This transcript was generated automatically and may contain minor errors.

Open up your bible, we're gonna open up to Psalm 34. This will be our first passage of scripture that I'll read now. Psalm 34 verses one through eight. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul makes its boast in the Lord. Let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.

This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. We're gonna sing the goodness of God.

After this song, we'll have the opening prayer and another scripture reading by Owen Duran, and then Eric will lead us in some songs. Let's pray. Oh, God and father, thank you so much for this quiet hour. We can come and sing and pray and meditate on your word. May we always be ready to taste and see that the Lord is good and that you are on your throne and you are a good God.

And that you don't want any of us to perish. And you won't you wanted us to be saved so bad that you did not even spare your own son. And we are forever grateful, and we pray that we will be grateful even unto death. We are thankful for this relationship with you and with our savior and pray that we will emulate his life in our own will, and we'll and then we'll be good brothers and sisters while we're here and take care of each other, take care of those who are weak, and we pray that you will give us the courage to make more brothers and sisters, to love them and be unashamed of this gospel. Father, we entreat you to bless the Penn family tonight.

And in the days to come, Help them, Lord, to be strong. Please be with Sandy and brother Joe. Thank you, Lord, for the comfort that you give. You are a good God in this. We're thankful for the talents that you have given each one of us, and we pray that we won't be lazy or shirk those duties that you've given us, but with great pleasure and joy.

Fulfill our roles and our service while we are here. We pray for our elders of this congregation as they make decisions to shepherd us. Please give them wisdom, and may they all prayerfully work together to the good of this congregation. We are thankful for them and their wives. Bless our hearts to these songs.

Thank you for Daniel and him leading us. Thank you for forgiveness of sins as we continue this fight. We pray all this in Christ's name. Amen. If you would please turn to the hundred and forty fifth Psalm, we'll be reading verses eight through 18.

Psalm one forty five verses eight through 18. The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made. All your works shall give thanks to you, o Lord, and all your saints shall bless you. They shall speak of your glory of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. The Lord is faithful in all his words and the and kind in his works. The Lord upholds all who are fall failing and rises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand, you said you're you satisfy the desire of every living thing.

The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works. The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. Next three songs will be about, comfort in God's closeness to us. We're seeing a shield about me, only on the screen. Excellent thing.

I close my eyes. Number 25 in the small book. Small book. I close my eyes. Number 81 in the small songbook in his presence.

Number 81. The next three songs are gonna be focused on peace in his mercy and grace. Number 115 out of the small songbook, healing in its wings. The next song will be Amazing Grace, number 205 out of the large song. Number 626, It Is Well With My Soul.

Number 54 in the supplement, savior and friend. Next song will be Only Overhead Only, How Deep the Father's Love. Next song is number three fifty seven in the large hymnal. My the lord is my shepherd. Number three fifty seven.

Amen. Several years ago, a good friend of mine shared some thoughts from the pulpit of the Woodlands Church of Christ where I grew up at a gospel meeting. And this friend had much of his life stolen from him by a rare cancer. And from that pulpit, even after his diagnosis, even after all the pain he suffered from trying to treat this cancer, I remember him saying without hesitation, God is good. And that I want you to teach my child that God is good.

And then a year or two later at his funeral, he wrote his own eulogy, and he said something to the effect of let it not be said of me that I was a good man, but that I served a good god. I remember being struck by his humility to be able to say such a thing even after the pain that he suffered at such a young age. And then it hit me harder that this idea of knowing that we have a good God with us isn't supposed to make the hurt go away. The pain will probably linger. We will still probably cry, but our relationship with god gives our pain meaning and reminds us that we're not alone in our pain.

He leads us in pastures green. He leads us beside still waters. We can have peace in our pain. This peace that surpasses all understanding is found in the hands of our good God. And then to think about how Jesus was able to do the same thing.

Jesus called down from the cross on which he hang or hung, father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Even in his suffering on that cross, he had full trust in his father's mercy and that he was still willing to do what was his father's will, and so should we. We serve a good, good God who loves us and makes all things work together for good for those who love him. And if we love him, we obey him, which should be easy, especially seeing how good he is to us. And the biggest requirement for us is a confession of our sins, confession and to be immersed in the waters of baptism.

Jesus said after the resurrection in Mark 16 that whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. There's hope. And Peter tells us in first Peter chapter three that baptism now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. To have a relationship with this good God, we must surrender ourselves to him, to allow ourselves to be transformed by him, and then understanding that he is with us. He walks with us in every step through our pain and our suffering, whatever trials fall in front of us in our lives.

Our good god is always there. And if you're pursuing this good God or you feel like you need to pursue this good God, I encourage you to come forward as we stand and sing.