BEING BLESSED?

that you desired these words to be written,

that you had these words written in such a way

that in every generation and for every people group,

they could speak to us.

They can only do this, Father, because it is ultimately your word.

And we confess before you, Father,

that we cannot understand your word purely by our minds.

Father, we know you want us to use the best of our mind,

but even the best of our mind is not enough.

We need, Father, your Holy Spirit to humble us

and create within us a hunger to know your word

and to hear your word, to know you and to hear you.

And, Father, this we ask, that you would so bless us

that we have a desire to know you and to be known by you

and to hear you speak to us and have you speak into our lives.

Father, we ask that you would do this at this time.

As we open your word.

And all this we ask in the name of Jesus,

your Son and our Savior.

Amen.

Please be seated.

I might disappoint a lot of you this morning.

You might find this sermon boring.

It's a very unusual sermon for me.

It's not one that I do very often.

And it's going to be on Psalm 67,

and you're going to need your Bibles if you have them.

But here's what happened.

This is our last Sunday of doing Psalms, at least for a season.

Next Sunday, we go back into the book of Luke,

and we'll be doing Luke for quite a long season.

And so I, with the other people who've been speaking over the summer

in the different Psalms,

I asked each of the speakers to pick a Psalm.

And I just sort of asked them to not all pick laments

or not all pick happy Psalms,

but have a bit of a variety.

And after they had picked,

I've been praying about what two Psalms I would pick.

And one of the Psalms I decided that I felt led to preach on

was Psalm 67,

which is what we're going to look at in a moment.

And the reason I chose Psalm 67,

I mean, apart from the fact that I was praying

and asking God to tell me what it is that we,

the congregation,

needed to spend time thinking about and hearing,

was I knew a little bit about this Psalm

in terms of how it's been important

in other generations of Christians.

that when the English Reformation was going on,

and though Thomas Cramner,

who ended up being martyred

as part of the English Reformation,

as he was trying to order

and put together how it is that Christians should worship,

not only on Sundays, but throughout the week,

and he wanted to try to create a means

by which ordinary people

could worship throughout the week,

and also how they could worship on Sunday.

He was very aware of the fact

that throughout Christian history,

whenever there were reform movements

within the church before the Reformation,

there was always reform movements,

and that many of the monastic movements

had been part, when they first started,

they were part of a Reformation movement

within the church to call the church

and call Christian people to pray,

that throughout the centuries,

a psalm,

there were several passages of scripture

that were important,

and one of those passages of scripture

that had been important

in earlier reform movements,

and whenever people had a heart to pray,

and one of those psalms that they,

one of those passages of scripture

that earlier reformers thought

was very important was Psalm 67.

And so, if you go back to Cranmer,

and it was important in the Anglican tradition,

in Canada,

up until 1962,

if you were to have done evening prayer,

you would have found the text of Psalm 67

in the evening prayer service.

And Cranmer just took it out of,

he was aware of the fact

that earlier reform movements

saw that this was an important prayer,

an important psalm,

for Christians to pray,

and to sing,

and to hear,

and to think about.

And I knew this about Psalm 67,

so I thought,

well, we haven't talked about Psalm 67,

so I'll pick Psalm 67,

and that's what I picked.

But here's the thing

which is a bit different about this sermon.

If you come to the church,

you know that I,

you know,

I do a sermon,

and usually there's,

like,

on the screen there'll be points,

and I sort of come up,

and I set tension,

and I come up to the point,

and then,

and all,

but here's what happened to me this week.

I sort of had a bit of a struggle

with God all week,

because,

you know,

I,

I don't have Hebrew,

so I have to depend upon

academic commentaries

that will help me with the Hebrew,

and,

and make sure that I understand the text,

and I,

I've done all that work all week,

but,

what,

here's the funny thing,

that,

what kept happening,

kept happening to me,

is that I wasn't able to think of,

like,

like,

like,

points,

I kept having to,

pray,

now,

you see,

this is a little bit of an awkward thing,

for a sermon,

because,

you know,

you have to get up,

and,

and actually sort of have points,

in a sermon,

but,

I couldn't keep thinking of,

really clear points,

I just keep,

kept feeling that I had to pray,

Psalm 67,

and so,

you know,

me being a,

a typical,

uh,

male Canadian,

I,

um,

I sort of wanted to maybe,

you know,

get,

try to get the right thing going on,

I kept,

of course,

praying,

you know,

I always pray for God's direction,

guidance,

and I'm praying for God's guidance,

and direction,

and,

and every time I come and spend time on Psalm 67,

I keep praying,

the Psalm,

and trying to figure out how to pray the Psalm,

and realizing how I'm not praying the Psalm,

and how I have to learn from praying the Psalm,

and,

and then finally,

and then finally,

I realized that,

that I wasn't really to do a proper sermon with you this morning,

was that I was to sort of share with you Psalm 67 in such a way that hopefully you would want to pray it with me.

Amen.

So if you have your Bibles,

please turn in them to Psalm 67,

and,

and that's what we're just going to do,

and if you're not really interested in praying Psalm 67,

then I,

I guess you can have a little bit of a nap for a period of time,

but I'm,

not that I'm going to spend the whole time praying,

but I'm going to sort of just share sort of how God was teaching me this week about the importance of praying,

and,

and for some of you,

if you,

if you,

if you manage to track with this whole time,

you'll hear that every time I prayed this morning,

my prayers have been all informed by Psalm 67,

and,

and,

and I really actually,

I,

the,

part of the thing I could see about this Psalm is I struggled with it.

You know how in,

in our modern day,

people talk about moral compasses,

often with ethics courses and stuff like that,

and,

and people saying we need ethics in business,

or ethics in government,

or ethics in,

in,

in the workforce,

and people talk about the,

the need to have a moral compass,

and,

and I realized that Psalm 67 is a type of moral and spiritual compass that the,

the Christians and the church regularly need to have.

So I'm going to read all of 67,

Psalm 67,

it's just seven verses,

and then,

then we'll go back,

and we'll sort of look at how we can pray this Psalm.

So,

Psalm 67,

if you don't have a Bible,

there's always extra Bibles up here at the front,

and,

uh,

you're free to have one.

And here's how the Psalm goes.

Actually,

the,

the little introduction to the Psalm goes to the choir master with string instruments,

a Psalm,

a Psalm.

May God be gracious to us and bless us,

and make his face to shine upon us,

that your way may be known on earth,

your saving power among all nations.

let the peoples praise you,

O God,

let all the peoples praise you.

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,

for you judge the peoples with equity,

and guide the nations upon earth.

Let the peoples praise you,

O God,

let all the peoples praise you.

The earth has yielded its increase,

God,

our God,

shall bless us,

God shall bless us,

but all the ends of the earth fear you.

And,

uh,

if you were a very old fashioned Anglican at this point in time,

you would say,

glory be to the Father,

and to the Son,

and to the Holy Ghost,

as it was in the beginning,

is now,

and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Ha ha.

That's just for the closet old Anglicans in the room.

So here's the thing.

I start to try to pray this psalm.

May God be gracious to us and bless us,

and make his face to shine upon us,

that your way may be known on earth,

your saving power among all nations,

that the peoples praise you,

O God,

let all the peoples praise you.

And the first thing that I realized was this,

that on one hand,

God was putting within me,

I mean,

he said,

I could really,

I mean,

he wanted me to spend time in the commentaries,

he wanted me to spend time studying the psalm,

and thinking upon the psalm,

but I kept,

I kept having this pressure,

that he didn't just want me to,

to understand it,

he wanted me to pray it.

And,

and so not only while I was sitting there,

in the,

in the Starbucks,

or other places where I was working on the sermon,

but while I was doing other things,

and one of the very,

very first things I,

I realized,

is that it was hard for me to pray the psalm,

because I kept trying to think of what I wanted to say,

rather than remembering the psalm.

And it,

it was as if God was speaking into my life,

that George,

too often you,

and too often the church,

we're filled with what we want to say,

and we're not filled with just actually hearing,

and being formed by what I want you to say.

So I realized I had to start paying far more attention,

to the actual words,

virtually memorizing the psalm,

so that while I was riding my bicycle,

or walking,

or in other places,

that the psalm,

would,

would come out of me as something that I had to pray.

But,

may God be gracious to us,

and bless us,

and make his face to shine upon us,

that your way may be known on earth,

that your saving power among all nations.

Let the peoples praise you,

O God,

let all the peoples praise you.

And as I'm trying to learn how to pray this psalm,

as I feel the pressure of the Holy Spirit,

that I'm called to pray this psalm,

and then it was as if the Holy Spirit convicts me,

that I kept changing the words of the psalm,

in a really important way.

And the way I kept changing the words of the psalm,

is I would say,

God be gracious to me,

and bless me,

and make your face shine upon me.

That's not what the psalm says.

The psalm wasn't asking me to pray this psalm for me.

The psalm,

the word of God was asking me to learn to pray this psalm for us.

And day after day,

I would be trying to pray this psalm,

and it was as if the Holy Spirit kept having to say,

George, what did you just say?

What did you just say?

You said me again.

You shouldn't keep saying me.

There's times when we pray for just ourselves.

I mean, there's times when I should just pray for me.

That it's not as if the Bible says

that there's never times that I should just say,

Lord, please help me.

Lord, please do this for me.

It's not that the Bible never says that we should do it,

but this psalm,

which has been part of reform movements

throughout the history of the church,

that early reformers,

whether it was Gregory or Galatianus

or Benedict or Cranmer,

recognized that learning to pray this psalm

was really important for the church

to have this form how we pray

and how we understand the church

and how we understand the world,

that this part of God's word

has an authoritative power

that's to form how we are to understand

how we are to pray,

and it's asking me to pray for us.

It's asking you to pray for us.

May God be gracious to us and bless us

and make his face to shine upon us,

that your way may be known on earth,

your saving power among all nations.

Let the peoples praise you, O God.

Let all the peoples praise you.

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,

for you judge the peoples with equity

and guide the nations upon earth.

Let the peoples praise you, O God.

Let all the peoples praise you.

The earth has yielded its increase.

God or God shall bless us.

God shall bless us.

Let all the ends of the earth fear you.

So one of the things I learned

when I was doing the commentaries

is that it's very intentional in English

that the requests are may and let,

that these are prayers of humble desire.

It's verb tenses of humble desire

and that God wants to form within us

humble desires

and form and channel and grow within us

humble desires as we approach it.

and therefore the first word is may

and then the rest of it is let, let, let, let, let.

And so the very, very first humble desire

that I am to have for us,

that we are to have for us,

is to ask God for grace.

And, you know, I'm thinking about this.

I'm in a Starbucks.

I'm looking around at the room.

In fact, I just had a conversation

with a young guy.

I'd had quite a few conversations with him.

We have a very, very unusual relationship.

He can't get at all

why anybody would want to know anything at all

about the Christian faith.

He's young.

He's good looking.

He's in really good shape.

He's financially successful.

He's a hit with the ladies.

And life is going very good.

Why does he need grace?

I mean, that's what he says.

And the fact of the matter is,

is that a lot of us in the church

are just like that young man.

That we don't really think we need grace.

I mean, we know we need grace sometimes

because sometimes we feel really guilty.

And sometimes we feel like we're really broken.

Sometimes we don't feel like we're very successful.

We feel like a failure.

And so at times like that,

to ask for grace is sort of easy for us,

at least for the moment.

But a lot of the time,

we're sort of like our culture.

And if things are going very well for us,

we don't really think we need grace.

Because grace refers to God

being kind and merciful to us.

And I realized as I'm trying to learn

how to pray this,

how easy it is for me

to actually think that

like there's just sort of me.

And I have these things

and I have these abilities

and I have these powers.

And we have these things

and we have these powers.

And we don't sort of really need

to depend upon God's mercy and kindness

because it's a little bit like

if somebody was to go out with me

after church and offer to buy me a coffee,

they say, no, no, it's fine.

I can cover this.

I don't need your grace.

I don't need your kind.

I can cover this.

And so we sit in church

and we hear language of grace,

but actually sort of in our hearts,

we don't really feel we need very much right now

unless we're very broken.

But this psalm says,

may God be gracious to us

and bless us

and make his face to shine upon us

that your way may be known on earth,

your saving power among all nations.

Let the peoples praise you, God.

Let all the peoples praise you.

The psalm is wanting me to pray for us,

wanting us to pray for us,

that we would receive grace from God,

that we would receive God's mercy and kindness.

Many of us struggle with thinking

that God owes us something.

And we get angry and mad at God

when things don't go the way we want

because we think he owes us.

And this psalm isn't talking about anything like that.

It's saying that who I am is a person.

Who is George?

Who is Church of the Messiah?

It is a community of people

that as a community and as individuals,

we always need the kindness and mercy and grace of God.

That there's no time, no instant

that I do not need kindness from God.

So the psalm says that there's these three things.

May God be gracious to us and bless us

and make his face to shine upon us

that your way may be known on earth,

your saving power among all nations.

Let the peoples praise you, O God.

Let all the peoples praise you.

And the second thing that this psalm is asking us

to pray for is that God would bless us.

And I realized as I'm trying to think about this

that first of all,

I have a very, very weak understanding of blessing.

And I know, you know, once again,

it's one of the interesting things

about working on sermons in a Starbucks

as you're just observing things going on

and people and maybe hearing snatches of conversation.

And sometimes it's a bit of a reflection

or mirror as to what's going on in my own life.

And the whole idea of blessing

has been sort of lost in our culture.

Like in churches, often now,

when we even talk about when I went to the service

and I was blessed,

I could really feel God's blessing.

It's sort of as if we have a communal time

of a certain type of emotion.

And if we have a communal time

of a certain type of emotion

or in my private life,

I have a certain type of emotion,

I feel blessed.

And the world increasingly has this sense

that if there is a God at all,

he's tiny and puny

and doesn't really matter.

But there's other big forces

that are going on in the world.

And there's things that we can accomplish

and things that just are.

And it's just we take it for granted

that Canada has prosperity.

We take it for granted

that Canada has safety.

We take it for granted.

If we have health, we take it for granted.

If we have minds at work,

we take it for granted.

If our bodies are working well,

we take it for granted.

We take it for granted.

We take it for granted.

And we don't have a sense,

increasingly,

that we are completely

and utterly dependent upon blessing.

That every good thing that comes to us

is a blessing that comes from God.

And that blessing isn't just an emotion

that we have by ourselves or with others,

but that blessing,

that everything good we have,

whether it's a moral good,

an aesthetic good,

an intellectual good,

a social good,

an economic good,

a physical good,

or a spiritual good,

that every single good thing

that comes to us

only comes from God as a blessing.

That it isn't that there's all these things

that I just accomplished

or that I just earned

or that I just own

or that I just possess,

but that everything that I have

or that we have

is a blessing

that comes from God

if it's good.

Like with no exception.

And that's not denigrating

or making small the spiritual

because it's a,

God is asking me

to understand

and to pray that,

to understand who God is.

This is one of the things

that I realized

as I was praying to God

that what this text was telling me

was to say in a sense,

who's God?

God is the blessed one

who blesses.

And who is George?

And who is Church of the Messiah?

George is one who only,

who always needs blessing

and is always dependent

upon blessing.

Who is Church of the Messiah?

Church of the Messiah

always needs blessing

and is always dependent

upon blessing.

And then we could go on further.

The George and Messiah

often don't think of themselves

as needing blessing

or recognizing blessing.

George doesn't recognize it.

George is more comfortable

with things,

just taking things for granted

that our church

just can desire

to just take things for granted.

But God doesn't say

to pray that way.

He says,

George,

I want you to pray

in such a way

that you ask for my blessing.

That you realize, George,

that you and the congregation

always are dependent

upon God's blessing.

that I want you to pray

to have more blessing.

And I want you to pray that

to recognize

that every good thing you have

is a blessing

that comes from you.

And not to take it for granted

with pride,

presumption,

and arrogance.

Or with anger

when others seem

to have different blessings

or more blessings.

It's all blessing.

May God be gracious to us

and bless us

and make his face

to shine upon us

that your way

may be known on earth,

your saving power

among all nations.

Let the peoples praise you,

O God.

Let all the peoples praise you.

May God be gracious to us

to pray that God

would pour out his kindness

and mercy and grace upon us,

that God would bless us,

to pray that God

would pour out his blessing upon us.

That's not only good things,

not only a recognition

that he is giving us good things

and so he loves us,

but also a power

for those good things

to continue to happen.

That's what blessing is.

And then this very,

very funny thing

that he says

that we're to ask

that God would make his face

to shine upon us.

And it sort of struck me

that it's so easy for me

to just think

and for us to just think

that everything just sort of happens

for natural reasons.

That somehow,

I know the rivers just flow

and the sun just shines

and rain just comes

and things just work

and everything is sort of

just sort of impersonal

and there's just me managing

these impersonal things,

but the word of God

is reminding us

it's very, very interesting

that it uses the word face

because it's so easy

just to think of forces

and energy

and things which are impersonal.

But the Bible is asking me

to long for

seeing the face of God

smile at us, upon us.

not to see

the whole world

controlled by impersonal forces

that we try

through our science

and technology

and intellectual abilities

and other types of abilities

to wrestle

and to harness

and to channel for our own good.

It's not telling us

not to try to think,

but to understand

that everything that exists

was created by God

and that God

holds all things

constantly in existence

and that behind

and underneath

and supporting

and upholding

every apparently

impersonal force

is God

who has a face

who is a person

who upholds it

and causes it

to happen

and to be.

That I do not live

in an impersonal

empty universe.

I am not

a ghost

and a machine.

that the world

is held

in the hands

of the personal God

who maintains it

who is bigger

than all things

and that I am

to come to God

understanding

that he is bigger

than all things

and he is a person

that he desires

to smile upon me

and to smile upon us.

May God be gracious

to us

and bless us

and make his face

to shine upon us.

God wants us

to pray this.

He wants you

to pray it

in your private devotions.

He wants us

to pray it together.

He wants us

to pray

may God be gracious

to us

and bless us

and make his face

to shine upon us.

But he doesn't want us

to pray these things.

He doesn't want me

to pray these things

so that people

will think well of me.

Or that,

I don't know,

or that necessarily

our church

will get bigger

or we'll have

a particular reputation

or that all

of these blessings

that we're to ask

for God

to show his grace

and mercy upon us,

to shower upon us,

that he's asking us

to shower his blessing

upon us

and he's asking us

to have an awareness

that we're living

our lives

in such a way

that he smiles upon us

that we're dealing

with shame

and sin

and other types

of things

in our lives

so that he will

smile upon us

and that all of this

is not about us.

That for the entire

rest of the song,

it's all about

God blessing us

so that we can be

a blessing

so that as a result

of the blessing

coming into us

and taking root

in us

but flowing out

of us

to not only

just people

who are like us

but people

who are even

radically different

than us

that the result

will be not

that they are

so grateful

for us

but that they

will be grateful

to God.

So listen to

the psalm again.

Listen to how

he wants us

to learn to pray.

The first three

things that were

in a sense

looks like it's

a very type of

self-centered

things for us

but then the

entire rest

of the psalm

is how this

impacts us

to flow out

of us

to affect

every single

people group

on the planet.

May God

be gracious

to us

and bless us

and make his

face to shine

upon us

that your

way

may be known

on earth.

Your saving

power

among all

nations.

Let the peoples

praise you

O God

let all the

peoples praise

you.

Let the

nations be

glad and sing

for joy.

Why?

For you

judge the

peoples with

equity

and you

guide the

nations upon

earth.

Let the

peoples praise

you O God.

Let all the

peoples praise

you.

The earth

has yielded

its increase.

God our

God shall

bless us.

God shall

bless us.

Let all

the ends

of the

earth

fear you.

may God

be gracious

to us

and bless

us and

make his

face to

shine upon

us.

Why

father do

we ask

this for

ourselves?

Why is

this that we

ask this for

our brothers

and sisters

in Christ

for this

local church

and for

me and

you as

part of

it?

We ask

this father

not so that

people will

think that

we are really

anything at

all but we

ask this

father in

such a way

that your

way your

way and

it's singular

will be known

on all the

earth and

your saving

power among

all nations.

You know

one of the

real big

challenges about

this prayer

for us is

that it's so

easy for us

in our private

prayer life just

to pray about

ourselves and

the people we

like.

And it's so

easy for us

just to pray

for people who

are sick to

get better

and we

don't in a

sense pray

for the

people groups.

It's easy for

us not to

pray for

missionaries

and people

bringing relief

and it's

easy for us

to not

maybe say

it's easy

for me to

not say in

my prayers

father in

this community

I just look

at the people

groups even

father in

this community

I look at

the gay

community

I look at

the music

community

I look at

the theater

community

I look at

the embassy

community

I look father

the poor

communities

I look

father at

the different

immigrant

communities

and peoples

I look

father upon

the different

language groups

in this

community

father I

look at the

unemployed

community

I look at

the high

achieving

high tech

community

and father

as I look

at these

communities

I ask

people groups

and the

people groups

of our

cities

and our

country

and the

ends of the

earth

it is so easy

for us to become

spiritually self-satisfied

narcissistic black holes

and actually feel it's a sign of spiritual maturity

Why? So that my way

will be known

throughout the entire time.

And every single

people,

every single people

will come to know my way.

And every single people

will come to know my Savior.

And I want you to do it

not so people will have you to think about you

or remember you or anything like that.

Why do I want

in the gay community and in the

banking community and the immigrant

communities and in

the artistic community and the high

achieving high tech community

and in the mentally ill community

and then outside of Canada that I

wanted in Kenya and I wanted

in remote parts of China

and Mongolia and Tibet and Kazakhstan.

I want

all the earth to place.

I have

people in all these communities

and my

Holy Spirit is at work

to bring them to a point

where they will know my way

and know my saving power

and praise me.

And I'm going to use

imperfect people like you.

And I want you to pray for that grace

and pray for that blessing

and pray for the shining of my face.

So that all these communities

communities really not even

forget to pray that that would happen,

but I just call you to pray.

Pray for grace and blessing.

Every people group,

the people groups you like,

the people groups you despise,

the people groups you hate,

I'm not asking you to hate them

or like them or despise them.

You definitely shouldn't hate them.

You definitely shouldn't despise them.

Pray for my grace and life

and my blessing

and the shining of my face

is so tall upon you

and present upon you

that every people group

will have people who praise me.

and not only that,

not only that,

I kept reading the first three verses,

but what I want them to know,

verse four,

the nations,

the people groups,

be glad and sing for joy.

I,

you know,

I,

I,

I,

I wanted to,

I wanted to,

I wanted to,

I wanted to,

I wanted to,

I wanted to,

I wanted to,

I wanted to,

I wanted languages

that we haven't even heard of yet

because nobody's come across them.

And I want them to sing my praises

and to be glad

and sing for joy

in their heart languages.

That's the desire of God's heart

is that from the heart language

of human beings

that they would sing

and praise God

that they would recognize

that he is the perfect judge

and that he is sovereign

over every people group.

He's not just sovereign

who wants to be sovereign

over Canada or the United States.

It's not that he wants Canadians

or Kenyans

or Chinese

or Russians

or others,

that he is to be the sovereign guide

of every people group

and listen to me

to cry in our heart.

That every people group,

let the people praise you,

oh God,

all the people praise you.

The earth is healed

and it's increased.

God,

our God,

shall bless us.

God shall bless us.

Let all the ends of the earth

appear.

Praise to you.

That every people group

would have people

who would recognize it.

Whatever bounty comes

from the earth,

whether it's the bounty

of plants,

it's the bounty

of clean,

the bounty

of clean water,

it's the bounty

of oil

or mineral resources

or the bounty

of education,

ability of factories,

that all of the

increase in the earth

comes from the hand

of the living God

who is the perfect judge

and the sovereign God

of every people group.

And the prayer

of our hearts

should be

that God

forces grace upon us

and that as he blesses us

and as we have

a hundred of his face

to shine upon us

so that God's way

is known upon the earth,

is taking power

to all people groups,

that the result of it

is not just

that people will praise him,

that they will know

that he is

the creator

and sustainer

and gift,

gift giver

of all blessing,

that he is

a perfectly just judge,

that he is

the sovereign

five nations,

but that we will know

him truly

that the theory

God is.

God shall bless us

that all beings

and fear

that every human,

that the people

and every people

group will know

God

in humility,

no arrogance,

no panic,

no presumption,

no confusion

between who God is

and who I am,

no attempt

from within me

to think that I am God

and that God is not God,

that God is dead

and he somehow

gave me the job,

to think that my desires

and his desires

and what will make me

prosper will be

what made God prosperous,

that the fear of God

is an ever-increasing

knowledge of who I am

and who God is

and that God is God

and that I am not man,

I know the boundary

between me

and the boundary

between him

and knowing the boundary

between him

and the boundary

between me,

I desire to know him

and as I know him

to bow my knee

forth

because he is God,

that's what the fear of God

is.

And that's what the song

that has been us

to pray about.

Not that we know

liturgies,

not that we know

rituals,

not that we know

praise songs,

but that we know

God

and are known

by him

and that as we know

God who is invisible,

we do not confuse

ourselves with God

but have this

ever-sharpened,

ever-deepening

understanding

of the difference

between him

and me,

that that difference

is good

and the cat-differs

should lead

both humility

and hunger,

hunger from word God

and humility

before him,

I know that I am not

God

and I am not

praise him.

One final thing

about this prayer

that has

addressed this week,

may God be gracious

to us,

bless us

and make the space

to shine upon us,

that your way

may be known

on earth

for saving power

among all nations,

but the people's

praise you,

O God,

that all the people's

praise you,

that the nations

be glad and sing

for joy,

that you judge

for the peoples

with equity

and guide the nations

upon earth,

let the people's

praise you,

O God,

that all the people's

praise you,

the earth is yielded

and it's increased,

God, our God,

shall bless us,

God shall bless us,

let all the ends

of the earth

fear him.

That's verse 2,

you're saving power,

you know what it is

in Hebrew?

Yeshua.

Keep connected to Jesus.

I'm not making this up.

It could be translated

your Jesus

among all nations.

This song is written

before Jesus.

It's a promise

that God will send

in saving power.

And the very,

very part of

Christian faith

is that God

gives power

of only

need to give

and gives

the power

of the same

and it comes

from Jesus'

death

on the cross.

It's great.

Jesus.

The Bible uses

many different

images

and metaphors

to try to help us

understand images

of ransom,

images of forgiveness

and images

of proficiation

and images

of cleanliness

and images

of reconciliation

and images

of prosperity,

images of

deliverance

from duty

and many,

many images

all the time.

But in all

centers around

this idea

that

Jesus

is the one

who comes

to God

whose death

on the cross

is a saving

power.

And I don't

add to that

saving power.

I don't create

that saving power.

All I can do

is receive

a power.

Receive something

that comes

from God

that when I receive

it is actually

a power

from God,

a power

that reconciles

me to.

See,

even as this

song was written,

even as it's

calling us,

it's not

calling us

to religion.

This song

is calling me

to religion.

This song

is calling me

just to my

own efforts.

It's not calling

me to develop

mental habits

whereby I,

by myself,

just always

remember that

everything is a

blessing and that

God is ultimately

the giver of all

the blessing and

that God is the

one who gives

you grace and

kindness.

That's what

religion is.

That's religion

and spirituality

is just where

it's all somehow

about now me.

Religion takes

songs like this

and turns it

into being all

about me

and my

accomplishment.

And this

song,

it,

you know,

use modern

language,

it deconstructs

it.

On one hand,

it's teaching me

how to pray

at the same time

that it's

pumping me

for knowledge.

That just as I

am praying

that God's

saving power

will be more

among the

nations.

If I need to

receive that

saving power,

it's never just

my accomplishments

that I need to

receive something

that only God

can do and

only God has

done,

and that

is something

that's a

saving power.

It's that the

point of God

saying,

I need to

receive it.

I need to

show blessing.

It's a

gospel.

I realize

that that's

why I need

grace all.

That's why I

need to know

that you need

grace all.

I'm going to

be show

grace.

And that's

not really

what,

and that

saving power

that grips

me,

and I realize

that's a

blessing that

comes from

God.

And if I

am completely

not dependent

upon the

blessing that

comes from

God,

it's a

saving power,

I need to

show blessing.

And that

saving power

that comes

from God

is the

means by

which I'm

reconciling

to God,

so that I

am no longer

in hostility

against God,

in anger

against God,

in rebel

against God,

but that

it's a

saving power

that reconciles

me to God

so that I

can stand

only because

of that

saving power

before the

smiling face

of God,

that I

believe

that

smiling face

was.

And as

the gospel

grips,

I

learn on

one hand

that this

is just

a prayer

that I

need to

pray,

but also

that it's

not just

about me

and my

power,

it's about

the power

of accomplishment.

So the

psalm

constantly

brings us

back to

the beginning.

May God

be gracious

to us

and bless

us,

and make

his face

to shine

upon us.

Why,

Father,

we ask

this,

we ask

this,

that your

way may be

known on

our earth.

We ask

this so

that your

saving power

might be

known among

every people

here.

We ask

this so

that all

the peoples

will praise

you,

God.

We ask

this so

that all

the peoples

will praise

you.

That's

Father,

heal our

hearts,

so that

is our

desire.

Heal our

hearts,

so that

is our

desire.

Heal our

minds,

so that

is our

desire.

That all

nations will

have a

gladness.

people in

every people

group will

have a

gladness and

joy knowing

that you

are a

perfect judge,

that you

are a

sovereign

God.

Father,

we ask

this so

that all

the world

will know,

people in

every people

group will

know that

you are

the giver

of all

the things

that are

on earth

and down

to you.

We ask

you to

bless us

so that

we in

all the

earth will

know you

as you

really are.

We only

know you

as you

really are

because

the saving

power

will only

you can

do.

That we

grow more

and more

day by

day more

than we

need to

receive.

That we

can never

hold,

that we

can never

possess,

that we

can never

create,

that we

can only

receive.

Be

said.

Lord,

please pour

out your

grace

for us

and bless

us.

May your

face

always

shine

in us.

Please do

this in

us so

that your

way will be

known on

earth and

your saving

power will be

known among

every people

group on

the planet.

Lord,

as your

grace and

blessing falls

upon us,

heal our

desires.

Create in

us a strong

desire that

people from

every people

group on

the planet

will praise

you.

Lord,

as your

grace and

blessing falls

upon us,

heal our

desires so

that we

will join

the people

from every

people group

in singing

with joy

that you

are the

perfectly

just

judge and

the sovereign

God for

any and

every people

group that

calls upon

us.

Lord,

as your

grace and

blessing falls

upon us,

heal our

desires and

heal our

minds.

We praise

you for all

the ways you

have blessed

us and will

bless us.

We praise

you that you

are the

blessed one

who blesses.

We desire

to join

with people

from every

people group

in knowing

you truly

with no

hint of pride

or presumption

or arrogance.

We thank

you that your

son Jesus by

this depth

upon the

cross for

us is that

promised saving

power comes

from your

home.

And we

receive as

saviors and

Lord and in

his name we

pray.

Amen.

It's time to

take a

posture of

prayer.

for now.

You

may have

some

fruition,

too.

In

our

fulfillment,

again we

won't

come up

in

but he

every

we

will

and

see you