SPEAKER_00: Psalm 103.
SPEAKER_00: Hear the word the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, blessed his holy name.
SPEAKER_00: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your desires, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.
SPEAKER_00: He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is merciful and gracious.
SPEAKER_00: Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, he will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.
SPEAKER_00: He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
SPEAKER_00: For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him.
SPEAKER_00: As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
SPEAKER_00: As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
SPEAKER_00: For he knows our frame, he remembers that we are dust.
SPEAKER_00: As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field, for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.
SPEAKER_00: But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children, to those who keep his covenant, and remembers to do his commandments.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.
SPEAKER_00: Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word.
SPEAKER_00: Bless the Lord all his hosts, his ministers who do his will, bless the Lord all his works, in all places of his dominion.
SPEAKER_00: Bless the Lord, O my soul.
SPEAKER_00: This is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Father in heaven, we're just so humbled, uh, so humbled by your word.
SPEAKER_02: This richness, how it reminds us of your faithfulness, declares your promises.
SPEAKER_02: Father, we just uh we just just adore this time where we study your word.
SPEAKER_02: Father, we just are so thankful for Brother Dylan, and we just lift him up as he brings your word to us.
SPEAKER_02: And he we just pray that he bringing the word you'd have him to bring to us today.
SPEAKER_02: Father, we just pray that uh we're hearing and we're listening, and that uh you're revealing the plans you have for us and what you'd have for us today, and what we need to know more about you and how we serve your kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: It's in Jesus' name that we pray.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, brothers.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, go ahead and be seated.
SPEAKER_01: Good morning.
SPEAKER_01: Admire, welcome.
SPEAKER_01: Happy uh 4th of July weekends.
SPEAKER_01: It's uh it's been sweet for for obviously the 250, there's been stuff going on all year, but it it um in some way makes me uh it's been endearing to be reminded of the things that draw us together instead of the things that push us apart.
SPEAKER_01: So what what a what a fun thing to grasp onto.
SPEAKER_01: It's not ignoring uh things that could be improved, but it is remembering and and and and being thankful for what we do have.
SPEAKER_01: And and to Michael's point, what what better way to honor the freedoms that we have than be gathered here as we do normally to worship the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: One of the most helpful, did a lot of reading this week, just thinking about what's the most appropriate way to walk the tightrope of acknowledging what is something other than church on Sunday morning while also honoring something that gives us the freedom to be at church.
SPEAKER_01: One of the most helpful reflections I read this week was from J.D.
SPEAKER_01: Greer.
SPEAKER_01: You may or may not know him, it's not that important, but he said essentially, we we we couldn't possibly know all the reasons that the Lord has put us here in this country at this time.
SPEAKER_01: But we do know that we have more prosperity and freedom than at any other time in history.
SPEAKER_01: And so, in this moment of opportunity, how are we going to use that freedom and prosperity not to increase them in ourselves, but to proclaim Jesus and to take him to the ends of the earth?
SPEAKER_01: We have a weight of responsibility that comes with the great blessing of living in this place.
SPEAKER_01: And may we may we celebrate where we are and use it as motivation to go and to take the wonderful news that we so freely enjoy and worship here.
SPEAKER_01: Uh what a beautiful, beautiful place to be.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, let me switch to the text.
SPEAKER_01: Um, you can hear what I sound like.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I you probably didn't see me all morning because I've been hiding to try and save up my words to get through the sermon.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I I've uh I've got a pocket full of cough drops and tissues and water and and a lot of optimism.
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna see how far we can get.
SPEAKER_01: This is a long, this is a long chapter.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm gonna move quick.
SPEAKER_01: I was already gonna move quick.
SPEAKER_01: I might move even quicker just to make sure I can get us through before I tap out.
SPEAKER_01: But at the end of service, if you had intended to talk to me or if I had said I would catch you, maybe forgive me and call me tomorrow, because by the time I'm done here, I think I'm gonna be toast.
SPEAKER_01: Uh so I'm I might slip out, but but I love you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm sad to miss.
SPEAKER_01: The after service is just the sweetest time, but I'm toast.
SPEAKER_01: So uh here we go.
SPEAKER_01: Let's turn to the Lord in Psalm 103, verses 1 and 2.
SPEAKER_01: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me.
SPEAKER_01: Bless his holy name.
SPEAKER_01: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
SPEAKER_01: David both begins and ends the psalm.
SPEAKER_01: He he he bookends them with the with this repeated refrain of bless the Lord, bless the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: He begins with uh imploring himself to bless the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: The the the the original language is is a command that he's giving himself.
SPEAKER_01: Hey me, bless the Lord, O my soul, all that is within me.
SPEAKER_01: Bless the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And at the end, he he repeats, he repeats the refrain, but it includes the the congregation.
SPEAKER_01: And so at the end of the sermon, uh I'll have us, that's how we'll finish, as we'll read verses 20 through 22 together again.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm uh I'm prepping this week.
SPEAKER_01: I make it three words into the chapter and I'm stuck already.
SPEAKER_01: Bless the Lord, O my soul.
SPEAKER_01: How in the world can I, a sinful human I know the depths of my weakness and incompetencies.
SPEAKER_01: How am I to bless the Lord, the God of the universe?
SPEAKER_01: God pours out his blessings richly upon us.
SPEAKER_01: Our strength and our stature and our merit is given to us on account of the blessings of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: He is the the blesser, capital B, and we are the receiver.
SPEAKER_01: And so here David says, then we are to bless the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: What can I possibly give you, Lord?
SPEAKER_01: We can't do that for God.
SPEAKER_01: We can't increase his strength, we can't benefit him, we cannot make him greater.
SPEAKER_01: We are the creation responding to the creator.
SPEAKER_01: So what does David mean when he instructs himself and therefore us to bless the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: A quote from a commentary I've read this week.
SPEAKER_01: It says, Man's blessing God is an expression of praising thankfulness.
SPEAKER_01: When the Old Testament speaks of blessing God, it does not designate a process that aims to increase God's strength, instead as an exclamation of gratitude and admiration.
SPEAKER_01: When we are called to bless the Lord, we are called to exclaim our gratitude and our admiration.
SPEAKER_01: We can do that through song, through the through the hearing and the teaching of God's word, through prayer, through through all the through the gathering, through how we speak in our daily lives, how we carry ourselves, the things that we put words to, that we say, This is where my hope is in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: We bless him by exclaiming our gratitude and admiration.
SPEAKER_01: David had to remind himself to do that.
SPEAKER_01: We would be well served to do the same.
SPEAKER_01: And quite helpfully, from there, he he goes on an extended list of giving to us all of the benefits.
SPEAKER_01: Says, do not forget all of the Lord's benefits.
SPEAKER_01: And the in the large portion of this particular psalm is a sh is not even exhaustive.
SPEAKER_01: And it's still this long of all the ways the Lord blesses and benefits us, and therefore calls our heart back to him in exclamations of gratitude and praise.
SPEAKER_01: Let's look just at verse three and into the first half of verse four.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're gonna move pretty quick through this.
SPEAKER_01: Who forgives all of our iniquities?
SPEAKER_01: The Lord heals all of our diseases, he redeems our lives from the pit.
SPEAKER_01: So we bless the Lord initially and immediately.
SPEAKER_01: And right off the top of David's head, what is closest to mind at his pen is the Lord forgives us and he heals us and he redeems us.
SPEAKER_01: Bless him.
SPEAKER_01: Bless you, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: If those were the only three things, bless you.
SPEAKER_01: We are forgiven, brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_01: All of creation, including you and me, have sinned against God.
SPEAKER_01: There's a decent chance you've done it today already.
SPEAKER_01: We are debased.
SPEAKER_01: In our pride and our rebellion, we are awful to one another.
SPEAKER_01: We rage against righteousness in the depths of our arrogant bellies.
SPEAKER_01: And in response, the Lord forgives and he heals and he redeems.
SPEAKER_01: And we are called to bless the Lord because he forgives all of our iniquities.
SPEAKER_01: We are certainly called to repent, to confess, to lament our unrighteousness, but we are called even further to then turn and bless the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for what you have done for me.
SPEAKER_01: I can't believe you would, but thank you that you did.
SPEAKER_01: We bless the Lord because he heals our diseases.
SPEAKER_01: And listen, this is not the place to get all the way down in this.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the Lord will heal your disease now, but sometimes he will heal it, uh, or all the time he will heal it in eternity.
SPEAKER_01: I pray for your diseases to be healed now, but even in the rest of Scripture, we see that the Lord, for his own good purposes and the good of your life, will at times maybe leave you in a temporal physical disease, but we have a promise of eternity.
SPEAKER_01: The the what is in view of the context of this list is forgiveness and redemption and healing.
SPEAKER_01: Those are all eternal matters.
SPEAKER_01: We bless the Lord because even if I am not healed now, I know I will be.
SPEAKER_01: I know I will be.
SPEAKER_01: I already have that signed, secured, and waiting for delivery.
SPEAKER_01: Paul had a thorn in his sight.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus was afflicted and beaten, and in both cases, God was doing something bigger and eventually healed them both.
SPEAKER_01: Bless the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: We are forgiven now.
SPEAKER_01: We we are forgiven fully in eternity.
SPEAKER_01: The day will come where we where we stand before the judgment seat and are declared not guilty, and in finality the Lord will remove sin from us entirely and there will be no more.
SPEAKER_01: But even now our forgiveness has begun.
SPEAKER_01: That's hard to receive, frankly.
SPEAKER_01: That's hard to believe.
SPEAKER_01: I know me, and you know you.
SPEAKER_01: We are forgiven, not we will be.
SPEAKER_01: We are healed now, even if we must wait for the fullness of that healing until glory.
SPEAKER_01: And we are redeemed from the pit now.
SPEAKER_01: And so we bless God because we have a promise from the promise keeper of forgiveness and of healing and of redemption.
SPEAKER_01: May our lives be lived in exclamation of gratitude and praise and blessing, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: We remind ourselves, we we should remind one another to bless the Lord for these things.
SPEAKER_01: We help one another, lift our eyes to the horizon of eternity.
SPEAKER_01: Because even though the Lord has redeemed me from the pit, I find that I, either by choice or by happenstance, I still stand close enough to it to hear it and smell it and taste it.
SPEAKER_01: And in those moments, my eyes are turned down into what was in despair and anguish.
SPEAKER_01: And together we are called.
SPEAKER_01: Even David has a corporate nature to the end of the psalm.
SPEAKER_01: All of us bless the Lord, turn our eyes upon the horizon of eternity, and we thank him.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pick back up with the second half of verse four and into verse five.
SPEAKER_01: So four B.
SPEAKER_01: Who the Lord who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy.
SPEAKER_01: Verse five, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagles.
SPEAKER_01: I mentioned last week uh that I am, if you weren't here last week, don't get hung up on this.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I mentioned at the end of service last week, this is the first time I've preached in three months.
SPEAKER_01: I've been on sabbatical, I've been back from sabbatical, and I've just been struggling.
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh That's recorded.
SPEAKER_01: We sent it out.
SPEAKER_01: If you if you I spoke about it more fully there, I'm gonna speak about it some throughout the sermon.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but somewhere along the way, I I just I started piling up every sin and failure.
SPEAKER_01: The the the ones that I just I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt, the ones that maybe I just perceived to be, and the ones I was accused of.
SPEAKER_01: And I just started, I don't know why I did it, but instead of giving them to the Lord and reminding myself that I am forgiven, I just decided that I would hold on to them and collect them in my heart.
SPEAKER_01: And inadvertently, I guess, I don't know, I'm still I'm going to a counselor every week to try and unpack this.
SPEAKER_01: I have been collecting them in my heart and inadvertently punishing myself for them to an extent that it has pushed me into the darkest valley that I'm I think I have ever walked.
SPEAKER_01: That's a that's a a maybe a wild thing to hear from your preacher on Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_01: I am in the moments in the dark valley, uh, but the Lord is in here with me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm having to be reminded.
SPEAKER_01: I I have I have had to act, it's just a mercy of the Lord to be surrounded by people that on the days where my uh eyes are navel gazing, they lift my eyes to the to the horizon of eternity.
SPEAKER_01: So bless the Lord, he is in there with you.
SPEAKER_01: And through the the the I'm being reminded regularly that that uh in my anguish and despair, I I don't think I have questioned whether the Lord will save me and redeem me at the event of all things.
SPEAKER_01: But but maybe this is only me, but I I would be surprised if none of you can relate.
SPEAKER_01: The soul-crushing weight of self-loathing can make you feel like the Lord's still gonna save me, but he's not he's not thrilled about it.
SPEAKER_01: The the I I am such a wretch that he will save me because he said he will, but there's no possible way he's happy to do so.
SPEAKER_01: I I want to hide myself from the Lord a lot of days.
SPEAKER_01: I I want to continue to punish myself.
SPEAKER_01: That in some weird way I can prove that I I know I know the depths of my depravity.
SPEAKER_01: I I'm gonna beat you to it.
SPEAKER_01: And and then here comes the second half of verse four.
SPEAKER_01: I got stuck on the second half of verse four for three days of sermon prep.
SPEAKER_01: Just couldn't write past it.
SPEAKER_01: I just kept crying.
SPEAKER_01: It says he's forgiven us, he's redeemed us, he's healed us, and then he crowns us with steadfast love and mercy.
SPEAKER_01: I I have wept over that this week in joy and also in just like, God, I'm so sorry for not receiving that, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: At some point, he he lifted my eyes and pointed out that he is not holding a crown waiting for me to earn it.
SPEAKER_01: He's not holding the crown saying, when you're ready, you can take it.
SPEAKER_01: The language is active.
SPEAKER_01: He has placed a crown, is there.
SPEAKER_01: Those redeemed in Jesus Christ are wearing a crown now from the Lord of steadfast love and mercy.
SPEAKER_01: Receive it and bless the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Tell people.
SPEAKER_01: We look on in verse 5, he satisfies us with good so that our youth is renewed like eagles.
SPEAKER_01: Don't miss that.
SPEAKER_01: He satisfies us with good.
SPEAKER_01: The most clinical, sterile concept of satisfaction is to do all the things that are necessary for a task or a person or whatever to be complete.
SPEAKER_01: Everything that that needed is done.
SPEAKER_01: It has been satisfied.
SPEAKER_01: If you have a diploma from high school to a doctorate, to a trace, whatever it is, that diploma almost certainly says that this is awarded to you based on the satisfaction of all the requirements.
SPEAKER_01: You're done, you're finished.
SPEAKER_01: And so we read that the Lord satisfies us with good, He is the completion of our souls.
SPEAKER_01: And he does so with good.
SPEAKER_01: We have all, just as humans, uh, looked for other ways to fill that need that only the Lord can satisfy.
SPEAKER_01: And we come back and we forget.
SPEAKER_01: But but I think perhaps what David is getting at in part here, even in himself, is if I continue to bless the Lord, I continue to remind myself that he is my satisfaction and he does so for my good.
SPEAKER_01: Bless the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Go back to the psalm.
SPEAKER_01: David drives out or draws out some more layers.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verses six through eight.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed, he made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
SPEAKER_01: The the this benefits list from the Lord makes me uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_01: I why why are you giving this to me, Lord?
SPEAKER_01: This it's the wrong question.
SPEAKER_01: It's just thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Bless you.
SPEAKER_01: I don't understand how you could possibly desire to give me this, but your word says that you delight in it and that you love us and that you came after us even when we ran from you.
SPEAKER_01: Bless the Lord, who works righteousness and justice.
SPEAKER_01: He makes himself known to us.
SPEAKER_01: We we take that for granted as Christians.
SPEAKER_01: That's just such a baked-in part of our faith that is somewhat unique to Christianity, is that our God is very personal.
SPEAKER_01: He reveals himself to us.
SPEAKER_01: We have, we call this special or specific revelation.
SPEAKER_01: We have his living and active words, and we have natural revelation.
SPEAKER_01: The word of the Lord says that the creation around us speaks to the glory of the Lord, and he sits with us in presence and comfort.
SPEAKER_01: He makes himself known to us.
SPEAKER_01: Bless him.
SPEAKER_01: He acts on our behalf.
SPEAKER_01: He says he acts on our behalf.
SPEAKER_01: He's merciful, he withholds what we do deserve, and he's gracious, giving us what we do not.
SPEAKER_01: Bless the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: He is slow to anger, abounding in that steadfast love that he sets on our head in the form of a divine and eternal crown.
SPEAKER_01: Bless him.
SPEAKER_01: What a wonderful Lord that we serve.
SPEAKER_01: And may we, like David, constrain our hearts to not forget it.
SPEAKER_01: May we demand of ourselves, hey, my soul, bless our Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Bless the Lord for what he does.
SPEAKER_01: Notice that David instructs his soul to bless the Lord in remembrance of what the Lord has done for others.
SPEAKER_01: Think about it.
SPEAKER_01: David has plenty to thank the Lord for in terms of deliverance.
SPEAKER_01: Goliath and Absalom and the enemies of Israel and all of his own sins.
SPEAKER_01: And then in reflecting on how the Lord delivers and provides, he looks to other examples amongst the historical faith family and Moses and Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Let the goodness of the Lord, not only in your life, but in the lives of others, drive you to bless him.
SPEAKER_01: As you see the blessings of the Lord in the lives of the people around you, bless the Lord for that blessing upon them.
SPEAKER_01: That this is, we we are just as humans, and then maybe also there's some cultural things that we battle that we are individualistic.
SPEAKER_01: It's celebrated.
SPEAKER_01: But Christianity is very synthesized.
SPEAKER_01: We are a group.
SPEAKER_01: We are a living organism together as a body.
SPEAKER_01: We celebrate together, we bless the Lord together.
SPEAKER_01: We give him thanks for what he has done in someone else's lives, even if he has not yet done it in ours.
SPEAKER_01: We have a model for it here in David.
SPEAKER_01: Or even if he has not removed your current affliction, he is working it for your good.
SPEAKER_01: You can remind yourself of how he has delivered others.
SPEAKER_01: You bless him with the hope and knowledge that he will eventually deliver you too.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe now, maybe in an eternity, but we bless him either way with joy and glad hearts.
SPEAKER_01: He has gathered himself a people, not individual persons.
SPEAKER_01: He has saved us into the body of Christ, not into silos.
SPEAKER_01: Of Christians.
SPEAKER_01: So we bless him together.
SPEAKER_01: And when we are delivered from what we think is keeping us from joy and peace, we bless him because he will deliver us all.
SPEAKER_01: We look at verse 9 and 10.
SPEAKER_01: It says he will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.
SPEAKER_01: He disciplines, there's reprimands, there's correction, but not always, and not forever.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 10, he does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
SPEAKER_01: Goodness.
SPEAKER_01: Why not?
SPEAKER_01: Excuse me.
SPEAKER_01: In my current valley, I think I am probably dealing with myself according to my sin.
SPEAKER_01: Not I think.
SPEAKER_01: I am dealing with myself according to my sins.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, in repaying myself for iniquities in some, frankly, misguided and arrogant attempt to punish myself enough that maybe I can feel like I can accept the Lord or I can accept the love that the Lord offers to me.
SPEAKER_01: And verse 9 and 10 reminds me that I don't need to do that.
SPEAKER_01: And further, uh, by doing that, by by dealing with myself according to my sins and iniquities, I am denying the cross.
SPEAKER_01: I just am.
SPEAKER_01: Because the Lord does deal with our sin and iniquities, but he doesn't deal with them with us.
SPEAKER_01: He dealt with them in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So when I I over the, I don't know how long it's been.
SPEAKER_01: 18 months, two years of trying to deal with myself for my own sins, I have, without meaning to, but I still have done it, said, that's nice, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I'll do mine.
SPEAKER_01: Yikes.
SPEAKER_01: Bless the Lord that he does not deal with us, but he dealt with himself in the person of the Son to satisfy his just wrath and anger against our sin.
SPEAKER_01: And what he gives us is a crown of love and mercy.
SPEAKER_01: Bless the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: David even gives us some illustrations to meditate on the degree to which God lavishes his love on us.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verses 11 and 12.
SPEAKER_01: For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him.
SPEAKER_01: And as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
SPEAKER_01: There are a lot of classic old school preacher illustrations for this passage.
SPEAKER_01: You can fly north and eventually start flying south, but if you head out east, you're just always going east.
SPEAKER_01: It never ends.
SPEAKER_01: You can't get, there is no end to how far east is from west.
SPEAKER_01: Even the secular scientists can't uh measure with integrity how far heaven is from here.
SPEAKER_01: The expanses, even to the secular mind, are said to be infinite.
SPEAKER_01: Which to me is kind of how do you outside of religious, where do you get infinite?
SPEAKER_01: And that is the distance, it's incalculable, it's unfathomable.
SPEAKER_01: It it boggles our finite minds, and how wonderful.
SPEAKER_01: That I cannot even compute how far the Lord has removed me from my sins and iniquities.
SPEAKER_01: And for some reason I keep trying to grab them and pull them back.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, I'll I'll I got it.
SPEAKER_01: How silly.
SPEAKER_01: Bless the Lord for what he does for us and accept it and rest in it.
SPEAKER_01: To think that the Lord only loves us in proportion to how much we can please him is the smallest-minded thought I have imposed on myself in a long time.
SPEAKER_01: Because the word of the Lord tells us that his love cannot be measured by our own understanding.
SPEAKER_01: How far is heaven from earth?
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: How far is east from west?
SPEAKER_01: It's literally an impossible question.
SPEAKER_01: It's nonsensical according to what we think of as ration.
SPEAKER_01: Lord says, Beyond what you can understand, I have removed you from that which separated you from me.
SPEAKER_01: Bless the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: There is no end to the steadfast love of the Lord for those who fear him.
SPEAKER_01: I can no more measure God's love for me than we can measure the distance from earth to the heavens.
SPEAKER_01: David doesn't let up.
SPEAKER_01: Layers upon layers of God's love for us.
SPEAKER_01: Verse uh 13.
SPEAKER_01: As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
SPEAKER_01: The love I have for my children is a fire in my belly.
SPEAKER_01: It was startling.
SPEAKER_01: When the doctor handed me owl, it was startled, like it was uh like it lit in me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not great at it all the time by any means.
SPEAKER_01: But in those moments or days when I'm not sure that the Lord could possibly love me, I am reminded of this.
SPEAKER_01: If I, a human father, sinful and finite, am capable of feeling what I feel for that boy, imagine what the Lord feels for you.
SPEAKER_01: Good gosh.
SPEAKER_01: He loves us because of who he is, not because of what we are.
SPEAKER_01: He loves us because of the father-child relationship, not because of what the child has done.
SPEAKER_01: We are finite sinners rescued unto eternal glory through the work of the great I am, the redeemer, the sustainer, the father who looks upon us in love, who calls us up from the pit in compassion, who hems us in with his faithfulness, and so we are called to respond.
SPEAKER_01: Bless the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Bless you, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: It's all we have to give back, it's just thank you.
SPEAKER_01: That's all I have is thank you.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't need the money that we do to run VBS, but he doesn't.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't need my talents or my skills or my lack thereof.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't even need my thanks, but he accepts it with delight and pleasure.
SPEAKER_01: Father, thank you.
SPEAKER_01: Bless you.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 15.
SPEAKER_01: As for man, his days are like grass.
SPEAKER_01: He flourishes like a flower of the field, for the wind passes over it and it is gone.
SPEAKER_01: It's a pretty common analogy throughout scripture.
SPEAKER_01: And its place is no more, but the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord has established his throne in the heavens and his kingdom rules over all.
SPEAKER_01: We are finite and fleeting.
SPEAKER_01: We are dusts unto dust.
SPEAKER_01: Without the Lord, we are a blip on the on the unstoppable progress of time.
SPEAKER_01: We're just a blip.
SPEAKER_01: But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting.
SPEAKER_01: We cannot tap the bottom or plumb the depths of the Lord's love for us.
SPEAKER_01: Neither can anyone.
SPEAKER_01: His throne is established, he rules over all.
SPEAKER_01: He takes that which was made from the dust, us.
SPEAKER_01: And that dust then rebelled against him.
SPEAKER_01: We did that.
SPEAKER_01: We bit the hand of our Creator, and even so he invites us into the rest of time with him.
SPEAKER_01: He invites us into redemption, into healing, into forgiveness, into a crown made of steadfast love and mercy that he places on us now.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine the blessings to come on the other side of this existence.
SPEAKER_01: The blessings that we have now.
SPEAKER_01: I am confronted by how I could possibly ever be in a bad mood.
SPEAKER_01: And that's simplistic.
SPEAKER_01: Of course, our emotions still rage and we're buried under things.
SPEAKER_01: But I want my soul to bless the Lord uh reactionarily.
SPEAKER_01: I want him to be such a habitual response in me that my first thought is, bless you, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: He delights in doing so.
SPEAKER_01: Look, the Lord had every right to turn his face from us.
SPEAKER_01: And he had every right to pour out his wrath on us and to punish us for our sins.
SPEAKER_01: He does not need us.
SPEAKER_01: We are not something that he uh uh created and he went, oh no, I gotta get those back.
SPEAKER_01: And so he made some plan to try something else.
SPEAKER_01: He he is uh sustained in and of himself.
SPEAKER_01: And yet, he redeemed us.
SPEAKER_01: He called us back from our wanderings, he sets a crown on our head, and he did all that by placing a crown of thorns upon the head of Jesus that he might pay the price that we could never afford over a thousand lifetimes.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, if if you're a believer laboring under the things that you have heard me say that I am laboring under, it's a real bummer in this valley.
SPEAKER_01: It's I hate it in here.
SPEAKER_01: But but the Lord is in here with us, everlasting to everlasting.
SPEAKER_01: The compassionate, loving, merciful, bless him.
SPEAKER_01: He is the satisfaction of our souls.
SPEAKER_01: And if you are not a believer and something you heard this morning has rattled your cage, how could anyone love me as much as that guy on stage just said that God loves him?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure if I know either, but I would be happy to talk to you about it.
SPEAKER_01: And there's plenty of people in the room who live under the redemption and the healing and the deliverance of the blood of Jesus Christ who would love to talk about it as well.
SPEAKER_01: Catch us.
SPEAKER_01: I might leave right after service, but catch somebody or send me an email and I'll call you.
SPEAKER_01: You are invited.
SPEAKER_01: And as we turn to communion, let us do so with hearts that bless the Lord for the broken body and the spilled blood of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I was considering that this week.
SPEAKER_01: Every week I know now that I get to walk into this room, and every week I know that I'm gonna sing and pray, and I'm gonna hear the word of the Lord taught, or I'm gonna teach it, and I'm gonna fellowship with my church family.
SPEAKER_01: And then at the end, I'm gonna be invited to the Lord's table to be reminded of what he has done for me.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna be invited with my church family to meditate together in moments of silence about our Savior and what he has done for all of us and calling us together and gathering us here as Heartland Church.
SPEAKER_01: And as I was reading through, particularly, just preparing my heart for communion, I I often like to read from 1 Corinthians 11 that last little bit that almost is a tag that we miss, and as long as you drink this cup and eat this bread, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
SPEAKER_01: I think I could argue that communion in its own way is also blessing the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: We are being reminded of what he has done for remind Jesus, remind me as often as I can be reminded of what Jesus has done for me.
SPEAKER_01: Bless the Lord as often as I can bless the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And on Sunday mornings, we have this unique thing where we come and do that together.
SPEAKER_01: I want to bless the Lord when I leave here, and on Monday morning and on Wednesday night when I'm tired and grumpy.
SPEAKER_01: I want to bless the Lord throughout the week.
SPEAKER_01: But there is a uniqueness to the gathering, which is we are called together to bless him as a body and a family.
SPEAKER_01: What a unique gift.
SPEAKER_01: What a sweet thing and an opportunity that we are given by the Lord and by where we live, and may we not take it for granted.
SPEAKER_01: We have an opportunity to commune with him and with other believers to bless him, to remember his broken body and spilled blood.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you would, um I'll give you a moment to turn back to it.
SPEAKER_01: I said at the beginning, let's read verses 20 through 22 together.
SPEAKER_01: And then when that's done, I'm handing off to I think Kevin's doing communion.
SPEAKER_01: Um it would feel perhaps we are not to stand in reading of scripture.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna ask us to stand.
SPEAKER_01: Don't panic in the back.
SPEAKER_01: This was unscript.
SPEAKER_01: I decided to do this when I stood up here.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and also you're gonna get to sit back down in just a moment.
SPEAKER_01: So a little bit of updown, but if you would read along with me from Psalm 103, starting in verse 20.
SPEAKER_01: Bless the Lord's, oh you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word.
SPEAKER_01: Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers who do his will.
SPEAKER_01: Bless the Lord's, all his works, and all places of his dominion.
SPEAKER_01: Bless the Lord's, oh my soul.
SPEAKER_01: That's is the word of the Lord's.
SPEAKER_01: Help me to bless you.
SPEAKER_01: I even need your help to say thank you.
SPEAKER_01: So come into that part of us that that even in all that we are asked in return is to proclaim your name.
SPEAKER_01: Come into that part of us that's still even too weak for that.
SPEAKER_01: And enliven us, embolden us, clear our eyes, and tune our hearts to sing your grace.
SPEAKER_01: May we bless you with our gathering and all the things that you have instructed us to do when we gather.
SPEAKER_01: May we bless you when we leave this place and we go to lunch, and we and we we share the love and the mercy and the grace that the Lord has bestowed upon us on the people around us.
SPEAKER_01: May we carry it into Monday and through the week, through the hardships and the toils uh self-inflicted and inflicted upon us.
SPEAKER_01: We are still in the midst of the consequences of sin, but we have the hope that you have redeemed us and you have healed us and you will deliver us.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, help our souls to bless you today and forever.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.