Week 13: The Gospel One Psalm at a Time

Welcome to the Gospel One Psalm At a Time, our small group study for the Winter and Spring. Throughout the week prior to your group's meeting, take some time to:

1) Prayerfully read and study the week's Psalms;

2) Watch the short videos that will be posted here on our website - they are also available on PDT's Youtube channel; and

3) Answer the questions in preparation for a conversation in your small group.

It's a simply ryhthm...

First Psalm: Pray - Read - Watch - Answer - Pray.

Second Psalm: Pray - Read - Watch - Answer - Pray.

Third Psalm: Pray - Read - Watch - Answer - Pray.

My prayer this is a great season of spiritual growth for you and our church as we invest in this together!

All for Jesus!

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Psalm 86: No One Like You

1. Where have you been tempted to go in your need if it hasn’t been to run to God? Apart from him, where have you gone to have your problems solved? Your wounds healed? Your burdens lifted? Your desires met? How have those other places left you unfulfilled and ultimately unsatisfied?

2. Why is God utterly unique in comparison to any and every other thing in this universe? How does it make you feel to know that you can run to this unique God in any and every situation?

3. How has your life lacked awe of God? In what ways can being in awe of God make you run to him? Put your hope in him? Surrender your life to his will?

4. Take some time to meditate on the glory of God and ask him to help you long for him. Ask him to give you a desire to unite your heart to him, to put your trust in him, to believe that his will for you is always right, and to trust that he can work in and through you to make you more and more into the image of his Son.

Psalm 90: The Ultimate Contrast

1. Why is it comforting to you to know that God is perfect and the same from everlasting to everlasting? Why is it good news that God never changes? What would it look like for you to live day-by-day trusting that God is always the same and always perfect?

2. How does it make you feel to take a hard look at the fact that your days are limited and short? How does the contrast between God’s eternality and your limitedness strike you? In what ways might it make you want to run toward God knowing that he is I AM what I AM?

3. In what ways do you think you’re currently investing your days well? How are you possibly treating your days poorly or without much thought? Knowing that your days are limited, how might you go about your days with more intentionality starting now? How might you invest your time instead of just spending it?

4. How does thankfulness currently manifest itself in your life? In what ways could you pursue an attitude of thankfulness that you currently aren’t? Even in times of trouble, why is it so important to count your blessings?

Psalm 91: Homeland Security

1. What is your first reaction when you hear that God is your security? How does that make you feel in light of your previous experiences in life? Why might calling God the only “ever-present, always-faithful, unfailing, and never-to-be-defeated security system” feel contradictory to your previous life circumstances? Or, why might labeling God this way bring you overwhelming peace and comfort instead? Why is there no safety like the safety provided to you by the Lord?

2. Because we live in a fallen world, what are the specific dangers that exist and make you question God’s loving security? Take a moment to write a few of those down. Now pause and pray honestly with God—admit that trusting him in the face of those dangers you wrote down is incredibly difficult to do. Now ask him to provide you with the grace to trust him in the midst of those specific dangers.

3. Why can it be a bit jarring to know that God never promises to keep his children from trouble? Why can it also be comforting to know that in his infinite power that God will meet you in the midst of trouble? How does this truth show you the kind of emphasis God places on a relationship with you?

4. Why don’t we have to be afraid of what comes our way? Why is God’s presence in trouble more weighty than keeping us from trouble?