Thank Scott for Inviting Me to Speak

Who All Here Likes Music?

What are Your Favorite Genres of Music?

Why Do You Like the Music You Like?

Lyrics Speak to Me (Relatable)

Music is Soothing or Exciting

Music/Poetry can Affect Our Emotions Like Nothing Else Can

I could Tell You about the Saddest Day of My Life…

And You Might Feel Sympathy for Me

Or I could Tell You about the Happiest Day of My Life…

And You Might Feel Happy that I was Happy

But if I Worded Those Stories in a Poetic Way…

And Put Them to the Right Music…

I could Bring this Room to Tears of Sadness & Joy

You wouldn’t Just Know of My Sorrow & My Bliss…

You’d Feel it Within Yourself…

As if You were the One to Experience Them

Music is Truly an Amazing Thing

Humanity has Been Singing & Making/Playing Instruments…

Since the Beginning

Just as God Created Us to Experience Beauty with Our Eyes…

He Also Created Us to Experience Beauty with Our Ears

And to Make Beautiful Sounds/Music…

With Our Mouths & Hands & Feet

Why Did God Create Us to Know/Experience/Produce Music?

To Enjoy Life in His Creation

But Ultimately, to Glorify Him

Genesis 1:26–28 (NASB95)

26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

God Created Humanity in His Image

He Created Us to Be Like Him

He Created Us to Represent Him

Our Very First Purpose is to Bear His Image in the World

God Created Humanity to Rule/Reign

He Created Us to Rule/Reign Over the World & All that is in it

God Created Humanity to Be Fruitful & Multiply

He Created Us to Make More Little Image-Bearers of Himself

God Created Humanity to Subdue the Earth

That Means to Conquer & Control

We are to Take Control of the Earth…

And Use it to Do Our Bidding

Like Using Wood, Stones, and Metals…

To Build Tools, Houses, Buildings…

And All of the Things We’ve Designed/Built…

Throughout These Thousands of Years

Including Music

Why Did God Create Us to Know/Experience/Produce Music?

To Bear His Image/Represent Him

To Bring Him Glory

That is Our Sole Purpose

To Exalt, Honor, Glorify Our Creator & Father

And One of the Ways that Humanity has Always Done that…

Is Through Music/Singing

Are There Any Songs Out There that Don’t Glorify God?

You Better Believe it!

But There’s Also Lots of Songs that Do Glorify God

Songs that were Written By Faithful Men/Women Hundreds of Years Ago

And There are God-Honoring Songs Still Being Written Today

One of My Favorite New Songs is “Hero of Israel”

You can Listen to the Praise & Harmony Singers Sing it

Beautiful & True Words about Our Hero, King Jesus

But, Even the Most Beloved & Amazing Songs…

From the Past 500+ Years are Still Uninspired

But Did You Know that We have Access to an Inspired Songbook?

We have Access to Songs that were Inspired By God Himself

We have Songs/Poems that We can Read, Pray, Sing Today…

That are God-Honoring & Impactful…

And They were Given to Us from God, Himself

Israelites Sang These Songs in Praise to God

Christians have Been Singing These Songs Since the Birth of Christianity

And We Still have These Songs Preserved for Us Today

These Songs are What My Lesson is All about:

What Songs Has God Given Us?

What Songbook Am I Talking about?

The Book of Psalms

The Book of Psalms is a Collection of 150 Songs…

That were Written By Several Different Holy Spirit Inspired People

When Our Earliest Siblings in Christ Sang Praises to God…

They Sang the Songs Their Jewish Ancestors Sang:

The Psalms

That Doesn’t Mean They Only Sang the Psalms

There’s Evidence in the NT…

That They Also were Writing/Singing New Songs

But When Christianity was Born…

They Didn’t have to Start Scrambling…

To Figure Out What They’d Sing in Worship to God

They Already had a Thousand Year Old Songbook Ready for Them

Psalms wasn’t Just for Israelite Worship

The Psalms are for Christians

Luke 24:44 (NASB95)

44 Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

Jesus Said the Psalms Spoke about Him

Not Only Did the Psalms Speak about Jesus…

But the Book of Psalms is the Most Quoted Book in the NT

So Much of Our Christian Theology Comes from the Psalms

Paul Wrote 2 Similar Commands to the Churches in Ephesus & Colossae

To the Ephesians, Paul Wrote:

Ephesians 5:18–19 (NASB95)

18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

The Direct Command is:

“Be Filled with the Spirit”

How?

By Singing “Psalms, Hymns, & Spiritual Songs”

To the Colossians, Paul Said:

Colossians 3:16 (NASB95)

16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

The Direct Command is:

“Let the Word of Christ Richly Dwell Within You”

How?

By Singing “Psalms, Hymns, & Spiritual Songs”

We are Filled with the Holy Spirit…

And the Word (Message) of Christ Dwells Richly Within Us…

When We Sing Psalms, Hymns, & Spiritual Songs

In the Septuagint (Greek OT)…

The Psalms are Broken Up into 4 Categories

One of the Categories is “Wisdom”

The Other 3 are:

“Psalms, Hymns, & Spiritual Songs”

It’s Very Possible that What Paul was Instructing…

The Ephesians & Colossians to Sing:

Was the Psalms

Whenever Christians Read/Pray/Sing the Psalms:

We’re Giving Glory to God

We’re Focusing on Jesus

We’re Learning Deep Theological Truths

We’re Being Filled with the Holy Spirit

We’re Letting the Gospel Message Dwell in Us Richly

The Psalms Help Us to Be Better Followers/Servants of Jesus

If that Doesn’t Persuade Us to Spend More Time in the Psalms…

I Want to Spend the Next Few Minutes Showing You…

Why We Need the Psalms…

And How They can Help Us with Whatever We’re Going Through

The Basic Idea of the Title of Psalms is:

Songs of Praises

They’re Primary Purpose is to Be Read/Sang in Public Worship

As You would Assume…

There are a Lot of Psalms about Praising God…

And Admiring His Wonderful Attributes/Characteristics/Works

Psalm 145:8–12 (NASB95)

8 The Lord is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness. 9 The Lord is good to all, And His mercies are over all His works. 10 All Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord, And Your godly ones shall bless You. 11 They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom And talk of Your power; 12 To make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts And the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom.

There are Psalms about Thanking God for Blessings

Psalm 30:1–5 (NASB95)

1 I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up, And have not let my enemies rejoice over me. 2 O Lord my God, I cried to You for help, and You healed me. 3 O Lord, You have brought up my soul from Sheol; You have kept me alive, that I would not go down to the pit. 4 Sing praise to the Lord, you His godly ones, And give thanks to His holy name. 5 For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.

There are Psalms about Celebrating God’s Law…

And Encouraging the Worshipers to Obey it

Psalm 119:105–106 (NASB95)

105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. 106 I have sworn and I will confirm it, That I will keep Your righteous ordinances.

There are Royal Psalms that Point to & Foreshadow the Messiah, Jesus

Psalm 110:1 (NASB95)

1 The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”

There are Imprecatory/Curse Psalms…

Where the Worshiper is Asking God to Stop the Wicked

Psalm 5:10 (NASB95)

10 Hold them guilty, O God; By their own devices let them fall! In the multitude of their transgressions thrust them out, For they are rebellious against You.

There are Penitent Psalms…

Where the Worshiper is Confessing Their Sins & Seeking God’s Mercy

Psalm 51:1–2 (NASB95)

1 Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin.

There are Wisdom Psalms that Focus on the Worshiper Living a Wise Life

Psalms that Focus on the Worshiper Deepening Their Trust/Faith in God

Historic Psalms that Focus on God’s Past Dealings with His People

Prophetic Psalms that Call the Worshiper to Faithfulness

And So Many Others

But You Might Not Guess What Category Most of the Psalms Fall into:

Psalm of Lament

Most of the Psalms aren’t:

“God is So Good & Life is So Great!”

A Lament is a Song of Mourning & Sorrow

The Worshiper is Crying Out to God in Their Suffering…

And Pleading for Him to Help

The Psalms aren’t Just about Helping Us…

Praise/Thank God in the Good Times

They Help Us Know How to Mourn/Suffer in the Bad Times

They Show Us How to Do that in a Way…

That Still Brings Glory to God

We Like Music Because it has Powerful Effects on Our Emotions

The Psalms Express a Wide Variety of Emotions

But the Really Important/Amazing Part…

Is How They Help Us with Our Emotions

The Psalms Help Us Do 2 Very Important Things

They Help Us Reflect Upon Our Circumstances…

And Our Emotional Response to Those Circumstances

And Then They Help Us Direct Our Hearts/Minds to God…

In the Midst of Those Circumstances & Emotions

In Good Times, When We’re Feeling Emotions of:

Joy

Hope

Peace

Gratitude

Wonder

The Psalms Help Us to Reflect on Those Feelings…

And Direct Our Hearts to God

The Psalms Remind Us that God is the Cause…

Of Our Joy, Hope, Peace, Gratitude, Wonder

In the Bad Times, When We’re Feeling Emotions of:

Fear

Doubt

Anger

Grief

Sorrow

Despair

Regret

The Psalms Help Us to Reflect on Those Feelings…

And Direct Our Hearts to God

You May Be Experiencing Times of Fear & Doubt

The Psalms Don’t Tell You to Stop Feeling that Way

You’re Not a Failure of a Christian for Experiencing Fear/Doubt

The Inspired Psalmists Know Fear/Doubt All Too Well…

Because They Experienced it Themselves

Don’t Shut Yourself Off from Your Feelings…

But Also Don’t Let Them Completely Overwhelm You

Direct Your Heart/Mind to God in Your Fear/Doubt

He’s the Only One Who can Remove Those Fears/Doubts

You May Be Experiencing a Time of Anger

The Psalms Don’t Tell You to Just Get Over it

They Help You Reflect on that Anger…

And Then Direct Your Heart/Mind to God

If You’ve Been Wronged in Some Way…

And Anger is Eating You Alive…

Direct Your Heart/Mind to God…

And Let Him Be the One to Take Vengeance, Not You

You May Be Experiencing Times of Grief/Sorrow/Despair/Regret

The Psalms Don’t Belittle Your Pain

They Help You Reflect on Those Feelings…

And Then Direct Your Heart/Mind to God

God is the Healer of All Pain

God is the Restorer of All that is Broken

God is the Redeemer Who Compassionately Buys You Back…

Even When You’ve Sold Yourself to Sin

No Matter What You’re Going Through…

There’s a Psalm for You

For Your Situation/Circumstances

For Your Emotions You’re Currently Feeling

Conclusion

God has Given Us Some Amazing Songs

Songs that Glorify Him Whenever We Read/Pray/Sing Them

Songs that Fill Us with the Holy Spirit & the Gospel Message

Songs that Teach Us Deep Theological Truths

Songs that Touch Us Emotionally

And Cause Us to Reflect on Those Emotions…

And Direct Our Hearts Toward God

They Show Us the Human Experience of Both Joy & Suffering…

And How to Glorify God in Both