Nowata Methodists Podcast

“But we ask of you, brothers, that you know those who labor among you, and lead you in the Lord and admonish you, and that you regard them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people. Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; - 1st Thessalonians 5:12-17

This week we make our way through most of the final chapter of 1st Thessalonians.

"For God did not call us to impurity, but [g]in sanctification. Consequently, he who sets this aside is not setting aside man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you." - 1st Thessalonians 4:7-8

This week we are in Chapter 4 of 1st Thessalonians.

This is the last day. Let’s meditate on the nature of God’s Word together.

Psalm 119

Blessed are those whose way is blameless,

who walk in the Law of the LORD.

Blessed are those who keep His testimonies

and seek Him with all their heart.

They do no iniquity;

they walk in His ways.

You have ordained Your precepts,

that we should keep them diligently.

Oh, that my ways were committed

to keeping Your statutes!

Then I would not be ashamed

when I consider all Your commandments.

I will praise You with an upright heart

when I learn Your righteous judgments.

I will keep Your statutes;

do not utterly forsake me.

How can a young man keep his way pure?

By guarding it according to Your word.

With all my heart I have sought You;

do not let me stray from Your commandments.

I have hidden Your word in my heart

that I might not sin against You.

Blessed are You, O LORD;

teach me Your statutes.

With my lips I proclaim

all the judgments of Your mouth.

I rejoice in the way of Your testimonies

as much as in all riches.

I will meditate on Your precepts

and regard Your ways.

I will delight in Your statutes;

I will not forget Your word.

Deal bountifully with Your servant,

that I may live and keep Your word.

Open my eyes that I may see

wondrous things from Your law.

I am a stranger on the earth;

do not hide Your commandments from me.

My soul is consumed with longing

for Your judgments at all times.

You rebuke the arrogant—

the cursed who stray from Your commandments.

Remove my scorn and contempt,

for I have kept Your testimonies.

Though rulers sit and slander me,

Your servant meditates on Your statutes.

Your testimonies are indeed my delight;

they are my counselors.

My soul cleaves to the dust;

revive me according to Your word.

I recounted my ways, and You answered me;

teach me Your statutes.

Make clear to me the way of Your precepts;

then I will meditate on Your wonders.

My soul melts with sorrow;

strengthen me according to Your word.

Remove me from the path of deceit

and graciously grant me Your law.

I have chosen the way of truth;

I have set Your ordinances before me.

I cling to Your testimonies, O LORD;

let me not be put to shame.

I run in the path of Your commandments,

for You will enlarge my heart.

Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes,

and I will keep them to the end.

Give me understanding that I may obey Your law,

and follow it with all my heart.

Direct me in the path of Your commandments,

for there I find delight.

Turn my heart to Your testimonies

and not to covetous gain.

Turn my eyes away from worthless things;

revive me with Your word.

Establish Your word to Your servant,

to produce reverence for You.

Turn away the disgrace I dread,

for Your judgments are good.

How I long for Your precepts!

Revive me in Your righteousness.

May Your loving devotion come to me, O LORD,

Your salvation, according to Your promise.

Then I can answer him who taunts,

for I trust in Your word.

Never take Your word of truth from my mouth,

for I hope in Your judgments.

I will always obey Your law,

forever and ever.

And I will walk in freedom,

for I have sought Your precepts.

I will speak of Your testimonies before kings,

and I will not be ashamed.

I delight in Your commandments

because I love them.

I lift up my hands to Your commandments, which I love,

and I meditate on Your statutes.

Remember Your word to Your servant,

upon which You have given me hope.

This is my comfort in affliction,

that Your promise has given me life.

The arrogant utterly deride me,

but I do not turn from Your law.

I remember Your judgments of old, O LORD,

and in them I find comfort.

Rage has taken hold of me

because of the wicked who reject Your law.

Your statutes are songs to me

in the house of my pilgrimage.

In the night, O LORD, I remember Your name,

that I may keep Your law.

This is my practice,

for I obey Your precepts.

The LORD is my portion;

I have promised to keep Your words.

I have sought Your face with all my heart;

be gracious to me according to Your promise.

I considered my ways

and turned my steps to Your testimonies.

I hurried without hesitating

to keep Your commandments.

Though the ropes of the wicked bind me,

I do not forget Your law.

At midnight I rise to give You thanks

for Your righteous judgments.

I am a friend to all who fear You,

and to those who keep Your precepts.

The earth is filled with Your loving devotion, O LORD;

teach me Your statutes.

You are good to Your servant, O LORD,

according to Your word.

Teach me good judgment and knowledge,

for I believe in Your commandments.

Before I was afflicted, I went astray;

but now I keep Your word.

You are good, and You do what is good;

teach me Your statutes.

Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies,

I keep Your precepts with all my heart.

Their hearts are hard and callous,

but I delight in Your law.

It was good for me to be afflicted,

that I might learn Your statutes.

The law from Your mouth is more precious to me

than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.

Your hands have made me and fashioned me;

give me understanding to learn Your commandments.

May those who fear You see me and rejoice,

for I have hoped in Your word.

I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous,

and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.

May Your loving devotion comfort me, I pray,

according to Your promise to Your servant.

May Your compassion come to me, that I may live,

for Your law is my delight.

May the arrogant be put to shame for subverting me with a lie;

I will meditate on Your precepts.

May those who fear You turn to me,

those who know Your testimonies.

May my heart be blameless in Your statutes,

that I may not be put to shame.

My soul faints for Your salvation;

I wait for Your word.

My eyes fail, looking for Your promise;

I ask, “When will You comfort me?”

Though I am like a wineskin dried up by smoke,

I do not forget Your statutes.

How many days must Your servant wait?

When will You execute judgment on my persecutors?

The arrogant have dug pits for me

in violation of Your law.

All Your commandments are faithful;

I am persecuted without cause—help me!

They almost wiped me from the earth,

but I have not forsaken Your precepts.

Revive me according to Your loving devotion,

that I may obey the testimony of Your mouth.

Your word, O LORD, is everlasting;

it is firmly fixed in the heavens.

Your faithfulness continues through all generations;

You established the earth, and it endures.

Your ordinances stand to this day,

for all things are servants to You.

If Your law had not been my delight,

then I would have perished in my affliction.

I will never forget Your precepts,

for by them You have revived me.

I am Yours; save me,

for I have sought Your precepts.

The wicked wait to destroy me,

but I will ponder Your testimonies.

I have seen a limit to all perfection,

but Your commandment is without limit.

Oh, how I love Your law!

All day long it is my meditation.

Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies,

for they are always with me.

I have more insight than all my teachers,

for Your testimonies are my meditation.

I discern more than the elders,

for I obey Your precepts.

Today's readings conclude our time together with select chapters from Romans and from Isaiah. They hopefully help summarize the basic theological themes that we find as we go through the Bible. We have already been through this material before. These are great anchor chapters to inform how we read the rest of the Bible. May this be a blessing to you!

Romans 5

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.

For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.

But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him!

For if, when we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!

Not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned.

For sin was in the world before the law was given; but sin is not taken into account when there is no law.

Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who did not sin in the way that Adam transgressed. He is a pattern of the One to come.

But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many!

Again, the gift is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment that followed one sin brought condemnation, but the gift that followed many trespasses brought justification.

For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive an abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

So then, just as one trespass brought condemnation for all men, so also one act of righteousness brought justification and life for all men.

For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

The law came in so that the trespass would increase; but where sin increased, grace increased all the more,

so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6

What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase? Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer?

Or aren’t you aware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection.

We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.

For anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.

For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has dominion over Him.

The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. So you too must count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires.

Do not present the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and present the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness.

For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? Certainly not!

Do you not know that when you offer yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves to the one you obey, whether you are slaves to sin leading to death, or to obedience leading to righteousness?

But thanks be to God that, though you once were slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed.

You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to escalating wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.

For when you were slaves to sin, you were free of obligation to righteousness.

What fruit did you reap at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The outcome of those things is death.

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the fruit you reap leads to holiness, and the outcome is eternal life.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 7

Do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives?

For instance, a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.

So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law and is not an adulteress, even if she marries another man.

Therefore, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.

For when we lived according to the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, bearing fruit for death.

But now, having died to what bound us, we have been released from the law, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have been mindful of sin if not for the law. For I would not have been aware of coveting if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”

But sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead.

Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.

So I discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death.

For sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through the commandment put me to death.

So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.

Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Certainly not! But in order that sin might be exposed as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do.

And if I do what I do not want to do, I admit that the law is good. In that case, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do. And if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law.

But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me.

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Romans 8

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set you free from the law of sin and death.

For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh,

so that the righteous standard of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh; but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

The mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.

Those controlled by the flesh cannot please God.

You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.

But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.

And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.

Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation, but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.

For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

And if we are children, then we are heirs: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him.

I consider that our present sufferings are not comparable to the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the revelation of the sons of God.

For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope

that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time.

Not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

For in this hope we were saved; but hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he can already see? But if we hope for what we do not yet see, we wait for it patiently.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words.

And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.

For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.

And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.

What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?

Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.

Who is there to condemn us? For Christ Jesus, who died, and more than that was raised to life, is at the right hand of God—and He is interceding for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

“For Your sake we face death all day long;

we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,

neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Isaiah 55

“Come, all you who are thirsty,

come to the waters;

and you without money,

come, buy, and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

without money and without cost!

Why spend money on that which is not bread,

and your labor on that which does not satisfy?

Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,

and your soul will delight in the richest of foods.

Incline your ear and come to Me;

listen, so that your soul may live.

I will make with you an everlasting covenant—

My loving devotion promised to David.

Behold, I have made him a witness to the nations,

a leader and commander of the peoples.

Surely you will summon a nation you do not know,

and nations who do not know you will run to you.

For the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel,

has bestowed glory on you.”

Seek the LORD while He may be found;

call on Him while He is near.

Let the wicked man forsake his own way

and the unrighteous man his own thoughts;

let him return to the LORD,

that He may have compassion,

and to our God,

for He will freely pardon.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways My ways,”

declares the LORD.

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so My ways are higher than your ways

and My thoughts than your thoughts.

For just as rain and snow fall from heaven

and do not return without watering the earth,

making it bud and sprout,

and providing seed to sow and food to eat,

so My word that proceeds from My mouth

will not return to Me empty,

but it will accomplish what I please,

and it will prosper where I send it.

You will indeed go out with joy

and be led forth in peace;

the mountains and hills will burst into song before you,

and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

Instead of the thornbush, a cypress will grow,

and instead of the brier, a myrtle will spring up;

they will make a name for the LORD,

an everlasting sign, never to be destroyed.”

Isaiah 61

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me,

because the LORD has anointed Me

to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives

and freedom to the prisoners,

to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor

and the day of our God’s vengeance,

to comfort all who mourn,

to console the mourners in Zion—

to give them a crown of beauty for ashes,

the oil of joy for mourning,

and a garment of praise for a spirit of despair.

So they will be called oaks of righteousness,

the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.

They will rebuild the ancient ruins;

they will restore the places long devastated;

they will renew the ruined cities,

the desolations of many generations.

Strangers will stand and feed your flocks,

and foreigners will be your plowmen and vinedressers.

But you will be called the priests of the LORD;

they will speak of you as ministers of our God;

you will feed on the wealth of nations,

and you will boast in their riches.

Instead of shame, My people will have a double portion,

and instead of humiliation, they will rejoice in their share;

and so they will inherit a double portion in their land,

and everlasting joy will be theirs.

For I, the LORD, love justice;

I hate robbery and iniquity;

in My faithfulness I will give them their recompense

and make an everlasting covenant with them.

Their descendants will be known among the nations,

and their offspring among the peoples.

All who see them will acknowledge

that they are a people the LORD has blessed.

I will rejoice greatly in the LORD,

my soul will exult in my God;

for He has clothed me with garments of salvation

and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness,

as a bridegroom wears a priestly headdress,

as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

For as the earth brings forth its growth,

and as a garden enables seed to spring up,

so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise

to spring up before all the nations.

God’s loving devotion endures forever!

Psalm 135

Hallelujah!

Praise the name of the LORD.

Give praise, O servants of the LORD,

who stand in the house of the LORD,

in the courts of the house of our God.

Hallelujah, for the LORD is good;

sing praises to His name, for it is lovely.

For the LORD has chosen Jacob as His own,

Israel as His treasured possession.

For I know that the LORD is great;

our Lord is above all gods.

The LORD does all that pleases Him

in the heavens and on the earth,

in the seas and in all their depths.

He causes the clouds to rise

from the ends of the earth.

He generates the lightning with the rain

and brings forth the wind from His storehouses.

He struck down the firstborn of Egypt,

of both man and beast.

He sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt,

against Pharaoh and all his servants.

He struck down many nations

and slaughtered mighty kings:

Sihon king of the Amorites,

Og king of Bashan,

and all the kings of Canaan.

He gave their land as an inheritance,

as a heritage to His people Israel.

Your name, O LORD, endures forever,

Your renown, O LORD, through all generations.

For the LORD will vindicate His people

and will have compassion on His servants.

The idols of the nations are silver and gold,

made by the hands of men.

They have mouths, but cannot speak;

they have eyes, but cannot see;

they have ears, but cannot hear;

nor is there breath in their mouths.

Those who make them become like them,

as do all who trust in them.

O house of Israel, bless the LORD;

O house of Aaron, bless the LORD;

O house of Levi, bless the LORD;

you who fear the LORD, bless the LORD!

Blessed be the LORD from Zion—

He who dwells in Jerusalem.

Hallelujah!

Psalm 136

Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good.

His loving devotion endures forever.

Give thanks to the God of gods.

His loving devotion endures forever.

Give thanks to the Lord of lords.

His loving devotion endures forever.

He alone does great wonders.

His loving devotion endures forever.

By His insight He made the heavens.

His loving devotion endures forever.

He spread out the earth upon the waters.

His loving devotion endures forever.

He made the great lights—

His loving devotion endures forever.

the sun to rule the day,

His loving devotion endures forever.

the moon and stars to govern the night.

His loving devotion endures forever.

He struck down the firstborn of Egypt

His loving devotion endures forever.

and brought Israel out from among them

His loving devotion endures forever.

with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.

His loving devotion endures forever.

He divided the Red Sea in two

His loving devotion endures forever.

and led Israel through the midst,

His loving devotion endures forever.

but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea.

His loving devotion endures forever.

He led His people through the wilderness.

His loving devotion endures forever.

He struck down great kings

His loving devotion endures forever.

and slaughtered mighty kings—

His loving devotion endures forever.

Sihon king of the Amorites

His loving devotion endures forever.

and Og king of Bashan—

His loving devotion endures forever.

and He gave their land as an inheritance,

His loving devotion endures forever.

a heritage to His servant Israel.

His loving devotion endures forever.

He remembered us in our low estate

His loving devotion endures forever.

and freed us from our enemies.

His loving devotion endures forever.

He gives food to every creature.

His loving devotion endures forever.

Give thanks to the God of heaven!

His loving devotion endures forever.

Psalm 137

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept

when we remembered Zion.

There on the willows

we hung our harps,

for there our captors requested a song;

our tormentors demanded songs of joy:

“Sing us a song of Zion.”

How can we sing a song of the LORD

in a foreign land?

If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

may my right hand cease to function.

May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth

if I do not remember you,

if I do not exalt Jerusalem

as my greatest joy!

Remember, O LORD,

the sons of Edom on the day Jerusalem fell:

“Destroy it,” they said,

“tear it down to its foundations!”

O Daughter of Babylon,

doomed to destruction,

blessed is he who repays you

as you have done to us.

Blessed is he who seizes your infants

and dashes them against the rocks.

Lots of family imagery today. Blessings on one’s wife and children. Humility like a ‘weaned child.’ Great reflections on a serene family life. For those of us who are blessed to have healthy domestic lives, it is easy to give thanks to the Lord of peace. We sow a lot of work into our families, and by God’s grace, there is much joy to be reaped!

Psalm 128

Blessed are all who fear the LORD,

who walk in His ways!

For when you eat the fruit of your labor,

blessings and prosperity will be yours.

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine

flourishing within your house,

your sons like olive shoots

sitting around your table.

In this way indeed shall blessing come

to the man who fears the LORD.

May the LORD bless you from Zion,

that you may see the prosperity of Jerusalem

all the days of your life,

that you may see

your children’s children.

Peace be upon Israel!

Psalm 129

Many a time they have persecuted me from my youth—

let Israel now declare—

many a time they have persecuted me from my youth,

but they have not prevailed against me.

The plowmen plowed over my back;

they made their furrows long.

The LORD is righteous;

He has cut me from the cords of the wicked.

May all who hate Zion

be turned back in shame.

May they be like grass on the rooftops,

which withers before it can grow,

unable to fill the hands of the reaper,

or the arms of the binder of sheaves.

May none who pass by say to them,

“The blessing of the LORD be on you;

we bless you in the name of the LORD.”

Psalm 131

My heart is not proud, O LORD,

my eyes are not haughty.

I do not aspire to great things

or matters too lofty for me.

Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul;

like a weaned child with his mother,

like a weaned child is my soul within me.

O Israel, put your hope in the LORD,

both now and forevermore.

Psalm 132

O LORD, remember on behalf of David

all the hardships he endured,

how he swore an oath to the LORD,

and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:

“I will not enter my house

or get into my bed,

I will not give sleep to my eyes

or slumber to my eyelids,

until I find a place for the LORD,

a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

We heard that the ark was in Ephrathah;

we found it in the fields of Jaar.

Let us go to His dwelling place;

let us worship at His footstool.

Arise, O LORD, to Your resting place,

You and the ark of Your strength.

May Your priests be clothed with righteousness,

and Your saints shout for joy.

For the sake of Your servant David,

do not reject Your anointed one.

The LORD swore an oath to David,

a promise He will not revoke:

“One of your descendants

I will place on your throne.

If your sons keep My covenant

and the testimony I will teach them,

then their sons will also sit on your throne

forever and ever.”

For the LORD has chosen Zion;

He has desired it for His home:

“This is My resting place forever and ever;

here I will dwell, for I have desired this home.

I will bless her with abundant provisions;

I will satisfy her poor with bread.

I will clothe her priests with salvation,

and her saints will sing out in joy.

There I will make a horn grow for David;

I have prepared a lamp for My anointed one.

I will clothe his enemies with shame,

but the crown upon him will gleam.”

Psalm 133

Behold, how good and pleasant it is

when brothers live together in harmony!

It is like fine oil on the head,

running down on the beard,

running down Aaron’s beard

over the collar of his robes.

It is like the dew of Hermon

falling on the mountains of Zion.

For there the LORD has bestowed the blessing

of life forevermore.

Psalm 134

Come, bless the LORD,

all you servants of the LORD

who serve by night

in the house of the LORD!

Lift up your hands to the sanctuary

and bless the LORD!

May the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth,

bless you from Zion.

“Now may our God and Father Himself and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you, and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you, so that He may strengthen your hearts blameless in holiness, before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.” - 1st Thessalonians 3:11-13

This week we continue our way through 1st Thessalonians with chapter 3.

Nothing but joyful psalms today. It is a blessed thing to rejoice in the simple pleasure of walking with the Lord. He is faithful and good in all his ways!

Psalm 124

If the LORD had not been on our side—

let Israel now declare—

if the LORD had not been on our side

when men attacked us,

when their anger flared against us,

then they would have swallowed us alive,

then the floods would have engulfed us,

then the torrent would have overwhelmed us,

then the raging waters

would have swept us away.

Blessed be the LORD,

who has not given us as prey to their teeth.

We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowler;

the net is torn, and we have slipped away.

Our help is in the name of the LORD,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

Psalm 125

Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion.

It cannot be moved; it abides forever.

As the mountains surround Jerusalem,

so the LORD surrounds His people,

both now and forevermore.

For the scepter of the wicked will not rest

upon the land allotted to the righteous,

so that the righteous will not put forth

their hands to injustice.

Do good, O LORD, to those who are good,

and to the upright in heart.

But those who turn to crooked ways

the LORD will banish with the evildoers.

Peace be upon Israel.

Psalm 126

When the LORD restored the captives of Zion,

we were like dreamers.

Then our mouths were filled with laughter,

our tongues with shouts of joy.

Then it was said among the nations,

“The LORD has done great things for them.”

The LORD has done great things for us;

we are filled with joy.

Restore our captives, O LORD,

like streams in the Negev.

Those who sow in tears

will reap with shouts of joy.

He who goes out weeping,

bearing a trail of seed,

will surely return with shouts of joy,

carrying sheaves of grain.

Psalm 147

Hallelujah!

How good it is to sing praises to our God,

how pleasant and lovely to praise Him!

The LORD builds up Jerusalem;

He gathers the exiles of Israel.

He heals the brokenhearted

and binds up their wounds.

He determines the number of the stars;

He calls them each by name.

Great is our Lord, and mighty in power;

His understanding has no limit.

The LORD sustains the humble,

but casts the wicked to the ground.

Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving;

make music on the harp to our God,

who covers the sky with clouds,

who prepares rain for the earth,

who makes grass to grow on the hills.

He provides food for the animals,

and for the young ravens when they call.

He does not delight in the strength of the horse;

He takes no pleasure in the legpower of the man.

The LORD is pleased with those who fear Him,

who hope in His loving devotion.

Exalt the LORD, O Jerusalem;

praise your God, O Zion!

For He strengthens the bars of your gates

and blesses the children within you.

He makes peace at your borders;

He fills you with the finest wheat.

He sends forth His command to the earth;

His word runs swiftly.

He spreads the snow like wool;

He scatters the frost like ashes;

He casts forth His hail like pebbles.

Who can withstand His icy blast?

He sends forth His word and melts them;

He unleashes His winds, and the waters flow.

He declares His word to Jacob,

His statutes and judgments to Israel.

He has done this for no other nation;

they do not know His judgments.

Hallelujah!

Psalm 118 is the most quoted psalm in the New Testament. See if you can figure out why:

Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength,

an ever-present help in times of trouble.

Therefore we will not fear,

though the earth is transformed

and the mountains are toppled

into the depths of the seas,

though their waters roar and foam

and the mountains quake in the surge.

Selah

There is a river whose streams delight the city of God,

the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within her; she will not be moved.

God will help her when morning dawns.

Nations rage, kingdoms crumble;

the earth melts when He lifts His voice.

The LORD of Hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Selah

Come, see the works of the LORD,

who brings devastation upon the earth.

He makes wars to cease throughout the earth;

He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;

He burns the shields in the fire.

“Be still and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted over the earth.”

The LORD of Hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Selah

Psalm 118

Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;

His loving devotion endures forever.

Let Israel say,

“His loving devotion endures forever.”

Let the house of Aaron say,

“His loving devotion endures forever.”

Let those who fear the LORD say,

“His loving devotion endures forever.”

In my distress I called to the LORD,

and He answered and set me free.

The LORD is on my side; I will not be afraid.

What can man do to me?

The LORD is on my side; He is my helper.

Therefore I will look in triumph on those who hate me.

It is better to take refuge in the LORD

than to trust in man.

It is better to take refuge in the LORD

than to trust in princes.

All the nations surrounded me,

but in the name of the LORD I cut them off.

They surrounded me on every side,

but in the name of the LORD I cut them off.

They swarmed around me like bees,

but they were extinguished like burning thorns;

in the name of the LORD I cut them off.

I was pushed so hard I was falling,

but the LORD helped me.

The LORD is my strength and my song,

and He has become my salvation.

Shouts of joy and salvation resound in the tents of the righteous:

“The right hand of the LORD performs with valor!

The right hand of the LORD is exalted!

The right hand of the LORD performs with valor!”

I will not die, but I will live

and proclaim what the LORD has done.

The LORD disciplined me severely,

but He has not given me over to death.

Open to me the gates of righteousness,

that I may enter and give thanks to the LORD.

This is the gate of the LORD;

the righteous shall enter through it.

I will give You thanks, for You have answered me,

and You have become my salvation.

The stone the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone.

This is from the LORD,

and it is marvelous in our eyes.

This is the day that the LORD has made;

we will rejoice and be glad in it.

O LORD, save us, we pray.

We beseech You, O LORD, cause us to prosper!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.

From the house of the LORD we bless you.

The LORD is God;

He has made His light to shine upon us.

Bind the festal sacrifice with cords

to the horns of the altar.

You are my God, and I will give You thanks.

You are my God, and I will exalt You.

Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;

His loving devotion endures forever.

Psalm 120

In my distress I cried to the LORD,

and He answered me.

Deliver my soul, O LORD,

from lying lips and a deceitful tongue.

What will He do to you,

and what will be added to you,

O deceitful tongue?

Sharp arrows will come from the warrior,

with burning coals of the broom tree!

Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech,

that I live among the tents of Kedar!

Too long have I dwelt

among those who hate peace.

I am in favor of peace;

but when I speak, they want war.

Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Psalm 112

Hallelujah!

Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,

who greatly delights in His commandments.

His descendants will be mighty in the land;

the generation of the upright will be blessed.

Wealth and riches are in his house,

and his righteousness endures forever.

Light dawns in the darkness for the upright—

for the gracious, compassionate, and righteous.

It is well with the man who is generous and lends freely,

whose affairs are guided by justice.

Surely he will never be shaken;

the righteous man will be remembered forever.

He does not fear bad news;

his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.

His heart is assured; he does not fear,

until he looks in triumph on his foes.

He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;

his righteousness endures forever;

his horn will be lifted high in honor.

The wicked man will see and be grieved;

he will gnash his teeth and waste away;

the desires of the wicked will perish.

Psalm 113

Hallelujah!

Give praise, O servants of the LORD;

praise the name of the LORD.

Blessed be the name of the LORD

both now and forevermore.

From where the sun rises to where it sets,

the name of the LORD is praised.

The LORD is exalted over all the nations,

His glory above the heavens.

Who is like the LORD our God,

the One enthroned on high?

He humbles Himself to behold

the heavens and the earth.

He raises the poor from the dust

and lifts the needy from the dump

to seat them with nobles,

with the princes of His people.

He settles the barren woman in her home

as a joyful mother to her children.

Hallelujah!

Psalm 114

When Israel departed from Egypt,

the house of Jacob from a people of foreign tongue,

Judah became God’s sanctuary,

and Israel His dominion.

The sea observed and fled;

the Jordan turned back;

the mountains skipped like rams,

the hills like lambs.

Why was it, O sea, that you fled,

O Jordan, that you turned back,

O mountains, that you skipped like rams,

O hills, like lambs?

Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,

at the presence of the God of Jacob,

who turned the rock into a pool,

the flint into a fountain of water!

Psalm 115

Not to us, O LORD, not to us,

but to Your name be the glory,

because of Your loving devotion,

because of Your faithfulness.

Why should the nations say,

“Where is their God?”

Our God is in heaven;

He does as He pleases.

Their idols are silver and gold,

made by the hands of men.

They have mouths, but cannot speak;

they have eyes, but cannot see;

they have ears, but cannot hear;

they have noses, but cannot smell;

they have hands, but cannot feel;

they have feet, but cannot walk;

they cannot even clear their throats.

Those who make them become like them,

as do all who trust in them.

O Israel, trust in the LORD!

He is their help and shield.

O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD!

He is their help and shield.

You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD!

He is their help and shield.

The LORD is mindful of us;

He will bless us.

He will bless the house of Israel;

He will bless the house of Aaron;

He will bless those who fear the LORD—

small and great alike.

May the LORD give you increase,

both you and your children.

May you be blessed by the LORD,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

The highest heavens belong to the LORD,

but the earth He has given to mankind.

It is not the dead who praise the LORD,

nor any who descend into silence.

But it is we who will bless the LORD,

both now and forevermore.

Hallelujah!

Psalm 116

I love the LORD, for He has heard my voice—

my appeal for mercy.

Because He has inclined His ear to me,

I will call on Him as long as I live.

The ropes of death entangled me;

the anguish of Sheol overcame me;

I was confronted by trouble and sorrow.

Then I called on the name of the LORD:

“O LORD, deliver my soul!”

The LORD is gracious and righteous;

our God is full of compassion.

The LORD preserves the simplehearted;

I was helpless, and He saved me.

Return to your rest, O my soul,

for the LORD has been good to you.

For You have delivered my soul from death,

my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.

I will walk before the LORD

in the land of the living.

I believed, therefore I said,

“I am greatly afflicted.”

In my alarm I said,

“All men are liars!”

How can I repay the LORD

for all His goodness to me?

I will lift the cup of salvation

and call on the name of the LORD.

I will fulfill my vows to the LORD

in the presence of all His people.

Precious in the sight of the LORD

is the death of His saints.

Truly, O LORD, I am Your servant;

I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant;

You have broken my bonds.

I will offer to You a sacrifice of thanksgiving

and call on the name of the LORD.

I will fulfill my vows to the LORD

in the presence of all His people,

in the courts of the LORD’s house,

in your midst, O Jerusalem.

Hallelujah!

Psalm 117

Praise the LORD, all you nations!

Extol Him, all you peoples!

For great is His loving devotion toward us,

and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.

Hallelujah!