Preparing for Sunday - Psalms 1-150

July 2, 2015 by Bret Capranica Preparing for Sunday

This Sunday we pick up with our summer tour through the Old Testament. This summer we will be concentrating on the poetic books. This week we will look at Psalms.
Psalms is divided into five sections. Glancing through the chapters, you can locate all five divisions. Book I: 1-41; Book II: 42-72; Book III: 73-89; Book IV: 90-106; Book V: 91-150. Read the first and last psalms of each section and note what you see as a potential emphases of each section; differences or similarities of each section.
Read Psalms 1 & 2. What are the major themes in these two psalms? These two comprise an introduction to the whole book. What do you learn about the book of Psalms from these two?
Read Psalm 146-150. How does the book end? What is it emphasizing? How does this help you to identify the major themes of the book as a whole?
Glance through some of the superscriptions (the titles that come before many of the psalms, but not those placed there by the editors of your Bible) of a few psalms from each section. List some of the authors you see. What else do you learn about some of these psalms from these short titles?

In your opinion, why is the book of Psalms so well loved?
Randomly pick another psalm out of each of the five sections. As you read it, what human emotions do you find? What motivates those emotions? What do you learn about God in these particular psalms? What do you learn about the writer's relationship with God and his experience of life in respect to God?
What do you learn about living life in light of God from the emotions expressed and the characteristics of God described?
How could this book impact your personal prayer life? How you pray with others? How you pray during a church gathering?

How could this book affect your approach to worshipping with God's people this week?
How should you view and respond to the events of your week in light of what you have read in this book? Are there specific sins to confess? Praises to express? Thanksgivings to make?
The psalms are a book of prayers and songs. As you consider what we will be singing this week, what will we be singing about God? Can you find some of these themes in the book of psalms? How will you sing them with the church this week?
Pray for those who will be leading our gathering this week: Dawson Bryant, music; Brandon Ferguson, Elders' prayer and Scripture reading; Bret Capranica, teaching.
Review and meditate on the lyrics of the songs we will sing this week. Listen to each of them so that you know them well enough to sing with understanding and zeal.