It Is Good to Give Thanks to the Lord First B Jackson 2024-02-25 Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record. ---- Good morning, friends. How are we? Would you stand and us join us in worship here? It's an here's an encouraging room word from Psalm 92. This is also where Ray will be in the scripture, a song to be sung on the Sabbath. It's good to give thanks to the Lord to sing praises to the most high. Would you join us in in singing Psalm 92? Alright. It is good. It is good to praise you, Lord, and make music to your name, oh, most high. Let's sing that again. It is good to praise you, Lord, and make music to your name, oh most high. Oh, most high. It is good to praise you, Lord, and make music to your name, almost high. It is good to praise you, Lord, and make music to your name, oh, most high. To proclaim your love in the morning. To proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness. And now let's sing that again to proclaim. To proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness. At night, oh, sing for joy. I sing for joy at the sound of your name and the works of your hands. You make Let's sing again. Is good. It is good to praise you, Lord, and make music to your name, oh, most high. It is good to praise you, lord, and make music to your name. Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I have a few announcements. We'll see what they are. Carl, what is it? We are on for Awana. So 05:45, and, it is a regular club night tomorrow. Regular club night. Not crazy hair night. Not pajama night. Not faking injury night. No. Okay. Just regular old Awana. Alright. Connect hour. We still need volunteers. We always need volunteers for Awana. February is nearly over and everybody signed up for February, but there are a few spaces in March left open. If you'd like to fix the meal between services, a little light meal between services, you can call Addy and let her know you're willing to do that or you can just sign up at the end of the hall and then show up with food on the day. Men's lunch study Thursdays. Brad will not bring food, he will not prepare food. He will not teach the lesson, he's just gonna be there. Okay? And we are gonna be there with him. There's gonna be men's lunch study Thursdays, 11:55 in the Fellowship Hall. It'll end at 01:00. But that's just come as you need to, leave as you have to. Alright? But that's a fun study. We're going through the book of James. And that's it. Hey, would you all stand with me? Enjoy the morning. Enjoy one another. Enjoy the mercy of God that is new every morning. Lord, we wanna praise you and we wanna sing about it. Amen. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. His mercy What love could remember no wrongs we have done. Omniscient, all knowing he counts not their sum thrown into sea without bottom or shore. What patience. What patience would wait as we constantly roam. What father so tender mourn. What riches of kindness he's lavished on us. His blood was the payment. His life was the cause. We stood beneath the debt we could never afford. Our sins, they are many. His mercy Amen. Can I share a scripture with you in line with this song that we just sung? It's Ephesians two four through six. But God is so rich in mercy. So if you've been tracking through, first being the Bible, we're in Romans. And the first two, at least two chapters up into chapter three, the it's tough because it's showing, hey, we've all fallen short. We've all it's the messages. We've fallen short, fallen short, fallen short, fallen short. But listen to this. God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. That's the good news of the gospel. He gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. He died in our place for our sins. It's by God's grace that we've been saved. For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and he's seated with and he's seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we're united with Christ. God, thank you that you have united us with Christ through your death and resurrection. It's because of you. It's not anything that we've done. God, may we focus on that, meditate on that today. In Jesus' name. Amen. All creatures of our God and king all creatures of our God and king lift up your voice and with us I wanna sing of God's holiness with you. Here's a a a great scripture to lead us into that. Exodus fifteen eleven. Who is like you among the gods? And can we ask ourselves that? Who is like our God? Really? Oh, Lord. Glorious in holiness. Awesome in splendor, performing great wonders. Who else? Who else can whisper in darkness? Only your holy are. And what other beauty demands such praise? What other splendor outshines the sun? And what other majesty rules with justice? Only a holy God come and behold. God. And who else could rescue me from my family? And who else would offer his holy? Oh, who else invites me to call him father? Only Amen. You can have a seat here for a moment. This is the worship through giving part of the service, and invite the ushers to come on forward. We're gonna sing the song overcome from Revelation 20. It describes how believers overcome the enemy, and it's by this. The blood of the lamb, that's Jesus' sacrifice, and the word of our testimony, our faith in him, our story. That is his story. Before we sing, Ray, can I ask you a prayer? Sure. God almighty, we are here in your name, gathered in your name this morning, Lord, singing your praises very literally. God, may our lives sing your praises. May our hearts attribute to you all of the glory that you deserve, and may that heart be so full that it comes out of our mouth. In Jesus name, Lord, may we may we live and move and have our being. I pray Lord that you would be flowing forth from us, from all of us right here to every other place on the globe on the globe Lord, that you would be known, that we would know you and make you known, that we would, Lord, rest in your love, that we rest in your peace that passes understanding. The circumstances can be quite difficult. In Jesus' name, I pray that the circumstances of our lives would be left in your hands, that we would be ready, Lord, ready to go forward with the good word of the gospel. Lord, would you do it in us? Would you do it through us? Would you give peace to those who right now are who are in turmoil? I pray, Lord, that this offering would be used for exactly that. Your will, Lord, done in your way so that the world may know that you are God of love. And, Lord, that you are real and that you make a difference in lives that trust in you. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Jesus awesome and powerful awesome and grace your name you overcame power in hand speaking the father's plan Amen. And it's time for children's church downstairs. That's great. No. Brad, are you up? You're up. There's a microphone here for you too. There you go. Brad is one of our elders, and we've been given a chance for a testimony each week from one of them. Yeah. As we just sang in that last hymn, Revelations twelve eleven, by the blood of the lamb, by the word of our testimony, overcome. And so one of the things that we're doing as elders so that you guys can get to know us better is each of us are sharing our testimony. So we had Carl do it. We had Steve Baldock do it. I don't get to sit on a box drum. But so as Ray mentioned, my name is Brad Yates or as many of you know me, where's Natalie? She's right here. And I have the awesome and terrifying privilege of serving as an elder here. My background is I grew up in Dallas, product of a divorce, but loving family. And we went to church on Sundays, every Sunday morning, as you do when you grow up in Dallas. But the truth is I was not any different from the culture that was around us. In fact, in many ways, I was worse. I had a deep insecurity that I tried to fill with trying to prove myself worthy of value and of love by performing. So whether that was athletics or professional career or things like that, I had this pattern through my life of where I would use people and things to fill a void that only God can fill. And thankfully well, and and so I I had two primary problems. First problem was I could not articulate the gospel. I couldn't preach it to myself. I couldn't share it with anyone around me. So I didn't realize that being a sinner was not just something that I did every once in a while or a pattern in my life. It was an intrinsic part of who I was, but that God in his mercy and in his grace had made a provision for that. I didn't know that. And the second problem that I had was I didn't know that there was a historical basis for that truth. I didn't know that you could have a reasonable and rational faith in that core truth that changes everything. Sorry. I gesture with my hands a lot, so hand mics are hard for me. And so I had this pattern through my life. And I was successful in the ways that the world would say, but I was miserable. I was lonely. I was exhausted. And, thankfully, I had friends in my twenties that loved me well enough to step into my life, to have the really hard conversations, to call out my sin, but also to share the grace that was available to me in Jesus. And sharing with somebody that professes to be a Christian can be hard because it can be kind of offensive. When I had those first conversations, it's like, what are what are we talking about? Yeah. I'm a Christian. I've going to church all my life, but I wasn't a Christian. And so those those men loved me well enough that they showed me God's word. They showed me the sin in my life, and I'm forever grateful for them. And then they also introduced me to apologetics, that there was and is a reasonable and rational historical case for a faith and saving work of Jesus Christ. So that's what that's what brought me from who I was. That's what brought me into Christ. And since then, I've been set free. Now I still sin. I still struggle. Struggle. I still have to repent for things all the time. But the difference is that sin no longer owns me. As Paul would say, I'm no longer a slave to sin. I'm a child of God. So part of what we're doing here as elders when we share our testimonies, we're talking about the gifts that we have. Because it's so important in my life, I'm really passionate about God's word, about sharing it with with believers and with unbelievers, but also with the fellowship and discipleship that happens among the people of God. So that's why you guys, you know, see me doing this same thing all the time, is is trying to get God's word into our lives to recognize the bold claims that Jesus makes about himself in the gospels, to recognize how Paul is proclaiming that in his letters. I mean, read Ephesians. Read Romans as we're doing in first b in the Bible, shameless plug. Philippians, you know, like, read how Peter is using that core truth to encourage the persecuted church in first and second Peter. And then you can read about how God is going to make all things new. And that's a hope that pervades. That's a peace and a joy and a purpose that we can have that takes care of all of because life circumstances are still hard for me sometimes, but there's peace. So so my gifts are are are primarily around God's word and just being excited about it. Ray would say I'm an exhorter, first and foremost, so I'll An administrator. An administrator. But yeah. So that's me. So in the in the form of a of a good testimony, my name is Brad Yates. And through Jesus Christ, I have been set free from a life time of exhausted trying to control circumstances and prove myself worthy because now I'm a child of God. Thank you. Our missionaries in Mexico years ago, and one Sunday, I showed up and the guy who was the preacher at the church we usually took our teams to, the church we usually went to, the little church out in the colonias, and we would take in forty, fifty, 60, sometimes a 100 people from The US. And when we would come in, I'd give a little speech beforehand and I'd say, listen, we're going go in there, just try your best to blend. Alright? It's a it's a church of about 30 Mexicans usually and mostly ladies and children. And we would go in and Fidel was the pastor. Fidel means faithful. And so he's faithful. He's a faithful man of God's word, and he's faithful to bring the message on Sunday mornings. I got there and we had about 65 or 75 people with us. And I get there and he says, Ramon, do you have the word? And I was like, what do you mean? And he said, well, God did not give me the word this week. So I assumed he gave it to you. I know some Psalms. Yeah. Yeah. No. And but he he was very, very faithful. And when he turned and said that, thought I ought always I ought to always have something ready to say. I mean, you can always give your testimony. I'm gonna give you a testimony of this week and Psalm 92 is the sermon for this week. I had another one prepared about the end times. We'll get to that later. Closer to the end times. Carl's throwaway first song. You know, do one song before we do the announcements and then we get into the three block set and then we do an operatory song. But that first song, it hit me so square when he sent it out this week and I thought, man, that is so good. I wanna I wanna share that. And so I've kinda bathed in it this week. I will also say this is it. That's all that we're gonna cover. It's three different sections. We'll break it down and go through this. It is good to praise the Lord. We've already sung it. It's good to praise you Lord and make worship. Right? But I wanna talk about something else. Last week after the service, Carl and I have been going going going going going going going going going for months and months and months now. And it's been a lot of hard stuff. And we love it. I'm glad to get the call. Carl's glad to get the call. But for me, windshield time is really good for me and I know that about myself. And I love Carl and he loves me and I know that about me, I know that about him and I know he likes windshield time. So we had a plan. Joni DeMarsh has been in this church for many many years. Joni is 64. She had a traumatic brain injury when she was seven. So she has been for fifty seven years in various stages of learning how to walk and not being able to walk very well. In the past few years, she's had multiple falls and different things. We love her dearly. She was a dedicated Monday nighter. She came every Monday night and we love her and we've been missing her. She's been away for almost a year. But she calls Carl regularly and me occasionally and she says, when are you coming? When are you coming? When are you coming to visit? And I thought, well, I'd love to, Joni, but you know, it's kinda hard to go in. She goes, no, when are you coming? Now, I didn't ask you if you're coming. Said, when are you coming? And Carl hatched a plan a while back talking to Joni and said, hey, do you have anything to do this week that's on the schedule that you can't move? No. Alright. We're going that week. So we marked it off and we went to Bellingham, Washington to see Joni. Now, on the way, we have lots of people who've moved away from here. One of the hardest things about ministry here or even being here is that friends come and then friends go. So we stopped and we saw the Pearsons in Prineville, Oregon. We saw Ray and Suzanne Richards in Aloha, Oregon. We saw Denny and Connie Taylor in Chehalis, Washington. And then we saw Joni. Joni in Bellingham. We spent all afternoon with her and it was wonderful. It was so good. I've never been to the Northwest. Carl's never been to the Northwest. And so we were able to go from this snowy conundrum. We crossed over, kinda over Mount Hood. We didn't see actual Mount Hood until we saw it in our rearview mirror, but we've been through all the snow and everything. And seeing the landscape scape change, being with someone that loves Jesus and seeing people along the way was so good for me. This is my personal testimony for this week. Windshield time is good. Friends have moved away. That's the inspiration for doing this. On the way back, a few weeks ago, we said goodbye to Matt and Amy Litzelman and they have a place in Dillon, Montana. I thought, I'll probably never see that place. And on the way back, it just so happens to be on the route we stopped and saw them too. And they helped me solve a problem I've been praying about for weeks. It was so great. It just clicked in my head from doing that. The next thing is counseling advice. I'm a good listener. If we're this is my testimony. This is what we're doing it. He said, you don't have to. You do it every Sunday. Counseling advice. Multiple people this week, I I found myself saying, whatever it is and I don't know what it is for you, find some way to worship God in the midst of everything else that's going on. Set aside some time to just worship. And try to get it to be at a place where you're not distracted, but for me, the highway is that place. That's for me, but counseling advice was find somewhere to worship. And I also had forgotten about this completely, but we didn't have been invited several weeks ago to come someone's house to a worship night. That's at their house. And when we got there, I knew that denominationally, there are differences. I don't see denominational difference. I don't believe in them. I think Jesus prayed for unity, period. So we go whenever anybody invites and we had a ball just worshiping God together. And it was an open forum basically with a musical background. And I was overwhelmed by how good God is. And if we will devote a little bit of time to him in the morning and in the evening and throughout the day too, but in the morning and the evening if we can do that, it's just so good for us. So here we go with Psalm 92. This is Psalm 92. Now we only sang the first verse in this song that we sang this morning. It'd be funny to sing the second verse. I might try that in the middle of this, but it's good. It's good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to your name, oh most high. So this, our motto here is loving God and loving people with all we are. Loving God and loving people through Christ. The first one says, it's good to give thanks to the Lord, people, and sing praises to your name, oh most high, to God. It's good to declare your goodness in the morning. Is God good? You just did it. Is God good? Yes. So at the worship night the other night, the friar who was leading, kind of leading the meeting said, you know, we're standing around afterwards and, you know, standing there talking and he said, you know, we as a as a church, the whole church, in some ways individually, we almost feel like we are bothering people to mention how good God is to them. It's like a bother to them because it's not of their worldview. I really don't. I don't need to give that to them. But is it true? God is good. God is good. Anything else that's stacked up against him pales. One of the songs this morning said, he remains undefeated. He's almighty God. He's gonna remain undefeated. Whose side do you wanna be on? Whose side do you want everybody on? Right? He remains undefeated. Now, if you're a baseball, football, basketball fan, I'm sure you've got a team even if it's just a little bit. Who do people hate the most? The Yankees. I'm sorry. That's not a southern thing. I'm just saying because they won a lot. Alabama. Alright? Alabama. Everybody either loves Alabama or they hate Alabama, you know, football. And the Yankees for baseball, it's like Yankees win, we hate Yankees. You know, we hate the Yankees. God is undefeated. He's gonna have some detractors. He he is gonna have people that pick him apart. We'll get to them in the second verse. Alright. The second part of this. To declare your goodness in the morning. Is God good? Amen. Is he faithful? He is faithful. He is faithful. He allows his rain to fall on the just and the unjust. He's faithful. He's steady. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He's faithful. With the 10 string glute and with the harp with resounding music on the lyre. We don't have any 10 strings around here. Ryan's got eight, Carl's got six, I've got four. I don't know how many, 88 maybe over here. But it's saying praise him with music. Praise God with music. Part of what we do while we're riding around is listen to music and listen to it and go, wow, that's a good song. That declares something that I don't think I'd have ever thought of without that song. For you, Lord, I'm speaking to you now God. You have made me joyful by what you have done. Now, I've done some stuff that's really caused problems. But you have made me joyful by what you have done and I will sing of your joy over the works of your hands. I see what you've done and I agree with you in Genesis that it's good. Thank you. So that's the whole thing. It's good to give thanks to the Lord, sing praises to your name, oh most high. To declare your goodness in the morning, your faithfulness by night with the 10 string lute, with the heart, with the resounding music on the lyre, with the little thing that they go bow bow bow bow bow. With a banjo, with a box, with whatever instrument you have, triangle, whatever it is, tapping your hands on the dash like Carl Ducks for mile after mile. Whatever it is, do that for you Lord. You've made me joyful about what you have done. I'm gonna sing of your joy over the works of your hands. This is all about tireless praise. Don't ever get tired of loving God because he is good. And if you just think, well, he won't let me do so and so. It's for your own good that he says, you know what? You want to drop that. That's that's a that's a bad thing for you. I love you enough to not let you get into that. If you'd listen, you'd understand. The world around us does not understand them. Oh, wait a second. Here we go. Greater your works, Lord. Your thoughts are very deep. They're deep. We don't usually think very deep. How great are your works Lord? They're very deep. A stupid person has no knowledge. Can you imagine singing this? Nor does a foolish person understand this. When the wicked sprouted up like grass, and it happens in every age, and all who did injustice flourished, and it happens in every age that take advantage of other people and they seem to flourish, it was only that they might be destroyed forevermore. There's no end for them that ends well. What does it benefit a person to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul, Jesus says. What could a person give in exchange for the soul? If anyone wants to come after me, you've got to deny yourself. He must deny himself. Take up his cross. Follow me. Whoever wants to save his life will lose it. Whoever wants whoever loses it for my sake and the gospel's sake will indeed save it. What does it benefit a person to gain the whole world forfeit his soul? All who did injustice, certainly they seem to flourish, but it's only that they might be destroyed forevermore. You, you Lord, you are on high forever. Your works are great, your thoughts are deep, you're on high forever. Behold your enemies Lord, for behold your enemies will perish And those who do injustice, they will indeed be scattered. It does not end well for them. I tried. I couldn't get it this morning, but a stupid person has no known. I couldn't quite get there. I tried to come up with a second verse, where it is good. No. Can't do it. I want you to say this though. God is not slack concerning his promise. He has promised that anyone who will turn to him in humility will be saved. It doesn't matter how vile. The vilest offender who truly believes that moment from Jesus a pardon receives, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some folks count slackness. They're gonna find something wrong with him because he's undefeated. They're gonna find something wrong with him. They're gonna say, well, he's slack. He didn't give us enough information. He gave us a he gave us a lot of information. Psalm 19 says, day after day, the creation pours forth speech. There's no language where it can't be understood. Riding from here to Bellingham and seeing the the treat, seeing the moss, seeing the green, seeing the bay, seeing the cloudscape, seeing the stars at night. Day after day, that's pouring forth speech. There's no language where that can't be understood. He is not slack. He's given us sufficient information. He's given us a free will. He's long suffering towards us. He's not willing that anyone should perish. He has a plan. He wants for all to come to repentance but he's also not gonna force it on you. How great are your works, Lord? Your thoughts are very deep. A stupid person has no knowledge. A dullard is probably a better translation. Nor does the foolish person understand this, that when the wicked sprouted up like grass and all who did injustice flourished, it was only that they might be destroyed forevermore. But you Lord, you are on high forever. For behold your enemies Lord, for behold your enemies will perish and all who do injustice will be scattered. If we look at that, the green sections there are heedless arrogance. It is incredibly arrogant for a finite person who has a temporal span that we will spend on this celestial ball to say, I know better than the one who created that celestial ball. Right? He didn't give me enough information to believe he created it. That's on him. No. It's not on him. It's on you. It's it's not great to look in the scripture and find yourself being called stupid either. But it does inspire humility and all when we consider God. Heedless arrogance or tireless praise. Which one is it gonna be? Psalm nine two ten, and we're going through 15. So that's the end of the chapter. But you, Lord, you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox, and I have been anointed with fresh oil. What in the world does that mean? I I like Eugene Peterson's paraphrase especially for where we live. Lord, you've made me strong as a charging bison. That's pretty strong. And you've honored me with a festive parade. The you've I've been anointed with fresh oil. Typically, was a public service where they poured fresh oil over and and saw that as a an honor that is given to someone like this. You've honored me with a festive parade. I like I like Eugene Peterson's pastoral message in The Message. He says it's a paraphrase, I know it's a paraphrase, but it's a good paraphrase. It gets the heart of the matter. You've exalted my horn like the that of a wild ox and I've been anointed with fresh oil and my eye has looked at my enemies. I have seen what's going on. I understand that. My ears hear of the evil doers who rise up against me. I got you. I know. I know. The righteous person will flourish like a palm tree. He'll grow like a cedar in Lebanon or I don't know, like a great big tree out in Oregon. Might be more familiar to us, a redwood or sequoia or something. But they were known for being tall and strong. It has a tie in with the temple. It's pretty cool. The righteous person will flourish like the palm tree will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courtyards of our God. Amen. They will still yield fruit in advanced age and they will be full of sap and very green. I tell you what, seeing the green was a really good thing for me. Really, really good thing and to dwell on that. I know under the snow what's there. I know what's coming. I I know that nature is cyclical and I understand that. But man, the council room fills up in February and March. It's real. Seasonal affective disorder. If you hadn't heard, you might wanna Google it. They will still yield fruit in advanced stage. They'll be full of sap and very green To declare that the Lord is just. He is my rock and there is no malice in him. I know that some people see God as an angry God and they feel like God's hand is cocked back like this and he's just waiting for us to do wrong so he could smite us. Right? But that's not true. It's not true. He's not slack. He is pouring forth speech and y'all are his mouthpiece. Y'all the way that you live your life, the way you use your words gives either praise to God or it is just silent. Right? We can choose to praise him. There's no malice in him. Malice is ill intent. It's wishing evil upon another person and God does not do that for anybody. He does not wish malice on them. To declare that the Lord is actually just, our idea of justice gets to be more and more and more and more right as we approach who God is. We do not want for anyone to suffer. We do not want for anyone. Now, it is in their court. It is in their court. This says that we'll flourish in the courtyards of God. There is safety there. This altogether, but you Lord have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox. I've been anointed with fresh oil. My eye has looked at my enemies. My ears hear of the evildoers who rise up against me. The righteous person though Lord, I have to do the right thing the right way because you are righteous and you are good. If you have within me placed your spirit, I wanna go in accordance with that spirit just like Jesus. Show me the next right step Lord and I'll take it. My ears have heard the evildoers who rise up against me. The righteous person will flourish though like a palm tree. He'll grow like a cedar in Lebanon planted in the house of the Lord. They'll flourish in the courtyards of our God. They will still yield fruit in advanced stage. They'll be full of sap and very green to declare that the Lord is just. He is my rock. There's no malice in him. Oop. Unending vitality. Eternal life. Man, that's something to look forward to. I could go into all the glorified body stuff, but it is something to go forward to say, wow, Lord. Just like Brad said, he is making all things new. There will be wholeness. There will be unending vitality. That's the end of that Psalm. I'm gonna ask Carl and the band to come back up. I wanna play Psalm ninety two one more time. Then I wanna read it from the message while y'all are still standing, and then I'll give you a benediction. We can go home. I y'all don't have to go home. You stay here. Would you stand up? And I pray that God will put the word in your mouth. He'll put some pep in your step, and he will allow you some time this week where you realize this is the time that he's given me to worship him. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Would you praise him with us on Psalm 92 right now? Let's sing it is good. It is good to praise you Lord and make music to your name, oh high. It is good to praise you, Lord, and make music to your name, almost high. Almost high. It is good to praise you, Lord, and make music to your name almost high. It is good to praise you, Lord, and make music to your morning and faithfulness at night. To proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night always sing for joy I sing for joy at the sound of your name and the works of your hands. Oh, you make me One more time. It is good. It is good to praise you, Lord, and make music to your name, oh, most high. It is good to praise you, Lord, and make music to your name. Oh, most high. Oh, most high. Alright. From the message, this is the last few verses in the slides in the sermon. Blake, can we go back to that? They're in orange. Yeah. What a beautiful thing, God. What a beautiful thing, God, to give thanks, to sing an anthem to you, the high God, the almighty, to announce your love each daybreak. Lord, you love me is one thing, but Lord, you love, you just love. And I can be a part of sharing that love. To think of that in the morning is really helpful. To announce your love each daybreak, to sing your faithful presence all through the night accompanied by the dulcimer, the harp, the mandolin, the bass, the guitar, the full bodied music of strings. You made me so happy, God. I saw you work. I shouted for joy. How magnificent your work, God. How profound your thoughts. Dullards never notice what you do. Fools never do get it. When the wicked popped up like weeds and all the evil men and women took over, you mowed them down. You finished them off once and for all. You God, you are high. You are eternal. Look at your enemies, God. Look at your enemies, they're ruined. Scattered to the winds, all those hirelings of evil. But Lord, you have made me strong as a charging bison. You've honored me with a festive parade. The sight of my critics going down is still fresh. The route of my malicious detractors. My ears are filled with the sounds of promise. Good people will prosper like palm trees. Grow tall like Lebanon cedars. Transplanted to God's courtyard, they'll grow tall in the presence of God. Life and green, virile still in old age. Such witnesses to upright God. Lord God Almighty, may we be such upright witnesses to your goodness. My mountain, my huge and holy mountain. Amen. Now the benediction for this morning, Blake, you can go to that one. It's good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, oh most high, for you, oh Lord, you have made me glad about what you have done. And I'll sing for joy at the works of your hands. And one more Psalm one forty five. The Lord is gracious and he is merciful. He's slow to anger. He's great in loving kindness. We should be proclaiming that. The Lord is good to all and his mercies are all over all of his works. Attribute to him that praise. Amen.