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Psalm 5 Sermon Manuscript

PLEASE NOTE: These are the notes I use to preach from, if you would like to hear them in context, please watch our YouTube channel.

Listen To My Prayer

Psalm 5 (pg. 255)

-Chronicles of Narnia: “Is he safe? Safe? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.”

-Some people who use Exclusive Psalmnody argue for accapela only singing in church, what do you do with this prescript? Or last week “with stringed instruments”

  1. Plea to God (1-6)

-Sounds very similar to the beginning of Psalm 4

-For some reason, we have these repeated examples of the need to remind God to listen to us, to pay attention to us, to answer us when we come before Him

-We know that God already knows all these things, but we can still plead with Him 

-Remember from last week, we need to approach God honestly in our prayers. Since God already knows everything about us, we can’t keep things hidden from Him.

–Preach the Word “People who don’t know God well think they have to pray with special words. Their prayers sound like a formula with set words and phrases.”

-Think of how other religions form their prayers. You’re trained in what you say, how you say it, sometimes you have to face a VERY specific direction and if you miss by a degree it’s heresy. God invites us to come with all that we are, with all that we’ve got, and to be bold in our approach to Him.

-These first verses could be considered the prelude to prayer

  1. Preparation to Pray (1-3)

-I onetime read that someone said “The most difficult thing in the world to do is to pray. The second most difficult thing in the world to do is to stop praying.”

–George Muller “after having suffered much from wandering of mind for the first ten minutes, or quarter of an hour, or even half an hour, I only then really began to pray.” He kept a prayer journal, contained 50,000 answered prayers, 30,000 were answered within the first day, some within an hour. Ran an orphanage where he cared for more than 10,000 children during his life

-If someone like Muller, who had a prayer book of 50K answered prayers can struggle to actually pray, so can David, and so can you

-St Anthony of Egypt “If you know that you’re praying, you’re really not.”

-Look at how David begins: give ear, consider, give attention.

-Again, remember that God already sees, knows, is aware of everything that is going on. God doesn’t need the reminder because God doesn’t change. He can only be true to Himself. But I’m getting a little ahead of myself here! We’ll pick up that idea in vs. 4

-Asks God to listen to his words, his groanings, and his cries

-Once again, it sounds like David’s in a rough spot! 

-Ever have one of those nerve tests on your knee? Part of what we’re seeing here is: what is your knee-jerk reaction when situations arise in your life? When you’re struggling, what do you do? When you’re thrilled over some exciting news, what do you do? When you’ve had a totally normal/average day, what do you do? I’ve got a proposal: you pray! THAT is how you “pray without ceasing.” (1 Thess. 5:16)

-Because this is in the midst of struggling, what does it look like when you don’t even have any words to say? Have you ever found yourself in a moment like that? It’s guaranteed that at SOME point in your life, you will suffer. It may be vicariously through someone else’s struggle, it may affect you, but you will suffer. Where do you/have you turned in those times of your life?

-I think of some of my friends who have walked through the valley of the shadow of death – one friend whose first wife faced cancer head on within a year of getting married and lost. Do you think that’s what they were planning on when they celebrated their marriage? Or another friend whose wife carried their first daughter to full term, only to have her die in the womb at 9 months and one day. How did they process delivering a baby whose cry they would never hear? 

-It’s one thing to deal with the philosophical “problem of evil” in the theoretical, it’s an entirely different game when the problem of evil decides to plant its’ roots within your life. What do you do when your prayers are nothing more than groans? Do you know that’s enough for God?

-Charles Spurgeon – battled crippling depression much of his life “Words are not the essence but the garments of prayer.”

-This theme is picked up again in Rom. 8 where we finally see any answer to the “problem of evil.” 

-Vs. 18 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

-Vs. 22 “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.”

-Vs. 23 “And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”

-Vs. 26 “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”

-God Himself, through the indwelling Holy Spirit prays on our behalf. When you don’t have the words, when your world is falling apart, when you don’t know which end is up, you’re not alone.

-There’s a second piece to this from this first section: in the morning I watch

-Some have argued (even Spurgeon) that an hour in prayer in the morning is better than 2 hours in prayer at night. Really??? 

-Better way to think about this is calling out to God first thing when you wake up! That’s a wonderful habit to have and get into. It reminds us of our complete dependence on Him, our need for Him to lead us and guide us, and (as Jesus commanded us) the reminder to daily take up our cross and follow Him.

–Watch: do you expect an answer to your prayers? Or do you act as if they hit the ceiling? The word “watch” has a connotation of eagerly anticipating. I had a couple people tell me last week the quote “When I stop praying, coincidences stop happening” really impacted them last week, and this is a similar idea. When you finish your prayer, do you start watching, or do just go back to how you were before, and act as if nothing has changed? 

-One author “If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, God will answer your prayer because he cannot deny himself.”

-This is where we can then get into the prayer itself. Because the answering is dependent on the character of God, it leads David to pray:

  • The Prayer (4-6)

-This feels like a weird place to go when you’re crying out or groaning to God. After you’ve just asked God to listen to what you have to say, shouldn’t you get to what you want to say instead of reminding Him what He likes? 

-Last week I used an analogy of a coach bringing a team together and saying “listen up!” To expand that this week, imagine the next thing he says is: “You guys really like in-n-out, and you hate Whataburger because it tastes like more expensive McDonalds” 

-The reason God answers prayer is because of who He is, and specifically, the needs David has in front of him run contrary to God’s very nature of being holy.

-How do we read something like “you hate all evildoers.” How does that square with John 3:16?

-This is where theology matters greatly. “God hates sin but loves the sinner,” that’s not what this says here! 

-We have a skewed version of love today. Driving around you’ll see bumper stickers or yard signs “Love is love.” That makes absolutely no sense! What I was ALWAYS told was you can’t use the word in the definition. So how do we square the fact that God is love with the fact that God hates all evildoers? A few thoughts for us:

-First, we cannot divide God into his various attributes/characteristics. His attributes literally describe who He is. God is love, God is holy, God is wrathful toward evil. So we look at a situation and say God was acting in wrath there. God is always acting with all his attributes at the same time, not picking and choosing based on the situation.

-Second, we know that God does not want anyone to perish, but earnestly desires that everyone repent and turn to Him. (2 Peter 3:9) what’s crazy about that is God has chosen us as his emissaries to call people to turn to Him in repentance. That’s where I said last week YOU are the outreach strategy of this church.

-Third, no one wants a God who only fits within our current culture’s definition of love (being complete acceptance). What do you do with someone like Hitler? How do you handle the “cancel culture”? Every culture, country, person has an idea of who the “evildoers” are (article on adultery vs. tattoos)

-Fourth, God ultimately dealt with sin, death, and evildoers when He sent His one and only son to the cross. The cross is where the penalty for evildoers is paid in full, which leads to:
-Fifth, and finally, the reality of what the Bible says is the evildoer is me.

  • Plea for Myself (7-12)

-Because you and me, every single person who has ever lived is a sinner by nature and by choice (with the exception of 1 perfect person) we are all dependent on God’s mercy and grace. So notice how David talks about himself:

  1. I Will Worship (7-8)

-David excludes himself from the company of evildoers, BUT it’s only because God is abundant in “steadfast love.”

-This idea of “steadfast love” first appears in Ex. 34 when Moses asks God to reveal Himself, and listen to how God describes himself in vs. 6-7

-Notice the inequality between God’s steadfast love, and the iniquity. Spurgeon “God’s judgments are all numbered, but his mercies are innumerable.” Inherent to God’s very being is this abounding in steadfast love.

-Because that is who God is, we can then come before him, we can enter his house, we can worship Him, it is through obedience to Him that we can remain faithful, even as we are tempted, tried, and discouraged by enemies on every side

-David asks God to lead him in righteousness, because his enemies will not, he needs God to lead him and make the right path to take straight. 

-David’s enemies are those who refuse to worship God

  • My Enemies Will Not (9-10)

-The enemies will do everything they can to lead others away from God. Notice all the ways they work:

-Their mouth reveals that their inmost self is destruction

-They use their mouth, throat, leading to their innermost self of destruction

-A good way to think about this is like a black hole, consuming everything around it. Nothing and no one is safe from their grasp! This is why David is pleading with God to lead him on straight paths, he doesn’t want to get sucked into the ways of the evildoers.

-Paul picks up this idea and quotes this Psalm in Rom. 3 to make that point that no one is righteous. 

-That’s the natural way of all of us! We need to be born a second time to become truly righteous.

-Vs. 10 is a little difficult for us to swallow. Can we call down curses on our enemies? How do we reconcile a verse like this with Jesus’ command to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”?

-We’re going to come across what are known as “imprecatory Psalms” which is calling down curses/condemnation on your enemies. This isn’t even as graphic as some of the Psalms in the future!

-In this in between time of Christ’s first and second comings, we don’t live in a theocracy. Things would be FAR better if we all lived under Christ’s perfect rule, but we don’t. We’re not trying to take over lands by force, or threaten to kill people who don’t convert. These Psalms need to be read in light of the era of human history we find ourselves in.

-Now, we realize that God will bring about His perfect judgment at some point in the future. That’s part of what we’re asking when we pray “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” 

-So we can read these realizing that it’s a just punishment for any/everyone who has sinned against the holy, righteous and perfect creator God, which is all of us. That makes it all the more important for us to tell any/everyone about who Jesus is. The one who came to take the penalty/judgment in our place.

-NIVAC: “the psalmist’s words call us to remember that Jesus was never afraid to call evil what it was or to take a firm stance of condemnation against all its forms. We too must take evil seriously, aligning ourselves with God’s essential character of holiness.”

-That’s where the word “rebelled” is so potent! Any sinful act is an act of rebellion against God. These people are merely following their own advice, which leads them to death. They will follow their own throats to their open grave.

-But not those who realize/acknowledge their need of a Savior!

  • The Righteous Ones (11-12)

-“But” is one of the most significant words in the English language. David used in back in vs. 7. I got in a car accident, but I’m completely fine. The doctor found cancer, but it’s easily removeable. 

-Paul writes about this in Eph. 2. We were once dead, BUT GOD. Comparing is a beautiful thing when one way leads to death and the other to life.

-Our refuge is found only in Jesus. Last week He was described as a shield, this week He is a refuge.

-Scene in the Hobbit when the company is traveling the mountains, middle of a huge rainstorm, mountain giants start fighting, they find refuge.

-If/when you’re struggling, remember that God is your refuge. This is what allows David to rejoice even when your discouraged or persecuted. This is where Paul can remind us in 1 Thess. 5 not just pray without ceasing, but also to rejoice always. BECAUSE

-God blesses the righteous, because of his steadfast love. This gives us the hope we need.

-NIVAC: “Perhaps the most important lesson contemporary humans can take from this psalm is that human hope is grounded in the essential character of God—a character that is constant and does not change regardless of the ebb and flow of human circumstances. The righteous—those who take refuge in God—find hope in God’s holiness both because he is incompatible with evil and because he is relentlessly good”

-He’s not safe, but he’s good!

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by mikethestrand on July 25, 2021  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Life, Relationships, Sermon, Theology

Posted by mikethestrand on July 25, 2021

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2021/07/25/psalm-5-sermon-manuscript/

Psalm 4 Sermon Manuscript

PLEASE NOTE: These are the notes I use to preach from, if you would like to hear them in context, please watch our YouTube channel.

Trust in God

Psalm 4

-Book of Psalms cover the gamut of human experiences/emotions 

-Has a prescript, just like the previous one, but doesn’t list a specific time

-Some believe Psalm 3 & 4 are connected to the same experience (with Absalom)

-David says distress, mocked, time of wanting

-Nothing in the text specifically ties it to that

-Others have called Psalm 3 the morning Psalm (vs. 5 “I woke again) then Psalm 4 becomes the evening Psalm (vs. 8 “I will lie down and sleep). Even became an evening prayer in the synagogue.

-Others have tried connecting it to a different time in Israel’s history, a time of famine like 2 Sam 21 “Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the Lord.”

-Somewhat getting into the weeds, but based off some of the word choices in vs. 2 that lead scholars to believe the Israelites were pursuing Baal and other fertile/agrarian gods as their support instead of trusting in Yahweh.

-Where last week’s theme was physical persecution, the emphasis/focus this week is on verbal/emotional persecution.

-Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

READ
PRAY

-3 primary groups/people addressed in this Psalm: God, enemies, myself.

-The need to preach to ourselves instead of listening to ourselves

-This will then lead us to more boldly and freely preach to others

  1. To God (1)

-David comes out swinging! “Answer me” 

-How many of you are that bold in your prayers?

-The reality is God already knows what’s in our hearts, he knows our thoughts before they enter our minds, before we speak he knows what we’re going to say, we can’t run away from him, we can’t hide from him, there’s nowhere we can go where he isn’t already there (yes, double negative, learned in music theory, you learn all the rules so you can break them)

-This reality is (to me) one of the craziest things about praying – God already knows it, so why do we try to hide when we talk with him?

-Spurgeon: “It is the most powerful form of prayer just to set our case before God, just to lay bare all our sorrow and all our needs and then say ‘Lord, there it is.’”

-We can always expect an answer from God, here’s the crazy thing: God doesn’t ever get tired of answering our prayers. Article this week: “I may get tired of being needy, but God doesn’t get tired of providing for his children.

I may get tired of always asking, but God doesn’t get tired of answering his children.

Just like he loves making another few trillion daffodils every spring, and providing food for billions of birds every winter, he continues to love answering the prayers of all his needy children, over and over and over again. My need for him never ends—and he’s okay with that. In fact, he tells me to come, every day, for my daily needs like my daily bread and his forgiveness and strength to forgive others and to see his kingdom established in the world in righteousness and peace and justice—and every burden of every kind, big or small; as Peter says, “cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.””

-Do you ever feel like God gets tired of hearing from you? Think of the examples Jesus gives of prayer: persistent widow, persistent friend after the Lord’s prayer

-God invites us, encourages us, and models for us remaining persistent in prayer 

–Podcast today: “When I stop praying, coincidences stop happening.”

-How does David refer to God in this situation?

-When things aren’t going well, when people are opposed to him, he reminds himself where his help, support and strength come from: “O God of my righteousness.” CSB “O God who vindicates me.”

-Think of Psalm 121:1 “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”

-Righteousness a big theme in Romans, righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe (Rom. 3:22) that is, the only way we can call God the God of my righteousness if by putting your faith in Jesus Christ and believing in Him. It is this belief that leads to a reminder:

-Because David has put his hope, trust, confidence in God, he can then look back on previous problems without worry. 

-Notice the tense: You HAVE given

-Anytime David starts to worry about what God’s doing he reminds himself how God has worked in the past

-ESV SB “Past experience emboldens the faithful to confident prayer.”

-It’s almost as if David can’t get too far complaining before he realizes what he’s doing and pulls himself back.

-So because of the previous ways God has worked in his life, it emboldens David to ask:

-Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!

-The word “hear” is used as a way to emphasize, draw attention to. Someone telling you “listen up!” 

– William Carey: “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.”

-Do you boldly come before God, asking him to listen up and answer you? Because we can! We’re invited, encouraged, exhorted to!

-After first bringing his plea to God, David then turns to his enemies:

  • To My Enemies (2-5)

-Spurgeon: “Observe, that David speaks first to God and then to men. Surely we should all speak the more boldly to men if we had more constant converse with God. He who dares to face his Maker will not tremble before the sons of men.”

-Word translated “O men” isn’t the normal phrase, refers to men of renown/good standing in the community

-Isn’t some random dude complaining, this is like someone from Congress or the Senate bad mouthing you. How would you respond? David responds by asking some questions:

-How long will my honor be turned to shame?

-This refers to the way these men are speaking ill of David

-How long will you love vain words and seek after lies?

-David calls out their own sins, instead of slandering David they’re revealing what’s in their hearts.

-Where I think many of us would be prone to give in, worry, complain, stress, David begins with God, then goes directly to his accusers

-Some translators translate the lies to “false gods” which is another way of saying lies! Satan is referred to as the father of lies, and when people put other things in God’s place they are lying. This is why I’m so passionate about rightly ordered and directed worship. If we worship anything other than God we are making committing idolatry, which is lying against God. 

-How often is that the temptation for all of us when things aren’t going the way we want them/expect them to? Instead of coming to God when people are complaining about us we run away from God, blame Him, look to other comforts

-Then it’s as if David realizes what he’s saying and who he’s talking to, but before we get to that, one word: selah

-Vs. 3

-After reminding them that they’re a bunch of dirty scoundrels, David compares himself to them and is reminded he’s not them! He doesn’t need to stoop to their level, play their game, or give into the same things they’re pursuing

-God has set apart, another way of thinking of this is sanctified/made holy. God has always had a group that is “set apart” from the rest of the world, first referred to the way Israel is “set apart” from Egypt. Today those who are “set apart” is called “the church, Christ’s body, Christ’s bride” that’s us – the people David is talking to would know about the history of Israel being “set apart” from Egypt

-One translator translates godly here as committed, another translates it as “faithful.” Those who are “set apart” are whomever is being faithful to obey God.

-Because David is one of those who is “set apart” God hears when he calls – implied is that God doesn’t hear when the other guys call out to him. Also points to the reality to the access those “set apart” ones have before God – kid walking up to me at Calvin’s swim lesson, not my kid, wet knee, unhappy me!

-Vs. 4 is difficult to translate well, partly because of the way Eph. 4:26 picks up this verse. 

-Hebrew -> LXX -> Latin -> English

–Eph. 4:26 “Be angry, and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.”

-Better translation of the Hebrew is “tremble” which better fits the context (Greek went with “be angry”) David had just called out his enemies for idolatry, this would then pick up that theme, need to tremble before God. How many times do people reverse these ideas: sin, and do not tremble

-David is giving us a 4-fold response when we’re being ridiculed. First, tremble. That is, ensure your worship is right. Getting to Heb. 12:28 approach God with reverence and awe, acceptable worship.

-Second is a good life rule: do not sin. Instead of lashing out at other people who may hurt you with words, or using it as an opportunity to complain to God, don’t give in, don’t sin. Instead:

-Third, ponder in your own hearts. Take time to assess where you’re at, how you have been wrong, how someone else can be used to sanctify/refine you, use your pillow as your sounding board/counselor

-Fourth: be silent. Stop talking! People fear silence today. Selah.

-4 things isn’t enough to do, David adds 2 more in vs. 5

-Instead of seeking after lies/false gods, they are to “offer right sacrifices.” Similar to trembling above, begin by getting worship right. One can guess that after the exhortation of vs. 4 the hearers were like the people who heard the 12 apostles in Jerusalem at the day of Pentecost: “What must I do to be saved?” 

-Most of the time we get into difficult situations we are prone to turn our gaze off God and onto something else. When you’re discouraged, what do you turn to? Favorite food, TV show, working out, working. What we need to do is turn to God, worship Him first, come before Him first, and then we can respond rightly to whichever situations we’re in, which is what David says next:

-When we focus on God, it reminds us that we can put our trust in Him! Pointing back to vs. 1, when has God failed you in the past? That gives us confidence for the future! 

-Think of what Jesus said about worry. Which of you by worrying can add a single moment to your life?

-David then changes the focus one more time in this Psalm – first to God, then his enemies, lastly to himself.

  • To Myself (6-8)

-This theme of “many” we saw last week. Comparing himself to those around him

-They want prosperity (remember that, theme in vs. 7 too)

-Isn’t that human nature? Always wanting more. Dream of achieving something, then the goal moves. That’s basically our celebrity culture! Never satisfied.

-Then we demand God bend to our wills/whims and ask him to look upon our sinful request with blessing

-This “light of your face upon us” is picking up the idea of the Aaronic blessing in Num. 6:24 “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance [face] upon you and give you peace.” These “many” people are twisting and distorting God’s Words against Him! (just as the tempter did the Jesus in the wilderness)

-But David remembers, and reminds himself the truth of Psalm 84:10 “a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.” A second with God is better than living in incredible wealth and prosperity. 

-David is comparing those who demand God give material blessing to the reality that all those blessings are just meant to point us to the reality that this world is not our home. But how fickle are humans, how easily contented to sit in the mediocrity of the world when God is offering us himself.

-God’s gift of himself leads to more joy/happiness/contentedness than when “grain and wine abound.” But aren’t grain and wine abounding how our world views success? We, as Christians, aren’t supposed to be content with just the grain and the wine, in fact the grain and wine are supposed to point us forward to a time when true, lasting prosperity will last forever. So as Christians, we’re to use/steward these good gifts of God

-This is one of the primary ways we differ from the world: we need to view the good gifts of God as good gifts, not worshipping them, not idolizing them, not pursuing them for themselves, but realizing they’re gifts from a good God who loves us and allows us to do everything to his glory

-Someone recently asked me what the outreach strategy is for the church: you. Jesus started with 12 people that he poured himself into, loved, served.

-What’s extraordinary about the gospel is it uses our ordinary lives as a testimony and witness of God’s unbelievable grace

-When we are faithfully following God (whether or not the grain or wine abound) God will use us, that will allow us to have peace – both vertically and horizontally

–JI Packer: “Congregations in every age must see themselves as learning communities in which gospel truth has to be taught, defended, and vindicated against corruptions of it and alternatives to it. Being alert to all aspects of the difference between true and false teaching, and of behavior that expresses the truth as distinct from obscuring it, is vital to the church’s health.”

-Sundays are to remind us who/whose we are, to be equipped to go into the rest of our lives remembering that we live for God alone – compared to this Psalm: we gather weekly to be reminded that God answers us, then we can boldly proclaim the Word to the watching world. We are the a worshipping church both when we gather and scatter.

-Even when David is mocked and people speak poorly against him, David can still lie down and sleep, because God has made him to dwell in safety.

-That’s the case with all of us! We can lie down and sleep contentedly because we’re never safer than when we’re walking with God. This will allow us to have peace even when sticks and stones are thrown at us, and words do hurt us. Instead of saying ‘Yeah, right.” We can trust ourselves to the perfect judge who has faithfully walked with us every step of the way.

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by mikethestrand on July 18, 2021  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Life, Relationships, Sermon, Worship

Posted by mikethestrand on July 18, 2021

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2021/07/18/psalm-4-sermon-manuscript/

Psalm 3 Sermon Manuscript

PLEASE NOTE: These are the notes I use to preach from, if you would like to hear them in context, please watch our YouTube channel.

The King

Psalm 3

-Picking up in a series Pastor Bruce started the beginning of June

-The Psalms have served an interesting purpose in the life of the church, but how do we/should we use them today?

-gamut of human emotions (emotions aren’t bad, being ruled by emotions is)

-model of prayers/request to God

-songs (with musical accompaniment notes) (leading to some people holding to “exclusive Psalmnody”) Psalm literally means “accompanying song/melody”

-compiled together with a purpose (5 books)

-3 things to be looking for as we dig into these for a number of weeks together:

-Any editorial notes we should be aware of (Psalm 3:0)

-How these situations can and do apply to us today, but before we jump to that we need to do the historical work of understanding how it applied to the nation of Israel at this time. (1st rule of biblical interpretation: text cannot mean today what it didn’t mean back then. We can apply it differently, or see it more fully fleshed out, but ALWAYS begin with the author’s and hearer’s original intent) 

-Psalm vs PsalmS 

READ
PRAY

-Book 1 of the Psalms begins with a prelude (1-2)

-The king is a BIG deal in Israel, as the king goes, so goes the nation

-Quick overview of the first 2 Psalms, as I realize we studied those over a month ago!

-Most scholars think Psalm 1 & 2 were initially combined into 1 Psalm, lots of similar themes and ideas in both of these Psalms:

-Blessing vs wickedness. How are we blessed? By obeying God’s law.

–Deut. 17:18 ““And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them,”

–Psalm 1 walks, stands, sits. 

–Psalm 2 is what it looks like for when people pursue wickedness. 

-“Against the Lord” can’t stand against the Lord 

-“Anointed” need to read the Psalms through the lens of Christ

-Nothing can stand against/thwart God’s plans

-vs. 9 points back to 1:6

-David serves as one of the primary examples of the king all other kings should aspire to be, a model that is eventually fulfilled in Jesus

-First 2 Psalms communicate the point that we need to be obedient to God’s law, the rest of the Psalms communicate what that looks like in the midst of a wide assortment of life experiences 

-First Psalm with a pre-verse, subscript, title with historical context. Vs. 0

“A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.” 

-These are a part of the text (may be scribal comments later on, may be original, since we don’t have the first copy we can’t be 100% sure where they originated, but we can trust them to help us understand/communicate something from God)

-Because these are a part of the text, it helps us to look back at the story being mentioned to have a more complete history of what led to the events of these Psalms being written.

-Absalom’s rebellion is found in 2 Sam 15-17

-If you’ve never read the story of David, it’s a fascinating look at the life of someone who is “a man after God’s own heart.” (1 Sam 13:14) 

-David is Israel’s second king (most people know the story of his upbringing being the giant slayer)

-What’s crazy, is despite being an example, leading to the time period in which Israel will always look back on fondly, he wasn’t someone we would hold up as an example of holiness:

-multiple wives, census, stole Uriah’s wife, can infer from stories like what happened with Absalom that he wasn’t a great dad

-Absalom’s story is full of intrigue/espionage/betrayal. I keep waiting for someone like Zak Snyder to read the story of David and turn it into a big budget film

-Starts back when Absalom’s sister is taken advantage of by another one of their brothers, harbors a grudge and 2 years later kills the brother, flees to another country for safety, eventually David pardons him and allows him back into Jerusalem, Absalom starts to point out his father David’s deficiencies and builds up a following 15:6 “So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.” Followers continue increasing to the point where he’s a threat to David’s rule. David flees Jerusalem, is mocked along the way by one of Saul’s descendants “Get out, get out, you man of blood, you worthless man! The LORD has avenged on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned, and the LORD has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. See, your evil is on you, for you are a man of blood.” After fleeing, losing Jerusalem to Absalom, David fortifies his troops and fights against Absalom, Absalom’s luscious locks trap him in a tree and he is killed by one of David’s warriors, thus ends the rein of Absalom. 

-Imagine the betrayal David is feeling as he flees from one of his sons. The nation that he loved and led had turned against him. His army was divided, his city was on the verge of destruction, and he takes time to pen these words.

  1. The Foes (1-2)

-If you’re anything like me, negative comments or experiences tend to weigh more heavily on my mind than positive

–A study found a 5:1 ratio

-How do you process negative comments aimed your way? 

-In this case, David still had a large group of people following him, on his side, according to 2 Sam 18:7, the battle is so large 20K men die. So David clearly still has a following! Yet what is David fixated on? “how MANY are my foes” “Many are rising” “Many are saying” How many is it?

-IDK about you, but as I said, negative comments weigh me down. I talk fast, when I first started preaching I talked faster! I’d seriously have 10 people tell me what they appreciated about my preaching, then have 1 negative comment about it being too fast, and I would beat myself up about it for the next week. Maybe you have had similar things happen to you! Presentation at work going well, 6 people tell you it was great, 1 person complains. Project you worked forever on, 3 people tell you it was great 1 complains. Cook a meal, 2 of your 3 kids complain.

-Elijah had a similar complaint in 1 Kings 19. Right after the confrontation on Mt Carmel, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” God “I have 7,000 others”

-Despite David being surrounded by supporters, he is fixated on the few who are opposed to him. 

-I don’t think many people here have been betrayed by a child (maybe you have!), but I think part of living in a fallen world means we all at some point will experience betrayal. Could be from a child, like David here, could be a spouse, a coworker, a sibling, even a parent, but you will experience some kind of rift in some relationship at some point.

-How often do we then run to God and blame him for not automatically fixing the problem? How often do we think God is the problem, instead of looking to Him as the solution? 

-There’s a level of honesty and transparency that is helpful in these verses, demonstrates how we should come before God, but there’s also the need to preach to yourself, which David does in the next section.

“But it is the most powerful form of prayer just to set our case before God, just to lay bare all our sorrow and all our needs and then say ‘Lord, there it is.’”

-C. H. Spurgeon

-But before we get there: selah. Babylon Bee: “Ancient Documents Confirm ‘Selah’ Best Translated ‘Extended Guitar Solo’

-Most scholars believe it was some sort of musical note, or musical interlude, but they’re meant to be places where you pause and reflect on what was just said

-Take 60 sec to think and ponder about people being against you

-David spends the first 2 verses bemoaning the state he finds himself in, but then quickly shifts his gaze from himself up to God.

  • The Reminder (3-6)

-How often are you your own worst enemy? One of my favorite authors says it this way “No one is more influential in your life than you are, because no one talks to you as much as you talk to yourself.”

-We are commanded to take every thought captive to Christ, but how often do your thoughts control you instead of you controlling them? How often do the worries/fears of this world consume you instead of looking to the only person who faced every worry/fear and took the penalty in our place.

-Instead of listening to yourself you need to preach the gospel to yourself. Every day.

-In the midst of whatever challenges thrown your way, the Lord is a shield

-Something weird about the shield: AROUND me

-Psalms use poetic elements to make points, in this case a full shield surrounding David, but not just surrounding him, his glory and lifter of his head

-Source of everything, David is nothing without God

–2 Samuel 15:30 “But David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, barefoot and with his head covered.” God lifts David’s head in the midst of his struggling/mourning 

-David shifts tense in vs. 4

-Recounting some time in the past where God answered David’s prayer

-Part of the reason we need to recount and remember how God works in our past, because past evidences point to future realities 

-Look where God answers from: his holy hill. Pointing to a Messianic reality from 2:6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”

-So where at first David was despondent, he then takes time to remind himself of some truths about God, and then we have another “extended guitar solo.” 

-Take 60 sec to think/pray about how you may need to preach to yourself

-Continuing on in this theme of moving on from despondency, despite of his fear, his uncertainty about his future and lineage, David is still able to rest, and sleep, which even that is a gift from God.

-Do you ever think about the fact that you and I are able to rest/sleep because God doesn’t? God sustains us through each day, each night, and everything in between

-Do you ever find yourself unable to sleep when you’re discouraged or feeling beat down? DA Carson: “Sometimes the godliest thing you can do in the universe is get a good night’s sleep—not pray all night, but sleep. I’m certainly not denying that there may be a place for praying all night; I’m merely insisting that in the normal course of things, spiritual discipline obligates you get the sleep your body need.”

-Look at the shift from the beginning of the Psalm to vs. 6. He goes from all these foes to “I won’t be afraid”

-Sometimes sleep is all you need!

-Even when David is completely surrounded (look back vs 3), he doesn’t have anything to be afraid of

-Even when it seems to you like all hope is lost, we have nothing to be afraid of! This confidence leads us to ask God:

  • The Plea (7-8)

-David wraps up this Psalm by bringing in some previous theme into his request of God:

-Arise O lord (look at vs. 1)

-Save me (look at vs. 2)

-David is no longer afraid, because he knows God will come to his aide!

-God will deal with David’s enemies – striking on the cheek is publicly disgracing (just like David was publicly disgraced in the account of Absalom)

-Break the teeth, 2 options: first is a hard punch, second is think of an animal who has prey in its mouth (alligator ate a dog in FL), if the alligator is holding the animal in its teeth and the teeth are broken, the prey is saved!

-Finally, everything concludes with this last reminder: salvation is up to God. Even when “many are saying” to David that he there is no salvation for him, they have no control over it, it’s up to God. That’s how we can find blessing even in the midst of persecution and suffering.

-What does this mean for us? Look at this Psalm Christ-o-centrically.

–Acts 4:12 “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

-Salvation belongs to the Lord, but that salvation was won because Jesus is the greater David

2 Samuel 15:30 “But David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, barefoot and with his head covered.”

-Who else do you know who went up to the Mount of Olives weeping? (Luke 22)

-This is part of the reason we celebrate communion, it reminds us who is our shield around us. It reminds us that salvation is found in no one else. It reminds us that God sustains us. We ask God to continue saving us (and remember how he always has!) Through the cup and the wine we can say “salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people!” And what’s the last word? Selah 

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by mikethestrand on July 11, 2021  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Life, Relationships, Sermon

Posted by mikethestrand on July 11, 2021

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2021/07/11/psalm-3-sermon-manuscript/

Breaking of Bread Sermon Manuscript

NOTE: these are the notes I use to preach from, please listen to the message on our YouTube channel to hear the whole sermon.

Breaking of Bread

1 Cor. 11:17-34

Acts 2:42 – we’re commanded to meet, the gospel is first, 

-Seesaw 

            -“Healthy tensions”

-2 ordinances given to us from the Lord: baptism and communion 

-Talked about baptism a couple times before – it’s one of the easiest commands given for us to obey

-If you are a believer, if you have put your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord and you have not been baptized, what’s stopping you? What’s holding you back?

-Baptism serves as entry point or the beginning. Signifies our new life that is found in Christ, so just as he was laid down in the grave and then came out alive, so we are laid down into the water, and then coming up clean and new, washing away our old sinful selves and putting on our new perfected selves (early church literally gave new clothes to those baptized)

-As baptism serves as beginning, communion serves as the regular reminder. So we are baptized once, we celebrate communion regularly for the rest of our lives.

–EFCA SOF Article 7 on The Church

READ

PRAY

-Before we walk through this text, we need to have some historical background understanding of what led to communion.

-Anyone have any family traditions that take place regularly? We’re coming up to the 4th of July, some families make that a really big deal. Maybe it’s Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthday, graduation

-Our culture doesn’t always do celebrations/remembrances well. Other cultures have different rhythms/patterns that help denote significant milestones in people’s lives. Quinceañera, bar mitzvah (bat mitzvah)

-Regular habits, routines, practices that help shape/form the culture.

-All of us have these habits, some of the habits are better than others! One of the habits/routines we have is the 5 day, 40 hour work week. Then you end up with songs like “Working for the weekend,” or people anxiously awaiting Friday to finally come and dreading Monday. Some routines are even built into the creation order – in 6 days God created the world, and on the 7th He rested – serving as a template for us to follow.

-The Jewish people are MASTERS of these rhythms/routines. (so is God)

-Shabbat – sabbath rest weekly

-Rosh Hashanah – Jewish new year

-Yom Kippur – Jewish day of atonement

-Sukkot – fall harvest, celebrating time in the wilderness

-Shemini Atzeret – end of Sukkot prayer for rain

-Hanukkah – festival celebrating freedom from oppression, freedom of worship, finding light in the darkest times

-Purim – celebrating saving of the Jews from Haman

-Shavuot – AKA “Festival of First Fruits” 

-Passover – freedom from Egyptian slavery

-Passover is the Jewish celebration that Jesus uses to point to the reality of that first Passover only being the shadow, but himself being the substance.

-Shadow vs. substance. Moses, David, Melchizedek, tabernacle, sacrificial system 

-Living on this side of the cross means that we now celebrate the substance of Jesus Christ instead of living in the shadows that pointed to the coming of the Messiah. So everything we do has to be viewed from the Christo-centric lens – including and especially communion, as you’ll see by the end of our time together!

-If you don’t know the history of Passover – nation of Israel spent 430 years enslaved in Egypt. Genesisfocuses on the beginning in the first 11 chapters, then in 12 shifts to 1 person and his family: Abraham, who fathers Isaac, who fathers Jacob, who has 12 sons that set the stage for the 12 tribes of Israel. Jacob’s 12 sons weren’t BFFs, sold Joseph (father’s favorite) to slavery, through his slavery and imprisonment eventually ends up as 2nd in command of Egypt, spares the nation (and surrounding nations) from famine, whole family moves down to Egypt and is given land to settle in (not the Promised Land). Exodus begins by saying a new king came into power in Egypt who did not know/remember Joseph, and viewed the Israelites as a threat to his rule so he enslaved them. Eventually, God raises up Moses to serve as His mouthpiece to His people and lead them out of their slavery and into the Promised Land. Moses goes to Pharoah and demands He let God’s people go, Pharoah refuses culminating in a great showdown between the gods of Egypt and the one true God: spoiler alert, God wins. But the culmination of this showdown is a 10th and final plague where the firstborn is killed, except for those who put blood on the doorframe of their houses, where the angel of death will “pass over” those homes (where the name Passover comes from). 

-God commanded his people to commemorate and celebrate Passover every year as a reminder of how God rescued and redeemed his people, first from certain death and then from slavery.

-When Jesus came he also celebrated communion, but 1 communion in particular he changed the focus and the meaning of.

–Matt. 26:26-29, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:14-20

-While John doesn’t have the introduction of the elements, it contains a much fuller explanation of what Jesus did and said during this last supper in John 13-17.

-All the Gospel accounts record that the events of the Last Supper took place in the midst of the Passover meal

-Jesus took the shadow, shared how it pointed to the substance (Himself) and then gave it a new meaning for his disciples.

  1. Horizontal Communion (17-22)

-Paul is writing to the church in Corinth, full of issues! 

-But even this church has practices that are commendable! Unfortunately, their practice of communion was NOT done correctly.

-So what am I talking about when I talk about horizontal communion?

-Look how many times Paul uses the phrase “When you come together.”

-There are all sorts of debates throughout church history about the size of the “together” here. Paul seems to be talking about the church gathered in this section, so that’s what I go with.

-The best description I’ve ever heard of communion is a family meal. It’s a time for us as a family to connect, engage, remind ourselves what we’re about, catch up, breathe!

-Unfortunately for Corinth, something is off with the way they’re celebrating the Lord’s Supper.

  1. Divisions (17-19)

-The church is dividing among themselves. Early church often faced dividing issues – slave vs free, men vs women, knowledge vs lack of knowledge, Jews vs Greeks. What was amazing about the church was that they all came together!

-When the church gathers there are not supposed to be any divisions. No matter the size of our bank account, the car we drive, the color of our skin, our gender, our genealogy, we are commanded to be one in Christ

-But there’s a sanctifying component to divisions, according to vs. 19.

-Divisions lead to that recognition of that which is true. If/when there is conflict among people, it should lead to the truth coming out.

-So what is it that’s leading to these division?

  • The Haves and the Have-Nots (20-22)

-Where the church is meant to break down any divides that the world tries to force on us, the church at Corinth was carrying the worldly traditions into their worship.

-Since they were continuing their worldly influenced traditions, Paul says it’s not the Lord’s Supper that they’re celebrating. Meaning the first thing to remember about communion is it’s meant to be a unifying thing. 

-In John’s account, Jesus even prays specifically for us as his future followers, that we would be 1 – perfectly unified together. That’s where the description of the church being a body is so helpful.

-Social standing mattered a great deal in the 1st Century. Every century, if you think about it. That’s where the church is such a counter-cultural idea! The church is the place where natural enemies become family.

-Craig Blomberg “The minority of well-to-do believers (1:26), including the major financial supporters and owners of the homes in which the believers met, would have had the leisure-time and resources to arrive earlier and bring larger quantities and finer food than the rest of the congregation. Following the practice of hosting festive gatherings in ancient Corinth, they would have quickly filled the small private dining room. Latecomers (the majority, who probably had to finish work before coming on Saturday or Sunday evening—there was as of yet no legalized day off in the Roman empire) would be seated separately in the adjacent atrium or courtyard. Those that could not afford to bring a full meal, or a very good one, did not have the opportunity to share with the rest in the way that Christian unity demanded. (NIVAC, 196)

-One goes hungry, another goes drunk. This is pointing to the whole meal (food & drink)

-Say it again – the primary point of this section is communion is meant to be unifying, a place where we all demonstrate our family meal, our unity in Christ

-A couple things to notice – Paul doesn’t say eating this food is wrong (socialism), Paul is saying the Lord’s Supper, the focal point of the gathering of God’s people, is meant to level the playing field so we all participate in the same things. Acts 2:44 “All who believed were together and had all things in common.”

-But that’s not the only component to communion, as we see in this next section. Remember the see saw?

  • Vertical Communion (23-26)

-Just as Paul emphasized the need for unity between each other in communion, now he’s going to demonstrate the need for us to be unified to God in communion.

-2 components that Paul mentions: looking back, and looking forward.

  1. Looking Back (23-25)

-Received and delivered: “The verbs “received” and “passed on,” which occur again in combination later in the letter (15:3), are technical terms from Paul’s Jewish heritage for the transmission of religious instruction.” (Fee, NICNT, 607)

-Sounds very similar to what we have in the Gospel accounts – Jesus in the midst of the Passover celebration reinterpreted elements of the Passover (shadow) to point to the reality (substance) of himself

“On the night when he was betrayed”

-This is the darkest night that has ever happened. The one perfect person to ever exist, God incarnate, was betrayed by 1 of the 12 disciples that he poured his life into for his entire earthly ministry 
-And Jesus calls for unity even with the one who betrayed Him, that means that we as God’s people today, can also be united even when someone betrays us

-Also points us back to a specific time and a specific place. Jesus – God became man, was a real person who lived in a real place, had skin and bones (just like us) but unlike us, He didn’t sin.

-This points us to the need for us to remember back to the reality that Jesus Himself was betrayed and bore the penalty for our sins when He willingly went to the cross.

-Somber reflection

-inaugurating a new covenant

-Done “in remembrance of”

-Just as His body was broken the bread is broken, just as his blood was shed so we see the symbol of His blood in our hands

-But it’s not ONLY somber, remember that seesaw, and look at vs. 26

  • Looking Forward (26)

-The 2 elements serve to remind us of the gospel that saves us, but the gospel that saves us isn’t restricted to the here and now – it urges us to long for the coming day when Jesus will return and right every wrong.

“as often”

-Meant to be done with regularity and repeatedly. We can have fun discussions/debates about how often we should celebrate communion (full disclosure I would prefer to celebrate communion as the culmination of every weekly service, but that’s a 3rd order issue)

-Whatever the frequency, every time we participate together, it’s mean to:

“proclaim the Lord’s death”

-We are and always will be gospel people. One of my favorite descriptions of a worship service is very simple: “read the Word, preach the Word, pray the Word, sing the Word, see the Word (in the ordinances).”

-Reminder of the cross centered nature of our faith (first the call to come and die, second the implication that both our faith compels us to both vertical and horizontal relationships)

“until he comes”

-communion is only celebrated in the in between time – between Christ’s 2 comings

-Each time we celebrate communion, it’s a reminder that this world is not our home, we’re foreigners here who are awaiting our King to return 

-Also reminds us (as Jesus says in the Gospels Matt. 26:29 “I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”) that only sinners are welcomed to the table, perfect people need not participate! When Jesus returns, we will sit down to the final communion – the wedding supper with the Lamb!

-This demonstrates that this should be a joyous celebration! Our sin is paid for, the tomb is empty, we will never die! 

-Communion is meant to be BOTH somber realization that we are sinners, AND a joyous celebration because we a no longer slaves to sin. What does that look like?

  • Horizontal and Vertical Judgment (27-34)

“an unworthy manner”

-people have taken this text and made it hyper individualistic to the point where we just need my “me time” each time we celebrate communion to ensure everything is right between me and God. But what is the focus in this whole section? Communal, we, us, our.

“Let a person examine himself then”

-How are you treating the body? Are you caring for others more than yourself? Are you actively pursuing unity and fighting against discord/division? Are you using your gifts to serve the greater body? 1 Cor. 12-14 go on to talk about the necessity of all of us using our gifts for the good of the whole church.

“without discerning the body”

-Take this “body” to refer to 2 things

-first the body of Jesus. Then Jesus’ earthly body which is? The church, the community, us gathering together. 

-then the body of the church

“judged ourselves truly”

-stop using the world’s standards! We judge ourselves according to God’s standards. We all messed up, we all sinned, we all need grace, that’s why we need to be serious about killing our own indwelling sin, and do our best to love and honor each other over ourselves. 

“we are disciplined”

-God judges everyone, either toward eternal condemnation or toward disciple/correction

“wait for one another”

-one last communal reminder. We’re supposed to do this TOGETHER. Be serious about dealing with your own sin, so that when we gather as the church we can be serious about loving each other, caring for each other, honoring each other better than we honor ourselves, and demonstrating that “each other-ness” by celebrating communion with EACH OTHER.

-If you have unresolved sin, you are welcome here, in fact it’s ONLY people who have unresolved sin that are welcome here, perfect people don’t need the church or communion! 

So what?

-We are table people – both THE table and OUR tables, be hospitable (this ties into fellowship)

-We saw this in Heb. 13:1-2 “let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers.” The Gospel Comes with a House Key

-It’s nearly impossible to remain angry at someone when you’re breaking bread with them. 

-Communion is meant to serve as a visible reminder of: 

-the gospel (vertical)

-our unity in and through the gospel (horizontal)

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by mikethestrand on June 20, 2021  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Relationships, Sermon

Posted by mikethestrand on June 20, 2021

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2021/06/20/breaking-of-bread-sermon-manuscript/

We’re Commanded To – Sermon Manuscript

We’re Commanded To

Acts 2:42-47, Hebrews 10:19-25

NOTE: These are the notes I use to preach from on Sunday morning. If you want to listen to the sermon to get a better context, please visit our YouTube page.

-Coming out of a unique season of life for many of us. COVID interrupted our routines, our jobs, our churches, our friendships. In short, the past year has taught a completely new way of life for many of us!

-While I’m super thankful for the online technology that has allowed us to “meet” it’s not quite the same

-Time at TGC a few weeks ago

-The past 14 months have brought up a bunch of questions about the church, the purpose of meeting, what we emphasize, what we focus on, HOW we go about our corporate worship gatherings, what is important/essential

-This is really getting to the question of: what is the purpose of the church? Why are we here? Everyone’s got thoughts/opinions/ideas, but doesn’t the Bible tell us some things we should be doing/participating in?

-Add in that almost all of us have previous experience at churches, here, growing up, college. We all walk in the doors every week with a certain list of expectations, and those expectations aren’t always met.

-Church hunters “We’re more looking for the humor of Andy Stanley with the body of Stephen Furtick”

“it was like we left there feeling convicted, like ugh” “We’re looking for more of a Tony Robins type sermon” “Like inspirational, like a TED talk with a Bible verse”

-There’s a tendency to treat church like consumers, and let’s be honest, many of us are conditioned to think that way! If we don’t like the coffee at one coffee shop, don’t worry, there’s a different one just down the street! 

-Introduction from The Church, An Introduction by Gregg Allison 

-The Bible even uses various metaphors to describe the church. The church is a: family, the bride of Christ, branches on a vine, an olive tree, a field of crops, a building, a new temple, a harvest, God’s house, a pillar and buttress of truth, and the body of Christ.

-We’re getting to that idea of what the church is. Wayne Grudem defines the church as “the community of all true believers for all time.” Gregg Allison defines the church as “the people of God who have been saved through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and have been incorporated into his body through baptism with the Holy Spirit.”

-Now we’re getting to the difference between the catholic (universal) church, and the local church!

-Reformers said there is a church anytime the sacraments are faithfully performed

-People today often refer to church as just a building. 

-And if you’re not confused yet, we haven’t even gotten to what a church does

-Here’s the reality – Jesus himself established the church.

–Matt. 16:16-19 “Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

-Church’s primary mission is to hold fast and proclaim this reality, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

-On the rock of Peter’s confession (who is Jesus himself) the church will be built. This is one of those areas where we would disagree with Roman Catholics, they built a whole papal order out of this 1 verse!

-There is a heavenly authority that comes with the church. The church today serves as an outpost of Jesus’ kingdom. Us gathering is meant to give everyone watching a little picture of what heaven will look like! Does our church give that glimpse? 

-This series will be based on the early church, as demonstrated in Acts 2.

-I’ve talked to a number of people who say “If only we could get back to the New Testament church” Don’t forget it wasn’t all daisies and roses back then either! In fact, until Jesus comes back, the church is guaranteed to have issues! And if you ever find a church that doesn’t have issues, the moment you (as a sinner) walk in the door, you’re bringing issues with you.

-We need to distinguish between that which is DEscriptive and that which is PREscriptive.

-Descriptive: describes events taking place, not necessarily applicable to every time & place

-Prescriptive: things that should be true in every time & place

-quick example, Rom. 16:16 “greet one another with a holy kiss.” 

READ

PRAY

  1. The First Church (Acts 2)

-There’s a lot for us to unpack in these few verses! So much so that we’ll take a week on each characteristic in turn. Today is just a broad overview of what characterized the early church.

-Always difficult to drop into a book (like we’ll be doing in this series) because we miss the bigger context and picture the author is painting.

-Acts is the 2 of a 2 part series (beginning with Luke’s Gospel) written by the same guy, this would be considered the sequel (The Empire Strikes Back)

–1:1 “In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,”

-This book picks up where Luke left off. After Jesus rose from the grave, what happened? How did his message spread? How did his disciples respond?

-Quick synopsis of the first 2 chapters: Jesus ascends into heaven, disciples select a new “12th” disciple

-Worth mentioning, more than 12 people had been following Jesus during his earthly life, I tend to forget that because the 12 received most of his attention, but men & women were a part of this rag tag group of people. Actually 10x the 12, Acts 1:15 says there were 120 disciples.

-Then in Acts 2 everything changes. Pentecost comes and the disciples are indwelt with the Holy Spirit. (Don’t have time to dig into this, but if you want to see what Jesus said about the coming of the HS read John 16-17)

-In response to this, the early church is given a new confidence to begin sharing what Jesus meant with everyone they could. Peter preaches the most impactful sermon in recorded history. Look at vs. 41. “So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.” 

-I’m still waiting for my 3,000 soul sermon! Actually, every Pastor I know is!

-So what characterized this early church? How did they manage adding 3,000 new converts to this fledgling faith?

-Honestly, not super well, because just 4 chapters later there’s a pretty big disagreement that comes up because racism is rampant in this early church (again, don’t have time for that one)

-There are 4 primary things that this early church devoted themselves to in vs. 42: the apostles teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers. Let’s walk through those 4 things:

  1. Apostles’ Teaching

-Here’s the fascinating thing. What you’re holding in your hand (or reading on your device) didn’t exist at the time. They didn’t have the 4 Gospel accounts, didn’t have Paul’s, Peter’s, James’ letters. They had their experience and time with Jesus, and the OT. 

-And that was enough! The word “devoted” connotes the idea of continually, constantly. They were continually devoted to these 4 primary things, so they were constantly listening to the apostles teaching.

-Kent Hughes “Where the Spirit reigns, a love for God’s Word reigns.” This is why sermons take up the bulk of our weekly worship.

-Look at this in more detail next week.

  • Breaking of Bread

-2 aspects to this one: regular table time together at people’s homes, and the penultimate breaking of bread in communion. One of John Calvin’s requirements for a true church was anywhere the sacraments were truly practiced. 

-Communion is 1 of 2 sacraments Christ commanded his church to practice, the other being baptism. Look at this more in 2 weeks!

  • Fellowship

-This is one of the most misunderstood words used in the church today!

-Sitting in a deacon meeting, someone talking about making some meals for shut-ins and then “we’ll have a little fellowship”

-This is the first time this word appears in the NT, denotes something in common, which didn’t happen before the HS indwelt them.

  • Prayers

-THE prayers. While this was still a Jewish sect, they were still following a lot of the customs/traditions they had been following. 

-But also regularly praying for each other.

-What was the implication of these 4 things? Look at vs. 43-47

-The common aspect of fellowship was lived out in the lives of the believers. No one had any needs, and if they did other’s helped take care of them. Doesn’t that sound awesome? This is the radical generosity piece we saw in our Amos series on justice! Willingly disadvantaging yourself for the advantage of others.

-There’s a “day by day” aspect to this. There’s large gathering in the temple, small gathering in the homes (church gathered vs church scattered)

-Having favor with all the people. Do you think the world looks at the church favorably today? Headlines: “Here’s why a New Bedford church is suing Gov. Charlie Baker” “Former New Orleans Church Official Sentenced for Wire Fraud” “Congregation or Cult? Former members accuse Kansas City church of abuse.”

-Yes, I realize we should expect persecution, but is “favor” because of our good deeds an honest marker of our church, or not?

-What do you think people who aren’t believers, who have never set foot inside a church expect when they walk into a church building? There was a movie that came out a few years ago Resurrection of Gavin Stone about a Hollywood actor who’s forced to do community service at a local church (you can probably guess the rest of the movie) But 1 scene stood out to me when I first watched it where he gets ready to go to church.

-If you want to watch it, it’s on Netflix!

-Lastly, the Lord added to their number day by day. The early church was intentional about evangelism. They were always looking for ways to share the good news of what Jesus had done with any/everyone they came into contact with. And their living matched their preaching! They legitimately loved one another.

-Let’s jump ahead now a few decades to look at Hebrews.

-Hebrews is thought to be a manuscript of a sermon.

  • Encouraging (Hebrews 10)

-Again, we’re dropping right in the middle of the book here! Really easy to summarize the entire argument leading up to here with 1 phrase: Jesus is better. Better than what? Yes. 

-First 2 chapters are Jesus is better than angels

–3-10:18 Jesus is better than the Mosaic Law

-Then after this rich, deep theology of the supremacy of Jesus, the author turns to the application. All theology is practical and meant to be lived out. Because Jesus is the superior high priest and at the same time the superior sacrifice, we then haver confidence.

  1. Through Jesus

-I love the way this book starts “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our father by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.” Jesus even has the final word!

-Just as theology is applicable, we begin with the theology of the cross and Jesus’ atoning death.

-Used to only enter the holy place 1 a year, and only 1 person with fear and trepidation because Heb. 12:29 “Our God is a consuming fire.” 

-Church, because Jesus has died on our behalf we can have confidence, or boldness to enter into the very presence of God.

-There used to be a curtain separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. That curtain was torn in 2 when Jesus died. That means through Jesus blood covering us, we can draw near to God. 

-One way of putting the whole Bible together is God dwelling with His people. Gen. 1-2 is God perfectly dwelling with Adam & Eve, Gen 3 is so devastating because that dwelling is broken, rest of the Bible is how we can try dwelling again with God. Then God takes on flesh and dwells with us bodily, allowing us sinful people to dwell eternally with God. According to Eph. 2:6 we are already seated with Christ in heaven.

-Because Jesus has sanctified us, we then move on to holding fast.

  • Holding Fast

-what do we hold fast to? “the confession of our hope.”

-This is the same idea we saw earlier where Jesus promises to build His church on Peter’s confession. We have to do the exact same thing as Peter and confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. We can’t waver, we can’t look to the right or left, we need to hold fast to this confession.

-We also have the same idea we saw in Amos 9 that we’re supposed to hold on to hope. Our hope is in Jesus himself, so that hope will allow us to endure, or as the text says “he who promised is faithful.” 

-Thankfully our holding fast isn’t up to us! It’s God who remains faithful despite our unfaithfulness.

-After the vertical relationship is dealt with, then we move on to the horizontal relationship. (explain)

  • Together

-In addition to holding fast to our confession, we’re commanded to consider how to stir up (or encourage) one another to love and good works. And how do we do that? By not neglecting to meet together.

-I don’t know if you’ve been feeling this – but I got so tired of worshipping online. Not seeing people’s faces, not talking as we walk in. Not seeing people sing together! 

-Introducing Not For A Moment “You were reaching through the storm Walking on the water even when I could not see in the middle of it all when I thought You were a thousand miles away not for a moment did You forsake me 

After all You are constant After all You are only good After all You are sovereign Not for a moment will You forsake me

-If we hadn’t been meeting together as a group, we wouldn’t have been able to encourage those who were struggling

-We are dependent on each other. There are no lone rangers in Christianity. Rugged individualism (expressive individualism)

-Friend who wanted to go be a hermit. Where is the church?

-The way we encourage each other is by meeting together. Meeting tighter LEADS to encouraging. Think of communion – 1 Cor. 11:17 “WHEN you come together as a church.” 

-I get that this is a weird time to have a sermon about the need to gather, when we’ve been scattered for over a year, some people are still watching online! This is a time where we as the church NEED to be the church. 

-One thing that has fascinated me about the pandemic is every other major disruption in American history, people have turned to the church (attendance swelled after 9/11) This time, people turned to Netflix.

 –Article from Carl Trueman “That’s where community comes in: churches need to build community around clear Christian teaching, serious Christian worship, and practical Christian love.  Done well, those things can grip the imagination because they offer a vision of something better than the thin communities and shallow satisfactions of consumerism. Telling people that the way they live is wrong has no plausibility unless it is set against the background of a vision of something better.”

-South Suburban – we have something better to offer the world – and it begins by us not neglecting to meet together, but instead encouraging each other to live out love and good works. Our gathering is not meant to be a tack on, an addition if you’ve got time that weekend. Our lives are supposed to be lived out, bled out by encouraging each other each and every day until “THE day.”

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by mikethestrand on May 16, 2021  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Life, Relationships, Sermon

Posted by mikethestrand on May 16, 2021

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2021/05/16/were-commanded-to-sermon-manuscript/

April 10 Devotional

Today is generally referred to as Good Friday in the church calendar, and the reason it’s good is because our sins were paid for! We no long need to bear the penalty for them. I’ll be working on editing a Good Friday video that Pastor Jeff and I recorded yesterday, so that will be going live on our website at 6 PM tonight, you’ll be able to watch it on the front page of our WEBSITE.
 
Today we’re going to be reading from Romans 5:6-11:
 
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
 
This is a beautiful picture of what Christ has accomplished for us in His death on the cross. Paul begins by calling all of us weak. So weak that in other places of the Bible we’re referred to as dead! (See Ezekiel 37 for the most graphic depiction of this) Yet even when we were at our weakest point, God considered that the be the right time. Have you ever had a conversation with someone where they said the right thing but at completely the wrong time? Or maybe you’ve been in that situation: you ask someone how they are, they say they’re good and how are you, and you reply I’m good how are you again? You’re saying the socially acceptable thing, but you said it at the wrong time! What this text is telling us is God sent Jesus to die for us in the right way at exactly the right time! And not only were we weak and helpless, God did this while we were still at enmity with Him. Opposed to everything He stands for. Disobeying Him in thought, word, and in deed. So because of our disobedience and sin, Jesus had to die for us. Can you imagine the weight that Jesus felt as He was carrying His cross? Yes, the physical weight of the cross itself, but the spiritual and emotional weight of dying for those who were in the process of killing them. And then in the midst of his suffering and grief, He shouts to His Father: “Forgive them! For they know not what they do!” Even in His death He was looking for the interests of others.
 
But that’s not all! Paul goes on to remind us that not only did Jesus die in our place, but now because of that we have an even better reason to hope and rejoice: we have now been saved from God’s wrath. Instead of His wrath being poured out on us, He poured it out on His Son on the cross. And what that means is God has reconciled His enemies to himself. He has brought everyone He’s saved into eternal life with Him! So because of that, as Paul says, we now can rejoice! We can celebrate! We can dance! John Stott, a pastor and theologian who lived last century said, “We should be the most positive people in the world. We cannot mooch round the place with a dropping, hang-dog expression. We cannot drag our way through life, moaning and groaning. We cannot always be looking on the dark side of everything, as negative prophets of doom. No, “we exult in God.” Then every part of our life becomes suffused with glory. Christian worship becomes a joyful celebration of God and Christian living a joyful service of God. So come, let us exult in God together!”
SONG:
Today’s song is titled ‘Magnificent, Marvelous, Matchless Love’ by the Gettys. You can listen to it on YOUTUBEor SPOTIFY. And don’t forget! I’ve still been updating the playlist including all the songs I’ve sent out! You can listen to it HERE.
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by mikethestrand on April 10, 2020  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, History, Relationships, Theology, Worship

Posted by mikethestrand on April 10, 2020

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2020/04/10/april-10-devotional/

March 29 Devotional

Don’t forget to log on to YOUTUBE this morning at 10 AM to watch our livestream!
Today we’ll be reading from Acts 2:42-47:
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
This is one of my favorite passages in the New Testament that describes what the early church looked like. And in this case it’s the EARLY EARLY church! The Holy Spirit had just come down like fire and rested upon the apostles, Peter preached his first sermon, and the response was 3,000 new believers in response to just 1 message! The church quickly went from 120 people in the upper room, many of whom had spent years with Jesus, to 3,120 who were now committing to following Christ!
Part of the reason I like this so much is it boils down the essentials of what a church service looks like to 4 piece. We begin with teaching. The verbal structure of this signifies that they continually devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching. That is they were hungry to hear from God. They needed the growth that comes from spending time in God’s Word, and before they had a full Bible like we do, they had the apostles, who had lived life with Jesus, being trained by him.
Next is the fellowship. Fellowship is often misunderstood today, as it’s not a wing of a church building! As the passage goes on to signify, fellowship involves sacrificial giving, either of your time or your possessions. Fellowship must go much deeper than simply spending time together, as it means knowing what is going on in each other’s lives. The good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful. This one if somewhat hard for us right now, as it’s nearly impossible to spend time together in fellowship, so remember this feeling right now, and don’t forget to be intentional about fellowship when we can finally meet again!
Thirdly is the breaking of bread and prayers. Because they talk about the food they were eating later, I think this is referring to the regular practice of the Lord’s Supper (which is why I prefer to celebrate the Lord’s Supper weekly, but that’s a different discussion!). Both of these things signify crucial matters to the gathering of God’s people: prayer and communion. If everything we do is not girded in prayer, then we’re wasting time! And if we’re not obeying our Lord who commanded us to remember his death, burial, and resurrection, then we’re sinning.
The last part is the last verse, the outward reach and evangelism that was taking place because of their love for each other. The previous verse says they have favor with all the people (we know it’s not everyone, because just a few chapters later Stephen is killed). But in response to their faithful living and witness, people were continually putting their hope and faith in Christ. This is a great reminder for us to live different lives in the world around us. Lives that are marked by love, compassion, and generosity and lives that look for ways to share the good news of what Jesus has done with others. 
 
SONG:
Today’s song is titled ‘My Worth Is Not in What I Own’ and has a line in the 5th verse that strikes me to the heart every time I hear it: “Two wonders here that I confess, my worth and my unworthiness.” What a beautiful way to describe the current tension we feel in our lives! You can listen to it on YOUTUBE or SPOTIFY.
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by mikethestrand on March 29, 2020  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Life, Relationships, Theology, Worship

Posted by mikethestrand on March 29, 2020

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2020/03/29/march-29-devotional/

March 26 Devotional

Today we’ll be taking a look at one of Jesus’ interactions with his disciples in John 6:60-69:
 
When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
 
This section follows right after a lengthy exposition where Jesus has been telling his followers he was the bread of life. Large crowds had been continuing to follow him around because they’d heard how he fed the 5,000 and wanted their needs supplied as well. Earlier, the Jews had been grumbling because he said he is the bread of life, and none of them were cannibals! So then we zoom in Jesus’ closest disciples, those with whom he’d be living, walking, and eating. They’d heard his teachings and mostly believed in him. Until now.
 
The disciples first response is one of incredulity. Jesus words have cut them to the heart and they’re struggling to believe. Augustine of Hippo once said of Christianity, “I believe in order to understand.” There are some things in the Christian faith that we don’t and won’t ever understand, so in the midst of that we believe that God is still good and working everything out for our good (Rom. 8).
 
One thing I want to focus on today is Jesus’ response. There’s a temptation for anyone when they’re reading the Bible to leave these people as two dimensional characters instead of remembering they were real flesh and blood people who really lived, experienced the same things we experience, yet in this case Jesus is God! So because of that temptation I think we can miss that Jesus experience emotions. How do you think Jesus felt in the midst of this story? Right in the middle it says “MANY of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.” Those that he had given so much time and energy to just abandoned him, so (I think) in an act of desperation, he looked at the twelve and asked them the same thing.
 
Peter, who gets it wrong as often as he gets it right, hits a grand slam with his response! Jesus alone has the words of eternal life (we sing that together at church in the song ’Show Us Christ’). What are you doing to feast on his words? The only place we can find these eternal words is in God’s Word! I’d encourage you to spend some time while you’re at home digging in to it! Spend time praying through the Psalms, or using one of the resources I’ve sent out to learn more about God and connect with him in some new ways!
 
Today’s song is an exposition of the pain many of us as humans experience, yet in the midst of that God is good and true. It’s by one of my favorite artists, Andrew Peterson, and it’s called ‘Always Good’ you can listen on YOUTUBE or SPOTIFY.
 
FREE STUFF:
Ligonier Ministries, the organization founded by the late R.C. Sproul is giving away all their teaching resources through June 30. I’d strongly recommend pretty much everything Sproul does (with the exception of his view on baptism!). But you can see the resources available HERE.
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by mikethestrand on March 26, 2020  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Life, Relationships, Theology, Worship

Posted by mikethestrand on March 26, 2020

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2020/03/26/march-26-devotional/

March 25 Devotional

Today we’ll be reading from James 4:13-17:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

This passage always brings me comfort in the midst of the uncertainty swirling around me because it reminds me how small I am and how big God is. James begins by reminding us just how uncertain all our plans are. As we looked at on Monday, one aspect of The Lord’s Prayer is praying that God’s will be done on earth, just the same as it is in heaven. Not our will, but God’s will. I fear so often we’re so focused on our will that we completely forget to think of God’s will in our lives.

One of the ways the Puritans (the early Christians in the USA) tried to ensure everything they did was submitted to the Lord’s will was by writing the Latin phrase Deo Volente (meaning “God willing”) on many of their letters, and many early Methodists also picked this idea up and would write “D.V.” on their letters. I’m not trying to say we need to begin signing our letters the same way, but I do want us to begin thinking about tour lives that way! 

James goes on to remind us how fleeting our lives are. In the scope of eternity, the 78.69 year life expectancy average we have in the United States is just a blink. And what we do with our time on earth will determine where we spend that eternity, so don’t waste your time here! Because our lives are so short and we don’t know how long we have, we are to rely completely on the Lord, and submit everything we do to him. Then we can be confident that He is working in us that which is pleasing according to His will. This leads us to the last phrase, we cannot be believers only by listening and growing smarter. We must be hearers and doers of the Word, people who are putting what we learn into practice, and now is a great time to do that! I saw an article on the Times Call this morning featuring someone from church who has put together a supply kiosk at his house! That is a great example of not just believing in God, but putting that belief into practice. 

Today’s song was sent to me by a friend, and is called ‘All Things Together.’ You can listen to it on YOUTUBEor SPOTIFY. And don’t forget, if you want to listen to all the songs I’ve sent out, I have a playlist that gets updated everyday with the new song, you can listen HERE.

 

FREE STUFF:

The Gospel Coalition has a list of 30 things to watch to help you pass the time! Most of them are free, but a couple you have to rent. Almost everything is on either Amazon Prime or Netflix. Some of my favorites were: A Quiet Place (don’t watch if you don’t like intense movies!), Christopher Robin, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, Hook (yes, this is the classic Robin Williams film!), Indiana Jones, The Lord of the Rings trilogy (if you haven’t ever seen them PLEASE do your duty to your fellow human and watch this!), Mary Poppins Returns, Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse, The Riot and the Dance (if you like Planet Earth but would prefer it from a Christian perspective, watch this!). 

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by mikethestrand on March 25, 2020  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Life, Movies, Relationships, Theology, Worship

Posted by mikethestrand on March 25, 2020

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2020/03/25/march-25-devotional/

March 24 Devotional

Today we’ll look at another Psalm, Psalm 42:
As a deer pants for flowing streams,
    so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
    for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food
    day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
    “Where is your God?”
These things I remember,
    as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
    and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
    a multitude keeping festival.
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
    my salvation and my God.
My soul is cast down within me;
    therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
    from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep
    at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
    have gone over me.
By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
    and at night his song is with me,
    a prayer to the God of my life.
I say to God, my rock:
    “Why have you forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning
    because of the oppression of the enemy?”
As with a deadly wound in my bones,
    my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me all the day long,
    “Where is your God?”
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
    my salvation and my God.
The primary question that should jump out to you as you read this Psalm is: what are you longing for? As the days are continuing on, and as the shelter in place orders continue to spread, I find myself increasingly drawn to want to be out there doing something. There’s something weird in the American psyche that has a knee jerk reaction to disobey whatever we’re told to do 🙂 And I confess that I find myself drawn to the same thing! 
 
Notice as well, what is it that the writer is missing? Meeting together as God’s people to focus exclusively on Him! I find myself missing the same things right now! I miss being able to get coffee together, to sit down and chat as we practice music together, to meet for lunch, all the things that make up being a part of the body of Christ. There should be a sense of longing in the midst of this season where we can’t meet. Yes, Zoom, Skype, FaceTime, Google Hangouts can do in a pinch, but they’re a poor substitute for actually meeting together. 
 
Lastly, notice how the write speaks to himself, or as I’ve heard others say, he preaches to himself. He says “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?” I would imagine that (like me!) many of you are feeling that way right now too. My retirement portfolio is not looking too hot, I can’t go in to work, my kids are going stir crazy already, and we’re probably going to be confined to our houses by the end of the week, if things continue to progress as they have been. Yet in the midst of the questioning, we can also urge ourselves on, as the writer goes on to say “Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” Even in the midst of what’s going on around us, we are commanded to hope. Hope is the byproduct of the Christian life, where we can put our full confidence in God, because He has proven Himself faithful over and over and over again. So today, put your hope in God, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7).
The song to listen to today is called ‘Lord from Sorrows Deep I Call (Psalm 42)’ by the Gettys which you can listen to on YOUTUBE or SPOTIFY.
BONUS SONG: Sandra McCracken also has an arraignment based on this Psalm called ‘My Help, My God’ which is fun to listen to and compare the two versions and what they emphasize. You can listen to this one on YOUTUBE or SPOTIFY as well!
Don’t forget, if you want to listen to the ongoing playlist in it’s entirety, you can listen to it on SPOTIFY.
 
FREE STUFF:
If you’ve got kids, Adventure in Odyssey is offering a FREE 4 week trial to listen to every episode they’ve ever created. When I was growing up I measure road trips by how many episodes we could get through, so they are VERY good! You can sign up HERE.
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by mikethestrand on March 24, 2020  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Life, Relationships, Theology, Worship

Posted by mikethestrand on March 24, 2020

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2020/03/24/march-24-devotional/

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