KJ Washington
[0:00] Good morning everyone. I’m KJ and I serve on staff here at Village Church. I’m [0:05] looking forward to our time together in God’s Word this morning. If you have [0:09] your Bibles or mobile devices turn with me to Psalm chapter 107 verses 1 through 3. [0:15] Again that’s Psalm chapter 107 verses 1 through 3. Growing up I [0:21] remember sitting in church, I’m kind of like you are right now and hearing a [0:24] pastor say the phrase God is good. A few moments later the
[0:28] congregation will respond back to the pastor and they would say all the time. [0:33] That phrase was etched vividly into the back of my mind and so as I was [0:36] growing up I was able to recall on that phrase and to think about that phrase [0:40] but it wasn’t until I was in high school when I was actually confronted with the [0:45] reality of the phrase. So for a long time I had the knowledge but I had this [0:51] moment where I had to experience the reality of that truth. For me that was
[0:55] when I was in high school it was when a friend of mine passed away at the age of [0:58] 14 years old that led me to question and to consider God how are you good in the [1:03] midst of this? Many of you all have different situations in your lives that [1:07] are similar to that where you’ve had to be confronted with this idea of you [1:12] knowing that God is good but what does that mean for you in the midst of your [1:15] situation right now? We’ve all had that experience and what that experience
[1:20] beckons of us or what it calls us to is it calls us to figure out whether or not [1:26] we’re willing to place our faith in God. Are we willing to trust him that he is [1:31] good in the midst of those moments? That theme is what we’re going to see in the [1:36] midst of the Psalm in the hundredth and seventh chapter where the Israelites are [1:39] struggling through some different things in their lives but they’re able to [1:43] reflect back and see God’s steady hand. They’re able to reflect back and to see
[1:46] his faithfulness and how he’s taking care of them as a people. The way that [1:51] they’re able to realize and to know that God is good is based on his steadfast [1:56] love. That’s what we see in this song but what we’re going to see is that it first [2:01] it takes us and requires of us to have faith to trust and to believe that God [2:07] is good. Let’s pick up in Psalm chapter 107 verse 1 he says this he says oh give [2:14] thanks to the Lord for he is good for his steadfast love endures forever. Let
[2:22] the redeemed of the Lord say so whom he has redeemed from trouble. In this song [2:29] the psalmist is writing about the Israelites and their need to praise God [2:32] regardless of their circumstance regardless of their situation why because [2:36] of his steadfast love. He’s trying to get them to reflect and to look back at God’s [2:41] faithfulness to them throughout the entire duration of their lives but not [2:46] even just their lives but he wants them to look back at history and to see how
[2:51] God’s cared for his people intentionally. The reason why the Israelites were able [2:55] to be rejoicing and grateful and singing praise the God was because they were [2:59] able to look back and to see God’s faithful hand. See the Israelites knew [3:05] that God was good but their struggle was that they struggle to to not place their [3:09] faith in God in the midst of other situations in life. So when the hard [3:12] times came when trouble hit them when they felt the the effects and the impact
[3:18] the influence of sin and suffering on this world they were tempted to not [3:24] trust God’s goodness but in exchange of God’s goodness they were trying to come [3:28] up with counterfeit expressions of goodness from the world. The world was [3:32] feeding them vantage points and viewpoints to consider for goodness and [3:38] the Israelites were hit with that temptation but later on they were able [3:41] to look back and to reflect on God’s steadfast love to catch a vision for
[3:46] what God’s goodness looked like because they were able to experience it through [3:51] his loves. As Christians we need to be able to place our hope in God because we [3:56] have experienced his goodness through his steadfast love. But that brings up [4:02] the question for us that we must consider. Why is it hard for us to trust [4:05] that God is good? There’s two reasons why it’s hard for us to trust God is [4:10] good. One is that we have felt the influence of sin in this world. There’s
[4:15] not a corner of this world that has not been impacted by sin in some way shape [4:20] or form. So sin came into the world through Adam in the Garden of Eden and [4:24] spread throughout all of humanity and all throughout all God’s creation has [4:27] infested it and impacted it and marred it. That’s the reality that we know. It’s [4:33] into our workplaces, into our homes, into our personal lives, into our public [4:38] lives. We have all felt the impact of sin maybe from other people or from
[4:45] yourself. We’ve all have felt this impact but although sin has influenced the [4:50] world in this way we must remember that God is not the orchestrator of sin [4:55] entering into the world. God is guiltless. He’s with he’s faultless when it comes [4:59] to sin. So even though humanity is experiencing sin in this world, we’re [5:06] the ones that are supposed to be held accountable because of sin. Because sin [5:10] came into the world through Adam and even the garden and has impacted our
[5:15] lives today. See God is without fault but that we need to be able to understand [5:21] that this brokenness has stemmed from sin entering into the world. The second [5:26] aspect is this is that the impact of suffering is evident in this world. We [5:30] all have felt the impact of sin entering into the world and expressing itself [5:33] through suffering. For many of us in here this morning we have felt the [5:37] essence of suffering in many moments of our stories. For me I can think back to
[5:41] moments in my life where years ago we had to walk alongside of my sister as [5:45] she had a battle against lupus. I remember the days of taking her to the [5:49] hospital late at night. I remember the moments in her life where she was [5:52] struggling and she was too weak to get up off the couch even to take care of her [5:55] daughter at times. See I remember those moments where the suffering was evident.
[6:04] The same is true for you probably. You have those moments in your life where [6:08] you have experienced suffering in a real and tangible way. Maybe through your [6:13] family or for yourself personally. But this is the good news because suffering [6:21] does not detract us away from God’s goodness. It doesn’t. It doesn’t take away [6:30] from who God is. The temptation is going to be there for us to see the influence [6:36] of sin and suffering in this world and be tempted to question God, to doubt God
[6:42] for all that’s happening. So your story right now might feel like it’s marked by [6:47] suffering, but that’s not the end of your story yet. So don’t get caught up in [6:53] the reality of this world and influence of sin and suffering and think this is [6:57] it. Because God is good and he knows that this doesn’t take away from who he is. So [7:04] your story may begin with brokenness and suffering, but guess what friends it will [7:08] end with rejoicing and glory because of God and who he is. In Romans chapter 8
[7:14] verse 22 through 24, the author says this, he says,
[7:21] That’s all of us, all of God’s creation, all people throughout humanity have [7:26] experienced the pain of sin and suffering. And not only the creation, but we [7:31] ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit grown inwardly as we eagerly [7:37] wait the adoption of sons. That’s the people of God, the people that are [7:40] after God and who desire them, desire him. Like personally, we all feel and [7:47] experience that inwardly. We have hope because Jesus is coming back one day
[7:52] for his church, that he died on the cross to bring about redemption. But as [7:56] well, he continues on to say the redemption of our bodies. So even in the [8:02] the impact that we’ve experienced with the influence of sin in this world [8:05] physically, Jesus is going to bring about redemption in that as well.
[8:12] For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope for who hopes [8:16] for what he sees. Friends, we can have hope in the midst of this situation. We [8:22] don’t have to lose hope because the influence of sin is only temporal. It’s [8:27] not eternal. We can be a hopeful people because of this reality. So the [8:33] challenge for us is this, we cannot allow sin to hinder our vision of God’s [8:37] goodness because that’s gonna be our temptation. The temptation is real
[8:41] because what we are experiencing in life is real. The late nights where you’ve [8:47] had to consider things going on in your life, maybe the tears that you have [8:50] shed, the brokenness that you’ve experienced, that is real. But do not [8:55] allow that to hinder how good God is in your mind. There’s many reasons why we [9:02] can reflect back on God’s goodness and be encouraged. But one of the main [9:07] reasons is that he is the one that’s the orchestrator and the creator of his
[9:10] creation. That he cares about us. In Psalm chapter 145, picking up in verse 9, he [9:16] says this, he says, the Lord is good to all and his mercy is over all that he has [9:22] made. That’s all of God’s creation. That’s all people throughout the world are able [9:27] to experience God’s hand in his goodness. Picking up in verse 13, he says, your [9:31] kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and your dominion endures throughout all [9:35] generations. The Lord is faithful in all of his words and in kind in all of his
[9:40] works. The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed [9:45] down. The Lord holds the world in orbit. That’s how we get to experience his [9:57] goodness. We get to feel and experience who God is through his love and he’s [10:01] displaying his love to us through one, creating us. But then creating us in such [10:06] a way that he doesn’t want us just to experience like what he wants us to enjoy [10:09] it in fullness. He wants us to flourish. Ultimately that first one happens
[10:14] through him, but he’s created this good creation for us to enjoy. Many of us have [10:20] appreciated this grace. We’ve enjoyed it in many ways. Some of us like to think [10:24] about this when we reflect on sugar shack donuts. You know, y’all like them. [10:27] You know, you know it’s true. For some of y’all, it’s when you get to walk down the [10:31] beach and have the sand in your toes and then the waves are crashing all over you. [10:36] You enjoy those moments. Or maybe for some of you, it’s your love for Honda CRVs.
[10:40] I don’t know how that’s happened, but people in the church love them. And so [10:44] regardless of whatever it is though, we all have this hope. We all have this joy, [10:48] right? Whatever you’re enjoying in life, we should all be thankful for the [10:53] reality that we have life. We get to see another day. The Lord’s been gracious to us. [11:00] He’s been good to all of his creation. Friends, my point is this. God’s love for [11:06] his creation is real. And that’s what the Israelites were able to grab a hold of.
[11:11] The God’s steadfast love is so anchored them in such a way that they’re like, [11:15] man, Lord, I have to give thanks to you because you are good. Look at all that [11:22] you’ve done for me in my life. But those moments are going to be real in your life. [11:28] The temptation to doubt that. But that’s why it requires faith. See, faith allows us to [11:33] trust God’s love for his creation. For us to have faith in God’s goodness, we need to understand [11:38] that the way that God cares for his creation is good. It’s not bad. It’s good. And so for us,
[11:46] we need to understand that the best way for us to remind ourselves of God’s love for his [11:50] creation is to look back at his track record. One beautiful thing about the Bible is that it’s [11:54] filled with his track record. When I think about track records, I think about going to a doctor. [11:59] Many of us, if you’re wise, I think, you will think about going to a doctor that has a good [12:04] track record. When you’ve heard or found out that this doctor is great at what they do, [12:09] you’ll be encouraged by that. You’re probably actually more inclined to trust that doctor
[12:13] with their procedures, right? You probably are more inclined. So when you hear about that, [12:17] people do this all the time. So you hear about, oh, your kids had this great doctor, [12:20] pediatrician. You’re like, oh, let me go for this one. So we were willing to place our faith in [12:25] that doctor based on the reality of their track record. The same is true for God. We have the [12:31] story throughout scripture of God’s redemptive love, his steadfast love for us. His track record is [12:37] proven. We can look back at his track record and we can trust who he is and what he has done for
[12:44] people of God throughout history. He’s expressed his goodness to us. So if you reference God’s [12:52] track record, though, with your own preconceived notions, I guarantee you, you’re going to have [12:56] struggles. See, the temptation for you is going to, for you to want to allow the worldly counterfeit [13:02] expressions of goodness to infiltrate the way that you see God is good throughout the scriptures. [13:07] The way that you think that God’s goodness should be expressed, you’re going to try to read that [13:12] into the Bible and be like, oh, he’s not good. See, God is the one who defines his goodness. God
[13:18] alone is good. But this is why we need to immerse ourselves in the story of the Bible, because the [13:24] story of the Bible is what’s going to tell us of his goodness. So friends, we got to run to the [13:30] scriptures. We got to trust the scriptures as the source of God’s goodness, as it expresses to us [13:36] his steadfast love. Why? Because the Bible tells us that God is good. The Bible tells us that God [13:43] is good. So throughout history, the people of God have been able to attest to his goodness. [13:49] As we see in this text, this is the redeemed of the Lord. They were able to say God has been faithful
[13:53] to us. Why? Because they see what he’s been doing within their covenant relationship. [13:59] God’s a covenant keeper. He’s been faithful to that relationship with the people of God. [14:05] And we need that consistent reminder. We need the reminder that God has been faithful to us, [14:09] and the Israelites needed the same reminder. So we’re not unique in this. But this is why they [14:15] were able to look back at what God has done. And they were able to be grateful for all that he [14:21] has done. So the challenge for us today is that we should testify as the redeemed people of the Lord
[14:28] of his goodness. We should be the ones that are saying, oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is [14:32] good. Why? Because we’ve seen the track record of his steadfast love. We’re able to interact with [14:38] his steadfast love that’s laid out to us through the Scriptures. And for the church, when we need [14:43] reminders, the Bible is the primary source for that. We can run through the Scriptures and trust [14:49] that. This is the cool thing about God. God wants you to know his goodness. Have you ever thought [14:56] about that? God in his infinite nature, even though we’re not able to comprehend him fully,
[15:02] but he wants you to know him. He doesn’t just want you to know him cognitively, [15:08] but he wants you to be able to experience who he is. He wants you to know his love, [15:13] for you to know his goodness. And one of the primary means of him sharing this to us is through [15:19] his word. His perfect and fallible word that’s without error. This precious word that we can run [15:28] to, that we can trust to express to us and share with us his goodness. As we read the Bible, [15:35] we will see that people throughout history have struggled with this reality of trusting God.
[15:40] The Israelites are a prime example, as we’ve mentioned, but our temptation is going to be [15:45] for us to fall into the same situation. So as you can tell, we’re building a case here for why we [15:50] should not fall into this, because we know the track record, we’ve seen his steadfast love, [15:55] but I think this does beg a question for us to ask. This is what does it mean [15:59] when we say that God is good? What does it mean for us to say that God is good? I think Jesus, [16:06] when he’s responding in Mark chapter 10 verse 18, he’s responding to the rich young ruler here in
[16:11] this text. And as he’s talking to him, the rich young ruler is trying to figure out how he gets [16:14] into the kingdom of heaven. And he uses this phrase, he calls him a good teacher. Jesus [16:19] responds to him and says, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. See, I think [16:25] Jesus knew in this text that he was trying to call him good based on worldly standards.
[16:31] But Jesus is kind of switching this up on him. He’s like, hey, guess what? If you’re calling me [16:34] good, only God alone is good. So you’re probably just calling me God. I think he’s snarky there [16:41] with them. But the point is this is that God is the one who defines goodness. [16:47] We don’t have the ability to define goodness. So for example, if you’re saying, hey, my friend, [16:51] Damon is a good guy. Damon being a good guy is defined by the reality of who God is. It’s [16:57] in comparison to God. Now, I don’t think you should probably call somebody good in that manner,
[17:02] but you know what I mean. My point is this, our definitions for goodness should be rooted in who [17:09] God is, not who we conceive him to be, not our worldly definitions of good,
[17:17] not what the media says, not what the news says, but who God says he is. In Psalm chapter 25, [17:22] verse 8 through 10, the writer says this, says, good and upright is the Lord. Therefore he [17:28] instructs sinners in the way and he leads the humble in what is right and teaches the humble [17:33] his way. All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness for those who keep his [17:39] covenant in his testimonies. See, God is the one who’s defining what is good. He’s defining [17:45] what is righteous in the past that people should go down as they’re pursuing what is good in this
[17:51] life. See, God’s actions throughout his history testify to this truth that he is good. It’s what [17:58] points us to this reality. He’s the one that’s setting the pace, setting the standard for goodness. [18:05] But we have to catch this vision. And the only way that we’ll be able to catch his vision is if [18:09] we immerse ourselves in the Bible and his story of his steadfast love. I don’t know if you know [18:15] this or not, but God’s relentless love is evident throughout the scriptures. The way that God [18:22] pursues his people despite their faithfulness to him, the way he goes after them despite their
[18:27] wants and desires to be disobedient, despite their desires to pursue after their own hearts, [18:33] God still went after them. He still pursued them. And this is what we see in the story [18:40] of the people of God. We see this for the Israelites when God’s brought them out of Egypt. [18:48] And right after he’s brought them out of Egypt, he brings them out. Moses coming down, teaching [18:52] them the law. And they’re so quick to turn to the gods of the other nations to build an idol, [18:59] a golden calf, because their mindset was conflicted by worldly expressions of goodness.
[19:10] And that’s the same temptation for us. What are the counterfeit expressions of goodness in your life?
[19:18] Think about that. What are those things that are trying to press at you? [19:25] What are those things that are shaping your perspective of what is good? [19:29] Regardless of your struggle in that, the good news is that God still pursues you. [19:34] He’s still trying to define his goodness for you in your life. But friends, I really want to [19:38] encourage you to run to God as the source of goodness and trust him. Let’s take a moment and [19:45] look at in Psalm chapter 106, verse 8 through 10 of the Israelites story of his steadfast faithfulness.
[19:52] This is what he says. He says, yet he saved them for his name sake,
[19:57] that he might make known his mighty power. He rebuked the Red Sea and it became dry. [20:04] And he led them through the deep as through a desert. So he saved them from the hand of the foe [20:10] and redeemed them from the power of the enemy. This is God’s hand in working in the midst of [20:17] Israel Israelites life. Despite their faithfulness, despite the desires of their own hearts, [20:23] God still protected them. He still saved them. They didn’t deserve any of that. But God, who was [20:30] rich in his mercy displayed his love in this way for him. See friends, the more that we understand
[20:36] the depths of God’s steadfast love, we will be able to reflect and look back and see that God is good.
[20:44] See, the moment that you can understand that God has kept you, your only response will be to praise [20:50] him. Let me tease out what I mean by this. When you’re able to look back in your life and think [20:56] about the ways that God has kept you relationally with people, the way that God has protected your [21:01] family, maybe the way that God has liberated you from sin, how he’s freed you from strongholds [21:07] and things in your life, how he’s protected your family. When you think about that, when you think [21:14] about the faithful hand of God, his steadfast love, our only response should be to praise him,
[21:22] to see that he is good because you can look back at the track record in your own personal life [21:27] and you will only be able to testify about a mighty hand of a sovereign God who loves and cares [21:32] for you. Friends, this is the love that they were able to see and envision interacting with their [21:39] lives. This is the good news that they were able to receive and to experience. They personally had [21:47] experienced God’s steadfast love in a tangible way. But friends, there’s going to be moments when [21:56] you’re struggling, as we mentioned earlier, and you’re struggling to remember God’s goodness.
[22:04] This is why you need to run to the Bible though, because there’s gonna be moments in your life [22:09] when it’s only the Bible that’s going to remind you of God’s steadfast love.
[22:15] Maybe the people around you are struggling, struggling to encourage you to follow Jesus [22:20] in that moment, encouraging, struggling to encourage you to remind you of his goodness,
[22:26] but friends, I can guarantee you this, that the word of God is always going to point you back to [22:31] him and his goodness, that it’s sure and that you can trust it.
[22:38] This is why we need to run to this. See, when you dive into the word, [22:44] you will always be reminded of God’s goodness afresh.
[22:49] Friends, run to it. Trust it, because it’s telling the story of how good he is and the love that he [22:57] is displayed for his people, and we ultimately see this through Jesus. God’s steadfast love went [23:05] to the cross for us. See, the gospel proves that God is good. Through what Jesus has done for us, [23:12] it proves how good our God is. Finishing up this text, he says, picking up in verse two, [23:19] he says, let the redeemer of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble. All of us have been [23:24] in trouble and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west and from the north and
[23:30] from the south. Here in the Psalm, we see that the people of God could attest to the goodness [23:35] of his goodness because of the redemption that they had personally experienced. They were the [23:40] scattered far out, and through God’s redemption, he has brought them near to him. [23:46] They were the redeemed people of God that could attest to the fact of God’s mercy and his grace. [23:52] And this is what we see in the gospel. For God’s plan of redemption, Jesus is at the center of it. [23:57] The good news of Jesus coming into the world brings about redemption for humanity.
[24:04] So this gives us hope. This brings us to the reality that through his death, through his burial, [24:08] through his resurrection, he has brought us together as a people that can be joyful, [24:14] that can attest to his goodness. See, his love is what is expressing to us through the gospel, [24:23] his goodness. But for us to really understand this, we have to remember that the gospel is good news [24:28] for bad people. I think we need to start here when we come to think about the gospel, because for us [24:34] to understand what Christ’s death has done for us on the cross, we have to understand that only God
[24:40] is good. We have to come to it this way. If we come to it thinking that we’re good, we’ll miss [24:48] our need for God to come to die on our behalf.
[24:54] We’ll come boastful to the cross when the cross humbles us because we needed the Savior to come [25:00] to die on our behalf. See, we were not in pursuit of relationship with God, but God first pursued [25:07] us. And the people in this passage from every corner of the world were these bad people that [25:11] need to be made good through the transformation of the cross. They needed this type of redemption. [25:17] They needed God’s hand to intervene into their lives. First John chapter 4, verse 10 says this, [25:25] it says, in this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son
[25:31] to be a propitiation for our sins. Friends, we didn’t love God at first, but God still loved [25:37] us. He still pursued us to the extent where he went to the cross to take the place that we [25:43] deserved. He died the death that we deserved. That’s what that big word means. He took our place. [25:50] We deserve to die, but God in his goodness, in his grace, in his mercy went to the cross for you. [26:02] Bad people don’t deserve salvation. We deserve to be held accountable for what we’ve done. Our sins, [26:08] our transgressions against God, we’ve all sinned against him. But God said, I got this. I want you
[26:13] to experience and to know my love through an old rugged cross. See the death and burial of Jesus [26:21] frees us from sin. This is what we see here. We see that Jesus headed down the cross to actually [26:25] liberate us from our sin. There is nothing that we could do to save ourselves in this, but we needed [26:29] to be freed from the ramifications of our sin, from the actions that we have, our temptations [26:35] that we have to rebel against God. We needed Christ to come on our behalf. Just think about it. If God [26:43] wanted to, he could have left us in our ways. He could have left us in our old life.
[26:50] Sometimes you just need to sit down and think about where you used to be at. [26:54] Sometimes I just think about where God’s brought me from. I think about in light of the type of [26:59] man I would be today, if it was that, for without him, the type of husband I would be,
[27:06] the type of follower or member of the church I would be without him. [27:11] Just think about those realities in your life. Think about what God has done for you through him [27:15] liberating you from your sin. Some of us are known for bad things, but you’re not known by that [27:21] anymore. We have hope. Why? Because he’s given us a new life. So through the cross, we have this new [27:28] life that we’re able to experience because of him. So when he died, our sins were buried with him. [27:36] When he rose from the grave, he gave us this new life so that we can live out the steadfast love
[27:43] that we get to experience, so we can share it with other people, so we can enjoy and delight in him [27:48] and experience all of his goodness and the way that he attended it to be. See, that’s what the [27:54] cross of Christ brings to our life. Only a good God can do this for us. Only a good God can give [28:02] us a new life. See, somebody might be able to say that God isn’t good if Jesus was still in the [28:09] tomb, but he’s not in the tomb. The tomb’s empty. This attests to this fact that God is good.
[28:20] Will we trust him? Will we walk in faith?
[28:26] Will we believe it? Because these tough moments are going to come. Friends, you’re going to [28:33] experience sin and suffering in tangible ways, but it’s the gospel. It’s the cross of Christ.
[28:43] It’s redemption through Jesus that’s going to keep us pushing forward as we reflect on who God is [28:51] and what he has done for us. And this is what’s going to allow us to find joy in the good news [28:57] of the gospel. Despite any situation, despite any circumstance, we can be a joyful people [29:04] because of what God has done, because he is this good God that came to bring about redemption. [29:12] Friends, there will be a day when there’s no more pain or suffering.
[29:17] There’ll be a day when there’s no more death. And that’s what’s portrayed to us in Revelation [29:23] chapter 21, verses three through four. It reads as this, he says, and I heard a loud voice from the [29:29] throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will [29:37] be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. I’m looking forward to that day being [29:43] with God in his presence because he’s bringing about this redemption.
[29:49] He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, all those long nights you’ve had, the tears that [29:55] nobody else has seen, what you’ve been through, done. Death, sorry, death shall be no more.
[30:05] Your experiences with death in your life got nothing on the redemption that Jesus brings, [30:12] and neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have [30:20] passed away. Jesus is the one that makes this reality true. Your story might start with pain [30:29] and suffering, but he ends with rejoicing and glory. See, it’s not the end of our stories here [30:36] in this world. Jesus is bringing about redemption. God is good, and he proves it to us through his [30:45] son. So I think we have much to be joyful about. We should be echoing the same words. Oh, give
[30:55] thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for a steadfast love endures forever. Let the redeemed, [31:04] the people of God, let the redeemed of the Lord say so, because he’s redeemed you from trouble. [31:13] He’s brought you from every square inch and corner of this world together to make you a people [31:18] so you can worship him, you can find joy in him, so you can declare that he’s a good God.
[31:26] That’s the hope in the gospel. That’s what Jesus brings to the table. [31:30] God is good, and all the time he is good. Rejoice in that today. [31:38] Here at Village Church, we respond to the gospel every week by taking communion.
[31:45] For us, as we come to the Lord’s table, we get to partake of his body, which is the bread, [31:52] represents his body, which is broken for us. And as well, we get to come to the table and partake [31:59] of juice that represents his blood that was poured out for us. So for followers of Jesus today, [32:06] as you have the opportunity to rejoice in God’s goodness and what he’s done for you, [32:11] the grace he’s extended to you, come to the table celebrating, rejoicing, declaring how good he is.
[32:23] And if you’re somebody in here that you feel like you haven’t experienced God’s goodness in [32:27] the way that we talked about this morning, today’s the day. Christ died on the cross for your sins. [32:34] He came to bring about redemption in your life, and I can promise you that he’s a good guy that [32:40] cares for you, that loves you. And we have people that would love to talk to you about that good [32:46] news. If you would, go out into the foyer, a pastor or somebody else in the congregation will [32:51] be out there who would love to talk to you about who Jesus is and the goodness that can be found
[32:56] in the gospel. Friends from our followers of Jesus come to the table this morning, declaring that God is good.