Psalms: Songs of Ascent

Okay. We would normally sing again at this point However, we're going to to sing a number of songs together at the end in response to the sermon because the sermon, Roy will preach it. I'm not going to step on his toes. But we will hopefully be called to praise so we want to finish the service by praising the Lord with a number of songs back to back.

So we're going to go straight to our bible reading now. So if you'd like to grab a Bible, And first of all, open it up to Psalm 134. Psalm 134. From verse 1. Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who minister by night in the House of the Lord, lift up your hands in the sanctuary.

And praise the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion, he who is the maker of heaven and earth. Nice shorts arm. We're going to also read now from 1 Peter, Chapter 2. So if you keep keep a finger or a bit of paper in Psalms because we'll be there for the sermon.

It goes to 1 peter 2. Versus 1 to 10. Therefore rid yourselves of all malice, and all deceit. Hipp envy and slander of every kind, like newborn babies crave pure spiritual milk. So that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

As you come to him, the living stone rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him. You also like living stones are being built into a spiritual house. To be a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in scripture, it says, see, I lay a stone in Zion on a chosen and precious cornerstone. And the 1 who trusts in him will never be put to shame.

Now to you who believe this stone is precious, but to those who do not believe, The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. They stumble because they disobey the message, which is also what they were destined for. But you are a chosen people. A royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession. That you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Rory. Well, good evening from me. My name's Rory Kanair for those who don't know me. I'm 1 of the members of staff here.

I'm also the elder over the youth work. So I oversee both rooted and soul. Our youth groups. And just looking at that Zambia video, I've got some ideas now. We did a progressive supper.

On Friday with the soul lot. That's where we went around to different people's houses for a course of a meal. But we walked. And I think to travel around like that is much better. And, you know, who cares about health and safety?

We can do it in your van. But open doors, I want I want Yeah. Yeah. We Yeah. Great.

We're gonna do it with Pete's Van. So watch your space. This is our last song of ascent. This is the last and the final 1. In the series.

It's the concluding 1 of the 15 that we've been looking at. And hopefully, that excites you. But me, fill you with a little bit of sadness as well. But let's pray as we begin, and then we'll see what it has to say to us. Father, We do thank you for the great things that we have seen in these wonderful Psalms, these wonderful a songs of a sense.

And we pray father that as we reflect on all that has gone, and as we think about this psalm today, that you will help us. It will be so easy for us to focus on anything else going on in our in our lives, in our world, whether it's on the news or it's in our heart, it's in our circumstances. And so we pray now father that you will help us to stop thinking of those things. And fix our eyes on the 1 who is worthy of all of our attention. We pray father that we will see why you are truly praiseworthy.

We pray father that as a result, we will be truly blessed, and we pray these things in Jesus' name, our men. Now, I don't know how you feel when you get to the end of a journey, or a journey, whatever that may look like. The ideal would be to have a feel of joy and satisfaction, whatever that that journey is, whether it's flying over to Japan. I know some of you have just gone there. You want to be satisfied with the result.

However, It so can often be the case that the quite quite the opposite happens. Right? The the journey actually leads to dissatisfaction and the feeling of being cheated out of something. You may have you may have seen this in the sporting events, I always I'm always quite struck by when you watch the Olympics. Every 4 years, it comes around.

And They've they've worked so hard to gain this kind of this gold medal. But the amount of people that come out of that and say, I was left dissatisfied, 1 of the most 1 of the most stark examples of this in terms of Olympians is the American swimmer, Michael Phelps, He's the most decorated Olympian, I think, ever. He's got gold medals coming out of his ears. You can hang him off his ears anyway, amongst other places. Yet, he is totally and utterly depressed.

He is left dissatisfied and then has to keep working. Or or you might be quite like the cricket at the moment. England to play in Australia in the ashes. But A few years back, there was 1 of the England teams that their goal was to become number 1 in the world, to become the best team in the world. And the captain of that team, a man called Andrew Strouse, they He reflects that once they've got to number 1 in the world, because they did it, and they beat in Australia in Australia, which was 1 of the greatest things that could ever happen to Australia, really humbled them.

Sorry, if you're an artist here. But after they'd got to number 1, there was feelings of dissatisfaction for him. It happens all over the place Richard Nixon, the President of the United States of America, when he won the election in 19 72. 1 of his aides, a bloke called Colson, said that there was a feeling of deadness once they'd won this election. The journey hadn't actually led to anything.

And you could go on. There's TV series, people get really into the TV series. Everyone loved that show Game of Thrones, and they were bitterly disappointed by the end. I didn't watch it. There's a thing called Paris Syndrome.

Has anyone heard of Paris Syndrome? There's a real thing. People get really hyped about going to Paris. They make their journey to Paris, and they get there, and they're utterly depressed by it. It's actually a syndrome.

And so, the journey has ended in deadness. And so we can come to this this Psalm today and ask the question is the journey for our pilgrim, for our pilgrims, for our travelers, is gonna end in deadness, and dissatisfaction. Or is it gonna be a little bit more for the upturn for our pilgrim? It's interesting we started back in chapter a hundred and 20. And you may remember that he he he begins that the psalmist begins in a in a state of sorrow and worry about the world that he sees in him, he's foot he's surrounded by lies.

And it turned it it it turns him to repent. It's a psalm about repentance turning away from this world and turning to god in Zion and and journeying to to zion. And that's the journey that we've been going through. We've been plotting along through dangers, through toils, through snares, through elements that are adverse to the psalmist, but he's known all throughout this journey, the marvelous shelter of the lords. And so as he's gone up and gone up, he's finally got to Jerusalem.

That's the goal. Is it gonna be Paris syndrome? For our Samus or is it gonna be Jerusalem syndrome. And so they get to Jerusalem, and and for those who don't know, These are the songs that will be sung as people journeyed up to Jerusalem to enjoy the 3 main festivals of the Jewish calendar. And so, there he is, in Jerusalem, enjoying a week long of celebrations, enjoying the Passover.

And as he's there, he's with a whole throng of people. There's there's thousands upon thousands of people there. In Jerusalem, reflecting on the goodness of God, as they stay there for Passover. And they say, wow. Look how God was good to the people.

How guards rescues his people out of slavery? And so he comes to this final song. And is it a song of regret? Is it a song of dissatisfaction? As he's about to depart, as he's about to go back home, back to to his normal life, how is he feeling?

What does he want? How will he leave? Well, if you look down at the psalm, it is not Paris syndrome for this man. It is a song of blessing. 3 times the word bless is used.

Now you're thinking, no, no, isn't Rory? Is only use it once. That's because the NIV has decided to translate this word as praise, but the word actually is bless. It's bless. The Lord.

Bless the Lord. May the Lord bless. And so how do we start in a hundred and 20? We started with repentance, turning and journeying up to Jerusalem, but we finish in blessing. And it's right.

It's right that He will be blessing because he would have reflected on on a good god who has fulfilled his promises to his people. He was reflected in a god who has poured out his life for his people. He would reflect on a god who was shared his goodness of the Holy Spirit with his people. He would reflect on the goodness of a God who has given a vibrant full of life creation to his people. He would reflect on the joys of redemption as he thinks of the Passover.

And so this is a Psalm of blessing, not of dissatisfaction. And so, There's 2 sections here, I think. There's 2 voices in this song. The first voice, I think, in verse 1 to 2, is the pilgrim's voice. That's where the pilgrim is talking to servants or ministers.

The second voice In verse 3, is the response from those servants back to the pilgrim. So firstly, I want you to see the the voice from the pilgrim to the servants. And my first point is bless the Lord. It's really nice to this song because it's so simple. Even I could get it.

Yeah? Bless the Lord. It's interesting actually, this this psalm doesn't start with the word praise. It starts with the word behold. Behold or come or now.

In other words, listen up Matthew Henry, an old theologian, an old commentator says, it's a note of commanding attention. So it's look about you, sirs, when you're in God's presence, and conduct yourself accordingly. I love that. I'm I'm a teacher. And if you've ever done any public teaching or public speaking or you work with young people, you need to call people to attention.

I'm gonna start using this in my history lessons. Look about you, sir? You are, when you're in Rory's presence, and conduct yourselves accordingly. But in other words, listen up. This this pilgrim has an exultation.

He wants the the the people in the temple to listen to him. And what is it that he wants them to hear? What is his exaltation? What is it that he's calling these people to do. Praise the Lord or bless the Lord.

Bless the Lord. In other words, and and the word bless is kind of on bended knee, The posture is bended knee in humility, in knowing who God is, and all that he has done, that he has a great, glorious God. Bend your knee and bless him. Bless him. And of course, this should be the case.

The pilgrim and and all the Jewish people have experienced so much. We just talked about it before. He's been so good to the people of God. And he's been so good to the pilgrim as he's journeyed up to Jerusalem, and he's been so good in in lifting up his spirits and his heart as he's praised God. With this huge gathering of God's people.

He's been so good. And so now, he's saying, we've got to bless this God. We've got to praise him. His biggest desire more than anything in the world is that the people of God should praise God. And so who is it that he is asking to praise the Lord?

Well, keep with me in verse 1. It says, all you servants of the lord, who minister by night in the house of the lord. So we have these servants or these ministers is interesting actually. We have a new posture here. We had bended knee.

But now, the word actually who Minister by night is actually those who stand. Those who stand in the Lord's house. So when the they're meant to stand in God's house. And when are they to do it? Well, it's not just in the day.

But it's actually at nighttime as well. So it's it's actually The worship of God is not a 9 to 5 job. This is all the time, night and day. And actually, they reckon this is this is written. To the the levitical ministers in at 1 chronicles 9.

They have I mean, if you can see it in 1 chronicles 9, if you want to see it, verse 33, there's these levites who have instruments, and it is their job. Well, 1, they'd just stand guard over the temple, but they're also to get their instruments out and to praise God's night and day, all the time. That's what he wants. As they stand, he wants them to play their instruments and sing the praises of God. Now how does he want them to do it?

Well, look with me at verse 2. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the lord. So how is he How are they meant to do this? How are they meant to praise? They're meant to lift their hands up.

Now this, for some of us in Britain, is quite scary. I mean, even to give it 1 of them. Oh. Feel a bit self conscious. We're not great at this in Britain.

That's fine enough. But he wants them to lift up their hands. Now lifting up your hands in the old testament is always a sign of 2 things, prayer and praise. Pare, and praise. You might remember in our 1 Timothy series, Paul wants the men everywhere to do what, to lift up holy hands in prayer.

Now why do they have to lift their hands up? What is the point of this? I could do the rest of the same like this if you want. It might be a bit distracting. Why do they have to do this?

Well, because this is just a symbol, an outward sign of a devoted heart. This is a sign of lifting my heart up to praise God. That's all this is a sign off. And so they're meant to be those who have sincere hearts that what want to praise god, they want to lift their hearts up, and and and feel and experience and praise the living guards of his people. And where are they to do it?

Was in the house of the Lord or the sanctuary. The sanctuary being the holy place. This is the place where God dwells And actually, these these priests and these ministers would have been washed so that they would be holy to serve God as they praised him. That's what they were washed for. This is what they're to do.

They're made holy. They're made holy. To sing, to praise, to reflect God, to to take God's blessings, and and and to put them back on him and say, thank you father for this. Thank god for this. So his desire is that the servants of God in the House of God prays bless God.

Now, what does this mean for us? Well, it means so much for us. And hope hopefully, you're gonna start seeing this. Because for the Christian, and if you are a Christian, I mean, these these people, in Old Testament, Tymes are blessed by God. I hope you would agree.

But we are so much more blessed. Than he, them. We are immeasurably blessed by god. We have a God who has condescended to this world, has come down to this world to give us every spiritual blessing in Ephesians 1 verse 3 says. The 1 that comes man, the 1 who walks all the way and serves and serves and serves.

The 1 who gets down on his on his knees and washes his people's feet, the 1 who goes to a cross to die for those he loves. And so he has blessed us so much more, and he gives us everything. He gives us the Holy Spirit, and by his work on the cross. He says to those who trust in him, I give you my most precious thing. I give you my most precious person, the Holy Spirit.

But what else does it mean for us? Well, hopefully you in this 1 Peter passage, 2 verse 9, but you are a chosen people a royal priesthood. Yeah? A holy nation God's special possession that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Now, you might not Stay with me here.

If you've gone, why is he talking about 1 peter 2 verse 9? What is it that God has made us here in this verse? He's made us a royal priesthood. Who are we getting the song in Psalms written for? The servants, the people who are part of this sort of priesthood this priesthoods.

But now, not just the levites are the royal priests, We're all royal priests now. And so if we're all royal priests, that means that we're all servants of the living God. And so what is it that we're to do? Well, it's very helpful here in 1 peter 2 verse 9, because it tells us what we have to do. We have been made a special possession so that what, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into 1 of his wonderful light.

That's our job. We're to sing the praises of our Almighty saving God. Sing his praises, night and day. Maybe before you go to bed, sing a little song. That reminds you of great things that the Lord Jesus has done for you, but it's not just about singing.

This is a whole life thing. That is what worship is. Just like these blokes here, their work is not a 9 to 5 job. It's an every minute of the day job. You might have a job, hopefully you all do.

Or have. But my first job is not that I'm a teacher. Your first job is not that your medical staff. Your first job is not that you work in London. Your first job is not that you look after pets earlier.

Your first job, first and foremost, is that you are a servant of the living God, and you owe him your praise by your your song and by your life. And all circumstances, you praise him. In all postures, kneeling, standing, arms lifted up, you're here to reflect God and his blessing. And so we sing praises to him. And we live our lives for him.

And that's why Jesus gives us his blessings and his holy spirit. It was great. We were we were reviewing, we're sort of going through Pilgrim's progress by John Bonion. We got to this this part. If you have sorry, spoilers, if you've never read it, but it's great.

And he goes to a bloke's house called interpreter, and interpreter shows him a picture. And the picture is this blazing fire with with the devil trying to throw water on it to extinguish this man's this man's desire and and want to live for Jesus in worship. And and the Christian's like, What's going on here? Why is the fire not going out? And so interpreter takes them around the wall.

And in that wall, there is this man just feeding oil into the back of the fire, and it burns higher, and it burns hotter. And he says, this is Jesus. He gives us blessings and grace. He gives us his holy spirit. And he does that so that we may continue to live for him.

And in this face of the the great enemy, the devil himself, as he tries to extinguish us for our desire to praise God. There's Jesus pouring his Holy Spirit into us so we burn high and we burn hotter. So praise him, worship him, live your lives for him. Now you might be sitting there or here. Sorry.

I'm thinking, what if I don't feel like it? What if I don't feel like blessing God? What if I feel numb? What if I feel empty? What if I don't want to do this, well, the answer is in verse 2, lift up your hands.

You don't have to do it properly, but it might help you. So if it does do it, lift up your hands. Lift up your hands. Calvin says this, for why do men lift their hands when they pray? Is it not that their hearts may be raised at the same time of gods.

There you are. You don't feel. You don't feel like blessing gods. You feel distant. You feel empty.

Yet lift your hands up so that your heart will catch up with it. That's what we're to do. Everyone thinks I don't know why they think this, but if you don't feel something, you should just give up. You don't feel like it, don't bother doing it. You don't feel like serving today.

Don't bother doing it. Don't feel like committing to your marriage. But my marriage, I promised to act, to love. So stick by, Jerusalem. It's been great.

We're we're we're doing the fruit of the spirit in rooted. And it's so good because it's like we you look at joy and love, and the and the question always can come up. Well, what about when you don't feel joy, about when you don't feel loved? Do you know what the answer is? You love.

You put it on. You express it. And as you express it, looking at the great 1 who loved you and forgive you, and and And patience with you, you look at him, the great 1, and you say, I'm gonna do it. And as you do it, you'll feel it. See, these these priests, they'll there would be a danger at night, wouldn't there?

You ever try staying up all night, you feel tired, you feel slovenly, you feel like you don't wanna do it. I don't feel like my heart is really wanting to worship God. Okay. What should we do, Lads? Lift up your hands, and let's get our heart to catch up.

It's great. The Westminster Catechism says, what is the chief end of man? What is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. That's what we're here to do.

And there is no 1 better to worship than the the living god of the universe. We might give our worship to other things. We might give our worship to a career. We might give our worship to the the the the good time or the possessions, but it will never give us satisfaction because our chief end, our chief goal, our chief purpose is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. And so Romans 12, 1 to 2 says, I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God's mercy.

Remember, we've experience the mercy of God to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice. Holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. That's your worship. Live to the glory of God.

And this pilgrim says, lads. Keep praising God. And we have to say to each other, brothers, sisters. Bless the Lord. Brother sisters praise him who is worth it.

Brother sisters give him honor. Because he is worthy. The chief end of man is to glorify God's and enjoy him forever. That's what we want for each other. Let's tell each other to bless the Lord.

That's the first voice, and there is a second voice here because there is a response. So the pilgrim has said to the the ministers, bless the lords, But they respond. Remember, their position now is they're lifting their hands and hands are not just a sign of praise, but for prayer. And with that in mind, they pray for the pilgrim. So here's the second point.

May the Lord bless you. May the Lord bless you. See, this is a prayer of a of a Benedict. This is a prayer of blessing now. But it's not just like, I hope the Lord blesses you.

It's more of like an expect and pray. It's more of a pronouncement that God will command his blessing upon you. He will bless you. He always has bless you, he will continue to bless you. And where is it he's blessing from?

Well, look down in verse 3, may the Lord bless you from Zion. It's interesting that he's from Zion. Where has his pilgrim got to. He's got to Zion, he's got to Jerusalem. He's got to the the temple.

And now, he's got to go back to his world. He's got to go back to the world. We saw in some hundred and 20 of lies of hardships, of suffering, of people opposing him for his belief in a living god. He's got to go back to a world with his own failures and his own times that he gets it wrong, he's got to go back to this world where the daily grind is hard. And so the Psalmist or the priests pray, may the Lord bless you from Zion.

In another way, as you journey down, it's a lovely picture. As you journey down this mountain, as you go down, may the Lord's blessings flow down that river and catch you up like a flood and it engulfs you. May you know the blessing, all the days of your life. It's interesting. I don't know if you recognized that 3 times There is blessing.

And there is another place in the bible where there is a threefold blessing. In the book of numbers, in chapter 6 verse 22 to 26, Aaron was to bless the people with this this prayer. Say to them, the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace.

That's the blessing. As you go down, he's gonna keep you. As you go down, his face will always be on you, looking over you, smiling at you for You are his person. And may he give you peace? If you if you remember at the end of chapter 120, the psalmist there was for peace.

And it's only in the lord who can deliver that peace. And then we get Christ who comes. After he dies on the cross, he rises again and he pronounces peace be with you. Peace be with you. Peace be with you.

But it's not just from Zion here, is it? He's not just from Zion. He is the maker of heaven and earth. In other words, pilgrim. Wherever you are as you go, Wherever you are in this world, you won't be overtaken.

Wherever you find yourself whatever circumstance you are in, you will not be overtaken. There is no place in the world where you will not be blessed. For God is the maker of heaven and earth. He made it all. He's everywhere.

And so he will continue to bless us to the end. And so here we go. The psalmist goes with this ringing in in his ear. I've I I wanna be 1 who is blessing the lord, and I am 1 who is blessed. This is true happiness.

There is no other place to get happy. No relationship. No job. No possession. No good time.

No sport. I can make you happy. The only place is the Lord. And so this really should be our prayer for each other. It's interesting.

If you look at the end of the epistles, the letters to the churches, they all end like this. I I don't know. I mean, you can flick through them if you want. It's it's quite a lovely thing to do. You go to, for instance, to the end of Roman's, and it says, to the only wise, God be glory forever through Jesus Christ.

So there's blessing God, you then go to to 1 Corinthians, and you're gonna see a pattern here in a minute. But verse 23 of chapter 16, the grace of the Lord be with you, In 2 Corinthians, he says, the grace of our lord, Jesus Christ, be with your spirit brothers and sisters, amen. At the end of Ephesians, he says, grace to all who love our lord Jesus Christ with an buying love. In Philipp, he says, the grace of the lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit are men. In the end of colossians, he says, grace be with you.

At the end of 1 thessalonians, the grace of our lord Christ be with you. I could go on and on and on to the end of the bible. That should be our prayer for 1 another. Grace be with you. That's what we need to hear.

It's interesting. I was listening to Stinkler Ferguson preach on this on this ceremony, he said, if you're struggling, what to say to a preacher, you might you might be struggling after this number. If you're struggling, what to say to a preacher to encourage him, just go with me, the Lord bless you from Zion. And he all that ish. If he doesn't smile, he doesn't know.

Please don't everybody say it. There's gotta be some encouragement here. This is why Benaddictions are good. It's interesting we used I mean, there was a a a used to be a tradition to say the grace to 1 another. To leave the gathered people of God is is a strange thing, really.

I don't know if you've know that. That when you leave this door, you've left the gathered people of God. We're meant to be together, do you know? You're not meant to be on your own with your pets. You're meant to be with God's people.

You're meant to be with his people, and so to leave here should be strange. And to leave here, you go into a world that is opposed to the living gods. And so what do we need to hear? May the Lord bless you from Zion, the maker of heaven and earth. And you keep going back once you leave, bless each other.

Don't just say, have a good day. My dad said that's the most pagan a pagan nonsense ever. I thought that's a bit strong. He might not have a good week, but you can know the Lord's blessing this week. May the lord bless you brothers and sisters, and keep going, may the lord bless you as as we leave, encourage you to say, may the lord bless you.

Bless the Lord until that great day of blessing. And that great day of blessing is gonna be wonderful, because we won't have to leave each other anymore. And you think, if that sounds terrible. Well, we'll be redeemed and perfect. 1 of the great passages in Revelation chapter 7 verse 9 to 17 says this.

After this, I looked And there before me was a great multitude that no 1 could count. Wow. From every nation, tribe, people, and language standing before the throne and before the lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands, and they crowd out in a loud voice. They're gonna bless the Lord here.

What we're gonna do in the new creation. Salvation belongs to our God. I'm lifting my hands, brothers, and sisters. I can't help it. Lift my heart up father.

Who sits on the throne, and to the lamb, all the angels were standing around the throne, and around the elders, and the 4 living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne, and worship God saying, amen, Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor, and power and strength. Be to our God forever and ever. This is a great song, isn't it? Our men.

Then 1 of the elders asked me, these and white robes, who are they? And where did they come from? I answered, sir, you know. And he said, these are those who have come out of the great tribulation They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God.

And serve him day and night in his temple. That's where we are meant to be. Brothers and sisters together, forever, Worshiping serving him day and night, and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. Never again, Will they hunger? Never again, will they thirst?

The sun will not beat down on them nor any scorching key. For the lamb, and the sensor of the throne will be their shepherd. He will lead them to the springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. I should just read that from the start. That's the great day of blessing that we get to look forward to brothers and sisters.

So bless the Lord. Bless the Lord. And may the Lord bless you. I wonder, do you know that today? Do you know the blessing of the great god of the universe?

Do you know the blessing of being part of his blood bought family? Do you know the blessing to be able to serve something bigger than you? That's what's worth blessing here. All the other things that you try and bless in this world, not worth it. But you bless God.

He is worth it. So turn to him. Turn to this great lamb. Then be the 1 who will bring you to a world of blessing eternal. And then maybe you're here and you haven't felt it.

And you felt numb, lift up your hands, lift up your arms, lift up your hearts, and praise. And as you bless, let us cherish 1 another. Let us cherish us, the blood bought family of God, and exhort 1 another. To bless him and pray that he will bless you. We have a great savior in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We wanna live for him. And as we live for him, let's look at him. See his arms lifted up. See him there with his arms lifted, pronouncing this blessing on us. The Lord bless you.

And keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace. Spend a few moments now, maybe reflecting, and then Ben will bring us to a close. Lifting up hands is an outward sign of a devoted heart.

I wonder whether as you were listening to God's words preached then. You were confronted with the fact that you don't really have that much of a devoted heart. Perhaps we need to confess. Our apathy a little bit to the lord. Perhaps we need to ask the lord to lift our hands up that our hearts would be lifted up.

Why don't we pray and ask the Lord's help for that? Father, we praise you for this amazing reminder that when we arrive, in your courts and in your temple. We are not disappointed, never disappointed, but fully satisfied We open up. Our hearts are full and overflowing with praise. And father we really long for that day when we cry out with our hands lifted high forever and ever and we praise you and we bless you.

And we call on 1 another to continually day and night bless you. Lord, we long for that day. Lord, we are in the great tribulation. We know 1 day we will come out of it. And we will have washed our robes in the blood of Christ.

But right now, Lord, in the battle, in the difficulties in the darkness, in the sickness and in the death of this world, lift up our hearts, please. Thank you for your spirit. He was not stuck in zion but is poured out into the each of our hearts if we believe. Father we confess I'll send to you. We're sorry lord that so often we want to praise ourselves.

How pathetic is that? Lord give us hearts please that want you to be praised. Give us hearts that wanna praise you. And as we turn to sing now, lift our hearts lord. Help us to lift 1 another's hearts.

And would we leave this place with that great blessing on each other's lips? And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen.