Discussion Questions

Sermon Overview:

Respond to God's greatness with joy and submission from a trusting heart.

Digging Deeper:

Read Psalm 95

1. Psalm 95:1-5 calls God's people to rejoice in him as our sovereign Savior. What does that look like? What are some of the concrete pieces of evidence we might point to in our lives that would reveal a joy in God (or lack thereof)?

2. How do you find the world around you calling for your attention and affection?

3. What are some of the ways we can be aware of and fight against the allurements of the world, the flesh, and the devil? What strategies have you found effective in your own fight for joy in God?

4. What is the (grammatical) relationship between verses 1-2 and verses 3-5? (Note well the first word of v. 3.) What is our take-away?

5. Pastor Brett helped us see from vv. 6-7a that God calls us to submit ourselves to our attentive Shepherd. How does a keen awareness of God’s tender care for us help us humbly submit our lives to him?

6. Are there areas of your life that you are perhaps not fully submitting to God? What would it look like for you to (more fully) submit every aspect of your life to God?

7. In Psalm 95:7b-11 God calls us to trust him, the Faithful One, who always keeps his promises to his people. Why is it hard to trust God and his promises?

8. This final Section of Psalm 95 is a warning to us. It is a call for us to guard against hardening our hearts. Why should we see this warning as God's kindness to us? Are there ways you have seen God use his warnings as a means of grace in your life or in the lives of those around you? Please share.

9. In 1 Corinthians 10:11, we read "Now these things happened to (the people of Israel) as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. (See also 1 Cor. 10:6). It is clear that God wants us to learn (receive instruction) from the example of the people of Israel as recorded for us in the Old Testament. How does this passage help us apply the message of Psalm 95:7b-11?

Prayer