you. Good afternoon, congregation. We have gathered here this afternoon seeking the Lord to help us, to help us biblically grieve, to help us celebrate the life of Liz Powell. Asking the Lord to glorify his name and receive our thanks today. We've gathered to honor her and remember her. and all of God's grace and goodness to us. And I know we have come this afternoon to say to Jim, we love you. And we're sorry for such a great loss. And join with you in thanking God. for his grace and mercy to your wife. May the Lord bless you today and all of us. May the Lord speak to all of us from his word today. So thank you for coming on a day when we just didn't know what the weather was doing, right? So thank you for coming out and in doing so, expressing your love and care for this family. Again, may the Lord bless us. We want to turn to a few texts just by way of introduction this afternoon. We pick these texts because they've been meaningful to us in various ways. And of course, they announce to us the grace of God. They announce to us the Lord Jesus Christ. They bring to us comfort from his word. We're going to start this afternoon with a few texts. First of all, Job 19. And this is in Job 19, verse 25, that Job, in the midst of all of his suffering, rises up to say something about what he knows to be true. And it's so important, isn't it? When we're going through times of hurt, that we're able to come back to what anchors our soul, what gives our faith the ability to believe. And in Job 19, Job announces what he knows. This is what he knows. He knows that his Redeemer lives. Here is Job, but we're not even sure how long ago Job lived. But prophetically, he's speaking as the Spirit of God leads him, but also just using him to announce again what it is that he believes. He believes that he has a Redeemer, someone who has bought him, someone who cares for him, someone that even in the midst of all of the sorrow that Job carries at that moment in his life, he has someone that loves him, and that this Redeemer lives. Eternally. And he says this, and at last he, speaking of his Redeemer, will stand upon the earth. Job's already seen, as it were, the resurrection to come. And the verses go on to say, and after my skin, Job's talking about his body, has been destroyed, yet in my flesh, I shall see God. Here, Job is even speaking, probably doesn't understand it by any means, but here he's speaking of the coming resurrection, that one day he will stand before God, even in his flesh, which means he knows his body will come back to life and be restored to his soul. This is what we know Liz believed too, that she had indeed a Redeemer. And that that Redeemer will one day stand upon this earth as Revelation teaches us, this last book of the Bible. And that she believed that even one day her body too would be resurrected though destroyed. to stand before and see God. Let's move now to Psalm 34, verse 18. Psalm 34, verse 18. Jim, I picked this verse. I think it speaks very powerfully to you right now. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. May the Lord use this verse continually, Jim, and the rest of the family. The Lord is near to you in your brokenheartedness. As some of you know, I used to work in the furniture industry. We used to take two pieces of wood and glue them together. And if you glued it right and you cut the joint right and you had the pressure right, those two pieces of wood became one. And I think that's a beautiful picture of Jim and Liz's marriage. Two people. that God called to be one and over time pressured you, glued you together. And that's a beautiful picture. Until one of you is separated. And we know that on December 27, the Lord separated you and that tears the fiber of the wood. It doesn't break down the joint. If you take a chisel right at that joint and hit it, the glue joint won't break. It'll be the wood that'll break. And it tears at you, and it's a brokenness, and it's hard, it's a ripping, it's a tearing. This is a very powerful verse. But in the midst of all of that pain, the Lord is near. He is near to you now. He is as near to you as your grandchildren. He just loves you. Isaiah chapter 40, Isaiah 40. Let's go there for a moment. I'll begin reading in verse 28, read through to the end of the chapter, Isaiah 40, 28. Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. Even when I don't understand, he does, is the point. He gives power to the faint. And to him who has no might, he increases strength. Even you shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted. But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mound up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. And I don't know, Jim, maybe that you're reading this and thinking, how can it be that I'm once again strong? For right now, I just do feel weak. But God will make you strong again. We believe God has more for you in this life, and as you wait upon the Lord, He will guide you, He will strengthen you, He will help you. Let's go to 1 Peter 2, now verse 4. 1 Peter 2. This is a beautiful text. Jim was trying to describe it to me the other night. That's why I thought we should look at it. 1 Peter 2, we'll begin reading verse 4. As you come to Him, it's an interesting phrase. There's various ways we come to Him. We come to Him by faith, first of all, as we are living and trusting in Him. As we come to Him, even in our death, we come to Him, we who are believers, to be in His presence. So as you come to Him, Him now being described, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God chosen and precious. You yourselves like living stones. are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture, behold, I am laying in Zion a stone. or cornerstone chosen and precious. And whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." Of course, this text is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ as our cornerstone. And you perhaps know that when, of course, you build a building, you've got to decide where do you start? You start at the corner. You've got to say, okay, this is where everything else will be built off of. So it is with Jesus. He is our precious chosen cornerstone. But from that stone, God is, as it were, building a beautiful temple with every one of us as those stones of living faith, trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so a temple, as it were, is built to his honor and glory. And I know Children, grandchildren, Liz wants you to be one of those stones, a believer in Jesus, that you too can take your place in the structure and in the substance of the building that carved out there in this spiritual house. You will be as Liz is, as grandma is, as mum is, in a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. And so may it be true of us today, of all of us gathered, that we all love the Lord Jesus Christ and understand that he indeed by his grace is building a structure, a church, a temple, to worship the Lord in. Find your place in this spiritual house as Liz did and stand there to worship and glorify his name. Let's open with a word of prayer. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for these texts as well as all of our Bible. that brings to us such words of comfort and promises that endure. We thank you, Heavenly Father, for your mercy and goodness and kindness to us. Father, we do pray for your presence here today. We do pray that you would receive our worship. We do pray, Heavenly Father, that you would be glorified in this place and within our hearts. Father in heaven, we do pray with thanksgiving today for the life of Liz Powell and all that she meant to us. Bless this family. And as we sing of the song, Great is Thy Faithfulness, may we just reflect on how faithful you have been to us down through the years. And hence, what hope we can have for tomorrow, For indeed, you will continue to be and forever will be faithful to your word. Our Father, receive, we pray, our singing. In Jesus' name, amen. Would you turn with me to number 408. The song is Great is Thy Faithfulness. We'll just remain seated as we sing these three verses, Great is Thy Faithfulness. He is my faithfulness, O God, my Father. There is no shadow of his bearing within, and he is not my God. now forever will be. Praise thy faithfulness. Praise thy faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies I've seen. The Lord and thee in my hand have provided. ♪ Praise thy faithfulness, Lord, unto thee. ♪ ♪ Dry and wintry, springtime and harvest, summer and winter, ♪ ♪ To their voices above ♪ ♪ Thy will, O nature, in many foe'n ways ♪ ♪ To thy great faithfulness, mercy and love ♪ ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ I need thy warning ♪ ♪ Your mercies I seek ♪ ♪ All I have been and I have left nobody else ♪ ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪ O come, O come, Lord Jesus Christ, the King of glory! ♪ And to the God ♪ ♪ Strength for today ♪ ♪ And prayer for tomorrow ♪ ♪ Mercies of life ♪ ♪ In ten thousand beside ♪ ♪ Great is thy gratefulness ♪ Faith is like pain, no less. Morning after morning, your mercies I see. No heart can be healed, nor hand can throw away. Faith is like pain, no less. I'm Jamie. I'm the oldest and most handsome of the sons. Dad is going to speak in a minute, and he's probably going to make everybody cry. So I thought I would do a little different than that. A couple of lessons that mom taught us, maybe not, you know, Don't think of these as the top five. These are just some random examples. But one lesson she always had was she was always a giver and she would always want to make sure, for example, if we were in church, that all the kids had candy. So I brought some candy. The second is mom was always the fun mom. I don't know how many of your moms did this, but like on Halloween, she would be the one that would drive the getaway car for us to go toilet papering. There's a couple rules with that, just in case, you know, that she taught us. One is the house that you toilet paper is whatever friend didn't show up for Halloween. So Vanderwerps, I apologize, you know, for when that happened, but it was mom's idea. And the other is if you go toilet papering, you have to clean up the next day if it's in your house. So a couple of rules to live by. The third thing that I wanted to mention is anyone that knows mom is she was always the sucker for a good deal. Anybody who's been shopping with her, whatever, she would be proud to know that I got my $9.99 zipper tie today. So just in her honor that she got me. Probably the last thing I wanted to mention is I've got so many, you know, patients in their 80s, 90s that tell me, you know, like, what's the point? I just sit at home and I don't have a purpose anymore and I'm ready to go. Mom, more than anybody else, exhibited purpose. I mean, the last eight years were really hard. If we could bring her back, we wouldn't right now. She's so much happier now. But throughout that time, everybody that she came into contact with, she witnessed to. I would be with her at the hospital, and she would witness to the janitors, you know, whoever. Sometimes, you know, I'm ashamed that we would get embarrassed because it was all the time, witnessing, witnessing, witnessing. And I just want that to be an encouragement, you know, especially, you know, those of you that might be retired or things like that, that there's up till the final day in the hospital, she was still, you know, witnessing for Christ. So those are the things I wanted to say. And I think Tim is going to say a couple of things too. So growing up in the Powell family was a bit of a circus, a fun circus. In Powell life, you never knew what was coming next with five kids and with my mom running the ship. One of the things that was true for me, just from my experience, if you look at the Powell family, it's kind of like Sesame Street in that one of these things is not like the others. And so I have a doctor dad, a nurse mom, an older brother doctor, a younger brother nurse, a younger sister nurse practitioner, and a younger brother doctor. And I'm a middle school principal. So I'll let you figure out what's different about the fam. But Jamie might be the handsomest, but I was always mom's favorite. And that was known. Just to kind of give you a picture of growing up in our home in the medical background, all of our shots were always given to us at home by my mom. And I'm terrified of needles and my family knows that about me. So my mom used to tell Jamie and Tom, hey, he's going to lock himself in the bathroom And the two of you just wait outside the bathroom. And I think she even paid them. And when he comes out, knock him down on the ground and holler for me so I can give him his shots. And that's how my mom rolled. And she was an awesome mom. She loved us. She loved the grandkids. She just always showed up to everything and put others first. One of the things that is true is, like Jamie said, mom was a giver. And I bet if I were to ask for a show of hands in here of who got a gift from my mom, almost every hand would go up at some point. My guess is most of those gifts you didn't ask for, And maybe some of them you didn't even want. But my mom loved to give. That was her love language. And she just poured out from her heart, always looking to bring joy to other people. One of my favorite things in life right now is just the memories I have with my family from Disney World. In December, I got to go to Disney World with mom and dad and my kids and my wife. And after the car accident eight years ago, it's been a journey ever since. And like Jamie described it beautifully, one of the things that drove me nuts about my mom was that she would always tell my daughter, since the minute she came out of her coma after the accident, she said, I'm going to talk grandpa into taking us to Disney World. And she said it like every week for eight years. And finally, Laura and I said, tell her to stop saying it. Like, Catherine's believing it's true and it's not true. And my mom was a woman of her word in all circumstances. She stuck with what she believed. She told people what she thought. And she even delivered on the Disney World promise, which was beautiful for us. Her favorite ride at Disney World, in case you're wondering, was It's a Small World. And if you know our family, it's very fitting for our family as our family kind of extends all over the world with people that are family to us, even though they might not be DNA related to us. And so it just kind of speaks to who my mom is, who she was. And then the last thing I just want to share is I got a chance to read some of the cards my dad and mom wrote back to each other back and forth on their birthdays and holidays. Every single time my dad signed his cards, I love you more than yesterday, but less than tomorrow. And in every single card my mom ever gave to my dad, this is true, in the cards she would pick, they would say, I love you. And then she would add an arrow with her own pen and write, but I love Christ more. And that was in every single card from both. And I just think, that speaks to who they are as a couple, and I hope that that inspires you too. And I just know that my mom right now is where she's always hoped to be. And she's hugging my nephew, Miles, and she's with Christ, her Savior. And what a beautiful picture. So I'm sure, I just would echo probably what Christ told her the minute she entered heaven with, well done, my good and faithful servant. So I'm gonna turn it over to my dad. I wrote a tribute to a mother's love. When I was in college, I met a girl who was physically attractive to me. More than that, she was funny and kind and fun to be around. But what most attracted me to her was her spiritual maturity, which greatly dwarfed my own. She wanted me to be like her, and I wanted to be like her. I fell in love with her, and I married her because I wanted to be like her, Christ-like. She became a nurse, then a mother. She wanted her patients to know Jesus like she did, and she was open about that. She prayed for them. More, she wanted her children to know Jesus like she did. She invested herself in being a godly mother, leading them in prayers, reading Bible stories to them, learning verses with them. Most of all, she prayed continuously for them, for their faith. One by one, those five children made that good profession. She told them each how important it was to marry Christian spouses, and she prayed for that, and they each did. As children do, they develop friendships, yes, even close friendships. She loved these close friends like her own children. They felt that love and returned it. A number of them called her mom. Some of you right here in this service today. She wanted you to be like her, to know Jesus, and so she prayed for you too. Children came to live in her home at times, some from abroad, for various reasons, and she welcomed them unconditionally. She was a mother to them, too. She loved them. She told them about Jesus. She prayed for them. She wanted them to be like her, to love Jesus. Grandchildren came. More than anything, she wanted each of them to be like her, to know Jesus, and to make that good profession. She talked to them about Jesus. She brought them Bible storybooks. But most of all, she prayed for them. Her health began to deteriorate after a terrible car accident eight years ago. She became more and more involved with doctors and nurses and other health care personnel, many of whom became close friends with her. She would openly challenge them about their faith, and she prayed for them because she wanted them to have what she had. As her health failed in the last three weeks of her life, that faith held her up and bore her through that difficult time. The last conversation that she and I ever shared focused on her readiness to go live with that Savior to whom she had dedicated her entire life. She was ready and excited to finally see Jesus. and also her beloved grandson, Miles. Throughout her life, her desire to share her faith was direct and overt. At times, I told her she should be less direct, lest she seemed pushy. But she would tell me that she wanted to be sure that those she loved would be like her, so she would see them in Jesus, in heaven. She was right, and I wanted to be like her now. I want to be direct. If you're her child or her grandchild, if you called her mom, if you helped take care of her, if you were her family, if you were her friend, she would not want me to tell you about her. She would want me to ask you to be like her, to love Jesus. She would want to see you in heaven. Thank you for sharing. We're gonna stand to sing 445. The song is when peace like a river. When meeting is like a rift, Where sorrows like teeming meadows grow. Forever, my love, thou hast my heart. With my soul, it is well. With my soul, it is well. It is well with my soul. ♪ There should nothing a child should know ♪ ♪ That gives us assurance of joy ♪ ♪ And guides every eye in thy path of success ♪ For my soul is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. I sing o'er the place of His glorious light, I sing, I imbibe the Lord. His deal do not cost, and I bear it no more. It is well, it is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. day, when my days shall be sighed. How not we go back, let us go. The church shall rejoice, and the Lord shall be saved. Even so, ♪ Peace on earth, peace on heaven ♪ He is love, He is love in my soul. Our Father in heaven we do thank you that we can sing with such confidence today that it is well with our soul and it is well with every soul that believes in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and is laid upon him there all in all. Our Father in heaven we pray today that you would continue to Comfort us and strengthen us as we come before your word. Father in heaven, as we now hear the song, Abide With Me, we pray that indeed you would richly abide with us as we turn to your word and hear your word speak to us. For we pray it now in Jesus' name, amen. Abide with me, fast fall, leave, and sigh. The dawn is near. Lord, with me abide when other helpers fail and come firstly. God, how blessed, so abide with me! Swift to its close, fast out life's little day, Earth's joys grow dimmest Glories pass away Change and decay In all around I see ♪ Who changes not abide with me ♪ I fear no foe ♪ With thee at hand to bless ♪ Ills have no way Tears, no bitterness. Where is destiny? Where, grave, thy victory? I triumph still if thou abide with me. Stand and sing the last verse with us. Hold out thy cross before my closing eyes. the skies. Heaven's morning breaks, everlasting shadows flee. In thy fifth, O Lord, abide with me. In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me. Amen. Mark Powell is coming forward now to read for us Psalm 30. So for anyone in the room who doesn't know me, I'm Mark. I'm even at 30 years old. I'm still the baby of the family. But today, I'm going to read our passage for the message, which comes from Psalm 30. The reason we chose this psalm is after my mom's accident. My mom and dad came across this during their devotions. And it really resonated with them. And they kind of cling to it as their verse, and in particular, my mom's verse, throughout those following eight years. So, sorry, I need a second. Okay. I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up. I did not let my foes rejoice over me. O Lord, my God, I cried to you for help, and you healed me. O Lord, you have brought my soul from Sheol. You restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit. Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints. Give thanks to his holy name. For his anger is but for a moment, his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. As for me, I said in my prosperity, I shall never be moved. By your favor, O Lord, you made my mountains stand strong. You hid your face, I was dismayed. To you, O Lord, I cry. And to you, the Lord, I plead for mercy. What profit is there in my death? If I go down to the pit, will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me. O Lord, be my helper. You have turned me from my mourning into dancing. You have loosened my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord, my God, I will give thanks to you forever. Congregation, there are those Psalms that are filled with darkness and despair, like Psalm 22, maybe 88. There are psalms of history, like Psalm 135, 136. There are those psalms we would refer to as praise psalms, like 19, 29, 104. There are those royal psalms that depict our God as king, or have to do with a kingly rule, I don't know. Psalm 47 comes to mind, 93, 95. There's psalms of trust. Psalm 23, 11, 62, on and on we could go with that. Psalms of wisdom like Psalm 1. So what do we say about Psalm 30? How do we categorize this psalm? How do we best remember Psalm 30? It has the famous line, weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. Or you have turned for me my mourning into dancing. I would suggest perhaps the best way to remember Psalm 30 is just say, Psalm lives. So let's turn to Psalm Liz this afternoon and walk through its verses and think about what it is Liz heard in this psalm over a lifetime, but particularly during these last years of challenge. This is a psalm that through the years of pain and joy and sorrow and delight, sickness and health, that Liz turned to. When I visited her and asked, what would you like me to read? Just turn to Psalm 30. There is, as you heard within this psalm, multiple contrasting comparisons. There is within this psalm some deep struggles. There is within this psalm the lessons that some have come to call learning to dance in the rain. As it was read, did you notice all the contrast? There's the weeping and then there's the joy. There's the night, there's the morning, there's the tearing, there's the leaving, the confusion and fear and the darkness breeds to the hope that thrills the heart. because the light has come, which is always more powerful than the darkness. What drew Liz to this psalm? There might be several answers, but one answer might indeed be all these contracts. that depict life as it flows along. One day everything is so good, and then another day not so good. One minute the wrath of God The next minute, the wonderful hours to come, the mercy of God for his anger is, but for a moment, the text said in verse five, but his favor lasts a lifetime, such as our God. So let's walk through Psalm Liz and try to get a sense of what she heard as she turned its pages. Shall we do that? We'll just walk right through it. We'll start at verse one. If your Bible's open, let's just read Psalm Liz. It starts out, I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me. Foes, there's foes in verse one. There's something against David in this psalm. The foes are over him. God then steps in under him and lifts him up so powerfully that his foes can no longer position themselves to harm him. Liz had foes in her life too. Sometimes David had a person that came into his life and became a foe. Sometimes it was a circumstance that came into his life, rather, that was like a foe or a set of circumstances. And Liz had foes in her life, just like the rest of us, right? Sometimes life is hard. mixed with various foes to attack our joy and our peace. Verse two, O Lord my God, I cried to you for help. I cried to you for help and you have healed me. The implication from verse two is that David has been sick. The contrast, of course, is his former crying to now, in verse one, his extolling. That's not a word we use very often, to extol. That's to exuberantly praise. And so he moves from being sick and weak and hurting to exuberant praise. Why? Because he's been healed. He moves from being sick, so sick, maybe he could hardly even get out of bed, I don't know. There were times Liz could only just turn her neck just a little. No strength, no will to try any longer on the one hand and then exuberant praise, even dancing. Verse 3, O Lord, You have brought up my soul from Sheol. You restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit. David had what we would call one foot in the grave. David was just about to enter the place of the dead, Sheol in the Old Testament. We would say he was a goner. We would say there's no more hope. We would say, he's nigh unto death. So, this is the cause of the exuberant praise for David. God brought to David life when everything pointed to death. God worked a miracle. So, these first three verses are focused on this physical healing that David experienced. But then you come to verse 4. There appears to be a different focus. Verse 4 sounds like we're starting all over again. In verse 1, David is doing the praising after describing a life-threatening illness. But now in verse 4, he's calling us to join him. You see it? Sing praises to the Lord, he shouts out to us. O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name. Come join with me in my exuberant praise, right? Do you see the change? David was the one praising in verse one, but now in verse four, he's calling us to join him. As it's been pointed out, particularly by her husband, Liz was that way. Liz had exuberant praise. and she didn't mind boldly calling others to join her. Liz had a desire for those around her to praise the Lord. Her desire was to see her children and her grandchildren saved. As I said, her witness was bold. Anyone close to Liz was invited to join her in a shared faith with Jesus Christ, amen? You know that, you saw it. Verse four was her motto, sing praises to the Lord, give thanks to Him. Why? Verse five, for His anger is but for a moment and His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping May Terry verse five says, for the night, but joy comes with the morning. This is what brought David out with exuberant praise. The contrast is the momentary anger of God and the eternal mercy of God. Note the comparison. The momentary anger with the eternal mercy of God. This is our God. Just, oh yes. Holy, oh yes. Pure, righteous, yes. Honor times, yes. Merciful, gracious, kind, patient, yes. The weeping from the night of darkness and confusion and perhaps even sin are now replaced with joy that comes in the morning when the light is once more shining. For it has the power to drive all the darkness away. For darkness cannot overpower the light, but rather the light is victorious over the darkness. It's always the case. Liz knew a holy God that was also a merciful God. She wanted us to know him too. She wasn't perfect. We know that. but imperfect Liz knew a perfect God who had a perfect mercy for her. So Psalm Liz is changing focus here. The first three verses dealt with a physical suffering, but now there is in these verses a spiritual struggle, spiritual even suffering, a misery. What happened to David? Verse six helps answer that question. What went wrong, Dave? Verse six says, as for me, I said in my prosperity, I shall never be moved. Do you hear the pride in that? See, David moved from being this poor little shepherd kid to now the king of a mighty nation. His prosperity was just thriving. And so what does he do? Many scholars think that this psalm points to the time that David went out and had all the troops counted. It's like wanting to take another count, just see how strong he really was. And even though all his confidants told him, David don't do that, it's not of God, don't do that. He did it anyways and you know it brought about A great judgment from the Lord. He pompously called for his troops to be numbered. Verse seven, by your favor, O Lord, you made my mountain stand strong. You hid your face, I was dismayed. So verse seven, David declares that he only stood by the grace of God. For when God hid his face, David learned that he was left only with dismay. But when the face of God shone down on him, only then could he stand strong. Congregation, beautiful women stand strong when they fully surrender to God. Liz was a beautiful woman. As I said, perfect, no, but beautiful, yes, in her submission. So call that section the struggle against sin by submission. But now we have one more section in this psalm for us to explore. It goes all the way to the end of the psalm. This is an intimate set of verses. We're entering, as it were, into the inner chamber of David's prayer time with God. We get to listen in. So let's be quiet and listen to David pray. Be quiet and listen. Listen to the prayers of a mighty man, a man after God's own heart, as he wrestles with God in prayer. And while we are listening, we will hear, if we are quiet for a moment, the prayers of Liz. Verse eight. To you, O Lord, I cry, To the Lord I plead for mercy. Note the request, it's for mercy. Please, oh Lord, do not give me what I deserve. Now listen to David as he begins to reason with God and debate with God and appeal with God and make intercession with God and wrestle with God and even argue with God and even try to maneuver with his prayers the will of God as so often we do in our prayers. Verse nine, listen. What profit is there in my death if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me, O Lord. Be my helper. David is wrestling with his God so that he can continue to worship. David's asking the question, Lord, will the dust praise you? If I turn back to dust, Lord, will I be able to praise you? He's making the statement, if I go down to the pit, I cannot worship. So Lord, that does not make any sense for my life. For my life is about loving you. My life is about glorifying you. So it doesn't make any sense, Lord, for you to bring me back to the dust. I cannot worship you in the grave. Do you hear the reasoning, the debate, the appeal, the wrestling, the argument, even the maneuverings of David with his prayers? Congregation, on the day of December 27, Liz was wrestling to continue her worship. Over and over in the past few days, God allowed Liz to continue her worship. Many of you recited to me as your new pastor the multiple times Liz came back, as it were, from the point of death, right, over and over. It was miraculous. Liz is healed again. She's doing well again. We saw that over and over in her life. God spared Liz over and over when her foot was near the grave. Her reasoning, debate, appeal, wrestling, argument, pleading with God over and over in the past were met with a yes from the mercy of God, not to mention your prayers. For God to continue to restore her, and he did, didn't he? Over and over. Over and over, God said, yes, you may continue to live and worship me and witness for me. Over and over, she recovered and lived on. But as I said, on December 27, God moved in Liz to change her prayer. We saw a change in the afternoon. Throughout the previous days, her quiet plea to those around her was for help. She kept saying this over and over. Would you please help me? Would you please help me? She didn't say it loud, real soft. Would you help me? She was never comfortable in bed. She had to be moved and turned and she was in pain and she was hurting and she kept saying, would you help me? Excuse me, please help me. But on the 27th, the prayer changed. It moved to this. Jesus, would you help me? Please help me, over and over and over she repeated it. We read with her, we even sang. with her for a while there with a song, Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. She stopped saying, Jesus, please help me, and started to sing, but not for very long, but just sung. But she wouldn't stop. Jesus, would you help me? That's verse 10. Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me. O Lord, be my helper. She's just singing verse 10. That afternoon, the decision was made to attempt a surgery to try to help her. It was like one last effort to do all that could be done. At first, Liz was even hesitant. She was ready to be with Jesus. She longed to see Miles, her grandson. But the decision was made to try, for again, Psalm Liz, for what profit is there if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? So the decision was to try. And the initial report of the surgery was good. We went home while she was in recovery with such hope to see her live on. But in the early evening, as you know, the Lord came to answer her prayer. Jesus, help me. Jesus, would you help me? And he came and did, verse 11. Verse 11 says, you've turned for me my mourning into dancing, you've loosed my sackcloth, you've clothed me with gladness. And I say to you this afternoon, that's exactly what God did. He turned her mourning, her crying, her pain, into dancing because suddenly her soul was before the Lord in all of his glory. He loosed her sackcloth. And of course, the picture here is Job, right? Sackcloth and ashes, crying out to God. God came. And he loosed that, he took that off and replaced it. That's the next line. Clothed me with gladness, I say to you this afternoon. She is so glad to be with her Savior, so glad to be with her grandson, so glad to be with others. But now we ask, why would the Lord do that? Can the dust praise him? Can it tell of your faithfulness? Verse 12 answers. That wrestling question as well. Verse 12, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. Oh Lord, my God, I will give thanks to you forever. Verse 12, that my glory may sing. Why did he turn her mourning into dancing? Why did he lose the sackcloth? Why did he give her such gladness so that she could continue to sing his praise? Yes, this is soul worship. At that moment in time, Elizabeth Ann Powell worshiped her Lord in her soul, in his very presence. Death will not silence Liz Powell's worship. It will not silence any believer's worship. Death will not separate us from the glory of her Savior. The dust cannot quiet her from declaring the faithfulness of her God. And one day, perhaps soon, her body will rise from the ground and rejoin her soul to live out the very last word of Psalm Liz. Do you see the last word? It's forever. Forever. And forever. I will give thanks to you forever. You'll be there too, won't you? You will be, won't you? You'll be there, won't you? Forever and ever singing out the praises of our Savior. You'll be there too, won't you? You'll be there. I know you long to be there, to see Jesus face to face. For indeed, can the dust praise him The answer is yes. Such is the power of our Savior and such is the hope of our faith. And so Psalm Liz speaks to us today of the journey of physical pain, even spiritual struggles and wrestling, but ultimately of a great and glorious hope. that we will one day sing his praise and never, ever be silent. May the Lord bless us to that end. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for David, that one day the Spirit of God directed him to write these words. In all of his experiences, to capture his journey with you, sometimes with physical hurts and pains, and sometimes with spiritual struggles. And yet at the end, to know, to know deep in his heart, just like Job knew, his redeemer lives. And one day we'll stand upon the earth. So Father in heaven, we do pray that this psalm would continue to comfort our hearts, because it's so true, so right, so appropriate for us today. So Father in heaven, we pray again now for this family and ask for your many blessings upon them. Comfort them with this eternal message of joy. Thank you for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for the salvation that he had won for us at Calvary. Help us then to trust fully upon him, for we pray it in Jesus' name, amen. Congregation, we're gonna sing number 471, 471. The song is Jerusalem the Golden. We'll stand together, 471, Jerusalem the Golden. Jerusalem, the glory with milk and holy birds beneath thy fountain I know not what joys or sorrows may be. ♪ All to the left we saw ♪ ♪ And right with me in Egypt ♪ ♪ And all the blighters wrong ♪ ♪ No grace is ever in them ♪ ♪ But in the history of Israel ♪ There is a throne of David, and there, O Israel, have conquered the fight. Forever and forever our flag it holds high. O sweet and blessed country, the home of the brave! O sweet and blessed country, Now may the Lord bless you and keep you and turn his face towards you and give you his peace now and forevermore. Amen. I mean, just remain standing. You're all invited to join the Powell family in meeting in confidence for a time of refreshments downstairs. If you can name one another, just so you know, we just had to hold off on the burial for a little bit, and it'll be a private burial next week. But I know her family would love to spend some time with you. As you are dismissed, if you exit out the back, just wait until each row is dismissed. You can go either to the left or the right, and they'll meet you downstairs to continue to visit with you. So just remain in your rows and be your dismissed. Thank you. Cassie Gertz, if you'd like to come up to the aisle, please. ♪♪ ♪♪ ¶. ¶ Yeah.