Week 12: The Gospel One Psalm at a Time

Welcome to the Gospel One Psalm At a Time, our small group study for the Winter and Spring. Throughout the week prior to your group's meeting, take some time to:

1) Prayerfully read and study the week's Psalms;

2) Watch the short videos that will be posted here on our website - they are also available on PDT's Youtube channel; and

3) Answer the questions in preparation for a conversation in your small group.

It's a simply ryhthm...

First Psalm: Pray - Read - Watch - Answer - Pray.

Second Psalm: Pray - Read - Watch - Answer - Pray.

Third Psalm: Pray - Read - Watch - Answer - Pray.

My prayer this is a great season of spiritual growth for you and our church as we invest in this together!

All for Jesus!

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Psalm 80: A Cry For Restorative Grace

1. What are some of the distinct differences between restoration and remodeling? In what ways have you attempted to “remodel” your life in the past? How has that remodeling worked out for you? What did the “remodeling” process reveal to you about your life and your need for something much more than just remodeling? How did it help you see your need for true change (restoration)?

2. Why is God a God of restoration and not remodeling? What kind of deep work has God been doing in your life to show you that he is willing to do the difficult work of restoring you? Re-read the refrain in Psalm 80: 3, 7, and 19. Who is doing the work in these refrains? Why is it so important to understand who is doing the work of restoration and who isn’t? In what ways are you grateful that God’s work in your life is restoration work and not remodeling work?

3. What might it look like for God to walk room to room in the house of your life and restore every part as he goes? If the ultimate restoration happens in the glory of eternity, why might it matter that his ongoing restoration in your life is happening in the here and now before our home going to heaven? Why is transforming grace so important in our lives right now?

Psalm 82: A Cry for Gods Justice

1. As you take a moment to reflect on your life, in what areas would you say that you are weak, needy, and/or fatherless? How have you been unable to defend yourself? In what ways have you been without the ability to provide for yourself? Where have you felt vulnerable and without protection? Have you ever considered yourself to be a person who needs the perfect, tender-hearted justice of the Lord? Why or why not?

2. In what ways have you felt the freedom to run to the Lord, knowing that he cares about your cause, your weakness, your need, and your alienation? What has prevented you from running to God in the past? What prevents you from running to him now? As you think about your future, what might potentially get in the way of you running to him in your time of need, weakness, loneliness, or desire for help?

3. As you think about God’s defense, provision, and protection, why is his guarantee of those things so important…in other words, what makes God’s guarantee so weighty? How can we trust in that guarantee? Why is a cry for justice essentially a cry for Jesus?

4. How can you be a physical representation of God’s defense, provision, and protection in this world? Where might God be calling you to be that visible representation of him in your circle of influence? Take a few moments right now and pray. Ask God to help you see where you can care for the weak, needy, and fatherless. And if you’re currently hesitant about it, ask God to help you become willing to be his tool of justice wherever he’s placed you.

Psalm 84: The Best Kind of Longing

1. What would you say is the biggest longing of your heart? If you could ask God for absolutely anything, what would it be? If you could ask God to change anything in your life, what would it be? How do these kinds of questions reveal the longing of your heart? What has captured your heart?

2. Where have you personally tried to satisfy the hunger in your heart with anything other than God (material things, human acceptance, success, power, control, sex, money, etc.)? How have you found any and all of those things unsatisfying? In what ways are you frustrated and discouraged because those other avenues aren’t addressing your hunger? Why are all those things that aren’t God going to let you down?

3. In what ways can you practically shift your perspective from the unsatisfying avenues you pursue toward “highways to Zion”? In what specific ways can you pray and cry out to God to be your satisfaction when you’re tempted to run elsewhere?