It Is Good to Give Thanks to the Lord

In one paragraph

Ray preached from Psalm 92, a song assigned to the Sabbath, which he had been working on that week after the opening music in the first service drew him into it. He walked through three sections of the psalm and brought the congregation back to sing it together, framing the whole message around two choices the psalm sets before us: tireless praise or heedless arrogance. Ray opened by explaining...

Read together

1. Revelation 12:11 Brad quoted it to explain why sharing testimony is powerful
2. Psalm 92 main text of the sermon, read and sung in sections throughout
3. Mark 8 Pastor Ray cited Jesus asking what it profits a person to gain the whole world but forfeit his soul
4. Romans referenced in the context of leaving room for God and not taking vengeance
5. 2 Peter 3 quoted to address the claim that God is slow or slack concerning his promise, noting his patience toward repentance
6. Psalm 145:8-9 read as a closing blessing about God being gracious, merciful, slow to anger and good to all

Talk about it

1. Brad said that men in his life called out sin they saw in him, not in a condemning way but with grace, inviting him into a deeper relationship with Christ. Has anyone done that for you, and what made it possible to receive it?
2. Ray described tireless praise as a decision, saying that praising God in the midst of the storm is the best advice he can give people in hard circumstances. What makes that hard to do, and what has helped you actually do it?
3. The brother from the South Bronx said that Christians act like the gospel is good but feel it is a little forceful to share with anyone who does not already believe it, rather than treating it as the only antidote to what is poisonous all around us. Where do you see that hesitation in yourself or in the church generally?
4. Ray pointed to the line from Second Peter that God is not slow concerning his promise but is patient, not willing that any should perish. He said God may use you in that long-suffering patience toward someone else. Who in your life might God be trying to love into the kingdom through you?
5. The psalm closes with the righteous still yielding fruit in old age, full of sap and very green. What does that kind of unending vitality look like practically, and what do you think keeps it going over a whole lifetime?