Surrounding Mercy
Key Passage: Psalm 32
Date: June 7, 2024
If you would, turn to Psalm 32. Those are just wonderful songs. I appreciate that. That last one is just great. It really, really is. Psalm 32 in God’s Word tonight. The title would be “Surrounding Mercy.” I’m so thankful for His surrounding mercy.
Psalm 32 is a great passage. Just a little bit—I would think maybe, and I hope I’m accurate, I think I am in this—Psalm 51, of course, if you are just getting right with the Lord, that would be kind of step one. Then Psalm 32 is kind of like step two. It’s a little bit of a twin, if you will, from Psalm 51. David is the one that God used to pen it. It’s just a great Psalm if you’re trying to get right with the Lord.
Maybe you’ve already read Psalm 51 and confessed and whatnot. Psalm 32 will be the next Psalm to read. It’s just a great passage from God’s Word, Psalm chapter 32. We’re going to read the whole Psalm. It’s only 11 verses. All right, you know. But really, we’re going to key in on verse number 10. I want us to get the feel for it.
I felt like the Lord had us just focus on verse number 10 tonight. We’re going to read the whole Psalm. Don’t lose focus. Sometimes you just read the Bible in church and just kind of space out. Don’t do that. Let’s focus on what we’re reading, if you would.
By the way, I felt to mention pray for the Bushel family. Milford Bushel, Ms. Bushill’s father-in-law, passed on Friday. They went home on Friday. So pray for that family, if you would. She’s had relatives down with her and whatnot. They’re leaving and things and so on. Just pray for Ms. Bushill. Sometimes you lose your mate, your spouse, and that’s such a tragic thing, but then you lose others, and it kind of takes you back to that. There’s a little bit of a double whammy. So pray for Ms. Bushill, if you would. And her daughter, Suzanne, she has mentioned, is having a tough time with it. Pray for them, if you would please, the Bushel family.
Psalm 32. We’re going to start in verse number one and read down through it. Would you please stand as we read God’s Word together? Psalm 32, starting in verse number one: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity.” Oh, praise the Lord for that! “In whose spirit there is no guile.”
“When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.” Maybe there he’s speaking of, he didn’t really confess his sin properly. He tried to hide it. Maybe some say a year later that Nathan, the preacher, came and said, “Thou art the man.” Maybe that’s what he’s speaking of there. “When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night, Thy hand was heavy upon me.” You know, we don’t just confess to get right; there’s such conviction. David is testifying there: “My moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.” You just live distant from God, and you just dry up and shrivel away, is what he said.
Verse number five: “I acknowledge my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.” David did so well. Once Nathan pointed out, “Thou art the man,” Saul didn’t want to just own up to it, but David said, “Oh, my goodness, it’s me.” That’s such the right thing. We’re all there. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves; the truth is not in us. We all sin. Don’t blame, excuse, or justify all that. Just, “Oh, that’s me. Forgive me, Lord, it’s all me.” David did that, and he said, “Thou forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.” What a wonderful thing!
Verse number six: “For this shall everyone that is godly pray unto Thee in a time when Thou mayest be found; surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. Thou art my hiding place; Thou shalt preserve me from trouble; Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.”
“I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with Mine eye. Be not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle.” He said, don’t be like a horse or mule that you have to be harsh to guide. God can guide us like that if you really want Him to, but it’s so much better if the Holy Spirit can just touch a little bit and convict, and you say, “Oh, I’m sorry.” I heard a preacher say he’d like to be like a leaf on a tree: God just blows this way, and I go that way, and this way, and He can just lead you so easily. Don’t be like a horse or mule, as I was trying to say.
Verse number 10: “Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.” Amen. “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.” That last little phrase is part of verse 10, but “he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass Him about.”
Would you pray that God just make that phrase real to you and me tonight? Father, Lord, we come to You. This Psalm is so rich, Lord. Thank You. You are so good to us. When I don’t deserve it, You are. Thank You, Lord. All the praise belongs to You because we all fail You. Yet we just come up to it. You are so merciful. Father, would You make that real? I think about that verse, Lord, when You said You are ready to forgive. Remind us of that. Lord, help us to trust in You more, Father, through tonight. We will thank You, Lord, for what You do. We will brag on You for it. Please make it real to Your people. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.
Thank you for standing. You may be seated.
Mark that text, said Richard Atkin to his grandson, Abel. Mark that text: “He that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.” I read it in my youth and believed it. And now I read it in my old age. Thank God I know it to be true. It is a blessed thing that in the midst of joys and sorrows of the world, Abel, to trust in the Lord.
What a wonderful truth. I want you to notice a couple words out of that verse, verse number 10: “But he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass.” I mean, you go to your right, if you will, His mercy is there. You go to your left, His mercy is there. You go forward, His mercy is there. You go backward, His mercy is there. It compasseth—it surroundeth—those that trust His mercy. I’m so very thankful for that. No matter where you go, His mercy is there.
I think about my old preacher when I was a teenager, Dr. J.B. Buffett. I mention him once in a while; he was a two-pilot guy. I remember he got sick for a while. During that time, he talked about how God was so merciful to him. He mentioned this verse, and as a teenager, that verse really got my attention. This is what it says: “The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing; that will make all his bed in his sickness.” It was kind of saying, even when I was sick, God’s mercy was there.
In times of chastening, God’s mercy is real. I think about a man in our church—he is in heaven now. He had lived a sinful life as a young man. Then he got right with the Lord, got saved, and got in church. He got into our church and just took off for the Lord. He became a great soul, and if I said his name, many of you know him. He is just a great example to us, to me. He often claimed Joel 2:25.
This is what God says over there in Joel 2, where God had sent the plagues, the locusts, upon them because of the sinfulness of Israel—a plague that wiped them out in several different ways. The Bible describes this: “I will restore to you the years that the locust have eaten.” I remember hearing that man pray, “Lord, You said You would restore the years. I’ve lived a sinful life, and would You restore the years that the locust have eaten because of my sinfulness?” He was saying, “God, Your mercy can encompass me about. I’m claiming those mercies of the Lord.”
His mercies can encompass us about. What about the thief on the cross, who wasted his life in sinful living? One of the Gospels calls him a malefactor. You say, what’s that? Somebody who has been in and out of jail. You ever know somebody? They say, “Well, they’re out now, but next week they’ll probably be back in there.” The repeat offenders, the frequent flyers in the jail. The prison guards know them: “Yeah, he’s a frequent flyer. He’s been through here a lot of times.” That’s the kind of guy the thief on the cross was. And yet, in the last minutes of his life—the last minutes of his life—he said, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And praise the Lord, mercy encompasses us about. He trusted the Lord, and Jesus said, “Today thou shalt be with Me in paradise.” Praise the Lord for His mercy, amen. His mercy encompasses us about.
What a wonderful thing. The British Press Association printed this years and years ago. They said a British sub lay disabled on the floor of the ocean for two days. Back then, two days might have been earlier than that; I’m not sure. This sub was disabled on the floor of the ocean for two days. They thought it was the end. They didn’t know any cure or anything they could do about it. The commanding officer led his sailors in singing, “Abide with Me.” “Lord, abide with me. When other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, O abide with me.” He led them to sing that song, and then they gave them sedative pills just to calm their fears and slow their breathing down in the sub, back in the day.
They distributed those pills just to the men. They took them. When they did, one of the men, because of that medicine, fell over and hit a certain piece of equipment. It jarred it back into surface. It made that equipment start working, and it began to surface. They were relying on the mercy—the mercy of God encompasses those that trust in Him, even in the deep ocean. The mercy of God encompasses those that trust in Him.
Even in death, there is mercy there. I think about some of the great Christians. I name off a couple of men here; there are ladies like this in our church and other men like this in our church, but I wasn’t—maybe didn’t get to hear from them right towards the end of the line. I think about Brother Fontaine; how many times he said, “I’m ready to go.” Brother Warren, two things he wanted: either go home to heaven or get back in church. He said it so often. That’s what he wanted. I think about Larry Rosalowski: “I’m ready to go.” I’m sure Brother Bush said it often: “I’m ready to go.” Even in death, the mercy of the Lord encompasses those that trust in Him.
D.L. Moody, when he got close to death, said, “This is glorious. Earth receding, heaven opening, God calling me.” Even in death, there is mercy of God. John Wesley said, “Best of all, God is with us.” George Washington said, “Doctor, I’m dying, but I’m not afraid to die.” The mercy of the Lord encompasses those that trust Him, even during death.
Polycarp, in the early days of Christianity, was a pastor of the church in Smyrna. Remember the seven churches of Asia Minor, and that church went through severe persecution? I would like to say we are the church of Smyrna, but I don’t know that I want all the persecution they went through in Revelation 2. After those beginning days in Revelation 2, Polycarp was the pastor there for years and years. They had persecution—history tells us, it’s not the Bible, history tells of it—and Polycarp, they sought him out. He often stayed at a certain house. He was 86 years old, and they were still after him. He heard they were coming for him. The word was out that they were going to send him to the Coliseum and kill him there. They went and stayed at another house for a bit, and then they went to his regular house. They had tortured some people and got one of them to say, “Oh, he’s over here.”
The world was out there coming, and Polycarp said, “I’m not going to hide.” He had already had a little vision one night, perhaps two days earlier, that his pillow had caught on fire. He woke up the next morning and said, “They are going to burn me at the stake, and I’m all right with it.” God had already told him what was going to happen. The day came; they came to the house where the young man had confessed where he was. Polycarp said, “I’m all right with it.” In fact, he instructed the people he was staying with: “Hey, the soldiers are coming. Would you make a meal for them? Let’s treat them real good.” Can you imagine that? When they came to arrest him, he said, “I have one request: Would you let me have an hour in prayer?” The soldiers began to question, “Why are we arresting such a kind, just an upright, older man? Why are we doing this?”
Polycarp began to pray, and he got so deep with God, he took two hours. He was a preacher! Instead of one hour, two hours meeting with God. He came to the men and said, “I’m ready to go.” As they took him into the Coliseum, where they had animals waiting or they were to burn him at the stake—and he knew all that was happening—they say as they took him into the Coliseum, Polycarp, the pastor of the Church of Smyrna, 86 years old, and the Christians around him heard a voice. Nobody knew where it came from; it was from heaven for him. This is what the voice said: “Be strong, Polycarp, and play the man.” In his dying days, mercy encompassed Polycarp. They threatened him with animals. He said, “Oh, that’s fine. That’s fine. I’m going home to heaven.” They said, “We’re going to burn him at the stake.” He said, “I know.”
They threatened him and tried every angle to get him to denounce Jesus Christ, and this is what he said: “Eighty-six years have I served Him, and He has never once wronged me. How then shall I blaspheme my King who hath saved me?” They tied him to the stake and began to burn, lit all the things below him on fire. The fire began to come up on Polycarp. History, Fox’s Book of Martyrs and others recorded, the fire began to come up, but he wouldn’t burn. The soldiers were like, “How is this happening?” They were just trying to burn the man. He would not be consumed; he was fine in the fire. The leaders were outraged, and finally, they told a soldier, “Go over there and pierce him with a dagger, a sword.” History tells us that the soldier went over and jabbed him with the sword. When the blood came out, it extinguished the fire around him. I’m simply saying, even in death, the mercy of God encompasses those that trust in Him.
Friend, if you’re trusting the Lord, don’t live a fearful life. If you say, “I’m falling short of perfect,” that’s when you need mercy, friend. His mercy encompasses those that trust in Him. I’m going to tell you this story—you’re not going to believe me. I wish my brother was here to testify with me that we weren’t smoking marijuana. This really happened, all right, when this happened. We were boys. We lived not too far from the St. John’s River. There was a public dock, and I had a fence around it. My older brother and I would go out there and fish off the dock sometimes. Sometimes our parents would take us there or whatnot. We were out there fishing on the dock, and it was… You know, a lot of times it’s good fishing weather when the storms are coming. It really is, a lot of times. Storms were coming and it started raining and all that. We couldn’t leave; we were catching fish. We thought, “Let’s stay here.” We were dumb, dumb, dumb, is what it was. We were out there on this dock on the St. John’s River, and storms were coming. I can’t believe it. It’s really just a little bit of a crazy story, but there were two little twisters, you know, a little bit of whirlwinds, a little bit of tornadoes—not a true tornado, but a little bit. You could see them come across the river. And man, you had a fish on the hook; you can’t let it go, you know. And as those things were coming over to the dock, my brother and I—we got little brains in our heads—said, “We’re getting off these things. Let’s get out of Dodge.” We took off running, and it’s amazing. I don’t know what it is, but one of those twisters caught my brother, and the other twister caught me. We were trying to get—I remember holding on to the fence. I don’t know if they tried to pick me up. I didn’t have a belly like I do now. Amen. I was skinny back in the day, you know. But it did catch us—one caught him, one caught me. That thing just kind of, you know, it’ll just surround you.
The Bible says the mercy of the Lord encompasses—it surrounds—those that trust in the Lord. Just like we were surrounded by that little—it was just a little twister, you know, and when you’re a boy, everything seems big, probably a little bit of the old thing, you know—but it surrounded us. The mercy of the Lord seeks out. He sees those across the river there on the dock that are trusting in the Lord, and that mercy in the Lord rides across the water. You can run, but if you’re trusting the Lord, it’ll still surround you. The mercy of the Lord encompasses. It surrounds those who hope in His mercy. It encompasses, surrounds.
Let’s look back at that last part of verse number 10 right there: “But he that trusteth in the Lord… What’s the next word? Mercy. Mercy. Mercy. Mercy shall encompass him about?” Mercy. Mercy.
Mercy is when you don’t get what you deserve. You deserve God’s chastening and judgment. Honestly, we deserve hell. Grace is us not getting something we deserve. Mercy is not getting something we deserve. Grace is getting something we don’t deserve, you know. By the mercy of God, we don’t go to hell. By the grace of God, we go to heaven, amen.
He means mercy when you are doing everything just right? No. He is not talking about a Christian who does everything right because there is no such bird; there is just no such thing. He is not talking about that because if you had to get everything right, man, we are discouraging. I mean, there is no way you do not measure up. But it is not talking about someone who gets everything right because you would not need mercy. He is talking about us when we mess up. Anybody not pray like they ought to last week? Did I not read my Bible, not memorize scripture, not witness like y’all did last week? I guarantee you about a thousand of us right here—only, only, you know, there are not as many people here, but we are all there. God does not come and say, “Well, you are not where you ought to be. Let me kick you when you are down.” No, God says, “My mercy, mercy encompasses.” His mercy. Forty-one times the Bible says, “The mercy of the Lord endureth forever.” Aren’t you glad you serve a merciful God? God’s mercy encompasses us.
You know, the Pharisees, Jesus called them whitewashed sepulchers. What does that mean? That means they were like graveyards, cemeteries, and inside were dead bodies. I recently heard—I can’t remember where it was, it was in a home, I think I remember who it was—but in a home, there had been a dead body for a couple of days, and they called to check on it. It didn’t just have a distinct stench. I don’t know; I’ve never experienced it, but I’ve heard if a body dies in a car and is left in that car for days, you just can’t get the stink out of there. Jesus said, “You are like sepulchers.” In other words, inside that tomb, there were dead bodies, but on the outside, they would whitewash it, bleach it, and make it white. It looked good; they would kind of paint it up, if you will, and it looked so good on the outside, but on the inside, it was full of dead bodies. When we try to look like and act like we are all that, and we try to measure up on our own, “God, look at me!” God said, “No, no. Just trust in Me and My mercy.”
Look over, if you will, in Luke chapter 18. Luke 18 is a great lesson here that Jesus gives us about praying, how to go to our Heavenly Father, how to get forgiveness and cleansing. Luke 18 has two men you will know: the publican and the Pharisee. The publican was known as—they were known as the sinners. Oh, they were just awful, awful people. Now look what God says about it. Jesus says here in Luke 18, look down in verse number nine: “And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in…” Who did they trust in? You call that self-righteousness? You call that pride? They were trusting in themselves that they were righteous, and watch this: “…and despised others.” They would just go around talking about anybody else, despising them.
“Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself.” Notice that. He prayed thus with himself. He is not trying to get his prayers answered; he is praying with himself. No, no, no, no. You pray to God. By the way, when we lead in public prayer, don’t lead to impress or don’t lead to preach your sermon at the people. Don’t do that. Pray. That is what it is about.
But this Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself: “God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess.” Let me just stop and say something here. Tithing is a little bit easy, if you will. Fasting twice a week? Whew, I am not there. If it was up to being good, this fellow was pretty good. Fasting twice a week? I like to eat. Anybody out there like me? I like chicken. Amen. That is the job of a Baptist preacher—I want to fulfill it by eating chicken now, you know. Fasting twice a week? Pretty good fellow if you go by works. He fasted twice a week and gave tithes of all that he possessed.
And the publican had issues, had problems. Standing afar off, kind of like, “I am not even worthy to get in there real close.” He would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Boy, Jesus—this is Jesus talking here—I tell you, this man went down to his house justified. That is his definition of justified: as if I never sinned. He went out of his house justified rather than the other. For everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Mercy—the mercy of the Lord encompasses us. You know, I am not concerned about God sending us away without mercy. D.L. Moody used to say, “Nobody leaves from God empty-handed unless they go to God full of himself.” I do not worry about God. No, but I worry sometimes about us going to God. That is what he means over there. He said, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” I do worry about us not coming and just asking for mercy. That is not trusting. Typically, the opposite of us trusting the Lord is us trusting in ourselves.
But His mercy—how would you just say His mercy? Oh, how we all need His mercy. First word: compassion. This surrounds us. Next word: mercy. And then this last word, let’s look back over there, Psalm 32:10. One last word. We are going to be done for the night. Psalm 32:10: “Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.” I pass the word up. Let’s go back at it one more time. But he that what? Trusteth. Trusteth. Can I encourage you to trust in Him for everything? Everything. It starts with salvation—trusting the Lord for salvation. That is where you get assurance. Trusting Him about everything.
Brother Fontaine, whom I mentioned a little bit tonight—it was a good day. Brother Fontaine, I think maybe he had gotten into a little accident or something; I can’t remember exactly. But I remember him saying, “I always pray before I leave when driving, ‘Lord, take care of my driving.’” He said, “I didn’t pray that time.” I thought, “Wow, that’s pretty good. He’s trusting the Lord for his driving.” I don’t do it like I should, but Brother Fontaine helped me.
Here is where sometimes it gets hard. If you are coming down One Mile Lane and you are going to get on Ammaville Road, typically I do not go to the light because you wait there for it to turn green, whatnot. But I will come down to that next one—I don’t know what it is—come out on Ammaville Road. In the morning time, schools are opening up over here, man, there is traffic everywhere. Sometimes it backs up; the light backs up all the way to that road right there. If I have my spiritual senses on a little bit, I will pray, “Lord, let me get out of here.” It is amazing how God so often answers that little bit of prayer. I am just saying trust Him about everything. Every little thing, trust Him for it. Trust in the Lord to bring justice. Don’t live your life out of shape. Trust Him about everything. You know the situation; you want to go in there and just correct it all. Well, if the Lord is leading, but maybe you just need to trust the Lord. Trusting Him about everything. I like to hear our people sometimes talk about waking up in the middle of the night and just praying. Trust Him about everything, even for a good night’s sleep. Just trust Him.
Let me say this: Trust not in yourself, but in His mercy. I mentioned this verse—I did not get it exactly right a couple of services ago—but look over in Psalms. You are already there. Psalm 147, look in verse number 11. Trusting Him about everything. Every little bit of thing. By the way, nothing is too little to take to God. Nothing is too big to take to God. Cast all your care upon Him, all of them.
Psalm 147, look at verse number 11: “The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear Him, and those that hope in His mercy.” Yeah. Friend, you serve a merciful God. Trust in Him about everything. Everything. When you mess up, don’t stay away from Him. Trust in His mercy. When you do not have everything right, don’t justify and try to hide it from the Lord. No, just trust in His mercy. Trust Him about everything.
Psalm 34:8 says, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.” Can I say this? You are not going to be perfect. You are not going to get everything right. But I am glad you can trust in His mercy. Just trust in His mercy.
Years and years ago, there were some immigrants—I am not sure what country they came from—and they were new in America. A lot of them came through Ellis Island and all that, you know that. They had gotten a ticket on a train from Jersey City, New Jersey, to Scranton, Pennsylvania. If there is no traffic, it is about, I think, a two-hour drive. Back in the day, that was a long way. They paid money for the tickets, and the railroad workers caught them walking down the track. They said, “What are you doing on our tracks?” They said, “Well, we have a ticket. We bought a ticket where we are allowed to be on these tracks.” The railroad workers had to explain: That ticket does not just give you permission to walk down the tracks; you can get on the train.
Friend, don’t trust in your own power. Don’t try to do it all in your own might. Don’t travel the Christian road relying on your own resources. Trust His mercy. His mercy encompasses those that trust.
Anybody—I know some of you have—have you ever seen the movie Sheffey? It is about an old itinerant preacher. I think Bob Jones Press put it out. Have you ever seen that movie, Sheffey? Oh, a good number of you. It is a great movie. I checked it out this afternoon; you can actually pull it up on YouTube. It is a good movie, though it is long. One scene in that movie, God just impressed upon my heart when I saw it: They were going to a camp meeting. They would build a big old structure for the camp meeting, and everybody would come out from miles and miles, usually in covered wagons, traveling all the roads. They are all coming to the camp meeting, you know. God met with them at the camp meeting.
In one scene, they had a wagon backed up to the tabernacle, and a bunch of men were unloading a piano. Pianos are good at breaking backs. Amen? Anybody want to testify on that? I remember, Brother Kevin, we unloaded a piano at someone’s house, and about a couple of months later, we had to unload it out of their house. We thought, “Boy, this isn’t right.” Especially those old pianos, wow. They made them out of lead, you know. These men—it is an old piano, and you know how heavy those things are—it feels like 10,000 tons at least. All these men, maybe six or eight men, have this piano that weighs hundreds and hundreds of pounds, and they are carrying it out of the wagon.
It is just one scene in the movie. The lady, the owner, is an older woman, and the movie makes her look like a granny, if you will. These men are carrying this piano off, and that old granny is running around the whole time, behind them, with her hands ready in case it falls so she could hold it up. Sometimes I go through life like that with God, but when I saw that, the Spirit of God said, “You do that sometimes.” And God said, “Don’t do that. My mercy encompasses and surrounds.” Not when you are perfect—no, it is mercy. My mercy encompasses those that trust. It would have been better if she had just kind of trusted those guys, and we just trust in the Lord.
Would you bow your heads and close your eyes tonight?
“Preacher, I want to just rest.” There is a rest for His people. I just want to rest. I think about that song, “Oh, for grace to trust Him more.” Are you there tonight? You say, “Preacher, I want to rest in His mercy.” God spoke to my heart about that. That is you tonight. Just lift your head. “Preacher, I want to be there. I want to rest. I want to rest in His mercy.” God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.
Maybe you are there tonight. You say, “Hey, Lord, help me to trust You more. Help me to just kind of sit down and relax and realize You are carrying it; You have got it. Help me to get on the train of Jesus and just enjoy the ride with Jesus. Help me to trust You more.” Preacher, that is my heartbeat. Help me to trust the Lord more. God bless you.
Would you please stand? We are going to have a word of prayer, and our instruments will play. Would you just come and say, “Lord, help me to rest in You. I know You are capable. I know You are able. I know I do not have it all together, but You have it all together. I am just to trust, just to rest in You.” Would you tell Him that?
Father, thank You for this incredible passage. Thank You, Lord, for the whole Psalm 32. Man, I need it, Lord. Thank You for it. Help us, Lord, just to trust. Thank You, Lord. You said Your mercy encompasses. Thank You, Lord, for those who trust, and help us to do so. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.
You know, He is worthy of our trust. Just resting in Him. Just kind of saying, “Whew, You have got it, Lord.” There is peace, there is rest, there is tranquility, just resting. We are not going to get everything right; nobody does. But He does, and His mercy just surrounds us. Praise the Lord for the mercy of God and for those that trust in Him. Thank you for being in church tonight. Praise the Lord for it being good to see everybody out. What a blessing. I just rejoice to love you and do a great job for the Lord. Let’s stay humble, stay right, be good to one another, and let’s just see what God will do, amen. We will get to be a part of God’s work here. What a blessing it is. We are excited about it. Brother Usselton, back there in the back, praise the Lord, he is here Tuesday morning, getting all those school kids in there, and that is great. I appreciate it. And his wife gets lunch—she gets the pizza for them on Friday sometime. That is great. I appreciate their involvement. That is just awesome.
Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - Surrounding Mercy - - Sunday PM 09172023