Citywide Baptist Church
Psalm 116 - Our Promise
Matt talks about his experience of God's faithfulness through the lens of Psalm 116
Locations & Times
Citywide Baptist Church (Mornington)
400 Cambridge Rd, Mornington TAS 7018, Australia
Sunday 10:00 AM
What words or ideas stand out to you in Psalm 116?
https://www.menti.com/alpsjurjhv6vPsalm 16 (what you worship defines you)
Psalm 19 (grounding and God's moral universe),
Psalm 23 (lacking nothing, company in the dark and the incredible future), Psalm 27 (what you focus on).
Psalm 32 (the grace and forgiveness of God)
Psalm 33 Our hope is in God
Psalm 34 We can reach for God in the darkness
Psalm 40 God is our foundation
Today we talk about the experience of grace in the midst of deep tragedy and even death.
Psalm 19 (grounding and God's moral universe),
Psalm 23 (lacking nothing, company in the dark and the incredible future), Psalm 27 (what you focus on).
Psalm 32 (the grace and forgiveness of God)
Psalm 33 Our hope is in God
Psalm 34 We can reach for God in the darkness
Psalm 40 God is our foundation
Today we talk about the experience of grace in the midst of deep tragedy and even death.
Have you ever felt like something happened to derail your whole life?
Psalm 116 is for you.
Psalm 116 is for you.
Psalm 116 is a song of salvation that can only really be understood by those who relate to verses 3 and 4.
Psalm 116 was given as a promise in a passport when there seemed like there was no way forward.
The Miracle of Joey Ramone is a song by U2 that Leeanne printed out the lyrics from and gave to me in the months before we were to move back to Australia to be with Citywide. It showed me that the promise had been fulfilled in ways I hadn't even realised.
The Miracle of Joey Ramone is a song by U2 that Leeanne printed out the lyrics from and gave to me in the months before we were to move back to Australia to be with Citywide. It showed me that the promise had been fulfilled in ways I hadn't even realised.
The experience of trying to do it on my own
I was chasing down the days of fear
Chasing down a dream before it disappeared
I was aching to be somewhere near
Your voice was all I heard
I was shaking from a storm in me
Haunted by the spectres that we had to see
Yeah, I wanted to be the melody
Above the noise, above the hurt
I was young, not dumb
Just wishing to be blinded
By you, brand new
And we were pilgrims on our way
- U2 the miracle of Joey Ramone
I was chasing down the days of fear
Chasing down a dream before it disappeared
I was aching to be somewhere near
Your voice was all I heard
I was shaking from a storm in me
Haunted by the spectres that we had to see
Yeah, I wanted to be the melody
Above the noise, above the hurt
I was young, not dumb
Just wishing to be blinded
By you, brand new
And we were pilgrims on our way
- U2 the miracle of Joey Ramone
God meets us when we cry out in the darkness
Sometimes the darkness is a result of other people's mess
Neither circumstances nor other people can take away God's plan for you. Only you can do that.
When you are going through hell... keep going.
- Winston Churchill
- Winston Churchill
There is a kind of grace that you discover only by going through hell
What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings
Because Grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things
Grace finds beauty
In everything
Grace finds goodness in everything
- Grace by U2
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings
Because Grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things
Grace finds beauty
In everything
Grace finds goodness in everything
- Grace by U2
We are invited to fulfil our promises to God, no matter what circumstances or other people are doing.
Ultimately 100% of us die, and there can be times it can feel like we are experiencing death even while we are alive. God cares.
We are invited to live lives that reflect the miracle of life being found on the other side of death.
Your life will have the greatest impact when you have faced death and found life.
As I read the lyrics of the Miracle of Joey Ramone I began to cry because the chorus described the same thing Ps 116 describes, and it described my experience as I prepared to come back to Australia.
I woke up at the moment
When the miracle occurred
Heard a song that made some sense
Out of the world
Everything I ever lost
Now has been returned
In the most beautiful sound I'd ever heard
We can hear you, hear you
We can year you
We can hear you, hear you
I woke up at the moment
When the miracle occurred
I get so many things I don't deserve
All the stolen voices
Will someday be returned
The most beautiful sound I'd ever heard
Your voices will be heard
Your voices will be heard
I woke up at the moment
When the miracle occurred
Heard a song that made some sense
Out of the world
Everything I ever lost
Now has been returned
In the most beautiful sound I'd ever heard
We can hear you, hear you
We can year you
We can hear you, hear you
I woke up at the moment
When the miracle occurred
I get so many things I don't deserve
All the stolen voices
Will someday be returned
The most beautiful sound I'd ever heard
Your voices will be heard
Your voices will be heard
Satan doesn't get to steal your voice so don't let him.
He wants you to believe that the bad things in your life, the deaths in your life mean you have lost your life. That is a lie.
Lets complete what we promised God we would do and do it in the company of his people.
He wants you to believe that the bad things in your life, the deaths in your life mean you have lost your life. That is a lie.
Lets complete what we promised God we would do and do it in the company of his people.
Small Group Questions:
1) Have someone read Psalm 116 and talk about what parts stand out to each person
2)Have you experienced moments that felt like death? How have you seen God's grace in those moments?
3)How do you respond to the picture of Grace painted by Romans 8:28 that even moments of death are used for good for those who are in Christ Jesus?
4)Matt says we are invited to demonstrate life found on the other side of death? Who are the people you know that have most clearly demonstrated that kind of life?
5) Listen to the U2 songs 'Grace' (from the album 'all you can't leave behind' and 'the miracle of Joey Ramone' (from the album 'Songs of Innocence'). Are there any parts of either song that stand out to you?
1) Have someone read Psalm 116 and talk about what parts stand out to each person
2)Have you experienced moments that felt like death? How have you seen God's grace in those moments?
3)How do you respond to the picture of Grace painted by Romans 8:28 that even moments of death are used for good for those who are in Christ Jesus?
4)Matt says we are invited to demonstrate life found on the other side of death? Who are the people you know that have most clearly demonstrated that kind of life?
5) Listen to the U2 songs 'Grace' (from the album 'all you can't leave behind' and 'the miracle of Joey Ramone' (from the album 'Songs of Innocence'). Are there any parts of either song that stand out to you?