Introduction

Welcome! As we get started today I’d like you to consider for a moment how significantly the Bible has impacted all of our lives. For starters, it offers incredible promises for those who read it and live it out. A longer life, greater intelligence, prosperity, happiness, success, peace, wisdom, hope, encouragement, guidance, equipping for life, and transformation.

The Bible claims reading it and living it out brings more blessings and increases happiness. There are many people who read the Bible every day...And still there are many people who don't, in spite of its numerous benefits.

One reason some people don’t read the Bible is because they don’t understand it. They don’t understand what it’s all about. They don’t understand its composition. They don’t understand where it came from and how it all fits together.

In light of that, as we begin a brand new series on the largest book found in the Bible, I want to help bring a little more understanding to how the Bible is constructed. For those who don’t already know, the Bible has two major sections, the Old and New Testaments and these larger sections are broken up into smaller sections of scripture.

The first section of the Old Testament is the historic section. There are 17 books in the historic section: Genesis through Esther. The second section of the Old Testament is the poetic section. There are 5 books in the poetic section: Job through Song of Songs. The third section of the Old Testament is the prophetic section and there are 17 books in this section as well: Isaiah through Malachi.

The New Testament also has three types of literature. But we’re not going to be studying the New Testament during this series, so I’ll leave those details for another time. For now, I want you to know that of the 39 books in the Old Testament, the first 17 are stories – or history. The next 5 are poetry. And the final 17 are prophecy. Often, when people get stuck, it’s in the prophetic section, because the prophets used lots of references to contemporary events and locations in their day. When you read those books, it's important to always have a good commentary on hand to explain the background information.

Fortunately, for the next 6 weeks, we won’t be reading the prophets, because we’re going to be reading the poets. Specifically, the song-writers of Israel. We’re going to be reading the lyrics of ancient believers who poured their hearts out to God in the form of poetry and song.

That’s the book of Psalms.

Psalms is a book for all seasons, because it speaks to every area and every season of our lives. It’s a collection of praise and anguish, joy and sadness, triumph and defeat written by many different authors in many different situations and seasons. It is truly a unique book.

Psalms is a book for all seasons, because it speaks to every area and every season of our lives.

Main Teaching

To begin our series we’re going to start at the very beginning, in Psalm 1, where a foundation is laid out for righteous living and having a consistent and blessed life that includes the daily reading of scripture.

Turn in your Bible to Psalm 1, which opens this way:

1 How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! 2 Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. 4 The wicked are not like this; instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand up in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.

This opening Psalms’ promise is, “If you want to be happier, read this book. If you want to be a person who bears fruit in season, read this book.” The Bible is a book for all seasons. Because if you read it regularly, you will be like a tree beside divinely flowing streams. You’ll never lack the life-giving water that enables you to flourish and bear fruit.

Based upon this truth, maybe we could develop a formula: More Bible, less binge-watching. Or, More scripture, less screens.

Have you noticed you often leave church happier and more settled than when you came? What’s happening here? What makes the church environment such a unique one?

Here are a few thoughts to consider: In church, you spend time in worship ... View this full sermon with PRO Premium

Happy is the person who does this. And whatever he or she does, prospers.

Imagine if every person in our city read the Bible on a regular basis. We’d be a happier city, wouldn’t we? We’d be a city planted by streams of water – a city for all seasons.