If you are a first-time visitor or have visited a few times and would like more information about our church, if you would raise your hand, we'll have one of the ushers bring you a packet of information about our church. We have a few announcements this morning. You might have heard it said that there's something fishy going on at Grace Church. And you're right, there is. There was a fish fry yesterday. And if you go into the fellowship hall, you'll know for sure that there was a fish fry in there. So that's a segue to say that we are having our missions conference this weekend. And so that will conclude tonight. Andrew Holbrook will be preaching in the service tonight and we'll be having communion tonight. So after the service today, we're gonna have a fellowship meal. So you're all welcome to come and stay for the fellowship meal. We got plenty of food to share. And on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. we have services, time of prayer and Bible study. And also, for the missions conference, when we had the fish fry, we were taking donations to raise funds for men going to serve in Alaska with vassal ministries serving missions in Alaska. So it's not too late to give to that. There's a basket in the fellowship hall you can put funds in, or you can write a check to Grace Church with the memo line, Alaska team trip. And then also as a reminder, a congregational meeting will be held on Sunday, February 23rd, immediately following the worship service for the purpose of electing Eugene Oldham as a senior pastor of Grace Church and approving his call. And secondly, to establish a new search committee comprised of Decession, Jerome Diggs, and Bev Nolan to find an associate pastor to serve at Grace Church. So that's our announcements for today. Let's take time now to prayer our hearts and minds for worship. and and you you you you Would you please stand for the call to worship? The call to worship comes from Psalm 46, verse 10. Hear the word of God. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. Please join with me in prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for your tender mercies for us that you give us each day. They are new every morning. And we pray that during this worship service that your spirit would be strong in us, that you would work the word of God into our hearts, that we would hide that word in our hearts that we might not sin against you, and that we would rejoice in the work that you have done in making us a new creation, sealing us with your Holy Spirit, giving us your word, and renewing us each day into holiness. We pray that we would, in our fellowship here, confess our sins to you, knowing that we are weak people and that you are our strength. We pray that as you remind us this weekend that I have a focus on missions, Your mission was to save us, and your mission is to use us to reach out to others in our home, in our community, in the world, to seek and save those that are lost. Through that power of your Holy Spirit, only can that be done, and through your willing servants. And we pray you would make us willing to do that. We rejoice in the fact that There is only one way of salvation, and that is through the work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to take upon the penalty of our sins and to give us his righteousness. What a wonderful, wonderful gift that is, and we pray that as we meditate upon that now, that would bring joy to our hearts and we reflect that in praise and adoration for you, the only holy one, the only wise God, eternal, Almighty, our Lord, and we pray that you would be pleased with our worship. And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Well, we're thinking about missions this weekend, and missions, quite simply, is the task of taking sinners and making them saints, of calling all peoples to worship our triune God. That's why we've gathered this morning, to worship our triune God, to make much of Him. All creatures of our God and King, lift up your voice, and with us, sing hallelujah, praise to the Lord. Let's do that in sincerity as we worship our God today. All creatures of our God and King, Lift up your voice and with us sing, Alleluia, Alleluia! Thou burning sun with golden beam, Thou silver moon with golden beam, O praise Him, O praise Him, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. ♪ Thou rushing wind that art so strong ♪ ♪ Ye clouds that sail in cantaloupe ♪ ♪ O praise Him, Alleluia ♪ ♪ Thou rising morn in praise rejoice ♪ ♪ Ye lights of evening, find the voice ♪ ♪ O praise Him, O praise Him, Alleluia ♪ Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! And all ye men of tender heart, Forgiving others take your part, O sing ye, Alleluia! Ye who long pain and sorrow bear, Praise God and on him cast your care, O praise him! O praise Him, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Let all things their Creator bless and worship Him Oh, praise Him! Hallelujah! Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son, and praise the Spirit, three in one. Oh, praise Him! Oh, praise Him! Hallelujah! Amen. You may be seated. We are called to praise God. We exist to praise God. We exist to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever. And yet how often we fall short of that chief end. We fail to praise Him. We praise Him imperfectly. We run after idols instead of the true God. And it is good and right because of this reality that we run to Him for mercy. And confess our sin trusting in faith that he will faithfully forgive Those who come to him in faith through the blood of his son Jesus Christ So church, let's do that together as we pray our prayer of confession to the Lord Almost great just and gracious God you are of purer eyes than to behold iniquity but you have promised mercy through Jesus Christ and to all who repent and believe in him. Therefore, we confess that we are sinful by nature and that we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. We have neglected and abused your holy worship and your holy name. We have dealt unjustly and uncharitably with our neighbors. We have not sought first your kingdom and righteousness. We have not been content with our daily bread. You have revealed your wonderful love to us in Christ and offered us pardon and salvation in him, but we have turned away. We have run into temptation and the sin that we should have hated, we have committed. Have mercy upon us, most merciful Father. We confess that you alone are our hope. Make us your children and give us the spirit of your Son, our only Savior. Amen. Take a few moments now to silently confess your particular sins to the Lord. Listen now, believer, to these beautiful words from Psalm 86. Scripture says, for you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. God is a merciful God, and we who have experienced that forgiveness, that mercy, that saving grace, are called to offer that saving grace to others who don't yet know of the salvation that can be found in Christ alone. Our New Testament reading this morning is a clear exhortation for us to be missionaries, to herald this gospel, this good news of Jesus Christ. It's Romans chapter 10. I'll read verses 12 through 17. Romans 10 beginning at verse 12. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing His riches on all who call on Him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us? So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. We're gonna sing a psalm this morning, Psalm 22. It's a psalm that looks forward to Christ. It's a psalm that highlights the fact that as the gospel goes forth, sinners become saints. Sinners are saved through the grace of Christ. Let's stand together as we sing Psalm 22. so ♪ Hear the Lord sing praise to him in glory now ♪ ♪ Of Jacob's seed or of Israel's seed ♪ ♪ Hear all before him now ♪ ♪ For he did not despise nor stir the grave upon the breast ♪ ♪ Nor did he shun his cry for help but heard and gave him rest ♪ ♪ And all the church will hear ♪ ♪ And I will play my vows in full ♪ ♪ Where men won't even fear ♪ ♪ The weak and poor will eat their fill ♪ ♪ And thus be satisfied ♪ ♪ O sing in hymn of praise the Lord so loud ♪ the Lord. All families of the earth shall come and worship and adore. To obeying unto the Lord be those he rules the nations well. A crown of ♪ Ignore Him where He dwells ♪ All those whose souls He sent to God's people ♪ Fall before His throne ♪ They cannot keep themselves alive ♪ When they rush from Him alone All can be seated. Let us pray. Dear God, we just come before you now we thank you for the Sabbath. We thank you for your mercy and your grace. We thank you for your word. We thank you for prayer. We thank you for the sacraments. We just thank you for all that you give us God and we just come now to our time where we give back to you and money is just such a small thing is nothing in comparison to the. your salvation, Lord, that you give us. And that is eternal and can never be taken away. And we just bless you for that. And I pray that we grow in gratitude through that. And so through that, Lord, I pray that we would give back joyfully. And I pray that we would give back generously back to you for all that you do for us. And I just pray this now in Jesus' name, amen. Where does the wind come from? Where does it go? Going north and south, how does it go? Where does the wind come from? Where does it go? Going north and south, how does it grow? The rain falls gently to the sea. How can these things be? How can these things be? How can they be? Humanity works hard to make a name. Toiling in the sun, yet nothing gained. We all return to dust from whence we came. ♪ All is empty ♪ ♪ All is vain ♪ To love our God, the reason we live. To love our God. Nothing satisfies our soul His life meaning makes us whole For this purpose we are made To love our God To love our God To God our God. To God our God. For reason we live. To God our God. Nothing satisfies our soul. It is life leading makes us whole. For this purpose we were made. To love our God. To love our God. To love our God. Let's go to our God in prayer this morning. Lord, through no merit of our own, you have chosen to bless us with your favor and grace. Though we should have received everlasting judgment, you have given us everlasting life. And not just any life, but the life in your presence with a mediator. And through that mediator, we have peace with our God, both now and forever. So Lord, because of that peace through the blood of Christ, we ask that you be gracious to us when we sin and restore us to a steadfast spirit. When we fall into temptation, and are led away from you by the evil passions and desires in us that have not yet been mortified. Please bless us with the conviction, with the convicting power of your Holy Spirit calling us out of darkness and into your marvelous light. When we falsely believe ourselves to be slaves of sin rather than reckoning ourselves to be dead to sin, change our minds, steer us back to the peace and the hope and the joy and the self-control and the faith that come as we draw near to you, our Redeemer and Lord. Oh God, be gracious to us and bless us and cause your face, your attention, your favor to shine upon us. And Lord, as You bless us in these ways, may the world see that You are a God who gives grace to sinners, and in seeing that grace, might desire the same grace for themselves. Bless us, Lord, that others might run to You, the fountain of all blessing, and find acceptance and mercy and forgiveness and favor. Lord, may all the peoples praise you, the father of lights, the giver of every good and perfect gift, the faithful one in whom there is no shadow of turning. Father, we look at our world today and we see incredible spiritual blindness and hardness. We see disregard for you and your ways. We see people who are made in your image loving that which is not good, believing that which is not true, being drawn to that which is not beautiful. And Lord, we can't change their hearts, but you can. You are the God who judges righteously. You are the God who guides people away from destruction and towards salvation. You are the God who saves. And so I pray that as we, Grace Church, proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, that you would save the lost. we pray for and support and send missionaries across town and across oceans that the good news of your favor toward repentant sinners would bear fruit and would even bear much fruit that the earth and all the peoples therein would yield its increase. Lord we pray this day, not only for the stranger on the other side of the world, but for those closest to us, for our own families, for our covenant children. Rescue them from the condemnation of the sin that we've passed down to them, a sin that originated in Adam. Lord, transfer them from the headship of the first Adam to the headship of the second Adam that they too with us might praise you and rejoice and be glad and sing for joy because you are the mighty God who saves. Lord, may the gospel be preached in this place long after we have gone on to our eternal reward. May our children grow up to raise children of their own who love you and serve you, that a people yet to be born might still be praising you and might still be calling all peoples everywhere to praise you. And so, Lord, to that end, we pray together this morning in accordance with what your Son, our Savior, has taught us saying. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Let's stand again as we prayerfully sing, ask God the fount of every blessing to come and bless us even this morning as we go to his word. Come thou fount of every blessing. Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, To my heart to sing Thy praise. Streams of mercy never ceasing, Offer songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it, mount of God's unchanging love. Here I'm raised by heaven and earth, hither by thy help I'm come, and I know safely to arrive at home. Jesus saw me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God, came to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood. ♪ Home to grace how great a debtor ♪ ♪ May the eye constrain to be ♪ ♪ Let that grace now like a feather ♪ ♪ By my wandering heart to be ♪ ♪ From to wonder, Lord, I feel it, from to wonder ♪ You can be seated. Global missions is not a new concept that somehow just spontaneously began in the 18th century. Maybe we think of it that way sometimes. In fact, it's not even a New Testament innovation. The idea that the good news of salvation needs to be heralded to the four corners of the earth has its origin in the mind of God. And because of that, we see glimpses of it throughout the Old Testament, prior to the great missionary expansion movement of 300 years ago, prior to the day of Pentecost, prior to Christ's earthly ministry. Before there were ever missions conferences and mission agencies sending people to foreign nations, there was the Old Testament church asking God to make God-fearing worshipers out of heathen people. Psalm 67 is just such a prayer. It's a prayer about global missions. So we're going to spend a few moments this morning reflecting on this ancient hymn of the church, Psalm 67, and we'll begin by reading the psalm in its entirety. The psalmist says, to the choir master with stringed instruments, a psalm, a song. May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, oh God, let all the peoples praise you. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy. For you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Let the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you. The earth has yielded its increase. God, our God, shall bless us. God shall bless us. Let all the ends of the earth fear him. Let's pray. Father, we come again to your word. needing the illuminating power of your Holy Spirit to open our minds and give us understanding, to quicken our souls to believe what you've said, to soften our wills to obey what you have said, and to even stir our affections to love what you've said. Thank you, Lord, that there is a gospel for us to proclaim, that there is good news for sinners like us who would otherwise be lost for all eternity. So what grace is ours in Christ. And so we thank you and we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Well, it's always helpful to begin the study of any psalm in the Psalter with a consideration of the historical setting of the psalm and look for any background information that can be gleaned from the psalm. Sometimes that background information shows up in the content of the psalm itself. Sometimes we discover helpful clues in the headings that appear at the start of many of the psalms. This background information, these historical clues often provide a sort of interpretive guide for us as we study the Psalms. Now, not every psalm provides us with substantial background information, but some do. In the case of Psalm 67, one of the features we notice is the fact that the style of the psalm, its language, its meter, is very clearly from before the period of Israel's exile. This is an important detail. This psalm would have been composed and used in corporate worship long before Israel's exile into foreign lands. Now, many scholars insist, wrongly, any sort of missionary emphasis in a psalm indicates that the psalm must have been after the exile because why else would Israel care about reaching other nations if she hadn't seen and experienced first hand how ungodly these other nations really were. And obviously Israel would not have known about the ungodliness of other nations without having been exiled in these other nations, so the scholars say. But the style undeniably originates in from before the exile occurred in Psalm 67. And that's interesting. It suggests that Israel's enthusiasm for global missions was not just some reaction to the horrific paganism that they encountered while in exile. It suggests that their enthusiasm for bringing light to the nations sprang from their adoration of a God who had blessed them with such incredible blessings that they longed for others to experience those same blessings. Their missionary enthusiasm on display here in Psalm 67 is not so much a reaction against paganism as it is an expression of worship to God. They don't seem to be saying to themselves, oh no, the world is so bad, we better go be missionaries and fix the badness. No, their motivation is God is so good to us that we ought to enjoy that goodness and share it with as many people as we can so they can enjoy His goodness too and give Him praise for His goodness. This is simply Israel being Israel. It's the church being what God has called the church to be, which is spreaders of the good news of the gracious and sovereign blessings of God. So the focus of the psalm, which we see both in the content of the psalm and in the historical setting, is primarily on God and his goodness, not on the nations and their wickedness. Another interesting feature that we can take note of before we jump into the psalm itself is the heading. And I just read it a few moments ago, the heading of Psalm 67. Now scholars differ on whether these headings at the start of most psalms were present in the original and thus part of the inspired text. or whether they were added later and thus just merely contain some interesting historical, liturgical, or musical information, I'll just say that the scholars that I trust the most, and not to mention the New Testament itself, seems to assert that the headings are original and thus inspired. We should pay attention to them. In our psalm today, the heading makes reference to stringed instruments. It says to the choir master with stringed instruments. Many Hebrew scholars believe that this designation referred to the fact that the other instruments that would typically play are excluded. The horns, the percussion, the cymbals and high-sounding cymbals, the drums, the wind instruments, they were to be omitted. Just the strings were to play. And this would suggest that when Psalm 67 was sung in corporate worship in the Old Testament church, it was a rather subdued, meditative sort of hymn. It was not an Easter Sunday morning kind of an anthem, energetic and loud and vigorous. No, this was apparently just a rather plainly accompanied song without pump, without hype, without brass and cymbals, just simple strings and the voices of the congregation asking God to make himself known to the world. Now that's interesting to me. It seems counterintuitive. As a musician, it strikes me as a rather understated way to specify that only the quietest instruments in the ensemble should be used to accompany a psalm about the whole world praising God for His goodness. Perhaps the liturgist who specified this accompaniment was simply reinforcing the point that the focus of missions should be on God and His glory, not on the missionary and his efforts. Now that's speculation on my part, but what's not speculation is the fact that this entire psalm is focused on God and His goodness, and on man's response to that goodness, not on man's performance. It's truly a God-centered prayer for missions. Now, to be sure, there is a time and a place to strategize and analyze and talk about the missionary and his methods, or about the unbelieving masses and their needs, but we need to insist on keeping a right priority. Missionary endeavors, mercy ministry, evangelism, these are all means to an end. The end is worship and adoration and knowledge of God. If in our missionary labors we aren't laboring for that, we're laboring for the wrong things. So the consistent focal point throughout Psalm 67 is God. Yes, our proclaiming of the gospel will affect mankind in positive ways. It will improve the condition of sinners who are caught in the death trap of sin, but the ultimate aim, the chief end, if you will, in missions, as in all of life, is the glory and greatness and fame and praise of God. What we're gonna see from Psalm 67 is this. Effective missions springs from a passion for the glory of God. Effective missions comes from a passion for the glory of God. Hebrew poetry is often written in such a way that it resembles a mirror, a reflection. The first part of a Hebrew poem reflects or echoes the last part oftentimes. The second part echoes the second to last part and so on until you reach the middle of the poem and the middle is the central point or tenant or emphasis of the whole poem. In the case of Psalm 67, verses one and two are reflected and expounded by verses six and seven. You can quickly look at that and see that very obviously. Verse three is reflected in or echoed in verse five and they're identical. And then verse four stands alone as the center and primary thrust of the psalm. So with that structure in mind and with the theme of God's glory being the driving impetus behind global missions, let's take a look at the content of Psalm 67. Effective missions springs from a passion for the glory of God and this begins with a passion for God to be known. For God to be known. Right off the bat, we should notice how similar verse one sounds to that familiar benediction found in number six. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. This was a Levitical priest's blessing for the covenant community. It was for the church. Psalm 67 turns the prayer of number six into a personal prayer in the first person. The Lord be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us. And so immediately, a line in the sand is drawn. There is an us and a them. There are the members of the covenant community and there are the nations the the peoples of the earth the gentiles As they're called in the new testament These are the people who are outside of the covenant outside of any sort of saving relationship with god the prayer of psalm 67 then begins with a request for god to bless the church in order that the earth, the nations out there and disconnected from the church and its blessings, might come to know God and His ways. Lord, bless us so that the world will take notice of those blessings and come to know something of who you are. That's the prayer. You remember how God initiated the covenant of grace with Abraham? What did he say to Abraham? He said, I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. It's Genesis 12. Abraham, and by extension the whole church, is blessed by God, and that blessing in turn extends to the whole world as the world comes to know God through the favor he bestows on the church. So let's think about the task of global missions in light of this process. The first request of God in this prayer is a request that benefits the church. It has the church in mind. It's not a selfish thing then to want God to pour out good things on the church. No, it's a biblical prayer. Missions, evangelism, ministry to the lost and the non-religious is not something we choose to engage in in opposition to the church. It's not as if we're faced with either loving Christians or loving the lost, and the higher, more self-sacrificial road is loving the lost. So get out of these four walls and start doing the real work of the kingdom. No, the real work of the kingdom is pursuing the health and depth and strength and growth and blessing of the church. In fact, there is no effective global mission effort apart from God's covenant community. There is no effective global mission effort apart from God's covenant community. We ought never to pit the blessing and health of the church against the evangelistic task of the church. And this is something that's upheld throughout scripture. There is an essential priority to be observed in regard to the task of making disciples. We do not bypass, ignore, or disregard the institution of the church. It is the beginning place of God's saving grace. This was true when the church was comprised of Abraham's family. It was true of the old covenant community of Israel. It was true of the New Testament church. Mission efforts that function in a vacuum separate from the church are not grounded in God's ordinary way of blessing the world with the knowledge of God. No, we are called to be missionaries by being an integral and faithful participant in the bride of Christ. And it's as we fulfill that role that the world is blessed. Much is said these days of contextualizing the gospel for the purpose of reaching the oppressed, reaching foreign nations, reaching other cultures. But the contextualizing that must take place, according to Psalm 67, and according to the Abrahamic covenants, and according to Aaron's blessing of number six, and according to the Great Commission, is one in which people out there see God's gracious character in here, and are consequently drawn to that blessing. Making disciples is the process of bringing the nations into the context of this body, the church. That's what true missionary work is about. We're not called to conform the church and its message to all cultures. We're called to conform all cultures to the knowledge of God and his ways. Lord, bless your church that the world might watch and learn that you are a gracious God and in watching and learning of your grace might be drawn to that same grace themselves. It's a biblical prayer. So our preoccupation is not with sinners, it's with God's gracious dealings with sinners. Effective missions then springs from a passion for God to be known as the gracious God that he is. But not only does effective disciple making spring from a passion for God to be known, it springs secondly from a passion for God to be known widely. Verse three. And it's echo, verse five, speak to the scope of the knowledge of God. Verse three, let the peoples praise you, oh God, let all the peoples praise you. Not just the Israelites, not just the Americans, not just the people in my social category, whatever that category may be, but all people. Revelation seven puts it this way, people from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages. It's not all for 150 or so tongues in this room to sing, but all for 1,000 tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise. Why stop at 1,000, Charles Wesley? Why not a million tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise? Why not a billion? In fact, let's just be biblical about it. Let all the peoples praise you. He is worthy of being known and praised to the ends of the earth by all peoples. Yes, the church is the context of God's greatest blessings of grace, and we should love and preserve those blessings, but there is no place in the heart of Christians for wanting, as Matthew Henry put it, to monopolize the privileges of the church. We are to desire earnestly to throw open the door and to scatter everyone, to everyone, the blessings that we have been graciously given. Global missions is about God coming to be known and known widely, even to the ends of the earth. You know, there is some irony. in this prayer of Psalm 67. Here we have the Old Testament church, which is Israel, praying for the evangelization of the Gentiles. That's us. Lord, make the Gentiles jealous of the wonderful blessings of divine grace that we enjoy so that they might come to seek those blessings and find them and enjoy them with us. But what did Israel eventually do with these precious promises and graces of the gospel? They despised them. They rejected them when they rejected the Messiah who came to fulfill those promises. And so in an unexpected plot twist, God, who had flung open the door of salvation to the Gentiles, saw fit to harden Israel, the natural branch, so that as they watched the Gentiles, the engrafted branch, flourish and be blessed with God's grace and favor and experience God's face shining on them As Israel saw this coming true for the Gentiles, they would be made jealous and they would be driven back to God by a longing for the very divine blessings that they had rejected. It's a shocking reversal of Psalm 67, isn't it? As now the church prays for the salvation of Israel, as Gentiles pray that God would be gracious and bless this newly engrafted group of people so that those out there, including now the natural branch of Israel, might come to know and praise the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. I think it's wise for us to remind ourselves of our place as Gentiles, as outsiders who have been brought near by the blood of Christ through this very prayer. Psalm 67, which the Old Covenant community prayed for us. Paul describes our place in the grand story of redemption with somber warnings against pride. Romans 11, 17 through 22 says this. Paul says, but if some of the branches were broken off and you, Gentiles, although a wild olive shoot were grafted in among others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. Verse 20, they were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God. The kindness and the severity of God. Severity towards those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Church, we have no reason to boast or be arrogant. Rather, we ought to rejoice that God has dealt graciously with us, and we ought to long for and pray for all peoples to experience that same grace. Well, this brings us then to the center of Psalm 67, verse four, that middle verse to which everything around it points. And we see in this center of the Psalm that effectiveness in missions is driven not only by a passion for God to be known, and not only by a passion for God to be known widely, but ultimately by a passion for God to be known widely and rejoiced in. Verse four. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy. So this prayer is not about the nations just dispassionately bowing the knee before an all-powerful God simply because He's too strong for them to resist, even though they would resist Him if they could. No, this prayer is about the nations bowing the knee to God in joy, in delight, with singing, willingly, happily. Now what is it about the knowledge of God that makes the nations glad to praise Him? Verse 4 tells us. First, it's because God is the only one who judges with equity, with fairness, with justice. And secondly, God is the one who guides the nations on earth. All the peoples praise God and are glad and even sing for joy because God is judge and God is guide. As judge, God is to be feared. In fact, that's the last statement of this prayer. Let all the ends of the earth fear Him. Why? Because He's judge. And as judge, He will rule with justice. With perfect equity. There's no getting off the hook with this judge. There's no false pardon. There's no leniency or compromise. There's no blackmailing Him or manipulating Him. No, He is the equitable judge. The righteous judge He is to be feared. It would seem, would it not, that this knowledge of God's just judgment would not result in joy, but in running and hiding from this God. So how is this reality a source of gladness and joy and singing? Well, it's a source of gladness and joy and singing because God is not only a just judge, he is also a guide, a leader, a helper to any and all who will follow him. If God were only a judge, we would all be undone, wouldn't we? A judge who rules with perfect justice but has no interest in the accused, no capacity for grace, is a judge who would incite terror in lawbreakers like us, and that would be the end of it. If God were only a gracious guide who couldn't care less about just judgment, how could he be trusted? He would never punish true wickedness. He would never protect the powerless from evil people. Love without justice is just as destructive as justice without love. But God is both. He is severe, and that severity makes us fear him and beg him for mercy, but church, he is also good, and that goodness grants us grace and protection from his righteous judgment. That's why the nations who have come in the psalm to truly know him are singing and rejoicing. It's because he is both judge and guide. And this is the goal of missions. to bring people who previously were far off, running, hiding from God, separated from God, with no interest in Him, to bring them close enough to see His gracious favor upon the redeemed. And in seeing that favor, to desire it, and to seek it, and to come to know it, and even rejoice in the fact that this same favor is available to any soul that seeks refuge in the gracious hands of divine mercy. And so the conclusion of the psalm, verse six, is a declaration that the earth has yielded its increase. A harvest reference. The church has prayed that God would reveal himself to the world and God has answered their prayer. He has been revealed. The earth has yielded its increase. A crop of countless souls has been harvested even to the ends of the earth. Effectiveness in missions springs from a passion for the glory of God. You know, we've rubbed shoulders with a lot of missionaries this weekend, and what a privilege that's been. But as we come away from a weekend like this, we need to ask ourselves, is my own zeal for making disciples driven by a motivation of promoting the glory of God, or is it some other, some lesser thing? Do I love mission work because it makes me feel needed, or useful, or accomplished? Do I engage in kingdom work simply because I'm fascinated with other cultures? or intrigued by other languages? Do I pretend to make disciples because secretly I'd rather just be hanging out with unbelievers in the world than with half-sanctified believers in the church? What is my underlying motivation in evangelizing the lost, or serving unbelievers, or helping the poor, or standing up for truth in my various spheres of influence? Because if my underlying motive is anything less than the glory and the fame of God, it's the wrong motive, and it will not yield its increase. Jesus said in John 435, the fields are white for harvest. They're ready to be harvested. In other words, the world needs desperately to taste and see that the Lord is good. Brothers and sisters, the church needs desperately to taste and see that the Lord is good, and so the call Psalm 67 is a call to be a missionary, to be one who makes disciples who follow Christ. And how do we go about this noble task? We begin by first praying for God to bless his church with grace and favor. And as God answers this prayer, we pray that the world would stop and take notice of God's divine favor on us, on the church, and in taking notice to long for that favor themselves. then we proclaim to them how they too can experience God's favor. We proclaim that God is both judge and guide. He's severe in his justice but graciously good to all who come to him in faith. And the glorious end result will be that throne room scene in the book of Revelation at which angels and elders and people from every tongue and tribe are falling on their faces before the throne of God, worshiping Him and saying, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. Effectiveness in this truly great commission that Christ has given us comes from a church that stands in awe of God's glory and longs to see the whole world in equal awe of that glory. Let's pray. Lord, how magnificently glorious you are. You who have no beginning and no end. You who are perfectly sufficient and complete in yourself in need of nothing. You have stooped to us and rescued us from hell. You have adopted us into your family. You treat us as sons. You bless us every day with good things, with life and breath, with family, with purpose, with peace, with forgiveness, with victory over sin, with instruction, with the comforting presence of your Holy Spirit, even with the intercessory prayers of your Son. Lord, we could pray for boldness to speak of these amazing graces to the world, and we need boldness, but rather this morning, we would pray for gratitude. Make us so grateful for your goodness to us, so delighted in your daily graces that timidity is not even a question, that we will not be able to help but speak to the world of your goodness and grace to us. And Lord, as we herald your glory by telling others of the grace we've been given, would you save the lost? Would you convert the Gentile and the Jew? Bring the nations into the church that indeed thousands upon thousands of tongues would sing our great Redeemer's praise. And it is in the name of that great Redeemer that we pray, amen. Let's stand together as we respond this morning to the truth of God's word. O church, arise and put your armor on. Hear the call of Christ our captain. For now we can say that they are strong in the strength that God has given. With shield of faith and belt of truth, we'll stand against the devil's lies. An army bold, whose battle cry is loved, reaching out to those in need. Our call to war, to love the captive soul, but to rage against the captor. And with the sword that makes the wounded whole, we will fight with faith and valor. When faced with trials on every side, We know the outcome is secure, And Christ will have the prize for which He died, An inheritance of nations. Lift your eyes. We are His radiant bride. Arise, O Church, arise. As the Son of God is stricken, then see His foes. ♪ Has crushed beneath his feet ♪ For the conqueror has risen ♪ And as the stone is rolled away ♪ And Christ emerges from the grave ♪ His victory march continues till the day ♪ Every eye and heart shall see him So Spirit come, strengthen every stride, give grace for every hurdle, that we may run with faith to win the prize of a servant good and faithful. As saints of old still guide the way, retelling triumphs of His grace, We hear their calls and hunger for the day, when with Christ we stand. Arise! Arise! Arise! Arise! Arise! Arise! Arise! Arise! Arise! We are His rage and pride. Arise, O church, arise. Amen. Thank you for being here this morning. I encourage you to come back tonight as we conclude this weekend's focus on missions. A seminary buddy of mine is gonna be preaching. Andrew Holbrook planted some churches up in New England and is back now in this area, so we welcome him. Six o'clock tonight. Also, there's some booths and some of the missionaries still lingering around that have been with us this weekend. We thank you guys for just sharing your vision of what the Lord's called you to do. And you can go rub shoulders with them, I see there are tables out there. Dan? Oh, yes, we are. Have a seat. We've got some new members. Thank you, Dan. Let me quickly pull up the vowels that I forgot to have on hand. Awkward. If anybody has a BCO in their back pocket, Of course you do. Thank you, Dan. As he pulls that up, let me just share with the church body that we've had a couple of saints associated with our body who have gone on to their reward this last week. And I want to share the details of their memorial services. Betty West is a charter member of this church. She passed away in her 90s this past week. And the funeral will be today at 5 o'clock at Core Community Church over on Lower Rocky River Road. And then Kim Udy, I've been struggling with sickness for 18, 24 months now, and her suffering is over with, but we are gonna be celebrating her life here at Grace Church tomorrow at two o'clock, is that right, guys? Two o'clock here, memorial service in the sanctuary, and then the visitation will follow up in the fellowship hall. So Courtney, Alexis, family, we're praying for you guys, we love y'all. Kim was a sweet, sweet lady. She was a lady that would come in in a wheelchair towards the end of her life and worship with us to the best of her ability, given the disease she was fighting. And now her voice is released to praise the Lord without any impediment. And what a sweet life, sweet testimony. So that'll be tomorrow at 2 o'clock here at Grace Church. Couple Sundays ago. We had the privilege of interviewing some new members who had gone through our most recent new members class But didn't join with the group and they're gonna join today It's the Sheffer family now Scott if you would come on up with his girls Elizabeth and Hannah We've loved having this sweet family with us for several months now here at Grace Church and we have the privilege today of hearing them affirm their membership bowels No, it's going to be admission to the, we're so sorry, I'm so sorry. Scott, you probably know where it is in the BCO, don't you? Admission. We. We're ready, I'm sorry. So all three of these members of this family are joining us today. They've been baptized, they've gone through our new members class, and so I'll just ask you to affirm by saying yes to these questions. Do you acknowledge yourselves to be sinners in the sight of God, justly deserving His displeasure, and without hope save in His sovereign mercy? Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Savior of sinners? And do you receive and rest upon him alone for salvation as he is offered in the gospel? Do you now resolve and promise in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit that you will endeavor to live as becomes the followers of Christ? Do you promise to support the church in its worship and work to the best of your ability? And then finally, do you submit yourselves to the government and discipline of the church and promise to study its purity and peace? Amen. Well, welcome Scott, Hannah, Elizabeth. I'm gonna get Scott Starcher to come and pray for you guys, but let me welcome you. We're so glad you're here. Are y'all staying for lunch? Yes. Put you on the spot, good. Make sure you hug their necks. We're gonna dismiss here and go up for a meal here in just a moment, but Scott, can I get you to pray for them? Amen. Would you stand now as we conclude with our benediction? Again, booths out in the foyer, and a meal is prepared in the fellowship hall if you're able to stay. All are welcome. Receive now the Lord's benediction. May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us. God, our God, shall bless us. God shall bless us. Let all the ends of the earth fear him. And all God's people said,