[0:00] Psalm chapter 6, if you are there in your Bible, would you please stand with me as we honor the reading of God's word together.
[0:25] ! Psalm of David. Psalm of David. O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath.
[0:37] Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing. Help me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled. My soul is also greatly troubled. But you, O Lord, how long?
[0:53] Turn, O Lord, deliver my life. Save me for the sake of your steadfast love. For in death there is no remembrance of you. And Sheol, who will give you praise?
[1:04] I am weary with my moaning. Every night I flood my bed with tears. I drench my couch with my weeping. My eye wastes away because of grief.
[1:16] It grows weak because of all my foes. Depart from me, all of you workers of evil. For the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. The Lord has heard my plea.
[1:28] The Lord accepts my prayer. All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled. They shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.
[1:39] May God add a blessing to the reading of His Word. Would you please be seated? James chapter 1, verses 2 through 4 says, Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
[1:59] And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Romans 5, 3 through 5 says, Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
[2:25] 1 Peter 4, verses 12 through 13 say, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you, but rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed.
[2:47] These are just a few scriptures that address trials believers face. Trials that test their faith in God, which we've read produce, they yield positive results.
[3:05] As Christians, as those who have repented of our sins and have turned to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we read these verses, those verses that I've read to you, those passages that talk about suffering, we read them and we say amen in our hearts.
[3:23] But when trials come our way, we often say, oh no, in our minds, or why me, in our prayers.
[3:38] How often have you ever thought, you know, things are going so well right now, what I really need is a trial that will test my faith.
[3:53] In fact, sometimes we expect that our faith in Jesus Christ should shield us from trials. Or we think that, you know, my faith has been tested enough that we've somehow graduated from the elementary principles of our faith and we no longer need to be tested any longer.
[4:15] Even if we are in a trial, without thinking or without asking God, why me, we often don't or ever receive it with joy.
[4:31] Instead, we wonder how we could possibly endure such trials with any sense of joy at all. We wonder why God would allow this trial, this testing to come into our lives.
[4:45] And we could even get angry with God for not preventing it. Why does God allow trials? Why does God test our faith?
[4:58] The verses I shared answered that, but there's some other important things to remember about the trials we face. First, it's important to remember that God is sovereign over all things, including those things that test our faith.
[5:18] God says in Isaiah 45, 7, I form light and create darkness. I make well-being and I create calamity. I am the Lord who does all these things.
[5:32] Romans 8, 28 reminds us that God superintends over all things, orchestrating all things together towards the end that He's ordained. Romans 8, 28 says, and we know that for those who love God, all things, including the trying things, work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose.
[5:53] God allows or sends trials to prove the genuineness of our faith. In His parable of the soils, Jesus talks about how some people are like the seed that fell on the shallow soil, the rocky soil.
[6:14] And in Matthew 13, 20 through 21, He says, as for what was sown on rocky ground, on the shallow soil, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. It seems like He has faith, yet He has no root in Himself but endures for a while and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, He immediately falls away.
[6:40] Matthew 7, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talks about two houses, two structures with two foundations who endure the same storm. One of them collapses, the other remains, proving that its foundation was on the rock.
[7:00] Job is an example of someone who has faced extreme trials, trials which no doubt tested his faith but who remained steadfast in the Lord, never once accusing him of wrong.
[7:17] Job's trials also reveal that God allows His people to be tested at times by the devil but Satan had to get God's permission to test Job.
[7:31] The devil is a created being who cannot operate outside of God's sovereignty. He is not God's equal. Martin Luther said even the devil is God's devil.
[7:43] So God is sovereign over trials. Trials test our faith. Satan is sometimes an instrument through which trials come as he prowls like a lion seeking someone to devour.
[7:55] Trials are a part of living in a world cursed by sin. Ultimately, trials test our faith in God. They prove if our faith is genuine, if our faith is true, if our faith is real.
[8:11] Now, understand this. God doesn't need that proof. He knows all things but through trials that test our faith, he gives proof to us that we are truly his children.
[8:27] And through that trial, through that testing, he strengthens our faith. He increases our trust in him as we learn to love the world less and love God more.
[8:38] psalm. Psalm 6 is one of the many psalms David wrote. And this is a penitential psalm. A penitential psalm is a psalm of lament in which the psalmist expresses sorrow over sin.
[8:56] They are petitioning God for forgiveness or in the case of Psalm 6, this is a plea for God to help. David experienced many trials in his life.
[9:11] Some of those trials were the result of his sin, but that doesn't seem to be the case here in Psalm 6. Truthfully, we don't know what trial it was that was testing David's faith.
[9:25] What we do know is that whatever it was, this trial, it was crushing him. It was crushing his spirit. It was keeping him up at night. He couldn't sleep.
[9:37] It was making him feel physically sick. This was gut-wrenching. He lay moaning on his couch. He lay weeping on his bed, staining them both with his tears, which were constantly flowing from his eyes.
[9:56] Have you been there? Have you faced something that was so trying that you struggled to muster the strength to continue to get yourself out of bed?
[10:09] Have you faced something so trying so difficult for you that you couldn't get out of bed as the pile of tissues mounted up next to you on your nightstand? Have you wondered in that moment, God, what have I done?
[10:27] What have I done to deserve this? or have you asked God, like David did, God, how long? It seems like this has been long enough.
[10:41] How much longer is this going to go on? How much longer before the clouds part and the doom and gloom in my heart dissipates?
[10:53] When, Lord, will this end? if you've ever felt that way or asked those questions, if you've ever felt like or are feeling like right now that you've reached the point where you think you're going to break, as David was stretched to the point where he feels like he's going to break here, God has a word for you this morning, friend.
[11:24] This psalm is for you today. Like David, God's encouragement is that you don't give up, that you turn to him, that you pour out your heart and your soul pleading for his help in prayer.
[11:45] And so the main idea for this morning's sermon is in times of trouble, turn to the Lord in prayer. In times of trouble, turn to the Lord in prayer.
[11:56] Now, you might be thinking, I've already tried that, or I've already heard that, or I already know that.
[12:12] You could be thinking, prayer doesn't do any good. That's certainly the message from our culture, isn't it?
[12:27] God commands us to pray. God wants us to pray. He wants us to read this plea, this prayer from David to encourage us to pray, to pray when we reach our breaking point because God uses prayer to change us.
[12:48] us. As we look at this prayer, we'll see a change take place in David. Though David's external circumstances don't change, David does.
[13:02] He goes from expressing feelings of defeat to victory. He goes from the bottom of the valley to the top of the mountain. David's prayer doesn't change who God is.
[13:17] In his prayer, he is reminded of who God is and that changes him. It changes his attitude towards his circumstances.
[13:32] David turns to the Lord in prayer during his time of trouble and what he says in this prayer, in this plea, establishes a pattern that we should follow when we encounter trials that test our faith.
[13:49] First, plead for God's help. Plead for God's help. David begins his prayer with a plea regarding God's discipline. In verse 1, he says, O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath.
[14:06] David isn't asking God to stop disciplining him or to stop correcting him. He would know that that's a good thing. As Proverbs 3, 11 through 12 says, My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline, nor be wary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves as a father of the son in whom he delights.
[14:28] Discipline is a good thing. Parents who love their children discipline their children because they love them, because they care about their safety, they care about the kind of person that they are and the kind of person that they're going to become.
[14:43] They discipline them to encourage them to reach their full potential. God's discipline is no different. A parent who doesn't or who stops disciplining their kids sends the message that they either don't care about them or that they've given up on them.
[15:00] But there's a difference between discipline conducted in love and discipline conducted in anger, in wrath.
[15:12] Sometimes parents attempt to correct sinful behavior in their children in sinful ways. They lose control.
[15:24] A spanking turns into a beating. A verbal correction turns into a degrading name-calling put-down. Loving parents discipline their children and loving parents also forgive their children.
[15:39] This is one of over 70 psalms that David wrote. And David wasn't shy about confessing his sins to God. In fact, he acknowledges the pain that keeping his sins unconfessed to God caused him.
[15:55] For example, in Psalm 32, verses 3 through 5, David says, for when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me.
[16:06] My strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you and I did not cover my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sins.
[16:19] Psalm 51, David confesses his sin with Bathsheba to God. He says, for I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me against you. And he's talking to God. You only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.
[16:37] But here in Psalm 6, David doesn't confess any sin that may have brought on this trial, but he does talk about his enemies. It's their sin that has caused this trial in his life.
[16:53] But David is so oppressed by them that he's tempted to think, as we sometimes do, that God is angry with me.
[17:07] And tempted to think, maybe as we sometimes do, that God will not show mercy to us. I remember as a kid, misbehaving, being upstairs while my dad was downstairs, and I'd be wrestling with my older sister who's a couple years older than me, and a lot of times she would be the one who started it, but my dad would call my name, and I would be sent downstairs, and then he would send me to my room.
[17:44] Sometimes it would feel, and now this is back in the day where, you know, you didn't have a lot of fun things in your room, kids. Like, I think, you know, the discipline might be this day, you can't go into your room, you have to sit down here with me and watch TV or whatever.
[17:59] But this was back in the day, like, going to your room was not where you wanted to be. And it would get to the point where it would feel like it was so long. I'd wonder, has my dad forgotten that I'm up here?
[18:12] And so I would muster the courage, I'd feel like, okay, it feels like it's been long enough. I've learned my lesson. I think I can go down to my dad and ask if I can come out.
[18:23] So I'd tiptoe down the stairs and call out to my dad, Dad, is it okay if I come out of my room now? Because I knew that my dad was a just man.
[18:37] He was a godly man. He would punish us when we misbehaved. But I also knew that my dad loved me. And I knew that my dad would show mercy to me.
[18:51] David knows that an attribute of God is that he is just. But here he appeals to another attribute of God, his mercy.
[19:03] In verses 2 through 3, David pleads for God to be merciful and that his mercy would come to him soon. Again, he says, be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing.
[19:14] Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled. My soul is greatly troubled. But you, O Lord, how long? I think what's important for us to see here is that David doesn't run away from God.
[19:28] He doesn't express anger at God for allowing this trouble that was causing him to languish. And the Hebrew word translated as languish means to wilt or to wither.
[19:40] David is withering away. His trouble has caused his bones to ache. He is so emotionally distressed that he is physically distressed.
[19:53] Where else in Scripture do we read about somebody who is so emotionally stressed that it was shown in a physical way? How about Jesus?
[20:07] Being moments away from being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, where he would be led to the cross, where he would die for sinners, where he would endure the wrath of the Father.
[20:24] Luke 22, 41 through 44 records a part of his prayer, this distress was causing him to be distressed physically.
[20:36] Jesus withdrew from them about a stone's throw away and he knelt down and he prayed saying, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.
[20:48] And there appeared from heaven an angel to strengthen him. And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly and his sweat became like drops of blood falling down to the ground.
[21:03] The blood vessels in his forehead, he was so stressed by what he was about to endure that he sweat, they burst and he sweat drops of blood.
[21:19] I'm sure you've been stressed, but I doubt you've ever been that stressed. In this moment, we see the full humanity of Jesus, our Savior.
[21:32] We see a glimpse of the agony he went through knowing what he would endure on the cross. We see the price that he was willing to pay.
[21:45] We see what he was willing to endure in obedience to the Father for our sin. I think David's languishing here in Psalm 6 looks towards the agony of our Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane.
[22:03] Jesus acquainted himself with us. What else we learn from the Garden of Gethsemane and from the cross is that he knows agony.
[22:20] And that should give us comfort in our times of despair because God truly knows how we feel.
[22:31] when you go through a troubling time, it can be comforting when someone who cares about you shows you sympathy. You know, they might say, I can't imagine.
[22:45] They might be thinking, I can't imagine what it's like what you're going through. But for me, I know it's even more comforting when somebody who cares about you empathizes with you because they've been through the exact same thing as you.
[23:00] They've been there before. They can't just imagine how you feel. They know how you feel. A cancer diagnosis. The loss of a child.
[23:13] The loss of a job. House burns down. They know exactly how you feel. Friends, that's what we have in God.
[23:26] He's not some distant deity what we have in Jesus is a Savior who identifies with us and who knows how we feel.
[23:42] That's the truth the Holy Spirit reminds us of in those desperate times of need. We have received grace from him that is sufficient to carry us through whatever trouble or trial we're facing.
[23:56] We have hope for rescue which is what David pleads for next in verses 4 and 5. Turn, O Lord, deliver me for the sake of your steadfast love for in death there is no remembrance of you and Sheol who will give you praise.
[24:13] David pleads for God to turn to him and to deliver him based on his steadfast love. Now I'm sure you've had someone say to you at some point in time that they loved you but then they turned on you.
[24:32] Maybe they left you proving that they didn't truly love you. Their love was not steadfast. That wound is deep and that wound takes time to heal.
[24:45] Years ago in my previous church in Leavenworth I had a church member who was in his 60s and he would come every Sunday with his mom to church and they would sit together and she had to be in her late 80s.
[25:00] One Sunday I noticed that his mom wasn't there with him and so I asked him where his mom was and he told me that she wasn't feeling well and then he proceeded to tell me something about his mom that I didn't know.
[25:14] He said do you know that she's not my biological mother? He was adopted when he was 8 years old. He told me that his biological parents were very poor and they just kept having children and they had so many children that they couldn't take care of their kids and he was one of the older kids and it cost them more to take care of him than it did some of the younger kids and so one day he said these people show up to my house and my mom tells me that I have to go with them.
[25:54] He's wondering well how long and she says well you're going to go live with them now you can't live with us anymore you're no longer a part of this family and he said you know as an 8 year old I'm trying to understand what's going on and so he asked his mom mom don't you love me and she said to him I don't love you anymore tears were coming down his face he's telling me this story and I can see him reliving it in his mind then he said to me I thank God for giving me a mom and a dad who have never stopped loving me David pleads for God's rescue because he knows that he is a God whose love is steadfast trials and troubles come and they tempt us to doubt God's steadfast love the Hebrew word for steadfast love is hesed that word saturates
[26:57] Old Testament scriptures it conveys a kind of love that is loyal and merciful and kind and faithful and covenantal it's a love from God that never ends for his people David is recalling that and he's recounting God's love to God in prayer and thankfully we have the completed word of God we have the Old Testament and the New Testament we have seen God's steadfast love and its fullness in Jesus Christ his son and we know how things end we know why trials come and God has given us his word with his promise that we can recall and that we can recount to him in times of prayer when we are troubled we have passages like Lamentations 3 22 through 23 the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases his mercies never come to an end they are new every morning great is your faithfulness then David says something that might sound a little bit confusing for us he says for in death there is no remembrance of you in Sheol who will give you praise
[28:17] Sheol is a Hebrew word used to describe a place of the dead the New Testament equivalent is Hades in English we have words or phrases to describe like a place of the dead like somebody might say the afterlife or in the grave or the grave and we know what they are talking about what David means here is that when a person dies they are no longer able to praise God or give God glory on the earth and so what he is saying what he is pleading for is God I want you to rescue me so that I can give you praise and give you glory for rescuing me on the earth I want to proclaim that to others David hoped that God would bring glory to himself through the trial that he was facing now church that's a powerful perspective to have when God stretches your faith it's one I know that I wished I'd learned sooner some time ago
[29:20] I was sharing with a friend about some things that were happening that were stretching me it was a difficult season in life that I just wanted to end nothing like what David went through certainly nothing close to what Jesus went through and he was hearing me say that and he said well we know God is sovereign right maybe you should pray for God to help you to learn what he's trying to teach you right now through this trial and that completely flipped things around for me that trial like all trials for the believer is a teaching moment God is teaching us something it's a time where he's reshaping he's reforming he's refining us and that ultimately will serve for his glory David desired to live through the trial so that he could praise God and give him the glory for it and that's another good thing to keep in mind when we are troubled when we are tested to pray during that time that you will glorify
[30:29] God in it because few things put the spotlight on a Christian when they're going through something difficult people are watching people are paying attention especially their unbelieving friends family members co-workers neighbors and they're seeing how are you going to react are you maybe thinking are you really you know do you really believe all this God stuff this Jesus stuff and in those moment God gives an opportunity for us through those trials to demonstrate that the God who saved us will sustain us a young girl went to her mother one day and was telling her about all the things that were going on in her life that were troubling her all the mean girls at school all the hard work she had all the different struggles that a teenage girl would face and after listening to her daughter her mother told her to get three pots fill them with water and bring them to a boil once her daughter had done that her mother took a carrot an egg and some coffee and told her daughter to place one in each pot and after they simmered for a while she pulled the carrot off she placed it in her daughter's hand and she asked what does it feel like and her daughter responded well it's soft and it's limp and she took the egg and she did the same and then she handed her daughter a cup of coffee and sat down with her daughter and when the girl asked what does this mean her mom said each of these objects!
[32:09] faced the same adversity soft and limp the egg was fragile and delicate but now it's hard and it's firm the coffee released an aroma a fragrance it released its flavor into the water and she asked her daughter which of these are you and she told her when God brings trouble into your life will you go limp like a carrot Will you become hard like an egg or will you release the fragrance the aroma of faith David expresses his desire for God to rescue and receive all the praise for it but in verses 6 through 7 he shares more from his heart about what this trouble is doing to him again he says I'm weary with moaning every night I flood my bed with tears I drench my couch with my weeping my eyes waste away because of grief it grows weak because of all my foes
[33:17] I think the application here is to just be real and raw with God in your prayers because why wouldn't you why would you try to hide how you truly feel from the God who already knows why pretend to be strong when you know that you are weak why act as if you don't need God's help when in reality you really need God's help Philippians 4 4-7 reminds us to rejoice in the Lord always again I will say rejoice let your reasonable list be known to everyone the Lord is at hand do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God and here's the promise and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus there's been times in my life where I felt so troubled that I just collapsed on the ground like face first sprawled out face actually in the carpet on the ground
[34:36] I remember one time this was Danny and I hadn't been married for that long we didn't have kids but we had two dogs and one of those dogs was a bad dog she could be good sometimes her name was Annabelle we named her Annabelle after this movie that's out now about the doll that's possessed by demons but there were times when we felt like our dog was possessed by a demon but she was an alright dog anyhow I just remember somebody some in our apartment complex had seen Annabelle who was a black lab mixed with some other dog and thought that Annabelle was a Rottweiler and so we got a call from the apartment people saying you have to bring your dog up here if it's a Rottweiler we're going to kick you out and we thought well maybe it is the other dog that she's mixed with is a Rottweiler she kind of has the markings got to take my dog and introduce her to this new person and
[35:38] I hope she doesn't do something that's going to get us kicked out I also was in seminary and that was hard I also was trying to get a job and that was hard and we were poor and so there's just all these different things going on and I just had had enough and I needed God's help and though as far as I knew my circumstances hadn't changed at all through that time God changed me God uses our prayer to change us and that's what we see with David as he goes from pleading weeping moaning in prayer asking for God's help to now in verses 9 through 10 proclaiming God's power and by the way we didn't get kicked out of the apartment
[36:42] Annabelle did fine and I'm here and all is well God is faithful he proclaims God's power let's look at verses 8 and 10 depart from me all you workers of evil for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping the Lord has heard my plea the Lord accepts my prayer all my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment all of David's enemies all those who thought that this trouble would result in his demise in fact it seems like they were looking forward to that they wanted to see him crushed they wanted to see him stay down and what he's!
[37:24] saying here I think it's as if he's saying what you guys thought was going to happen to me that demise that you thought was certain to come it's not going to happen yes I was weak but in my weakness I turned to God and God is not weak and God has heard my plea and God has heard my prayer he's heard my weeping he's answered my call and guess what now you're in trouble in the garden Jesus felt despair but from the cross he prayed for God to forgive those who put him there and we have that prayer in the garden of Gethsemane where he's crushed he's distressed but then we have his final words from the cross where he proclaims ultimate victory
[38:27] John 19 28 through 30 recorded after this Jesus knowing that all was now finished said to fulfill the scripture I thirst a jar full of sour wine stood there so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth and when Jesus had received the sour wine he said it is finished and he bowed his head and he gave up his spirit Jesus didn't whisper I am finished he didn't even whisper it is finished he shouted he proclaimed from the cross with all the strength that he could muster left!
[39:41] ends in death it is still finished because Jesus has prepared a place for you with him in glory and the work that he began in you he will finish it and a time is coming when the things that troubled us in this life the things that didn't make sense to us at all and the tears that we shed over those things will come to an end when
[40:46] Jesus will wipe away every tear from our eyes Revelation 21 1-4 then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more and I saw the holy city new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying behold the dwelling place of God is with man he will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God he will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death will be no more neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things they're done they're passed away it's finished so what do we do according to what we've heard in
[41:46] God's word in Psalm 6 I think one of the things that we do very clearly is to persevere in prayer to persevere in prayer to continue to plead for God's help to be humble as we go before his throne to plead for his help and to trust that our God knows us identifies with us loves us cares about us and hears us and in knowing that we proclaim his power we proclaim his truth we proclaim that it is finished and we walk in that truth all the rest of our life seeking to give God glory in every situation whether it tries our faith or not if you're here this morning and you don't know Jesus
[42:46] Christ as your Lord and Savior friend I tell you this with love it is not finished for you what Jesus has finished can be for you but you must trust in him as your Lord and Savior you must humbly acknowledge your need for his help that you have sinned and you have sinned against the holy God who is infinite and the result of that sin is infinite punishment and if you plead to him and if you ask him for his help if you pray for him to save you he will save you because he's just but he's also gracious and he's merciful and if you will turn to him and you will ask him to save you he will and for those of you who are believers again persevere in prayer and I want to add one more thing before we close in prayer to be persevering in prayer for each other and that means we need to let each other know what's really going on we need to be humble we need to be honest and we need to admit that you know what
[43:57] I actually need! Jesus I'm not perfect I don't always handle these situations well I've done some stuff and I've messed up and I need God's help will you be praying for me we were in Latvia I visited a church there in Agenskons Baptist church one thing that I will never forget that impressed me is after the message after the worship some people came up and prayed and right away those who came up prayed there was another church member who was on them and had an arm around them and was praying for them too I thought what a beautiful picture of the church what a beautiful picture of what God has given us in the church to have other people who bear our burdens who will pray for us who will persevere in prayer when we need it and will be used by God to help us and maybe that's you this morning and I'm going to pray we'll have an invitation hymn if you want to come up here and pray I encourage you to do that and if you see somebody up here praying I encourage you to put an arm around them and pray for them and
[44:59] I encourage you to do that not just this Sunday but every Sunday and all the time let's pray Lord we are so thankful that you are a God who knows all things you are a God who identifies with us Lord you are a God who knows our situation Lord you are a God who sends trials that test our faith but Lord we also know that you use those trials for good that it's through those trials Lord that we are refined we are reformed we are made more into the image of your son Jesus Christ we love this world less and we love you more and we look forward even more to the day when you will wipe every tear from every eye of every person who has trusted in you for salvation God for those in our church and we know that there are many in our church right now
[46:02] Lord they are going through a trying time whether it's because of a health situation or relationship or rumors about what might be happening in the workforce Lord we know that there are a lot of things for our church members to be wary of today God I pray that through your word you've comforted them that they'll persevere in prayer Lord and that when those of us who maybe were not going through a trial right now when we do that we would remember your word and that we would persevere in prayer that we would plead for your help but we wouldn't forget to also proclaim your power that no matter what happens in this life to us Lord nothing can separate us from the hope that we have in Jesus Christ nothing can separate us from your steadfast love and Lord I pray that if we're persecuted!
[46:57] for our faith that we would continue to proclaim and all the louder it is finished in the hopes that others would be saved by you God I pray for those here who don't know you who are not saved Lord I pray that they would turn to you before it's too late I pray that they would plead for your help that they would confess their sins to you and that they would know the abundant life that is to be had in Jesus Christ and him alone Lord thank you for hearing our pleas thank you for hearing our prayers and thank you for giving us strength that we need each and every day to continue on knowing that in Christ there is victory in Christ it is finished in Christ there is always reason to hope in Jesus name we pray!
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