This morning we come to end of our series of Summer Psalms. We have been making our way through a series of Psalms known as the Royal Psalms which magnify the sovereign rule of Yahweh as king not only of Israel but over the whole world.
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Psalm 98 bears a striking similarity with Psalm 96. But Psalm 98 is a straightforward Psalm of praise. In this Psalm there are no comparisons with the heathen, no lessons about how we should worship. Instead it is pure joy and celebration from beginning to end.
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Psalm 97 once again celebrates God's kingship. Like Psalm 96 that precedes it and Psalm 98 that follows it Psalm 97 sings of the Lord's coming as universal king. But while Psalm 96 and 98 express the sheer delight of the king's coming Psalm 97 also heralds the doom of those in rebellion against God's kingship which highlights the darker side of this event. God's rule is still something to be joyful about but we are to be under no illusions as to what is involved. Psalm 97 shows the awesome approach of a conqueror.
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The story behind Psalm 96 is found in 1 Chronicles 16. The Ark of the Covenant was being taken up to its new home in Jerusalem - the newly conquered city that David has taken as his capital in his role as king over all Israel.
It is a joyful song of praise and as the Psalm progresses it changes scale to include ever widening circles in the praise of the one true God who is Lord of all.
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In Psalm 95, we receive a beautiful call to worship our God with joy and adoration. As the Psalm reveals there are many ways we can worship, there is a clear call to cultivate a heart that longs to worship God. In this Psalm we are reminded of countless reasons to worship the Lord: He is our Creator, our King, our Shepherd, and our Redeemer—each reason stirring us to praise.
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Psalm 94 wrestles with the state of the world and its people. It brings an urgent plea before God: "Give us justice!". After reflecting on God's power, his righteousness and his love for us, the Psalmist takes courage. God has cared for us in the past, he will care for us in the future. His love stretches further than we would ever have imagined.
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We continue our series of Summer Psalms as we come to think about Psalm 93. This short Psalm reminds us that our God reigns and in so doing helps and sustains those who put their trust in Him. We consider God's reign as we consider these three aspects of His power so that we can see what we can learn about them to help us live for Jesus in our day where God calls us to be:
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We continue our series of Summer Psalm as Michael leads us through Psalm 92.
How do you approach Sunday? Do you enjoy praising God or, if you're honest, do you find it boring? Why do we gather on the Lord's Day? And why do we do what we do? Psalm 92 calls us to praise God and provides us with the reason.
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Psalm 91 is one of the most well known Psalms. It is positive faith filled Psalm that acknowledges the struggles and dangers on this fallen world but still proclaims the unshakable faith that God is able to protect his people against all things. He is our ultimate refuge and fortress.
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Psalm 21 is closely linked with Psalm 20. Psalm 20 sees the nation of Israel calling on God to grant their king triumph in battle over their enemies. Psalm 21 seems to record the answer to this prayer and rejoices in the victory that God has granted.
Sometimes we find the more militant Psalms harder to relate to. They leave us uncomfortable especially when their prayers are calling for the violent overthrow of their enemies. But we need to remember that David was a warrior King who spend most of his reign subduing Israel's enemies and the Psalms sometimes reflect this reality. In addition we need to remember that as Christians we too are called to battle.
Click to watch This morning we come to the well known words of Psalm 19. This Psalm was a particular favourite of that famous son of Ulster - C.S. Lewis. He said, “I take this to be the greatest poem in the Psalms and one of the greatest lyrics in the world.” It is a Psalm of worship which starts from the top down as David describes the wonders of the visible creation, then as he sings of God's verbal revelation in the Scriptures before finally expressing the urgent needs of his own soul.
Click to watch Today, we continue our summer series in the Psalms, where Charlie preaches about 'My God Is My Rock' in Psalm 18.
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As we travel along the journey of life, we all face situations and circumstances that touch every emotion. In Psalm 17, David the Psalmist finds himself in a time of real difficulty and cries out to God with a very personal and honest appraisal of where he found himself. Join us as we continue our summer studies in the Psalms.
Click to watch Today, we continue our summer series in the Psalms, where Ashley preaches about the 'Home Truths' in Psalm 16.
Click to watch We are all familiar with the expression, 'Familiarity breeds contempt' - it means that extensive knowledge of or a close association with someone or something can lead to a loss of respect for them or it.
This can happen in all kinds of contexts and it can happen when it comes to worship. We can lose sight of the enormous privilege and responsibility that is ours when it comes to being able to meet with Almighty God on the Lord's Day. The danger is that don't take time to pause and reflect and to properly prepare ourselves.
Psalm 15 begins by asking an important question that we all need to consider as we come to worship.
Psalm 14 is concerned with the attitude and actions of the practical atheist - the person who lives as though God does not exist.
But it also answers the question - does God believe in atheists?
Last week in Psalm 12 we found David feeling alone because as he said, 'the godly were no more, the faithful have vanished from among men.' That is a difficult enough situation to be in but in today's Psalm we find that David now feels abandoned not only by faithful men but even by God himself. Can anything be harder than this?
Click to watch This July & August we are following a series of Summer Psalms working through Psalms 12-21.
Psalm 12 is all about the words that we hear from day to day. We know that words carry power but the nature of that power depends on the character of those speaking them. There are true words that build up and encourage but sadly there are also the false words that have the capacity to tear down and destroy.
The question for all of us is whose words are we hearing most clearly?
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Today we briefly return the Psalms. We are looking at Psalm 11. This Psalm reflects a time when life as David has known it is falling apart. All its familiar certainties are collapsing around him and David's faith is severely tested.
Psalm 29 is solely concerned with praising God for his glory and power.
In its original setting its aim was to urge Israel to give glory not to the false Canaanite god Baal but to the LORD whose powerful voice in nature reveals His sovereignty over them.
For us as God’s people today it is a call to give glory to God and to human beings as we recognise His ongoing power and sovereignty over all.
Psalm 27 ends with the call to, “be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”
This is something we must all learn to do since God does not usually respond to prayer according to our timetable which seeks an immediate answer.
Warren Wiersbe has said, “God’s delays are not God’s denials,” and David was learning that important lesson in Psalm 28.
This Psalm is attributed to King David and provides us with an insight into his relationship with His
Heavenly Father in times of trial and also in times of triumph.
The pattern of
all of our lives is that we know the high points and the low points, times of
joy and sorrow as well as of certainty and confusion.
As we study this portion
of God’s word together we can learn from David how to live out our faith in these
different experiences of life.
This morning we are continuing our summer series in the Psalms, as Charlie Hadjiev takes us through Psalm 26.
This morning we are continuing our summer series in the Psalms by looking at Psalm 25.
Written in the form of an acrostic poem, this Psalm of David is, as Dale Ralph Davis says, “A rag-tag plea about deliverance, forgiveness and guidance, with nothing but the dry bones of the Hebrew alphabet to hold the mix together.” But, what does David’s poetic pleas and petitions to God have to do with the chaos of life in the middle of a pandemic in the 21st century?
The Psalm teaches us that, just like David understood, in every circumstance we can trust our deliverer.
During the remainder of July and throughout August we are returning to the Psalms beginning today with Psalm 24.
Most Bible commentators link this Psalm to the occasion of King David bringing the Ark of the Covenant into the city of Jerusalem which is described for us in 2 Samuel 6.
The Dale Ralph Davis says, “the primary purpose of the Psalm is to tell Israel (& us) to be ready for the King and if we are to be ready for the King we must understand what sort of King he is.”
The Psalms are a wonderful collection of songs and poems that help us to worship God exactly
where we are.
Many of these Psalms have gained additional titles over the centuries and this
morning we are going to study Psalm 91 known to the Hebrew people as the “song of
plagues”.
As we are living in this time of great uncertainty we can study this portion of
God’s word together to find His help in our time of trouble.