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Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray.

Oh, careful. It's a camera. For putting the service online. Good morning. We are glad to be here to worship this morning on this Labor Day weekend. So I'm going to begin with a word of prayer, and then we will read from the 40th Psalm together. Let's pray. Father in heaven, I thank you that we can gather together. I thank you for the joy that you bring us, for the hope that you instill in us. I thank you for all the ways in which you have helped us and walked with us through this week, and I ask that you would encourage us and teach us this morning. Be with us as we worship this morning. It is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to be standing, and we're going to read from the 40th Psalm.

We're going to spend some time in the 40th Psalm here during our message, and then we will end our service with the 40th Psalm. David here, in circumstances that we don't know, is writing about how bad they are, but also how great the salvation of God is. Let's read this together. I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. This is the word of the Lord.

In the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, in the name of the Spirit, Lord, we come. We are gathered together to lift up your name, to call on our Savior, to fall on your grace. Hear the joyful sound of our offering. As your saints bow down, as your people sing, we will rise with you, lifted on your wings. And the world will see that our God saves. Our God saves. There is hope. In your name, morning tunes to songs of praise. Our God saves. Our God saves. In the name of the Father. In the name of the Son. In the name of the Spirit. Lord, we come. We are gathered together. To lift up your name. To call on our Savior. To fall on your grace. Hear the joyful sound of our offering. As your saints bow down. As your people sing. We will rise with you. Lifted on your wings.

And the world will see that. Our God saves. Our God saves. There is hope. In your name. Morning turns to songs of love. Morning turns to songs of praise. Our God saves. Our God saves. Hear the joyful sound of our offering. As your saints bow down. As your people sing. We will rise with you. Lifted on your way. The world will see that. Our God saves. Our God saves. There is hope in your name. Morning turns to songs of praise. Our God saves. Our God saves. Our God saves.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name. Sin like never before, O my soul, I'll worship Your holy name. The sun comes up, it's a new day dawn. It's time to sing your song again. Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me. Let me be singing where the evening comes. Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name. Sing like never before, O my soul, I'll worship Your holy name. You're rich in love, and You're slow to end up. Your name is great, and Your heart is kind. For all Your goodness I will keep on singing. Ten thousand reasons for my heart to walk. Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name. Sin like never before, O my soul, I'll worship Your holy name.

And on that day, when my strength is faint, the end draws me, and my time has come. Still my soul, sing Your praise unending. Ten thousand years in death forever. Evermore. Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name. Sing like never before, O my soul. I'll worship Your holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name. Sing like never before, O my soul. I'll worship Your holy name. Yes, I will worship Your holy name. Lord, I worship Your holy name. Lord, I worship Your holy name. Amen. Amen. Amen.

When this life of trials test my faith, I set my hope on Jesus. When the questions come and doubts remain, I set my hope on Jesus. For the deepest wounds the time won't heal. There's a joy that runs still deeper. There's a truth that's more than all I feel. I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. My rock, my only trust. Who set his heart upon me first? I set my hope on Jesus.

Though I falter in this war with sin, I set my hope on Jesus. When I feel the fight and sink within, I set my hope on Jesus. Though the shame would drown me in its sea, and I drain the wave of justice, I will cast my life on Calvary. I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. My God, my only trust. You set His heart upon me first. I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. Though the world call me to leave my Lord, I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. Though it offer all its vain rewards. I set my hope on Jesus. Though this heart of mine is prone to strain. Give me grace enough to finish. Till I worship on that final day.

I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. My life, my only trust. You set His heart upon me first. I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. My life, my only trust. You set His heart upon me first. I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. Probably most of us have had moments where we felt like maybe we didn't belong, or maybe we didn't fit in, or maybe it just wasn't the place for us. And I think about Jesus as he comes to eat with his disciples. Here is the Christ, the son of the living God, the one who creates and upholds, who's about to die for their sins, and surrounding this table with him. You've got some fishermen, you've got a tax collector, you've got a Roman rebel. Even in the moments preceding this meal, they are arguing about who's the most important.

Who's the greatest? And we look at this sort of ragtag, rowdy group that surrounds Jesus and raise our eyebrows and say, "Are these really the people that you want?" And it's not just a question about the disciples, but it's really a question that gets to the heart of who we are. With all of my brokenness, with all of my mistakes, with all of my sin, why would Jesus want to be near me? And there's one of the things that stands out in Luke's account of the Last Supper, in the moment after dinner, when he institutes communion, but as the meal begins, he simply says this, "The hour came, he reclined at the table, the apostles with him, and then he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this over with you before I suffer." All of their struggles, their arguments, they wouldn't wash each other's feet, they argued about who was first, and Jesus knowing that he

is about to suffer in their place says, "Man, I can't wait to sit and eat with you." And that reassurance for their hearts, and for those of us who are Christians, and maybe we come tired and weary, as we just sang, struggling, fighting with sin, understand that Jesus, for God's people, this is a meal that reminds us that he loves us, and that he has saved us, and that he is our hope, and this meal for us is a time to set our hope on Jesus. Let's pray. Father in heaven, I thank you that we come tired and maybe struggling, maybe joyful, maybe fighting sin, maybe victorious in our struggle over it. We just ask that whether it's in our pride or in our discouragement that we come, that you would remind us that you love us. And not just that you love us, but that you have

received us through the life of your son and there is hope in the resurrection. And so I just ask that you would help our hearts this morning as we partake of this meal. May we see that as Christians, we're not an uninvited guest or somebody who has been invited out of obligation, but rather that you desire this meal for us and to be with us. And we thank you so much for the hope that we have in Jesus. I ask that you bless this bread and this cup, that you would strengthen us, that you would nourish us, that you would reassure us, that you would encourage and strengthen us in our war with sin. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. If you would take the bread as Jesus took the bread and says, "When he had given thanks, he broke it and gave

it to them saying, this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." And likewise, after they had eaten, he took the cup saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood." Let's remember Jesus together. We remember our salvation, but we also proclaim it with this meal, not just a remembrance, but also a proclamation. We're going to be in the 40th Psalm, just the first few verses here in just a second. We finished up the first seven chapters of 1 Samuel. We're going to spend this Sunday in the Psalms, and then on the 15th, we're going to begin a new series entitled, "Called to Follow," and then we've subtitled it, "A Savior for the Skeptical, the Hopeful, the Unwanted, the Unseen, the Reluctant, and the Exhausted."

Basically, we're going to start in John 1 with that question, "What good can come out of Nazareth?" And by the time we finish it up a few weeks later, we'll take a look where Jesus says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." And we'll see Jesus' call, both to those who are excited and who are looking for a Savior, but those who are unsure, those who have served sort of quietly and unseen and faithfully, and those who are reluctant to follow. And so we're going to take a look at that beginning on the 15th, which is also our visitor Sunday, so we'll be having a meal as well. There are some cards in the back. If you have a friend you want to invite, we've got a little map, some information. So if you would like to do that,

those are on the table with the bulletin. So I'm going to pray, and then we're going to dive into these, just these first three verses of the 40th Psalm. Father, be with us this morning. May you encourage us. May we see your goodness, and may we not only be reminded of your power and strength in those dark areas of our life, but may we sing about it as a testimony to your goodness and your grace. Thank you for Jesus. Be with us this morning. It's in his name we pray. Amen. So August, in addition to being Rachel and I's anniversary, sort of kicks off our three kids' birthdays. We've got a birthday in August, we've got a birthday in September, and then again in October. And I was thinking back through some of those memories since we started with our first child's birth in September back in, I guess it would have been 2013.

And so, thinking back to that, and those moments where we were painting the nursery, getting everything ready, and then we had the baby showers, and you get all the stuff you need for a new baby. And it was remarkable, because you go in there and you put all the stuff together. You're putting together a little bouncer and a jumper, making sure the crib is all set. But then, there was this pack-and-play. And I'd used a pack-and-play before with nephews, and so we got the pack-and-play, and we're getting it set up, and finally I was like, "I'm going to have to see the instructions for this." Because it wasn't just a pack-and-play. It was like a raised part of the pack-and-play, and then there was like a bassinet, and it was like a Swiss army knife for a baby.

And so, not only did you open the pack-and-play, you had to make this metal frame, and then there's another metal frame that sits on top of that metal frame, and fabric that slides through. And I remember thinking, "Man, I am a pretty handy guy, but I could really use some help with this situation." And I think as we move through life, that's a pretty relatable situation for most of us. There's a lot of things we can handle, right, that we think we've got figured out. But there will always come moments where we realize that our strength isn't strong enough, that our goodness isn't good enough, that our bigness isn't big enough. And we go, "Man, where am I going to turn when it seems like I don't know where to go and what to do?"

And Psalm 40, especially these first three verses, I think help us with those hard parts of life. When we encounter times where things don't happen the way we'd like, this is a place to go when those things happen. Listen to what David says in these first verses. I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined to me and he heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction out of the miry bog, and he set my feet on the rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. So I want to start with this question as we begin looking at these three verses. First of all, where is David? And what we find is that David's life in this moment is not sunshine and flowers, right?

It's dark and it's difficult and it's filled with struggle. And many of us, when we come to those times of struggle, we describe our struggles. This is what is happening to me. Here's my circumstances. Here's my big list of problems. Here's all my situations. Here's all of the things that have gone wrong with my life. Notice David doesn't even mention the things that are going wrong with his life. I think maybe in part, and so as we read this, and regardless of what struggle we find ourselves, we can identify with David. David's focus is not on the situation, but it's how he feels about his circumstances. He doesn't describe what's happening to him. He describes how he feels about it. And what we find is there is a pit, and it's not just any pit, right?

It's a pit of destruction. And it's not just any bog that he finds himself stuck in. It is a miry bog. Now, we understand when we think about this pit, we understand the idea of a pit, of a deep hole. Depending on the context in the Old Testament, this can also be translated a well. We can also understand that we probably don't want to fall down a hole from which escape is impossible. And like, if you've ever seen the Lassie movies, right? What's that, Lassie? Timmy's in the well? You know, the little boy is stuck in the well, and he can't get out? And if you've ever been on an old property, and there's been a couple times where we've been somewhere, and it's an older place, a piece of plywood on the ground. Like, what's that? Oh, that's the old cistern. If you move that, you just fall into a hole, right?

None of us want that. David doesn't simply say pit, though. He says pit of destruction. The word destruction here is a picturesque word that means the roar of waters. Picture stormy waves and crashing thunder. This isn't just a pit. It's inescapable destruction. Imagine being in a pit from which there is no escape. It's dark. You can't climb out. You can't go right or left. You're constrained on every side. And then a storm comes into the pit, and thunder crashes, and water pours in, and there begins to be waves, and you're struggling to keep your head above water, and you can't get away, and it's never gone, and it feels like you're drowning. I remember the first time that I remember, it probably happened before this, but the first time that I remember getting the air knocked out of my lungs.

It was like fourth or fifth grade, and we were playing tackle football on some really hard ground with no protection whatsoever at recess, and I got nailed by a tackle, and I remember just hitting the ground, and you're trying to breathe, and all the air is whooshed out of your lungs. That's what David feels, but it's not just sitting there going, "Oh, the breath is going to return in a moment. He's in a pit, and it's dark, and there's no escape, and he's constrained on every side, and there's water rushing in, and he can't keep his head above water, and it's dark." And David isn't just in a pit. What does he say? He says he's in a miry bog, right? The second picture is that of being stuck in the mud. Now, there are some times when being stuck in the mud is kind of an adventure. I remember we were in college.

I think it was my second year of college, and one of my buddies, his girlfriend was out of town, and so he was driving his car, because it's always more fun to drive somebody else's car than your car, and it was 11 o'clock at night. It had been pouring down rain. It was after curfew, and he comes into our dorm room, and he's obviously just come in from outside, and he goes, "Hey, I drove my girlfriend's car down to the soccer field, and I got it stuck in the mud, and when I got out of it, I left it in drive and shut the door, and now the doors are locked, and it's stuck in the mud." He's like, "Can you guys come help me?" And I was like, "Well, first of all, why do you think we can open your unlocked car

at 11 o'clock after curfew?" I mean, we can, but why would you think of us? And so it was this adventure. We went out the back door of the dorms. We got the lockpick thing that I just picked up. We got his doors open. We're pushing it out, and we're struggling to get it out of the mud, and then he gets out, and you know what he does? He closes the door again, right? It's like, "Dude, one more time, and you're on your own." So we unlock it. We get it out of the mud. We get him back to the parking lot. We all make it back inside without incident, and it was a grand adventure, right? It's a good memory. That is not what David is talking about when he says, "I am stuck in the miry bog or the miry clay."

The picture is you can't move and you can't run. A few weeks ago, we were camping up at Trout Pond, and we had our friends Newfoundland. They were there with us, and they had like a six- or seven-month-old Newfoundland. He never really been to a body of water, and so we were down by the little body of water, and I walked down the boat ramp. He was like, "Ralph, come on, over here," and trying to get him to go in the water, and instead he jumps off the side into the reeds and the mud. And it was deeper than he was, and he didn't realize he could swim, and he kind of goes underwater, and he just doesn't come back up for a minute. And what had happened is as he jumped in, right, his feet got stuck in that mud, and he wiggled, and he fought, and they finally got free, and he popped back up.

And it was probably only a couple seconds, but I imagine if you're underwater and your feet are stuck in the mud, it feels like an eternity. This is where David finds himself. These two pictures of suffering, of stuck in the pit, but not just stuck in the pit, but drowning in the pit, and your feet are stuck in the mud so you can't even tread water to try to keep your head above ground. It's like what happens to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 38. They took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah the king's son, which was in the court of the guard, and they let Jeremiah down by ropes, and there was no water in the cistern, only mud. And Jeremiah sank into the mud like this, but worse and spiritual and emotional. In the 69th Psalm, David writes, "Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck."

Right? There's not much space left. I sink into the deep mire. There is no foothold. I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me, and I am weary with my crying, and my throat is parched, and my eyes grow dim, waiting for my God. There's not much time left. And so here's the feeling that we see in the 40th Psalm. We see what David's feeling. He's fallen into a well, and the deep sludge at the bottom has sucked his feet into it. And every time he tries to lift his feet, or every time we try to lift ourselves up, we go down just a little deeper and the flood waters wash in, and the waves break over our heads, and everything is terrifying. And at that moment, we give everything to be able to breathe and be able to be free.

And David's not speaking physically, but spiritually and emotionally. Maybe for us as well, overwhelmed, maybe overworked, overtired, fearful, just trying to catch your breath in life. One commentator said this, "It's a good thing we don't know what David's experience was, because it makes us easier to see ourselves in this pit." Anything that causes a sense of helplessness and desperation, and threatens to ruin life or take it away, this is David's pit. So what does David do in this moment? First of all, he cries out to God. There's a lot of ways that we can cry out. Cry out when we step on a Lego in the middle of the night, maybe in surprise, maybe in anger. The purpose of this psalm is not to speak about how David cries out. What does that sound like? What does that look like?

But rather, I think the purpose of this psalm is, "Who does David cry out to?" He'll say that the Lord hears his cry. Notice when David is drowning, he doesn't look for some good advice. He doesn't sit and vent to a friend. Not that those things are bad, right? Advice is not bad. Talking to friends is not bad. But ultimately, he goes to the only one who can solve the problem. He goes to the Lord. And so many times we find ourselves in that pit, we do everything we can to avoid going to the Lord. It would be like if our power went off, and instead of calling our electric company and saying, "Hey, the power's off. Do you have an estimated time of restoration?" Calling a friend in another state saying, "Hey, my power just went off.

What do you think we should do about it?" And then here's David, and he's not seeking help elsewhere. He's not looking to himself or his skills. He's not getting great advice. He just simply says, "The only one who can help me is the Lord." And he cries out to God. And so many times we cry out, but not to the right place. The other thing David does, and this might be even harder, is he waits. And he waits patiently, right? There's a difference between waiting and waiting patiently. David is drowning. He's stuck. There's nowhere to run. And he waits on God in his suffering. It's a difficult thing for us to wait on God in the best of times. In fact, we struggle, like many before us and many in Scripture, to keep ourselves in sync because we would rather trust our strength than God's.

A great example of this is the book of Jonah. In Jonah chapter 1, God calls Jonah, and Jonah runs away. He runs somewhere else. God kind of drags him back. I always picture my grandma grabbing our earlobe, right? He drags him back, and then Jonah, in repentance, runs back to God. And for one chapter, he walks with God, and the very next chapter, he runs ahead telling God what to do. He's saying, "God, come on. Do this. Do what I want to do." And it's only a very short portion of the book where Jonah is actually walking with God. And we struggle with this, right? It's a difficult thing when God says, "Wait," right? We may want to go over here. We may want to rush out ahead or come up with our own plans.

But David in this moment waits. David isn't being drug along by his ear. He's not running ahead telling God what to do. He's simply waiting. And the picture here is that he is intently waiting. It's not easy. In fact, the picture in the original language is like a rope that's being pulled on and twisted, but it stays strong. This is what's happening to David. He's being twisted and pulled on like a rope. But he stays strong and focused on God. And what it means is that in the pit, it's not our plan or our strength or our direction. And it's the hardest thing in the world to wait for God. And that's not to say that God doesn't call you to do something or to follow him. But there are times where God simply says, "Wait. Wait on me." And the question is,

"How will I know when God says wait? And how will I know when God is calling me to walk ahead?" And I think biblically, and in my experience, God makes it pretty clear when our focus is on him. My favorite example, I was using this last week. I was talking to somebody about, "How do I know when to wait? And how do I know when to move? And how do I know when to do this?" And one of my favorite pictures of this is in the book of Ruth. If you know the story of Ruth, she has lost her husband. She's left her homeland. She's come to Israel as an outsider, as a Moabite. And she comes to a field in Ruth 2, belonging to a guy by the name of Boaz. And Boaz meets her and says, "Get your food from my field."

And then he prays over her, and he says this, "May the Lord repay you for what you've done, and a full reward be given to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge." And Boaz prays that God would put his wings or wrap his arms around Ruth in this picture of protection. And then time comes, and the harvest is over, and Ruth finally has a conversation with Boaz. And it's in the middle of the night, and it's threshing floors. He's guarding it from thieves, and all of a sudden, Ruth is there. And he wakes up, and he's like, "Who's there?" And she says this, "I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant, for you are the Redeemer." And so Boaz prays that God would wrap Ruth up in his protection, spread his wings over her.

And in the very next chapter, Ruth says, "You're the answer to that prayer." So Boaz prays, and when the time comes for him to do what God has called him to do, God helps him to see that through this question that points back to his prayer for Ruth. And as we are praying in the pit, I believe that God providentially, there are times, right? The Israelites at the Red Sea stand fast and see the salvation of the Lord. Or Paul, as he's preaching the gospel and he can't go north and he can't go south and he can't go east, and he's stuck and he waits. And then a man from Macedonia in a dream comes and says, "Come over and share the gospel with us." I don't know how long we'll wait. Sometimes it's quick, right? God's people leaving Egypt stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord and God splits the sea in half.

But sometimes it's longer. Joseph for 17 years, thrown into a literal pit, sold into slavery, falsely accused and thrown into jail. Starting at the age of 17 until he is 30, 13 years of waiting. And he faithfully waited. And he did so by doing what God had placed in front of him to the best of his ability. And if you read through Genesis, specifically the chapter about that, one of the phrases you see over and over again is that God was with him in the midst of that waiting. Spurgeon will say this about the struggles and the troubles of life. He says, "I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the rock of ages." So David is in the pit. David cries out to God, and he patiently waits for his salvation.

I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction out of the miry bog, and he set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth and a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. David in an inescapable pit, rushing water, stuck. The waves are washing over. There is no escape, and what does God do? He lifts up, and he doesn't just pick him up and say, "All right, here's a fresh start. You're on your own." But it says, "He drew me up," and then he puts his feet upon the rock, and it's not just a one-time bailout. "I lifted you up. You're on your own." He gives him a firm foundation, and then notice this, "Making my steps secure."

The picture is that God is still with him, that God doesn't just save, but God saves, establishes, and protects that God is watching over David. He doesn't just transform these circumstances. He transforms the picture and purpose of our life. And he lets us sing. "Put a new song of praise in my mouth." He put a new song in my mouth. This is both humbling and rejoicing. It's humbling because none of this is David. David doesn't draw himself out. David doesn't set his feet on the rock. David doesn't make his steps secure. In fact, David says, "I didn't even come up with this song." It's humbling to us, because our dependence must be upon God. But it's also so hopeful that in the darkest moments, God is the one who lifts out of the pit. There's a purpose in our difficulty.

It doesn't make it easier. We may want it sooner. We may have our own ideas about how it should happen, but God comes and works at the right time. And even as we see in the life of Joseph, well, Joseph is in the pit. God is with him. And so David sings. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. This is a picture of joy over what God has done, right? He saved me. Now I'm rejoicing. And this is not some kind of commentary on worship music, right? We only sing new songs. What David is saying is God's done something wonderful in my life. He's transformed my life from the pit of destruction to the rock of ages, and now I stand.

And because I said, I'm going to sing about it. So here's the question. What do you do when God helps you? What do you do when God saves you? Do you keep it quiet or do you sing about it? And this doesn't mean all of us become songwriters, but we are people who share how God has brought us out of the depths of our pit of sin and darkness and brought us into the light and put our feet upon the rock. This is a joyful singing over something that is wonderful. It's an intentional sharing of God's work in the life of his people. David says, "I'm going to sing." In fact, he says, "If I don't sing, how are they going to know about the goodness of God?" Listen to what he says just a few verses later. He says, "I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation.

Behold, I have not restrained my lips as you know, O Lord. I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart. I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation. I have not concealed this steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation." Two purposes in sharing what God has done. It encourages God's people to hear that God is steadfast and faithful in the midst of our darkness, so that others in the pit can see that God is good. But also notice, this is evangelism. It brings others to put their trust in God. One of the things we struggle with is we might say, "How do I share the gospel?" "What has God done for you?" I think of the demon-possessed man in the Gospels who, legion, comes out of the caves. Probably quite surprising for Jesus' disciples. Not wearing any clothes. He'd been chained and broken.

He'd cut himself with the rocks and was bleeding. Jesus transforms his life. And when the village comes, they find this man sitting in his right mind. And this guy goes, "Jesus, I want to follow you." And I think in part because he has a reputation of being the demon-possessed guy who lives in the tombs. Jesus says, "You can follow me, but not in the boat." He says something remarkable. He says, "Go home and tell everyone what the Lord has done for you." Sing the new song, "I pulled you out of the pits of death and hell living in a graveyard, and I've made you new." Go share that. Sing that song to your family and your friends and your town. So I want to encourage you this morning. First of all, that God is good and faithful and can save. And to put your trust in him and to cry out to him.

But also, don't hide it. Don't restrain your lips. Don't conceal the steadfast love of God. In our lives so many times something exciting comes and we want to share our excitement about our hobbies or jobs or accomplishments. But how often have we spoken of the faithfulness and salvation of our God to those who desperately need to hear it? What are some of the things that God has done in your life? What is the good that God has done for you? When we begin to consider these, it encourages our heart and it strengthens us, reminding us that we know God's at work because we've seen him do it. But it also helps us to share that with those who are in desperate need of some good news. So let's not hide our struggles. David doesn't. He says, "I'm in the pit and I'm crying out to God," but let's also not hide those moments when God saves us. Let's declare the good news to those who were once in the same place we were. Father in heaven, help us to be people who declare the good news, who see how you have lifted us up and saved us, who brought us out of the pit and put our feet

upon the rock. Help us to sing this new song. Help us to be lights in the darkness. You would direct us to those people who need to hear this, to be changed by, that you would humble us, and that you would strengthen us. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to stand and sing "Great Are You, Lord."

You give life, you are love, you bring light to the darkness. You give hope, you restore every heart that is broken. Great are you, Lord. It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise. We pour out our praise. It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise to you only. You give love, you are loved. You bring light to the darkness. You give hope, you restore every heart. The heart that is broken. Great are you, Lord. It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise. It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise to you only. All the earth will shout your praise. Our hearts will cry. These bones will sing. Great are you, Lord? All the earth will shout your praise. Our hearts will cry. These bones will sing.

Great are you, Lord. It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise. We pour out our praise. It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise to you only. It's your breath. It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise. We pour out our praise. It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise to you only.

Our Wednesday night Bible study. We are going through the book of Colossians. That's Wednesday night at 6 p.m. Also coming up next Sunday is our monthly children's church. I've been going through the Sermon on the Mount. So if you're a kiddo and have been working on the memorization of the memory verses, this is a good reminder to work on the Bible. Thank you for joining us on that for next Sunday. Coming up on the 15th is our kind of invite a friend Sunday, September 15th. We're going to begin our new series about following Jesus. There's a little card in the back if you have a friend you'd like to pass along the info to or just simply invite them to join us. We'll be having a meal following our service that Sunday. So that's coming up on the 15th.

Also, our men's breakfast is happening Saturday, September 21st at 9:00 a.m. So we invite the men to come join us for some Bible, some bacon, and some fellowship with our brothers in Christ, and invite a friend as well. We're going to pray. We're going to read a verse from the end of the 40th Psalm, and then we will sing the doxology. So let's pray. Father in heaven, I thank you for your grace and your goodness in our lives. Help us not just to seek your salvation, but to declare it when we see its goodness in our lives. Help us both to run to you and to proclaim you to this world. It is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. David ends this psalm like this, "But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. May those who love your salvation say continually, great is the Lord. As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought of me. You are my help and my deliverer. Do not delay, O God."

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him, above the heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him, above the heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Jesus said, "Follow me." Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray.