July 23, 2017
We continue our annual Christ in the Psalms summer series this week with Psalm 73. Here’s how you can prepare for the service:
1. Read through our text, Psalm 73.
Before we get to Asaph’s well-quoted verse 26, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever,” we read his complaint before God about the “prosperity of the wicked.” There are many worthwhile observations here, but among the most prominent is the cause of Asaph’s sudden turn in v. 16–17: upon approaching the Lord in His sanctuary, an issue that seemed complicated and wearisome became quite clear. On its own, that realization helps us, but in context of the rest of the psalm it also reminds us that nearness to God is actual prosperity, and all else is “like a dream when one awakens.”
As you read the passage, consider asking yourself the following three questions:
- How does this Psalm help me pray?
- How does this Psalm help me feel?
- How does this Psalm help me see Jesus?
2. Read, pray and sing through the service:
CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 34:1–3; 8–10
Rising Sun (Leonard, Lee, Jordan, Mabury)
(73) The Nearness of You (Asher Seevinck, Dave Wilton)
CONFESSION OF SIN: From The Worship Sourcebook
God of everlasting love,
we confess that we have been unfaithful
to our covenant with You and with one another.
We have worshiped other gods: money, power, greed, and convenience.
We have served our own self-interest
instead of serving only You and Your people.
We have not loved our neighbor as You have commanded,
nor have we rightly loved ourselves.
Forgive us, gracious God,
and bring us back into the fullness
of our covenant with You and one another.
Through Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
All I Have Is Christ (Jordan Kauflin)
Be Thou My Vision (Mary Elizabeth Byrne, Eleanor Henrietta Hull arr. by Ascend The Hill)
ASSURANCE OF PARDON: From Ephesians 2:4–8
GREETING, SERMON, COMMUNION
RESPONSE: Song & Prayer
House Of God Forever (Jon Foreman)
Jesus Is Better (Aaron Ivey, Brett Land)