Pastor Bob Fox
Psalm 33

God wants to give you hope extraordinaire. He wants to lift you above hoping in yourself, in things, in the combined ability of humanity, in political philosophies, or anything else but Him.

Five Important God-facts

1. What God decrees is right: both correct and moral.
2. All God decides to do, He does thoroughly and well.
3. God can only do what is just and “squeaky clean.”
4. God has a long, persistent history of lovingkindness.
5. God bats 1.000! All He decided comes to be.

One Important Me-fact: I have the greatest imaginable blessing. This is the One who chose me and obligated Himself to me, to make me part of His most treasured investment. THIS is my destiny!

Three Important Implications; Or, what to remember on your journey.

1. I can wait: whatever is, I have what I need in Him.
2. I can rejoice: whatever is, is not where He’ll leave me.
3. I dare anticipate good: whatever is, His lovingkindness can shape its outcome.

Listen to Bob.

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Knowing GOD better is one of our biggest goals at RMCC. Reading through your Bible in a year, while a large undertaking, is an excellent way to “zoom out” and get a good look at God.

Many of us, including Elders and Pastors are journeying through the Bible with you this year. If you have questions, as you read, email us at biblequestions@rmcchurch.org or use our contact form and send to Bible Questions.

Stick to it! Keep pursuing God! If you miss a day or two, just pick up where you left off. May God bless you as you seek to know Him better.

As questions are asked and answered, check back here for the posts.

Pastor Carlyle Naylor

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Pastor Bob Fox
Psalm 107

God extends toward humanity a very deep love (chesed).

1. It initiates continuous acts of kindness toward us.
2. These acts are unmerited.
3. This love is never-ending.

Four things must be said about this love of God.

1. God’s love is illustrated in the stories of the people who are in His family.
• a. He has embraced the unloved, those who have nothing to offer.
• b. He has embraced rebels, people who have been deliberately hostile.
• c. He has embraced fools, victims of their own “dumb choices.”
• d. He has embraced those who have buried themselves in “getting theirs.”
2. God in love blesses and disciplines so as to stimulate our attentiveness to eternal matters. So His love shows up in our lives in strange disguises.
3. God’s love brings about two distinct experiences in people.
   • a. Great celebration for those who respond to it.
   • b. A great sense of loss, defeat, and regret for the indifferent.
4. God’s love is part of a healthy perspective on the World and on life.
• a. It is wise to revisit God’s love at work in humanity (Psa 136).
• b. It is wise to analyze the incomprehensible greatness of God’s love (Eph 3:17-19).

Listen to Bob.

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Pastor Carlyle Naylor
John 17:14-16 (NIV)

14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.

Jesus knew the gift of Himself was…

1. Of high value
• It is both priceless and practical
2. Distinctive
• It is both noticed and targeted
3. Diminishable
• It fades overtly and subtly

Tonight at Communion, let’s remember Christ’s gift is…

1. Priceless (we’re “saved” by Christ)
2. Practical (we’re becoming more and more like Christ)
3. Distinctive (we’re being noticed by the world)
4. Replenishable (there much more where that came from)

Listen to Carlyle.

Pastor Bob Fox
Psalm 4

God is the source of a very deep peace that includes the experience of:

1. Completeness―There’s nothing I will need that I will not have.
2. Wholeness―I am right with the Creator of all that is.
3. Unimpaired relationship with God and His family.
4. Fulfillment in my undertakings.

Life’s pressures can divert us from this peace. Psalm 4 is the story of a man recovering it in the midst of great personal trauma. It reveals habits he had that mark out a pathway for us to follow.

1. He had come to know God, and against the trend called out to Him in his distress.
2. He responded to his own anger with:
• a. Self-examination―it makes us humble and teachable.
• b. Silence―it puts us in a position to be ministered to by Yahweh.
3. He had learned peace is cultivated through the things God has prescribed. Continue in them and trust Him with the uncertainty (Psalm 50:14-15).
4. He had learned that only Yahweh was the source of this peace. Expecting it from people will only result in a gloom and doom outlook.
5. He had learned the comparative depth of his own joy and didnít let go of what produced it.

Listen to Bob.

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Pastor Lee Stephenson
Psalm 95:1-7

We will find joy in life when:

1. We turn to God (Yahweh) as our only lifeline.
2. God becomes the focal point of our worship.
3. We recognize God’s kingship in our lives.
4. We accept God as our Maker.
5. We place ourselves under His care, acknowledging Him as our Great Shepherd.

3 things that can kill joy:

• a. Unresolved guilt (Psalm 51:12)
• b. Hard and difficult situations (James 1:2-4)
• c. Damaged Egos (1 Corinthians 1:31, Jeremiah 9:23,24)

Listen to Lee.

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