean, he has his own thing. The fifth one, I can't spend too long on each one, but the fifth one, verse five, commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass and he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy judgment or justice as the noonday. Commit thy way unto the Lord and trust your life to God. And trust your life to God. Proverbs, I read, Chapter three, verse five. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and need not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways, verse six, acknowledge him, and what? He shall direct thy paths. He's gonna guide you, guide all of us. Roll the whole burden, one person put it. Roll the whole burden of life on the Lord. Give your life to God. And just stand back and just let him thrust you into that thing that he wants you to do. I remember, no offense to any pastor that might be here today, I remember calling pastors early on when I was starting this ministry. And they would say, oh, no, we can't support you. Oh, why not? Well, you're not planting a church. I can point to you several churches existing today that were planted through our ministry. Oftentimes, the thing that God is asking you to do is outside the box. It's not like maybe the normal thing. You got to be prepared for that too. And I would say, yeah, maybe that's true, but this is, I feel this is what God wants me to do. What do you do with that? What do you do with that when you feel, when you're sure it's what God wants you to do? And people are saying, no, you can't do that. I've never heard of that thing. Who are you going to trust? Who are you going to trust? Now, again, we need to be doing all of these things, all of these recommendations of David here. We could say commands, but whatever. All of these things. We need to be doing all of these things, following all of these steps. Trusting, having faith, being saved, committing your life to God, trusting in him, delighting in him. You need to be doing all of these things to be in the right place to be sure that you're doing what God wants you to be doing. Roll it onto the Lord and trust God with your life. What does it say in Psalm 37, 23? The steps of a good man are what? Ordered by the Lord. The steps of a good man. And what does it say at the end? And he what? Delighteth in his way. Delighteth in his way. Now I could tell you, I haven't always delighted. Sometimes there's this tooth that just won't come out. And I say to God, what are you making me do this for? This is too hard. I say that in a joking way, but not. Sometimes the ministry God puts you in is hard. It's hard. But you know what? Life is hard. You know, life is hard. We can't have this idea that everything is going to be fun all the time. Life is hard. Ministry is hard. Work is hard. I mean, life is hard. I almost said being married is hard, but I cannot say that. My wife is too. No, being married is the best thing. Life is hard. People are hard, difficult. I know pastors that say, being a pastor would be great if there weren't any people involved. But you know what? Life may be hard, but God is also faithful. God is also faithful. He's going to make it possible for you to do the thing that you want to do. I remember this trip, July 14th. We were flying. We had 12 people. Actually, we had 13 people flying from Boston to Zambia. First, we were flying from Boston to a country called Qatar. then on to Zambia. Our flight was at 10.30 at night, leaving Boston. We had people coming from all over the country to meet in Boston. Some people were getting there at 2 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 5 o'clock, whatever it was. So I got there before the first person was supposed to come. I spent, no lie, I spent from 2.30 in the afternoon until 9 o'clock that night on the phone with the team members with delayed flights, canceled flights because of the weather in Boston. It was the most miserable time that I've ever spent in an airport. I mean, every flight, every single flight from across the country, probably six or seven, was either delayed or canceled. And then at 9 o'clock, I had to tell one of the team members, you can't come. You can't come. Because he wouldn't get to Boston by the time we would leave. You think that was easy? That was hard. And you know what? This was the second year that this person wanted to go and couldn't. Second year. Hard things sometimes in ministry But God is always faithful. And so he tells us there to commit our life to the Lord. Peter says, 1 Peter says, casting all your care upon him because he cares for you. Another quote I have, I think this was Spurgeon, having obediently trusted in God, leave results in his hands and expect a blessed issue. God always brings blessing when we're faithful. I remember a lot of problems when I gave up my business, particularly related to family. And I wasn't in this ministry right away, I was actually working in nursing homes for a period of time, I forget how long, maybe five years, and actually having Bible studies in these nursing homes as well. And then when I started the ministry, I was part-time still in the nursing homes. And I remember a lot of problems in the family. And there was a lady in the church we were attending at that time in Massachusetts, there was a lady that nominated me as a local hero. The local newspaper was having this thing about people could nominate people they knew that were doing something good as a local hero. And this lady, unbeknownst to me in our church, nominated me as a local hero because of the work that I was doing in the nursing homes. The first I found out about it was a lady from the newspaper called me. And she said, you know, so-and-so nominated you as a local hero. I said, what are you talking about? Anyway, she told me the story. She said, are you by chance going to be working in the nursing home tomorrow? She said, I would like to come by, interview you, and take some pictures of you working in the nursing home. I said to her, well, I am going to be in the nursing home tomorrow, but I am not working. I am going to be having a Bible study in the nursing home. And so she said, well, that's fine. If you're going to be there, we can still come, right? And I could interview you, and we could take some pictures. I said, sure, that's fine. So she came, and the photographer came. And they sat in the Bible study. That was good. And she asked me questions. You know, what am I doing, and that, and so on. And so they took all these people that were nominated for local hero, and they had what they called the local hero of the year. And on Easter Sunday, I don't know what year it was, Easter Sunday, on the front page, the front page of the local newspaper, here's a picture of me teaching the Bible in a nursing home. The story had very little to say about doing dental work. that focused on me teaching the Bible in nursing home. And here are unsaved people that have been criticizing me for several years. They have to see it. It's there and people are calling them. Hey, did you see this story about your son or your brother or your sister or your friend or whatever it is? You know, what a wonderful thing. And what are they gonna say? No, it's not a wonderful thing. You know, they couldn't. You know, people were cutting out the article and giving it to family members. It says here, verse six, and he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy judgment or justice as the noonday. Vindication, leave our vindication to the Lord. Don't be waving a flag. Just leave it to the Lord. And the Lord is going to show people. The fifth recommendation, verse seven, rest in the Lord, be still. Be still, rest in the Lord. For me, this requires a lot of grace. I am not a patient person. And that's what this is talking about. Waiting patiently for the Lord. Waiting patiently. His time is not our time. Waiting patiently for the Lord, resting in the Lord. Sometimes, sometimes it can be personal between the unsaved and the saved. It says in verse 32, Psalm 37, the wicked watches the righteous and seeketh to slay him. Have you ever had somebody who's unsaved? They're watching your life. And they point out every time you make a little mistake in your Christian life. Or they'll point out, oh, that person said they were a Christian. Look what they're doing. They point out things like that. They're watching. I say, why are they watching? Why are they watching so close? I think there's a little envy there. I think there's a little envy there. But we need to wait on the Lord. And David repeats again here this idea of fretting, not being agitated or angry. Rest in the Lord, verse seven, and wait patiently for him. Fret not thyself because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Don't be agitated. I don't know why he repeats it again here, resting. I think sometimes that goes together. It's hard for us to rest. It's hard for us to be still and wait for the Lord. It's hard, hard for me anyway. Waiting on the Lord, verse 34, wait on the Lord. I shouldn't have said that because that's the last recommendation, but waiting on the Lord. That's hard, resting, waiting. It's hard to do, especially for me. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage. I think it's Psalm 27. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage. Wait, I say, on the Lord. Sixth recommendation. The sixth recommendation is in verse eight. Cease from anger. and forsake wrath. Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. This is like three times. Three times those words are used, fret not. Three times in these like eight verses. But in verse 80, he says it even more like forceful, cease from anger. Don't get upset. A few years ago, someone accused me of something that was totally wrong. But I totally mishandled it. Why? I was angry. I was angry. And what happens when you're angry? You say things and do things that you shouldn't. Cease from anger. You know, sometimes we're being still, we're waiting on the Lord, and you just, sometimes it just comes out of old flesh, you know? Cease from anger. So three times in these eight verses, this idea of anger, fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. Again, that goes along with this having our joy and our delight in the Lord. If we're fully involved in serving the Lord and doing the things that are right, obeying God in our lives and so on, it'll be easier for us not to be angry. We're consumed with our service for the Lord. But sometimes things happen. The seventh recommendation, verse 27, depart from evil and do good. Depart from evil and do good. I don't know, you know, depart from evil. David, the man after God's own heart, you know, depart from evil. Why did he say that? I don't know the timing of this, you know, where it was in his life. But, you know, sometimes we can do things. We need to be careful. We need to be careful. Depart from evil and do good. We want to have nothing that people could point to in our lives and say, well, yeah, he says this, but he does this. Depart from evil. And then the eighth recommendation, I mentioned it already. I think this is probably, I know for me, I mean, it's hard to quantify or list which ones are harder, but I say waiting, you know, resting and waiting. Wait on the Lord, verse 34. Wait on the Lord and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. Mentions that a few times, the wicked being cut off. Cut off. Cut off. The wicked are gonna be what? Cut off. What about the righteous? They're gonna be with the Lord forever. Forever. Praise the Lord for that. Wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. Another verse that was really instrumental in my early years as a Christian is Joshua. Joshua 1.9, have not I commanded thee, be strong, be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed. Why? For the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest. Whithersoever thou goest. I take that verse with me. I put it in my pocket, not really, but I put it in my pocket when I travel. The Lord is with you wherever you go. I praise the Lord for that. We need to be strong and have good courage. This last trip to Zambia, the day we arrived in Zambia, we were picked up by two missionaries. Each had a vehicle, SUV type vehicle. So we get in these vehicles. And one leaves, the one I'm in second behind it has a trailer, a trailer, see, I need a trailer. This has a trailer with all the luggage in it. And so the first vehicle goes, most of the team, I think six people, that's half the team I guess, six people or maybe seven in this vehicle, they go. We're driving. We can't see them. They're far ahead of us. We're driving. The missionary that's driving our vehicle gets a phone call from the driver of the other vehicle. He says, we just lost a wheel, not a tire, a wheel. The wheel, the back wheel came off the vehicle as it was driving down the road. I'd say probably 30, 40 miles an hour. Driving down the road, the wheel comes off. The Lord is with you wherever you go. It's only by the grace of God that that vehicle didn't flip over. People could have been killed. That's God's hand of protection. We can't predict things like that. I was talking to someone the other day, we're going to Mexico in November, a young person and his father, and talking about the possible dangers in Mexico. I mean, anywhere you go, there's possible danger. I mean, anything can happen. Driving down from Concord to Palmer, you know, I mean, something could happen. There was a guy, my wife doesn't even know this, there was a guy, we had to stop because of construction, and there was a guy coming at us in the back. And he could not stop. Fortunately, he pulled to the side before hitting us. Anything can happen at any time. So I trust that, you know, I would encourage you to read Psalm 37 through, maybe every day. But it's an encouragement. to know that, you know, God is faithful. He's going to take care of his people, even though we see people every day in the news. We see people that we would say are wicked, ungodly people prospering. And we say in our mind, God, this doesn't make sense. but they are going to be what? Cut off. We will be with the Lord in heaven. Which would you rather be? Which would you rather be? I would encourage you today, if you've never trusted in Jesus Christ as your savior, make sure, make sure that you do, trusting in Jesus. He died for our sins. We're all sinners. and we cannot pay for our own sin. He took the price, the penalty of our sin upon himself when he died. We have to understand that. I love going to Zambia. I love going to Zambia. I have the track, bridge track. I mean, do you know the bridge track, God's Bridge to Eternal Life? God's, you know, it has pictures. A lot of these people in Zambia, they can't read, but this has pictures. Anyway, they love to get this track in Zambia. I mean, I have hundreds of them that I bring and I give to people. And they say to me, can I have three more? Who says that? I mean, who says that? I love serving the Lord in Zambia. I love having that opportunity to bring people in contact with the Lord. How many of those people trust Jesus as their Savior? I don't know. Minuscule. But those that do will have eternal life in heaven. So again, I would encourage you, if you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, that today would be that day. It's past 1130, I'm in trouble. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this time we could be together. Thank you for this church and how you provided for it. Thank you for Pastor Anderson's many years here, how you've blessed the ministry under his leadership and Pastor Schoff as he Took time to be here for a year or so, and then how you provided, Pastor McNeil, and we just thank you for your great faithfulness. Lord, no one is more faithful than you. No one. And so we thank you for that. We know you're faithful to us, as we trust you as our Savior. We become your child. We become your child, and you are so faithful. You care for us so, so well. beyond what we could even imagine. How could we ever think of being something different than your child? And so we thank you for this time, thank you for this psalm, and we pray that you will continue to bless our day. Pray in Jesus' name, amen.