A great song by Nichole Nordeman related to last Sunday’s sermon on the Feeding of the 5000:
Reflections on Psalms 61-65
Which psalm or verse especially reflects your heart today? Use those words to talk to the Lord.
- Look to God – Psalm 61 bids us to cry out to God for help, for he is our refuge and shelter. Psalm 62 calls us to pour out our hearts to God and trust in him, for he is our refuge and fortress. Where do you need God to be your refuge today? Talk to him about it.
- Satisfied – Psalm 63 tells us that God’s love is better than life and in God we find satisfaction. Psalm 65 tells us that we find satisfaction in his house; that is, in his presence. His many blessings bring joy. Both psalms tell us how to respond – seek the Lord and sing praises to him. How does your life reflect these two responses? How might you grow in these areas in your daily life?
Psalms 61-70: Seek the Lord and Rejoice in Him
(61, 69, 70) What is David seeking in these psalms (61:1-2, 69:1, 70:1)?
Why is David confident in doing this (61:3, see also 62:1-2)?
(63) What is David seeking in Psalm 63:1 (see also 69:32, 70:4)?
What words in v1 help us understand the intensity of David’s seeking?
How might we seek what David was seeking (v2, 6, 8, see also 62:8)?
(63, 65) As we seek and find God, our response ought to be praise and rejoicing (70:4). What divine attributes and actions lead us to this response?
Psalm 63 –
Psalm 65 –
How have you experienced God in one of these ways?
(66) For what awesome deeds of the Lord might you use this psalm as your testimony?
(66, 67, 68) As we experience and testify to God’s awesome deeds, what further goal do we have (66:4, 67:3-5, 68:32)?
(51-60) Which verse(s) or psalm especially speaks to you, and why?
Passion Points
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
Yes, You Can Please Your Heavenly Father – Kevin DeYoung
Over and over, more than a dozen times in the New Testament, we have this motivation. We ought to be generous. We ought to be godly. We ought to love and live a certain way because it pleases God.
Lay Aside the Weight of Discouragement – Jon Bloom (DG)
What discourages us is not as powerful as it feels in the moment. We overcome our fear by confronting our discouragement and exercising faith in God’s promises. Those are precious moments in which we will see the power of God.
The Blessing of Weather That Confounds the Control-Freak – Trevin Wax
In a world where we try to sustain the illusion that we are in control of reality, the weather does not comply. Again and again, we remember: This is bigger than us. We must react to reality, for we cannot subdue it. Call it common grace for a technologically idolatrous age.
Study at the University of Jesus – Erik Raymond
In other words, you are never to graduate from the University of Jesus. You are always attending. Always studying. Always learning. Always marveling.
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day!
Sermon Songs: Mark 5:21-43
See Jesus going with Jairus
To heal his dying daughter
See a sick woman touch Jesus
And receive His healing power
The daughter dies but do not fear
Jesus restores her to life
Trust Him today in your own tears
Soon we’ll have eternal life
Tell me the story of Jesus
Write on my heart ev’ry word
Tell me the story most precious
That I might live what I’ve heard
(Some words by Fanny Crosby, to the tune of “Tell Me the Story of Jesus”)
Rest
If we find that we are not at rest, it is because we are not resting in God’s goodness.
– Philip Graham Ryken in Discovering God
Reflections on Psalms 56-60
Which psalm or verse especially reflects your heart today? Use those words to talk to the Lord.
- Responding to fear – Psalm 56 bids us to trust in God when we are afraid. Indeed God is greater than anything that can come against us so we need not fear. Psalm 60 reminds us that he is our fortress, refuge and strength. What brings you fear? Will you trust in your refuge?
- Exalted – The Psalmist exalts, gives thanks, and praises God for his great love and faithfulness (Psalm 57). How have you experienced God’s love and faithfulness? Give thanks to God and exalt him!
Polycarp
My family watched this movie a few days ago. What a great challenge for the church!
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” – Matthew 16:24 (ESV)
Current
Here are some good posts about discernment and the movies:
What Does ‘The Shack’ Say About Your Pain? – David Mathis (DG)
Why I Won’t Be Seeing (or Reviewing) The Shack Movie – Tim Challies
Our Mother Who Art In Heaven? – Tony Reinke (DG)
“Beauty and the Beast” to Feature an “Exclusively Gay Moment” – Denny Burk
The Facts about Beauty and the Beast Disney Movie – Amy Blevins
Sex on the Silver Screen: What Would a Victorian Christian Say? – Tim Challies
Prayer Quote of the Week
Prayer makes a godly man, and puts within him the mind of Christ, the mind of humility, of self-surrender, of service, of pity, and of prayer. If we really pray, we will become more like God, or else we will quit praying.
– E.M. Bounds
