at the firstborn. I pray that they'd realize the gravity and importance of getting to God's mercy this morning and that before they leave here today, they'd do what Connor did on Wednesday night and what Jack did on Thursday morning, God, and they'd get to the mercy of God. We thank you again for your mercy. We pray for your mercy throughout this service. And we pray, God, you'd speak to hearts. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask it. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. Now I think you can tell pretty clearly what the main point of this chapter is because 26 times in 26 verses, he said, for his mercy endureth forever. So quite obviously he is hammering home a point all the way through Psalm 136 about the mercy of God. But what I want to preach to you on this morning is giving thanks, or let's say it this way, thank you for your mercy. You'll notice four times in the chapter he says, oh give thanks unto the Lord in verse number one. Oh give thanks unto the God of gods in verse number two. Oh give thanks to the Lord of lords in verse number three. And then he tells him again in verse 26, oh give thanks unto the God of heaven. So you're told four times in the passage to give thanks to God. And you're told 26 times in the passage that God's mercy endureth forever. In the book of Lamentations, in chapter number three and verse number two, it says this, it says, it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because as compassions fail not, they are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness. You guys ever stop to think about how merciful God has been to you? Has a preacher ever told you that God has had mercy on your soul. You live in a day and age where preachers won't tell you that. But it's all through that Bible showing you that God is a merciful God. Can I help you address one of those things that is a huge question in the minds of lots of people and it's an understandable question when you don't know God personally and you don't understand the Bible and the Word of God. You don't have a biblical worldview. It's a very understandable question. The question is this. How could a loving God, how could a merciful God allow death and destruction and war and famine and disease and all the rest of what's going on? You realize that death came by sin, the Bible says, so that death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. What death is, believe it or not, it is the last enemy for the Christian, the Bible says. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. The last enemy you're ever going to face is your death. And it is an enemy. None of us honestly really want to die. We want to live. People that become suicidal become suicidal because they don't like their life. They want their life better. They want out of it It's like a desperation. It's like I want more. I want joy. I want happiness. I don't want this heartbreak I need to escape all this and so in the the trap of the devil and the weakness of the human mind the sinful human mind We say how could a loving God listen a loving God? Recognize that when Adam and Eve fell into sin the worst thing that could ever happen to them would be to live eternally in a sinful painful state It is God's mercy that He puts a time clock on your life and when you get up in the morning and look in the mirror and you start to see the wrinkles on the face and the gray hairs, it is God trying to get your attention and tell you this is going to be over soon. Where are you going with it? What have you done with it? Where are you going afterwards? What was this all about? And it is a merciful God that will not allow you to live forever in the heartbreak that you experience in a sinful world. You realize God desires you to live in paradise. The Bible says, at His right hand are pleasures evermore. When He created them, He created mankind in a perfect place to walk with Him in the cool of the day, in a perfect garden. They were working, but there was no curse associated with work. They were bearing children but there was, she was bearing children, just gotta clarify that. Nowadays you gotta make it clear. She was bearing children but there was no pain in her childbirth. God put mankind in a perfect place and God's desire for your soul is to take you to a perfect place because He is a merciful God. All the pain that you experience, all the heartbreak you experience, is a direct result of sin that God told you not to commit. And yet, guess what? Every last one of you has done. Your preacher included, I'm not talking down to you. Every last one of us has done. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The wages of sin, the payment wages, the wages of sin is death. But, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. You guys realize we ought to be thankful this morning for the mercy of Almighty God on sinners like you and I. Let me say this, and it's harsh and it's direct, but it's true, and I'm not saying it from a mean or harsh heart, okay? I promise you that. Every person in this room, myself, my wife, my children included, every person in this room, if you got what you fully deserved, you would not be sitting there right now. It is God's mercy that He hasn't snuffed your life out already. We got a good God. I want to read this to you. You don't have to turn there. If you can find it quickly, you're welcome to, but I want to read to you in Romans chapter number one. Something very important for you to grab a hold of. The Bible says in Romans 1 verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Verse 19 says, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them. For God has showed it unto them. So here's what he's saying, God's wrath, God's just anger, wrath is anger on another level. It is anger poured out. It is judgment. It says God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness. I don't care what the news media tells you. I don't care what your professor in college tells you. I don't care what the therapist tells you. I'm telling you this morning, God hates ungodliness. God hates sin. Now I'm a rare breed this morning that will stand in a pulpit and tell you God hates sin. God hates ungodliness. These six things doth the Lord hate, yea seven are abomination unto Him. false look, a lying tongue, hands of shenanigans and blood, a heart that devises wicked imagination, feet that are swift in running and mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among the brethren." You guys got to understand that God hates some things. God doesn't hate sin and hate wickedness because He's a hateful God. He hates it because it is the opposite of what He is. It's destruction for your life. Sin is damnation for your soul. And God never intended any human being ever to spend eternity in the lake of fire. The Bible still tells you that hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. God never intended human beings to go to hell. But billions have and billions more will. Because they don't understand the mercy of God. Because they don't want to face the fact that there's a holy God in heaven who is the judge and calls the shots. You have to understand that. God is the one that calls the shots. I want you to grab a hold of that concept as you sit and evaluate me as your preacher or your pastor or both. I'm not here doing my own agenda. I'm not here able to just say, here's how I think it needs to be done, and checking which way the wind's blowing to make sure that I adapt to the culture. That is not my job, not my concern, and not my responsibility. My responsibility is to realize that there's a holy God in Heaven who wrote a book, and we'll go over it tonight. I'll show you. My instructions are clear. My marching orders are definite. He says that I'm to feed the flock of God. I'm to minister the Word of God. I'm to preach the Word of God. That is my job. I didn't write it. I'm responsible to study it and deliver it. And the God that wrote it said, His wrath is against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth. Well, they don't have the truth. Well, okay, but verse 19 says, that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God has showed it unto them. You realize heathen cultures know it's wrong to take somebody else's pig to take their potatoes and to take their wife. Heathen cultures know it's wrong to murder. Written inside of their hearts, they're looking and praying to the rock and they're praying to the tree because they realize they came from somewhere and something greater than them is out there. And I'm here to tell you this morning, any individual anywhere on the planet that really wants the truth, God will see that heart and God will get them the truth. I've got testimonies all over this building of people nobody ever really witnessed to me. just kind of went to this church and went to that church, was looking for God and didn't know who He was or where He was, but God directed their paths and they come to the truth. If you really want the truth, that merciful God in heaven will give you the truth. Boy, I'm thankful for the truth. Look at verse 20, it says this, for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. I'll come back to that in a little bit. Now watch. Here's what I want you to grab a hold of. Because that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, here it is, neither were thankful. And then in that passage he goes down and spells out every kind of wickedness, every kind of debauchery, every kind of sin, every kind of nasty thing that destroys cultures, ruins nations and brought down Rome and is going to bring down the United States of America. And it all started with a lack of thankfulness in people that knew the truth. You know what's sad? We have so much food. that we sit down and eat and we eat so often and snack in between eating that most of us probably don't faithfully stop to say, Lord, thank you for the food. You know what the Lord showed me recently? He showed me recently I take breaths all the time and take it for granted. You have a circulatory system. Your heart is beating. You think nothing of it. Some of you need to do some hospital visits to stop and say, man, I take so much for granted. There's better people than me. I'm going to say this, okay? My wife and I have not heard Charlene complain one time. She has not complained one time, not in our hearing. And the rest of us are complaining. We'll talk about it this evening and murmuring and whining and not stopping to say, God, thank you that I can breathe. Thank you that I can get up and walk. Thank you that my kidneys are working. Thank you that my liver is working. thank you for all your goodness to me, let alone God thank you for your mercy against a sinful man like me." No, instead when God blesses us we just think, oh good, no I deserve it, I'm such a great Christian. That's why God's blessing me and when things go bad it's always the enemy, it's the devil. Rather than, you know, when things go bad, I deserve it, I'm a sinner, and when God blesses me, Lord, God Almighty, thank you for your mercy on a sinful man like me. How could you be good to somebody like me? You just must be a merciful God. That's all I can say. How many of you have ever, go back to Psalm 136 if you turned over to Romans 1. How many of you have ever done something for somebody that didn't deserve it? and they don't even stop to say thank you. How many of you buy your kids a Christmas present or a birthday present and they just expected it, they deserve it, because it's Christmas, of course you're supposed to give me gifts, it's Jesus' birthday. It's about me, you know, Jesus' birthday, me. Of course I deserve some gifts, it's my birthday, how could you not? It's kind of embittering, isn't it? When you do something for somebody out of the goodness of your heart and they don't turn around and say thank you. You go, okay, well that's gonna end. But God, merciful every day. And most of us don't stop and say, Lord, thanks. There's some reasons we have to be thankful, folks. First thing I want to say from this passage that I'm thankful for, it shows God's mercy, is in verses 10 through 22. I'm thankful for the wisdom of God. To him who smote Egypt in their firstborn, for his mercy endureth forever, and brought out Israel from among them, for his mercy endureth forever, with a strong hand, with a stretched out arm, for his mercy endureth forever. To him which divided the sea into parts, for his mercy endureth forever, and made Israel to pass through the midst of it, for his mercy endureth forever, but overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, for his mercy endureth forever. You know what that shows you? Now you know, and we'll look at this in the book of Acts as well, but in the Bible, Egypt is a type of the world, and Pharaoh is a type of the devil. You know what you were without Jesus Christ? You were in slavery under Egypt. You were in slavery under Pharaoh. I get so wore out, and listen, I'm not being, I sound so harsh sometimes, I get it. I get wore out with it. when we're always blaming God. I do the same thing, I understand, I'm as human as you are, but we're always blaming God for all the heartbreaks in our life. And we never stop to say, you know what, that wasn't God. It wasn't God that did that. It was sin that did that. It wasn't God that did that. It was the devil that did that. It wasn't God that did that. It was my own choices that did that. It's not God's fault that there's death in the world and disease in the world. God did not set it up that way. And Lucifer sits back and says, ha ha ha, look at them all getting mad at God for what I did. Look at them all getting mad at God for what they did. when what you need in that moment is you need a relationship with God. You need to know that merciful God that already put it into action, you're all going to die, you understand that, right? If a rapture doesn't occur, you're going to a grave. And people you love are going to a grave. It's going to touch every person in the room sooner or later. That is why as you get older, a rapture sounds better. That is why as you get older, heaven sounds sweeter, because the more people you know over there, the more you look forward to getting there and seeing them. But you've got to understand, that's going to touch every person in the room. It is a law, it is a rule set in place, and sooner or later it's coming. But people say, well how could God? God didn't. We did. God didn't, the devil did. God didn't, our choices did. Well why would God cut some off early? Well what I find in the Bible is that there are times that that happens and it is literally the mercy of Almighty God. Before we stand back and complain about our problems, listen, my wife and I have been there in the hospital, rushing to the hospital in the middle of the night when somebody's little tiny baby, a little baby girl wrapped in a pink blanket died. You preach the funeral, I'll never forget the casket would fit on this pulpit and preach the funeral of a little baby. People stand back and say, how could God? Well what I know about God and what I've learned from the Bible and what I've seen about God is, there was a time in the Old Testament when God looked at a family and He saw how wicked that family was, and He saw the pain and the destruction and the disaster coming in their future, and He said, something's good in that kid and I am not going to let that child live through all the heartbreak and pain and distress that's coming on that family, I'm bringing that one over here. And that little baby wound up in glory with God and wouldn't come back if they could. and yet sinful people and I'm not being hard on you because trust me I understand, I get it, I get it more than you think I get it. I ain't half as tough as some of you think I am. We sit back and say how could God and that child looking down from glory saying you guys just don't get it. I'm good. God's taken better care of me than mommy and daddy ever could have been. And my life is wonderful. I skipped all the mess you guys have to go through. You know what that is, guys? That's a merciful God. In our darkest moments, his mercy is new every morning. And his faithfulness is great. I'm trying to encourage you this morning, God knows things you don't know, and in His wisdom and in His power that I'm so thankful for the wisdom of God, it exceeds our human ability to comprehend. He knows what He's doing. God brings some home early because He's getting them out of Egypt. He's getting them out from what Pharaoh was going to do. My wife's been studying up on, I don't know, a certain gene. If I say it, I'll get it wrong. I think it's EGFR. that it's hitting mostly women and it hits them in their 40s. And they're born with it. It was there. It just doesn't manifest. Now, don't start getting paranoid. Some of you are going to start getting paranoid. You don't do that. You know what that is? Life in a sinful world. But you know what God knows? God knows what was coming down the road. We have to trust his mercy. Sometimes God says, no, I'm taking them out, I'm not leaving her stuck in Egypt, I'm not leaving her under Pharaoh, I'm not leaving her there to see what the devil's gonna do and what destruction's gonna do, what sin's gonna do. It's gonna be better for her if I take her home. I believe that. By faith. I can't prove it, but I'm telling you, when I get to heaven, I'm gonna turn around, if God lets me, and say, I told y'all, I told y'all, because we're all gonna recognize how wise God is when we get there. And even when we don't understand, He had it. He had it. He had it. He has it. Trust Him. Thank Him for His mercy. You guys realize how amazing it is that you're saved, if you're saved? I want to read to you 1 Corinthians chapter 1. And I want to start in verse number 17. If you don't know where it's at then please don't, you know, get distracted by trying to find it because I'll read it to you accurately. Those of you that can find it quickly, 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 17. The Bible says this, for Christ sent me not to baptize. Now how about that? Churches are telling you you've got to be baptized to be saved. But to preach the gospel. Watch it, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. Know what you have a lot of nowadays? Really professional, really wise, really great speakers. And what that professionalism does is it puts credit and glory and recognition on the man, but what preaching does is it has an effect. I want this church to understand God is not done with preaching. I do not care what the culture says or does. I'm telling you, you don't have to like it. I want you to, like I said Wednesday night, I want you to like me. But I can never let that influence what I do in this pulpit. Noah was a preacher, a preacher of righteousness. In a filthy world that God got so fed up with, he drowned it out. The waters of God's judgment. But he had a man there, and that man for 120 years preached, and preached, and preached, and preached, and the culture never accepted it, and public opinion was running everywhere, and people were saying, well if he didn't yell so much, I don't understand why he has to lift his voice. And if he was more loving, hey people might respond, Noah, if you were more loving. And Noah said, yeah, but the wrath of God is revealed against all unrighteousness, and on God leads a man who holds the truth of unrighteousness, and you know you're wicked, and God's judgment is coming, and you need to get in the boat, you're going to die. They said, well, you know, I appreciate that and everything, Noah, but if you just say it different, I get in the boat. And God said, Noah, preach. God told Ezekiel. spite with the hand and stomp with the foot. God told Isaiah, cry aloud, spare not. Cry aloud, spare not. Pour your guts out to them, don't hold anything back, and let My people know that they're sinners. Because the judgment of God is coming. And it's God's mercy that sends preachers. And nowadays, nobody wants to do that job. Can I tell you something? It's a much harder job than you think. And none of us are immune from criticism or public opinion. None of us. We have to learn to shut that off, but we're not immune from it, not even your preacher. But I'm telling you, God has chosen preachers, and He hasn't backed that order off. And when I go into prophecy and I start looking at the Tribulation period, where the Bible says when the Lord comes, the fish of the sea quake, and the beasts of the earth tremble, and the mountains fall, and the walls cave in, and men fear before God at the judgment. Before that happens, He sends angels flying in the heavens, preaching, while the world is literally burning down. Angels are flying preaching, fear God and keep His commandments. Folks, they're not flying in the heaven going, fear God and keep His commandments. God loves you. Everybody, God loves you. Well, hell has released onto the earth. Devils are from hell torturing men personally. The world is burning down and World War III is going to beat the band. And it's coming to a theater near you. You guys think everything going on in this world right now is pure coincidence? I asked Brother Wheeler last week, I said, tell me about that flood. He said it 100% was an act of God. Isn't it funny that your insurance companies still have an act of God? He said it was an act of God. That's the buckle of the Bible, Bill, and they've all abandoned God and abandoned preaching and got away from the Bible. He said it's nothing like it was even 20 years ago when you were there. That's scary. These weather patterns going on. You know what some were saying? Some were saying that that hurricane that came through there and hit North Carolina was a terrorist attack because terrorists were flying over the hurricane, dropping ice into the hurricane to reroute it to send it up through North Carolina. And people believe that. People take that seriously. They'll tell you that all this stuff is man-made and man-created when the wind's over there, the fire started, and the winds are over there like a blowtorch coming through at 100 miles an hour in California right now. The authorities are coming through saying, get out of your cars and run. The people are leaving their cars in the road running from the fire. Los Angeles, you know, the city of angels. Nobody knows this stuff. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, I'm a Bible man. And the Bible's living out right in front of you. And you're seeing it. And let me tell you something, it's gonna get worse, not better. Now remember that three years from now. When they're going down the road with bulldozers pushing the cars out of the way so that the help can come through. God's chosen preaching. And God's not done with preaching. Here's the problem. In verse 18 of 1 Corinthians 1, it says, For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. Why has He got to act like that? Because I'm preaching. You don't know what preaching is. I got your attention though. You heard it. When you were starting to daydream, we pulled you back in again. You got the message, that's why God chooses preaching. You say, well that's just foolish, why's he got to act like that? I mean I want to bring my educated and my experienced and my wealthy friends with me to church and they would love it if he would just, if they got to know pastor personally, they'd really like him. I mean on a personal level, but man when he gets in the pulpit, I don't know why he has to act like that. Because you know the influential rich people aren't going to come to our church like that. Well that's awfully judgmental of you, number one. You don't know the economic status of people around you. Number two, God didn't call me to appease the wise or to pacify the rich or to patronize the old. God called me to help them. And you know how I help them? I help them by giving them God. And how God works is right here, as clear as the nose on my face, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. I will bring to nothing the understanding of the proven. Here's God calling them out now. Where's the wise? Where's the scribe? Where's the disputer in this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? Yes, he has. This world's an absolute mess. I bumped into the guy that actually trained a lot of what my wife does and knows and he was telling me all about the stock market and the bond market and then the feds just printing all the money and rushing into the market and what that looks like and why it's going to take Trump a little while to turn everything around and what's going to happen and how it's all, you know what it is? It's the wisdom of this world and what's happening is they're creating an absolute super storm of a complete mess. Very interesting conversation. And all I'm thinking is, yep, the wisdom of this world sure is a train wreck. I'm glad I got God, man. I'm glad I got God. He says this in verse 21, for after that in the wisdom of God. See it? For after that in the wisdom of God. The world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them they believed. You know what's amazing about what God's doing here? We're just preaching. That's all we're doing. We're just opening the Bible and preaching to you. And you're coming and you're going, well, that's right. That's right. That's right. And people keep getting saved. They keep telling us, you know, you're going to use the younger generation, you know, you got to do like the praise and worship thing and pastor needs to wear skinny jeans and know the handshakes, you know, and be like cool, you know what I'm saying? Well, why is it all these young guys keep coming? Why is it they keep getting saved? Let me tell you something about who gets mad, who doesn't like it. It's the same people that don't like it. It's the same people that are all cleaned up and got it together and got their perfect little world, their little lay out of seeing world. They're rich and increased with goods and they got everything going for them and everything's all smoothed out. But for whatever reason, I seem to make friends with the young guys that don't even know the Lord and are living like hell. They seem to say, I appreciate a man talking to me like I'm a man. It's funny to me how many of these young people that have gotten all the wisdom of the world and listened to all the stuff that they've been teaching are saying it doesn't, it just doesn't make any sense what they're saying. Hey, after that and the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching. They finally see somebody that says, that man believes what he's saying. He actually stands for something that's true. He's not patronizing us and he doesn't care whether we like him or not. He wants us to have the truth. And from the depths of my soul, I want you to have the truth. And God works in this. You think I like it? I don't always like it. I get embarrassed of myself. I can't watch myself on the internet. I hate the fact that I'm even on the internet. It discourages me. But it pleases God. So whatever makes Him happy is all that's going to matter in 50 years. And those of you that are on your way to Heaven now and weren't, you make it worth it. I'm going to keep preaching because I am thankful, I'm thankful for God's mercy and the fact that He has wisdom that rises so far above my understanding, and trust me, I have some understanding. I get people. I, in a bad, in just like a negative way. Sorry. I know what makes them tick. I could sell ice cream to an Eskimo. I didn't know that I had that ability until God forced me into that job. If I believe in the ice cream. And this is not the way to do it. You do understand that, right? In the wisdom of God, by wisdom the world knew not God, God exposes their foolishness by having you, well, you know, you just came from a monkey. How did all this get here? A big bang. What? It's evolving. If that's true, then as time goes on I should be getting younger. I'm not evolving. I'm literally falling apart. My neighbor sends out a group text to a bunch of guys, hey guys, we're training at my house on Thursday. Like, I didn't answer. Jiu-jitsu. They're a bunch of cops. They're all young cops and they're all twice my size. Mike, question mark. Sure, Thursday sounds great. I am looking for an excuse. You know why? I'm falling apart. I just know how I'm going to feel afterwards. I've enjoyed the last couple years of being able to walk and get out of bed and make a fist and all that stuff. It's been a blessing. I am not evolving. Nothing around me is evolving. The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, and God let them rise to the level they rose to, and get out there with all that message, just so God could break that message down, and I'm telling you this morning, this generation is seeing the breakdown of that message, and what we need are some people that are bold enough to preach the Word of God to somebody, so they can recognize the difference in the two! And that's how God set it up. And He hasn't changed. But the culture has. In 1 Corinthians chapter 2, Paul says this in verse number 1, And I, brethren, when I came unto you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. You guys think I'm bold, don't you? A lot of you think I'm bold. You've told me that. I'm not being arrogant. You've told me that. Do you want to know what my sweating is? It's nerves. I still hate being in front of people. I can dry up all week long and then Sunday morning, Just getting my notes out and praying and getting ready, not even leaving the house yet, my nerves are firing up. I'm with you in weakness. My frame is frail, but my anchor holds. Any boldness I get comes from God giving me the boldness to do what I do. Weakness and fear and much trembling. That's what Paul was. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit with a capital S. It was God and the Spirit of God as we're seeing in Acts gives boldness and a power that your faith, watch it, should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. I'm trying to tell you this morning that the power of God is seen in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and his delivering you out of Egypt back, if you would please, to Psalm 136. He delivered you out of Egypt, and he did it through the preaching of the word of God, through the preaching of the gospel. What we need today are Bible preachers. He not only delivered you out of Egypt, but he delivered you from the clutches of the devil. Look at verse 18, and slew famous kings, for his mercy endureth forever. Sihon, king of the Amorites, for his mercy endureth forever. And Og, the king of Bashan, for his mercy endureth forever. You know what God did in his wisdom, the wisdom of God? He gave you the gospel. And then on top of that, he parts the Red Sea, gets you out of Egypt, brings you into the Promised Land, and gives you the victory over the rich and famous. Do you hear me? He slew famous kings and powerful kings. You know what happened to you when you were in the world in sin? You got caught up in something. Every one of you did. You got caught up in something. You were in the clutches and the control of it. You know what our entire nation has happened to our entire nation? Our thinking has become under the control of the rich and famous. Now people even walk in and judge a preacher based on what the news says. It's not funny to you how was it Meta and Amazon or whatever have rolling back their policies because they're not making enough money? Did you guys catch that? Had nothing to do with standing for what's right. It had nothing to do with being willing to sacrifice and take whatever's coming to do the right thing. It had everything to do with it's hitting their pocketbook. controlled by the rich and famous. You know what God's wisdom does? God's wisdom delivers you from that thought process. You realize how much of our thinking is messed up and our emotions get messed up because we have a constant influx of information and influence being put in our face 24-7 all the time and it's not the wisdom of God controlling the way we think and look at life. You're not looking at your marriage based on what the Bible says. Not looking at your children based on what that Bible says. Not looking at your finances based on what that Bible says. We're looking at everything based on the way we're told to think. And then you run into a maverick like me. I'm not really a maverick. I'm not rebellious toward him. But I will swim upstream until I die by the grace of God to be right with him and to think the way that book tells me to think. And people think I'm crazy. I don't think so. You know what I did? It was a great thing. I removed from my home screen all my news apps. I have to go search in the search bar and pull them up to find them. That was part of my personal New Year's. I said I want less and less of that information in my face. I only found out about the wildfires because Berlucci called me and asked me to pray for his brother. I'm like what's going on? And I looked it up. I want God to control my thinking. You know what's funny? It's funny to me that the world can be burning down and it has absolutely no impact on my life and my sleep pattern. Whenever any of you need me, my phone rings. I know what I need to know when I need to know it and I'm there to do my job. The rest of it I can't control anyhow. The wisdom of God will deliver us from the wickedness of this world. And what we need is the wisdom of this book, not just the wisdom of the gospel. If you're not saved, you need to get saved because you're still under the control of the devil. You're still in the world. But the wisdom of this book is seen in verse 16, to him who led his people through the wilderness. You know what God's mercy is? God's mercy on your life is giving you a book that will guide and direct your decisions. I look out at some of you young people and my heart gets so overwhelmed and burdened because you're making decisions one day at a time and your whole future, listen to me, your whole future is riding on the choices you make right now. You're either going to have a blessed life that will still be full of troubles and struggles. Can I get a witness? Life's tough. Like my preacher said, life's tough, but I'm tougher. I never forgot that. It's helped me a time or two. Life is tough, but I can tell you this, life can be really, really sweet. There is nothing like being with the same person for 22 years and going through some ups and some downs. She started sending me pictures the other day and I'm just a list of pictures. And every one of them was a bad time. And she said we've been through a lot together. One of the pictures, I'll show you how sappy I actually am. One of the pictures was me hovered over my dog while he was dying and rubbing his face. I still miss him. My theology changed a little bit when he died. I think some dogs do go to heaven. I hope so. There's nothing like it. Life's tough. But boy, it's awful sweet when the Lord directs it. But when the Lord doesn't direct it, it's nasty, man. It's nasty. and it just gets nastier. I wanna be led by God. I want my decisions, I want your decisions to be led by God. And God gave you this book and this church and a preacher and a church family to help guide your life in a way that God can bless it and help you through your problems because he's merciful. Why should God, seriously think about this, why should God talk to me? Why should he lead me? Do you know how many times God has talked to me and I've ignored him? You know how many times God said do it and I didn't? Don't do it and I did? You know what God still does? He still talks to me. I'll give thanks unto the Lord for his mercy. In the wisdom he has in the gospel, in the wisdom he has in this book, and he still talks to me when I don't deserve him to talk to me. Look at this. He feeds us. Look at verse 25. Who giveth food to all flesh for his mercy endureth forever. Well, I mean, we're Americans, so we take the food for granted. But here's what I'm not taking for granted, the food He gives me for my soul. I know a lot of people have plenty of food for their belly and too much, and their souls are starving. Listen, God wants to feed you in your heart. You can't find that at the bottom of a liquor bottle. You can't find it at the end of a joint. You can't find it on www.whatever. You can't find it in fornication. You can't find it in adultery. You can't find it in money in the stock market or in a job or a career. All you find at the end of all those roads is more of the same more heartbreak, more discouragement, more depression, more regret. But what you find in the Word of God is food for your soul and a help from God that helps you put into perspective all the issues you're dealing with and build something with your life. Man, I thank God for His wisdom. I thank God for His wonders. Look at verse number four. To him who alone doeth great wonders. for His mercy endureth forever. Then he shows you in verses five through nine the wonders of God and His creation. Now listen, I'm just gonna say this and move on. Bible believers, real Bible believers are not against science. That is a lie taught from people who are against the Bible. God is the creator of science. The Bible's not against science. It warns us about science falsely so called. What is science? In order for it to be scientific, it has to be what? Observable and repeatable. Does anybody know where I'm going with that? Who saw the Big Bang? Who's repeated it? Absolutely unscientific. But that book, that book is very scientific. The God that wrote the Bible put science in the Bible before scientists found it out. I got over a hundred of them. And I know the dates and times when science caught up with what the Bible already said. And you know what's funny about the wisdom of men? Men for centuries made fun of the Bible because of certain things in the Bible that only with modern science are they beginning to find out the Bible was right all along. because God in Heaven, in His mercy, put that book in your life so you could know it was God. It's got His fingerprints on it, it's got His power on it, and you have to be ignorant and or lazy to not find the truth of that thing. It is a wonder of Almighty God! You get up in the morning and see the sunrise, and the sunset, and see the stars, and the power of the snow, and all that God's done in creation, and can't see that there's a God in the heavens that created it all! You have to not want to see the truth. It's the wonders of God, and it's His mercy. What about all the unanswered questions? That's the wonders of God. I don't have all the answers, and I'm glad I don't, because if I did, I'd be God. But I'm telling you, He does. The wonders of God is seen in creation. The wonders of God is seen as His creatures in verse 23, who remembered us in our lowest state. You guys realize what a miracle the human body is? You know the doctors can't figure it all out. You know how complex your nervous system is? Your circulatory system, your digestive system, how your cells are turning over every so often. You, you, you are a miracle that defies imagination. that the brightest minds on the planet with the most expensive technologies cannot figure out. They figure a lot out. Thank God for what they do figure out. Amen? But they still don't have all the answers. But God does. Before thou form me in the belly, thou knowest me. I said it recently. I think it bears repeating. Some of you need to knock off your unthankfulness. I wish I was taller. I wish I was shorter. I wish I had blue eyes. I wish I had brown eyes. I wish I was better looking. I wish I was thinner. I wish I was stockier. I wish I was like her. I wish I was like him. Yeah, well take it up with God. What would you change about yourself if you could change anything, Pastor Reagan? I'd be more like Jesus. Less of me and more of him. I don't get the excuse of, well it's just my personality. Well my personality without God can't pastor people. But God called me to do it. So God has to change me to make me a good one because I want to be a good one. Wouldn't change anything. He used to drive me crazy when I was a kid that I wasn't taller. My dad is 6'2", my uncles are all over 6'', my cousins are 6'6", 6'4", 6'3", and I'm the oldest Reagan of my generation. And I'm 5'6". And I was 5'6 at 15, stopped growing. And I used to just obsess about it, you know. My dad said, Mike, who by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature? It didn't help me at all back then. It's helped me a lot now. God knew what He was doing. It's God's business and it's none of my business. But watch this, let me show you something. That's a blessing. I didn't do that for myself. You didn't create you and you don't have a right to complain about you. Just give what you are to the God that made you and let him do something with your life. Quit looking at everybody else's Facebook and Instagram and comparing yourself to all their doctored up photos, girls. Do you hear me? Stuff ain't realistic, boys. Don't call me a boy. Well, I think like a man and I won't call you a boy. That stuff ain't realistic. And it's going to cripple you in more ways than you want to think about because I'm telling you it'll destroy your mind, it'll destroy your heart, and it'll destroy the reality of what God will give you in a blessing of a marriage. It's the wonders of God that created human beings and keeps us alive. I'm thankful for His mercy. The last thing I want you to see is the waters of God in verse 6. To Him that stretched out the earth above the waters. for his mercy endureth forever. You say, what about the waters, brother? Well, listen, don't have time to teach on it all this morning, but you study waters in your Bible, they're the judgment of God. You know what he did in Genesis chapter one? The earth was without form and void in verse two, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of God moved on the face of the waters. The planet you're sitting on is the second planet. This is actually the first planet recreated Lucifer was the God of this world and still is the God of this world, but before he fell, God put him over the earth and it was floating in water like a bobber. And when he tried to exalt himself, God sunk it and destroyed it by water. Judgment of God. Then in Genesis chapter one, in the recreation, he divides the water from the water and suspends the earth on nothing, which is what you're in right now. Noah comes along in Genesis chapter 6, God drowns them out because of their wickedness. The second time God's waters show up in judgment, wipes out the whole world with water. And then He promised Noah, I'll put a bow in the sky, and that bow is my promise that when it's raining hard you'll know I'm never again going to destroy the earth with water. The third time He is going to destroy it and He's going to do it by fire. because God works in threes. And then He's going to bring down the new heaven and the new earth where we're going to spend eternity. He's going to burn this one up. How about that? The Bible's an amazing book. Well, the Bible's boring. You just haven't had anybody teach you the Bible that actually studied the Bible to teach it to you. That's an amazing book. You know what I'm thankful for? I'm thankful that the waters of judgment flooded over the soul of my Savior. because my judgment's already been paid for. What the Bible tells you in the Song of Solomon, it says, many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it. If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contend. I'm thankful for the mercy of God in the waters of judgment that were poured out on the Lord Jesus Christ. Floods overwhelmed him. The wrath of God on him for me. I'll never forget years and years ago, there was 2 different guys in the same, I don't know, same 6 month, maybe year span. One of those guys was just a hardcore, lifelong felon in his mid-30s at the time. He had a scar on his neck all the way around here because somebody at a bar tried to slit his throat with a razor from behind, caught him, got him real fast like that, slit him all the way around there. He had been shot. He's just a tough, violent felon. And one night he had gotten saved and been attending our church. He had kids from multiple different women and he was with another girl and one of his exes, I mean the one I think he really deserved, the two of them needed each other, you know what I mean? She come into the trailer where he's sleeping on the couch and she grabbed a baseball bat. That's funny, you can laugh. He's a tough guy, he can handle it. She grabbed a baseball bat and started tuning that boy up. Boy, he had it coming too, you know? Don't do that, it's wrong, but I'm just saying, give me a little compassion. I know the story, you don't, okay. Daddy is none of you would be like, oh, that's terrible, okay. She started tuning him up, well, he lost it, you know, got it out of her hand and he beat her up real bad. And that's terrible, you know, and you should never hit a woman even if she's hitting you with a bat because you'll go to jail and she won't. And you shouldn't, you shouldn't hit a woman, but he tuned her up. And he was all broken hearted about it and crying and his past just coming back to haunt him. And he'd been trying, he'd been in church and he'd been trying. So I wrote a letter to the judge, I showed up in court in a suit, and I told him beforehand, I said, now listen to me. When you go in there with your record, I know this judge, this guy's tough. I said, all you should say to him is, sir, I'm wrong, I deserve it, and I'm sorry, I'll take my punishment like a man, and then sit down. I'm sitting there waiting and he had his chance to speak. He stood up, that big old beard, all just body builder, big old strong guy, tough as nails. He said, your honor, I've gotten saved recently and I'm trying to turn my life around and I messed up, I failed, I'm wrong and I deserve whatever judgment the court sees that I deserve. Thank you for hearing me and sat down. And that judge said, he was like this, he was holding my letter and he looked up and he said, where's Mike Reagan? I stood up and he just looked at me. He looked at him, he said, alright, based on your record I should throw the book at you, but based on your confession I'm going to give you the least possible punishment I can give you according to the law. You know what he found? Mercy. I went in there with another kid shortly thereafter and he was a small-time punk. And he'd been trying and he'd gotten saved and I'd been telling him the same thing, like listen, just stand up and just say I deserve it because you do. You broke your probation. You're an idiot, okay? So I'm not talking to a young man. That's okay, ladies. I know that you wouldn't, but I was talking to a young man and he's a tough guy. I said, you're an idiot. You deserve it. So just let's get this behind us and let's move forward with our lives. So take what you got coming. And that little guy, he stood up. And the judge just went, you done? And he literally just, he just, not literally, but figuratively threw the book at him. He calls me, are you going to come visit me? No. No, I'll see you when you get out. I'm not wasting my time to come visit you. You don't listen. You don't deserve mercy. Mercy is that benevolent mildness or tenderness of heart which disposes a person to overlook injuries or to treat an offender better than he deserves. The disposition that tempers justice and induces an injured person to forgive trespasses and injuries, to forbear punishment, to inflict less than law or judgment will warrant. It's pity and it's compassion but only towards offenders. See the problem in our culture today is we can't find enough offenders. People that recognize they're an offender to give God thanks for his mercy. This morning my message to you is when is the last time you just gave God some thanks for being so merciful to you? Staying to our feet this morning with our heads bowed and our eyes closed. If you're here this morning and you're not saved, can I tell you that if you come