You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
Our passion is to experience and express grace. Join us.
We talked last Sunday about Psalm 96, about the incomparable greatness of God,
that He's worthy of all praise.
And so everything that we are, everything that we have,
should be in service of His name being made great,
of His glory being made known here and everywhere else.
That that must be our driving passion as individuals and as a church.
God's glory declared in Huntsville and beyond among the nations, right?
Right?
I've stayed in the Psalms a lot this week,
just reading more about the glory of God, the praise that's due to Him.
I don't want us to lose the grandeur of His greatness or His glory
and the significance that that ought to have for our lives,
because that goes away so quickly and easily, doesn't it?
If you feel that your heart needs some help here too,
I'd highly recommend the Psalms.
It's a great place to camp out, to marinate for a little while,
maybe just this Thanksgiving week or the rest of this year,
to help our hearts get that vision for God's greatness and what it means for us.
So this morning I want us to look at Psalm 145.
Look for a couple of things as I read it in just a minute.
First, the basic message is this.
It's pretty similar to last week.
The basic message of the Psalm is God is great everywhere
and we will declare how everywhere, how He is great.
Look for that exhaustive, superlative language,
the all and every and so on that you'll see throughout this Psalm.
And then the second thing, in the midst of all of that,
look for one particular way that God has designed for His glory to be declared everywhere.
As I've read this week, I've seen it over and over and over this particular way.
You'll notice it in verses 4 through 7 as we read
and we're going to focus our attention there.
You know, last week I really didn't give you any particulars
on how it would shape our lives,
how they'd be different if we were going to be about the glory of God here and everywhere.
I mean, except maybe go to India.
But you're not all going to India, at least not today.
Well, this is one particular.
We're going to talk, spend the rest of our lives
figuring out what those particular ways are.
We'll spend especially the next several months here
talking about what that means for us together here at Southwood
specifically to have our lives shaped around that.
But here's one way this morning,
highlighted by Psalm 145,
where we can shape our lives around God's glory.
Look for that way and notice how it connects to God's incomparable greatness.
Psalm 145, verse 1.
I will extol you, my God and King,
and bless your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised,
and His greatness is unsearchable.
One generation shall commend your works to another
and shall declare your mighty acts.
On the glorious splendor of your majesty
and on your wondrous works I will meditate.
They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds
and I will declare your greatness.
They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness
and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
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 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 upholds all who are falling
and raises 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 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.
He fulfills the desire of those who fear Him.
He also hears their cry and saves them.
The Lord preserves all who love Him,
but the wicked He will destroy.
My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord
and let all flesh bless His holy name
forever and ever.
Back to verse 4.
One generation shall commend your works to another
and shall declare your mighty acts.
On the glorious splendor of your majesty
and on your wondrous works I will meditate.
They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds
and I will declare your greatness.
They shall pour forth the fame
of your abundant goodness
and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
Let's pray and we'll look at this psalm together.
Father, we have acknowledged your greatness.
Might we know it more?
Might we experience it more?
And might you by your Spirit come
and do what needs to be done in our hearts
for that to impact us as it ought.
Change us, we pray by your Spirit.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Shortly after Christi and I got married,
we spent four months together in Scotland
while I was finishing up undergrad work.
We stayed while we were there in Glasgow
with a pastor and his wife.
And so because we were there with them,
we went to church with them.
They had a car, we didn't.
Every time the doors were open,
we were there,
Govan Hill Free Church of Scotland.
When we became a part of that church
as 24-year-old and 22-year-old,
the average age of that congregation
dropped drastically.
Almost all the members of that 25- or 30-person church
were over the age of 70.
Many of them older than that.
And we were there three, four times a week
for four months.
We didn't know when we got there,
but this congregation was going to be
such a huge blessing to us
through our time there
and also have a huge impact on us,
on what church meant to us
even before we went to seminary
to prepare for ministry in the church.
You see, this traditional Scottish church
found themselves in the midst of a community
that became almost overnight
mostly Muslim immigrants,
refugees, what they called
asylum seekers in Scotland.
So an older, traditional Scottish church
in an even older
and more traditional Scottish church building
that had been there for a long time
all of a sudden finds itself
in a new world
surrounded by different people.
And I think many such congregations
in that situation
would have turned inward.
They would have cared for each other
and in a few years died off.
I would have understood if they had.
But instead, the folks at Govan Hill
determined that they would share
the good news of Jesus
with their new neighbors.
They began hosting ESL classes
for the community,
working with those asylum seekers
on their many legal issues before them,
having some multicultural,
multilingual worship services
in their very traditional building.
Their heart was to see God's glory
declared everywhere
and to every nation.
And having some different people around them
wasn't going to dampen their passion
for that one bit.
They refused to back down from that.
In fact, they found that as they did that,
their passion for Christ and His kingdom
was inflamed by the youthful zeal
of young Muslim moms and toddlers
who came every week
to meet with their much older
Presbyterian playmates
at a moms and toddlers group.
It gave them energy and zeal
for the kingdom.
Their church didn't always feel
the same way that it used to,
say, 30 years before.
But they fervently followed
the mission of Jesus
no matter the cost.
And they found that that cost
and those changes
were well worth the sacrifice for them.
There are many things to consider
about the community
in which God has placed Southwood.
The people who live in our neighborhoods,
the people that we work with
and play with
and share life with.
But this morning,
I want to consider
one particular aspect of it
that was true for them
in that church.
And that is different generations,
young and old,
together in one family.
It's one of my very favorite things
about Southwood
since we came here 10 years ago.
And it's one of our greatest
kingdom opportunities
when we talk about
seeing God's glory
declared everywhere.
Having a mixture of generations
together in one family,
genuinely loving each other.
I loved being in a small group
for years here
with people two
and even three times my age.
I love how many of you
have been asking me
in the last couple of weeks
about Jenny Doss.
How is she?
Where is she?
She's always here.
How come I don't see her?
Because she's too weak
to come to worship
the last several weeks.
I loved talking with Ivy Barber
last week on the phone.
Ivy, as you know,
is 91 years young
and for most of those 91 years
has come to church every Sunday.
But now it's difficult
for her to walk very far
and so she hasn't been coming
for a while
and she said,
I so miss being there
and you know what I especially miss?
What does she miss the most,
do you think?
She didn't mention my preaching.
I'm sure it was coming.
It was granted, I think.
She mentioned the children
even though,
and I think perhaps
a little bit because,
they run all around her
while she's trying
to walk down the hall.
This morning,
our group of new members,
like many such groups
we've had here
spanned 60 years.
Three distinct generations.
What an exciting thing.
What a neat opportunity
to have these groups together.
Southwood,
this is one place
where God has clearly called us
to declare his glory
among the nations, yes,
and across the generations.
We have a privilege
and an opportunity
that many don't have.
It's one of the things
that's been so exciting
about getting Derek Harris
here on staff
and installing him this morning.
See, Derek is here
for the oldest
and for the youngest among us.
He's our shepherding pastor
and so he will be caring for
and ministering
to our oldest members.
He's also our pastor
for young families
and so he's going to be working
with the youngest among us
and especially with their parents
equipping them
for how to shepherd
their children
and their families
as they grow.
See, that's what Psalm 145
lays out
for the pattern
for God's glory
to spread everywhere.
It's verse 4.
One generation
shall commend your works
to another.
Remember the context
of the whole psalm.
What's the whole psalm saying?
God is great everywhere
and we will declare
how everywhere.
In what ways is he great?
We will say not merely
that God is great
but what his greatness looks like.
Verse 8, for example.
The Lord is gracious
and merciful,
slow to anger,
abounding in steadfast love.
If you keep reading,
you see his power,
his mighty deeds,
his glorious splendor,
his everlasting kingdom.
The way he lifts up
the weak and downtrodden,
verse 14.
The way he cares
for every living thing,
verse 16.
The way he responds
to those who cry,
verse 19.
Just stop and marvel
for a minute.
How incredible is this God?
How great is Yahweh?
Not just that he's mighty
and powerful
and dwells above
and is different from us,
but then he's also caring,
entering in,
drawing near the same God
like this.
Isn't he great?
There's no one like him.
How have you seen his grace,
mercy,
abundant love,
tender care,
mighty deeds
in your life?
You have unique stories,
don't you?
You can tell stories
of how God is great,
yes.
Others need to hear
those stories.
See, it's in the context
of saying how great God is
that David writes,
one generation shall commend
your works to another.
They're not just for you.
The things you've experienced
aren't just for you
to know how great God is.
They're for you to tell others,
even other generations,
how else will they know
what our God has been like
for thousands and thousands
of years,
generation after generation.
So notice how it works
for us.
It begins first
with our meditating
on his wondrous works,
the glorious splendor
of his majesty
there in verse 5.
In other words,
we all need to be
experiencing his grace
for ourselves.
Learning more,
even the most mature
among us,
learning of how God's greatness
impacts us,
soaking in that,
getting to know more and more
what he's like
and how he works
in our lives.
That's where it starts,
isn't it?
We meditate on that,
we learn more of that
and then we get to
verses 6 and 7.
Speaking,
declaring,
pouring forth,
singing aloud.
That's how God
designs his family
to work, right?
One generation
learns to praise him,
continues to experience
more of his greatness
and then as they worship,
they commend him
to the next generations.
Isn't that how it works
in our families?
Don't our kids
often begin to praise
what we praise?
I remember growing up
watching my grandfather
cheer for the Atlanta Braves.
He loved the Braves,
he lived in Atlanta.
I didn't, though.
I lived in Memphis
and I really had no reason
to like the Braves.
All they'd done was lose
my entire childhood.
Year after year.
But nonetheless,
despite never seeing them win,
I cheered for the Braves.
Why?
Because my grandfather
thought they were great
and so I thought
they were great.
We cheered together.
Our girls have never
experienced in person
the wonderful reality
of the Clemson football team
running down the hill
before the game.
But if you watched them
watching it on television,
you'd think they'd been
there before.
The way they get excited,
the way they cheer.
They have no fond memories
of campus that that
brings to mind.
No great experiences
to look back upon,
but they've seen their
parents cheer
and they get excited
as well.
God has designed
His family
to work that way too.
It's one of the reasons
we're so glad
to have our kids
regularly in these
worship services
with us
because even when
you don't realize it,
they're learning something.
They're learning
who is worthy
of praise,
who's worth
worshiping
and shaping
our lives
around.
And they need
to hear
from the experiences
of their spiritual parents
and grandparents
how God is great,
how He has been faithful,
how He's been merciful
in your life.
It's the thing
I've noticed this week
reading in the Psalms.
It's one of the primary ways
God has designed
for His glory
to be declared
here and everywhere.
We've already read
Psalm 145.
I'm not going to
laundry list all the
Psalms for you
this morning.
You can look up
a bunch of them.
But look also in places
like Deuteronomy 6
that we read earlier.
Titus 2.
And you'll see
how Old Testament,
New Testament,
wherever it is,
God designs this pattern
for His family.
And maybe that's why
little children
and elderly saints
are consistently highlighted
as valuable to Jesus
and significant
in His church.
We need each other,
don't we?
It's the way
He's designed it.
I guess that means
Derek has a pretty
significant role
here on our pastoral team.
And he's going to
stand up before us
and be charged
to that role
in a few minutes.
But more importantly,
see that's not just
Derek's job,
that's our job
as a family
to relate that way.
Each of us
has a significant role
in that.
And I didn't want
any of us
to miss out
on the chance
to stand up,
hear from God's Word
and be charged
this morning.
So this is going to be fun,
isn't it?
Oh boy,
y'all are excited.
You've always wanted
to stand up
and get charged
during the sermon.
Here goes.
Three groups.
First group,
if you were born
before 1960,
would you please
stand up
and remain standing
for a minute
if you're able?
You notice that
I have no idea
how old you are.
I'm going by
when you were born.
Age is,
I have no idea
what the age is.
Born before 1960.
Awesome.
We're so glad
that y'all are here
at Southwood.
We're really thankful
to have you here.
I know sometimes
the way we young people
dress or sing
or parent
seems strange
and different to you.
I know there are
many places you could go
where everyone is your age.
I'm aware of that.
But we need you here.
We do.
And I want to charge you
to do more
than just be here.
You're here.
Thank you.
Wonderful.
I want to charge you
to something more
than just being present.
Listen to Psalm 71.
what it has to say.
Oh God,
from my youth
you have taught me
and I still proclaim
your wondrous deeds.
So even to old age
and gray hairs,
oh God,
do not forsake me
until I proclaim
your might
to another generation.
Your power
to all those
to come.
I think this is why
God has you here.
There may be other reasons.
But I think this is
an important part of it.
It would be easy for you
as long as you have served
to say,
I've done my time.
It's time to retire
from church.
I've been teaching
a long time.
I've been in the nursery.
I've been in a lot of places.
It would be easy
as it would have been
for our friends
in Scotland
to see all these
different people around you
and just turn inward
and just care about yourself.
Would you make this
your prayer?
The end of that?
That every day
that God would give you strength,
it wouldn't be just to get by
or just to show up,
but to proclaim His might
to the next generations?
You do that for us a lot.
I'm charging you
to something I know you love.
I know it's why you're here.
Please pray for that.
Think of someone right now
that needs to hear
about this great God from you.
You can pick me
if you can't think of anybody else.
If you don't know where to start,
I've actually got
a specific opportunity.
We need your help.
You can help with the youth,
children's ministry,
but we really need your help
in the nursery right now.
If you look at the front
of your bulletin
towards the bottom
of the announcements,
it says cross-generational opportunities.
And there's an opportunity there,
an email address
that you can send and say,
I want to take a turn
in the nursery rotation.
And one of the beautiful things
about that is you can not only
talk to the kids,
but as a parent,
I can tell you
when I walk down
to pick up my child
and you're rocking them
in the chair,
I want to talk to you
because I see how you love my child.
So there's a great place
if you don't have
another place to start.
But would you think
of some way
during the next few weeks
during this holiday season
that you could do that?
We would love that.
Thank you.
You may be seated.
If you are under the age of 13
or live with someone
under the age of 13
in your home,
would you please stand
and remain standing
for just a minute?
Under the age of 13
or live with someone
under the age of 13
in your home?
I knew you were there.
There you go.
Isn't that exciting?
Those of you
who were just standing up
a minute ago,
isn't this exciting?
I know it's part
of why you're here.
There are a lot of y'all.
Listen to Psalm 78
for a second.
We will not hide
these things about God
from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds
of the Lord
and His might
and the wonders
that He has done.
He established
a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law
in Israel
which He commanded
our fathers
to teach their children
that the next generation
might know them,
the children yet unborn.
Some of those out there,
I know there are.
You're keeping it secret.
And arise
and tell them
to their children
so that they should
set their hope
in God.
What's it going to take
for us to have
our hope
in God?
Well,
one of the things
is that we
have to listen
to the ones
who were standing up
before you.
It's the way God says
He's designed it to be
that they would
teach us
of who God is
and of His glorious deeds.
Proverbs says
wisdom is with the aged
and we in our pride
forget that too often,
don't we?
We think we're okay
without our parents' help,
without our grandparents' wisdom
and that can happen
in the church too.
I charge each of you
to find someone older
to listen to
and love
during the holidays.
It could be someone
in your own family.
Those are neat opportunities.
But I'd especially
encourage you
to think of someone
in this family.
The deacons would love
to help connect you
with one of our widows
or older couples
in the church
and they would love
to be with you
and to share with you
during this holiday season
that same place
in the bulletin.
There's an email address
for you
so you can sign up
right now
during the rest of the service
or this week.
Love for you
to be a part of that.
Thank you.
Please be seated.
Now if you are surrounding
those first two groups
age-wise
and you haven't stood yet,
anyone who hasn't stood yet,
will you stand now
and remain standing
for a minute?
Awesome.
I knew the range
we were going to have
in this group.
That's so fun.
You may get the most exciting
and most challenging charge yet.
Listen to Psalm 89,
just the first verse.
I will sing
of the steadfast love
of the Lord forever.
With my mouth
I will make known
your faithfulness
to all generations.
You get the chance
to look in both directions
from where you sit.
There are people ahead of you
in this family
and people behind you
in this family.
Both of whom
you're charged
to tell with your mouth
the glory of God
and of His faithfulness
to all generations.
You get to go
in both directions.
You can pick one
to start with
or you can do both.
In fact,
you can sign up
for both of those
email opportunities
if you'd like
and I know you don't have
anything to do
in the next few weeks
so go ahead
and do them both.
Look around you
in your church family
and think
about the people
in this family
and in this community
that God has called you to.
you're in stages of life
where it's really easy
to think that it's all about you.
I'm in college.
I'm an empty nester
and I've poured in
and now life is about me
and I'm here to remind you
that it's not.
That it's about God.
It's about His kingdom
and you get to be a part of that
and it's so much more exciting
than everything
just being about you.
So look up,
look down
and find someone
that you can connect with
during this season
to tell God's glory
and shape your life
around declaring that
not declaring yourself.
Thank you.
Please be seated.
See,
that being about that
is really the heart of this
for all of us.
Right?
There's really one story
that we all
get to declare.
Even in the Psalms
you'll notice that story
is about God's glorious
and gracious deliverance.
The story of glory
and grace
that we talk about
every week here.
Our glorious God
made us to share
in His glory with Him
but we turned away from Him.
And our gracious God
ran after us
faster than we could
run away from Him
especially in sending
His Son,
Jesus Christ,
in whom we see
the glory
and the grace
of God
most fully.
The one who lives
perfectly.
The one who dies
sacrificially
to deliver us.
And so we come
and we revel
in that story
young and old
all of us
and then we get
to tell that
one story
of one glorious God
one gracious Savior
to every nation
and every generation.
my mouth will speak
the praise
of the Lord
and let all flesh
bless His holy name
forever
and ever.
Amen
and Amen.
For more information
visit us online
at southwood.org