Category Archives: Calvary Institute – Restoration

1 Peter 1:1-12 – What is God up to? May 6, 2018

Download discussion questions:  1 Peter 1:1-12

The fourth and last of the four core commitments at Calvary Restoration Church is to “go show and tell the gospel boldly.”  Naturally, it is critical that we know what the gospel is.  What is it we are to be going showing and telling boldly?  What is God’s mission that we are to be carrying out?

Someone in our group suggested that some background about the passage might be helpful.  The book of 1 Peter is a letter written by the follower of Jesus, probably about thirty years after the events recorded in the gospels.  The recipients listed in verse 1 are in regions scattered across modern-day Turkey.  As a member of our group mentioned, these people may have had Jewish heritage, but they were a long way from Jerusalem, living in a very foreign culture.  Peter, after several decades of following the Lord, was writing to instruct and encourage believers in difficult circumstances.

Four Core Commitments

A brief review will help put our study in context.  We have been approaching the four core commitments with questions:

  1. Who is this God whom we are to worship passionately?
  2. Who are we that we might be able to connect authentically?
  3. How does God’s Spirit work so we can know Him deeply?
  4. What is God’s mission for us to show and tell boldly?

What is God’s mission for us to show and tell boldly?

After looking at the passage (1 Peter 1:1-12) individually for a few minutes, we began our discussion from the perspective of an inquirer.  Suppose a person investigating Christianity came to you asking about this passage (think of the Ethiopian and Philip in Acts 8, “How can I understand this?”).  How would you use this text to explain the gospel?

Several people pointed out the core elements of the gospel:

  • The cleansing or sprinkling with the blood of Jesus (v. 2)
  • The suffering of Jesus (v. 11)
  • God’s plan (v. 2) prophesied long ago (v. 10)
  • God’s mercy (v. 3)
  • The protection provided by God (v. 5)
  • The permanent and secure promises (v. 4)
  • The resurrection of Jesus (v. 3)
  • The importance of the preached message (v. 12)
  • The need to be born again (v. 3)

We also noted the realistic reminder that Peter offers, that the Christian life includes trials that can seem like testing by fire (v. 6).  Yet one of the most exciting statements in the passage, just after the reminder about difficulties, is the assurance of “praise and glory and honor” accompanied by “joy inexpressible.”  Peter describes a life in which any suffering or sorrows are ultimately outweighed by a joy and delight that is beyond words.

In our discussion, one person commented that this text reflects complex writing, expressing ideas and depth that would seem beyond the capabilities of a simple fisherman.  Perhaps thirty years of following the Lord by the guidance of the Holy Spirit and leading the church had such an effect.  Peter is a good example of the fact that a PhD is not a requirement for theological depth and helping others to be spiritually formed.

Later in the chapter, Peter continues:

22 Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, 23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For,

“All flesh is like grass,
And all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
And the flower falls off,
25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.”

And this is the word which was preached to you.  (1 Peter 1:22-25)

All through the first twelve verses (the passage we looked at), Peter has been addressing a corporate group (“you” plural throughout).  Now he explicitly says that the belief (“obedience to the truth”) was “for a sincere love of the brethren” – literally, “into a sincere love…” (εἰς , eis).  He also continues his earlier emphasis on the importance of the message that was preached to them (v. 25), resulting in their belief.

What Peter says in chapter 1 builds to his climax in chapter 2:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)

Clearly the message and the results that Peter is describing are not individualistic, but corporate.  The gospel does far more than save individuals.  The gospel creates a people – a race or nation as distinct as any other, bound together in unity as priests with direct access to God.  Furthermore, in this statement Peter continues the theme of proclamation.  Now his emphasis is not on what was proclaimed to his readers (as in 1:12 and 1:25), but rather on the opportunity that they have to proclaim the message together to others (2:9).

Peter’s theme is a message that creates a diverse unity of different persons bound together to proclaim joyful good news to others.  That theme grows directly out of the nature of the God described by the message.  From the beginning of his letter (1 Peter 1:2), Peter bases his description on the work of the Three-Personal God, each Person having distinct functions in the united and harmonious task They share:

  • The foreknowledge of the Father
  • The sanctifying or purifying work of the Spirit
  • The atoning blood of the Son

Their perfect harmony and agreement and shared joy results in their work in our lives.  They have shared infinitely joyful relationships for eternity.  That joy never had a beginning, there was never a time when They were not jubilantly delighted with each other.  The ancient church used the word perichoresis (“dancing around”) to describe the eternal, joyful interactions of the Triune God.  That dance overflows into Their self-giving to others to share that joy.

The people or nation or race created by the gospel is just the beginning of that shared joy.  Peter provides more detail in his second letter:

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.  For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.  (2 Peter 1:2-4)

The overflowing joy of the Trinity draws humans created in that Divine image into a shared fellowship (“partakers” is another translation of koinonoi, κοινωνοὶ, “sharers,” or “fellowshippers”).  We do not become “gods” in some New Age or pagan sense, but we are drawn into the dance together.  We corporately share in fellowship together and with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – “that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me” (John 17:21).  The message of the gospel draws us to the Triune God and creates a body of united believers, and that unified body is itself a powerful message to the world of the truth of the gospel.

The communion of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is indeed ineffable, yet so attractive to us in our personal aloneness….  Yet in God we are both individuated and yet united in the divine fellowship into which we are called.[1]

In our fractured and isolated and divided world, unity in diversity (“individuated and yet united”) is indeed a very attractive quality.  There is an inherent desire for that kind of “relational beauty” in humans created in the image of the Three-Personal God.  The cultural emphasis on tolerance reflects that longing.  However, in most cases, modern “tolerance” falls short, tolerating those in agreement.  Challenging differences are disparaged or repulsed.  Knowing the God as Triune may be a prerequisite for genuine unity in diversity:

Oneness for the single-person God would mean sameness. Alone for eternity without any beside him, why would he value others and their differences? Think how it works out for Allah: under his influence, the once-diverse cultures of Nigeria, Persia and Indonesia are made, deliberately and increasingly, the same. Islam presents a complete way of life for individuals, nations and cultures…. Oneness for the triune God means unity. As the Father is absolutely one with his Son, and yet is not his Son, so Jesus prays that believers might be one, but not that they might all be the same. Created male and female, in the image of this God, and with many other good differences between us, we come together valuing the way the triune God has made us each unique.[2]

Neither the isolation of individualism nor the uniformity of collectivism fulfill human personhood created in the image of Three Persons.  God’s message of salvation is neither individualistic nor collective.  We are not saved by ourselves, and we are not saved to become exactly the same.  We are drawn into the fellowship of the Triune God together with others to become fully ourselves.

Until you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self. Sameness is to be found most among the most ‘natural’ men, not among those who surrender to Christ. How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been: how gloriously different are the saints.[3]

That eternal participation in the fellowship of the Trinity begins now in our fellowship with each other.  Those relationships form a key element in the “sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:2).  As we become like Him, we are able to share in the “inexpressible joy.”  That joy overflows as we “go show and tell boldly” of the Triune God who desires to draw others into Their joyful, eternal dance.

God is glorifying Himself by preparing people who live and love like Jesus did.  Our part is to model and communicate the joy and community He calls people into.


[1] James M. Houston, “The Nature and Legitimacy of Spiritual Theology”, Spiritual Theology: The Kingdom of God in Daily Life, address given at Regent College, 1990, https://www.regentaudio.com/products/spiritual-theology-the-kingdom-of-god-in-daily-life retrieved May 24, 2018.

[2] Michael Reeves, Delighting in the Trinity:  An Introduction to the Christian Faith (Downers Grove, Illinois:  InterVarsity Academic, 2012), 103-104; Kindle Edition, location 1592.

[3] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York:  HarperCollins e-books, 2009), 226; Kindle Edition location 2763.

Jeremiah 2 – What is the Spirit Doing? May 20, 2018

Download discussion questions:  Jeremiah 2

One of the comments after last week’s discussion was that we seemed to get “lost in the weeds” a bit, that our conversation was somewhat scattered in many different directions.  Like many Biblical passages, Genesis 1 provides starting points for a great variety of topics – creation, evolution, ecology, to name just a few.  While my blog entry from the discussion may not have reflected that range of subjects, our hour together certainly did. Continue reading

John 17 – Who Is God? May 6, 2018

Download discussion questions:  John 17
Download summary:  John 17 – Relationships
Listen to Bruce Ware:  “The Trinity of Persons
Listen to Bruce Ware:  “Jesus and the Father”
Listen to Bruce Ware:  “Jesus and the Spirit

Who is this God whom we are to worship passionately?

The first of Calvary Restoration’s Four Core Commitments is that we desire to worship God passionately.  A reasonable question that follows is, “Why?”  Who is this God, and what is there about Him that would draw us to worship Him?  What might inspire passion in our worship for Him? Continue reading

May 2018 Calvary Institute

May 2018 Calvary Institute –

Four Core Commitments:  What does it mean to be a part of Calvary Restoration Church?

What

A study and discussion of the central values of Calvary Restoration Church

When

Starts at 8:30am on Sunday, May 6.

Where

Calvary Restoration Church in Aurora, Colorado

Why

What does it mean to be part of a particular local church?  What values and goals are important?  How does the church help people grow in relationship with God, with each other, and with those around them?

Calvary Restoration has four specific “Core Commitments” which we will explore:

  1. Worship God passionately.
  2. Connect with one another authentically.
  3. Grow to know God deeply.
  4. Go show and tell the gospel boldly.

Our study of Scripture and discussion will approach each of these with a question as a starting point:

  1. Who is this God whom we are to worship passionately?
  2. Who are we that we might be able to connect authentically?
  3. How does God’s Spirit work so we can know Him deeply?
  4. What is God’s mission for us to show and tell boldly?

If you are relatively new to Calvary Restoration, join us to explore more about these foundational elements of the church.  If you have been at Calvary for a long time (maybe from the beginning), join us to share your understanding and experiences.  The goal will be for all of us together to sharpen our thinking about these core commitments.

If you have questions, please contact Mike Wiebe.

Mark 1:1-15 – Charles Simeon – Repentance April 29, 2018

Download discussion questions:  Mark 1:1-15
Listen to John Piper on Simeon

[Because of a computer malfunction, this essay is abbreviated to a few notes.]

In the passage (Mark 1:1-15) John the Baptist and Jesus each begins public ministry with a call to repentance.  What does it mean to repent and believe?  How does that apply to believers?

In the past three weeks we have considered Augustine on joy, Owen on spiritual mindedness, and Jonathan Edwards on beauty.  After all these positive themes, how does repentance form a part of the Christian life?

Introduction

Recall John Owen’s admonition:

“To keep our souls in a constant state of mourning and self-abasement is the most necessary part of our wisdom . . . and it is so far from having any inconsistency with those consolations and joys, which the gospel tenders unto us in believing, as that it is the only way to let them into the soul in a due manner.”[1]

John Piper has an interesting paraphrase of Owen’s words:  “If you don’t keep yourself in a self-abased, mourning frame, you won’t be as happy as you should be.”[2]

Brief Biographical Sketch

Charles Simeon (1759-1836) was an Anglican pastor with evangelical theology (think of a conservative pastor in a liberal, mainline denomination today).  He was a pastor for almost fifty years in a church where most of the people did not want him to be pastor.

In 1782 the bishop appointed Simeon as curate-in-charge at Holy Trinity Church in Cambridge, near the University.  This was not a welcome event to the congregation: like most church congregations at the time, they wanted a preacher who would entertain, instead of one who issued serious exhortations to repent and believe, as Simeon did.[3]

How does a person survive in such a hostile environment?  What advice would Simeon receive today?  Most likely he would be encouraged to work on improving his confidence and self-image, to develop a positive attitude, even to remember how valuable he was to God.

Simeon had a different approach, summarized by John Piper:

Those two things were the heartbeat of Simeon’s inner life: growing downward in humility and growing upward in adoring communion with God.
But the remarkable thing about humiliation and adoration in the heart of Charles Simeon is that they were inseparable. Simeon was utterly unlike most of us today who think that we should get rid once and for all of feelings of vileness and unworthiness as soon as we can. For him, adoration only grew in the freshly plowed soil of humiliation for sin. So he actually labored to know his true sinfulness and his remaining corruption as a Christian[4]

How does that description compare to our thinking about repentance?

Ongoing Repentance

In Mark 1:15 both repenting and believing are present tense verbs suggesting continuing actions.  No one would suggest that belief is a one-time action.  Neither is repentance. Both are ongoing actions throughout the Christian life.  Both verbs are commands (imperative mood) and continuous (present tense).  Repent as a present imperative frequently appears in the New Testament (Matthew 3:2; 4:17; Luke 13:3, 5; see also “repent” in Acts 26:20 as a present infinitive).

Simeon did not use grace as an alternative to repentance, but rather the highest motivation to repentance:

Instead of accounting our acceptance with God a reason for putting off [i.e., getting rid of] this disposition of mind, we should regard it rather as a motive to still deeper humiliation.[5]

He certainly was not making the mistake of thinking his repentance had anything to do with his righteousness before God or the forgiveness of his sin:

He has not appointed repentance to atone for sin… It is only the blood of Christ that can cleanse us from sin… But repentance is necessary in order to prepare our souls for a worthy reception of his divine mercies, and for a suitable improvement of them.[6]

Consider Dante’s conception of purgatory.  The story applies to repentance in this life.  He describes “the ones who are content to burn because they hope to come, whenever it may be, among the blessed.”  (Inferno, I, 118-120).[7]  Even in Dante’s medieval understanding, the point of purgatory (or our repentance) is not to atone for sin.  Repentance (like Dante’s purgatory) helps to remove the lingering effects of sin, obstacles that hinder our fellowship with God.  “Hurry to the mountain and there shed the slough that lets not God be known to you” (Purgatorio, II, 122-123).[8]

Without recognizing and repenting of our sin we can fall into the danger described by C. S. Lewis:

Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of. An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible.[9]

Without ongoing repentance we are likely to minimize our sin and trivialize the compounding effect in our lives.

Deep Repentance

James makes a statement that sounds harsh to our modern ears:

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. James 4:8-10

Now repentance is no fun at all. It is something much harder than merely eating humble pie. It means unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years. It means killing part of yourself, undergoing a kind of death. … Remember, this repentance, this willing submission to humiliation and a kind of death, is not something God demands of you before He will take you back and which He could let you off if He chose: it is simply a description of what going back to Him is like.[10]

Simeon knew that repentance was not a light, frivolous, trivial activity, yet his repentance was not a state of perpetual gloom with a morose countenance.  In contrast, his strong confidence in the forgiveness provided by Jesus’ work made him all the more desirous of repentance to draw nearer to God:

With this sweet hope of ultimate acceptance with God, I have always enjoyed much cheerfulness before men; but I have at the same time laboured incessantly to cultivate the deepest humiliation before God. I have never thought that the circumstance of God’s having forgiven me was any reason why I should forgive myself.[11]

What would it mean not to forgive ourselves?  Is that too harsh?  Is it more harsh than the exhortation from James?

Genuine Repentance

Repentance must be sincere and not superficial.

It must be ingenuous.  There is a sorrow, like that of Felix or Judas, that arises from convictions of the natural conscience, but which ends in despair.[12]

Sincere, “ingenuous” repentance grows out of sorrow over sin, not sorrow over pain, embarrassment, consequences, etc.  “Sorrow” only over pain can result in sin management, being more careful, not getting caught, rationalizing our sin, explaining it away.

For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.  2 Corinthians 7:10

Glorious Repentance

Once again, recall John Owen:  “… the only way to let [those consolations and joy] into the soul in a due manner.”

Simeon, writing a century and a half later, made a similar observation:

I have continually had such a sense of my sinfulness as would sink me into utter despair, if I had not an assured view of the sufficiency and willingness of Christ to save me to the uttermost. And at the same time I had such a sense of my acceptance through Christ as would overset my little bark [boat], if I had not ballast at the bottom sufficient to sink a vessel of no ordinary size.[13]

Simeon’s picture is of a sailing ship with tall masts with billowing sails to catch the wind.  But the wind could topple or capsize the boat unless there was ballast.  The weight deep inside provided stability for the power of the winds to drive the ship safely.  Too often, as Piper says powerfully in his sermon, we continually want to “throw the ballast overboard” and get rid of any thought of our sin or (in Simeon’s words) our vileness before God.  As a result, our worship can become nothing more than good feelings, “emotional froth”[14] that doesn’t last.  That level of response to God cannot sustain us through difficulties.

Piper comments:

If Simeon is right, vast portions of contemporary Christianity are wrong. And I can’t help wondering whether one of the reasons we are emotionally capsized so easily today — so vulnerable to winds of criticism or opposition — is that in the name of forgiveness and grace, we have thrown the ballast overboard.

We lack “greatness and weight of spiritual issues”[15] in favor of Christianity-Lite.  We need ballast to anchor our worship in something other than our emotions and feeling good about God.  The ballast of humility and a sense of our unworthiness magnifies the greatness of God’s grace and love for us.  Without repentance we may be taking our sin lightly, resulting in a superficial appreciation of the grace God has shown us.

Spiritual Repentance

A final warning from Simeon:

Remember not to address yourselves to the work of repentance in your own strength.  For it is God alone who can give it to you.[16]

Our sin is so subtle and twisted that there is a danger of pride in how well we are repenting!  We are a mess.

The response Simeon offers continues to be helpful today:

For nothing except a view of Christ dying for us can ever completely break our obdurate hearts….On the one hand, we are humbled by a sense of our extreme vileness.  On the other, we are overwhelmed with a sense of the Redeemer’s love.  The combination of these two effects constitutes that real shame and sorrow which may be described as “evangelical [gospel] repentance.”[17]

This “view of Christ dying for us” can happen during our “remembrance” as we receive Communion.  The tension Simeon described can provide the ballast to give stability to our exultation in God and His love for us.  May our repentance weave together our sense of the weight of our sin and an overwhelming sense of the Redeemer’s love.


[1] The Works of John Owen, ed. William Goold (Edinburgh:  Banner of Truth, 1965),  VII, p. 532;
quoted in John Piper, Contending for Our All (Wheaton, Illinois:  Crossway Books, 2006), 103.

[2] John Piper, “The Chief Design of My Life: Mortification and Universal Holiness; Reflections on the Life and Thought of John Owen” audio at 1:01:00:   https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-chief-design-of-my-life-mortification-and-universal-holiness . Retrieved April 14, 2018.

[3] http://www.simeontrust.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=310 retrieved April 25, 2018.

[4] John Piper, “Brothers, We Must Not Mind a Little Suffering;  Meditations on the Life of Charles Simeon,”
https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/brothers-we-must-not-mind-a-little-suffering

[5] Charles Simeon, “Repentance” in Evangelical Preaching:  An Anthology of Sermons by Charles Simeon, James M. Houston, ed. (Vancouver, British Columbia:  Regent College Publishing, 1986), 115.

[6] Charles Simeon, “Repentance” in Evangelical Preaching:  An Anthology of Sermons by Charles Simeon, James M. Houston, ed. (Vancouver, British Columbia:  Regent College Publishing, 1986), 117-118.

[7] Dante Alighieri, trans. Robert Hollander and Jean Hollander, The Inferno:  A Verse Translation (New York:  Anchor Books, 2000), 11.

[8] Dante Alighieri, trans. Robert Hollander and Jean Hollander, Purgatorio:  A Verse Translation (New York:  Anchor Books, 2003), 37.

[9] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York:  HarperCollins e-books, 2009), 132; Kindle Edition location 1709.

[10] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York:  HarperCollins e-books, 2009), 56-57; Kindle Edition location 855.

[11] John Piper, “Brothers, We Must Not Mind a Little Suffering;  Meditations on the Life of Charles Simeon,”
https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/brothers-we-must-not-mind-a-little-suffering

[12] Charles Simeon, “Repentance” in Evangelical Preaching:  An Anthology of Sermons by Charles Simeon, James M. Houston, ed. (Vancouver, British Columbia:  Regent College Publishing, 1986), 114.

[13] John Piper, “Brothers, We Must Not Mind a Little Suffering;  Meditations on the Life of Charles Simeon,”
https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/brothers-we-must-not-mind-a-little-suffering

[14] I am indebted to C. S. Lewis for the phrase “emotional froth” although I am using it in a slightly different sense than his original intention.
C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996), 49.

[15] J.I. Packer, “Introduction: Why Preach?” in: The Preacher and Preaching, ed. by Samuel T. Logan Jr.  (Phillipsburg, N.J.:  Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1986), 7.  Quoted by John Piper, “A Passion for Christ-Exalting Power,” http://www.desiringgod.org/biographies/a-passion-for-christ-exalting-power (accessed January 17, 2014).

[16] Charles Simeon, “Repentance” in Evangelical Preaching:  An Anthology of Sermons by Charles Simeon, James M. Houston, ed. (Vancouver, British Columbia:  Regent College Publishing, 1986), 120.

[17] Charles Simeon, “The Means of Evangelical Repentance” in Evangelical Preaching:  An Anthology of Sermons by Charles Simeon, James M. Houston, ed. (Vancouver, British Columbia:  Regent College Publishing, 1986), 122-123.

Romans 7:24 – 8:11 – John Owen: Spiritual Mindedness April 15, 2018

Download discussion questions:  Romans 7:24-1:11
Download highlighted passage:  Romans 7:24-1:11
Listen to John Piper on Owen

After looking at the passage individually for a few minutes, our discussion began with an observation that I had missed.  The section begins with a question about being freed from “this body of death” (Romans 7:24), and it ends with the answer to his own question, “He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies” (8:11).  One consistent characteristic of leading a discussion group in inductive Bible study is the insight from others.  That observation raised the question, “How did Paul get from his question to his answer in this passage?” Continue reading

Psalm 16 – Augustine: Torrents of Thy Pleasures April 8, 2018

Download discussion questions:  Psalm 16
Listen to John Piper on Augustine
Augustine’s Confessions On-Line

After the last four weeks in psalms of lament, today’s text in Psalm 16 offers a contrast, exulting in the joy of the Lord.  After briefly looking at the passage on our own, we started with the question:  “How did David get from ‘Preserve me…’ (v. 1) to ‘…pleasures forevermore’ (v. 11)?” Continue reading

Psalm 22 – Psalms of Suffering and Lament March 25, 2018

Download discussion questions:  Psalm 22

This week’s Calvary Institute discussion on Psalms of Lament was led by Matt, one of the elders at Calvary Restoration Church.  As Matt pointed out, Psalm 22 is best known for its messianic allusions, especially Jesus’ cry on the cross from the first verse of the psalm.  However, he suggested we also look at the passage from the point of view of the original writer and his experience of suffering and his response.  As we read through the psalm individually, Matt encouraged us to look for themes and progression and turning points. Continue reading