Icebreaker Option: What is your favorite worship song currently?
HOPE: How did you experience God in the Psalms this week?
SERMON SUMMARY:
Pastor Justin Kendrick explored Psalm 98, emphasizing the importance of praising God through song as a form of prayer and connection to God. He highlights the power of music to align our hearts with God's and bring us closer to Him. Congregational singing is a way to grow spiritually and build connections within the community of believers. By exploring the tension between God's justice and mercy and how Jesus resolves it, the sermon concludes with an invitation to respond to the gospel message and continue growing in faith.
HEART:
• How has worshiping through song impacted your personal relationship with God?
• Can you recall a time when singing with your church community deeply impacted your spiritual life?
HEAD: Read Psalm 98
• In verses 1-3: What are the reasons given to sing praise to God?
• In verses 4-8: What is the command and what are the different ways praise is expressed?
• In verse 9: What coming event is expressed and what tension does this invite us to wrestle with?
HANDS:
• How have you struggled with the tension between God’s holiness and compassion? In what ways will you live your life this week in light of God’s answer to this tension?
• How can you personally and creatively express praise for the great things God has done?
• What steps can you take to enter more fully into corporate worship?
What Psalm will you commit to pray through this week to train your heart to align with what is true, that the glory of God is the ultimate meaning of all things? Consider the “Psalms of Ascent”, Psalm 120-134. These Psalms were traditionally sung as the Jewish people “went up” to worship in Jerusalem.
HOPE: Prayer
• Ask God to help us see where our hearts are out of alignment with God.
• Pray for a greater desire to worship Him out of love.
• Ask God to help us experience the power of singing together as a community and to deepen our connection with other believers.
GOING DEEPER: Questions to reflect upon and encourage the conversation to go deeper.
In this sermon, we heard about the link between this psalm, Miriam’s song in Exodus 15, Mary’s song in Luke 1 and Revelation 15:3-4. Write or print out these passages.
• Where do you see similar language or ideas expressed in these passages?
• How do you these texts deepen your understanding of God’s deliverance and our response?