Paul Meacham, Jr. was born in San Diego, California, where his father was stationed in the U.S. Navy.  The family lived in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Germany before settling in Morrison, Tennessee, when Paul was six.  He attended school in Morrison and graduated from Warren County Senior High.  At the age of fourteen Paul began preaching regularly (on a part-time basis).  Upon graduation from high school he attended the University of Tennessee at Knoxville to study engineering. 
April Jarrett was born in Goshen, Indiana, the year her father went into preaching full-time.  she lived in Michigan (twice), North Carolina, Illinois, Arkansas, Alabama (twice), Tennessee (where she met Paul), and Oklahoma.  She graduated from high school in Healdton, Oklahoma, and immediately moved to Mississippi.  April attended Freed-Hardeman.
Paul and April married on New Year’s Day, 1982.  Later that year, the couple moved to New Orleans where Paul worked in food service management.  Paul’s job moved them to Knoxville, Tennessee, and Lawrence, Kansas, within the next year.  Paul, III, was born in Lawrence on November 28, 1983.  After a short stay, the family moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where Paul continued working and attended school at DeVry University.  Bret was born there in September 1985.  Paul completed his studies in electronics in 1986.  He took a position as a customer service representative for a medical equipment company and the family moved to Marietta, Georgia.  In May 1987, Paul transferred within the company to work as a field engineer and the family relocated to Memphis, Tennessee.
In 1988, the Meachams moved to Horn Lake, Mississippi.  Two years later, a surprise arrived.  They named her Beth.  Shortly after, they began homeschooling (about to begin their tenth year!).  In 1996, while serving the Southhaven congregation as a deacon, Paul became involved with Truth for the World as a part-time volunteer in TV production, primarily to learn how to produce a program for the Southhaven church of Christ.  When Jim Tittle moved to east Tennessee, Paul took his place as the technical producer of the TFTW television program.  In 1998, as the work of Truth for the World expanded, Paul was asked to join the work full-time.  While preparing to leave his secular field and work full-time with TFTW, Jim Dearman decided to leave the work seeking a more stable life for his family.  Paul was asked to expand his role and become the speaker for the radio and television programs.
TFTW is a work the family loves.  Paul, III, now does much of the technical production for the television program.  Bret helps with grading courses and preparing literature.  Beth helps where she can and keeps everyone cheerful.  And April stays busy keeping everybody else on schedule.  The Meachams thank you for the warm loving way you have received us into the family here at Duluth.
 

 The possibility of forgiveness under the law of Moses was very real, as this psalm clearly teaches.  All forgiveness, from Adam to the end of time, is ultimately based in the completed sacrifice of Christ (John 1:29; Romans 3:24-31).  David, in Psalm 32, expressed a variety of emotions that are very appropriate for a forgiven sinner.
As we study these things under the following five categories, let us resolve to examine ourselves in light of the law we live under (the New Testament) for the purpose of learning and doing that which sinners must learn and do in order to have the right to express the joyful happiness of a forgiven person (see Acts 2:38-47).  Here are the five sections of Psalm 32:
I am blessed (vv. 1,2).
I am forgiven (vv. 3-5).
I am preserved (vv. 6,7).
I am taught (vv. 8,9).
I am glad (vv. 10,11).

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.  Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit (vv. 1,2).
“I am blessed” is the first cry of this forgiven sinner.  Although he does not write in the first person, he clearly includes himself as one who is in the state of “blessedness.”  He is in this happy condition because the awfulness of his transgression, sin, iniquity, and deceit has been forgiven, covered, and no longer imputed to (held against) him. 
He would not feel this way unless he understood the severity of his sin, the cost of forgiveness, and the characteristics of Jehovah which provide for forgiveness.
The blessed state is introduced in Psalm 1.  It is where we can all live, and it is recommended to us by Jesus in the beatitudes of His sermon on the mount (Matthew 5:3-12).

When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long.  For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah.  I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah 
(vv. 3-5).
“I am forgiven” is the second cry of this now-unburdened sinner.  As he describes his woeful condition, he exposes the power of his conscience—“For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me.”  The force and burden of his sin was made greater by the fact that his conscience could still be reached.  As terrible as sin is, its power is lessened if the sinner is a person who still has feelings!  Let us train one another to be touched by sin’s grievousness so that when the “invitation song is sung,” we can be moved.  Therefore, in verse 5, he acknowledges his confession—a necessary ingredient to forgiveness when God’s children sin (see 1 John 1:6-10).
He knew he had been forgiven, because the Bible teachs us how and when God will forgive.  As a result of meeting the terms of pardon, we can cry, “I am forgiven”—and we can know that our cry is true.

For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You in a time when You may be found; surely in a flood of great waters they shall not come near him.  You are my hiding place; you shall preserve me from trouble; you shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah  (vv. 6,7).
“I am preserved” is the third cry of the poet who was now surrounded by good ways.  According to this section, God can be “found.”  He wants us to find Him, for finding God provides us with preservation, a hiding place and songs of deliverance.  This illustrates the power of God to help, and the power of prayer in reaching God.  Such Bible-based efforts on our part will allow us to abide in His preservation—where even the great flood waters cannot touch Him (or those who are with Him).

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.  Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no  understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you 
(vv. 8,9).
“I am taught” is the fourth cry of our “understanding” author.  Here, David reminds us of God’s ability and desire to teach us.  There is, and always has been, “a way in which we should go.”  We cannot go in that way unless we have been instructed and taught.  But nearly all people decide to go through life as the horse or mule—with no understanding or direction.  The teaching that David received included an awareness of sin and its consequences, God’s desire and plan for forgiveness, and the message of the blessings that are available for the forgiven.

Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; but he who trusts in the LORD, mercy shall surround him.  Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous; and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!  (vv. 10,11).
“I am glad” is the fifth cry of the psalmist as he benefits from the mercy of Jehovah.  The goodness of gladness is brought before us here by the following methods:
Contrast with the sorrows of sin.
A promise of mercy (see Psalm 31).
The power of words:  glad, rejoice, shout, joy.
The result of mercy:  We are upright!
The themes of this psalm relate specifically to one of God’s children who had sinned and now needed forgiveness: David.  In the New Testament, we are repeatedly reminded that God’s children can sin and be lost (Acts 8:18-24).
But God also has a plan for those who are not His children.  In verse 11, David speaks of “trusting Jehovah.”  Will you trust Him, too?  Will you trust Him enough to be taught and instructed in the way that you should go?  Will you trust and obey so that you can be forgiven and added to the saved?  Will you read, learn, and obey the commands in these verses?
Mark 4:24; Luke 8:18
Acts 16:31; John 8:24
Acts 17:30,31; 2 Peter 3:9
Matthew 10:32,33; Romans 10:9,10
Acts 2:38; 22:16
Acts 2:40-47; 1 Corinthians 12:13
Will you call us—now—if we can help you to learn and obey the One Who wants to hear you cry “I am forgiven!”?