Can I preach now? Amen. Psalms 136 tonight. Thank you. Appreciate both these families being with us and glad to partner with them. And again, I'll say it. It's amazing what God is doing in our church. And I believe this, we decided first of the year, we're going to take on 10 to 12 missionaries. We've done a few more than that. Ms. Angie, you got any idea how many we've taken on? 26 or 27, so that's close enough to 10 or 12, and God's done amazing things already financially with the church, and we've seen visitors, we've seen people saved, and I'm telling you, I like it, I like excitement, I like activity, I like to see, I don't wanna pastor a dead church, I don't want you going to a dead church, and like I told you, whenever I lose the zeal and the vision, I'll just get out of the way and let somebody else do it. So if you come here and thought, man, I'm just gonna hang here Not do much and you're probably going to be uncomfortable around here. So Psalms 136, the Bible said, Oh, give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth forever. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, uh, to the God of gods for his mercy endureth forever. Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords for his mercy endureth forever. To him who alone doeth great wonders for his mercy endureth forever. To him that by wisdom made the heavens for his mercy endureth forever. To him that stretched out the earth above the waters for his mercy endureth forever. To him that made great lights for his mercy endureth forever. And the sun to rule by day for his mercy endureth. Have you got the theme yet? Amen. The moon and stars to rule by night for his mercy endureth forever. To him that 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 and with a stretched out arm for his mercy endureth forever. To him which divided the Red Sea and 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 and for his mercy endureth forever. And to him which led his people through the wilderness for his mercy endureth forever. And to him which smoked great kings for his mercy endureth forever and slew famous kings for his mercy endureth forever. And Sihon king of the Amorites for his mercy endureth forever and Og the king of Bashan for His mercy endureth forever and gave their lands for a heritage for His mercy endureth forever. Even a heritage unto Israel, His servants for His mercy endureth forever, who remembered us in our lowest state. Can I say amen right there? I mean, the God of glory remembered me in my lowest state. And we ought to just take time, as he mentioned, to give God some praise, at least this week, if not any other time, that God would look down on us. And he reminds us here, he remembered us in our lowest state and hath redeemed us from our enemies, who giveth food to all flesh for his mercy endureth forever. And finally, the psalmist ends this psalm with this, oh, give thanks unto the Lord God of heaven, to the God of heaven. for his mercy endureth forever. And so I wanna, I just wanna share with you for a few moments here, it's not gonna be a long message tonight, but I think it would do us well as we come up on the Thanksgiving and Christmas season to remember exactly all the things that the psalmist here says that he's praising God for. And it's not just his mercy endureth forever, It's a list of things that he does, and it's really who he is. And so a psalm is a song, and the psalmist recounts the goodness of God. I want to ask you this evening, could you take a moment, here's what I've found, Brother Barry, when I'm thanking God for who he is and all he's done, I don't complain. When I forget to thank God is when I start to complain. When I'm able to find fault in other people instead of focusing on the goodness of God and His mercy enduring forever, what happens is I forget the goodness of God. And so the psalmist here is saying, listen, I don't ever want to get too far away from God's mercy. I don't ever want to get too far from remembering that I don't deserve anything and that everything that I have is not only the grace of God but also the mercy of God that he withholds those things from me that I deserve. So he goes on to talk about the goodness of God. And may I say this tonight? God is good because that's who he is. You do well to remember that, amen, because there'll be times in your life where you won't think God is doing good things to you and for you, but that does not change the character of God. You want to quote Romans 8, 28, that's fine. But you have to realize that there are times you will not understand what God's doing in your life. And if you really trust God, you've got to trust God in those times when it doesn't make sense as much as when He lays out the bounty in front of you and explains to you what He's doing. This family right here, I promise you there'll be times he's already experienced as a pastor in ministry and it's like, well God, I'm not getting this. Well he's getting ready to get it, amen. And so he mentioned it, he's in it for the long haul. Brother Ray Dank, y'all were in it for the long haul. We don't always see God's hand but we have to know that God is good and whatever he's doing is good. And so notice over and over the thing we see is this, his mercy endures forever. His mercy does not endure, Brother Johnny, for a small time frame. What the psalmist is saying, if you think from eternity past, to eternity future and you understand that there's no beginning and no end to who God is that the mercy that he has, it always has been and it always will be there's no exhausting it, there's no extinguishing it and he's always given his mercy to those that don't deserve it Now may I say that about make Episcopalian shout a little bit because God gives us what we don't deserve and he always, hey listen, from the foundation of the world he's given us what we don't deserve and he'll continue until the end of time which will never be to give us what we don't deserve. And so notice over and over the thing we see is His mercy endures forever. And that characterizes who God is. Mercy and it does not end. Hallelujah. So notice everything God does for us or doesn't do to us is His mercy and it is everlasting and endures. And He withholds what we deserve and gives us much more than we deserve. God is withholding from you and me what I really deserve. If I got what I deserved, I'd be in hell right now with my back broke suffering for all eternity. But God withholds that. So what is this psalm about, really? Well, three things I'll share with you. Number one is his character. In verses one through nine, we see his character. In verse one, the Bible said, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good. That is a characteristic of who he is. He is good, amen? You need to get it, and I do too. He's good, amen? Why is he good? Well, God is good, and all that he does is good. And so therefore, he only does good. You say, preacher, you're talking in circles. No, I'm helping us understand that whatever God does is good, and we may not always understand the goodness of God, but he can do absolutely nothing that is not good. So if God is allowing it in your life, he's allowing it for your good because he is good. So number one, his character is his goodness in verse number one, but then in verse two and three, we see his godliness. Notice what the Bible said, oh, give thanks unto the God of gods. Hallelujah. Then in verse three, he said, oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords. I hear it all the time, Brother Redd, people say, well, do you believe in lordship salvation? You call it whatever you want to call it. You say, do you think you have to make him the Lord of your life? You don't have to, but may I say this? That's who he is. He's the Lord. Right here, the psalmist said he's the Lord of lords. I mean, you call it whatever you want to. You can put all the royalty, all the authorities, you can stack them all there and put them on this side and put over here Jesus Christ and he sent all them. He's the Lord of the lords. Amen? I'm glad, listen, I have no problem saying you can be the Lord of my life. You can occupy the throne of my life because I know that he's good and he does all things well, and if I just get out of the way and let him rule my life, you know what'll happen? It'll always turn out right. Where I've got in trouble and where you've got in trouble, where I've said, God, I'll take this when you step off to the side. I don't need to bother you here. And you know what? I end up having to bother him later because I make a mess out of it. See, his godliness, he is the God of gods. Man, I don't want to be no Muslim because their God is no match for my God. I don't want to be a Buddhist. Why? Because their little fat God is no match for our God. I don't want to be an atheist. You have to have faith to be an atheist. You gotta have more faith to be an atheist than you do to be a Christian. You have to believe there is no God that created all that you see. That's the craziest thing I've ever heard. That's almost as crazy as to believe you came from a monkey. I believe some did, right? Teaching in colleges, they've got PhDs now. That's about how much sense they have. But aren't you glad you didn't come from a, you are wonderfully made, you are designed, you are created after the God of glory, amen. And so we're talking about he's the God of God, the Lord of lords, he's above all, amen. The Bible said one day every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is what? Lord, amen. The devil's gonna, he's gonna be thrown in the lake of fire. He'll bow one day. Aren't you, I'm gonna be so glad, Brother Jerry, one day I'm gonna see that old devil, old slew foot. Amen, old scratch. All the trouble he's caused in our lives and he's gonna bow his unworthy knee before a holy God and God's gonna cast him in the lake of fire for the final time. What a celebration, hallelujah. See, no one compares to him. No one can do what he can do. So he talks of his goodness, his godliness, and then verse four through nine talks of his greatness. You say, what's the difference? Well, let's let the Bible speak for itself. The Bible said in verse four, to him who alone doeth great wonders. He's in a category, brother Matt, all by himself. And the psalmist who intimately knew him says in verse four, he alone. In other words, let me say this. First of all, he don't need your help. He doesn't have to call the Baptist Council. He don't have to call me. He don't have to call Hammond. He don't have to call Murfreesboro. He don't have to call Lancaster. He don't have to call anybody and ask permission. God can do whatever he wants to, Brother Foy, whenever he wants to, and he don't have to ask permission. He can use whoever he wants to, however he wants to. You can go to Bible college, not go to Bible college. I was telling Brother Seth, I said, some of the greatest preachers we've ever had been them old mountain preachers. They ain't been to Bible college, can't hardly read, but boy, they know how to get a hold to God, amen. God can do what he wants to. The Bible said here, he alone doeth great wonders, for his mercy endureth forever. To him that by wisdom made the heavens, for his mercy endureth forever. To him that stretched out the earth above the waters. So what I'm saying is, he does great wonders. The Psalmist said in 72, 18, who only doeth wondrous things. That's all he can do. Amen. Can you imagine that no matter what you do, it's always wondrous? I mean, salvation, why did he save you and me? I'm telling you what, he didn't get much when he got us, did he? But I sure am glad he got something. We were worth it. He went to Calvary for you and went to Calvary for me. And now I want to spend the rest of my life showing him that he didn't make a mistake. I don't want him to think he made a mistake, Brother Jerry. I don't want him to look at me one day and say, I shouldn't have saved him. He's not given me a whole lot. He's worth more than that to me. Why? Because I know what he brought me out of. You didn't know me like I knew me. And boy, I'm gonna tell you, when Jesus passed by my way, April 21st, 1996, and saved me, he didn't get a whole lot, but I sure did. Amen. His greatness. Boy, I'm glad we serve a great God. I believe if I didn't serve a great God, I'd just quit and go find me one, wouldn't you? Amen. So number one, this Psalm, we ought to thank God, give thanks to him because of his character, but number two, because of his care. Listen, his character has to always come before his care because when you don't think that he cares for you, then you'll doubt his character. if the character doesn't come first. You have to understand he's great and he's good and then when the care doesn't make sense. Brother Shane, I don't understand why God would allow some of his saints to have cancer. I don't know. I don't know why God would let some of them suffer. I don't understand that. But see, his ways are not my ways. So his care, he deals in verses 10 through 16, and we won't read all of it, but I'll point out some stuff. The Bible said in verse 10, to him that smote Egypt in their firstborn. Verse 11, brought out Israel from among them. Verse 12, with a strong hand. Verse 13, divided the Red Sea. Verse 14, made Israel to pass through the midst of it. Verse 15, overthrew Pharaoh. 16, led his people through the wilderness. Well, can you understand, I know you can, I'm just reminding you of this thing, His care for you started way before your salvation. See, when you look at the children of Israel, when they called on God, they were in bondage. They were slaves to Pharaoh and they weren't serving God. Yet because of His compassion and long-suffering and love for them, He heard their cry and He sent Moses to rescue them out of bondage. May I say before you ever got saved, the Bible said God commended his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. We love him because he first loved us. You didn't love God first. The Holy Spirit drew you to him. The Holy Spirit showed you the goodness of God. And then you realize, man, being saved is a whole lot better than being lost. Going to heaven's a whole lot better than going to hell. The goodness of God's a whole lot better than the goodness of this world. And the Holy Spirit showed you that. And you said, I believe I'll choose Jesus Christ. You're saved from the bondage. Not just the penalty of sin, right? But you're also saved from the power of sin. Sin does not rule over you. Now, you may let it, but you have the power to overcome the sin. I get so tired of people saying, well, I can't help it. I can't help it. I can't help it. Well, let me ask you something. Who are you? One minute you want to have free will and autonomy and the next minute you're saying something controls you. Well, you need to be controlled by the Holy Spirit of God. You're controlled by the Holy Spirit of God. We can overcome the world. That's what the Bible tells us, right? I'm just saying that tonight as you look at these things, we have to understand that God was searching for you before you ever searched for Him. I'm glad he saved me. He rescued them from Egypt. He parted the Red Sea, which is a picture of salvation. But then not only his salvation, his strong arm. What's that mean? He overthrew their enemies. He corrected his people when needed. See, that's what we don't... Brother Ty, that's what we like, overthrowing the enemies, but we don't like when God takes that strong hand and corrects us. Right? Man, that shepherd, he doesn't just use that staff to beat the wolves off. Sometimes he has to use it to swat the sheep back in line. Amen. You ought to thank God for the chasing hand of God. If it weren't for that, you know where I'd be? I'd be off in a chasm somewhere. I'd be off in the ditch somewhere if it weren't for God. But aren't you glad he loves you? And here's what he does. He'll take that staff and he'll tap you a little bit. Come on, let's get back where we're supposed to be. Come on, let's get there. But we're, the Bible said all we like sheep of what? Gone stray. So we'll say, well, you know what? We'll stray a little farther. He'll tap a little harder. Then we'll go a little longer. We'll get away. He'll tap a little harder. Finally, finally, listen to me. Here's what, here's what, here's what he does. That shepherd would take that, would take that rod and he'd take that little lamb. and he'd place his legs there and he'd take it and he'd break his legs. Boy, he'd split those legs up, put the galls on there and put that balm of Gilead. Boy, he'd slide him in that cloak and everywhere the shepherd went, That little baby sheep was right there. He'd lay down at night, he'd hear the shepherd's heartbeat. Boy, once that little lamb healed up, you'd see that shepherd, he'd go out through there. That little lamb, he didn't care about the rest of those sheep. He'd stay behind that shepherd. Sometimes God's gotta break your legs, doesn't he? We ought to thank God for the strong hand, the strong arm of God. Not only when he overthrows our enemy, but when he corrects us. You know what else he did? Watch this. This will upset some of you. He gave them strong leaders. That's right. Amen. I ain't talking about no dictator, but you look, God gave his people strong leaders until they said, we don't want that. We won't do it like everybody else did it. Amen. Listen, I believe, I believe a pastor. I'd be a stride. I didn't say hateful. I didn't say me and he, I'd be strong. And he ought to follow the Lord. And as he follows the Lord, you ought to follow the pastor, right? You know, I'm not a shepherd. What I am is I'm a sheep. I'm the lead sheep following the shepherd. And you're supposed to follow the lead sheep. I'm a sheep just like you are. I'm nothing special. But see, what happens is you ought to thank God. Can I be honest with you? You ought to thank God you ain't got a pansy for a pastor. I'm just saying, listen, we live in a day where you got these sissy pastors out there that won't preach on anything, won't stand up to anybody, scared to death of the lady's auxiliary. I ain't talking about being a male chauvinist, I'm not talking about that. And I'm pretty long suffering, but I'm going to tell you what, when I get to that point, probably be a good idea to look out. Right? I mean, I'm saved, Brother Sid, but ain't that saved? But y'all thank God. Oh, I want a pastor I can tell what to do. No, you don't, because that's not a leader, right? So he gave them strong leaders, but not only his strong arm, but then his supply. Notice what the Bible said. He said he overthrew Pharaoh, but then he led his people through the wilderness. You know what he did in the wilderness? He took care of every need they got. They got hungry, you know what he did? He gave them manna from heaven. They got thirsty, he gave them water. Their shoes didn't wear out, their clothes didn't wear out. And he led his people through the wilderness and provided everything they needed. You and I got everything we need. You ready for this? You ready? His name is Jesus Christ. Everything else is just a want. Amen. So his care and then number three, and I'll finish with this, his compassion. Verse 17 through the end of the chapter says this, to him which smoked great kings. Verse 21, gave their lands for a heritage. Verse 23, remembered us in our lowest state, hath redeemed us in verse 24 from our enemies who giveth food in verse 25 to all flesh for his mercy endureth forever. And then he finishes up in verse 26 with this, oh give thanks unto the God of heaven for his mercy endureth forever. So understand his compassion is, is his protection from our enemies. He went before them and defeated their enemies. Matter of fact, he names them right here. And so he is their victory. Man, they didn't defeat them. He went before them and defeated them. Greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world. You're no match for the devil, right? You and I are no match for the devil, but greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world. Remember that demon? What was it, them boys trying to cast that demon out? They said, Paul we know, right? Jesus we know, but who are y'all? That's where a lot of Christians are. Man, you, you think you're something, but I'm shaking the gates of hell. Hell's afraid. They don't even know you. And then brother for pizza, boy, the devil's you just don't know how bad the devil's beat me up. The devil ain't messing with you. I mean, you look at the Bible, you look in the Bible, Satan, there was very few of the disciples, the followers of Jesus, that Satan himself even messed with. Jesus said this about Peter, he said, the devil desires you. He didn't say that about the other ones, but that one. And I think a lot of times we think the devil's messing with us. You say, well, who is it? Probably one of the lowest demons in hell. I mean, it's... Oh, you don't know, preacher, how bad I got it. You don't know how bad the devil's beating up on me. He don't even waste his time with most Christians, right? You know who causes me the most problem I got? The guy I look in the mirror, right? The protection from our enemies and then the promises to the redeemed. Give thanks unto the God of heaven. You know what he did? He gave them what they didn't labor for. He took them to the promised land and gave them all that. He said, y'all didn't do that, I did it. That's why we ought to be praising God. You ought to tell people, people say, man, you sure are blessed. But they'll say this, they'll say, man, you sure are lucky. Right? Oh, you sure are lucky. Why am I lucky? Well, because of this, this, and this, and you got good family and got a good job. You ought to say, I ain't lucky, man, I'm blessed. Hey, God's been awful good to me, right? We ought to take the attention off of us, put it on Him. Right? You sing a song, you play an instrument, you preach a message, you teach Sunday School, people say, oh, you did so good, oh, you did so good. Say, thank you, but that wasn't me, that was God. I'm glad the song blessed you and blessed your heart, but boy, to God be the glory. But here's the other thing, time out. Don't do this false humiliation. If God has blessed you and you can sing or play an instrument or preach, don't, well it ain't me, it is you. God's doing it through you. You just say, you know, here's the best thing to say, to God be the glory. To God be the glory, right? And mean it. Can God get glory? Listen brother, y'all go ahead. It ain't gonna be, God be the glory. Amen. Man, I didn't do nothing around here. People say, oh, man, you've been there 23 years and God's used you to this. You know, God be the glory. Right? Let's just bring glory to Him. I mean, just make much of Him, praise God. Amen. In the Old Testament, He used a donkey. That don't make me feel too good, right? I'm glad he chooses to use us, don't you? Just give thanks. His mercy endures forever. Let's stand together. Let's bow our heads and it's going to come play us a verse or two of invitation. God spoke to your heart tonight, you come. Maybe you just want to get on this altar tonight and say, God, I just want to say thank you, Lord. Your mercy endures forever. Amen. Amen. You just mind the Lord tonight. Amen. Your mercy endures forever. To God be the glory. Great things He hath done. Yes. Amen. Yes, yes. Come on, you keep minding God. You will never, never praise Him too much. You'll never give Him too much glory. He's worthy of more. Brother Mark used to always say, I don't have the vocabulary. That's the truth. I don't have the vocabulary. But I sure want to give it a shot, don't you? Yes. Amen. Just keep minding God. so Father I thank you for what you've done here tonight reminding us of your goodness may we leave here tonight a grateful people telling others about how good our God is keep those that are traveling safe and Lord bring us back the next appointed time We thank you for our families. Help us to be a witness to them in the next few days. And for all you do, we'll thank you and praise you. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen.