Isaiah 12:4-6 – Praise and Proclamation

Well, please do open up your Bibles

again to Isaiah chapter 12.

Isaiah 12 · chapter mention

Let's let's continue in prayer.

Father God, again, we come before your

throne of grace, your throne of mercy.

Lord, as we look into your word, we pray

that you would open our eyes to see,

open our ears to hear. We pray Lord that

you would stir our hearts. That you

would move us and change us Lord. That

perhaps uh we hear your word in a way

that we've never heard before this

morning. We pray that your Holy Spirit

will be at work. Lord, may we come to

treasure,

Lord Jesus, greater because of what we

see in your word today. Lord, would you

put a new um new wind in our on our

praise? Lord, would you uh put new

urgency in our proclamation of the

gospel? Father, we pray that you would

truly be at work amongst us today. We

ask in Jesus name. Amen.

Well, um,

as we thought about last week, um, the

first 11 chapters of Isaiah speak of

Israel's rebellion against God. And

Israel at that point were in a bit of a

state. So, morally, Israel were

characterized by injustice and

wickedness.

Spiritually they were people who were

full of hypocrisy and pride and

adultery. Politically they were facing

threats from from neighboring kingdoms.

Um as a consequence of their sin and

their unbelief, Assyria would soon

invade and Israel would face judgment.

But in those early chapters as well,

there is hope. So in chapter 11 it

speaks about this chute that would come

from the stump of Jesse. There would be

a new king uh and he would be one who

walks in the ways of the Lord. One who

would be righteous to the very core of

who he was and he would bring

restoration to Israel and not only to

her but also he would be a hope for the

nations. A banner to which the nations

would come. It's a prophecy that points

to the Messiah to Jesus and all that he

would achieve. And our passage chapter

12 flows from that hope and speaks of

how God's people will be in that day of

salvation when the Messiah has come. As

we noted last week, chapter 12 is

divided into two songs that start the

same. They have the same line. So verse

one, you will say in that day, and we

looked at what followed, and then we're

looking at the second one, verse four,

and you will say in that day.

And both of those songs they pivot

around verse three uh that says with joy

you will draw water from the wells of

salvation. And this we noted is the key

to thriving to flourishing to being

refreshed as a Christian.

But as we'll see today, it's also the

source of our praise and it's also a

push in us towards proclamation. Over

recent years, the importance of uh good

hydration has become uh much more

popularized than it ever was. It seems

to be, you know, one of the big things

you must drink whatever amount it is.

And of course, with that popularization

of that idea has come great business

opportunities for people. So, uh you can

buy reusable water bottles in all sorts

of shapes and sizes. And I found this

one online which is £1,260.

So if you've got one of them, wow, there

you go. It's not even silver. It's just

stainless steel. Really? I know your

mouth is like what? But I'm sure the

water tastes very good from that bottle.

Um, but you can get all sorts of

different bottles. They come in

different shapes and sizes. Some even

give you a guide down the down the side

of them to say how much you should drink

and and that sort of thing. Um and

actually staying hydrated is important.

If you don't have enough water, it can

affect every part of your body, even

your concentration.

And so, uh it can cause all sorts of

things if you don't, um drink enough

water. So, it's important to keep

properly hydrated.

But it's even more important to keep

spiritually hydrated to verse three, to

keep drawing water from the wells of

salvation. Uh, and last week we looked

at what the wells of salvation are. And

and we said that they are they are God

himself and all that he has done for us

and given to us in Christ, our salvation

and all its breadth and depth. All that

God has done for us in Christ. And we

are to draw upon that. And the wells of

God, they flow with grace. They flow

with spirit, his spirit, and with truth.

They are the source of life to every

believer. If we stop drinking of God, if

we stop bathing in his grace, if we stop

walking with the spirit, if we stop

saturating ourselves in his word, if we

if we stop gathering with his people, we

will soon get into trouble and we will

spiritually run dry.

But if we daily seek the Lord, if we

bring ourselves daily to the source of

our salvation, if we are careful to

orientate ourselves towards the Lord and

constantly draw upon him, we will find

ourselves refreshed even in times of

difficulty and trouble.

Psalm 1 speaks about a similar idea.

Psalm 1 uh blessed is the one who does

not walk in step with the wicked or

stand in the way of that that sinners

take or sit in the company of mockers

but whose delight is in the law of the

Lord and who meditates on his law day

and night. That person is like a tree

planted by streams of water which yields

its fruit in season and whose life does

not leaf does not wither. whatever they

do prospers. And that song is it's got a

very similar idea, isn't it? It's about

drawing water from that source, from the

stream or the well.

And that gives strength and grace is

able to produce its fruit even uh in

seasons of difficulty. What could that

that fruit be that it can produce in

those times of of difficulty and heat?

Well, no doubt the fruit is manifold.

many different things, but we're going

to be focusing in on today on the the

fruit we find in our passage in Isaiah.

They are the fruit of praise and

proclamation. And they are our two

points this morning. Praise and pro

proclamation. So firstly, praise.

If you get a an art lover to speak about

their favorite artist

or you get a a runner to speak about

their next big run or you get a teenager

talking about their favorite band or

Aaron talking about Lord of the Rings,

they will often have a lot to say.

That's where he is actually. He's got

some um Lord of the Ring thing for his

birthday. I think it's his 30th birthday

on Monday, so it's a big one. Anyway, so

he will be very enthusiastic about Lord

of the Rings if you get him talking

about that. And no doubt if you talk to

people about the things that they're

passionate about, they will talk about

some of the things that they they find

exciting. The joys, you know, I love the

way the artist has captured the light. I

like the the bold political statements

in the art. I like the thrill of running

with friends through a countryside. I I

just love their music and the sound and

the beat and the voice and whatever it

is. We instinctively praise what we

love, don't we? What we value.

Now if we are aware of the wrath from

which we have been saved,

if we are aware of the eternal life to

which we have been saved into,

if we treasure Christ,

if we make it our business to regularly

draw close to him in a meaningful way,

then praise will never be that far away

from us. It will always be just there

under the surface. And probably not just

under the surface.

We all know if we drink too much water,

I'm not not meaning to be um crude here,

but eventually it has to go on its way,

doesn't it? It has to pass through us as

it were. And we we drink water and it

goes into us and it does its work. It's

the body uses it for all different sorts

of things. uh it even becomes part of us

uh and then eventually it is sweated out

or it goes you know through the normal

channels

and uh when we are full of the Lord his

presence his word his grace his

influence they they will work through us

through every part of us

it will do its work in us it will become

part of us but it also comes out of us

too

CS Lewis noted this in his book,

Reflections on the Psalm.

I'm going to give quite a long quote

because I can't say it any better than

Lewis did. So, um, just try and focus in

as I I quote from Lewis. He writes, "I

think we delight to praise what we enjoy

because the praise not merely expresses

but completes the enjoyment. It is its

appointed consummation."

He continues,

"But the most obvious fact about praise,

whether of God or anything, strangely

escaped me. I thought of it in terms of

compliment, approval, or the giving of

honor. I had never noticed that all

enjoyment spontaneously overflows into

praise unless shyness or the fear of

boring others is deliberate deliberately

brought into check it."

He says, "The world rings with praise.

Lovers praising their mistresses. We

might not quite put it like that today.

Um, let's say men praising their their

wives or whatever. Readers their

favorite poet. Walkers praising their

countryside players players praising

their favorite game. Praise of weather,

wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses,

colleges, countries, historical

personages, children, flowers,

mountains, rare stamps, rare beatles,

even sometimes politicians or scholars.

Except where intolerably adverse

circumstances interfere,

praise almost seems to be inner health

made audible. We're nearly there. Just a

little bit more. He continues, "I had

not noticed either that just as men

spontaneously praise whatever they

value, so they spontaneously urge us to

join them in praising it." Isn't she

lovely? Wasn't it glorious? Don't you

think it magnificent? The psalmists are

telling everyone to praise God. Uh they

are doing what all men do when they

speak about what they care of. End

quote. They're just doing what comes

naturally. If you love something, if you

treasure it, if you value it, you praise

it and you invite others to come and

join you. And if we've been filling

ourselves up at the wells of salvation,

if we treasure the Lord ourselves,

there will be a desire to express our

delight in God and his salvation as

praise. This is what Isaiah foresees in

verse four. and you will say in that day

give thanks to the Lord. The NIV uh

translates that as give praise to the

Lord. And this isn't a burdensome task

like oh dear I suppose we better praise

the Lord now. That's just not the spirit

of this is it at all. This isn't seen as

a burden at all.

If you give me a really nice curry

and I eat it, I I don't I don't sit

there and think, "Oh, now I've got to

say some nice things about this curry."

If it's a nice curry, it will just I

will just say it. I'll say, "That was

really tasty. That was lovely. Thank you

so much. Oh, I love how tender it was,

how tasty it was. It was great. Thank

you." And I'll be looking around to see

if someone else didn't finish theirs.

And I'll be like, "I'll have some of

that." You know, cuz it's lovely. It's

just something that that naturally

comes. Praising God is not a mere duty.

It is the fitting response to God. This

is the response of those who have been

drinking at the bells of salvation. We

go, "Wow,

thank you Jesus.

You are so good. You are so wonderful.

You are so precious to me." When we are

full of God,

it has to come out in some way in one

way or another.

But who who is speaking here and who are

they speaking to?

Verse four.

And you will say that you there is

plural.

So it's it's God's people, the redeemed,

those God who is saved. That that's who

is speaking. Who are they speaking to?

Drop down to verse six.

It's that verse we spoke about earlier.

Shout and sing for joy, oh inhabitants

of Zion, for great in your midst is the

Holy One of Israel. So it is God's

people speaking to God's people.

And and we need this, don't we?

We need God's people to tell us what we

ought to be doing, what we should be

doing because we know what a struggle it

can be. Sometimes we don't always feel

full of the Lord. Sometimes we need

someone to come in and say, "Hey,

praise the Lord. This is what you're

called to do. This is what you are meant

to be doing."

And we can become so distracted, so

taken up with other things. And so, we

need to encourage one another. We remind

each other, "This is what you're meant

to be doing. Give thanks, shout and sing

for joy.

By the way,

did you know it's okay to be joyful

in our praise?

It's okay.

Seems silly to point that out, but it

seems silly. It seems to me that there

are some churches and indeed some

Christians who get a little bit nervous

if there appears to be too much joy or

if emotion is expressed a little bit too

much. And I know you've got to keep

things reverent reverent and and you

know there's a time and a place for

things but you know let's not play this

out. Look at verse six. Shout and sing

for what does it say?

>> What does it say?

Yes, it does, doesn't it? Sing for joy.

Now, just keep those words in your head.

Shout and sing for joy. Imagine someone

took a spiritual polaroid of your

personal praise and worship. Now,

imagine, is that um that that that

statement, shout and sing for joy, is

that an appropriate caption to your

general approach to praise? Would it

fit? shout and sing for for joy, right?

Picture your praise, your your sort of

inner inner being, your posture,

everything about your praise. Does that

does that actually describe that

caption? Here they are shouting and

singing for joy.

I wonder if you've ever known any joy in

your praise or worship. It should be we

should experience a certain amount of

joy no matter how that is expressed.

Obviously there's different seasons.

There's different ways to express

ourselves and it is the heart the heart

attitude that that matters.

But I do think it's an important

question to ask. Have you ever known any

joy any delight in the Lord at all?

If you are amongst the redeemed,

you should know something of the joy of

the Lord and joy about your salvation.

If you've drunk from the wells of

salvation, Isaiah is saying, "This is

how you will be at least some of the

time."

And when we're not, as so often we're

not, we come together and we encourage

each other and we say, "Come on, this is

what we're meant to be doing. Let's

drink from the wells of the salvation.

Let's shout and sing for joy. Let's

praise the Lord. Come on.

What if someone took a spiritual

polaroid of the praise and worship of

this church?

And would that little caption fit?

Here's a people who are shouting and

singing for joy.

I I think I've been quite encouraged

recently by I think how people are

entering into our singing and praising.

Often it does is tied quite a bit to the

songs, isn't it? And whether we know

them, whether we like them and the rest

of it and okay, fair enough. Uh but I

think generally it's been quite

encouraging.

But I I've also noticed quite often we

sing better after the sermon than before

the sermon. And I wonder whether that's

because in the sermon we're like we're

going into the wells of salvation. We're

putting up the truths, aren't we? And

we're enjoying them. We're thinking

about them. We're like, "Yeah." And then

we respond from that in our praise and

worship.

So I I wonder what about if when you're

coming on a Sunday, what about if you

took time to prepare yourself, your

heart? What about if you um thought

about the Lord, came to the Lord before

you came. So, you came ready to worship

because quite often we come to church

and we haven't picked up our Bible for

two two or three days or whatever. We've

been really busy, we're really rushed,

we're really stressed, and we get in and

like uh and you're spiritually you're

like down there, aren't you? And then by

the end of the service, you probably

come up a little bit, but you know what?

What if we come into the service and

prepared our hearts to meet the Lord and

we're there already? That would be good,

wouldn't it? We're all ready. We've

taken the time. I've prepared myself.

I've in some way I prepared myself to

come and meet with the Lord. That's a

good thing to do. Prepare yourself to

meet the Lord.

Now, we we do live in the British

culture and um that's who we are. We

we're quite reserved and awkward. I am.

I'm terribly awkward, you know. And uh

but we're also members of God's kingdom,

aren't we? So, we are citizens of

heaven. That is also who we are. We

might be British or whatever nationality

we are, but we're also citizens of

heaven. And so, what we do is

appropriate to those who verse six, who

have the Holy One of Israel in our

midst. And when you know the Lord is in

your midst, then it seems appropriate

to get a little bit excited sometimes

and to to enjoy the time of drawing

close to to to the Lord. It's a great

privilege to have the Lord in our midst,

isn't it? I'm not sure about the

shouting bit and maybe we'll have to

work out how that works itself out in

our sort of situation. But let's not be

a church that looks down on people who

sing with joy. It is what the redeemed

are meant to do.

But more than that, it's what we're

meant to be exalting each other to do.

Verse six, remember it's it's is God's

people speaking to God's people. Um, so

verse six, shout and sing for joy, oh

inhabitant of Zion, for great in your

midst is the Holy One of Israel. So

we're meant to do this. We meant to

encourage each other to do this.

The last thing I want to point out in

this little section is who we praise.

It's it's good to sing songs about God,

isn't it? We do that. We sing about him.

It's good to sing songs that speak of

what God has done.

And it's good to uh these are legitimate

ways to praise uh in the Bible. The

Bible is is full of people speaking

about God, recanting what he's he's done

and saying, "Yeah, the Lord did this.

The Lord saved me this. He's brought us

out of Egypt." You know, it's full of

speaking about God. But don't miss what

Isaiah says here. Verse four, give

thanks to the Lord. Verse five, sing

praises to the Lord.

Do you know it's possible for an

unbeliever to sing things about God?

Just they're just facts, aren't they?

Like you could sing about anything like

the grass is green, you know, God is

great. It's a fact. You don't have to

particularly believe it to sing it. And

and you can do that. You can sing a fact

about God without it being true worship

or praise. You can sing about his

character and his works and yet do so in

a way that is is not actually engaged in

spirit and the truth. It's not actually

an act of worship. You're just spouting

facts.

I wonder if that is harder to do when we

are singing directly to God. Imagine,

I'm not going to do it, but imagine I um

said, "I'm going to sing you a song, and

I'm going to sing you a song about my

wife." And I stood here and I sung all

the wonderful things about her. And uh I

could tell you all the wonderful things

she does and what she's like, and and I

could do that. And actually, any one of

you could stand up and sing, not about

your wife, but about my wife, and sing

how wonderful she is. And both would be

true. It's a very different thing,

though, isn't it? If I stand her in

front of me, I look her dead in the eyes

and I sing something like Elvis El Elvis

Presley's like, "Take my hand, take my

whole life, too." For I can't help

falling in love with you. If if that is

like me just looking right in her eyes,

it's very different to just singing a

song about her. I'm singing to her. Do

you see? Anyone can sing Psalm 48:1,

Psalms 48:1

"Great is the Lord and greatly to be

praised." Yes, that's true. That is a

universal truth. Absolutely. They may

not believe it, but they can sing it.

But it's another thing to sincerely sing

with the psalmist. Psalm 18:1, I love

Psalms 18:1

you, oh Lord, my strength. Do you see?

Direct to God. Psalm 63:3-4.

Psalms 63:3–4

Because your steadfast love is better

than life, my lips will praise you. So I

will bless you as long as I live, and in

your name I will lift up my hands. Now,

of course, don't hear me wrong. The

Bible is full of praise about God, and

that is right and proper and good and

totally biblical and and and in a sense,

it is still to God. Even when we're

singing about him, it is still to God.

But there can be something particularly

helpful to sing or to speak directly to

God.

Whatever form our words take, whether

about God or to God, it should be a

personal thing sang in his presence. So

by faith, you address your praise to God

as if you are standing right before him

in his throne room and he's there.

That is the privilege of those who come

to God through faith in Jesus by the

Holy Spirit. Our praise goes right to

God.

We come in awe in adoration and we bow

before him and we offer sincere

acceptable praise directly to our God.

Isaiah says give thanks to the Lord. He

says sing praise

to the Lord. That is one of the joys,

one of the fruits of drinking from the

wells of salvation. we can come to our

God and we can sing his praise.

The second uh point we'll consider is

that of proclamation.

And that's our final point,

proclamation.

Now, I don't want to um claim to be a

particularly exceptional dad. I've had

my fair share of good moments and my

fair share of uh less than good moments,

shall we say.

But if someone accused me of being a

negligent father,

I could of course try to defend myself.

But how much better would it be if

others came to my defense, especially my

daughters, and said, "Whoa, wait a

minute. You don't know what you're

talking about. Let me tell you about,

you know, my dad or whatever." You know,

if they speak well of me, if they

proclaim the truth, that speaks very

powerfully, doesn't it? And so it should

be with God's people,

God's children.

Now, that we have a great God. That is

is plain to see. So, creation declares

it. Psalm 19:19 verse1, the heavens

declare the glory of God and the sky

proclaims his handiwork. And do you

remember back when we were going through

Luke, uh, we saw that the triumphal

entry as people were praising God for

Jesus, the Pharisees told Jesus to stop

them. Stop these people. They shouldn't

be saying that. But Jesus answered in

Luke 19:40, "I tell you, if they were

Luke 19:40

silent, the very stones would cry out.

Should we leave it to the stones to

declare God's praises?

Should we leave it to creation to

declare the truth about God?

Now remember who's speaking. It's the

redeemed speaking to the redeemed. It's

the Lord's people encouraging each

other. The redeemed should speak about

our God. It is the calling of the

redeemed to proclaim our God. Let's just

look at the passage, make sure we're

actually in agreement with that and then

very briefly we'll think about some

applications in a few moments. So in the

ESV in verse four it says give thanks to

the Lord, call upon his name. In the NIV

it's give praise to the Lord. Proclaim

his name. So you've got the idea of call

and proclaim. The ESV's translation

suggests we are to call upon the Lord

which which I think suggests um prayer

and uh worship. Uh so it's just slightly

different. The NIV uh translation says

we are to proclaim which suggests

speaking about God. That's because the

Hebrew here can mean call. It can be

mean proclaim or it can mean to uh read

aloud or to speak aloud about you're

reciting

uh truths about someone.

So that's the idea. That's what you get

the sort of different flavors going on

there. It could be either calling upon

the Lord. That's certainly something we

should do. That might be an idea.

However, I find myself leaning towards

the NIV here. That seems a better fit.

His name represents all he is. How he

has chosen to reveal himself. His

proclamation about himself. So what he

has revealed to us about himself, his

name and everything that that the name

sums up about him, that is what we are

to proclaim to others. And even if we

take the first part of this verse to be

talking about calling upon the name as

in more of a prayerful attitude or more

sort of a worship with him god's people

attitude actually the idea is repeated

albeit with a different word at the end

of verse four. So there it's says even

in the ESV uh proclaim that his name is

exalted. So whatever way we take this

one way or the other this is about

proclamation. This is about the

proclamation of God, his name, and how

he has revealed himself to us.

God is not a myth.

He's not a trivial being.

He's not a despot. He's not just

watching from afar. He's not unloving.

He's not impotent. God, verse six, is

the holy one of Israel. There is no one

other. There's no other like him. No

other being in the same category. He

stands alone. He is holy and unique.

Sometimes as a pastor I have to write

references for people and references

want to know a person's character. What

are they like? Are they reliable? Do

they get on? Can they, you know, work in

a team? Those sorts of things. How how

do they conduct themselves? You want if

you want to know what a person is like,

then you ask those who know them, don't

you? Tell me about them. What what are

they like? And as those who know God, we

are to proclaim him,

to make him known. How did God reveal

himself to Moses? Back in Exodus chapter

34:6,

it says this,

"The Lord passed before Moses or before

him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord,

a God merciful and gracious, slow to

anger and abounding in steadfast love

and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love

for thousands, forgiving iniquity and

transgression and sin, but who will be

by no means clear the guilty, visiting

the iniquity of the fathers and the

children and the children's children to

the third and fourth generation. That is

who we declare. A God who is rich in

mercy and grace, but a God who does not

wink at sin.

We are to declare our God.

But we are also in verse four to make

known among the nations what he has

done. Verse five, sing praises to the

Lord for he has done glorious things and

let this be made known in all the earth.

So God's people, we are to proclaim God

himself, who he is, the kind of God he

is, but we're also to declare what he

has done. And for us living after

Jesus's death and resurrection, we we we

understand now how many parts of Isaiah

actually including chapter 11 12 and and

chapter 12, they ultimately speak about

Jesus.

So Emanuel, God himself took on flesh

and became the suffering servant to

bring forgiveness and restoration,

salvation to his people. So as we speak

about what God has done, our emphasis

has to be on Christ.

on Christ.

As Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter

2:2, "For I decided to know nothing

among you except Jesus Christ and him

crucified."

Or Galatians 6:14, "But far be it from

Galatians 6:14

me to boast except in the cross of the

Lord Jesus Christ."

Or 1 Corinthians chapter 15:1. Now I

would remind you brothers of the gospel

I preached to you. And then he goes on

to explain what he preached to them that

was of first importance. So Christ's

death, his burial, his resurrection for

the forgiveness of sins and the hearts

of the glorious things that God has done

that is revealed to us in Christ

and what he did. So as new covenant

believers, Christ is to be at the heart

of our message, our gospel, our

proclamation.

But who is this message for? Verse

four says among the peoples. Verse five

in all the earth. In all the earth.

So every single person that you have met

is included in this.

The cleaner,

the person in a care home, the teacher,

the parent, the rude person, the really

nice person. Do they need to hear about

Jesus?

The answer has got to be yes. If they're

on this earth, yes.

I mean, they might not want to hear it.

They might not believe it. But this is

what we are called to do. To take the

glorious gospel out into all the earth.

This all the earth includes your home,

doesn't it? your classroom, your gaming

world, your online presence, your

office, your ward. It includes Iran,

Iraq, Russia, Israel, Nigeria, and so

on. It's is everywhere.

So, how is that going to happen?

How will the gospel get to Iran? How

will it get into China?

Is there

Is there someone who could go?

Is there someone

who wants to go, but they need our

support in order to go?

Are there believers already there, but

they're having a really hard time? And

actually, if we want to see the gospel

go out into that part of the world, what

they need is our prayer and possibly

some money and some encouragement.

We have a mission update prayer meeting

coming up on the 24th of May to think

about the work in Latatti and of Daniel

Cabalero and all the things that they

are doing. That's not just so that we

can tick off the mission box and say

we've done that bit. Good, aren't we? A

nice little church. It's it's part of

this calling, do you see? To to see the

gospel going out into all the world.

Okay. So maybe I can't quite go where

they do, but I can be involved in their

work.

The mission work we support here in the

church is not just for general interest.

It's part of the call of passages like

this. So it does concern you. The

mission work that we support or you

support maybe that concerns you. It's

it's important.

And how will you get the message of

Jesus into your home? For some of you,

that might be really easy. For some of

you, that's going to be really

difficult.

How will the message of Jesus be

proclaimed in your classroom? How will

your friends, how will your colleagues

hear about Jesus?

If only

there was a believer there who could

tell them.

If only there was a believer who could

bring these people before the Lord in

prayer.

If only there was someone who knew the

Lord in that place in their lives, who

could speak about him and speak about

what he's done.

But wait,

there is

you. If you are there,

you have the opportunity to speak about

Jesus, to proclaim, to put this passage

into practice.

As part of our mission um this year,

we've organized many different events.

They're not the be all and end all of of

anything really. They're just there to

help, to give you an opportunity to say

like, "Oh, we got this thing going on at

church. Do you want to come?" No. Okay.

Well, you know, fair enough. But, you

know, it's just an opportunity, isn't

it? Something you can you can bring

before. It's just it's a tool for you to

use. How how are people going to come to

these things? It's not by magic. If if

people are to hear, if they're to come,

it relies on you and me being obedient

to our call and looking for those

opportunities, praying for the

opportunities to proclaim our Lord. I I

wonder if you will do that. Okay, you

might not be at the stage where you're

bold enough to actually invite someone,

but why don't you pray that the Lord

would get you to that stage to invite

somebody? It's scary. We all know that.

But if you don't have a heart for this,

if you're just happy to be a Christian

and that's all, that's where it ends.

I'm a Christian and I'm I'm happy with

that. I'm not going to tell anyone else.

Can I suggest you need to go back to the

wells of salvation?

draw water from the wells of s

salvation. Delight yourselves in the

Lord again. Remember who God is.

Remember what he's done. Draw upon the

promises of God. And then although we'll

still have nerves and be worried about

it, then when we are full of the Lord,

that desire, that need to speak of him,

it should build up in us and we're like,

I'm not content to just sit on it

anymore. There's a truth. There's a

gospel. It saves. I need to speak in

some way. I need to let people know.

We will not be content to leave the job

of proclaiming the Lord just to creation

or to the stones.

We are his people. We are his children.

If anyone should be speaking for him, is

it not us,

the redeemed?

Verse five, sing praises to the Lord,

for he has done gloriously.

Let this be made known in all the earth.

And may the Lord help us in this. Let's

be quiet before the Lord as we just

think on some of those things.