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Summary

Lord, we ask that we would be shaped by your word, that we would live according to your word and that we would rejoice, knowing that the promise of your word, the promise of life eternal is ours through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. So so when you are when you open your Bible to the middle and you find yourself at the book of Psalms that is not only at the center of the Bible, but it's also in the center of the books of wisdom books of wisdom in scripture include Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon so that middle section of your scripture prior to the prophet and after the Pentateuch and history that is where we find these books of what wisdom wisdom is living life the way that God intended in the books of wisdom we receive a bounty of living a righteous life we find righteousness written about talked about a lot in the books of wisdom we also see God in the books of wisdom we see God that he is holy he is righteous wise he is the just creator all of these themes are found within the books of wisdom it's interesting because you'll will hear in the in throughout the ages in the secular world and even within the Christian world some of you'll hear these comparisons made between the Israelites and Christians and those around them and and saying there are all these overlaps that you know well well the Christians have a story of creation but so does this culture and so does this culture and and really it's just a story and and it's just a way to try to explain things every culture has a creation story and so it's it's leading into this comparison comparison where where we compare the Bible as one of many ways to know God or one of many ways to show us how to live righteously but that that is in error it is an error to say that the Bible is just one more story in how we can live or how we can speak to be good people some overlap there is some overlap in wise sayings in the books of wisdom there might be some some some overlap between the books of wisdom and other cultures of the ancient near east but there's a major clarification that has to keep forefront for us in our minds and that wisdom wisdom is based on God's created order wisdom is based on God's created order all wisdom all truth belongs to God and he has given this to his people also biblical wisdom is different than all the other cultures and religions because it emphasizes one God it emphasizes one God God who is the source of all knowledge God who is the source of all understanding all that is right and wrong is according to God's wisdom and perfection whether we want to make comparisons or not we know that the source of all truth the source of all that is true is God and so everything everything we know everything we learn everything we do everything we say is is in accordance with the wisdom of God it's according to his wisdom according to his perfection and our right our righteousness our rightness is fulfilled in Christ for us wisdom books are filled with poetry and prose but don't let this stop you from loving the Psalms don't let this stop you from loving the books of wisdom and don't let it stop you or intimidate you from turning to the Psalms I know so oftentimes with the book of Psalms it is either oh I love the Psalms or oh my gosh I'm trying to get through the Psalms because it's it's very high high nature with with the writing it's very very high uh verbiage and and so it's we get lost or we can get lost um I personally am not one that sits down often with a book of poetry but Psalms are different the Psalms are different and so even if you do not uh excuse me even if you do not love poetry you can still love the book of Psalms and the books of wisdom um uh uh do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do so Okay, so this is so cool. This is God's word just for me because the book of Psalms hits every season of life that we experience every high every low and the all of the in between. I also know that there are times in my life when it is absolutely appropriate to to go to the book of Esther and it really speaks and then there are other times in my life when I would I would not understand what I'm supposed to get what I'm supposed to be led in from the book of Esther right does that make sense but in the book of Psalms as we turn to the Psalms maybe it's Psalm 23 that I need in this very moment maybe it's the first Psalm maybe it's the last Psalm maybe it's Psalm 119 speaking of God's word maybe it's Psalm 51 and I will full confession here Psalm 51 I go to a lot a lot but it's I think that one and this is a biased opinion that one just gets right to the heart of man and to the heart of God love Psalm 51 So I'm going to stop talking about it right now because I can't stop I love it So Luther also calls the Psalter the spirits summary of the whole Bible he says the Psalter should be precious to us if only because it most clearly promises the death and resurrection of Christ and describes his kingdom and the nature and standing of all Christian people it could well be entitled a little Bible since everything contained in the entire Bible is beautifully and briefly comprehended and compacted into a manual it seems to me as if the Holy Ghost had been pleased to take on himself the trouble of putting together a short Bible touching the whole of Christianity in order that they who are unable to read the whole Bible may never the last never the last find almost the whole sum comprehended in one little book the Psalter is the very heragon of books don't be scared of the book of Psalm we are going to have a great time going through this I hope and I pray that our study will open the book of Psalms for each of us for every single one of us and and that we will be able to weave it into our life of prayer into our prayer life because it is God's own word given to us that we get to recite to pray right back to him and we don't have to worry if we're eloquent when we pray we don't have to worry if we're getting exactly what we're trying to portray because we are praying God's own words to him and that's a beautiful thing that is a beautiful thing Good morning. Let's go to John chapter 19 Matthew Mark Luke and then John John chapter 19 verse 30 John 19 verse verse 30 when Jesus had received the wine he said it is finished. I'll tell you one piece that for myself that has sat with me for years now, years, is Psalm 51, verse 10, creating me a clean spirit, oh God, and renew a right, or creating me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me, and it sits with me, and it works on me, and sometimes it really convicts me, and sometimes it gives me great hope and great joy, because I know that my spirit is not always right, and my heart is not always clean, and I know that I'm also not the one that creates that clean heart within myself, and I'm not the one that gives myself that right spirit, and so that gives me great hope, and when I'm feeling or thinking, not super-Christianly, I go to that verse constantly, and it continues to work on me and in me, and it's so amazing that we have that from the Lord, and it seems just from the nods that everyone, or most of you, have experienced that, where you have a verse or a story from scripture that comes to mind, or it works on you, have you ever had a piece of scripture that works on you that you wish it wasn't?

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