THE GRATEFUL LIVING (the name of our Praise Group -- as opposed to the Grateful Dead)
BIG IDEA:
WE ARE GLAD AND WE ARE GRATEFUL
BECAUSE HE IS GOD AND HE IS GOOD
INTRODUCTION:
A Psalm for Thanksgiving; How do you spend Thanksgiving?
What type of thankful tone do you bring with you to worship God each Lord’s Day?
What’s the condition of our heart? Is it truly Glad and Grateful?
What’s the expression of our lips?
Do we serve God cheerfully and joyfully or out of a sense of drudgery?
I. (:1-2) WE ARE GLAD -- 3 Ways to Express Our Gladness to the Lord
1. "Shout joyfully to the Lord"
2. "Serve the Lord with gladness"
3. "Come before Him with joyful singing"
II. (:3) BECAUSE HE IS GOD
1. Statement of Fact: "Know that the Lord Himself is God"
2. Confirmed by Creation: "It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves"
no such thing as a "self-made man"
3. Confirmed by Ownership: "We are His people and the sheep of His pasture"
Ownership is a good thing here:
Security in being "His people"
Provision for the needs of the sheep by the Good Shepherd
III. (:4) WE ARE GRATEFUL
1. Expression of Thanksgiving and Praise
"Enter His gates with thanksgiving"
"And His courts with praise"
2. Expression of Thanksgiving and Praise
"Give thanks to Him"
"bless His name"
IV. (:5) BECAUSE HE IS GOOD
1. Statement of Fact: "For the Lord is good".2. Confirmed by His lovingkindness: "His lovingkindness is everlasting"
3. Confirmed by His faithfulness: "And His faithfulness to all generations"
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DEVOTIONAL QUESTIONS:
1) What type of songs does God want you to bring before Him?
2) We are to serve God with joy and with a song in our heart. Is our service to God meaningful when done only out of a sense of obedience apart from being joyful?
3) God calls Himself our shepherd and refers to us as His sheep. Do you live your life with that kind of dependence on God, that a sheep would have for its shepherd? How can you develop a greater dependence on Him?
4) Why would you sing God’s praises and thanksgiving before men and not just before God, to whom the praise is directed?
Download the entire Psalms commentary in pdf format
(including notes on each psalm from other commentators)
from:
http://www.bibleoutlines.com
