Worship (Psalm 66)
SERMON NOTES
Sermon Series: Spiritual Rhythms of the Psalms
Sermon Title: Worship
Sermon Text: Psalm 66
Spiritual Rhythms (or spiritual practices or disciplines) guide us in regular participation in the deepening of our awareness of God and affection for God
WHAT
The psalmist corrects our misunderstanding of WHAT worship is (v1-4)
Worship is a response to who God is and what God has done
WHO
The Psalmist corrects our misunderstanding of WHO we worship, by showing us the OBJECT of our worship (v1-4)
WHY
The Psalmist corrects our misunderstanding of WHY we worship, by showing us the CONTENT of our worship
Who God is (v1-4)
What God has done (v5-12)
We remembered all God has done in and through our church over the past year:
The Way: 14 people began a 3-year journey of spiritual growth and formation this past January and 21 are beginning their journey this January.
Redemption Youth: We brought Pastor Tim on full time this fall as we began Redemption Youth, helping our youth see God’s faithfulness to fulfill His promises to His people in the covenants of the Old Testament this past fall and seeing who Jesus is in the gospel of John this upcoming spring.
The Pantry: Over 100 of us, including our kids, have served at The Pantry so far, meeting the physical needs of those in our community, by handing out over 30,000 diapers, over 600 packs of wipes, and plenty more including strollers, car seats, toys, clothes, and even an Iron Man costume in December for one lucky trick or treater!
Hands & Feet: We contributed over $56,000 to our Hands and Feet fund (which we contribute at least 5% of our giving to each month) with over $12,000 going to support local organizations such as LSSI’s therapeutic foster care program and Journey’s emergency hotel program, over $7,000 in benevolence for our church family, $3,000 in missions and seminary scholarships, and we cleared the lists of 4 teachers this fall.
Helping Churches Thrive: We contributed over $114,000 to our Helping Churches Thrive fund (which we contribute at least 10% of our giving to each month) with $25,000 going to our friends at Formation Church in Salt Lake City, $10,000 to Redemption Church in Belvedere for a down payment on their new home, $10,000 to Converge church plants, $2,000 to a church in Ukraine, $18,000 to our four monthly partners including David Pater in Toulouse, France, and $10,000 to our one-time partners including Tim Beavis with Carey International.
Our Church Home: We continue to make this building our home with the addition of our lobby and co-working space, updates to our kids space including the Rec Room remodel, the Bible timeline in the Bigs/Elementary room, and laying carpet throughout the basement later this month. AND…don’t forget about the incredible story of our parking lot repair!
Our Church Family: We continue to make this a place to belong by focusing on the health of our family, which led to the creation of The Way, gathering for prayer in the lobby every Sunday at 9:30AM, and continuing to make this a safe place for hurting people to heal, encounter Jesus, and join us in faithfully following the way of Jesus together.
HOW
The Psalmist corrects our misunderstanding of HOW we worship, by showing us the POSTURE of our worship
A posture of gratitude (v13-15)
A posture of joy (v1-4)
A posture of openness (v16-20)
YOUR NEXT STEP
Arrive by 9:30AM each Sunday for the remainder of this series to:
Prepare your heart for worship
Pray with us at 9:30AM in the lobby
Meet someone new to you
WORSHIP!
SERMON FOOTNOTES
“Sometimes I consider myself there as a stone before a carver, whereof he is to make a statue; presenting myself thus before GOd, I desire Him to form His perfect image in my soul, and make me entirely like Himself.” Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God (p36)
Each Sunday morning I begin preparing for worship through a time of silence, prayer, and reading a sermon as God word is preached to me. I recently finished reading through Eugene Peterson’s sermons in As Kingfishers Catch Fire. At the start of Advent, myself and a few others from the first group of The Way began reading through a collection of sermons by Fleming Rutledge in her book Means of Grace, which traces the liturgical calendar. This morning I began reading through a collection of Deitrich Bonhoeffer’s sermons in The Collected Sermons of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
