you God is worthy, worthy of praise, worthy of glory. So God blesses him and his mercies for you every day. With all of my heart, soul, and strength I will say, God is worthy, worthy of praise. ♪ With all my heart, soul, and strength I will say ♪ ♪ One is worthy, worthy of praise ♪ ♪ Worthy of praise ♪ Thank you for being here this morning if you would stand we'll continue with our song service Ephesians chapter 4 verse number 31 says let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and Evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be kind one to another tender-hearted forgiving one another Even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you good to be in the Lord's house today brother lines Would you open us in a word of prayer, please? You join us in singing hymn number 405, the Banner of Peace. And crowned in green, gold, and silver, with the banner of the cross. Through the roaming age, and ever as the flood, at the standard we stand. And we heed his call as soldiers of the home, for the truth we love this day. I am, I am strong. When the glory dawns, let joy be with you. Let us feast it day by day. Let the glory of the world shall disappear, and across the world shall sway. Heart is young, heart is strong. Heart and brains have everything but flaws. Good man. Thank you. You may be seated. You have made a place where love and grace can meet. ways are finally reconciled. You're not fade away, the broken can be whole again. You suffered in my place. You gave everything for us at the cross. The innocent was bound to set the captives free. They made a way. The lost were welcomed home again. You suffered in my place. You gave everything for us. At the cost, the grace of heaven. For us, you gave everything. For us, mercy never strayed, grace was free. to thee, bear my burden, so count liberty and the cross. And the cross. You suffered in my place. You gave everything for us. At the cross, the prince of heaven died. At the cross, death became alive. For us, giving everything. At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light, when the burden of my heart rolled away. Christ will meet you there. You at the cross, Christ will meet you there. No one waits for you. This is what you've been waiting for. And in life, I'll do you good. And please remain stand as we take our offering this morning. Ask Brother Potts if he'd pray for the offering, please. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. you You. Just when I think I've seen it all, my faith has weathered every storm. That's when the questions try to take me back to where I was before. The fear of falling, fear of failing Fear that just won't let me go But there's a peace past understanding Because I trust, because I know You're ever present, ever faithful Ever close to the brokenhearted Strong in weakness, joy in sorrow Yesterday, today, tomorrow I'm ever thankful, ever grateful You're ever present, ever faithful When the darkest night of closing in on all your light of grace, when I need you more than ever, is when it feels like I'm so far away. Ever close to the brokenhearted Strong in weakness, joy in sorrow Yesterday, today, tomorrow I'm ever thankful, ever grateful You're ever present, ever faithful Over and over Morning by morning In every sunrise In every dark night Every dark night, over and over, over and over. You're ever present, ever faithful, ever close to the brokenhearted, strong in weakness. Yesterday, today, tomorrow Forever thankful, ever grateful Forever present, ever present ♪ Ever-present, ever-faithful ♪ Amen. For an ever-present, ever-faithful God, amen. Let's stand as we sing hymn number 102, He Hideth My Soul. Hymn number 102, stand as we sing. O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, to Bethlehem. His love and powers be there in His hand. Hallelujah, and I shall not be moved, if it be said as I live. ♪ And covers me there with His hand ♪ ♪ And covers me there with His hand ♪ ♪ With power let us bless Him ♪ ♪ Each moment He crowns ♪ ♪ And thrill with His solace divine ♪ I sing in my rapture, O glory to God, for such a Redeemer as mine. Behind my soul, in the depth of the Rhine, He brightened my life in the days of His birth, and covers me there with His head. And covers me there with His head. With God in His Christ, His perfect salvation, His wonderful love, I'll shout with a million for God. Behindeth my soul, in the depth of the rock, Amen. Thank you, ABC. I made her a shepherd's game to see ♪ Miracles and wonders rocked upon the waters ♪ ♪ Jesus, my name, Jesus, all men came to see ♪ ♪ Unstoppable, never lost in battle ♪ ♪ Magnificent, the ruler of all days ♪ ♪ Lord, your power is strong enough to save ♪ to alone in the garden. Your power strong enough to save. There are thousands away. Lord, your power is strong enough to save There are thousands of ways to say Lord, you're amazing There are thousands of ways to say Good job, Caleb. Good job. I was just sitting there thinking the value of patch. That's kind of a start of that. And we appreciate those on Wednesday night that work with our young people, our children in the area of Patch. And we want them to develop their talents to sing for the Lord. And then you see how calm he was, just calm as a cucumber. It's because he's been getting up in front of people ever since he could sing, and that's just part of that patch thing. And then coming from a family that sings, that's a blessing too, that doesn't hurt. So it was a blessing. Thank you, Caleb, really, really appreciate it. Psalms 89, Psalms 89. Entitled this message, Established Forever as the Moon. established forever as the moon. Psalms 89. Psalms 89. All right, if you would, stand with me in reverence to the reading of the word of God. Begin reading verse number one. I was seen of the mercies of the Lord forever. With my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. For I've said mercy shall be built up forever, thy faithfulness shall thou establish in the new heavens. I've made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant. Thy seed will I establish forever and build up thy throne to all generations, Selah. And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord, thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints. For who in heaven can be compared unto the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord? The answer is nobody, right? Verse seven, God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints. That's us. We ought to fear him greatly. and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. O Lord, God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee, are to thy faithfulness round about thee. Thou rulest the raging of the sea, when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them. Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces as one that is slain. Thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm. The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine. As for the world and the fullness thereof, thou hast founded them. The north and the south, thou hast created them. Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name. Thou hast a mighty arm strong as thy hand and high as thy right hand. Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before thy face. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound. They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. In thy name shall they rejoice all the day, and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted. For thou art the glory of their strength, and in thy favor our horn shall be exalted. For the Lord is our defense, and the Holy One of Israel is our King. Then thou preparest in vision to thy Holy One, or I'm sorry, thou spakest in vision to thy holy one and saidest, I have laid help upon one that is mighty. I have exalted one chosen out of the people. I have found David my servant with my holy oil have I anointed him. With whom my hand shall be established, mine arm shall also strengthen him. The enemy shall not exact upon him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him. And I will beat down his foes before his face and plague them that hate him. And my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him. And in my name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand also in the sea and his right hand in the rivers. Thou shalt cry unto me, thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. Also, I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him forevermore, and my covenant shall stand steadfast with him. His seed also will I make to endure forever and his throne as the days of heaven. If his children forsake my law and walk not in my judgments, if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments, then I will visit their transgression with a rod and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that has gone out of my lips once I have sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure forever and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established forever as the moon, as a faithful witness in heaven, Selah. But thou hast cast off and abhorred. Thou hast been wroth with thine anointment. Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant. Thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground. Thou hast broken down all his hedges. Thou hast brought his strongholds to ruin. All that pass by the way spoil him. He is a reproach to his neighbors. Thou has set up the right hand of his adversaries. Thou has made all his enemies to rejoice. Thou has also turned the edge of his sword and has not made him to stand in the battle. Thou has made his glory to cease and cast his throne down to the ground. The days of his youth hast thou shortened. Thou has covered him with shame. Selah. How long, Lord? Wilt thou hide thyself forever? Shall thy wrath burn like fire? Remember how short my time is, wherefore hast thou made all men in vain? What man is he that liveth and shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave, Selah? Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses which thou swearest unto David in thy truth? Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants, how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all mighty people, wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O Lord, wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed. Blessed be the Lord forevermore. Amen and amen. Lord, I love you and I thank you for your great love for us. What a blessing it is to be able to come to your house and to worship you, to be able to hold your words in our hand. Lord, that we might read it and study it and then apply it in our lives and our living. Lord, I pray that you would meet with us today. The Holy Spirit would have power and freedom to And Lord, if there be one here that doesn't know you as their Lord and Savior, Lord, our prayer is that today they might come to a saving knowledge of Jesus. And then, Lord, we pray for Christians today. I pray that we would love you and serve you as you would have us to, that we would exalt you and elevate you and put you first in our hearts. That fear that we're supposed to have in our hearts towards you, Lord, that in a fearful righteousness that we would worship you and serve you. Lord, I pray that you might be honored and glorified through each and everything that is done here today, that you would receive the glory and the praise for it all. We ask these things in your blessed and most holy name, amen. You may be seated. I wanna say, as I start, thank you for those who have prayed for me. I finally feel like a person that's, They called it cold allergies. I had a cold and allergies together. And I realized that the allergy season's lightening up a little bit. But I'm telling you, for a month, I did not feel good. There wasn't a day that I felt good. And I spent a lot of nights. We have recliners in our bedroom area. Spent a lot of nights sleeping in a recliner just because all the drainage and that junk. And so it feels good to feel good again, you know, and thank you for your prayers and appreciate that so much. And so just thank you. I was taken as I began to study this portion of scripture with a heading that was assigned under Psalms 89. And in the Bible that I was studying out of, the heading said this, I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord. Well, I can't think of anything better to sing about than the steadfast love of the Lord. This Bible that I'm preaching out today, it says the mercies of the Lord. I'm afraid that sometimes we get so busy in life that we fail to just stop and sing praises to God and we fail to just stop and think about all the mercies that God has brought to us. So as we start today, I want us to begin with verse number 37. It's the key verse that we're gonna preach from this morning. And there we read, it shall be established forever as the moon and as a faithful witness in heaven, Selah. And so as we begin to break this down, this verse down, we've noticed the first word, it. And in Bible study sermon, in my sermon preparation, my Bible study, there's always a list of questions that I go through. How? What? Why? When? Where? These are questions that I ask when I approach a verse. Why is it saying this? What is it talking about? When was it said? Where was it said? How was it said? And so I come to that word, it. And, you know, I begin to ask myself, so how does it fit in here? It says, it shall be established forever. What's going to be established forever? And so I begin to look back, and I went to verse 33, and there we read, nevertheless, my loving kindness will I not utterly take for him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that has gone out of my lips. Once I have sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David, his seed shall endure forever in his throne as the sun before me. And so that it is the covenant that he's talking about, this covenant that he has sworn to David, that he has chosen these people and he has chosen David to be his servant. And he says, my covenant will I not break? And he goes on in verse 36 and he says, and his seed shall endure forever and his throne as the sun before me. And so it has been established, his covenant has been established. And it's clarified there in verse number 36 that God is establishing this covenant with David and it's going to last forever. And so the next point is it shall be established forever. And you say, what's all this importance about? Well, we're going to put together here in a minute. There's a lot that we can learn from the words of God and when it comes to ourselves. And so when I read the Bible, I'm always reading it, thinking about how does this apply to me? How can this be applied? And I know that some of you great Bible scholars out there, you might say, well, You know, this is Psalms, this was written in Old Testament. Old Testament doesn't apply to me, but I would challenge you with the fact that I do believe the Old Testament applies to us. And as we read and study from the Old Testament, we gain pictures and insight into the New Testament, and many times in the Old Testament, we'll find understanding that is likened in the New Testament, but there's also a lot of the Old Testament that I think we can pick up and take the nuggets from it and apply it in our lives. And so he said, it shall be established forever. Well, what does he mean by being established? Well, in Webster's 1828, it means set or fixed, firmly founded, ordained, enacted, ratified, or confirmed. And so as he is referencing here, chapter 30 or verse 33 down to verse number 36 that he is going and referenced here in verse 37 he's going to establish it forever it's going to be established forever so he's establishing David's throne forever you'll hear the Jews today even reference David's throne and David's kingdom, and what a great king David was. His throne has been established forever. So his covenant is established, it's been firmly fixed, it's founded, it's ordained, it's enacted, ratified, confirmed, it is proven. God has said it in concrete, if you would. And I couldn't help but think about that. And I thought about how God's promises to me today are true and faithful and established forever. And I couldn't help but think then of being saved. and what it was like to come to know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. And when I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I did what the Bible told me to do. I called upon Him, I asked Him to forgive me of my sins, I accepted Him into my heart, and He saved me from my sins. I'm thankful it's settled forever. It's established, it's done. Some of you might remember what it was like. I lived in a day and age where a man's word meant something. A handshake was a bond. I can remember when I bought my first car going into the bank and my mom called, well actually my mom called and said, our son Kevin's getting ready to buy a car. He needs $1,000. And they said okay. He gave us $1,000. I remember watching my dad go make deals with other men, and a handshake was all it took. A man's word was his bond, and a man would die trying to fulfill his word. We had an older couple many, many, many years ago that was part of our church, and I was sitting there visiting with him one day, and he was from Arkansas, you remember him. He was from Arkansas and I remember sitting in his house visiting with him. They never lived an elaborate lifestyle, just simple folks, simple life. I love those kind of people. I'm sitting there visiting with him in his room and in his house in the front room. And he shared with me that back when he was a young man, just gotten married, things were tough, and he borrowed, I think it was $400 to put a crop in. And he put a crop in, living in Arkansas, and it failed. Now, you know what they do nowadays, they just say, oh, sorry. He didn't. He came to Kansas City, and he took a job. And his wife and kids lived in Arkansas. And he worked, and he sent money back, and he sent money back, and he sent money back, and he sent money back until that debt was paid off. The good thing was that while he was sending that money back and paying it off, kind of got to like Kansas City. And he realized that, hey, I can make money and not just hope that it's going to come up out of the ground. And so they moved to Kansas City. And then eventually through it all, they ended up becoming members at our church. And he told me, he said, preacher, it was the last time I ever borrowed money. It was borrowed on a handshake. He fulfilled his commitment. They never borrowed money again. Had the opportunity to bury him. Went down to Arkansas and we had the service in the funeral home and then get in the hearse. And we begin up a mountain. If you've not been to Arkansas mountains, you need to go to Arkansas mountains. And we went up on top of a beautiful mountain. It was so beautiful. There was snow, about eight inches of snow. I'd driven in a snowstorm to get there. I mean, it was a mess, but I made it. And we go up on top of this mountain, eight inches of snow. The hearse could only go so far, and I'm glad he had some strong grandsons, because then they had to pick the casket up and walk it in probably another 200 yards to where they were going to bury him. Beautiful place. No, I can't help but think that him and Ray are going to get the jump on us when the rapture happens, because they're right there on top of that mountain, going to go. A man's word, established forever. How much better God's word? For it's established forever in heaven. It's settled, it's clear. You today, if you know Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can take it to the bank. I'm saved, I'm on my way to heaven. I can't lose it, I can't forget about it. I can't get Alzheimer's and wonder, did I ever get saved? All those things cannot happen because it's saved forever. I'm on my way to heaven, it's saved, it's secure. What a wonderful, precious promise, as I think about the covenant and the goodness of God. And he said, it shall be established forever as the moon. As the moon. You know, we have some people among us that are moon watchers. My wife's a moon watcher. She loves the moon. She would many times, we would be driving along, and I'd go, oh, look at the moon. She'd call her dad. Dad, have you seen the moon? And if he hadn't seen the moon, he'd go outside and look at the moon. And they'd talk about the moon. And now she's got this deal with Micah Van Dam. And just about every night, they talk about the moon. Have you seen the moon? And they talk about the moon and all that the moon is. And so the moon is quite an interesting, element, right? It's quite an interesting planet. Some of the study I did said that it's one of five natural satellites in orbit. That's pretty interesting. The moon. The Bible, so I wanted to say, well, you know, how did we get the moon? Well, Genesis 1, verse 14, we're not very far in the Bible, are we? Genesis 114, and God said, let there be lights in the firmament and in the heaven to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light unto the earth, and it was so. And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of heaven to give light unto the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day." So, We've had the moon around for a while, haven't we? It was here before we were here, and the Lord tells us He's coming. It's going to be here when we're gone. Many of us are young earth believers. I would say that the moon is 6,000 years old or less. And yet I had to go online and just read about the hypotheticals, and they claim that the moon could be billions of years old. They also say this, the prevailing theory supported by the scientific community is that the giant impact hypothesis suggests that the moon formed when an object smashed into early Earth like the other planets, Earth formed from the leftover cloud of dust and gas orbiting the young sun, and the early solar system was a violent place, and a number of bodies were created that never made it to full planetary status, and one of these could have crashed into the Earth not long after the young planet was created. It was a violent place. I'm scared to death. This makes me fearful. This was known as a sera. The Mars-sized body collided with the Earth, throwing vaporized chunks of the young planet's crust into space, and gravity bound the ejected particles together, creating a moon that is the largest in the solar system in relation to its host planet. This sort of formation would explain why the moon is made up predominantly of lighter elements, making it less dense than Earth. The material that formed it came from the crust, while leaving the planet's rocky core untouched. As the material drew together around what was left of Thess core, it would have centered near Earth's epiplane, and the path of the sun travels through the sky, which is where the moon orbits today. I think it takes more faith to believe that than it does in reading Genesis chapter one. The moon has been there a long time. You know, this verse tells us about the moon and as a faithful witness in heaven. Every time that you look up and you see the moon, you ought to say, God, thank you for that faithful witness. That faithful witness of who you are. The faithful witness of the fact that you are forever and ever and you've established your word and your rule and your earth and your will will be done. It's established. So the moon ought to take on a greater meaning to us. You know that the moon creates no light. I'm sure most of you, you're very intelligent, you understand all this. The moon creates no light of its own, it's just a reflector. The sun is the light producer, and the moon is the reflector of the light all around the world. Are you thinking with me? The sun and the moon are perfect pictures of the believer and their savior. Jesus is the light of the world. He is the S-O-N, which is far better than the S-U-N, and the moon, on the other hand, is a picture of man. Now, I found it pretty interesting to myself, but I get pretty excited pretty easy that S-U-N, S-O-N, that's pretty cool, M-O-O-N and M-A-N, I'm glad I learned to spell, M and N, and we change, that's pretty exciting to me, but that might just be me. We are to be reflectors of the sun, oh, don't forget, for all the world. As the sun and the moon work hand in hand, by the way, do you know that the moon never, like, alters, it never flips over, and so, I mean, it's in that constant orbit, that one side continually shines forth that light? We are to shine the light as the sun and the moon shine the light upon this earth. We are to be reflectors of the sun to this world in which we live. We are to shine forth the light of Jesus Christ to the sin-dark world in which we live. The Bible tells us There in verse number 37, it shall be established forever as the moon, as a faithful witness in heaven. Look at verse number two there of chapter 89. I found this an interesting verse. Verse number two says, for I have said mercy shall be built up forever. Thy faithfulness shall thou establish in the very heavens. When we look up into the sky, I like to do it during the day and look at the clouds. I'm still a cloud gazer. But I really love it at night, especially when you can get out away from the city and you see all the stars and all the handiwork that God has made. And you see the moon and you see the stars and you see the sun. All those things ought to remind us of the faithful witness of our God. The faithful witness who has promised salvation unto all mankind. The forgiveness of sins that all mankind might be saved. So just as sure as the moon is in the sky, God is faithful to his word. If you ever wonder, is God really gonna come? Is there really gonna be a rapture? Is there really something more to this life? Just look at the faithful witness. those that he has hung in heaven to remind ourself that yes, he is a faithful God, and he's faithful to his promises, and heaven is real, and eternal life is real, and all we need to do is to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, and then we ought to live for him with our lives to be a reflector of the true light of Jesus to this lost and dying world in which we live. Lord, I love you today. I thank you for the moon, the stars, and sun. I thank you for your word. I thank you that as those have been established in heaven, that their picture of the establishment and the faithfulness of our God And we can know, we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we're saved and on our way to heaven. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt we hold your word in our hands. You've preserved it, you have given it to us. We can build our lives off of it. We can live and die by it. Those things we know for sure because you have been so good to establish it that we might see it. the covenant as described that you had with David and your children in Israel. We know that there are parts of that yet to be fulfilled, but we also know that you've established your righteousness among us Gentiles and that heaven might be our eternal home. And we thank you for those promises. And we know that if we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, that you're faithful and true. and that we're saved and at the moment of death that we leave this life and we step into your presence to ever be with you. Thank you for your faithful promises of your word. Use it in our lives and our hearts that we might serve you. We ask these things your blessed name. Amen. Would you stand with me today? A moment of invitation. God spoken to your heart. Encourage and come whatever you need for the fostering. Oh God, and know my heart today. O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray. See if there be some wicked way in me. me from every sin and set me free. I praise thee, Lord. in me from sin. Fulfill thy word and make me pure within. where once I burned with shame, read my desire to magnify thy name. All right, Pastor's trying to get away. I need you to come back up here, Pastor. Somebody has a birthday coming up, so please come on up. We're gonna do this a little bit early. Pastor's gonna be traveling. His birthday is gonna be coming Friday, but we'll be traveling down to college and some other events that he has to do, so join me in singing happy birthday to Pastor Early. All right, a couple announcements. I've got an active fundraiser going on for the kids going to camp. They're selling coffee. Even if you don't drink coffee, you can buy it from me. or anybody else that drinks in it. 12 ounce bag for 12 bucks. Please see any of the kids or Ms. Veazey for more info. Also, Mother's Day tea coming up on Saturday, May 13th. That'll be at 1130 here at the church. There's a sign-up sheet on the back as well. We'll have the Keller's guest missionaries to Italy with us on Wednesday night, May 17th. And then a graduation ceremony coming up for Alyssa Van Dam. Be here at the church. At 7 p.m. Very important youth con coming up. August 1st through the 4th cost is one hundred thirty five dollars. Child. That's due by May the 10th. And. Also camp June 4th through the 9th cost is ninety four fifty per child. That's due May 21st. A couple more things, patch program on May 21st, that'll be in the afternoon. And then we'll have a picnic lunch for the Levas when they arrive, that'll be on Sunday 8th. We'll have that here at the church. Please start thinking about like gift cards or monetary gifts for them. We'll shower them when we get here. So pretty busy couple. All right, Brother Russ, good to have you back. you