In our last post we began to outline the wonderful ways God illustrates His redemption of sinners in Psalm 107. This is a great psalm, designed to inspire thanks and praise to God “for His lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men” (v. 8, 15, 21, 31). Remember that we stated the purpose and goal of the psalmist like this:

We must thoroughly consider the everlasting lovingkindness of the Lord, and give thanks.

In order to help us do just that, through illustration and instruction, the psalmist gives FIVE REASONS the redeemed must give thanks for God’s lovingkindness.

Last time we saw the first two. In this post we will look at the next three. Hopefully when we’re done our hearts will be filled with thanksgiving, having been reminded by the psalmist of all the wonderful things God has done for us because of His lovingkindness.

Click here to read the entire post.

We are exhorted by the Psalmist to give thanks to God, and that those who are redeemed should be singing a refrain of thanksgiving to God (Psalm 107).

Psalm 107:1-3 - Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary, And gathered from the lands, From the east and from the west, From the north and from the south.

If we are going to be faithful children of God, and live the redeemed life, then we must be characterized by thankfulness and praise to God for what he has done for us by redeeming us from sin and death and hell. It is because of God’s mercy and lovingkindness that our hearts are turned away from self, and toward Him. Psalm 107 reminds us of that fact by painting beautiful word pictures of this so great salvation that is ours, and then encouraging us to give thanks in response.

Read the entire post to see how and why we are encouraged to do so in Psalm 107.

Most honest readers of psalm 137 must admit that there are disturbingly graphic and frightening statements made. Most pointedly, there is a divinely inspired word regarding violent men, committing violent and lethal acts against little children, with an expectation that God will bless them anyway. Wow!

How are we to understand such things?

We studied psalm 137 together some months ago. It is called an imprecatory psalm because of the curse and judgment that is pronounced by the psalmist against others. Because there are many passages of Scripture that include such statements, I thought it might be helpful to review in summary fashion how we understood that psalm. This provides a pattern for understanding similar passages in Scripture.

Click here to read my attempt to understand a difficult passage, or you can click here to listen to the message as I preached it our church.

This is a summary of a sermon I preached recently from Psalm 4, which I titled “How to Sleep in Distress.” Every Christian at some point or other, whether due to their faith, or simply due to the sins of others, has suffered at the hands of distressing and unjust slander and ill-treatment. We even lose sleep over it.

But in psalm 4, King David teaches us that we don’t have to!

While David knew his share of deceptive, worthless and unjust treatment by others, by God’s grace he was able to maintain a proper perspective of the situation. As a result, he could lie down and rest peacefully at night (Psa. 4:8). Psalm 4 explains how he was able to do it.

Read on to find out how you too can sleep deeply during your distress.

A few weeks ago I brought up the idea of dressing appropriately as Christians. I am not talking about modesty or cleanliness though. I am speaking metaphorically. Look at what the Apostle Paul says in Colossians 3:12-14.

Colossians 3:12-14
So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

Today, I would like to offer some help in putting on the garment of kindness. Perhaps you haven’t worn this garment in a while. Perhaps its dusty and hard to even find in your closet. Let me offer some help.

Last week I brought up the idea of dressing appropriately as Christians. I am speaking metaphorically, of course. Look at what the Apostle Paul says in Colossians 3:12-14.

Colossians 3:12-14
So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

Today, I would like to offer some help in putting on the garment of compassion. Perhaps you haven’t worn this garment in a while. Perhaps its dusty and hard to even find in your closet. Let me offer some help.

What does it take to put on the garment of compassion?

The Apostle Paul tells us how to dress appropriately for the Christian life. Take a look…

Colossians 3:12-14
So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

Today, I would like to offer some help in putting on the garment of patience. Perhaps you haven’t warn this garment very much lately and have a hard time fitting into it. Let me offer some help.

What does it take to put on the garment of patience?

I want to share my teaching from 1 John 3:4-10. In this passage John discusses how Christ’s first appearing has implications for the way we Christians are to live. John has spoken much of Christ’s second appearing. In 2:28-3:3, John speaks of Christ’s second appearing, His second coming.
1 John 2:28(28)Now, little children, abide in Him, […]

In 1 John 3:4-10, John has spoken of the necessity of the Christian to characteristically practice righteousness in light of Christ’s purposes in coming to earth and His accomplishments having come to earth.
In his concluding remark of 3:4-10, John says we can identify those that are truly of God by whether or not the person […]