God Commands Joyful Worship

Here is a Spurgeon quote from my sermon on Psalm 100:

“Those who serve God with a sad countenance, because they do what is unpleasant to them, are not serving him at all; they bring the form of homage, but the life is absent. Our God requires no slaves to grace his throne; he is the Lord of the empire of love, and would have his servants dressed in the uniform of joy. The angels of God serve him with songs, not with groans; a murmur or a sigh would be a mutiny in their ranks. That obedience which is not voluntary is disobedience, for the Lord looketh at the heart, and if he seeth that we serve him from force, and not because we love him, he will reject our offering.
Let us show to the people of the world, who think our religion to be slavery, that it is to us a delight and a joy! Let our gladness proclaim that we serve a good Master.”

Psalms Commentaries

Here are a few brief thoughts on Psalms commentaries based on my study this summer:

1. Nothing comes even close to Spurgeon's Treasury of David (this is really "must own" stuff).

2. Kindner's 2 Volume Tyndale Commentary is very good (Volume 1 and Volume 2).

3. Wilcock is weak (which is sad to me because I love all the other Bible Speaks Today commentaries that I've worked with).

4. Both Boice and Lawson have good homiletical Psalms commentaries.

5. The Messiah in the Psalms by Belcher is a good read with lots of helpful Christ-focused applications.

The Best News for the Worst Sinners

I've been helped in confession of sin by Psalm 51. You can listen to my sermon at the Christ Baptist Church website.

Learning to Pray from Psalm 86

I've been helped to pray by Psalm 86. You can listen to my sermon from Sunday at the Christ Baptist website.

Here is a Muller quote from the sermon that challenges me:
“The great fault of the children of God is, they do not continue in prayer; they do not go on praying; they do not persevere. If they desire anything for God’s glory, they should pray until they get it.”

Luther on the Psalms

Martin Luther said, “The Psalter ought to be a dear and beloved book, if only because it promises Christ’s death and resurrection so clearly and so depicts His kingdom and the condition and nature of all Christendom that we may call it a little Bible. Most beautifully and briefly it embraces everything in the entire Bible…Therefore it seems to me that the Holy Spirit wanted to take the trouble of compiling a short Bible…with this purpose in mind: that whoever could not read the whole Bible would here have practically an entire summary of it, comprised in one booklet…The Psalter is the book of all saints, and everyone, whatever his situation may be, finds words in it that fit his situation and apply to his case so exactly that it seems they were put in this way only for his sake.”

Summer Psalms

We've started our Summer Psalms series. Through the summer, we are preaching through various Psalms (about 15). Maybe one day we'll take 4 years and preach through all the Psalms.

This Sunday: Psalm 22

What is your heart set upon?

"...if riches increase, set not your heart on them." -Psalm 62:10

Reading the Psalms Together

On the very first Sunday of Christ Baptist Church, we read Psalm 1 together. Last Sunday, after having read a Psalm per Sunday, we read Psalm 150 together. It was a great experience that I want to commend to you to consider for your church. Here are some of my thoughts:

1. The Psalms are designed by God to cover a wide range of the realities of life. Reading through the Psalms forces the church to think about specific attributes of God, sorrow, death, loneliness, joy, worship, and dozens of other real-life issues.

2. Worship is a response to God's Word. God speaks. We respond. We try to make sure our worship service reflects this pattern. So, before we sing any songs or pray any prayers, we listen to God's Word. We position ourselves under God's authority. What better way to do this than to begin the service by reading a Psalm?

3. Most churches don't read enough Scripture in the public gatherings. We are commanded to devote ourselves to the public reading of Scripture (1 Tim. 4:13). And, even churches that do read some Scripture don't read enough Old Testament.

4. Reading the Psalms out loud together cultivates unity.

5. Reading through a book of the Bible, like the Psalms, is a pattern for consistent, devoted, disciplined faithfulness over a long period of time. Just think, in less than 3 years, your church can read through the longest book in the Bible together if you devote yourself to reading a chapter per week.

6. Psalm 119 was the most fun. Yes, we read the entire Psalm on that Sunday. In fact, we designed the entire service around that Psalm.

More Precious Than Gold

Sam Storms' new book, More Precious than Gold: 50 Daily Meditations on the Psalms, is now available.
Anything by Sam Storms is worth reading, especially when he is meditating on the Word.