We turn in the New Testament to Colossians, Paul's letter to the Colossians, and then in the Old Testament to Psalm 67. Let's stand as we, again, as an act of worship, stand at attention while God speaks in the reading of His Word. Considering our Lord Jesus Christ, He is the subject of this section of the reading. When we read, it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell. The Apostle is speaking there of Christ. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by your wicked works. Yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight. If indeed you continue in the faith grounded and steadfast and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven of which I, Paul, became a minister. And I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of his body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God, which was given to me for you to fulfill the word of God. The mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but has now been revealed to his saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily. And now to Psalm 67. A prayer and a prophetic prayer fulfilled very much in the ministry of the Apostle Paul and the ongoing mission of the church. To the chief musician on stringed instruments, a psalm, a song. God be merciful to us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us. that your way may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you shall judge the people righteously and govern the nations on earth. Let the peoples praise You, O God. Let all the peoples praise You. Then the earth shall yield her increase. Our own God shall bless us. God shall bless us. And all the ends of earth shall fear Him." And this is the Word of the War. This evening we turn the preaching of the Word to Psalm 67. Psalm 67. Psalm 67 is a psalm that gives very clear evidence of the missionary charter that God gave to Israel in the Old Covenant. One of the problems that can happen to the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is that we can forget why we exist. And why do we exist? It would be good that we could all answer that question. What are we doing here? What are you doing here? And why have we been called to belong to the family of God? What is the reason for being? When any organization, family, or church loses the answer to that question, we can very quickly lose our way. We can lose our way. And one of the signs of a church losing its way is a church losing its sense of divine mission in the world. Now there's a lot of different versions of what the church's divine mission should be. floating around right now. I mentioned in passing, I think it was last week in the evening service, I said a little phrase about Christian nationalism. It's a big debate online, probably a bunch of young men, usually the young men do most of the heated debating, but it has spilled over pretty broadly. I am somebody who prays for a Christian nation and for the laws of this nation to reflect the law of God and for those to lead us to be led by word and spirit. But after that, well, let me say a question. How do you think that's going to happen? How do you think that would come to be? If we pray for these things and long for these things, what do you think the mechanism by which that might happen? And I'm afraid that there's a lot of people who secretly in their hearts think that the mechanism by which that might happen would be some sort of application of law and some sort of participation in the halls of power to such a degree Strategically, Christians overcome the momentum of the political process and win. And in the history of God's economy, that has not often happened. Something else has happened, though. which has led to God's blessing and favor on families and peoples and churches in the earth, Christians have been faithful to the primary mission of the church, which is to bear witness to Jesus Christ and the world. You are my witnesses, Jesus said to the early apostles, and then his design would be that they would spread from Jerusalem and Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth, by the ordinary means of grace, preaching Christ and Him crucified, being known as Christians, and as we read in the book of Acts, the result was that they turned the world upside down. That a hope for righteousness is not wrong, and we should pray for it. But one of the great questions is what is the means by which God brings righteousness to the world? And the means that we read of in the scriptures is by the preaching of the gospel and the powerful work of the Holy Spirit. There's not a shortcut, there's not another way. There's only one way. And that especially is the mission that has been given to the church. And perhaps one of the reasons by other ways are becoming more attractive to use the words of our Lord to the church at Laodicea. is that we often become lukewarm concerning our love for Christ, and when that happens, our passion for the mission of the church. We become interested in other passing and worldly things of lesser importance, not no importance, but lesser importance, as we lose the main things which pertain to Christ's kingdom and glory, and especially that great promise that he'll build his church. Psalm 67, It's a prayer that encompasses all of these great ideals. It's a prayer for God's blessing. And you'll notice by the end of the prayer, that prayer encompasses the whole world. At the end, the psalmist is praying that the earth would yield her increase, that God, our own God, would bless us, and that all the ends of the earth would fear Him. a global vision for a transformation and divine blessing that every Christian rightly should long for. We're gonna look at this Psalm and trace this prayer and see how it should shape the mission of our church. As the year begins, it would be good to reflect on why we're here and what work Christ has given us to do. And so we're going to see a number of things from Psalm 67 in the first two verses. The central principle is a prayer for Israel's mission to the world. We're going to see in verses 3 and 4 the expansion of that prayer. Beginning with the foundation of verses 1 and 2, the prayer expands and asks for more downstream blessings that flow from really the petition in verse 1. The petition in verse 1 is for divine blessing. And then in verses 3 and 4, that petition expands for more downstream and greater blessings. Three of them and then by the time we get to the end of the prayer it moves to a prophetic vision of the receiving of those blessings and the effect of those blessings listen carefully on the world and Their reflection back to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ So first the central principle a prayer for Israel's mission to the world notice first that it is a prayer. It is a request It's a series of petitions God be merciful to us and bless us. Verse 3, let the peoples praise you. Verse 5 again, let the peoples praise you, O God, let all the peoples praise you. These are petitions directed to God that He would cause His face to shine in blessing on His people and that that blessing would overflow in the universal praises of the world. It is a plea to God for this blessing to flow from heaven to earth. It's a petition. Now the controlling petition in the prayer is verse one. God be merciful to us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us. Number one, notice it's a prayer with a central petition. Number two, notice that it is a prayer for divine blessing. I just read that, it should be obvious, but what is blessing? What is the blessing of God? Favor. The word blessing in the broadest sense means for favor to be transmitted from the greater to the lesser. Perhaps a son has some great project or idea and he goes to his father to say, I'm planning to strike out and do this. Do I have your blessing? Or a young man goes to a potential father-in-law and he asks, Do I have your blessing to marry your daughter? Will you give me your favor? Will you support and encourage me in this?" And the hope is that the answer would be yes, and that the father would join in to confer abundance and to pray alongside the son for blessing. And that request is normally for something future, not yet received. Now here, blessing is from the greatest. from God, God be merciful to us and bless us. It's prayer for divine favor at a future time, favor which only can come from God. Now, if you are reading this, God be merciful to us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us, you might notice language that is familiar. And if you have your Bibles open, you turn for a moment to Numbers chapter six, and you will notice that the language of the blessing that we read in Psalm 67 directly echoes the language of the Aaronic blessing. It was a priestly blessing that the Lord gave to Aaron by which he was to communicate and confer, declare and confer, God's favor on his people. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you, be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you His peace. And then he said, so they shall put my name on the children of Israel. And notice a few things about this in Numbers chapter 6. Lord, Lord, Lord. There's an intimation here of the triune God. the source of blessing. His name, I Am Who I Am, the Covenant Keeper, tied to each of His blessings specifically and repeatedly. The blessing of favor, of keeping, of His face shining, of grace, unmerited favor and power. The lifting of His countenance that He would look down on you in mercy and give you peace. All of this flowing from God and the picture of His face shining. That is the light of the glory of God. As John says, God is light, in Him there's no darkness at all flowing from the throne, streaming from the favorable and smiling face of God upon His people with power, warmth, life, light, and blessing. It's echoed later in the New Testament. If you know Jesus Christ, this is what Paul says, the light of the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ has shone on you. That's how we describe salvation, as blessing pouring from the throne. And then Jesus speaks of himself as the light of the world, and that he, the prophet Isaiah prophesied that when he came, those who dwelt in darkness had seen a, when he would come, they would see a great light, The transfiguration and the vision of Jesus in Revelation chapter one, all of these pulsing with the light of the glory of God and the language of divine blessing then flowing from the glorious countenance of the triune God on his people. It's also repeated in the apostolic blessings. There's a connection. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, the greeting, and then The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. This language that is in the epistles is rooted deeply in the Aaronic blessing. As they take the patterns and language with the light and glory of the triune name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And so they place their name on the new covenant people of God, Jew and Gentile. And one more thing about the name of God and the blessing of God. It teaches us that blessing must have a source. And in the Old Testament, always, only, the loving, faithful nature of God, God Himself, it flows from God. I've already said this, but He is, as the hymn writer says, come thou fount of every blessing. As James says, every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of lights in whom there's no variableness or shadow of turning. The God who in unchanging glory, no shadow, pours out blessing. They all come from Him. He's the originator of every good and perfect gift. That's what the psalmist is praying. Lord, be merciful to us and bless us. Cause Your face to shine upon us. Now let's go one level higher. This isn't just general blessing like your breakfast cereal this morning, though all of that comes from God. At the heart of this blessedness is salvation. Salvation. It's intimated in a moment, your salvation among all nations. The blessing they're praying for, the psalmist is praying for, is in order that it would be visible to the world. And in verse two, we learn the ways of God and especially his saving love. To possess God's abundant blessing is to be blessed of God, rather possess life and salvation, prosperity and blessedness, true spiritual happiness. This flows from God's name. This is at the heart of the Aaronic blessing. This is why it's at the beginning and end of the epistles in the New Testament. This river of divine favor that flows from heaven to earth is placed on unworthy and undeserving people. And the highest of blessings we can receive is salvation through Jesus Christ. To be in Christ, to have the Holy Spirit, to have God as your Father, to have your sins washed away. To be one of those people who walked out of the darkness into the world into the light of the saving mercies of God. And now to be under his favor and to live and walk by that light. You were once darkness, Paul says, now you are light in the Lord because you've come to the light of the world. That's the highest level. of blessing. And that is what the psalmist is praying for. God be merciful to us and bless us. Cause your face to shine upon us. It's a prayer ultimately for salvation. Number three. So number one, it's a prayer. Number two, it's a prayer for divine blessing, the highest level of which is saving mercies through Jesus Christ. We understand that from the new covenant. Number three, It's a prayer for divine blessing with a specific purpose or goal in view. That. Look at verse two. Why? If you know Jesus Christ, why do you know him? Why did God, in mercy, show you the glory of his son? Why did he wash your sins away? Why did Christ go to the cross for you? Why did he rise again in triumph? Why did he give you his spirit that your eyes would be opened to see the light of his glory? Why? You ever ask yourself why? There's a couple ways in which when we try to answer that question, we don't have answers. At the deepest level, At the deepest level, when we ask the question, why? Why was I made to hear your voice? To enter Walther's room, the hymn writer asks. Deep, hidden in the mysterious purposes of God, but we do know some of those purposes. So that you might shine to his glory now. There's a principle. The specific end or telos of this prayer is that God never gives you blessings that you are just to keep to yourself. Verse two, the writer of this psalm understands Israel's charter and mission in the world. That your way may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. If you think that Israel was chosen, to hide its light under a bushel. You do not understand why Israel was chosen by God, why Abraham was chosen. You should, we need to read more carefully. I'm gonna make you the father of many nations and you all the nations of the earth will be blessed. I often, when I'm talking to friends about baptism, and they say, well, that's from the old covenant. And don't you understand that circumcision, rather, from the old covenant passed away and God's not working through family lines in the Great Commission anymore. And it's just individual personal salvation, which we would agree with as Presbyterians, unless a man is born again, he can't see the kingdom of God, but there's no connection to nature, familial line anymore in God's workings. And I say actually the very first day where there was circumcision, You need to understand that God's purposes are this clear. There were only Gentiles there. It was only later that the natural seed of Abraham was circumcised, and so it's always been both. As a matter of fact, in the Abrahamic covenant, there's this great promise of Gentiles streaming to Zion. It's a signal of what God intended Israel to be and do. When Joseph gives bread for the world, it's a signal of what God meant and ordained Israel to do that mediated through his chosen vessel, Israel, the world, which after Eden and the flood and the Tower of Babel had rebelled against God was to be called back to God by the ministry of the gospel in the old covenant types and shadows through Israel. And her worship stood at the center of this mission. If you go to Psalm 96, it's right there. Say among the nations, the Lord reigns. The thundering worship of Israel was a signpost and a lamp to the world. That the God who made the heavens and the earth reigns and that there's salvation in Him. Look at verse two of Psalm 67. Bless us that your way may be known on the earth. And what is that way? Salvation. That the saving love of God would be known to the world. And you go. to the Exodus and you wonder how this could be as God, maybe you're not thinking ahead, God divides the Red Sea and Israel marches through and goes through the wilderness and conquers the kings and they come to Rahab. And Rahab says, we have heard of the mighty works of God and I believe. And that reputation in name of the Lord was to be emanating from, reflecting from Israel to the world. This is God. A saving God. A redeeming God. A reigning God. A powerful, the only true God, the God of Israel. There is no other. They were to be a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Divinely ordained, if you could think of Israel as this way, a divinely ordained instrument to reflect the inestimable, eternal glory of God in the world, to echo the blessings of Abraham to the world. The blessing received salvation would be now known across all the earth, outward, outward, echoed outward into humanity. And the prophets talk about this all the time. If you were to read Isaiah chapter 2, what is the great prophetic dream? It's hard to know when Psalm 67 is written. Many would consider it to be post-exilic in its missionary theme. But it actually is, in its use of Hebrew, seems to indicate an earlier period. It's hard to know exactly, but an earlier period. In other words, there was a consciousness of this calling in Israel from the beginning in the believing people of God. We are here to bear testimony to our God to the world. The prophet Isaiah understood this, in the latter days, the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains. It shall be exalted among the hills and all nations shall flow into it. Micah says the same thing in Micah chapter four. Isaiah says it again in Isaiah chapter 52 and verse 10, that God saves and every time he saves, here's the principle. The Lord makes known and bears his holy name in the eyes of the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. And he does this principally and signally and centrally in history in the saving work of Jesus Christ, but he does it every single time. He turns a sinner from death to life by the power of the Holy Spirit flowing from the throne of God. And in every case, in salvation accomplished, And salvation applied. The same light of the glory of God is shining in history. So the psalmist says, Lord, please bless your church. Give us your grace. Wash away our sins. That the whole world would know your way, your gracious ways, that your salvation would be known among all nations. Why? Because God saved them for witness. For witness to his saving love. You have received treasure. Paul says we've received this treasure in earthen vessels that all the glory would be to God. When you looked on Christ, shining in his glory, mercy, loving kindness, grace, and power, here's the mystery. It wasn't just for you. It was an order that you would both receive and reflect that glory into a dark world. The purpose of God's saving love and blessing here, his character would be known on the earth and his salvation among all nations. Now, how about the expansion? The expansion of this prayer, downstream blessings. It's not surprising that the next petition is what? Let all the peoples praise You, O God. Let all the peoples praise You. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy." Here is prayer mixed with faith asking for the next petition in a sense before the first one perhaps is answered. There's something, an affection that is lit in the heart of the prayer. There's three downstream blessings here, the expansion of the worship of God. Perhaps you've heard that, I think I've got it right, that famous line from John Piper that missions exist because the worship of God does not. So we go out with the gospel into the world that we've received, we proclaim it to the world with the desire and hope that all creation ultimately one day would join us in the chorus of praise to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for the saving love of Jesus Christ. And we pray. Let the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you. We pray for all the peoples, Jew and Gentile, an intimation of every nation, tribe and tongue, a global chorus without any borders or boundaries in every place. We think of what the angels proclaimed in that great shout at the birth of Christ, on earth, peace, goodwill to men. That's the great global Salvation of God being proclaimed in the gospel at the birth of Jesus Christ. We think of the restoration that it brings to humanity from misery to gladness and joy. Let the nation be glad and sing for joy. Why? Because they're gonna know what we know about you. You forgive sins and you save sinners and you give eternal life that your face shines on the undeserving. Now they know and now they'll be joyful. They will worship downstream blessing number three. This will bring the visible and evident rule, and we know in the new covenant, the visible and evident rule of Jesus Christ in and through his worshiping church. For you shall judge the people righteously and govern the nations on the earth. I said earlier, it's a good time to ask yourself a question, why do we exist? Or a personal question, why did God show you his mercy? A new year's a good time to ask that question. And I would posit this, it's not just for maintenance Christianity, which can be orthodox with the right liturgy, with good doctrine, good order, and predictability. None of those things are bad. I love being a confessional Presbyterian with ordered worship. But with all those blessings, We could still miss our mission because we've grown lukewarm and we've forgotten why we've been told the message of life. We're not doing anything. Why do we exist? For this mission, to reflect divine blessing into the darkness, to bring that light of the knowledge of the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ. How did it shine? How many of you would have joined Paul? I like to think about these things. Probably he's on a boat, probably no life preservers, probably not gonna swim. Just think about just getting on the first boat. Some of you will be like, I can't do that. If Paul hadn't done it and his companions, you wouldn't know about Christ. You would be dead in sins and trespasses. Passion of the apostles after the coming of Christ to bring the light of the knowledge of the glory of God to the world If you go to the end of the Bible, there's one of these great visions of The result of that mission and what was prayed for and sung about by the Old Covenant Church The book of Revelation chapter 7 verse 9 John is looking Vision of Heaven, that classic text where we have nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues. But hear this, after these things I looked and behold a great multitude which no one can number of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, the world. Let the nations praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you. Lord, bless us that the world would see the glory of Jesus Christ. John's seeing the evidence that this happened. All nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues standing before the throne and before the lamp. They've made it all the way, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, crying out with a loud voice, saying, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamp. And then the angels. And the elders and the four living creatures fall on their faces before the throne and worship God. In other words, all cosmic glory, heavenly glory. Salvation, amen, blessing, glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Now all the peoples are praising together with the holy angels. One of the elders answers saying to me, who are these arrayed in white robes? And then here's the question, where did they come from? Where did they come from? How is it that from the whole world there are those who now surround the throne? And the answer is, they went through the great tribulation, they considered the loving kindness of the Lord better than life because they found divine blessing in Jesus Christ and they gave their lives for him. This is why Jesus, sometimes we think that our Savior, when he teaches, well, we forget that he was in the temple at 12 years of age and he knew the scriptures inside and out. In the light of Psalm 67, we go back to Matthew chapter five, Jesus speaking to Israel, you are the light of the world. The city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. That's the theology and the language of Psalm 67 exactly. Jesus is saying at the very beginning of his ministry, this is what I've come to do, that when I give you light and glory, don't hide it. But my aim is that when I give it to you, others would glorify your Father in Heaven." Paul, when he describes the church at Philippi, living in a wicked and perverse generation, he says you shine as lights in the darkness. Same language. The parables should drive us to our mission. Treasure hidden in a field, you find it, you sell all that you have to buy it because it's so precious, and then the pearl of great price. When you get it, you tell everybody. How about the parables of lostness? The lost sheep, shepherd lays it on his shoulders rejoicing, and the angels erupt in heaven. There's worship and praise and glory, and this is to move us about the character of Jesus who found us, but that we would tell others about the character of Jesus, even as the angels in heaven rejoice over it, or the lost coin, the woman tells all her neighbors, or the lost son. The Great Commission commands us to this mission. I already talked about Paul's example with the apostles, teaches us. Without them dying for Christ and for this mission, we would have never heard. The glory of Christ compels us. Or as Paul would write, the love of God constrains us. Having been loved, with that loveliness, the love of God now constrains us to find others and tell them about our God. We are ambassadors for Christ. If God himself were pleading through us, be reconciled to God. That's the burden of the church. Cannot hold this holy thing of light and glory and not at the same time be moved for the same to shine in the world. Let me get more personal. What is true for the whole is true for you as an individual. And I'm gonna ask you again, why do you think God showed you his inestimable glory in the face of his son? Jesus says it wasn't to hide it. It was to show forth the praises of the glory of his grace. It was to communicate it. When is the last time that you said, come and let me tell you what the Lord has done for me? Last time, you named the name of Jesus. He's my Savior and my Lord. When's the last time where you took personal cost, you risked something, your job, friendship, to say, no, I follow Him? If you're gonna pray for His blessings, God, look on me in favor. You can't stop. and not pray that your way would be made known in all the earth. It's impossible. As a matter of fact, if you can, then you don't know what the blessing is. Have we lost our way? Have we lost our first love? Some instructions on how we might put this missionary impulse into practice. We can start at home with our own children. The Lord has blessed you with children. If you're a believing husband and wife, it's because He also gave you a treasure in earth and vessels that you would communicate it to them. Parents, begin, if you have never done it, to teach your children about Christ, to read the word with them, to pray with them. To pray that God, by His Holy Spirit, would transform them, that they would see the glory that you have seen, that what you've been given would be transmitted for God's glory. and that they would rise up and bless the Lord. And we don't know when and how exactly in the mystery of regeneration he does this, but when we see it happening, we should give thanks to God. And it's one of his designs for the Christian home and family, and it is one of the designs and features of the covenant of grace. Last night we were singing, and I'm not reading into this some sort of... I'm not reading into beyond what I can see or understand. We keep praying, but last night we finished reading the Bible and praying at the table, and Miriam said to us, at 19 months of age, she said one word, holy. And it's because she wanted us to sing holy, holy, holy, which seems to be a child's favorite hymn. Ever notice that? Every child wanted us to sing. Our prayer is that she would join that chorus of praise forever. Teach your children. Pray. And then together with your whole families, how are we gonna support the mission of the church? How can we even give? Teach your children perhaps the principle of tithing. Teach them to give early to the mission of the church. Ask yourself, we just finished a year end, go look at your checkbook and see how much you sacrificed. What did you spend on yourself? What did you spend on this mission? Did you pray for God's blessings? Lord, bless the work of my hands. And then he gave you a bonus. And you forgot that it was given to you that His way might be made known on the earth. It's not that we can't keep some of it. The Lord loves to bless His people, but is there something? of a generosity or a mission-minded thinking that has trained your affections and your thoughts and your actions. I think about our Presbytery. This is not a Presbytery meeting, but we just expanded our Presbytery Missions Committee, and we're thinking and praying about how we could be more effective as missionaries. Lord, you've given us this treasure in earthen vessels. Help us to send out your gospel. Our denomination needs missionaries. We need to pray that perhaps the Lord renews our zeal and that we do better. We go further. We find more dark places where there is no light. That we move. For some of you here, maybe it's time for you to go. Pull up the stakes. How should they hear without a preacher? And if you've been praying for God's blessing, And together we have been praying that your name would be made known in all the earth. Let all the peoples praise you, oh God. Maybe it's time for you to go. Do we hunger for these realities? And are we only wanting blessings for ourselves? Or out of the abundance we've been given, are we praying for blessing for the world? Finally, a profound motivation. Verses five through seven. Jesus says something in the Gospel of Luke to His people. About giving, it's a little wisdom saying, a short parable, which reminds us to give. Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put in your bosom, for with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you. You know, we like to hold things tightly. Look at Psalm 67, the last section. Let the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you. Now listen to this. When this happens, what else happens? Then the earth shall yield her increase. God, our God, shall bless us. God shall bless us. Do you see what happens here? Lord, bless us that your name would be known on all the earth. We send out the word into the world. Let all the peoples praise you. Your reign and rule is proclaimed and established to the end of the age. And then there is this echo of divine blessing back from the mission into the church and spreading over the whole world. Which is why Paul, for example, can pray about the actual created order, or talk about the actual created order in Romans chapter eight, that it is groaning for the day of its redemption, that there is something of the overflow of supernatural divine blessing that is connected to the glory of the Son by the Father in all the earth, lifted up by the church. Results in inestimable blessing. You give and you receive more than you would ever know. Participation in the glory and kingdom of God. When the peoples praise you, the earth shall yield or increase. God looks down on his church. God, our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us. And the mission will succeed. All the ends of the earth will fear him. That logic at the end of the prayer shouldn't surprise you at this point. When you pray for the blessing of God, are you also ready to go, and to give, and to pray, and to proclaim, to let go of the things of the world, trusting that something greater than you ever could imagine would happen. Christ would be lifted up on all the earth, the Father glorified, the Spirit glorified, and the Church blessed in ways beyond her comprehension as the whole world is transformed. This is the way by the preaching of the Gospel in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. This is what will ultimately usher in that great hope of the Apostle John and the Apostle Peter, actually all the apostles but John and Peter, I think of them. We according to his promise wait for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells and then what kind of people ought we to be knowing that this is coming? And Psalm 67 tells us, missionary people. Longing for that greater day. in which righteousness will dwell. When you pray the Lord's Prayer, Satan's kingdom be destroyed, the kingdom of grace advanced, the kingdom of glory hastened. You long for that day when Christ will be finished that work, when he'll conquer the last enemy dead. The dead will rise. He will deliver the finished kingdom to his Father. God will be all in all. When you pray even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. Are you praying, ready to give all, trusting that He will return it with glory and power beyond your expectations? May God stir us up to a new missionary and evangelistic zeal. Greenville, workplace, to the ends of the earth, and when we pray for blessing, we'll be ready to send what God has given us, that He might receive the glory. Let's pray. Lord our God, we pray that you would make us ambassadors for Christ. We pray that you would move us as a church to think more about this great, grand, global mission. Lord, as we think already in the shadowlands of the old covenant that the worship of your people had as one of its great themes, the glory of your name in all the earth through the proclamation of your salvation leading to global blessing and the increase of your favor and blessing on your people. Lord, we pray that your kingdom would come, your will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. or pry our fingers from our things of this world, deliver us from our selfishness and self-centeredness. Lord, help us to rise beyond the so often petty problems of our day and give ourselves to the great advance of your holy purposes. And we pray in Jesus' name, amen. But go also with the blessing of the Lord as he places his name upon you. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance and give you his peace. Amen.