The Tabernacle Today The Tabernacle Today

Psalm 63 Worksheet

Let’s see if wilderness themes show up as we read the Psalm!

M_____________________________ V. 1-2

“Give the first hour of your day to God.”

The key is that we have some time of concentrated ___________________ of God during our days!

And if David wasn’t careful a root of bitterness could arise in his spirit that made him dry spiritually in this physically dry place. Instead, he seeks the Lord who can refresh him spiritually in hard circumstances.

We can’t always manipulate our circumstances to be good ones, or the actions of others toward us, but we can make sure our __________________________ keep us spiritually focused.

The physical Temple had not been built yet, so perhaps David has in mind looking to God in Heaven, seeing His power and glory there. Or perhaps David understood what Christians now do – that any _________________ we seek God can become a sanctuary – even the wilderness!

D______________________________ V. 3-5

You guessed it, the word for lovingkindness is the great word Hesed. God’s steadfast live is greater than the ups and downs of life, the good and bad ___________________________ we face.

In 1 Timothy 2 Paul said he wanted the men in every church to be known for lifting up holy hands to the Lord without wrath and dissention. He was only calling for what Israel’s great king had _________________!

I hope you are _____________________ by your relationship with the Lord throughout the day like David was, and can testify that God’s love is better than life! John 14:6 John 10:10

E_____________________________ V. 6-8

David ends the day as he began – meditative prayer with God. David was a shepherd, but he wouldn’t recommend counting sheep before you go to sleep – he would have us talking to the Great _______________________!

What things should characterize Christian meditation?

David could get a good night’s sleep knowing God was his ‘night ______________________!”

O_____________________________ V. 9-11

David doesn’t use the word Sheol in verse 9 – he refers to tahti erets – lower parts of the earth. David’s enemies want to destroy David, but he is confident he will _____________________ them.

They shall fall by the sword; they shall be a portion for jackals.

David’s confidence reminds me that God has a purpose and plan for all His children, and we are __________________ until God Himself decides it is our time to die and join Him. In light of that we can praise God continuously, trust God unswervingly, and serve Him courageously!

Say What You Mean - Matthew 5:33-37



"The Body of B. Franklin, Printer; like the Cover of an old Book, Its Contents torn out, And stript of its Lettering and Gilding, Lies here, Food for Worms. But the Work shall not be wholly lost; For it will, as he believ'd, appear once more, In a new & more perfect Edition, Corrected and amended By the Author."



“I have seen your Epitaph…Believe on Jesus, and get a feeling possession of God in your heart, and you cannot possibly be disappointed of your second edition finally corrected, and infinitely amended.”



Consider that a recent poll found that 63% of Americans said religion was somewhat or very important in their lives. But over half of them who said that do not go to religious services more than once a year. And this is actually truer of older conservatives than younger people.



In today’s passage we are going to see Jesus command His disciples to say what they mean and do what they say without making excuses.



Read Matthew 5:33-37



Jesus didn’t want His disciples to be like the Pharisees, who obeyed outwardly but didn’t have real relationship with God. They had even added silly loopholes to commands, setting aside the “spirit” of full obedience.



Jesus brings two commands together - V. 33



You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. - Ex. 20:16



If a man vows a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. - Numbers 30:2 (see also Deut. 23:21)



Notice there it speaks of two things: an oath made with the Lord, and bringing God into YOUR oath with somebody else.



One thing I told you a few weeks ago is that sometimes in the Old Testament God regulated what he didn’t endorse, and I think that applies to flippantly bringing God into YOUR vows with others.



Don’t misuse God’s name when making promises to others - V. 34-36



The leaders in Jesus’ day didn’t want to blaspheme, but they did want to leave themselves wiggle room to break their word. And so they said it was okay to swear by lesser things. Jesus rejects all that as sinful duplicity.



What Jesus was forbidding here was duplicity – especially religious duplicity – using God or things of God as an excuse.



Just say what you mean and do what you promised! - V. 37



The precept in this passage is keep your word; the principle is people need to be able to count on you to have healthy relationships; The person is that we can count on God to keep every promise He has made!



How to make good decisions (Informed ‘yeses’ and ‘nos’):

1. All important decisions should invoke a 1-day waiting rule, particularly those that involve a lot of money.

2. Pray about every important decision.

3. Analyze your decision with scripture.

4. Grow close enough to God that you heed Holy Spirit ‘red flag’ warnings.

5. Seek godly counsel rather than making decisions in isolation.



Keeping our word is the default setting of believers – but there are times you do need to break your word, especially when God is convicting you about something you never should have said yes to. In those cases you may want to talk with a strong believer about the best strategy going forward.



Did you catch what Jesus said at the end of verse 37? – Not keeping your commitment is evil.

In the Time We Have Left

The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. -Psalm 90:10 (Moses)

Currently, the average life expectancy in Virginia is 79.1 years (76.8 for men, 81.3 for women); in North Carolina it is 77.6 years (75.0 for men, 80.1 for women).

“I have heard that if we remain healthy, that our most productive decade is in our sixties and our second most productive decade is in our seventies. The Bible doesn’t say anything about retiring. I am a big believer in Ephesians 2:10, which says, ‘For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.’ I want to be able to stand before the Lord and hear him say, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant.’” -Christian Philanthropist Dr. Terry Douglas, inventor of the PET Scan

5 G Living – Do everything you do…

For the Glory of God.

For the Good of your fellow man.

For the Growth of your fellow believers.

To get the Gospel to non-believers.

With a Grateful heart.

Ephesians 4:11-16

God gifts the church with leaders to equip us for ministry V. 11-12

Notice something profound from verses 11-12: It is not the job of church leaders to do the work of the ministry; no, their ministry is to equip their church members to do the work of the ministry.

Biblically speaking, how many ministers does a church have?

According to Ephesians 4, a church has as many ministers as it has members!

The mission of the Tabernacle is to reproduce faithful and fruitful followers of Jesus Christ. We seek to do this through:

Teaching the Scripture

Adoration and Prayer

Baptist Principles

Evangelism and Missions

Radical Generosity

Nurtured Partnerships

Age-appropriate Ministries

Congregational Love and Encouragement

Leadership Development

Excellence and Fun

The first big result of letting yourself be edified and equipped is growth!

There is growth in doctrinal understanding.

When the New Testament says “the faith” it is referring to the biblical doctrines that define true Christians. True believers are united on the essentials of “the faith.”

There will be growth in our personal relationship with Jesus.

The second big result of letting yourself be taught and equipped is impact!

There will be impact as we speak.

There will be impact as we serve.

Notice the implication if you as a member fail to do your part – if every member doing their part means the church will grow, what will happen if you don’t do your part? The growth of the church will be hindered.

But notice also for each church to have full impact each member needs not only to be working at their part but working properly. In the context of this passage that means with true love for their fellow members (v. 16) and under the leadership of their God-given leaders (v. 11).

Since January 1st, our members have spent over 2,750 hours in community ministry engagement (outside the church walls).

Here at the Tabernacle, we’re glowing, we’re growing, and we’re going into our community and around the world! What do you have your name on as part of the Tabernacle ministry?

Psalm 62 Worksheet

There are 3
Psalms that are to Juduthun – 39, 62, and 77 – one in each of the first 3 of
the 5 books of the Psalms. Jeduthun’s name means “_____________________,” and
he was one of David’s first praise leaders, leading one of the 3 main sections
of musicians.

The main
theme of Psalm 62 is ________________________ in God.

The 2
Selah’s help outline the Psalm neatly into three 4 verse sections.

God keeps
me _______________________ when others want to topple me                                      V. 1-4

What 3
things does David say God is for him in verse 2?

What kind of
position does David describe himself in in verse 4?

In contrast
to the strong tower of refuge that God is for David, the things his enemies are
relying on are ‘leaning walls,’ ‘tottering fences’ that easily ______________________
over.

What
indications do we have in verse 4 that some of these people who would do David
harm have been close to him before?

God will
keep you who ___________________ Him from falling over also                                          V. 5-8

Verses 1-2
are almost identical with verses 5-6.

When you
pray, do you have a sense of _________________________ of what God is going to
do in your life?

Like David
let’s ______________________ what God is to us!

David calls
the nation to have the same kind of trust in God that he had, and to be in
constant prayer to the God their _________________________ come from.

The ___________________
of trusting in anyone but God                                                                            V. 9-12

In verse 9
David brings to mind a scales you weigh things on. We are more impressed by
people the world calls “somebodies” than by people the world calls “nobodies.”
But neither has the substance to _______________________ the scales when
compared to God.

David has
already said God is our Glory! The root word for Glory is the same root word
for ______________. Compared to people, God has REAL substance, real weight,
real glory!

Wicked
people making wicked decisions will relatively quickly lead to ___________________
of eternal significance – stick with God.

Note the
once-twice device David uses in verse 11. This is a memory device in Hebrew.
Two-Three occurs in Dt. 17:6; Three-Four occurs in Proverbs & Amos;
Six-Seven occurs in Prov. 6:16. 

David
emphasizes 2 key truths about God they can trust in and build their lives
around: his power and His mercy.

Notice the
Psalm doesn’t end there, though – it ends with a helpful reminder that we will
each render an _____________________ to God for how we have lived – so live by
trust in God, not by compromises made with the world.

Honoring Marriage

Every time I preach I want people to think and feel love, truth, and hope.

Jesus always extends kindness and grace to repentant sinners desiring to build and rebuild their lives around faith and the Bible’s truth. But He also allows unrepentant sinners to continue in their sin and experience the built-in consequences each sin has.

Matthew 5:27-32 Honoring Marriage

Josh McDowell taught us that behind every precept is a principle based on God’s Person.

So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them. -Genesis 1:27

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. -Genesis 2:24-25

The biblical plan for human flourishing includes the home as the foundational unit for the entire earth. Sex is only supposed to happen between a husband and his wife for bonding and possible procreation.

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the Kingdom of God. AND SUCH WERE SOME OF YOU. BUT YOU WERE WASHED, you were sanctified, your were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God. -1 Cor. 6:9-11

All sexual sin dishonors marriage V. 27-28

The other commands spoke of the external things you can make a law about. But the 10th command and Jesus’ words here focus internally on what only God can see – what’s going on in your heart.

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for Gods holy people. -Eph. 5:3

Get serious about fighting sexual sin at its root V. 29-30

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. -1 Cor. 6:18

“You must always be a killin’ sin, or sin will always be a killin’ you.” -John Owen (1616-1683)

Don’t take a casual attitude about divorce V. 31-32

Sometimes in the Old Testament God regulated what He didn’t endorse so the most vulnerable in Israel would be protected by the hard-hearted actions of others.

The marriage vow is serious enough that you should not divorce your spouse and marry another unless your spouse committed adultery (Matthew 5, 19), has abandoned you (1 Cor. 7:15), or abused you.

I love the wisdom found in Philippians 3:13 & 16. Verse 13 says “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.” Verse 16 says “Only let us live up to what we have attained.”

3 Tips to bolster your marriage/ friendships:

“We” before me.

Wag.

Work.

Psalm 61 Worksheet

This is a simple Psalm of ________________________ and prayer

A sweet opening ________________________ V. 1-2

Synonymous parallelism like that in verse 1 is a frequent device in Hebrew _______________.

What do you think of when you think of God as a High Rock?

Verse 2 led William O. Cushing to pen the hymn “Hiding in Thee.”

O safe to the Rock that is Higher than I, My soul in its conflicts and sorrows would fly.

The Lord is my Rock and my Fortress and my Deliverer. -Psalm 18:2

Faith in Jesus and living according to His words will be a rock-like _______________________ in the believer’s life, getting us through the storms of life intact (Matthew 7:24-29).

A precious ___________________________ V. 3-5

What 4 kinds of refuge does David compare God to in verses 3-4?

Note the reflections of verse 3 lead to the ________________________ of verse 4!

God is everywhere, but these words mean even more to those who intentionally ________________ near to God and sense Him raising His “wing” to let us underneath!

Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” -James 4:8a

David continues his testimony in the first person in verse 5, which is why I put it with verses 3-4 as testimony.

Vows are serious commitments made to the Lord that we want to carry out by faith in Him and through the _____________________________ of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

The Hebrew word for heritage is the word yerussa (H3425), and occurs 14 times in the Old Testament. It is translated as possession, inheritance, and heritage. It is used primarily of the Promised Land as _______________________’s possession.

According to Ephesians 1:3, how has God blessed believers in Jesus Christ?

With ________________________ spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

A sweet ___________________________ V. 6-8

David led a hard life and then died when he was 70 years old (2 Sam. 5:4-5). That was a long life by their standards, but I think David has in mind __________________________ life, as in Psalm 23 – I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever!

David asks for God’s Hesed (mercy, steadfast love) and God’s Emets (Truth, faithfulness) to be given him and ______________________ him.

AHA! Here we see that one of David’s vows was to daily ________________________ the Lord! May we make that one of ours as well!