FBC Morning Worship Service

Baptist. Good to see you and good to be in the house of the Lord. Amen. Amen. And before we open up with the call to worship in Psalms, I want to just go over a few announcements. I want to encourage you to stay after the morning service.

We do, this is the last, excuse me, next week is the last week for our fellowship that would be in the fellowship hall. That is our lunch or our after morning service service. Then we'll be going after next week, the week after that, we'll be going into the evening service at 7 p .m., excuse me, at 6 p .m.

But afterwards, this morning, we have the fellowship. If you have a lunch that you want to bring, bring it. If you have a lunch that you don't have, you could probably, there's plenty of food to spare.

Usually there's some to go around. You can go to McDonald's or one of those, your favorite fast food place and bring some back here or go home and eat. But come back to the afternoon service at one o 'clock.

We do welcome the Bernits here this morning. Ron has been pastor of for many years and he's been here on occasion and we're glad to have him back on this occasion. Looking forward to the morning message and afternoon as well and appreciate that what we've heard already this morning from Brother Foreman and in Sunday School and welcome all the visitors we have this morning and hope that you will enjoy the service as we worship and praise God together.

We do want to mention that there is a quarterly business meeting after the afternoon service next week, excuse me, and I also want to mention in your bulletin to the YMSA, the Foremans are heading that up and it'll be on May 2nd.

That is the young marrieds and singles. It'll be the first time that we've started that and many of you are looking forward to it. If you, they do have I think a yellow insert in your bulletins and for those that would qualify, married singles or young couples and so forth, fill that out so we can get a head count and turn that in, if you would, for details there and also that starts, each month will be, hopefully you'll be inviting people over to your home and to do that, that's the fellowship also that's going to be starting at that time as well and invite others to your home for time and the word and prayer and developing friendships.

Also May 8th, we have a work day so I encourage you to come and share in some of that joyful work of the Lord in the house of the Lord and we have some things to do and many hands make light work as they say.

May 16th, prepare for Scott Williquette, he's one of our missionaries that we support. He'll be here for the morning service. Says in Psalms 9 verses 1 and 2, I will praise thee O Lord with my whole heart.

I will show forth all my marvelous, excuse me, I will show forth all thy marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee. I will sing praise to thy name O thou most high. Let's take our songbooks and turn to number 230, 230, glory to his name.

Let's all stand together please and sing all four verses together, glory to his name 230. The cross where my Savior died, down where for cleansing from sin I cried, there to my heart was the blood applied.

Glory to his name, glory to his name, glory to his name, was the blood applied. Glory to his name, I am so wondrously saved from sin. Jesus so sweetly abides within. There at the cross where he took me in, glory to his name.

Glory to his fountain that saves from sin, I am so glad I have entered in. There Jesus saves and He keeps me clean. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. There to my heart wears the blood of Christ.

Glory to Him, to this fountain so rich and sweet. Cast thy poor soul at the Savior's feet. Plunge in today and be made complete. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Brother Kevin, would you lead us please?

Let us pray. Thank you Lord again that we can come into your house and worship you. Thank you for this past week and all the blessings and all the answered prayer Lord. We pray for those Lord that can't be with us, pray your healing hand upon them.

And bring them back soon Lord. Pray that your word would touch our heart and our minds today. Lead and guide and direct us.

The scripture reading for this morning is on the back of your bulletins. Hope you all have one. Psalms 130. Anyone need one, does not have one? Raise your hand please, we'll get you. There's one up here.

Someone can get him a bulletin if you would for scripture reading. Right up here, this gentleman right there. Behind Margaret. Anybody else? Psalms 130. Follow along as I read. Out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord.

Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits. And in his word I do hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning. Yes, more than those who watch for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord.

For with the Lord there is mercy. And with him is abundant redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Let's go to number 237. At the cross. We'll sing all four verses together. 237.

At the cross. At the cross where I first saw the light. And the burden I received my sight. And now I am happy all the day. For crimes that I have done. He groaned upon the face unknown. And love, pure solemn, was there.

Received my sight. And all the day. Hide and shut. His glories in. At the cross. Vacation. The last I heard from them, they. And I mentioned that in this morning at. Before Sunday school that when pastor.

Called me. He earlier in the week. He was there in Arizona. And in those canyons, you know where you can get down and look up at the. The massive formations of the remnants of the. Of the creation flood carving out those magnificent.

Formations and enjoying the weather. He said, I'm not going to mention to you that it's 75 degrees and sunny and pleasant. I'm not going to, I don't want to rub that in Jim, but it's. 75 degrees, sunny and pleasant.

I said, well, thanks for not mentioning to me. Because it was pretty chilly up here then. But I'm glad that they're enjoying the weather, enjoying the time. And the time of rest and relaxation. Seeing.

Part of God's creation together. We missed them and I know they're watching. And listening on. Online. And look for them to return soon. Do want to mention. Before I go to prayer. I've been praying for Jody.

And she is stable. But certainly continue to pray for her. She is. She's not out of the woods and. Of those who have had it here, even in this church. She is really has it. Bad. But God is a. It's a healing God.

Balm and Gilead. And he can raise her up. We pray that. And we do. Thank God for. Improvement in many. Had quite a few here really that have been. Struck by the COVID. Bob Jody's wife. Husband is recovering and.

Doing well. Very weak. I was talking to brother Eric this morning and he is as well. Glad to see him back. And. But still. The effects linger on and. It does SAP one of strength and. And it takes a while.

My daughter. Abigail who's in Utah had it. She's only 40 years old. That was two months ago. I believe. And I think I was at old. Makes me feel older. And she is still feeling the effects of that. And.

Just. This is some kind of a virus. And so pray for. A Ben. As he is improving. Bob Baruda is back from the hospital. As well from COVID and. Pray for her and Jimbo as a. Need that strength. Kevin's dad is doing better.

Is that. And that's Richard as he's out of the hospital, right? Still in the hospital. Pray for. Kevin's dad, Richard as well. So. We also want to remember. The hammer Meister is there are missionaries for the week.

They're in British Columbia and. They had a few requests, Darren's health. He has chronic back pain and he needs surgery, but he's. Struggling in the ministry until that happens. But seems to have a joyful spirit in the Lord.

Reading his missionary letters. And. The services that. They're really closed down because of COVID still. They do a lot of. Online teaching and services and so forth. There's of course, always a need.

He says for spiritual growth in the people. And to mention one family in particular that. For them, but, and. Also encourage you to help yourself to the missionary letters out there. And you have more detail on the hammer Meisters and.

Other missionaries that we support as well. In the foyer. Also for the, they asked prayer for. Committed families to join. In. And. And also that their support level. Is presently at 50%. The missionaries need a hundred percent when they're on the field.

Or close to it. 50%. So. And I was. Thrilled to. That our church increased their support. Just recently, but prayed that their support would come in as well as a. Serve the Lord there. Also. I guess there's.

Oh, I went to. To also pray for, for, for Kent Foster. Kent is on our prayer list all the time. Should be on yours every day. And his needs, you know, his needs and. And his struggles physically. And that Lori also.

His. Wife would, and they work together. They have strength for the day. And. And that God would continue to. To bless that family as a. Look forward to. That time when he can have that organ replacement.

Can we. For his kidney as well. And don't forget our country. Pray for our country. The Congress, the laws. Not one to, and pastor isn't one to. Get up here and politicize. From the pulpit. But I do want to mention some of these things that have happened.

That can affect our church, the laws of Congress that. Can affect the church in different ways. How we minister and so forth and. And so pray for our Congress or president. Pray for our police as well.

I say that because they are ministers of God. According to Romans 13 ministers of God. And I quote from the scripture and. The word ministers there is the Greek word. Deacon us, which means servant. Police deputies.

Sheriff's office, state police. Our ministers are deacons of God appointed by God. And a deacon is a, is a servant. And that's where we get the word public servant. Law enforcement officer is a public servant.

Appointed by, by God. So we need to pray for these individuals. As God has appointed them and. As we see a wave of. Attack against our law enforcement. Pray for them and also. For the unborn. In, in our nation's laws as well.

Do want to. Also mentioned that Harold is improving with his. Post-surgery so pray for his healing as well. We miss them. Him and Linda as they. Are recovering as well. So let's bow together. Before the Lord.

Our father. Oh, Lord God, we. Come to you in the name of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Who died for our sin, who paid the price. For our iniquity that we. Can come to you even now to the throne of.

God, the throne of grace and mercy. And truth. We thank you father for this church and do pray for many who. Are suffering and going through this virus that is spread. We thank you for those who are that you.

Healed and in the process of raising up again and strength. Do pray for, for Jody. And particularly. Do raise her up, strengthen her old Lord. And for Baruda. Richard as well. And Ben. And those others of father that we.

Are part of the family here and. You ask it, you would strengthen them and raise them up as well. Pray. Oh, Lord, for our missionaries and hammer meisters. And British Columbia for their needs. Well, Lord, we pray that you would help Darren as he.

Struggles with this back injury and. And that you would just bless that. Church that you've caused them to. To. To be ministers unto you in that area. And now we just ask that you would. Give them the fruits of their labors as well.

And for unsaved. For. Family. Those that are. Members of spiritual growth. And that you might supply their needs. Even their support level. Father, we. Thank you for. Our country. And the foundation upon which it stands.

Even the laws of our nation. Upon God's laws, even our. Our police law enforcement. We pray for them. Oh, God, that you might turn these things around that are. Meant to be according to your word. For our.

Congress and. And our president that. That make the laws and may men and women. This in the nation's people realize. Of the importance of. Of our elections and. Putting people in a position that. That do make our laws.

Oh, Lord, we do pray. For those. Ministers of God as well for the unborn. We pray for. Brother Kent and. Lori is a struggle again. We just ask that you would. Supply their needs in. And every day as they.

Look for each day. To live and to serve. And even to come and to be a part of this assembly as well. Thank you for our pastor and pray that you would continue to. To give them rest and strength for the day and.

We do also ask father your blessing upon. The preaching of the word this day for brother Ron as he would come soon. And share with us the word of God that which we desire. Our hearts and our soul and our spirit desires that.

Which is the food from heaven, the manna. Which feeds us. Oh, God, we do thank you for him and his wife and their. Time that they would come in. And share the blessings of God with us. Well, we ask these things in Jesus name.

Amen. Take your hymnals. Before brother Ron comes and turn to page 243. 243 when I survey the wondrous cross. Sing all four verses together. Let's stand. Once again, please. Number 243. Sing all four verses of when I survey.

The wondrous cross. Please be seated. It's good to be back with you folks again. And it's allergy time. And you might hear some of that in my voice this morning. And every once in a while a tear decides to come down from the eyes.

It's not because anything sad has happened or anything. It's just the allergies out there. A lot of pollen these days. It's good to be back with you. We're glad to be here. A lot has taken place in the last several months.

And since we've been here. And I know that many of you here have struggled with this matter of the COVID. And I'm not sure how many families are not affected by that. We have a son who's a doctor. And a daughter-in-law who's a critical care nurse.

And they both have been in close proximity to working with COVID patients. Besides that, my sister came down with it. And her husband who had had an aortic aneurysm surgery two weeks before. He also came down with it.

And unfortunately did not survive. So that has touched our family in a very serious way. So it has perhaps touched some of your families as well. So we continue to pray for that situation. And trust that the Lord will grant his blessing, his protection at this time.

Vicki and I have both received vaccination. But our hope is not in the vaccination. It's in the Lord. And so he is the one who is our hope. I know Pastor is having a good time. I'm glad he didn't tell us about that 75 degree weather out in Utah.

I'm glad he didn't. Because we have enjoyed some beautiful weather down around Peoria. It's just been really, really great. I've been able to get out in the yard and do some yard work. Get some things done there.

But I just have to share with you that there was a forecast since Tuesday. Possibility of snow. So we didn't want to hear that. But I guess you have to hear the bad news too sometimes. So we're here. And we're glad to be with you.

It's always a pleasure for us to come. Had a nice drive up this morning. Very pleasant. And we're looking forward to our time here. Psalm 130 this morning. It's where we want you to go to. I said a lot of things have happened since then.

I was sitting at home one Saturday afternoon. And doing what I oftentimes do on a Saturday afternoon. That's watch a golf tournament. And all of a sudden, the door opened. And in walked two of my grandchildren.

Their parents came in with them. And before I know it, one of our other children walked in with their family. And then all of a sudden, another family walked in. I had to look at them. And just simply, all I could say was, I have been surprised.

My wife planned a birthday party for me. And it was an absolute surprise. She caught me off guard. They all did. But I had a wonderful birthday. And reached the three-quarter century mark. 75. And so, I thank the Lord for 75 years.

And what other years he yet has for me. So, I'm thankful for that. We're serving in our church. And we're glad to do that at Germantown Hills Baptist Church. In Peoria. Actually, Metamora address. But the Peoria area.

And we're glad there. My pastor does ask me to preach once in a while there, too. So, I appreciate Pastor By's confidence in asking me to come. I do once in a while. Listen in on his... Watch in on his devotionals.

And appreciate the work that he puts into that. And benefit from that. Well, Psalm 130. A sinner's plea. Once, when Martin Luther was asked which of the psalms he liked most. He interestingly said, the Pauline ones.

You know, the ones written by Paul. I thought David and Solomon and Moses and some others wrote the psalms. But he said, you know, the Pauline psalms. So, someone pressed him as to which ones he meant by that.

And he identified them as Psalm 32, which is a confession of sin. Psalm 51, another confession of sin. Psalm 130, which we'll look at today. And also Psalm 143. Asked for the reason for calling them Pauline, he said, They taught forgiveness apart from the law and works.

Forgiveness as a part of the grace of God. Psalm 130 is the last of the psalms of... What we would call the psalms of ascent. It is also the sixth of the seven penitential psalms we find in Scripture.

Now, a penitential psalm, sometimes called a psalm of confession, is one in which the writer senses a deep guilt of sin. That penitential psalm, then, is a sincere confession of sin. And it finds the writer expressing the sorrow he has over the sin that he has committed.

The sin he knows he's guilty of. Penitential psalms are ones that we can probably easily identify with. And Psalm 130 is one of the best. Have you ever found yourself so overwhelmed with guilt, the guilt of sin, that you thought you were in deep water, such deep water that you couldn't possibly get out of it?

If so, Psalm 130 was written for you. As the writer of the psalm thought that way himself. And this is the account of his guilt as well as his forgiveness. He finds himself in a difficult situation and describes it as if he is in deep waters in which his feet cannot possibly touch bottom.

And he fears that in this mess he will drown. When we find ourselves overwhelmed with the guilt of our sin, do you know what time it is? It is time for us to call upon the Lord, to seek Him. Look at verses 1 through 4.

Out of the depths I have cried. To you, O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared.

And so here's the idea of calling upon the Lord in the depth of your guilt, the depth of despair that you may be feeling. And that first one is, make your earnest confession to the Lord. That's verses 1 and 2.

He uses the word depths here. And that word is invariably used of deep waters that are meant to describe some overwhelming situation in your life. There's some situation that you're dealing with and the facts of that situation, the guilt of it perhaps, is just so overwhelming you're not sure that you can survive that.

The psalmist does not identify here what it is that has brought about this desperate situation in his life. But it is evident that it is sin that he has committed. We look at verse 3 where it says, If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?

The words used here reveal that the psalmist has for some time, actually, been calling out to the Lord, as he does here, for God to free him from that thing that has enslaved him, that thing that has bound him.

His plea is not a brief one-time request. But the language indicates that it has been a continuous request for some time now. So the man humbly pleads with the Lord that he, God, will be attentive to the words he's speaking.

He earnestly asks the Lord to neither turn his ear away from him nor to disregard his cry. When we come before the Lord in confession of sin, our heart must be as the psalmist's heart. It is earnest. It is sincere.

It is without pretense. And it is a genuine expression of his heart. When you have acknowledged your sin before the Lord so that he has forgiven you, do this. This be the next thing. When you confess, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And when you have done that and you then are assured of his forgiveness, enjoy. Second thing here, enjoy the forgiveness that God grants. Again, I go back to verses 3 and 4. If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?

But there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. Before we really understand the enjoyment of forgiveness, we need to understand the seriousness of sin. I think with Sunday School, we learned all about that this morning, didn't we?

The seriousness of sin, how serious it is. Sin is no small matter. As suggested by the words of Warren Wiersbe, the psalmist moves from the waters of the sea, that we've seen the psalmist in in verses 1 and 2, to the courtroom.

Now we find him in the courtroom of justice, the justice of God. And we should be reminded here that as the New Testament says, all have sinned and that the wages of sin is death. That is part of the seriousness of sin.

Not only that, but sin enslaves us and it binds us. The word here, to mark, to mark sins, is the idea of tracking them. You know, they've been talking about tracking the COVID thing and so forth. They're just tracking, he's just tracking sin.

God is keeping track of that. He's keeping a detailed record of them. The truth of the matter is that God knows every sin that you and I have committed. Nothing has escaped His all-seeing eye. And the very mention of this tells us that the psalmist was not only keenly aware of his sin, but that he knew that God knew all about it.

There was nothing that he could possibly hide. He knew that there was a depth of depravity in his heart, even as there is in ours. And that God sees it all. Nothing escapes Him. He knew, as we know, that God has the authority and the ability to bring it all to light.

And if He does, we're undone. We're guilty before Him. Every one of us here should know that God should mark our iniquity as it is. If He should judge us as we are, that we would have no hope. But that brings us back to the forgiveness of God.

The psalmist knows something of the wonderful forgiveness of God. He knows something wonderful about Him. He knows that God is merciful. He is full of compassion. He is full of loving-kindness. He has not dealt with us according to our sins.

I like Psalm 103 and verse 10, where the psalmist writes, He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. When we come before the Lord, the ground of our hope is not that we can justify ourselves because we cannot, nor that we have not sinned because we have.

And all we can do is to humbly give an honest confession of our sin and trust in the mercy and loving-kindness of God, knowing that He will forgive. It's His promise if we confess, acknowledge our sin, agree with Him concerning our sin, that He will forgive.

He is faithful and just to do that. And the psalmist did not know it in the day in which he was writing, as we do today, that the Son of God, when He went to the cross of Calvary, took all of our sin, laid it on Himself.

He bore it to the cross, and there He paid its penalty in full. And when He died, His last words were, Tetelestai, paid in full, the price paid by the blood of Christ, as He hung there bearing the guilt of our sin.

Forgiveness, forgive Him. Some of our churches, for a period of time, had a campaign going on that was just simply called Forgiveness, or Forgiven. There was a track we sent out to people, and we asked them to read the track.

It simply said, Forgiven. You know, all of us, at some point in time, have needed to be forgiven of something. And so it touched the heart of each person. And the hope was, then, that as they saw that, that there is forgiveness, that we would have the opportunity of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with them.

I remember sitting down with a Vietnam vet one night. He was a man just really living in despair. He felt such tremendous guilt because of the fighting that he had done, and there were people who were killed as a result of his fighting.

We had a good study on the doctrine of sin. We had a good study on the morality of war. And so we sat down, and we finally came to this conclusion, this, that he had fought for his country and so forth, and therefore we felt that that was not something that was held against him.

But on the other hand, even if it was, we shared with him that there was forgiveness with God. And you should have seen the expression on this man's face when he realized, Forgiven. I'm forgiven. And forgiveness is a wonderful word.

Pardon. Set free. They're refreshing to the ear. But there's one more thing that we should notice here in this regard. It may surprise us a little bit, but we find it in verse 4, the latter part of verse 4.

There is the matter of the guilt of our sin we call upon the Lord. We come before him with the guilt of our sin. We confess, we acknowledge, and he forgives. And then notice what the psalmist says. That you, God, may be feared.

I had to stop and ponder that for a while. He says, but there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. The forgiveness of God that the psalmist had experienced was leading him to fear God. That is not the fear of fright, but rather the fear of reverence.

God freely forgives our sin. Not that we may think lightly of our sin at all, but that we might magnify his mercy. And so we stand in awe of him. Because though he is so holy, he cannot look upon sin.

He's merciful. And when scripture says, for thy name's sake, it means that God who forgives might be glorified. Psalm 25. Psalm 25, just a moment, and verse 11. It says, for your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity, for it is great.

For your name's sake, he says. Then over in Psalm 79, verse 9. Psalm 79, verse 9. He says, help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name, and deliver us and provide atonement for our sins.

For your name's sake. There is something to the matter when God forgives sin. It's a gift of his grace. He has given us a savior who paid the penalty of sin. And God forgives. And he does all of that that he might be praised.

The glory of his name. And this matter of forgiveness just leads us to reverence God. When I stop and I think, he has said concerning my sin, forgiveness. I cannot help but stand there in awe of who he is.

Well, that leads us to another thing here. Well, first of all, the true fear of God. Let me back up a moment. The true fear of God, the true worship of him, rests upon nothing less than his mercy. That through his grace revealed in Christ, we might be reconciled to God, given new life.

But now he leads on into something else as we look at the psalm. And I would just simply say the next thing that we do, not only do we call upon the name of the Lord, but we begin to wait for the Lord.

Look at verses 5 through 8. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits. And in his word I do hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning. Yes, more than those who watch for the morning.

Oh Israel, hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy. And with him is abundant redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. In these last verses, there are at least a couple of truths that are put forth that I want to call our attention to.

We started out in the depths of sin, as if we were in deep waters. And then the psalmist moved from those deep waters into the courtroom, where God dealt with this matter of our sin. And then now, here in this passage, we move out of the courtroom up to the city walls.

My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning. From the courtroom we move to the city walls. Ancient cities were oftentimes needed protection from their enemies. And to that end, they would build massive walls around their communities.

And these walls were not only tall, but some of them, some around the big cities were wide enough for men not only to walk on, but chariots to be driven on top of them. There, one could get a view of all things surrounding the community.

Sentries were posted at various points along the wall, so that an enemy could be seen from any direction. If he was approaching from any direction, he could be seen. Standing on the wall like that, walking back and forth through the night, could be a long, lonely ordeal.

As the dawn of a new day approached, a sentry would keep a lookout for the first streaks of sunlight to be seen. I can remember in the days in which we lived in Colorado Springs, and we would always take a couple of weeks to come back to the Midwest area and visit our parents, Vicky's parents, my parents.

We would come back to visit them. We would leave, oftentimes, Colorado Springs around 3 .30 in the morning. As we drove east on I -70, gradually, you would see the sky lighten. And then all of a sudden, you would see the first burst of sunlight just coming over the horizon.

That first burst of sunlight was just invigorating. And so with the sentry upon the wall surrounding one of the Israeli villages, as the dawn of a new day approached, the sentry kept a lookout for those first streaks of sunlight.

And after a long, often cold, boring night on the wall, the sentry was anxious for dawn to end his silent vigil. And the figure of the watchman beautifully expresses the believer's longing for God's mercy working in his life.

When the Lord saves you, it is like stepping out of deep darkness into brilliant sunshine. It is the dawning of a new day. He has brought us out of darkness into His marvelous, brilliant light, we are told in 1 Peter 2 .9.

Through His own example, the psalmist encourages us as forgiven sinners to patiently wait as the Lord continues now to do His sanctifying work in us. We wait upon Him. Psalm 27 and verse 14 says, Wait on the Lord.

Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thy heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. God is at work in your life. And when He brings you to Christ and He saves you, that's not the end. That's the beginning of the story.

You're given new life. You have new life in Christ. It's a new life to live. And then God begins what we call the sanctifying work in your heart and in your life. And His goal in that sanctifying work is to conform you to the very image of Jesus Christ.

While you wait, God is doing His work in your life. By the way, wait doesn't mean inactivity. We're certainly active in the Word and serving the Lord and applying the Word to our life and just serving Him.

So it's not an inactive thing. But on the other hand, all things that God is bringing into our lives has its sanctifying work. We are told in Romans 8 and verses 28 and 29 that all things work together for good to them who love God or are called according to His purpose.

And if you go on into the next verse in verse 29, you find out what that purpose is. And He tells you that it is to conform you to the very image of Jesus Christ. And so what takes place in our life is something that is serviceable or God is doing something in us to create, bring about more of the very spirit of Christ in our lives that we might be more like Him.

We wait, we study the Word, we rest in the Word. And the Word, by the way, is filled with great and precious promises. And we can count on the Lord to keep every one of those promises. They'll not fail.