The Andrews want to thank Duluth for all of your kindness and support for these seven years.
 Every year has presented new challenges and opportunities for all of us.  As we continue to meet our challenges and accept our opportunities, let us continue to do it together and in harmony with the word of God.
 We are thankful every day that we are part of this fine congregation.  We are thankful for the dedicated elders and their families.  We are thankful for the worthy deacons and their loved ones.  We are thankful or all of the men, women, and children who make this a delightful and worthwhile period in our lives.  We are thankful above all, to God, His Son, and His Spirit, for the multitude of works that we are now doing for His glory and the salvation of souls. 

This psalm is “to the chief musician, Jeduthun” (see Psalms 62,77).  He is “mentioned in 1 Chronicles 16:41f; 25:1f; 2 Chronicles 5:12; 35:15, along with Heman and Asaph, as one of the directors of the Temple music” (A. F. Kirkpatrick).  We know little about many of the people who were faithful to David (and to the Lord), but brief notes such as the one at the heading of Psalm 39 give us good insight into the kindness of David toward such people.  Surely his kindness toward them came out of God’s many kindnesses toward him!  Let us read, think, and learn from him.
Let us also live in such a way that we are worthy of such kind compliments as those paid by David to Jeduthun.
There are four main points to be considered in this brief and beautiful poem.  All of the points revolve around good thinking.
I.     My Silence Provokes Me and Some Serious
       Thinking (39:1-3).
II.     My Speaking Comes out of My Thinking
       (39:4-6).
III.    My Question:  I Need to Know Your Thinking 
       (39:7-11).
IV.   My Prayer:  Please Hear My Thinking
       (39:12,13).

I said, "I will guard my ways, lest I sin with my tongue; I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle, while the wicked are before me."  I was mute with silence, I held my peace even from good; and my sorrow was stirred up.  My heart was hot within me;  while I was musing, the fire burned. 
Then I spoke with my tongue: (vv. 1-3).
The first resolution David made in this psalm is one of the most important lessons of life: Don’t do anything (my ways) or say anything (my tongue) until you know that your thoughts are right (Philippians 4:8).  He not only decided to be silent in the presence of the wicked, but to even refrain from speaking good until he had dealt with the things that were going through his mind.
This kind of approach is recommended all through the Bible.  We see it in negative examples, when people did not think properly, which resulted in sinful words and actions (Note stories beginning with Eve, Adam, Cain...).  We also see it in positive examples (Note stories beginning with Abel, Enoch, Noah...).
Keeping our ways and words in check until we check the will of God with our minds is not always easy. David said that if he had to, he would use a muzzle on his mouth!
But after the thinking was on track, he was ready to speak—his heart was “hot” while he was “musing” (meditating).  He had a serious problem, and it was now time to deal with it with words. 

"LORD, make me to know my end, and what is the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am.
Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my age is as nothing before You; certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah
Surely every man walks about like a shadow; surely they busy themselves in vain; he heaps up riches, and does not know who will gather them (vv. 4-6).
We must remember that David’s speaking in his difficulties was not merely as a man—it was as an inspired prophet of God (2 Samuel 23:2).  He was truly dealing with the issues of his own life, but he was also providing an inspired set of helps for us to deal with the issues of our lives through his experiences and words.
In this second section of Psalm 39, he uses words to show that he had been thinking—and thinking well—in a very trying time.
His thinking had brought him to the theme of the frailty and brevity of life.  Life’s shortness can be understood from a variety of vantage points—
There is an end.
We are frail.
It is made of handbreadths (the shortest of measurements).
Our age is nothing.
At best, it is a vapor.
We walk as a shadow.
We work, heap up, and leave it all to...??
In light of all of this, should we not be more thoughtful and careful with our words and ways?  We have such a short time to live this one life, so let us decide right now to get things in order so that we do not waste it.
Please read this New Testament statement on this subject:
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.  Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that."  But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.  Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin
 (James 4:13-17).

And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You.  Deliver me from all my transgressions; do not make me the reproach of the foolish.  I was mute, I did not open my mouth, because it was You who did it.  Remove Your plague from me; I am consumed by the blow of Your hand.  When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity, you make his beauty melt away like a moth; surely every man is vapor. Selah (vv. 7-11)
In this third section, David approached God with the question that was on his mind.  It is a question that people often have in difficult circumstances.  It is a question that is related to our own understanding that life really is short.  The question is, “How long do I have to wait before this is resolved?”  It is not (in this case) a question that was being asked improperly.  He asked a good question, and he asked the right Person: Jehovah God.  Thus, he expressed his commitment to—
hope in God
be delivered as God decided to deliver him
vindicate him before the foolish
be silent when he should be
rely on God to remove the “plague” (since He was the one who “did it”)
accept the chastisement he was receiving 
repent of sin
remember the vapor-like nature of his life.
Let us learn to ask right questions with right attitudes, and make humble commitments to submit to all of God’s ways and decisions!  For if we do, we shall truly be better off now, and really well off when “this short life is o’er”!

"Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry; do not be silent at my tears; for I am a stranger with You, a sojourner, as all my fathers were.  Remove Your gaze from me, that I may regain strength, before I go away and am no more" (vv. 12,13).
In the final section of the poem, David requested that Jehovah would hear the prayer he offered and the genuine thoughts that prompted his prayer.  The Bible is full of admonitions from God for us to hear Him.  For the faithful, there is the right to approach God and to ask Him to hear us.
David was suffering.  He needed to be heard and answered.  He needed to be “spared” (“Remove your gaze from me”).  He wanted it soon, for he knew that his vaporous life would soon “go away” and be no more.
The last thing that any person needs to feel is that he is a “stranger” before God.  We are but strangers and sojourners on earth—and especially so if we are faithful to God (see Hebrews 11 and 1 Peter 2); but we ought not feel this way before God!  So, let us remove (if we can) or ask Him to remove (if we can’t) all that would make us be strangers in His sight.
Let us always be learning more about thinking in harmony with the Bible so that our words and actions will be right (Colossians 3:17).
Let us examine ourselves to see if we are right before God (2 Corinthians 13:5).
And let us obey any and all commandments that will put us in a right relationship with God by His grace (Ephesians 2:8,9; Titus 2:11-14; 3:5; Galatians 3:27; Revelation 22:14). 

When you see the contribution figure on page 4—it is not a misprint.  Sunday’s contribution was $35,685.60.  It was a result of many people obeying the command to give as prospered.  And even though it will probably not be this high all of the time, it is very important for us to be thankful for such a day—and to always give as we have been prospered—not just to meet a budget or make a goal.  

The elders have rejoiced regularly over the past twenty-one months as you have met challenge after challenge; and by your cooperation you have presented us with many challenges and new opportunities.

We are soon to embark on a building project for Truth for the World that will cost $300,000 or more, so the next challenge is before us!