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My Gratefulness for His Goodness (Psalm 103:1-5)
9 Plays2 days ago
Sunday Message recorded 16 November 2025
by Senior Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church - Columbus, TX, USA
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
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Transcript
Introduction and Welcoming Guests
00:00:06
Speaker
Good morning, church family. It's good to see you. if you're visiting with us today, we're so glad that you're here. Just want to make sure that you realize the Colorado Baptist Association is the association that we are a part of.
00:00:19
Speaker
And the executive director, Barry Barnett, his wife, Linda, are with us today. He just zigzags all across this big association. I think there's more than just Colorado County. There's three counties, right? Or four? Six Six? Man, we're growing. Six counties. So anyway, I appreciate them. Would you please stand and let's just let them know we appreciate what they do.
00:00:46
Speaker
Appreciate you so much.
Theme Introduction: Gratefulness for God's Goodness
00:00:47
Speaker
Also, appreciated Marcia and the and the praise team up here leading us. I feel like we've already had a great time in the Lord's presence.
00:00:57
Speaker
I want to, i agree. Let's go to Psalm 103. Psalm 103.
00:01:02
Speaker
You know, i was telling Barry Barnett that I appreciate so much Stephen Mick and Josh and Mark Vickers. And then John Cates taught my Wednesday and night class while I was on sabbatical. And Stephen Tice filled in one time and and taught for me.
00:01:20
Speaker
And so these men are so capable. I've watched them on live live stream. And man, I was taking notes and everything and just really enjoying it. it actually makes me feel a little bit like a lion in a room full of Daniels. And so I'm scared to death. But anyway, hopefully I'll be able to get through the message here.
00:01:39
Speaker
But I want to talk
The Importance of Gratitude in the Bible
00:01:40
Speaker
about Our gratefulness for God's goodness. Has he been good to you? I think sometimes we forget, you know, but the Bible says in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. So this is something you don't have to pray and say, is it your will that I give thanks or not?
00:01:59
Speaker
you No,
Avoiding Spiritual Myopia
00:02:00
Speaker
it is his will that we give thanks. He says so in 1 Thessalonians 5.18. five eighteen I think that sometimes if you're like me, this happens to me, but I know my spiritual vision sometimes can be limited.
00:02:14
Speaker
I think sometimes I suffer. I don't know if you struggle with this. Sometimes I suffer from what I'd call spiritual myopia. It's like, you know, you can see things clearly that are up close, but those things that are far away, either things that have happened already in your life, like that song we were singing, all my life, you've been good to me.
00:02:36
Speaker
Can you still see those things? Or are they getting fuzzy and you're beginning to forget? You know, i believe that God has been good to us,
Psalm 103 and Thanksgiving Parade Analogy
00:02:45
Speaker
but like Spurgeon says, we often write our blessings in the sand,
00:02:51
Speaker
And we engrave our complaints in the marble. It's so sad when we do that. Well, the best way that I can think of to stimulate heartfelt, genuine, authentic gratitude to God is by remembering his goodness in the past.
00:03:09
Speaker
And so I can think of no better place for us to go to kind of get warmed up, you know, for Thanksgiving than Psalm 103. 103. psalm one hundred and three I believe that in this Psalm, what we're going to see is David is going to invite God's goodness parade to go by. You ever watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on your TV?
00:03:32
Speaker
Well, there's so many people who actually show up in person. I think I read 3.5 million show up for that parade, 50 million watch it on TV.
00:03:42
Speaker
But what about going through Psalm 103 and seeing as David says, Lord, just remind us of what you've done here. So let's just see as the parade goes by. We're going to limit our comments to the first five verses.
00:03:56
Speaker
But in those first five verses, it's like God is going to remind David of all he's done for him. And he's going to say, you know what? I should give God gratitude for that.
00:04:07
Speaker
So there's definitely personal gratitude in verses one through five. But when he goes six through 19, he says, you know what? God's been good to Israel. God's been good to our nation.
00:04:17
Speaker
And so it's like a ah national parade of blessings that God's going to lead him through. But then when you get verses 20 and 21, 22, he's going to talk about the angels and the heavenly hosts that are in heaven.
00:04:32
Speaker
So let's just call it a universal gratitude. So there's going to be all kinds of thanksgiving, but we're going to limit our scope today to verses one through five, because you know what they say about a teacher. a teacher can swim out further, go down deeper and stay down longer. than anybody else cares, too. I'm going try to respect
David's Unique Psalm of Gratitude
00:04:51
Speaker
our Sunday school teachers' times, because they got to teach after I teach, so I better get moving. Would you stand in honor of God's Word? Let's just read the first five verses. Psalm 103, verses 1 through 5.
00:05:03
Speaker
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not All his benefits.
00:05:17
Speaker
Who forgives all your iniquity. Who heals all your diseases. Who redeems your life from the pit. Who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy.
00:05:29
Speaker
Who satisfies you. Let's like the eagles let's pray together. Lord, I just thank you so much again for my church family. I thank you for those who are visiting with us today.
00:05:43
Speaker
And I just pray that every person would be able to see the goodness, how good you have been to them. We need look no further than to look at the cross to see the goodness of God with your arms outstretched.
00:05:59
Speaker
Wow, Lord, we should outstretch our arms and say, you have been so good. I want to thank you. I want to praise you. So bless us and get us ready for Thanksgiving because it will be here soon.
00:06:11
Speaker
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you you. may be seated.
00:06:17
Speaker
You know, if you were to read this whole Psalm, you would be shocked by one thing. There is not one request that David makes in the whole Psalm. The whole Psalm is him saying, thank you.
00:06:29
Speaker
Lord, I just praise you for who you are. He's not asking God for anything. I wonder what would happen at Thanksgiving if we gather around our tables and we say, you know what? I'm not gonna ask you for anything today, Lord.
00:06:43
Speaker
I'm just gonna
The Meaning of 'Baruch' and Humility
00:06:44
Speaker
thank you for all you've already done for me. You know, sometimes I'm afraid that when we go to God in prayer, what do we do? Well, we go to him with a grocery list.
00:06:54
Speaker
You know, sometimes my wife sends me to the grocery with a list, you know, and buddy, I better get them. ah So I try to check them off. Sometimes I forget an ink pen. I'm thinking I'm in trouble. But anyway, sometimes we go to God and we say, would you do this? Would you do this? Would you do this?
00:07:11
Speaker
You know, i think we have already in our life, let's pretend that it's a grocery basket. It's an overflowing grocery basket that God's already been doing so many good things for us.
00:07:23
Speaker
And so why do we forget to go back and to thank him? So I want us to see some things that are written for us here in Psalm 103 verses one through five that I pray this will sort of equip us. You know, my job as a pastor is not to live your life for you.
00:07:41
Speaker
My job is to equip you for life, to equip you for following Jesus Christ. So what I'm going to do today with the help of the Lord and the help of the scriptures, I just want to use this passage verses one through five, and I want to try my best to equip you for Thanksgiving because it's coming.
00:07:59
Speaker
So let's look at the first thing. What is the proper response to God's goodness? What is the proper response? Well,
History of Thanksgiving and Pilgrims' Gratitude
00:08:08
Speaker
I feel like the proper response is the one that David said in verses one and two You know, he says it often in here three times in verses one and two.
00:08:19
Speaker
The Hebrew word ephod. for it is Baruch. Baruch. Baruch means to kneel in Hebrew. It means to kneel for the purpose of expressing gratitude.
00:08:31
Speaker
You know, what's interesting is that that word Baruch means to bless. He used that word three times here, bless or Baruch. But what's interesting is that the Hebrew word for knee is barek, barek.
00:08:47
Speaker
So it's so interesting how close it is to one another. But you know, in addition to expressing thanks to God for his blessings, it also includes this element since it's reminding us of our knees.
00:09:01
Speaker
that we are to humble ourselves and to say, you know what, God? Everything, everything I have, there's nothing that I would say, I did it all by myself. I did it my way and look what I have come up with. That's a dangerous disposition to have.
00:09:17
Speaker
A better response would be to say, look at what you have allowed to come into my life. Look at these blessings, Lord. That response of gratitude and humbling yourself.
00:09:29
Speaker
Perhaps one of the most well-known Thanksgiving passages is found in Luke
The Power of Personal Gratitude
00:09:35
Speaker
17, verses 11 through 19. There were 10 lepers who came to Jesus.
00:09:40
Speaker
Jesus sent them away and said, go and show the priest. And you know what? When they were going, they realized, we're healed. Leprosy, we're healed. So all 10 of them were so amazed, yet what was shocking is that only one went back. And you know when he went back?
00:09:59
Speaker
He went back to say thank you to Jesus. You ever go back, it's like, I'm not gonna fail to thank him for all that he has given to me in my life. It says that when that leper went back, he spoke with a loud voice.
00:10:13
Speaker
He wasn't kind of humbling and mumbling. He said, he fell on his face. There's that kneeling thing again. He fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. That's found in Luke 17 verse 16.
00:10:28
Speaker
You could even go back in Daniel's day. In Daniel's day, a law was passed during the reign of Darius the Mede after he had conquered Babylon.
00:10:39
Speaker
And so it's kind of a tricky way they had done it. But anyway, they said nobody can pray to anybody other than to the king of Babylon. But old Daniel said, you know what? I'm going to pray to my God. I don't care if there's a law telling me I shouldn't because I know I should.
00:10:54
Speaker
So Daniel 6.10 says that he still got down on
Remembering God's Goodness
00:10:57
Speaker
his knees three times a day. He prayed. He gave thanks before his God as he had done previously. You know, i find it interesting that that not only is bless mentioned in verse 1 and 2 three times, but it's also mentioned at the end. It's almost like what they call an envelope psalm.
00:11:16
Speaker
That at the beginning, it's one way, and it sort of closes it again like it's in an envelope. but Bless is mentioned three times at the end. Three times at the beginning, three times at the end.
00:11:27
Speaker
In verses 20, 21, and wow Are you responding to God in thanksgiving? You know, thanksgiving is lawful here, right?
00:11:37
Speaker
How did that happen? How is it that we get to have thanksgiving and we can pray to whoever we want to here? It's even a national holiday. How did that ever take place? I think it goes back to 1621.
00:11:50
Speaker
You know the story of the pilgrims. After three months voyage through stormy seas, their first winter was so harsh, half of them died. first winters harvest First fall's harvest was pitiful.
00:12:04
Speaker
Many died from diseases such as scurvy and pneumonia. But finally, there was an Indian tribe there. They were able to make a treaty with the Wampanoag tribe.
00:12:16
Speaker
So in the fall of 1621, they had had a bumper crop. And they said, you know what? These guys have helped us. So why don't we invite this chief and his tribe to come and join us? And let's just give thanks to God.
00:12:31
Speaker
And so they did that. Chief Massasoit and Nani Braves joined them for a three-day celebration, giving thanks to God. As a matter of fact, December 11, 1621, there was one of those pilgrims named Edward Winslow who wrote a friend back home, and just one comment out of his letter said this, and I quote, "'And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us,'
00:13:03
Speaker
Yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want
Expressing Gratitude Openly
00:13:09
Speaker
that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.
00:13:14
Speaker
See what he's doing. See what they were doing. Is that what you'll be doing? Is that what you're going to lead your family to do this Thanksgiving? To say, you know what? It may not be like this always, but this year we are going to respond to God with gratefulness, with gratitude, because he has been so good to us.
00:13:35
Speaker
Well, let's move to the second thing. The second thing I noticed is the recognition of gratefulness. Maybe there might be somebody and you would raise your hand and you'd say, God has not been good to me.
00:13:46
Speaker
There's not one thing in my life God has ever done for me. Well, that would not be the case of David. You know what David recognized? That God had been good. to him personally.
00:13:59
Speaker
God had been good to him personally. That's the same with Daniel that I referred to earlier. Daniel the prophet blessed God in Daniel 2, 23, because the king had had a dream and nobody could figure out the dream.
00:14:12
Speaker
And so, man, their lives were all in jeopardy if somebody didn't come up with the interpretation of that dream. And so he said, let's pray, guys, and let's ask God to give us the interpretation to the king's dream.
00:14:25
Speaker
So in Daniel 2, verse 23, here's what he says.
Attributes of God in Psalm 103
00:14:30
Speaker
To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise for you have given thanks.
00:14:40
Speaker
wisdom and might. And you have made known to me what we ask of you. Has God answered any prayers like that for you? You know, Psalm 103 verse 1 demonstrates how to give thanks to God for his goodness to you.
00:14:55
Speaker
Maybe you would say, you know, he's going to have to help get it out of me. I know it's down in there somewhere, but I'm just not feeling it. Okay, well, why don't we we why don't we put you under God's Thanksgiving MRI?
00:15:08
Speaker
Yep, God's got an MRI. You know, an MRI will show you what's down in there. And sometimes the doctor doesn't know until they do the um MRI and it shows them what's on the inside. So I call it the master's reliable inspection. But anyway, let's see how you're doing with your gratitude.
00:15:25
Speaker
Verse one says, bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Well, I see first individual gratitude. I think he was individually, personally grateful. Are you?
00:15:40
Speaker
You know, sometimes we go to a family gathering and everybody else is sharing something they're thankful for, but you're just kind of quiet. Why don't you say this year, Lord, help me tap into where you've been good to me because you've done things for each one of us. The Lord has.
00:15:56
Speaker
But then also not only is it individually grateful, I believe he was also inwardly grateful. How do we know this? Well, we know that he was personally grateful because he said, my soul within me. But then notice that he says, bless the Lord.
00:16:13
Speaker
Oh, my soul. and all that is within me. So he's saying, Lord, from from the depths of my heart, I'm truly grateful. You know, i think that's why we sing.
00:16:24
Speaker
We sing with such intensity. We sing in whatever way is best for you to express it. But to say, Lord, I can't be silent. Because it's down in there. I know you've done this for me and I'm going to thank you for it. And not only inwardly and individually, but also intensely, right?
00:16:43
Speaker
How much, how much was gratitude taking over David's heart? Well, let me read it again. Bless the Lord on my soul. And oh, oh, every ounce, every ounce of my being, all that is within me, I'm going to bless his holy name.
00:17:02
Speaker
do you Can you think of anybody that's like that? That's in your life that just constantly, every time you hear them say something, they're always thanking God for it. I can think of somebody, the Apostle Paul.
00:17:15
Speaker
Do know that the apostle Paul wrote 13 letters in our New Testament? Do you know that out of 13 letters, 11 times he says, I give thanks to the Lord. I'm thanking the Lord for this. I'm thanking the Lord for that. 46 times, 46 times in 11 of 13 letters, he's given thanks for God.
00:17:37
Speaker
So let's put him to the um MRI test. Is it real, Paul? Are you just saying stuff? No, it was real. Here's what he said in 1 Timothy 1.12.
00:17:48
Speaker
I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord. you ever just You
Personal Reflections and Spiritual Inventory
00:17:59
Speaker
ever just stand up to the plate and say, throw me a ball?
00:18:02
Speaker
Throw me a ball and ask me, are you grateful to my God? And you swing with everything you've got in your heart because you recognize he has been good to you. Well, let's move to the third thing.
00:18:16
Speaker
And we're going to get out here early today. Some you are saying, don't trust him. Don't trust him. Don't count on it. Well, why did God write the word remember so often in our Bibles?
00:18:30
Speaker
Do you know that the word remember is mentioned in the Bible more times than grace? Yeah, you see, grace is mentioned 128 in the ESV, than grace.
00:18:43
Speaker
Mercy is mentioned 157 times. that's pretty amazing isn't it But do you know what's mentioned more than that? Either one of those.
00:18:54
Speaker
Remember, God is saying, don't forget this. Remember this. Do you know that the word remember is in the Bible 234 times? Everybody say that with me. times.
00:19:09
Speaker
two hundred and thirty four times god is saying over and over victor don't forget what i've done Well, it's no wonder he says in verse two, bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
00:19:23
Speaker
Don't forget it. Spurgeon said one time, remember the goodness of God in the frost of adversity. Maybe right now it's really cold.
00:19:34
Speaker
It's cold spiritually in your life. It's cold emotionally in your life. Maybe it's just such a winter time in your life in terms of your emotions. But why don't you say, you know, with my will, with my will, I'm going to say thanks to God.
00:19:51
Speaker
I'm going to remember what he has done in the past. You know what I think remembering does? I think that remembering stretches. stretches the exercise of gratitude.
00:20:04
Speaker
You know, I thought about having us all stand up and do a few stretches, you know. and I thought, no, it's going to get confusing. Somebody's loving to get hurt out there. But anyway, I was thinking, no, we're not going to do that. But you know what I think remembering does do? I think it helps us not forget.
00:20:18
Speaker
You know why we're not remembering those things? Because we're not saying thank you often enough. Man, you've got to use the muscles. That's why I go to the gym like maybe three times a week. At least that's my goal. I don't always make it there.
00:20:31
Speaker
But I
Attributes of God Fueling Praise
00:20:32
Speaker
try to go because I want to stay at least in a good working condition as I can. But how about you spiritually? If you want to stay spiritually fit, then I'm telling you, you're going to have to count those many blessings like it says.
00:20:48
Speaker
But I think that also remembering does a second thing. Remembering not only stretches the exercise of gratitude so that we don't forget, but remembering broadens the extent of the gratitude.
00:21:01
Speaker
It's like you get to count those blessings and you're goingnna say, well, I remember when God helped me physically. Well, I remember over here, God helped me financially. and I remember over here, God helped me relationally in my family.
00:21:14
Speaker
I remember over here, God helped me spiritually when I was so down. You get to remembering this, and you know what you realize? There's not a part of my life that God's not been intervening in. He's been helping me in so many different areas. There's no limit.
00:21:29
Speaker
And so that's what I think he's saying. Forget not... All. Forget not all of his benefits. You know, keep on remembering what he has done. You know, I like it because David was one of those guys that he wasn't going to just stick his toe in the water.
00:21:45
Speaker
He was all in. I mean, he's just diving in. He is all in. Are you all in when it comes to gratitude and gratefulness to God? If you were to read Psalm 103, you know what you would discover?
00:21:58
Speaker
Nine times he uses the word all. That's quite a bit. It almost could be redundant to some people and they're saying, hey, he needs to get thesaurus so he can use another word or other than all.
00:22:11
Speaker
But it's just simply because he was all in when it came to remembering how good God had been to him. And so I thought about how we should remember because when we remember, you know what it does? it voices the expression of gratitude. It voices the expression of gratitude.
00:22:30
Speaker
Just think, if David hadn't remembered how good God had been, we wouldn't even have Psalm 103. He put it down. He wrote it down. So maybe you're going to tell somebody, you're going to call somebody and say, just want to call you on Thanksgiving and say, hey, praying you have a happy Thanksgiving. God's been good to me.
00:22:49
Speaker
And then you just tell him, you know, tell whoever it is how God's been good to you. You send an email, you send a text. Whatever it is, you say, Lord, you have been so good to me.
00:22:59
Speaker
I'm not going to be quiet about it. He says, bless the Lord, O my soul. Forget not all his benefits. you know david You know what David's about to do? He's about to cut loose on God's benefit package.
00:23:13
Speaker
You ever been checking out a job and you say, I got to find out about the benefit package that goes with this job. He says, forget not all his benefits. Well, he's just about to talk about that.
00:23:25
Speaker
And that's going to be my last point. So we're almost done. Some of you are like, don't trust him. I'm telling you, i've I've been around. ah Well, but here's the thing I want us to do at this point on remembering, because this is what I think we forget the most.
00:23:38
Speaker
We forget not his benefits, his attributes. If you were to take Psalm 103 and go beyond beyond where we stopped, read the whole Psalm, you know what David does?
00:23:52
Speaker
Man, he doesn't just cut loose on the blessings and the benefits. No, he cuts loose on the attributes. If you want your Christian life to take off, if you want your worship to reach a whole new level, then you get caught up in the attributes, those character qualities that are distinctive to who God is.
00:24:11
Speaker
You start thanking him for that. As a matter of fact, let me run through. I'll just rip them. So if you're fast on taking notes, you can. But if you just read it through, you'll find them.
00:24:22
Speaker
There's eight of them, eight attributes. For one thing, he says verse 4, 11, 17, he says, you know what God is?
00:24:32
Speaker
He said, God is loving. Aren't you glad God's loving? His steadfast love, he keeps mentioning over and over. Aren't you glad God
Spiritual Depth of Thanksgiving
00:24:40
Speaker
is merciful? Verse 4 and verse 8. That second thing, not only is God loving, God's also merciful.
00:24:47
Speaker
But not only is God loving and merciful, he's also righteous. We forget that sometimes. Verses 6 and 17. God's not evil. God's not wicked. No, you know what?
00:24:59
Speaker
He's not only good, he's righteous, he's holy. But within he's also just, verse six. He's slow to anger, verses eight, nine. He's forgiving, verse three and verses 10 through 12. He's compassionate, verse 13. And he's king, he's sovereign in verse 19. Listen, if you're running out of things to thank him for, then don't you just say, Lord, you know what?
00:25:26
Speaker
I've been looking at the checkbook. I've been looking at my body way too much and all the x-rays. I need to look at you. And if you look at God, you'll find something that you can give thanks for. And you'll say, I remember now who it is I'm dealing with and who I'm talking to. Well, let me go the fourth thing, the reasons.
00:25:46
Speaker
The reasons for gratefulness for God's goodness. Verses three and four and five. I told you we were coming to the benefits, right? Right? See, the benefits, kind of another Hebrew, it's built on the Hebrew word for a camel.
00:26:02
Speaker
And you're thinking, what in the world? The Hebrew root of the word for benefits there, it comes from ah the word camel. Do you know that if you would have lived in Israel or some of those parts of the of the Middle East, you were in desert a lot.
00:26:18
Speaker
And the camels, you know what they were nicknamed? The camels of that area were called the ships. The ships. And so the ships of the desert were camels. They would carry loads, sometimes just lots of stuff for very long distances.
00:26:36
Speaker
Let me tell you what God's been doing. from heaven. God's been sending you blessings over an incredible distance because heaven and earth are not the same, but it makes no difference to him because he can still get the blessings to you.
00:26:52
Speaker
And so you may say, what kind of blessings has he ever given me Well, let's just look at the cross for a minute. Let's look at verses three and four and five. And David's gonna be able to tell us exactly some things that we need to be thanking him for on the benefits. You see, David would say, I'll tell you what I'm thanking God for.
00:27:13
Speaker
The first benefit is because I'm a sinner and God forgave me. Has God forgiven you? He says, who
Invitation to Embrace God's Grace
00:27:24
Speaker
forgives all your iniquity.
00:27:27
Speaker
Man, I like the word all there. That's another strategic placement by David. See, David wasn't a perfect man. That's what i like about the Bible. The Bible is real. It's about real people who lived in life.
00:27:40
Speaker
It's not going to gloss over their mistakes, but it's going to show you how they grew and how they were redeemed and all the different things that happened. He forgives my iniquity is what David would basically be saying, but he also says,
00:27:56
Speaker
I was not only a sinner and God forgave me, but I was a sick man. i was a sick man and God healed me. Has God ever healed you? Has he ever helped you when you were thinking, i don't think I'm gonna make it through this.
00:28:09
Speaker
You know, sometimes God heals in eternity. Sometimes God heals now in this time. I've seen it so many times. We pray for different ones, but I thought to myself, you know what? I wanna give you a little, I don't know, counsel, pastoral counsel.
00:28:25
Speaker
Why don't we say, I'm going to leave the answer to you because I don't know the answer to my prayer about my healing. But here's the thing, Lord, I am so convinced about the ability of God. So rather than focusing on God's answer, once you focus on God's ability and say to him, Lord, I don't know what you'll choose to do, but I am completely convinced that you can heal it. And I know that one day if you don't heal it here on this side, on the other side, you're going to heal it.
00:28:58
Speaker
But I believe that also David is saying another benefit is not only when I was a sinner, he forgave me. And not only when I was sick, he healed me. But at one time I was a spiritual slave and God redeemed me.
00:29:10
Speaker
He redeemed me. He redeemed me. It's interesting what he says he was redeemed from. I've been redeemed from the same thing. Who redeemed your life from the pit.
00:29:21
Speaker
You it's amazing some of the crazy things I did when I was a teenager. It's amazing I'm still alive. But God was merciful. And God, he forgave me and he redeemed me.
00:29:32
Speaker
But then I thought, well, you know what? The pit is sometimes a metaphor for death. But the pit is other times a metaphor for hell. Do you know that I deserve hell?
00:29:44
Speaker
My sins deserve punishment. But you know what Jesus did? You know what the Father did? He said, you know what, if you'll put your trust in my son, I paid the price so that you could go free, so that you'll be free of that penalty of sin that you deserve.
00:30:01
Speaker
And so I thought, well, that's good. But also, I don't know in your life, but I've been depressed at times. And you know what, some people call that depression the pit, being in the
Final Prayer and Invitation
00:30:10
Speaker
pits. Well, God can help you with that. and He can fill your heart with joy.
00:30:14
Speaker
But then the last thing I learned in my study this week is sometimes that word pit, you know what it also means? Waste. You know what? My life would have been a waste if would have rejected Jesus Christ. I cannot imagine where I would be today if I would have said no to Jesus Christ.
00:30:33
Speaker
So I thought, well, just like David, I definitely have been a spiritual slave and God redeemed me bought me with the precious blood of Christ. He forgave me. He healed me.
00:30:44
Speaker
But you know what he does now as a son, you as a son or a daughter? Well, he crowns He crowns David was a king. who would Who would become king after David?
00:30:56
Speaker
His son. That's the way kingship worked back then. That's the way royalty worked back then. Well, that's the way spiritually God handles it too. When we enter into his family, you know what crown God places on our head? Says it right there, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy.
00:31:15
Speaker
Maybe some of you had a bad upbringing and you say, you know what? Nobody ever really loved me. But you know what God does? His love's steady. His love has provided this opportunity for you today.
00:31:30
Speaker
But David also said, you know what? Not only have I been a sinner and God forgave me, a sick man and God healed me, a spiritual slave and God redeemed me, a son and God crowned me, but he also made me a saint.
00:31:43
Speaker
He made me a saint and God satisfies me. He satisfies me. He said he satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.
00:31:55
Speaker
You know there are so many people who are still searching for satisfaction. They can't find it. They're looking in all the wrong places. And the answer is right here all along.
00:32:05
Speaker
What is it that people are looking for? oh there it is. Who satisfies you with good. the goodness of god The goodness of God is what your soul tells you.
00:32:19
Speaker
See, God made you You're made with a purpose. He wants you to know him. he wants you to live for him. He wants you to honor him and glorify him. He wants you to spend eternity with him.
00:32:30
Speaker
You were made for him. you weren't made for the world. You weren't made just for self. No. I remember reading, i don't know where it was, first time, maybe in history class or something, about an explorer named Ponce de Leon and how he looked for the fountain of youth.
00:32:50
Speaker
But they said later, it's just a legend. I'm not sure he really looked for it. But even if he did, he never found it. Well, here's the treasure map right here. All you got to do is start verse three, go into verse four, come down through verse five, and you'll see David put a pointer on there every time.
00:33:08
Speaker
You know what he's pointing to? It's not what, it's who. He's saying, who? Who forgives all your niggas? Who heals all your desires? Who redeems your life from the pit? Who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy? Who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagles?
00:33:28
Speaker
And then all you got to do is follow those five verbs.
00:33:33
Speaker
When I was a missionary in Japan, I heard that there was a concert of ah a group that I really liked, the tabverernac Brooklyn Tabernacle. The Brooklyn Tabernacle is found in, gets it, Brooklyn.
00:33:47
Speaker
And anyway, in New York. And I don't know if you ever read any Jim Zimbala books, but he's really a godly man and wrote a lot about prayer and Holy Spirit's work in a church and so forth. But I heard that his praise team was gonna be there and his worship band was gonna be there.
00:34:05
Speaker
And so I went and man, did they rock the place out. I mean, all the Japanese were like going side to side. i got seasick in there. I was like, man, so many blackheads, you know, doing this and that, you know. And so anyway, it was just incredible. It was so inspiring and powerful.
00:34:21
Speaker
But then something unexpected happened. The praise team said, we want to invite our pastor to come out here. He's just going to say a quick word. Jim Cimbala made a surprise visit.
00:34:32
Speaker
He came out there on stage and he said, I got a verse I want to share with you. But he said, but first I need to be honest. He said, all my life I grew up hating sushi.
00:34:44
Speaker
And the Japanese, oh, you know, like that. He said, I hated sushi. He said, but the good news is my wife loves sushi. And he said, when we got married, she kept on after me over and over again. Come on, Jim, just try it. No, no.
00:35:00
Speaker
He said, I told her no, all of our lives until one birthday. It was her birthday. day And he said, Carol said, Jim, you know what I want for my birthday? He said, what? I'll i'll give you anything. She said, that's what I was waiting hear. She said...
00:35:15
Speaker
If you will enjoy sushi with me, he said, we can have it in the house. That way, if it makes you sick, you know, there's no problem. He said, okay. He said, you know what? I've told you no all these years, and I'm going to prove it tonight that I hate sushi, and there's a reason, because it doesn't taste good.
00:35:31
Speaker
So they ordered takeout sushi. They deliver had it delivered. He said, I took that first bite. And he said, you know what? This isn't bad. She said, I told you if you would just taste and see, the sushi is so delicious. It's so good.
00:35:47
Speaker
And he said, you know what? My wife never eats sushi alone anymore. He said, we both have sushi. But here's the verse he shared with those Japanese people.
00:35:58
Speaker
And it was so simple, he said, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. That's found in Psalm 34, eight. You know, i'm talking to somebody today and maybe from childhood, you've had something against God and it's not true, it's not real.
00:36:18
Speaker
Someone hurt you and that's real and that's true. You know how that feels. but it wasn't God. And so all I'm trying to say is taste and see that the Lord is good.
00:36:32
Speaker
Some of you have been looking for the good life and you've searched so hard. You thought it was going to be found in money and wealth. You thought it was going to be found in a new job, maybe a new place.
00:36:43
Speaker
he thought it was going to be found in a new relationship. You know what you're really looking for? You're looking for God. He's a gracious God, a good God. He's holy. He's just. He's righteous.
00:36:56
Speaker
He's all those things. But I want you know he is so good. And if you will simply taste and see. you're going to say, you know what? What have I been missing all these years?
00:37:06
Speaker
Just like Jim Simbala. Let's stand up. want to invite our musicians to come. They're going to lead us in a song about grace, and I'm so glad. it is grace alone. But I want to pray for us, and if you feel God's leading you to come forward with a decision of some kind, I'll be down front to welcome you.
00:37:24
Speaker
But if you've been writing God off, maybe you're writing someone else off, not God. If you just get to know Him, you'll be amazed at who he is.
00:37:35
Speaker
He is so gracious, so good, he's so merciful, he's so holy, he is so faithful. He will come to your rescue. Let's pray. Lord, thank you so much for this time to extend an invitation, not in our name, in Jesus' name.
00:37:52
Speaker
It's in Jesus' name. And you did say, come to me, all you who are heavy, latent, burdened, and I will give you rest. I pray. I pray today if someone needs spiritual rest, they've been searching and searching, but in all the wrong places. This may be the day that they've come to Jesus.
00:38:10
Speaker
And this is going to be the day when it all turns around. Bless our time of invitation and bless us as we sing this last song together about your incredible grace. It is so amazing. In Jesus' name, amen.
00:38:28
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.