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SCRIPTURE REFERENCES FOR THIS SERMON:
Psalm 107:1-114:8
107:1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
and his loyal love endures.
2 Let those delivered by the Lord speak out,
those whom he delivered from the power of the enemy
3 and gathered from foreign lands,
from east and west,
from north and south.
4 They wandered through the wilderness, in a wasteland;
they found no road to a city in which to live.
5 They were hungry and thirsty;
they fainted from exhaustion.
6 They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
he delivered them from their troubles.
7 He led them on a level road
that they might find a city in which to live.
8 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love
and for the amazing things he has done for people.
9 For he has satisfied those who thirst,
and those who hunger he has filled with food.
10 They sat in utter darkness,
bound in painful iron chains
11 because they had rebelled against God’s commands
and rejected the instructions of the Most High.
12 So he used suffering to humble them;
they stumbled and no one helped them up.
13 They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
he delivered them from their troubles.
14 He brought them out of the utter darkness
and tore off their shackles.
15 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love
and for the amazing things he has done for people.
16 For he shattered the bronze gates
and hacked through the iron bars.
17 They acted like fools in their rebellious ways
and suffered because of their sins.
18 They lost their appetite for all food,
and they drew near the gates of death.
19 They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
he delivered them from their troubles.
20 He sent them an assuring word and healed them;
he rescued them from the pits where they were trapped.
21 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love
and for the amazing things he has done for people.
22 Let them present thank offerings,
and loudly proclaim what he has done.
23 Some traveled on the sea in ships
and carried cargo over the vast waters.
24 They witnessed the acts of the Lord,
his amazing feats on the deep water.
25 He gave the order for a windstorm,
and it stirred up the waves of the sea.
26 They reached up to the sky,
then dropped into the depths.
The sailors’ strength left them because the danger was so great.
27 They swayed and staggered like drunks,
and all their skill proved ineffective.
28 They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
he delivered them from their troubles.
29 He calmed the storm,
and the waves grew silent.
30 The sailors rejoiced because the waves grew quiet,
and he led them to the harbor they desired.
31 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love
and for the amazing things he has done for people.
32 Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people.
Let them praise him in the place where the leaders preside.
33 He turned streams into a desert,
springs of water into arid land,
34 and a fruitful land into a barren place,
because of the sin of its inhabitants.
35 As for his people, he turned a desert into a pool of water
and a dry land into springs of water.
36 He allowed the hungry to settle there,
and they established a city in which to live.
37 They cultivated fields
and planted vineyards,
which yielded a harvest of fruit.
38 He blessed them so that they became very numerous.
He would not allow their cattle to decrease in number.
39 As for their enemies, they decreased in number and were beaten down,
because of painful distress and suffering.
40 He would pour contempt upon princes,
and he made them wander in a wasteland with no road.
41 Yet he protected the needy from oppression
and cared for his families like a flock of sheep.
42 When the godly see this, they rejoice,
and every sinner shuts his mouth.
43 Whoever is wise, let him take note of these things.
Let them consider the Lord’s acts of loyal love.
108:1 A song, a psalm of David.
I am determined, O God.
I will sing and praise you with my whole heart.
2 Awake, O stringed instrument and harp.
I will wake up at dawn.
3 I will give you thanks before the nations, O Lord.
I will sing praises to you before foreigners.
4 For your loyal love extends beyond the sky,
and your faithfulness reaches the clouds.
5 Rise up above the sky, O God.
May your splendor cover the whole earth.
6 Deliver by your power and answer me,
so that the ones you love may be safe.
7 God has spoken in his sanctuary:
“I will triumph! I will parcel out Shechem;
the Valley of Sukkoth I will measure off.
8 Gilead belongs to me,
as does Manasseh.
Ephraim is my helmet,
Judah my royal scepter.
9 Moab is my washbasin.
I will make Edom serve me.
I will shout in triumph over Philistia.”
10 Who will lead me into the fortified city?
Who will bring me to Edom?
11 Have you not rejected us, O God?
O God, you do not go into battle with our armies.
12 Give us help against the enemy,
for any help men might offer is futile.
13 By God’s power we will conquer;
he will trample down our enemies.
109:1 For the music director, a psalm of David.
O God whom I praise, do not ignore me.
2 For they say cruel and deceptive things to me;
they lie to me.
3 They surround me and say hateful things;
they attack me for no reason.
4 They repay my love with accusations,
but I continue to pray.
5 They repay me evil for good
and hate for love.
6 Appoint an evil man to testify against him.
May an accuser stand at his right side.
7 When he is judged, he will be found guilty.
Then his prayer will be regarded as sinful.
8 May his days be few.
May another take his job.
9 May his children be fatherless,
and his wife a widow.
10 May his children roam around begging,
asking for handouts as they leave their ruined home.
11 May the creditor seize all he owns.
May strangers loot his property.
12 May no one show him kindness.
May no one have compassion on his fatherless children.
13 May his descendants be cut off.
May the memory of them be wiped out by the time the next generation arrives.
14 May his ancestors’ sins be remembered by the Lord.
May his mother’s sin not be forgotten.
15 May the Lord be constantly aware of them
and cut off the memory of his children from the earth.
16 For he never bothered to show kindness;
he harassed the oppressed and needy
and killed the disheartened.
17 He loved to curse others, so those curses have come upon him.
He had no desire to bless anyone, so he has experienced no blessings.
18 He made cursing a way of life,
so curses poured into his stomach like water
and seeped into his bones like oil.
19 May a curse attach itself to him, like a garment one puts on,
or a belt one wears continually.
20 May the Lord repay my accusers in this way,
those who say evil things about me.
21 O Sovereign Lord,
intervene on my behalf for the sake of your reputation.
Because your loyal love is good, deliver me.
22 For I am oppressed and needy,
and my heart beats violently within me.
23 I am fading away like a shadow at the end of the day;
I am shaken off like a locust.
24 I am so starved my knees shake;
I have turned into skin and bones.
25 I am disdained by them.
When they see me, they shake their heads.
26 Help me, O Lord my God.
Because you are faithful to me, deliver me.
27 Then they will realize this is your work
and that you, Lord, have accomplished it.
28 They curse, but you will bless.
When they attack, they will be humiliated,
but your servant will rejoice.
29 My accusers will be covered with shame
and draped in humiliation as if it were a robe.
30 I will thank the Lord profusely.
In the middle of a crowd I will praise him,
31 because he stands at the right hand of the needy
to deliver him from those who threaten his life.
110:1 A psalm of David.
Here is the Lord’s proclamation to my lord:
“Sit down at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.”
2 The Lord extends your dominion from Zion.
Rule in the midst of your enemies.
3 Your people willingly follow you when you go into battle.
On the holy hills at sunrise the dew of your youth belongs to you.
4 The Lord makes this promise on oath and will not revoke it:
“You are an eternal priest after the pattern of Melchizedek.”
5 O Lord, at your right hand
he strikes down kings in the day he unleashes his anger.
6 He executes judgment against the nations.
He fills the valleys with corpses;
he shatters their heads over the vast battlefield.
7 From the stream along the road he drinks;
then he lifts up his head.
111:1 Praise the Lord!
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,
in the assembly of the godly and the congregation.
2 The Lord’s deeds are great,
eagerly awaited by all who desire them.
3 His work is majestic and glorious,
and his faithfulness endures forever.
4 He does amazing things that will be remembered;
the Lord is merciful and compassionate.
5 He gives food to his faithful followers;
he always remembers his covenant.
6 He announced that he would do mighty deeds for his people,
giving them a land that belonged to other nations.
7 His acts are characterized by faithfulness and justice;
all his precepts are reliable.
8 They are forever firm
and should be faithfully and properly carried out.
9 He delivered his people;
he ordained that his covenant be observed forever.
His name is holy and awesome.
10 To obey the Lord is the fundamental principle for wise living;
all who carry out his precepts acquire good moral insight.
He will receive praise forever.
112:1 Praise the Lord!
How blessed is the one who obeys the Lord,
who takes great delight in keeping his commands.
2 His descendants will be powerful on the earth;
the godly will be blessed.
3 His house contains wealth and riches;
his integrity endures.
4 In the darkness a light shines for the godly,
for each one who is merciful, compassionate, and just.
5 It goes well for the one who generously lends money
and conducts his business honestly.
6 For he will never be shaken;
others will always remember one who is just.
7 He does not fear bad news.
He is confident; he trusts in the Lord.
8 His resolve is firm; he will not succumb to fear
before he looks in triumph on his enemies.
9 He generously gives to the needy;
his integrity endures.
He will be vindicated and honored.
10 When the wicked see this, they will worry;
they will grind their teeth in frustration and melt away.
The desire of the wicked will perish.
113:1 Praise the Lord.
Praise, you servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord.
2 May the Lord’s name be praised
now and forevermore.
3 From east to west
the Lord’s name is deserving of praise.
4 The Lord is exalted over all the nations;
his splendor reaches beyond the sky.
5 Who can compare to the Lord our God,
who sits on a high throne?
6 He bends down to look
at the sky and the earth.
7 He raises the poor from the dirt
and lifts up the needy from the garbage pile
8 that he might seat him with princes,
with the princes of his people.
9 He makes the barren woman of the family
a happy mother of children.
Praise the Lord.
114:1 When Israel left Egypt,
when the family of Jacob left a foreign nation behind,
2 Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel his kingdom.
3 The sea looked and fled;
the Jordan River turned back.
4 The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.
5 Why do you flee, O sea?
Why do you turn back, O Jordan River?
6 Why do you skip like rams, O mountains,
like lambs, O hills?
7 Tremble, O earth, before the Lord—
before the God of Jacob,
8 who turned a rock into a pool of water,
a hard rock into springs of water.