Preacher: Scott Hollingshead

Big Idea: The church is designed for unity and strengthened by our diversity so we can care for one another mutually. You are…

1. Spirit generated (v.13) (Unity) 

2. Sovereignly arranged (vv.14-20) (Diversity)

vv.14-17

1a. All parts belong.

2a. All parts are necessary.

3a. All parts are valuable.

4a. All parts are varied.

vv. 18-20

3. Specially endowed (vv.21-25) (Mutuality)

vv. 21-24

4. Why? To care for one another (vv.25-27)

Preacher: Rob Maxey

“Therefore encourage one another…” -- 1 Thessalonians 5:11

Matthew 3:16-17 -- "And when Jesus was baptized, immediately He went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on Him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” 

- Be encouraged -- as a Christ follower -- you are a beloved son or daughter -- with whom God is.

1 Thessalonians 4:17-18 -- "Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

1 Thessalonians 5:9-11 -- "For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” 

Hebrews 3:13 -- "But encourage (or exhort) one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today,' so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”

Hebrews 10:24-25 -- "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."

- Encourage one another for the past.

“Therefore encourage one another…” -- 1 Thessalonians 5:11

- Encourage one another for the current

- Encourage one another for the present

1 Thessalonians 5:11 -- "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”

- Encourage one another for the future

Preacher: Scott Hollingshead

- "Teach one another” -- Colossioans 3:16

- Romans 15:14

- "Admonish one another" -- Cololossians 3:16

- "Spur on to love and good deeds" -- Hebrews 10:24

- 1 Peter 4:10

- John 13:14

Preacher: Scott Hollingshead

- 1 John 5:13 says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.”

- In chapter 4, he identifies Christian love as perfect love and recaps and expands on what love proves about your faith, how we ought to love one another, and why we ought to love one another.

Big Idea: Love one another because it…

1. Proves your saved

vv.7-8 -- "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love”

- Transition: John 13:34-35 -- “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” In 1 John, he says it’s really an old commandment but the new part is “as I have loved you.”

2. Proves itself in action

v.9-10 -- "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

- Bring life to people by sacrificially giving of yourself to others.

3. Proves God’s presence

v.12 -- "No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us."

Preacher: Scott Hollingshead

Big Idea: Resolve to crush pride by resting in dependence on God.

1. Crush pride

On 3 levels:

1a. Your heart— O LORD, my heart is not lifted up— Root it out

1b. Your eyes— my eyes are not raised too high— Shut it out

1c. Your walk— I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me— Cut it out.

1b. I don’t have to accomplish it all

2b. I don’t have to make myself the center of it all

3b. I don’t have to understand it all

2. Rest in dependence on God

vv.2-3 — But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forever more.

Conclusion: Galatians 3:24-26 -- “So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are not longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”

Preacher: Scott Hollingshead

“If you find yourself with a desire that no experience in this world can satisfy, then the most probably explanation is that you were made for another world.” — C.S. Lewis 

Big Idea: Unparalleled satisfaction is found in all that God is for you in Jesus.

1. The satisfying shepherd (vv.1-4)

1a. In relationship 

- (v.1) -- "1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want."

2a. In provision 

1b. Rest 

- (v.2a) -- "He makes me lie down in green pastures."

2b. Renewal

- (v.3a) -- "He restores my soul"

3a. In guidance

1b. As leader 

- (v.2b) -- "He leads me beside still waters.”

- (v.3b) -- "He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake

“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” — John Piper

2b. As protector

- (v.4) -- "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me."

2. The satisfying host (vv.5-6)

1a. In abundance

- (v.5) -- "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup overflows."

2a. In pursuit

- (v.6) -- "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

Big Idea: Unparalleled satisfaction is found in all that God is for you in Jesus.

Conclusion:

John 10:11 -- “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

John 10:3-4 -- “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” 

- Do you know His voice? Do you follow Jesus? You will never be satisfied until you find satisfaction in Jesus.

Preacher: Jim Doyle

"Fret not yourself because of evildoers;
be not envious of wrongdoers!
For they will soon fade like the grass
and wither like the green herb.
Trust in the Lord, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
over the man who carries out evil devices!
Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
For the evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.
In just a little while, the wicked will be no more;
though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.
But the meek shall inherit the land
and delight themselves in abundant peace.” — Psalm 37

Introduction: The Psalmist as Sage

1. Avoid The Slippery Slope of Despondency

(v.1a) -- "Fret not yourself because of evildoers;"

- A sinful desire

(v.1b) -- "be not envious of wrongdoers!"

- A fading future

(v.2) -- "For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb."

2. Pursue the Devine Defense for Tranquility

3. Trust in The Lord

(v.3) -- "Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness."

4. Delight Yourself in the Lord

(v.4) -- "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart."

5. Commit Your Way to the Lord

(vv.5-6) -- "Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday."

6. Rest in (be still before) The Lord

(v.7) -- "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him;”

7. Perceive The Promise of Devine Retribution

- They have no future (v.9) 

- They have no legacy (v.10)

Implications – Take Aways:

a. the temptation of despondency is a temptation to unbelief

b. the temptation of despondency must be met with faith — example of Christ in the Garden (Matthew 26:36-39)

c. be prepared for battle — Ephesians 6:1-10

d. pursue trusted relationships

e. cultivate transparent fellowship

f. enlist their help

g. roll it over to God

h. rest in the sovereign will of God

Preacher: Scott Hollingshead

Big Idea: Spiritual depression…its cause and its cure

1. The Cause

1a. Internally

(vv.1-2) -- "As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night."

1b. Externally

(v.3b) -- "while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?”

(v.10) -- "As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, 'Where is your God?’”.

(v.7) -- "Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me."

2. The Cure

2a. Prioritize corporate worship

(v.4) -- "These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival.”

2b. Pour out your soul in prayer

(vv.8-9) -- "and at night His song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God, my rock: “why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

2c. Ponder past grace

(v.6) -- "My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.”

(v.8a) -- "By day the Lord commands His steadfast love,”

2d. Preach to yourself

(v.5) -- "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”

(v.11) -- "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God."

Preacher: Scott Hollingshead

4 marks of repentance:

1. Prayerful plea for mercy (vv.1-2)

2. Biblical confession of sin

- What is Biblical confession of sin?

1a. I’m fully responsible (v.3)

1b. 4 ways we fake it:

1c. Worldly sorrow

2c. Deflecting

3c. Blameshifting

4c. Minimizing

2a. Sin is fully vertical (v.4)

3a. Sin is fully pervasive (v.5)

4a. Only You can heal my heart (v.6)

3. Radical redirection towards joy in God

- “Sin is what you do when your heart is not satisfied with God. No on sins out of duty. We sin because it hold out some promise of happiness.” -- John Piper

4. Purposeful pursuit of new life

1a. A changed relationship with unbelievers (v.13)

2a. A changed relationship with God

1b. Praise (vv.14-15)

2b. Humility (vv.16-17)

3a. A changed relationship with believers (vv.18-19)

Preacher: Chris Ritter

Big Idea: God’s name is majestic in all the earth

4 Ways that majesty is revealed:

1. The Majesty of God in creation

- v.1 and v.3

- LORD = YHWH, or Yahweh, the personal name of God. “I am who I am”

- Lord = Adonai - King, Master, Almighty Ruler

2. The Majesty of God in human weakness

- v. 2

- David gives us a theology of God’s humble means… He uses what is weak in the world for His glory.

3. The Majesty of God in the paradox of mankind

4 things from Psalm 8 you need to know about yourself:

a. You’re a nobody (v.4)

b. God is mindful of you and cares about you (v.4)

c. You have been crowned with glory and honor (v.5)

d. You have dominion over creation (v.6)

- Psalm 8 being true is what makes the reality of sin so devastating

- We are a mix of lowly and glorious, glorious and twisted

- Don’t think less of sin because of this great Psalm!

- It begs the question: What can be done to restore us to this position?

4. The Majesty of God in Jesus Christ

“Psalm 8 means God defeats his foes with the weakness of children, and he rules his world with the weakness of men. Only now God has a face and a name: Jesus, the God-man defeats his foes with the weakness of children, and he will save the world and rule the world on the path of weakness.” — John Piper

2 Important things for us to see:

a. All who are redeemed will rule the world to come

b. Jesus fulfills Psalm 8:4-6

Hebrews 2:5-9 draws out 2 paradoxes:

a. Mankind is nothing yet for all who are redeemed, we will have everything

b. Jesus is everything, yet became as nothing for our sakes, to reconcile us back to God