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Sep 24, 2017

We must be shown something bigger...

We must be shown something bigger...

Passage: Psalms 19:1-14

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: Psalms

Our series is premised on the idea that we live within a Story. The Psalms are prayers of people either rejoicing in or wrestling with what it means to be part of God’s story. But there is no Story apart from God’s revealing Himself and His intentions. And what He reveals--in the heavens “above” us, the Law “before” us, and the heart “within” us--is meant to show us something bigger than whatever else we might be moved or shaped by. We’ll take note of what the Psalmist finds when he considers what each of those domains reveal, and ask what implications follow from his discoveries.

Worship Order

Call To Worship: Hebrews 19:19-24 ESV
Prayer: Truth In Jesus (adapted from The Valley of Vision)
Sermon Title: We must be shown something bigger...
Central Text: Psalm 19
Response: Romans 7:21-25 ESV
Benediction: 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 ESV

Song Lyrics 

Sermon Slides 

 Illustration: The Horrors

 

Special Resource: Psalms Bookmark

*With this week's passage, we are encouraging a renewed plan of reading (and more), beginning with the Psalms. To guide you in reading through the Psalms, we've created a bookmark with a 30-day reading plan. Feel free to download, print, and share.

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Scriptures & Readings

Call To Worship: Hebrews 19:19-24 ESV
LEADER: 19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

ALL: 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

LEADER: 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

ALL: 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,


Prayer: Truth In Jesus (adapted from The Valley of Vision)
ALL: Life-Giving God, we approach You as Father and friend. Our exceeding joy, strength of heart, and portion forever.

LEADER: You are the Sustainer of Life. Ordainer of providence. And sender of Christ.

ALL: May thy Word illuminate in us all that is dark, comfort us in all that is wretched, accomplish in us all that is good and glorify in us the finished work of Your Son.

LEADER: Teach us that Jesus cannot be the way if I am the end. That there cannot be a redeemer if I am my own savior.

ALL: Holy Spirit, work in us the beauty and truths of Christ.

Central Text: Psalm 19
Psalm 19:0 TO THE CHOIRMASTER. A PSALM OF DAVID.

Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
4 Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them,
and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

Psa. 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is sure,
making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the LORD is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the LORD are true,
and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.

Psa. 19:12 Who can discern his errors?
Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.

Psa. 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

Response: Romans 7:21-25 ESV
LEADER: 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

ALL: 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Benediction: 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 ESV
LEADER: 23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

ALL: 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

Post-Service Text: Psalm 19:14 ESV
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

Related Scriptures:

Psalm 119:161-168 ESV
161 Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of your words. 162 I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil. 163 I hate and abhor falsehood, but I love your law.
164 Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous rules. 165 Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble. 166 I hope for your salvation, O Lord, and I do your commandments. 167 My soul keeps your testimonies; I love them exceedingly. 168 I keep your precepts and testimonies, for all my ways are before you.

Joshua 1:6-9 ESV
6 Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Romans 7:7-24 ESV
7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. 13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

Discussion Questions & Applications:

  1. What would you say are the moments that have most shaped you--whether they be terrors or triumphs...or only more subtle habits? Why and how have they shaped you?
  2. Why do you think some people review the celestial bodies and conclude all is of a random origin, while others infer something transcendent?
  3. How can the Psalmist consider all the commandments of God with the appreciation he does? How does that fit with Paul’s dread of the way the Law convicts us of our deepest darkness?
  4. What does the Psalmist discern when he considers the character of his heart within? What does he determine he’s in need of in light of the grandeur of both the creation and the Law?
  5. What’s it like for you when you read the bible? What keeps you reading--or keeps you from reading?
  6. What’s it like for you when you turn to prayer? Does what you’ve read provide any inspiration or guidance for your prayer? Should it--why or why not?

Quotes:

  • Our life is a faint tracing on the surface of mystery, like the idle curved tunnels of leaf miners on the face of a leaf. We must somehow take a wider view, look at the whole landscape, really see it, and describe what's going on here. Then we can at least wail the right question into the swaddling band of darkness, or, if it comes to that, choir the proper praise. - Annie Dillard
  • God gives us the gold, but he gives it to us in a mine that we might dig for it. - Jonathan Edwards
  • A Christian without meditation is like a soldier without arms, or a workman without tools. Without meditation the truths of God will not stay with us; the heart is hard, and the memory is slippery, and without meditation all is lost. - Thomas Watson
  • Pray, even if you feel nothing, see nothing. For when you are dry, empty, sick or weak, at such a time is your prayer most pleasing to God, even though you may find little joy in it. This is true of all believing prayer. - Julian of Norwich
  • If we strive to be happy by filling the silence of life with sound, productive by turning all life’s leisure into work, and real by turning all our being into doing, we will only succeed in producing a hell on earth. If we have no silence, God is not heard in our music. If we have no rest, God does not bless our work. If we twist our lives out of shape in order to fill every corner of them with action and experience, God will seem silently to withdraw from our hearts and leave us empty. - Thomas Merton

Books:

Reflections on the Psalms by C.S. Lewis
Answering God: The Psalms As Tools For Prayer by Eugene Peterson

Sermons:

The Doctrine of the Word by Timothy J. Keller; Psalm 19:1-14

Sweeter Than Honey, Better Than Gold by John Piper; Psalm 19:7-11

Meditation--what is it? by Tim Keller

Related Media:

9.24.17 Album