Well folks, we're going to start at five minutes time or so. Just wanted to start a bit early. Hopefully you can hear me. And maybe we'll give a little mention just for your first names to see who's in. Nice to see Anne in, Pamela in. Nice to see Ryan in. You're very welcome. Trust you can hear me okay. Nice to see Brian in. Trust you're all keeping well in these days. Nice to see Ali in. Nice to see Al and Pamela, Luke and Noah. Hope you're all keeping well. Just to say we're praying for everyone in the congregation. Nice to see Samantha in. Thanks for joining us tonight. We'll be bringing a word from the Lord. Five minutes time, eight o'clock. Let all those know. And let the word be a blessing to people in these days. Trust you can hear okay. Nice to see Bernadette in. Nice to have Colin in, thank you Colin. Nice to see Ruth M. Lewis, nice to have you watching in tonight. Just to say, folks, that we're not professionals in these type of things. We're preachers. And so we really are quite basic here, but we're trying to do our best. Nice to see Joanne in tonight. Let other people know about the meetings. Every Wednesday night, God willing, here from the manse, in the will of God, we'll be doing a Bible study together, and then on the Lord's Day, 12 o'clock and 6 p.m., we'll be having our normal services. Trust. Nice to see Mr. Hamilton and Brother Stephen. Thank you for your advice. And we have fixed that problem. Nice to see Thomas in. Laura-Anne, thanks for joining Laura-Anne. Jessica, thank you for joining in. Nice to have Robert and Elaine, and there's No-En, Nice to have Philip in. Appreciate it folks. Keep praying. We'll be starting in a couple of minutes time. We'll just leave it to be quiet for the next little while and then we'll be coming around God's precious word. Well, we welcome you this evening to this live broadcast from the church vans here in Portland Owen. All of these things are just a little bit strange. We're normally at our public place of worship, but because of events within our nation, we cannot be there. But we are very thankful for the opportunity to speak to you here. And we're praying that the Lord will bless his word to your heart. We're trying to make the best of a bad situation and continue the pulpit ministry off Portland Owen. Free Presbyterian Church. And so you're very welcome to the manse. We welcome you in our Saviour's name. Thank you for joining us wherever you are in the world. We are broadcasting here from County Antrim and just beside the River Bann. And we're very appreciative of your presence. I trust you're all keeping well and safe. We genuinely mean that. We're speaking to our church family initially. I trust that those in the church family in Portland own that you're keeping well. You're keeping safe. and that the Lord is blessing you even as you have a little bit of extra time that you're redeeming the time and you're using it to be in the word and to be much in prayer and just be seeking the Lord for his presence and his blessing. Now we did have a little drive-in church service at the weekend, but those have now been suspended because of government advice. But we will be broadcasting, in the will of God, our church services on Sunday 12 noon and 6pm. Just note the time, 6pm in the evening, 12 o'clock, and we'll be ministering God's precious word. Let me encourage you to make that known to family, friends, loved ones around the province that they are able to watch in. even to these times of worship. Can I also remind you just on a practical level that the clocks go forward, they go forward an hour in the will of God on Sunday. So please remember to set your clocks so that you're logging in at the right time on the Lord's Day. So the clocks go forward not a month, an hour. and may you remember that. Pray for the services, pray for the nation, and we'll be saying more about that in the will of God in a few moments time. We're going to turn this evening to the book of Psalms. The book of Psalms in the chapter number 31. The book of Psalms, the chapter number 31, and we're going to take time just to read the whole Psalm together. We're going to pray and then bring the word that the Lord has brought to my attention this evening. Psalm chapter 31, trust you have your Bibles there. Follow along with us as we read God's precious word. The title of the psalm is, To the Chief Musician, a Psalm of David. In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust. Let me never be ashamed. Deliver me in thy righteousness. Bow thou thine ear to me, deliver me speedily. Be thou my strong rock, for a house of defence to save me. For thou art my rock and my fortress, therefore for thy name's sake lead me and guide me. Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me, for thou art my strength. Into thy hand I commit my spirit. Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth. I have hated them that regard lying vanities, but I trust in the Lord. I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy, for thou hast considered my trouble, thou hast known my soul in adversities, and hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy that has set my feet in a large room. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble. When I is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly, For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing. My strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed. I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among mine neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance. They that did see me without fled from me. I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind. I am like a broken vessel, for I have heard the slander of many. Fear was on every side. When they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life. But I trusted in thee, O Lord. I said, Thou art my God. My times are in thy hand. Deliver me from the hand of mine enemies and from them that persecute me. Make thy face to shine upon my servant. Save me for thy mercy's sake. Let me not be ashamed, O Lord, for I have called upon thee. Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave. Let the lying lips be put to silence, which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous. O how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man, thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the Lord, for he has shown me his marvellous kindness in a strong city. For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes. Nevertheless, thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee. O love the Lord, all ye his saints, for the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. Amen, and may God bless the public reading of his precious words. We're uniting in prayer and just seeking the Lord together. briefly in a word of prayer. Loving Father, we come again into thy blessed presence. Lord, we resort to thee and to the throne of heavenly grace. We thank thee for the God of grace who meets us there. We thank thee for the God of all comfort and the Father of all mercies. We rejoice that thou art our loving heavenly Father. Lord, we come to Thee to commit this time and season around the Word to Thee in prayer. We're ever thankful for the means that You've given to us. And Lord, that we're able to speak to the church family in Portland alone and even to a wider audience this evening. To declare Thy Word, we rejoice, O God, in Thy greatness and Thy power. We thank Thee for Thy mercy and grace. Lord, we pray that Thou will come now and fill me with Thy Spirit Grant, dear God, blood-bought liberty. May the word spoken tonight may be a comfort, a help, a challenge, a blessing to all who gather here around the open Bible. Bless our families, our loved ones. We pray for our nation. Oh, for a great turning on to thee in these days. Oh, for days of thy power and days of thy right hand. Grant, dear God, great glory to be brought to thy name. Lord, sanctify, hallow thy name, we pray. Set it apart, dear Father. Let none take the glory from thee. But Lord, do that which is purposed in thy great counsel and in thine eternal will, even for our nation in these days. Lord, spare us and show us mercy and turn our hearts back to thee. For we pray these are petitions and prayers. in and through our Saviour's blessed name. Amen and amen. God encouraged the prophet Isaiah to come for ye, come for ye my people in Isaiah chapter 40 and the verse number one. And surely in these days of great uncertainty and heightened fear, that is what God's servants are called to do. Why we as ministers must call both the people of God and the nation to repent of their sins, we as ministers ought to remember the concerns of those that God has called us to be shepherds over. As I've been pondering all that has been happening in our nation and our world with the spread of COVID-19, the social changes that are taking place, the financial shocks that are being felt in the markets, the great strain on businesses on a global and on a local level. The Lord brought to my attention some words that we find here in Psalm chapter 31. I turn your attention to the words of the verse 15 and especially those opening words that are spoken by the psalmist David. These words are spoken by him as an expression of his faith. This is a man of faith. a man who knew God, a man who had repented of his sin, a man who had been converted, a man who was trusting in the Savior, the coming Messiah, even for his salvation. I know some of these words are words of faith, a declaration of confidence that he has in his God. And there the psalmist said in Psalm 31 and the verse number 15, he said these words. He says, my times are in thy hands. my times are in thy hand whose hand well the verse number 14 reminds us of whose hand he's speaking of he says but i trusted in thee oh lord oh jehovah i said thou art my god thou art my god and then he said my times are in thy hand, in the hand of Jehovah, in the hand of God. There are three simple thoughts that I want to draw out from these words tonight before signing off to give opportunity for you as families, as individuals, just for a little time of prayer together around the throne of heavenly grace. I want you to notice in the first place the context of these words spoken by the psalmist David. My times are in my hands. The context of these words. Now admittedly, this psalm contains no references to the time or to the place to help us to ascertain when, where or on what occasion this psalm was written. However, there is internal evidence that points to what the inspired penman was experiencing in his own personal experience in life when he came to pen this particular psalm. If you notice the verse number one of the psalm, we find the psalmist seeking for deliverance. He cries to God, deliver me in thy righteousness. This appeal for deliverance suggests that the psalmist was found in some kind of trouble. In the verse number two, David continues to seek God for deliverance. For rescue, he requests, deliver me speedily. Be thou my strong rock, for a house of defence, to save me. Note the cries, deliver me, save me. These were the psalmist's petitions. The verse number four becomes a little clearer as to what kind of trouble the psalmist was in because he requests there in verse four, pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me for thou art, thou art my strength. The net is an instrument of entrapment and here the penman he testifies that his enemies with great subtlety and craft had concealed the net, concealed the net that he had unwittingly fallen into if you skip down to the verse number 13 it is a verse that indicates that the psalmist was aware of the of the discussions the deliberations that were taking among place among his enemies note verse 13 of the chapter for i have heard the slander of many Fear was on every side. They took counsel together against me. They devised to take away my life. It is this verse number 13 that really does set for us the context of our text for this evening. David's enemies who had slandered him in the past were now plotting to take away his life. God's servant was under threat and we note the response of David to that threat in the verse 13. For he says, fear was on every side. As I think of those words, fear was on every side, I think they aptly depict the state of many a heart this evening. None of us know how devastating this virus will be on our nation, on our citizens, on our neighbours, and on our families. We look at the pictures coming out of places like Italy and we shudder to think of such happening to us. With wall-to-wall coverage of this pandemic, it is only but natural Many hearts are full of fear in these days. Maybe you're full of fear. Maybe you fear about your own health. You're concerned about your own health in these days. Maybe you fear for the well-being of your family, your friends and your neighbours. Maybe fear is on every side with regard to the future, with respect to your own employment, Maybe you're fearful with regard to the ability to pay off your mortgage, to pay off your car or some other higher purchase item. Maybe tonight you're fearful with regard to the impact of COVID-19 on your educational achievements or pathway. Schools and colleges and universities are now all closed and maybe you're full of fear with regard to your education. It is true to say that fear is on every side. There are some people who think that Christians should have no fears. And yet I'm reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul to the saints of Corinth, there in 2 Corinthians chapter 7, if you want to turn there. 2 Corinthians chapter 7, the Apostle Paul is writing here to the church in Corinth, He's writing to believers and he's giving testimony. In 2 Corinthians chapter 7, we read there in the verse number 4 and 5, Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you, I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation. For when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest. But we were troubled on every side, without were fightings, within were fears. Nevertheless, God. Nevertheless, God. Hear the Apostle Paul, that bold servant of God, that man of God, that man of tremendous faith, And yet Paul, he spoke here in 2 Corinthians 7 in the verse number 5, he said, without were fighting and within were fears. Here's a man of God with his own fear. Here's a man who has taken over with anxious care and concern and worry and fear and yet Knowing such, within his own personal experience, he quickly casts himself upon God because he goes on to say, without were fighting, within were fears. Nevertheless, God that comforted those that are cast down, comforted us. God, the God of all comfort. comforted God's servants. And so the words of our text this evening in Psalm 31 and the verse 15, My times are in thy hands, they're found in this context of fear, this context of uncertainty, this context of impending death. His enemies were speaking about taking away the psalmist's life. And it is within this context that the psalmist makes this great declaration of faith, my times are in thy hand. And so that brings us, not only having thought now about the context, we think about the content of the words. And the psalmist speaks of his times being in God's hands, or God's hand. It's really just another way of saying my life, my very existence. is in God's hand. How true these words of David are, because our times and the life of every child of God is in the hand of God. Life has its various times, its many seasons. And we must remember that every season in life, every season in life, child of God, is in God's hands. We need to remember that in these days. This season is in God's hands. This time of my life, it's in God's hands. The season of prosperity is in God's hands. Think of that for a moment. You know, God reminded the children of Israel there in the book of Deuteronomy, in the chapter 8, that the obtaining of wealth was only something that was accomplished by them because God had permitted it. Let me read just there in Deuteronomy chapter 8, that thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware on to thy fathers as it is this day. It was God that enabled them, gave them the power, the ability, the strength to obtain wealth, and to become prosperous. And sadly, in days of prosperity, God is forgotten by many. And we're going to enter a time of a lack of prosperity within our nation. There's going to be financial consequences for all that is happening to us, and we'll have to do with less in this world. But is it not the case that in days of prosperity, we've forgotten God? We've lived independent lives of God. We've lived, as it were, that we can live without God. And really, the petition, Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread, has not been on our lips. But how things have changed, how things have drastically shifted in our world and in our nation, Sadly, many, because of prosperity and wealth, they have forgotten God. However, the spiritually minded Christian is the one who understands that the times and the seasons of prosperity are in God's hands. Oh, for grace to recognize God in our mercies, and for our hearts to be lifted up in love and gratitude and praise when our barns are full, and the bank balances are in the black. You see, our days of prosperity are in God's hands. But there's the other side of the coin that must be considered, because not only is the season of prosperity in God's hand, but the season of adversity is in God's hand. Adversity in life can come to us in many guises. the adversity of sickness, the adversity of sorrow, the adversity of depression, the adversity of loneliness, the adversity of worry, the adversity of fear, of stress, of unemployment, of temptation, to name but a few. But what I want to say, what I want you to see, is that the season of adversity and that the time of distress is as much in God's hand as the season of prosperity and wealth. Job said this to his wife in Job 2 verse 10. Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? You see, Job understood that both good and evil prosperity and adversity, sunshine and rain came to him from God's loving hand. Child of God, in these days of adversity, we need to remember that such adversity cannot come Until God bids it, Octavius Winslow wrote, health cannot fade, wealth cannot vanish, comfort cannot decay, friendship cannot chill, loved ones cannot die until he and his sovereignty permits. Therefore, your time of self-isolation in these days is by His appointment. Your time of sickness is by His appointment. Your time of sorrow is by His appointment. Your time of adversity, whatever form it is taking, is by His appointment. I ask you tonight, has sickness put you on a bed of suffering? Has bereavement darkened your home? Has adversity reduced your resources? Has change lessened your comforts? Has sorrow, in one of its many forms, has it crushed your spirit? Remember, child of God, the Lord has done it. We need by the grace of God to be brought to the place of submission, where we are enabled to say whatever comes our way, It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good. It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good. Folks I could go on to speak about my trying times, because they're in God's hand. I could speak about my working times, they're in God's hand. I could speak to you about my waiting times, Because they're in God's hand. I could speak to you about my dark times, because they're in God's hands. I could even speak to you about my dying times, for they're in God's hands. But we don't have time to just develop those thoughts tonight. But they're all, every time, every season, they're in His hand. Remember that. Remember that. And these days, it's all in God's hand. But I want you to notice where our times are. Our times are not in our hand. They're not in our hand. Thank God for that. Thank God that our times are not in our enemy's hand. The psalmist David, he would speak of that in verse number eight. He is thanking God here and he says, and hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. Thank God his time, his life wasn't in his enemy's hands and neither are ours. And can I say something else? That our times are not in the hand of luck or destiny or blind chance. Thank God for that. Rather, our times are in God's hand. God's hand. Think of that. Our times, our life, in God's hand. All that concerns the believer is in the hand of Almighty God. Is that not evidence of the pity and the love that God the Father has for us, his children? that he would take our times, our lives, and he would take them into his hand. What condescension, what mercy, what pity, what love that God would take into his hand my times, your times, your life, my life. One preacher said, wonder of wonders, that God should not only think of me, but that he should make my concerns his concerns and take my matters into his hand. Let me develop just a few thoughts as we think of whose hand our times are in. As Christians, our times are in the hand, first of all, of a sovereign ruler. a sovereign ruler. My times, your times are in the hand of him who has foreknown and who has foreordained all things. He has foreknown and he has foreordained, predestinated all things. That's where my times, that's where my life is. It's in the hand of a sovereign ruler. They are in the hand of he who knows the end from the beginning and brings forward everything that happens in this world in its due time and in its proper place. My times are not only in the hand of a sovereign ruler, my times are in the hand of a sympathizing father. As a child of God, I can safely and I can restfully commit myself and my concerns and my family and my congregation to a Heavenly Father who dearly and supremely loves me. Be those times what they may, times of trial, times of temptation, times of suffering, times of pearl, times of sunshine, times of shadow, times of life, times of death, the Christian can rest assured that they are all in their Father's hand. I'm reminded of those words there in John chapter 10, in the verse 28 and 29, Jesus Christ the Speaker, he says, and I give on to them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. What a place to be. To be in the Father's hand. To be in the hand of a sympathising Father. The hands that fashioned the world. The hands that flung the stars into space. The hands that formed man from the dust of the ground. The hand that controls the rudder of the world's affair. The hands that were pierced at Calvary. Are the hands in which my times are in. Matthew Henry, that much-loved Bible commentator, he took these very words in Psalm 31, verse 15, and he made them his New Year resolution on one occasion. Doing so, he wrote the following words of resolve. Listen to these words. He said, firmly believing that my times are in God's hand, I here submit myself and all my affairs for the ensuing year to the wise and gracious disposal of God's divine providence. Whether God appoints for me health or sickness, peace or trouble, comforts or crosses, life or death, may his holy will be done. Let us, like God's servant, leave our times in God's hand, for no safer place can they be. We'll thought about the context, of the words, the content of them. Let me close with a brief comment on the challenge of these words. There's a challenge for all in these words, regardless of your spiritual condition tonight. Can I say in the first place that there's a challenge for the unconverted who may have just popped in, watched into this broadcast for a little period of time? Give me a couple of minutes. There's a challenge here. When we think of these words of the psalmist, my times are in thy hand. I want to remind you, if you're not a Christian tonight, that your times are not in God's loving hand, but rather your times are in the hand of an angry God. And that places you at tremendous peril. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 31 reminds the unregenerate, the unconverted, the unsaved. It reminds us that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. What if death was to take you suddenly and to sweep you out into God's eternity? God's hand of mercy will be withdrawn, and then you'll be under the hand of his judgment, and that for eternity. Let me encourage you tonight, if you're not a Christian, to put your life and put your times in God's hand. Repent of your sins. and trust alone in him for salvation. There's a challenge for the backslider who may be watching in tonight. You've been wasting your time, haven't you? You've been wasting your time. This time that the psalmist speaks of has been squandered by you. Maybe for many a year you have been in this state. You've squandered that precious commodity of time and the things of this fleeting world to the detriment of eternal things. If that is the case, then let me encourage you to return. Return to your first love. He will have mercy. He will restore to you the years that the locusts have eaten. Return to him and place your times and your life afresh in God's hands. And then Christian, there is a challenge for us here in this text, because if you have committed your times into God's hand, then you need to reject all fearful thoughts that would come to your heart and mind. You see folks, if we worry and we fret, and if we fear to an extent, and to the extent of anxious care, then such is not God glorifying. He has told us to fear not. He has told us to be of good cheer. He has reminded us that he has given us his peace, a peace that passeth all understanding. And so to fear, Oh, that it is not God-glorifying, and it will not be a testimony to others as to what biblical Christianity can do in the hour of tribulation and trial. Since our times are in God's hand, in the words of Charles Simeon, let us therefore contentedly leave ourselves to his all-wise disposal. assured that he doeth all things well, and will make all things work together for good to them that love him. No better way could I close this Bible study with you than with the words of the hymn writer William F. Lloyd, who must surely have had the words of our text, My Times Are In My Hand, in his mind whenever he penned the following words. William F. Lloyd, he wrote, my times are in thy hand, my God I wish them there, my life, my friends, my soul I leave entirely to thy care. My times are in thy hand, whatever they may be, pleasing or painful, dark or bright, as best may seem to thee. My times are in thy hand, Why should I doubt or fear my father's hand will never cause his child a needless tear? The psalmist David said, my times are in thy hand. Can you say that tonight? If not, place your time, your life into the hand of God. Child of God, recommit yourself into the hand of God. Pray, seek God, trust in Him, have faith in Him. May the Lord bless you wherever you are in this world, and may the Word of God be a blessing and a comfort to your heart even tonight. Amen. Let me encourage those of our own church family and those who are maybe watching on, maybe just in a few moments time to shut down Facebook and turn off maybe your telephone and just to spend a little time before the Lord in prayer together as a family. Commit your family to the Lord in prayer and just seek the Lord. I want you to pray for certain things. Those in the church family, I'm not going to mention any names specifically but pray for those that you know of who need our prayers. But I want you to pray. Would you to pray for those who are in authority. We are told to do that in scripture. Would you to pray for those who rule over us. Our Prime Minister and those who are over us here even in the province. Would you to pray for Health Minister, our First Minister, Deputy First Minister. I want you to pray for Prime Minister, at this time. I want you to pray that they'll come to know Christ as their saviour if they're not yet saved. And if they are, that they would make wise and godly decisions in these days. I want you to pray for the medical staff of the National Health Service. I want you to pray for those within our own congregation who are involved in the NHS. And I want you to also pray for those who are caring for seniors. In residential care, there are individuals within our family, our congregational family, who are even ministering to the vulnerable, even at this time. I want you to pray for the church family. I want you to pray for your minister, your pastor. I want to remind you that there's no minister, no pastor in this province that has ever ministered like this. These are very unique days and we need much grace in these days. Want you to pray for those in the service industry, those who are keeping things on the shelves, those lorry drivers and individuals that are going out and just providing for our needs. Pray for even the farming community and all those that are under stress at this time. Just want you to pray because prayer is the answer. And so with that in mind, Our officers of Presbytery have issued a call for special prayer. I want to read this out and then I'm just going to close off our time tonight in a word of prayer. Let me read out this to make our own folks aware and you in the province. A call for special prayer issued by the Presbytery officers. As Moderator, Deputy Moderator and Clerk of the General Presbytery of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, we recognize in the light of Scripture that Almighty God, in his displeasure with us for our willful transgression of his holy law, has, by means of the coronavirus pandemic, sovereignly and solemnly sent forth a call to our hearts to seek him. Therefore, we hereby issue a plea that the Lord's people in our free Presbyterian churches give themselves to special prayer to repent before him of our sins against him, to plead for his mercy in these present days of national and international crisis, to cry to him to graciously give revival to his church and the spiritual awakening among the lost. and that he would mercifully reverse this pandemic. Recognising that measures already in place mean that we are not able to gather for public worship, we as Presbytery officers would ask God's people to set aside the afternoon hours between 2pm and 4pm this coming Lord's Day, March the 29th, and in our homes and with our families give ourselves to this special season of prayer as outlined above. we would request every minister, by all possible means, to inform his people of this appointed season of prayer and encourage them to enter into it with all earnestness, believing that what the Lord has said in his word remains true and relevant. If I send pestilence among my people, if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways. Then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2nd Chronicles 7, verse 13 and 14. In Christ, the reverends Gordon Dean, John Armstrong, and John Greer. And so, may the Lord pour upon us the spirit of supplications and of grace in these days. And may we cry to God for mercy. that God would spare us even from future and more serious dangers and pestilence. May God show us mercy. And so we remind you and we thank you for all who have joined us. We appreciate it. We trust that everything's come over loud and clear tonight. Your soul has been blessed and helped and encouraged and comforted through the comfort of the scriptures. and remind you that we'll be broadcasting live again, Lord's Day, 12 noon, God willing, and also at 6 p.m. 6 p.m. will be a gospel service, and so let me encourage you to invite family and friends and loved ones and work colleagues to join the live broadcast. Send them the link. Let's be bold for God in these days, and let's be at our best for Christ. May the Lord bless you. May the Lord keep you. and may the Lord lift up in light of his countenance upon you. Let's unite just briefly now in a word of prayer. Loving Father, we just commit, O God, thy word to all of our hearts. We commit our lives into thy hand. No safer place can we be found than to be found in the hand of God. We rejoice in those of us who are in saving union with Jesus Christ. And Lord, we praise thee that all things are ordered in our lives by thee. We pray that thou will bless the church family in Portland Owen and yes now the wider virtual congregation that we are able to minister to across the world. May thy hand be upon us and may we avail ourselves of every moment of the day and every opportunity to cry to God for mercy and to be found in the word. And may O God the promises come quickly to our souls and may they be anchors for the soul. in days of storm and trouble. Lord, show us mercy. We thank, O God, of the great sin that's being continually foisted upon our nation. We thank, O God, of unrepentant men and women, even with regard to the pushing through of these abortion laws. We pray for the turning of the tide again and grant, dear God, a voice to be heard in our nation. May God speak clearly. We thank Thee that God's way is in the storm. Lord come, bless our homes, shelter us under the blood of Jesus, and shelter us under thy wing, for we pray these, our prayers, in Jesus' precious name. Amen. May the Lord bless you.