Week 9: 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 51: What is Sin?

1. The sin in our lives will always produce rebellion, moral impurity, and inability. Why do you think it’s important to dive into the “anatomy” of sin as a believer? As David describes sin in three different ways here at the beginning of Psalm 51, process what he must have been experiencing as he confessed before the Lord. The sins of adultery and murder are specific and “big” sins in our eyes, so why do you think it’s often so difficult for us to come to God and name our specific sins with truthfulness before the Lord as David does? Why is owning our sin and not blame-shifting such an important part of confessing to the Lord?

2. Why is sin always vertical and against the authority and will of God even though others are harmed by our sin? What do you think it means to be born in sin? How does being “born in sin” shape your perspective on humanity? What does it mean about the natural state of your rebellion against God from the very beginning of your life? How does your need to be rescued from the sin you were born in point you to a Rescuer?

3. Why are you your biggest problem and not the world you live in, the people around you, or the circumstances in your life? If everything in your life (including your choices, thoughts, actions, words, etc), is an overflow of your heart and your heart is in rebellion against God, where can you find true and lasting hope? When David came to the conclusion that his biggest problem was himself, where did he find true and lasting hope? Why are we today in a better position to understand God’s grace in comparison to David’s perspective in Old Testament times?

Psalm 53: The Ultimate Pandemic

1. Think honestly about yourself and intentionally write down where foolishness is a part of your daily life—in other words, where are you a practical atheist, living a life of street level God-forgetfulness?

2. How are those specific areas of foolishness (practical atheism) shaping the way you think, talk, act, and believe? How does your foolishness dictate the way you interact with your spouse, kids, friends, roommates, coworkers, extended family members, and neighbors? How does your foolishness dictate the way you talk to yourself and shape your identity? How does it mold your choices, words, and actions?

3. How can you now make a U-Turn on that foolishness and begin to acknowledge God in the way you approach your marriage, your parenting, friendships, work, university studies, money, sexuality, etc.? In other words, how can your relationship with God through Jesus give shape to the areas of your life that were previously dictated by foolishness and lack of acknowledgement of God?

4. Read 2 Corinthians 5:15 and ponder what it might specifically look like to no longer live for yourself (foolishness), but instead live for Jesus because of his love for you. Write those areas down as you think about how you speak to your children, how you react to traffic, how you think about the people in your life who can regularly irritate you, and even how you talk to yourself in the privacy of your own mind and heart. How is the good news of the gospel (Jesus came) something that you want to change you?

Psalm 62: What Are You Waiting For?

1. Why do you think waiting on God can feel so difficult? So purposeless? So frustrating? Do you struggle with the distance between when you pray and when God answers? If so, why do you think that waiting time is so hard for you? Can you remember a time when you waited on God? What was that experience like for you?

2. If waiting on God is not like waiting in a doctor’s office, what makes the two so different? Why is waiting on God not just about what you get at the end of the wait, but about what you become as you wait? How can you intentionally make choices to shift your perspective about waiting on God and allow it to change you?

3. As you process the fact that God is all powerful and simultaneously all loving, how can that change your perspective on waiting for him? Do you truly believe that he can handle anything that’s going on in your heart? If so, pour out your heart to him right now and confess that you struggle with waiting on him and his timing. Admit to him that you’ve felt as if your waiting was purposeless. Now admit that you are in need of him to help you change and become a different person as you wait on his perfect timing.