Near to the Heart of God

In one paragraph

Pastor Ray opened with the story behind the hymn "There Is a Place of Quiet Rest," written by Cleland McAfee in 1903 after his two nieces died of diphtheria within twenty-four hours of each other. That image, of quiet rest near to the heart of God in the middle of grief and loss, shaped everything that followed. The sermon worked through Psalm 145, asking who and what is near to the heart of God,...

Read together

1. 2 Thessalonians 3:16 read aloud during the Advent candle lighting as the candle of peace scripture
2. Psalm 145:18 the anchor verse about the Lord being near to all who call on him, framing the whole sermon
3. Psalm 145:1-21 worked through verse by verse as the main text of the sermon
4. James 4:8 cited alongside Psalm 145:18 as a parallel: draw near to God and he will draw near to you
5. Colossians 3:15-16 read at a wedding the prior week, referenced as encouragement to speak to one another in psalms and hymns
6. Exodus 3:5 God telling Moses to remove his sandals on holy ground and commanding him to go to Pharaoh
7. Exodus 34 God proclaiming his own name to Moses as compassionate, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in faithfulness
8. Matthew 5 God causes the sun to rise on evil and good, rain on righteous and unrighteous; love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you
9. Jeremiah 29:12 then you will call on me and I will answer you, spoken during captivity in Babylon
10. Galatians 6:7-10 do not be deceived, God is not mocked; sow to the flesh or the spirit; do not grow weary in doing good
11. John 6 the feeding of the five thousand and the bread of life discourse, used to illustrate wonderful works versus the deeper message of God

Talk about it

1. Pastor Ray shared that waking up with the line 'there is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God' pulled him out of a Christmas funk. Where do you tend to turn when the busyness of a season crowds out peace, and what has helped you find your way back?
2. Cleland McAfee wrote that hymn in the middle of terrible grief and quarantine, unable even to be with his family. Has there been a time when you felt cut off from the people you wanted to be with in a hard moment, and how did God meet you there?
3. Pastor Ray read from Psalm 145 that one generation will declare God's mighty acts to another, and he said the blessing flows in both directions, not just from old to young. Who in your life has told you a story of what God did for them, and how did it affect you?
4. Pastor Ray said that whatever fills our hearts is what flows out of our mouths, and that dwelling on God's goodness produces goodness while dwelling on the negative produces grumbling and ugliness. What do you find yourself dwelling on most right now, and what would it look like to shift that?
5. Both the Wichita story and Jennifer's story on the bicycle were things neither person could have orchestrated. Do you have a story like that, something God clearly arranged that you could not have set up yourself, and who have you told it to?