Well, good morning, guys. Haven't met you before. My name is Michael, and I think I just have a new favorite sound at Veritas. It used to be just you guys singing out loud, but to hear you all praying together was really sweet. So that's. We. We want to have more time, so we're doing that together. So Matt mentioned to you that we're starting a new series today called Sweeter than Honey. This is kind of where it's coming from. Psalm 119, 103 says this. How sweet are your words to my taste? Sweeter than honey to my mouth. Our hope is at the end of this series, after you hear from seven different preachers over the next seven weeks, that you would go, man, God's word is sweeter than honey. We would have more and more of a hunger for God's word in our lives. I love that you guys are already passionate about God's Word and shaped by God's Word and so much your lives. And our hope is that that would continue to grow through this series. So what we were tasked to do as preachers was take one or two verses that have impacted your life and just preach on those one or two verses. But, like, I don't know if Matt said it, Ian said it at the first service. The. You may think, oh, it's just one or two verses. It won't go long. But I went long in the first service. All right, so it is a verse that's. These are verse 2 verses this morning that have been really transformative in my life, and I want you to see them as well. So turn with me to Psalm chapter 67. Psalm chapter 67. As you're turning there, we have all heard stories of people who, like, won the lottery and then in no time have ruined their lives. Anybody heard those stories before? Right? They. They won so much money, and then before long, it was all gone. Or you've heard about the kid who had this dream to be a professional athlete. He finally gets drafted in some sport. As he gets drafted, he signs this multimillion dollar contract, and then within a couple years, all that money is gone. We've heard these stories over and over of people getting blessed with money and power and influence only to be ruined by it. And my concern is that for many people who call themselves Christians, they have the same experience. Oh, God's blessed me. God's blessed me. God's blessed me. But what have we done with those blessings? We fumbled them, we've mismanaged them, and maybe you even felt like it's ruined you. Some of you go, yeah, it ruined me in a great way. Jesus wrecked my life and it was a wonderful thing. But for the others of you, you go, man, I've gotten these blessings. I got a raise, but I don't know what to do with it. I got a promotion. I don't know what to do with it. I have this home and I don't know what to do with it. And we start to think about these blessings, like, what are we supposed to do with them? Like, as people in general, even if you're not a Christian, like, we're just blessed in general as Americans, right? But like, God is specifically and incredibly poured out his blessings upon Christians. In fact, in Ephesians, chapter one, Paul would say it this way. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. That sounds like a blessed life, right? For you to get every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places is an amazing, amazing promise. So as people who have basically hit the spiritual jackpot, where you are known by God, you've been chosen by God, you were loved by God, and now you have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places because God and God alone has been so kind to you, how do you become a person who can actually handle those blessings? How do you become a person who doesn't just fumble those blessings, mismanage those blessings this morning? How do you become a person who can handle God's blessings? So Psalm 67:1, if you'll notice, right at the beginning, before verse one, it gives you a little introduction to this psalm. It says to the choirmaster with stringed instruments, a psalm, a song. Alright, so who is the choir master? We don't know. I don't think it's important to this psalm because this psalm ends up talking about letting all the peoples praise God. I don't think it's about the choir master at all. I think it's about the Lord. So it doesn't matter who this was written to, other than this was turned into a song. It was a prayer that people prayed, but somebody turned it into a song. And this is what we have. Verse 1. May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us. What a verse. May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us. What a song to sing. What a prayer to pray. Now, this was not a new prayer for the people of God. The Israelites have been praying a prayer similar to this for many, many years. In fact, in Numbers chapter six, we have a very similar thing that Aaron and the priests. So Moses told Aaron and the priests, hey, I want you to pray this over the people of God, over the Israelites. And then I want them to pray it over and over. And this is what it said in Numbers, chapter 6. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. A prayer of blessing to the people of God that the people of God have been praying for thousands of years. God, would you please, please be gracious to us. Would you please bless us? Would you please make your face to shine upon us? Now this is language that we have used in our home to teach our young children to pray when they don't know how to pray. And we're trying to like, okay, just like have some things that you say over and over to kind of get in the habit. And we will teach them even before mealtimes. I'm talking like two, three year olds. They don't know what they're saying yet. We're still going to teach them the ways of the Lord, right? But they'll say like, God is good, God is great, God is good, let's thank for our food. And then it's like, may the Lord bless you, keep you, may shine upon you grace. Amen, right? Because they just want to get through it because mom and dad's making them say it, right? But they say this like, may God be gracious to you, May he bless you, may he make his face shine upon you, give you peace. Amen. Like we teach our kids, because this is not new. Like the people of God have been praying this prayer for so long. And what is the prayer? There's three requests here. Number one is for God to be gracious to us. God to be gracious to us. For God to be merciful to us. For God to gift us with something that we don't deserve, but we absolutely need. God, would you please show us grace and mercy and favor. We need it, but we sure don't deserve it. Because when we are born into this world, we are born sinful people, needy people, weak people. Unlike our God, who wasn't created, he creates. He wasn't born weak. He had no needs. But when we were created, that's exactly how we were created. We had all the needs. We were weak. We needed his grace. So God, would you please be gracious and show your mercy and favor to us even when we don't deserve it. You should be praying that prayer in your life over and over and over. God, continue to show your grace to us. So be gracious to us. Number one, the second request is for God to bless us. Now, what's the request here? Because generally speaking, God, like, blesses all of humanity. We would call that common grace. Right? He pours out rain on the just and the unjust. Like, he's not just going to send rain to the lawn of believers, right? It's going everywhere. He's not just going to. He's going to do that so often. He's going to give good to all. So in general sense, God blesses everyone. So at the most basic level, this is what a blessing is. Benefit that a person gets from God. A blessing is a benefit that a person gets from God. Now, probably 10 years ago or so on social media, there was a hashtag that came out. I don't even know. I'm not on social media anymore. So I have no idea if they even use those anymore. But back in the day, they did. Back in the day, that sounds. It's like 2015. Yeah, they did that. Right? But hashtag blessed. Right? And it's all about like, okay, what happened? Like, oh, baby slept overnight. Blessed. Right. They accepted the offer on the home. Blessed. Just won the game. Blessed. Gas prices dropped. Blessed. Found a dozen eggs for under $5. Blessed. Right. Because when we think about blessings and this benefit from God to us, we often think in, like, physical terms or financial terms. And I don't want to minimize that. Like, those are absolutely blessings from God. But I think when the Bible talks about blessings, it talks about blessings in far more ways than just financially and physically. Because what happens when you don't get those financial blessings? What happens if you don't have the physical health blessings? Are you not blessed? And what would cause somebody who gets a cancer diagnosis to say, man, this has been such a blessing. Like, it makes you kind of turn your head. Like, what, what did you just say? It's a blessing for you to be. To have some kind of like, terminal illness. Yeah, it's absolutely a blessing. Like, what would cause somebody to say that? I think because they have a more comprehensive view of what it means to be blessed by God. Let me give you a little rundown in Scripture of what a blessing is. In Matthew, chapter five, Jesus said it this way in his most famous Sermon on the Mount. And he opened his mouth and taught them saying, blessed are the poor in spirit. Wait, hold on. Blessed because we think of blessings as, like, financial wealth. Like he's saying, blessed are the poor in spirit, those that are spiritually bankrupt, that say, I've got nothing before you, O holy God, I've got nothing. I have nothing to offer you. He's going, those people are the ones that are blessed, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God bless. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Now hang on for these last three. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Now, is that what we often think of when we think of blessed, I'm spiritually bankrupt, I'm mourning over my sin. I'm meek, I'm not showy, I'm humble, I'm gentle, I'm hungering, I'm thirsty, I'm being persecuted, I'm being reviled, I'm being falsely ridiculed. Nobody really says blessed at that point, do they? Persecuted today, Blessed. But that's exactly what Jesus is saying, right? Exactly what he's saying. And then Psalm 94:12 says this. Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord, and whom you teach out of your law, who's blessed, the one that the Lord is disciplining. Now, why would that person be blessed? Because it's the Lord's kindness to us that leads us to repentance. So the Lord's being kind enough to discipline you, to lead you to repentance and draw you back to himself. Who does he discipline? The ones he loves. This is just evidence that you are loved by God. That's a blessing. And then last one, James 1, chapter 12 says this. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial. Not blessed is the man who escapes trial, who escapes pain, who escapes suffering. But blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him. Why are all these people blessed? Because it doesn't seem like from the world's eyes, that's a blessing. It's a blessing because their reward is great in heaven and it's so great, it's greater than anything this world could offer. It's greater than that. So what is a biblical blessing? It's unmerited favor from God that leads to closeness with God. Unmerited favor from God that leads to closeness with God. So if you have prosperity and great health and great wealth, and it leads you to be closer to God, praise God for that blessing. If you're disciplined by the Lord, praise God that he wanted to be close to you and he would lovingly and kindly discipline you. If the trial that you are walking through in your life has dropped you to your knees and drawn you to your Savior, what an absolute blessing that you would be drawn to closeness and intimacy with the Father. What a blessing. Charles Spurgeon once said, anything is a blessing that makes us pray. Anything is a blessing that makes us pray. Why? Because we're communing with God Almighty. What else could we want in this life? There is nothing better. So God, be gracious to us and bless us so that it draws us closer to you. But then there's one more request. In Psalm 67:1, he says, May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us. Now, in the Psalms, when it talks about God's face shining upon people, it's often paired with this, like, anticipated salvation or redemption. Like, for God's face to shine upon you means, oh, there's salvation coming. Like, I'm approving of you. I'm affirming you because you're my child and I love you and I want to save you. It makes me think, this summer we've been to two different weddings. And I love when the wedding is just starting. The groom's on stage and the doors of the back doors of the auditorium open up, and here comes the bride, Right? And the groom looks back there, and you want to look at the bride, but you really want to look at the groom, too. And you're back and forth, and then you see the groom's face just lit up. There she is. Oh, face is shining. Why, she's mine. Like, yes. Like, I absolutely approve of her and I want to be with her for the rest of my life. Face shining upon a bride. Now, how awkward would it be if the doors fling open and the groom turns his face away? Ugh. Like, I don't ever want to be at a wedding like that. Hopefully you've never been at a wedding like that. Right? That's gross. That's weird. Like, it would be really awkward. I don't know if I approve of this. Like, I don't. Faith's not really shining, right? How incredible. How much more incredible is. Is it for a holy God to be able to turn his face and shine upon you, a sinner, that his face would shine upon you, man, that's good news. God, please be gracious to us. We don't deserve it, but we need you. Please bless us, draw us closer to you, and please turn your face to us. Somebody once said the highest possible imaginable blessing is that God would turn his face toward us so that we might be reconciled to Him. That a majestic holy God would look upon sinners like us as incredible. That's grace. That's a blessing. In fact, Psalm 32 says it this Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and whose spirit there is no deceit. Blessed is the one who's forgiven. Blessed is the one whose sins are covered. But guys, the blessing is not forgiveness. The blessing isn't covering. What is the blessing? The blessing is that you get God because your sins are forgiven and covered. Do you understand this? The blessing is closeness with God and because what happened in the garden sin and there was a curse. And the curse was that we were separated from God. And so what is the blessing? That. That we would get back and be reconciled into relationship with God. And the only way that happens is for our sins to be forgiven. And the only way for our sins to be forgiven is for a perfect sacrifice to die on a cross for us. That's the blessing. Not forgiveness, not salvation, but that we get God. Don't miss it because some of you in this room this morning, you kind of already turned things off. Like, ah, I'm not really blessed in my life. I haven't gotten a raise in a while. In fact, I don't even have a job. I don't feel blessed. My kids feel wayward. I don't feel blessed. My health is terrible right now. I don't feel blessed. Do you know that Christ has died for you so that you could be reconciled back to a holy God? You are absolutely blessed. I'm not denying that. Your life is really difficult right now, really hard. Don't miss the blessing of Jesus. Don't miss it because Psalm 67:1 is saying, God, we want you and we need you. And we're going to pray this prayer and we're going to pray it regularly because we can't do life without you. Like what might happen if we diligently prayed this prayer over our kids every day. What might happen if we prayed this prayer over our marriages every single day? What might happen in our church? If we prayed this prayer and we experienced the blessing of God over and over and over, what might happen? Now, I don't know what thoughts come to your mind when I ask that question, but if any of your thoughts are man, we might be successful as a church. You've missed the point. You've missed the point of blessing. You've missed it. And if you miss the point of blessing, then you're going to mishandle and mismanage the blessings in your life. So what is the point? Why would God ever grant these three requests to be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us. Look at verse two. That your way may be known on earth, Your saving power among all nations. So I'm going to read this all together. 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. Why would God answer these three requests? The key to these two verses is that little word that you should put a box around it, you should underline it, you should highlight it in your Bible because you don't want to miss this. Because if you miss that little word, this is where God's word is sweeter than honey. Like you're going to pay attention to a conjunction right here. All right? You're going to pay attention to it so much because if you miss that little word, you're going to separate the blessings of God from the purposes of God. And, and we don't want to be people that do that. So it may say that or so that like here is the purpose and the reason behind the Lord's blessing. That your way and your saving power be known. The blessings of God are in your life for the glory of God. The blessings of God are in your life for. For the glory of God. This is why God blesses his people by drawing them close to him so that they would make his way and his saving power and his salvation known. Now I first remember being taught these two verses in my first preaching class in seminary. Now some of you are going, oh, you took a preaching class? Doesn't seem like it, right? But I did took a few of them. But as I took this preaching class, I have this professor, he's a great, well known preacher. I couldn't wait to learn from him. And I sit down and I'm Waiting to hear, like, oh, this is how. This is the logistics of how to preach. This is how to take care, like, break apart a passage. This is how you communicate all this stuff. And he opens up to Psalm 67:1 and 2. And this is how the class begins. And his point was this. Becoming a preacher is not the point of your life. The opportunity to preach a sermon is not the point of your life. But if in preparing and preaching a sermon, you are drawn closer to God and you make God more known in this world, what a blessing. That's the point of this whole thing. And it, like, transformed my life to go, oh, I'm not up here preaching so that people want to pay attention to me. I'm here to proclaim the excellencies of the One who transformed my life and saved me, because his ways are far better than my ways. His thoughts are far better than my thoughts. And it was at that moment like, oh, I'm blessed with an opportunity to preach so that I would make him known and be drawn closer to Him. And that's just the example for my life. As you think of blessings in your own life, do not miss the fact that they are all to draw you closer to him and make him known. That's what it's all about. That not just his truth would be known, but his way and his salvation. That who God is, the way he operates, how he saves people, that it would be known to the ends of the earth, because these blessings are about God's glory and magnifying him and praising him and putting him on display and proclaiming Him. But for the Israelites praying this, they had to go, oh, oh. It's not just about us being the chosen people of God that get the blessing of God, because it says that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. It's not Israel versus the world, but for them reading this passage, it's Israel for the world, for us as the people of God. It's not us versus the world now. It's us for the world, for the glory of God. We're not just going to be people who just hoard the blessings of God to ourselves, but we're going to take the blessings of God and we're going to take them to the ends of the earth so that God would be glorified to the ends of the earth because he's worthy of that. That's what we do with blessings. Now. This is not a new reason that the Israelites are just hearing, though, when they get to Psalm 67. In fact, they heard it very clearly. If they remember how they came about. In Genesis, chapter 12 says, now the Lord said to Abram, who becomes Abraham, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you, and I will make you a great nation. That sounds like a wonderful blessing, right? I'm going to turn you into a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great. Another great blessing so that you will be a blessing. Abram, I'm going to take you and I'm going to make you a great family. And your family is going to become a great nation. And I'm going to bless you. I'm going to make your name great. But it's not about you, Abram. You're going to be blessed to be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. And him who dishonors you, I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Now, to understand the importance of this, because this is a major point in all of Scripture. To understand it, we got to know what was going on in Genesis, chapter one through 11. So, you know, God creates Adam and Eve. It's perfect. It's wonderful. They are in close relationship with God. Sin enters the world. There's a curse put on them. And the curse says that they're separated from God. The antithesis of blessing, right? They're separated from God. The consequences, people get so bad that God goes, I'm going to flood the whole earth. Many of you, even if you didn't grow up in church, you know that story of Noah, I'm going to flood the whole earth because of how bad the earth is. I'm going to preserve and show grace and mercy to Noah and his immediate family. So kind of starts over, and five chapters later, they've done it again. It's so bad that God's creation says, I want to make a name for myself. We want to make a name for ourselves. And the way that we're going to do it is we're going to build this tower. Some of you know, this is the story of the Tower of Babel, where going to build this tower, and it's going to get all the way to God. And God looks down on it and laughs at it. He's like, what are you doing? You are not God, but you're trying to make a name for yourself. Like, you are God. And so what am I going to do? I'm going to not let you finish the tower. I'm going to confuse all your languages. Because there's one language at this point. They all understand what they're talking about, but God confuses their languages. Like, this is not how this is going to work, because life is not about you, yet you're making it about you. So how in the world are all these families going to be reached? Because they're all speaking different languages. Let me call out a man to turn into a great nation that are going to be a blessing to the whole earth. This is it. God says, I love you so much that I'm going to bless a nation and I'm going to turn this nation into a blessing to the whole earth. Earth. That people in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, would sit here worshiping God today because they took the blessing of God seriously that long ago. He says, I'm going to bless you with closeness. He says, I want my way and saving power to be known. I want people to relationally and intimately know me. And when they do, they're going to be a blessing to other people. Let me give you one example of how this plays out of God blessing the Israelites to become a blessing for the rest of the world. Some of you know, the story of this nation grows huge. The Egyptians, they go, we don't like this. We're going to take them in as slaves. Then God calls out a man to bring them out of slavery. And they wander around in the desert for a long time and for 40 years. And then they're getting ready to enter into the promised land. And God sends some spies in to check out the promised land. And as they are in the promised land, they meet this lady named Rahab. And this is what happens in Joshua, chapter 2, verses 8 through 11. Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, I know that the Lord has given you the land and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. Listen to this. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt. Now, these people weren't there at the Red Sea, but they've heard about how great this God is and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted. And there was no spirit left in any man because of you. For the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth below. So here's a lady that has heard about how God has blessed the Israelites, and now her and all the people are going, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. That God is way different than our God. We have a lot of gods that we serve, but there's something different about that God. Did you see how he blessed his people? They couldn't get out of. They were stuck between a Red Sea and an Egyptian army. And what does God do to bless his people? He opens up the Red Sea. And we can go look at that. That's the point of the story, that God preserves his people. That wasn't the point of the story. Did God preserve his people? Yes. Now, are other nations hearing about what God did for his people? Yes, and that's the point of the story. God blessed the Israelites by opening up the Red Sea. But it wasn't just about the Israelites. Now other people and other nations are finding about how wonderful and awesome this God is. May that be how we handle our blessings in this life, that others would hear how great our God is. Does the way that you live your life cause others to hear and see how amazing God is? Does it cause people to go, man, I've been worshiping these gods in my life. Now, they're not going to say it this way, right? But I've been worshiping all these gods of control and power and success. And I thought that's where I was going to find fulfillment. But let me tell you about these Christians that have been absolutely blessed by God and find their true joy and full satisfaction in God alone. And it's so much better than anything that we've ever worshiped before. That's what I would want for our church, and I sure wouldn't want the opposite. Or somebody might look at our lives and go, hmm, my God seemed better than their God. All they do is complain all the time. I don't want that God. They don't seem content about anything in their life. I'd rather have my God. It seems that they're not really satisfied in good times or bad times. There's no, like, real joy. I think I'll take my God. May we never be found to put our God on display like that. Guys, please, please. So we're blessed to be a blessing. But there's something really specific here in Psalm 67:2 that we can't miss. And we can't miss the fact that he says, I want you to make my way known on the earth and saving power among all nations. It's not just simply blessed to be A blessing where you are. It's not simply blessed to be a blessing locally and regionally and nationally. But he said, I want you to take your blessings so that the whole earth, all the nations, would hear about me. And if the point of all this is God's glory, guys, it is a tragedy that the world isn't glorifying him. I'm not going to give you tons of facts. I'm going to give you three. There is an estimated 3.5 billion people in this world who are unreached or unengaged. What do I mean by that? They have little to no access to the gospel. You might say, oh, Cedar Rapids. There's a bunch of unreached people in Cedar Rapids. No, there are a lot of people in Cedar Rapids who have tremendous access to the gospel. They have plenty of churches they could go to. There are over 3.5 billion people in this world who have no access to even hear about Jesus. That's what I mean when I talk about unreached. That's over 40% of the world's population, and less than 3% of missionary work is done in those areas. Nearly half the world doesn't know how awesome our God is. That's the tragedy. That's the tragedy. You go, well, that can't be true, right? Like, people have actually heard about Jesus. I'll tell you really briefly. The first time I had the opportunity to go to China and tell people about Jesus, years ago, I meet a guy named Carl playing basketball. We go have lunch afterwards, and Carl's like, so why are you here? Oh, thanks for the softball, Carl. Like, I'll take that one, right? I'm here because we love Jesus. Can I tell you about Jesus? And we open up and we read some of the book of John, and we start talking about Jesus. And he goes in broken English, Michael. I've never heard that before. Literally had never didn't know what a Bible was, had never heard the name of Jesus, and definitely never heard the good news about Jesus. This is real life. And it's a tragedy that there are men like Carl in other places of the world who don't know how awesome our God is. The blessing of God is far too great to be stewarded for missions far too small. But we want to be people who prefer the blessings of God over the purposes of God. We want to be Psalm 67:1 people and not Psalm 67:2 people. Because there's some of you in this room, you have prayed Psalm 67:1 over your kids. And now God has Blessed you and you have healthy and happy and believing and mature kids, but you refuse to let them go on a mission trip. That seems like you're hoarding the blessing of God to yourself when they could be making his way and salvation known to the nations. There are some of you that have been blessed, that have co workers that have come to this country from unreached places, places where their families will never hear the gospel. And you have a chance to share the gospel with them at your workplace here in Cedar Rapids. But you go, I don't really want to get to know them. I'm not going to invite them over to my house. That's a tragedy. That's a tragedy. Some of you have retired early in your life and that's an absolute blessing. But you refuse to use your retirement for the glory of God. You hoard it for yourself. That's a tragedy that you have so much opportunity to take the gospel to the nations because God is that worthy. But you want to live your life how you want to live it here. That's a tragedy. My concern is that we've hoarded the blessings of God for ourselves. And let me be clear from verse two, you are not the end destination of God's blessing. The blessing of God should not stop with us. It is intended to be spread to the world through us. Jesus said it this way in Matthew chapter 5. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works. But it doesn't stop there. And give glory to your Father who is in heaven. When you have experienced closeness with Jesus and you have experienced his grace and you have experienced his mercy and his face has shone upon you and now your light is lit up. Do not hide it under a bushel. Don't do it, but use it so that they would see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Because this is what I want you to know. Care most about God's glory to best handle God's blessings. Care most about God's glory. To best handle God's blessings. Care most about God's glory on earth. To best steward God's blessings in your life instead of juggling them and mismanaging them. We want to be people who are Psalm 67:1 and Psalm 67:2 people. We want to be eight college students who have experienced the grace of God at Salt Company in Cedar Rapids and said, we don't want it to stop here. We want to go to a foreign country to share the gospel. And for many of you in this room, you go, I've been blessed financially at my job, I have a great savings account and I'm going to sin. I can't be the one right now in this stage of life to. To be the one that goes overseas. But what I'm going to do is I'm going to send those college students so that they go. Now, don't use that as an excuse not to go, though, okay? Just side note there, but some of you have been blessed tremendously and you're blessing others to be able to go to the ends of the earth. And there's some of you that you're at a stage in life where it's like, I don't have the income that I used to have, but I got time. And there's many of you that have prayed faithfully for all eight of those students all summer long because you care about God's glory being known in the nation. So how can you set your life up in a way to experience the blessings of God first and foremost, prioritize God's glory. Care more about his glory than anything. And this is what I would encourage you to ask yourself. Do I care more about the favor of God or the fame of God? Do I care more about the favor of God or the fame of God? Number one, prioritize God's glory. Number two, pray for God's blessing regularly. Pray this prayer, Psalm 67. 1. For your family, for you, for our church. Please pray it now. Some of you are going, isn't that a selfish prayer? It's selfish only if you've disconnected it from verse two. If you're just playing God's blessing for yourself and that's where it ends, then it's selfish. But keep praying that prayer. If it's like, okay, God, I don't want you to just bless me. I want you to bless me so that next time you find yourself, God, bless me, bless me, bless me, bless me. What if you just added so that to it and you realize, oh, there's a bigger purpose than the Lord just to bless me. So prioritize God's glory. Pray for God's blessing. And number three, plan to bless the nations. Like, how do I do this? I'm going to give you a website. Veritaschurch.org sending veritaschurch.org sending if you want to know some ways to plan to bless the nations around you, we have several resources. Go on that page. Find five habits of a Global Christian. It's a great way to just start. Okay, so May we never be found as a church. As a church that the blessings of God stop at and fail to go through to others. Remember those 11 guys that followed Jesus? One of them, one of the 12, decided, I want the blessing for myself. And that didn't go well. The other 11 said, man, we've experienced closeness and intimacy with God so much that we want to go make disciples of all nations. And there's a group couple thousand people in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 2000 years later worshiping God because they took the blessing of closeness with God seriously. Who might know about Jesus centuries from now. Because Veritas Church, Cedar Rapids handled God's blessings well today, May the number of people groups that have little to no access to the gospel of Jesus Christ decreased dramatically in the coming years because we took the blessings of God seriously ourselves. That's our hope. Amen. Let's pray. God, you're awesome. May the world see and know the same thing by the way that we live our lives. Please, please God, we can't do it without you. We don't want to do it without you. In Jesus name, amen.