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Will Overstreet
Jesus and the Psalms
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The book of Psalms is an incredible book for us to study through these next few weeks. Not only is Psalms filled with powerful prayers and songs but we are also pointed to Christ. I want you to pray and ask God to open your heart to how we can learn more about Christ through these passages in Psalms.
Week 1: The first thing we will find in the book of Psalms is our need for Jesus. We find this in Psalm 40. Everyone of us has been seperated from God because of our sin. Psalms 40 shows us this through the words of David. David confesses that he was pulled out of a pit, out of the mud and the mire. Our sin has put us in a pit and it is impossible for us to pull ourselves out on our own. We need Jesus. Psalms 40 not only shows our need for Jesus but also reveals what happens when Jesus comes. He rescues us and He changes us. “He set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.” Jesus rescues and restores. This is something that we all need.
Week 2: This week we will look at Jesus our Shepherd. Psalm 23 reveals to us the truth of Jesus as our Shepherd. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Because Jesus is our Shepherd He also becomes our provider and our protector. We have all we need in Him. David goes on to say that he leads us to green pastures and to still waters. These provide our daily needs. Verse 4 reveals Jesus as our protector, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” No matter how difficult life may seem, Jesus is with us. He provides protection for those He loves and shepherds. This is a truth that maybe some of you need to hear. Maybe you are going through some very difficult trials, know that you are not alone. Maybe you are struggling financially, know that Jesus is your provider. Have you allowed Him to be your shepherd?
Week 3: This week we will look at Jesus our King. Psalm 45 reveals Jesus as King. In the first 2 verses we see the beauty of our King. Verses 3-5 reveals His strength. Our king is both glorious and strong. This calls for our worship and devotion. The world wants us to give our worship to things that don’t matter. Jesus as King will never fail. He is glorious and strong. He will conquer and reign forever. When we look at this psalm we see in verse 6 and 7 that Jesus is eternal and righteous, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness; you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.” He is worth of our worship.
Week 4: This is our last week to study the psalms together. We will look at Jesus as our sufferer. If Jesus had not suffered for us on the cross He could not have been our rescuer, our shepherd, or our king. We find this in psalm 22. Verse 1 is one we all are familiar with Jesus quoting on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This is a psalm of suffering. It points to Jesus as our suffering Savior. This verse points to the humanity of Christ as He suffered and it also points to His diety as He became our sacrifice for us on the cross. What Jesus did on the cross for us was done for the glory of God. It caused excruciating pain and suffering to Jesus. He took our place on the cross and through the resurrection He becomes our Rescuer/Restorer, our Shepherd, and our King. He suffered because God loved us so much that He sent Jesus, while we were sinners, to satisfy His wrath. What a gracious, loving, God we serve.
I hope you all enjoyed our brief look in to the Psalms. I want to encourage you to dive deeper into this great book and see Christ throughout. Richard Belcher has written a book that will be helpful in helping you understand the book of Psalms and how they relate to Christ. The title of his book is The Messiah and the Psalms. If I can help in any way please let me know.
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1 day ago
RE: Jesus and the Psalms
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,
Thank you for your post this week. I appreciate that you presented your plan as if you were giving a brief summary of each lesson. Your desire to demonstrate Jesus through each characteristic in the Psalms is a great idea as well. I can’t recall if the Discussion Board Topic limits the lenght of the study, but if it does not, in a real Sunday School I would encourage you to stretch the length of this class by at least four more weeks. If you want to share Jesus from the Psalms, it would be very helpful to follow Belcher’s advice and begin with the historical and literary context of each Psalm to establish how it effected the Hebrew people, then demonstrating how Christ is the ultimat fulfillment of that.
Each of your lessons look as though they would be excellent sermon topics, and that is fantastic. If I may humbly suggest one more thing, having taught adult Sunday School and acted as pupit supply for roughly ten years now, I have learned that a Sunday School class should serve to educate as well as feed. In this way, there is normally more emphasis available on literary style and contextual issues within Sunday School than you may see in a sermon. If you do end up teaching a class like this, I would just encourage you to seek to teach the class as much as possible about the Psalms in addition to showing them Christ.
God Bless,
