FBC Midweek Service – Dec. 2, 2020

Well, good evening. How are you doing on this Wednesday evening, middle of the week? I trust your week has been going well and seeing just some real blessings, maybe answers to prayer, seeing the

Lord's work in your life. I'm glad you could join us for this virtual midweek service anyway, and hope it'll be a blessing to you.

Tonight I want to share a few prayer requests to remember, and at the end of the time together we'll pray for these requests.

But first of all, pray for Bob. Bob was supposed to have an appointment yesterday for another round of chemo, as well as get the results from that scan that he had last week.

However, he wasn't feeling well, so they put that off a week, and so he'll get his next round of chemo next

Tuesday or Wednesday, I believe it is. And then he'll find out also the results of last week's scan.

And then secondly, remember Heather. She had this outpatient surgery on her hand

Monday, and apparently the surgery went well, but just pray for her recovery, pray that this would heal, and we'll solve the problem.

She's been in a lot of pain with her hand and not able to use it effectively, so pray for healing and effectiveness there.

And then also want to pray for Hendrix, this little baby that's really been struggling for his life since he was born.

He's back in the hospital in Peoria and had some problems, and just pray for him.

There's going to be a further procedure conducted on Friday. Pray that it would be effective and that he'll be able to get home soon.

We also want to pray for our nation in this current turmoil with the elections, as well as the

COVID crisis, pandemic, whatever you want to call it.

Just pray for God to be merciful to us as a people. And regarding the

COVID thing, we want to pray for our own region. As you are well aware, numbers seem to be up and it's affecting hospitalizations and all the rest of that.

So I want to pray for people to be well and for people to be protected from this, that if they do get it, that it won't be a serious matter, especially in our church family.

And then also pray for those who are working with patients and coming in contact with them all the time.

We have some in our congregation who are first responders, one who is a nurse and comes in contact with COVID -related patients all the time.

So pray for their protection as well. Also, our

Missionary of the Week this week, the Hammermeisters, I want to remember them in prayer and pray that the Lord would provide for them and meet their needs as a couple and bless their ministry as they labor for the

Lord in Surrey, British Columbia, right outside of Vancouver. You might notice a little different backdrop tonight.

For the midweek service, we announced that we weren't going to have in -person service, but we are planning the candlelight service on December 23rd.

And that involves people in the congregation practicing, singing groups and whatever.

So we opened up the church at 645 tonight for anybody needing to practice, use the auditorium for that purpose.

So I got exiled to the library. And so you can say

Pastor Bice did it in the library with a video camera and a microphone,

I guess. But anyway, that's why change of venue. We'll probably do it this way for the next couple of weeks up until the 23rd.

I'm just kind of guessing. Unless maybe some of this cold weather will do a good number on the

COVID germs and kind of kill it some, that would be a great blessing.

Well, tonight for our Bible study time, I want to kind of continue on the theme of Thanksgiving in a way.

I have been doing a series in Psalms, just calling it the songs in the night.

Started that on Sunday nights, actually back before our trip in October.

But then we got back and COVID kind of pretty much squashed Sunday nights.

So I moved that to the Wednesday night time. So just been taking different Psalms and using those in the evening study time or reaching time.

And so tonight I want to go to Psalm 100. And Psalm 100, of course, is the Psalm of Thanksgiving.

It's a song of giving thanks. It encourages us to give thanks. I call it the song of the grateful heart.

So as we read the Psalm together, here's what it says. I'm using the ESV, you're probably very familiar with this, memorized it.

And again, sometimes it's good to hear these familiar passages of Scripture in a different translation just to help us get meaning and not kind of let our mind go into neutral because we're so used to hearing it.

So here it is, Psalm 100. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.

Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before His presence with singing.

Know that the Lord, He is God. It is He who made us and we are

His. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.

Give thanks to Him and bless His name. For the Lord is good. His steadfast love endures forever and His faithfulness to all generations.

Well, did you hear the story about the guy who wanted to sell his house, wanted to look for something different?

So he called a real estate agent. Agent comes over, looks over the house, gets all the specs and looks at all the features of the house and so forth.

And then he goes back to his office. And as a real estate novelist, he drafts a description of the house, puts an ad in the paper.

A couple of days later, the ad appeared in the paper telling all about the positive qualities of this house and the wonderful features and so forth.

And the owner read that ad, called up the agent and said, cancel the listing.

I've decided, looking at all those features, those are the kinds of things I've been looking for.

So just take it off the market. I've decided to keep the house. Well, what was his problem?

His problem is one that we all probably have in our lives, and that is focusing on all the negatives, the things that we don't like, the things that aren't up to snuff, if you will, and not appreciating the good things.

And that can happen to any of us in just about any area of our life, not just our house, but can happen with our vehicles, the things we own, our possessions, not appreciating the good things about them and getting a little irked about their idiosyncrasies or whatever, but can also happen in relationships.

It can happen in marriages and happen with our families, our in -laws and all the rest of that.

So that does tend to be an inclination of many of us.

And so tonight I want to challenge us from Psalm 100, this song of the grateful heart, to focus on being grateful, grateful for our

God and for the good things he's done for us. So notice in the first couple of verses how this grateful heart is expected.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come into his presence with singing.

And in verse four, enter into his gates with thanksgiving. You see how this grateful heart is really expected of everyone?

All you lands, all the earth is to make a joyful noise to the

Lord because all are subject to him, not just Americans living in a one -time formerly

Christian nation, so to speak, at least quasi -Christian in many ways, but nations on the other side of the planet,

Hindu nations, Buddhist countries, Muslim countries, all are subject to him.

And therefore all are expected to give praise, to make a joyful noise to him.

And as being subject to him and he being the Lord, all are dependent upon him as well.

We mentioned in other passages how the Lord sets up rulers and takes them down and the

Lord establishes the boundaries of nations and so on and so forth. The Lord gives food even to the creatures, the animals in their season as they wait upon him.

All are dependent upon him and all are responsible to him, whether acknowledging it or not, all are responsible to him.

Now, interestingly, when this was written, the psalmist wrote Psalm 100, he wrote it not even realizing that on the other side of the planet there are other peoples, there are other people groups, and he didn't even realize it.

And yet God chose this language. The Holy Spirit inspired him to write this language and to use this terminology and to say, make a joyful noise all the earth, everybody on it.

So gratitude is expected of everyone. And this gratitude is expressed in a variety of ways.

One of the ways it's expressed, we see in our text, is through a joyful noise, a resounding fanfare.

You think about, I read not long ago the biography of Ulysses S.

Grant, and it was interesting to read how he would go, no matter where he went after the success of the

Civil War and so forth, and he was, of course, the general who was leading the

Union troops. But after that success in the Civil War, it didn't matter where Grant went.

Even in the South, there were people who welcomed him with resounding praise, applause.

I mean, they just came out in droves to see him. And when they saw him, they cheered, and they just had a tremendous reception.

He had a tremendous reception just about everywhere he went. This is the idea. It's a resounding joy, a joyful noise that was made when

Grant came into town. Well, we're to express that joyful noise to the

Lord, a resounding fanfare. Well, another way we express gratitude to the

Lord is through gladness. The first part of verse 2 says,

Serve the Lord with gladness, with gladness. Gladness is a response to the

Lord. It's a response to our God for what he has done. And this response is really traced.

It's traced all through the Psalms. You can see it over and over again as a prominent feature in the

Psalms. Let me just kind of take us through some of these different expressions in different places.

In Psalm 4, verses 3 and 7, you see gladness expressed for answers to prayer.

Verse 3 in Psalm 4, the psalmist says, But know that the Lord has set apart him, the one who is godly, for himself.

The Lord hears when I call to him. And then he says in verse 7, really on the basis of that hearing when

I call, he says, You have put more joy in my heart or gladness in my heart than they have when their grain and their wine abound.

So there's gladness in response to answered prayer. In Psalm 16, there's gladness in the heart from the counsel that the

Lord gives. Verses 7 through 9 say this, I bless the Lord who gives me counsel. In the night also my heart instructs me.

I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand. I shall not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices.

My flesh also dwells secure. My heart is glad. My heart is glad because the Lord gives me counsel.

He instructs me and that gives me stability. Gladness for the counsel of the word of God.

And then in Psalm 21 verse 6, there's gladness expressed just for the abundant blessings that the

Lord gives to us. It says, You make him most blessed forever. You make him glad with the joy of your presence.

Here is the gladness with the awareness that God is present.

And one of the ways he expresses that presence is by the pouring out of his blessing.

Psalm 30 verse 11 says, You have turned for me my mourning, that is my weeping, into dancing.

You have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness. Here there is an expression of gladness because of deliverance from a threat to the psalmist's well -being.

So when your well -being is threatened and God in his grace and mercy delivers you from that threat, how do you respond?

You respond with a heart of gratitude that is expressed through gladness.

Psalm 48 verse 11 says, Let Mount Zion be glad. Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments.

God's judgments are his evaluation of things. So rejoice or be glad in the fact that God has revealed his evaluation of things.

His judgments. Are you glad for that? Aren't you grateful and thankful to the

Lord that you can find in his word what God thinks about different things?

That sure helps us in our decision making, doesn't it? I believe it does and we should therefore be grateful.

And then Psalm 51 verse 8. If you recognize Psalm 51, you know that is

David's penitential, is a psalm of penitence and repentance for his sin.

Verse 8 says, Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

Hear joy and gladness on what basis? The basis of forgiven sin. When you have sinned against the

Lord and his spirit convicts you, and you go to the Lord in repentance and confession, and you bow before him with a broken heart, and you say,

Oh Lord, I've sinned. I have sinned again and this is the way I've sinned.

Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. Would you please forgive me? And you have the promise of 1

John 1, 9, and you get up from your knees and rejoice with gladness that God's word has promised forgiveness to those who are truly repentant.

Forgiven sin is a reason for gladness and expression of thanksgiving. And then in Psalm 92 verse 4, he says,

For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work. At the works of your hands I sing for joy.

When the Lord has worked in a clear and evident manner, it should evoke gladness in our hearts and thanksgiving in our hearts.

Look back over this past year. It's been a tough year, hasn't it? In so many ways.

But yet, how has the Lord evidently worked? How has he worked?

May that working of the Lord, the clear evidence of his work, evoke gladness in your heart and thanksgiving to him.

And then in Psalm 97 verses 10 and 11, he says, O you who love the Lord hate evil.

He preserves the lives of his saints. He delivers them from the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous and joy or gladness for the upright in heart.

Oh, here we are filled with gladness in our heart when the Lord preserves us from evil.

When he preserves us from evil. Again, you can probably think back and sometimes maybe recently where you were headed in a direction that could easily have been harmful, hurtful, destructive because it was sinful.

And yet God in his grace and by the working of his spirit, he hedged up your way.

He prevented you from going that direction. The Lord preserved you from evil. Oh, be glad for that.

Give thanks to the Lord for it. And then in Psalm 118 verses 22 through 24, it says the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

And of course you recognize how Peter applied this passage to the

Lord Jesus Christ. So the stone, Jesus, the builders rejected, he's become the cornerstone.

This is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the

Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day that the

Lord has established Christ as the cornerstone. Let's rejoice and be glad in it.

Glad that our God has established the cornerstone of our very existence, our eternal existence, the

Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm 122 verse 1 says, I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the

Lord. We've kind of had this amplified,

I think, this year, haven't we? It was that period of time in the middle of March until the middle of May when we did not meet at all, nobody.

And we just completely locked down services and said nobody can come to church. And that got to be a very long, drawn out thing.

And there are some who still do not feel comfortable getting out to public services.

And I can understand that with this COVID mess going around. And I know

I've talked to some who have said, I can't wait to get back to church. I can't wait to get back to church.

And I know that when they come into the house of the Lord after that long hiatus, long time being apart from the

Lord's house, they'll be glad. They'll be glad when the announcement was proclaimed.

Let's go to the house of the Lord. You don't have to worry about getting COVID any longer. How glad our heart would be.

And then in Psalm 126 verse 3, the psalmist says, The Lord has done great things for us, and we are glad.

We're glad in heart when we recognize the Lord has done some great things for us.

Well, think back on those things. Look at those things. And so this heart of gratitude is expressed through gladness.

Another way it's expressed from our psalm is through singing. And that is an expression of gladness.

Verse 2 says, serve the Lord with gladness. And then it's kind of like a parallelism. The second part of that verse says, come into his presence.

There's that serving part. It has to do with worshiping. Come into his presence with singing, with singing.

A singing heart that is expressed through singing lips is a way in which we express gratitude to our

God. And then another way, of course, is just through thanksgiving proper. First part of verse 4, come enter into his gates with thanksgiving.

And here he's referring to some specialized, specific, verbalized expressions of gratitude.

It's what you should do, I hope you do, I'm sure you do, when you receive a gift. You write a thank you card to express gratitude to that individual for that specific gift, for their thoughtfulness of you and so forth at this particular time or on this particular occasion.

Yet another way we express gladness is through praise, through praise.

Again, the last part of verse 4 says, or in the middle of the verse, is enter into his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.

Now the distinction here, the nuance here of praise, is that it has to do with the extolling of the virtues of God, of his character.

He's good, he's generous, he's loyal, he's strong, he's responsive, he's kind, he's just.

And on and on you can go with all of the different facets, aspects of the character of God.

And each one of those things is praiseworthy. You can mention these to the

Lord and praise him for his goodness, for his generosity, for his grace, for his loyalty, for his mercy, and so on and so forth.

Praise expresses gratitude. And yet another expression of gratitude is adoration, adoration, adoring him.

Oh, come let us adore him. Not just Christ the

Lord, the baby in the manger, but our God in all of his splendor.

Bless his name, the last part of verse 4 says. Bless his name.

Blessing him or adoring him is truly appreciating and admiring the qualities that you see in your

God. So praise or gratitude is expected.

It's expected in God's presence as well. In the first part of verse 4, again, enter his gates with thanksgiving.

Now this, of course, is a reference to the gates of the temple when the people of Israel, and maybe even the gates of the city, as the

Jewish people would travel for pilgrim festivals, they would enter into the gates of the city, and then they would enter into the gates of the temple.

They would enter into the gates with thanksgiving. Well, this is expected not only of the

Old Testament Jewish pilgrim or worshiper at the temple, but this is expected of us at church, corporately, when we gather together.

Think of what Paul wrote to the Colossians in Colossians 3 verses 15 to 17.

He said this, he said, Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you are called in one body.

And be thankful, be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.

Here's the singing part, right? Teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the

Father through him. So here Paul is exhorting us as New Testament believers to come into his presence with thanksgiving.

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving. So when we go to church, when we gather together as God's people, what should the attitude of our heart be?

It should be one of gratitude. And there may be a lot of things going on in life that weigh you down and burden you down.

And I fully understand that. I get that. And yet we're coming together to turn our attention to our

God and who he is, what he is like, what he has done.

And even in the turmoil and the crises of life, there are evidences of the work of God, of the character of God for which we can give thanks.

So when we come together, our coming together should be with a personal attitude of gratitude, coming into his presence with thanksgiving.

So a grateful heart is expected. But then our text also shows us that a grateful heart is responsive.

It's responsive. And not responsive to circumstances necessarily.

In fact, we're not to be focused on circumstances when it comes to gratitude. Circumstances can be quite deceptive.

You realize that, do you not? Remember in Daniel chapter 6, you're familiar with the story of Daniel.

Chapter 6 is the chapter where Daniel ends up in the lion's den.

And listen to what Daniel says in chapter 6, verse 10. It says, Let him get executed.

It would be a death sentence if they violate this order. And the king thought, oh, that sounds like a pretty good idea.

I can be the head dog. So he went ahead and signed the decree, not realizing that this is going to affect one of his favorite advisors,

Daniel. So he signed the decree. Well, when Daniel saw that the document had been signed, when he knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem.

He got down on his knees three times a day and listen to what he did. He prayed and he gave thanks before his

God as he had done previously. Did you get that? Even knowing that the king had just signed this decree, that anybody who bows down and prays to any

God, so knowing that as Daniel gets on his knees, opens the windows toward Jerusalem and prays toward Jerusalem to Yahweh, his

God, that he could be executed for it. What did he do? He gave thanks.

He gave thanks. This is a pretty bad set of circumstances for Daniel.

And yet he's giving thanks. Circumstances that seem bad may actually be good.

And circumstances that we think are good may actually be bad. Circumstances can be very deceptive.

We know that. You've experienced that enough in your life. And our circumstances are always changing.

What may be wonderful today may be miserable tomorrow and vice versa. And yet we are to give thanks.

We are to have a heart of gratitude at all times. Why? Because a grateful heart is responsive not to our circumstances but to our

God, where our heart is primarily focused on God, knowing who he is as the psalmist exhorts us.

He says, know the Lord that he is God. Know that the

Lord, and that's in all caps, so he's talking about Yahweh, the covenant -keeping, faithful, steadfast love

God, Yahweh. Know that Yahweh is God. The all -powerful, sovereign

Elohim is a personal covenant -keeping God, Yahweh.

Knowing who he is should evoke a heart of gratitude.

And knowing what he's done, as this psalm points out, one of his premier acts, his premier works in verse 3.

It is he who made us. He made us. What has

God done? Well, he created you. He created you. Now, on the one hand, that of course gives him the right of ownership, doesn't he?

Doesn't it? If he made you, he owns you, and he made you.

But it also does another thing. It eliminates so much of our dissatisfaction with how we're created and those unchangeables about our lives.

And instead of grumbling about those things and complaining about those things, it is he who made us.

He made us. And we are his. We are his.

He not only made us, but he redeemed us. He redeemed us. The last part of verse 3 says, we are his.

We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. We are his sheep.

He treats us as a good shepherd takes care of his sheep.

And there's so much that can be said about that. There's a whole psalm about that, Psalm 23. The Lord Jesus himself describes himself as the good shepherd who tends to and takes care of his sheep and doesn't allow any of them to be lost.

What has he done? He's created you and he's redeemed you. He's made you his own.

He's made you one of his sheep tended by the good shepherd. So our heart of gratitude is focused on our

God, who he is, what he's done, and what he is like. What he is like.

Verse 5 talks about what he's like. What does it say? He's good. He is good.

Now there is that saying, some people have it as a plaque in their home, and it's almost become somewhat cliche.

But just because it is so well known and popular and put on plaques, doesn't make it any less true.

God is good all the time. He is good. The Lord Yahweh is good.

And it goes on to say, his steadfast love endures forever.

There's that quality of Yahweh. He is a God of steadfast love.

His steadfast love is everlasting. He's faithful and true to his covenant, to his word and what he has said.

And he elaborates on that a little bit when he says at the end of the verse, His faithfulness abides to all generations.

His faithfulness is to all generations. He is absolutely trustworthy for everybody, for all time.

He wasn't just trustworthy for the psalmist in the Old Testament period. He's trustworthy for you and for me in the 21st century.

So as our hearts and our minds are primarily focused on our God, a grateful heart is a response to who he is, what he is like, and what he's done.

And a grateful heart, lastly, is a life -changing thing. Having a grateful heart will change your life.

Having a grateful heart creates a positive attitude in our worship, and we saw that in verse 2.

Serve the Lord with gladness for the

Christian, the true child of God. Worshiping the

Lord is not drudgery. It's not something you endure.

It's something you enjoy. It's not a mere ritual. It's a delight.

It's a delight. And when we gather together as God's people, I trust that that is your attitude, your heart spirit, that this is a delight to come together with God's people to worship our

God, serving him with gladness. And in verse 4, that grateful heart creates a positive atmosphere with God's people when we do gather for worship.

Verse 4, again, enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise.

Enter into his courts with praise. Oh, I trust that that is your not only desire but your experience when you come together with God's people.

You enter with thanksgiving. You enter with a heart of praise. And as we do that corporately, as we do that together, the more of us who gather together with that kind of a spirit in our heart, a grateful heart, it changes our lives.

So I wonder this evening if your focus has been too much on the problems and the challenges of life and the hurts, the pains, the failures, the threats, and all those things that can rob us of a grateful heart.

If so, I understand that. I understand exactly how easy that is to do, to fall into such a way of thinking and so forth.

But Psalm 100 gives us a better way, gives us a better approach.

It's the answer, gives us the answer. Look at your God instead.

Be thankful unto him and praise his name. Well, let's close our time together tonight in prayer.

We'll give thanks to the Lord for who he is and for what he has done. But then let's also remember these matters in prayer tonight as well.

So let's pray together, shall we? So our Father and our God, we are grateful this evening for all that you are, all that you have done.

We thank you tonight that you have created us and made us as your people.

And everyone listening who knows Christ as his Savior can doubly rejoice.

Not only have you created us, but you have redeemed us. Thank you for that gracious redemption, for your mercy upon us, and making us your people, sheep of the pasture of the

Lord Jesus Christ. So, Father, thank you, and thank you for what you have done, even this year in the midst of all the crises and the difficulties and the challenges.

You have done so much for us, your people. You have preserved and protected.

You've provided for us. You've met every need that we've had. And even as we are threatened by an unseen virus that could bring us down, bring us to our knees, lay us up in the bed of affliction,

Lord, even if that were to come into our doors, you are good. And we're grateful and thankful for your goodness.

And we're thankful that you are our God. You hear, you listen, your love is steadfast, your faithfulness to your covenant is unchanging, unending, and we can count on that even as we pray tonight.

And we do pray. We pray for your people who are hurting. And even in the sound of my voice, there are some whose hearts are very heavy.

They're burdened down with a great deal of care and a load of weight on their shoulders.

Our Father, I pray that you might ease that burden. I pray that you might encourage that heart to turn to you, to cast all those anxieties and cares upon you.

Father, there are those who are hurting physically. I pray for Heather that you would give healing to her hand and ease the pain and reduce the need for any medication.

I pray that the healing would be efficient and swift, and she would get full use of that hand again.

We pray for Harold and the strengthening of his shoulder, and pray for progress there.

And we pray for Kathy and the ongoing strengthening of her knee, and pray that you would continue to bless and help her to see progress and may this be a delight to her soul.

And we pray for Bob and pray that you would encourage him, and may he be feeling a little better today than he was yesterday as he anticipates next week in the getting of results from that CAT scan.

I pray that you would give peace of mind and heart, confidence in your plan and your purpose for him.

I pray that you would just bless him and Jerry both during these days. And then,

Father, we pray for our nation. We pray for our president and pray for the outcome of the recent election.

Lord, we pray for peace in this land from all the turmoil that is going on, not only related to the election, but in every other way.

Lord, we pray about the COVID crisis and pray for people in our community that are suffering.

We pray that you would be gracious and give healing. We pray that those who are front line working with those who are ill in the hospital, we pray for our nurses.

Think of Rebecca and just pray that you would give her grace and strength and also protect her from getting sick and protect her family as well.

And other nurses and doctors in the health care profession, just protect them.

And, Father, we pray also for our shut -ins and those who are not able to get out.

This time of isolation is a difficult time for them as well. Just be gracious to each one.

And, Father, we thank you that on this Lord's Day we can worship you as your people and we pray that we would worship you with a grateful heart.

We would truly give thanks with a grateful heart. Now, Father, I pray.

Bless these thoughts to our hearts tonight and meet the needs that we have prayed for.

Oh, and, Father, let's also remember. We want to also remember the Hammermeisters tonight. Encourage them in their work in Surrey.

May they see some growth and strengthening in the people. May they see improvement in their financial needs.

Just provide for Darren and Elizabeth in this time, we pray. And, Father, we ask these things in the name of Jesus, our

Savior, and for his sake. Amen and amen. All right, well, this

Lord's Day, like last week, our plan is to have the same kind of a setup.

That is, as you know, because of the COVID crisis, in -person attendance is not recommended, but it's also not prohibited.

And for those who do attend, we will be having the Lord's Supper. We'll be using those little, you know, dual cups and so forth.

I know they're not the most convenient thing to deal with, but nevertheless, they accomplish the purpose.

And we do want to remember our Lord's death on this coming Lord's Day. So those who are able to gather in person, that will be available at 1030 this

Sunday morning. And if you're not comfortable, that's perfectly understandable. I know many of you have come in contact with COVID patients, and you're just very concerned about not passing that on to somebody else.

I understand that, and you're to be commended for that caution. And others are just not comfortable getting out and risking things.

They're risking their own health. Again, that's understandable. So join us online on livestream.

Catch us on Facebook Live or the YouTube channel or the church website, and join us in worship that way, at least virtually.

And we will long for the day when all of us will be able to gather together again and enter into his courts with thanksgiving, into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise.

And we'll do so with much thanksgiving. All right, have a good night, and may