Giving thanks can easily be dull.  We can neglect the components that form and fill the thanksgiving with active and loud engagement.  Thanksgiving can be exciting and emotional if we let it.  

In this psalm, the invitation is to be active and engaged in giving thanks.  Psalm 100 issues six calls and six reasons for how and why thanks can be given to the LORD.

Giving thanks can easily include some amount of self-praise.  Even in the middle of thanksgiving, we can find ourselves boast about what we have obtained or what we hope to accomplish.  Psalms of thanksgiving remind us that God is one who raises or lowers us.

In this psalm, thanksgiving is plucked to see if our act of giving thanks resonates with the truth that God is the One who establishes or cuts off our lives.  Boasting to elevate ourselves when giving thanks can have dire consequences as God can cut us down and display God's ability to judge and work wonders.  Boasting to elevate God when giving thanks can aid others in seeking aid in God who alone is worthy of all praise.  Psalm 50 invites us to declare God's praise forever and sing to the God who can lift us up or bring us down.  

Giving thanks can be hard to do, especially when life is not easy. Even in the most difficult of times we have blessings from God that can lead us to thanksgiving.  Psalms of thanksgiving remind us of what God has done so that we give thanks in every circumstance.

In this psalm, the natural world offers us good reasons for giving thanks even when others are giving thanks for the wrong reasons.  Psalm 50 enables us to examine ourselves and see if our motives for giving thanks come from good reasons or not.

Giving thanks can be hard to do, especially when life is not easy. Even in the most difficult of times we have blessings from God that can lead us to thanksgiving.  Psalms of thanksgiving remind us of what God has done so that we give thanks in every circumstance.

In this psalm, the circumstances of being mis-identified, mis-understood, and mis-judged are still occasions for giving thanks because of what the LORD does in purifying, posturing, and planting us.

Before his death, Jesus cries out a line from a song about being forsaken completely.  Jesus is forced to walk from a garden through trials and beatings to crucifixion, and no one cried with him.  Jesus is shamed and mocked by everyone, and no one cried with him.  Jesus is treated as if he were dead, and no one cried with him.  Feeling completely abandoned, Jesus sings in a loud voice a song about being all alone, without a single lamenter to join him, not even God.  Why? Why would God abandon someone instead of acting to save?  This episode explores what Jesus in Mark 15:24 and the composer of Psalm 22 boldly ask!

Every Monday in Lent join me for 700 Seconds in a Psalm as we prepare for Easter by looking at Psalms that Jesus quotes during the week before his death. Surprisingly, Jesus quotes more than 10 Psalms that week! We won't have time to examine every Psalm, but we will examine 6 Psalms Jesus quotes before and during his time on the cross.

Jesus dies in complete darkness according to Luke 23:44-46.  Without any sign that deliverance was coming, Jesus uses his last few breaths to cry out in trust to God.  Rather than respond to the mockery, slander, or insults, Jesus loudly quotes Psalm 31 before he breathes his last.  In quoting this psalm, Jesus recognizes that his breaths are in God's hands.  Jesus places a valuable deposit, his spirit, into the only secure place.  

Every Monday in Lent join me for 700 Seconds in a Psalm as we prepare for Easter by looking at Psalms that Jesus quotes during the week before his death. Surprisingly, Jesus quotes more than 10 Psalms that week! We won't have time to examine every Psalm, but we will examine 6 Psalms Jesus quotes before and during his time on the cross.

In John 13:18 Jesus quotes Psalm 41. Jesus had just finished washing ALL of the feet of his disciples. Before he celebrates his last Passover meal with them, he tells them that all of them should follow his example...well all but one. Jesus knew that one was at that moment committed to betraying him. To show the pain this was causing him, Jesus quotes the psalm. By quoting Psalm 41, Jesus invites his followers to join him in living the psalm by serving those in need even when in pain.  

Every Monday in Lent join me for 700 Seconds in a Psalm as we prepare for Easter by looking at Psalms that Jesus quotes during the week before his death. Surprisingly, Jesus quotes more than 10 Psalms that week! We won't have time to examine every Psalm, but we will examine 6 Psalms Jesus quotes before and during his time on the cross. 

The words of Jesus can be confusing especially when Jesus is quoting the Old Testament.   Join DJ Freemyer for 700 Seconds in a Psalm as we prepare for Easter together by looking at Psalms that Jesus quotes during holy week.  This series is designed for listeners who want inspiration for preaching or devotions especially during Lent. 

During our times of need, it can be surprising when the people we expect to help harm us instead.  Jesus warns the disciples that the time will come when they will be shown no compassion, but followers of Jesus have a choice in those moments. The followers can choose to respond with hate or like the psalmist does.  When we listen to Psalm 69, we can hear what Jesus embraced throughout his life according John's gospel and even during his death.  

 Let's jump in to the text this week to learn more about why Jesus quoted this Psalm in John 15.  As one of most frequently quoted Psalms in the gospel of John, Psalm 69 sets the tone and structure of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  Clearly, this Psalm is highly significant if Jesus not only quotes it but seeks to live by it.

 
djbiblecoaching.com

Resources for Going Deeper:
"Redeeming Power: Understanding Authority and Abuse in the Church" by Diane Langberg.

Guest Pastors:
Pastor Daniel Walker, Founder of Camino Road

Intro and Outro Music:
Jaybin Beutler

The words of Jesus can be confusing especially when Jesus is quoting the Old Testament.   Join DJ Freemyer for 700 Seconds in a Psalm as we prepare for Easter together by looking at Psalms that Jesus quotes during holy week.  This series is designed for listeners who want inspiration for preaching or devotions especially during Lent. 

Jesus' statement here can feel very confusing in Luke 20.  Wait, what?  Who is saying what to whom?  But when we look at the Psalm, it helps us understand why Jesus was quoting this verse.  Here, Jesus shows that victory comes through submission and boldly challenges the religious leaders to revisit their interpretation of the Psalm.

Let's jump in to the text this week to learn more about why Jesus quoted this Psalm in Luke 20.  As one of most frequently quoted Psalms in the New Testament, it's quoted in Matthew 22, Mark 12, Luke 20, and Acts 2 (by Peter).  But even more, verse 4 of the same Psalm gets a lot of attention in Hebrews 7:11-28. Clearly, this messianic Psalm is highly significant.

 
djbiblecoaching.com

Resources for Going Deeper:
"Authority and Submission" by Watchman Nee.

Guest Pastors:
Pastor Elizabeth Scull, youth pastor at College Wesleyan Church in Marion, IN

Intro and Outro Music:
Jaybin Beutler

The words of Jesus can be confusing especially when Jesus is quoting the Old Testament.   Join DJ Freemyer for 700 Seconds in a Psalm as we prepare for Easter together by looking at Psalms that Jesus quotes during holy week.  This series is designed for listeners who want inspiration for preaching or devotions especially during Lent. 

In this episode, we will look at Psalm 118, which Jesus speaks to the religious leaders in Matthew 21-23.  Here, Jesus mentions a "cornerstone that the builders reject."  This quote of Psalm 118 leads us to consider if we have, like the religious leaders, rejected the cornerstone that God has chosen. 

Psalm 118 gives thanks for victories from God.  God offers a fortress of refuge for the attacked, surrounded, and weak.  We enter the fortress through the gates of righteousness to be safe and secure inside, but entrance involves acceptance of the cornerstone.  Sadly this cornerstone often is rejected along with the refuge God offers.  The religious leaders refused to accept the cornerstone.  What about us?  Are we accepting the cornerstone that God gives?  Are we entering the refuge God has for us? 
djbiblecoaching.com

Resources for Going Deeper:
"The Grumbler's Guide to Giving Thanks" by Dustin Crowe.

Guest Pastors:
Pastor Joel Thomas, youth pastor at College Wesleyan Church in Marion, IN

Intro and Outro Music:
Jaybin Beutler