When I Am Afflicted, Psalm 102

Co-teacher Randy Stewart posted his PowerPoint slides for the lesson, "When I Am Afflicted."

When I Have Sinned, Psalm 51

Lifeway Explore the Bible lessons last covered Psalms in 2004. The study focused on Psalm 51, which is the passage for this week's lesson, "When I Have Sinned." I posted my PowerPoint slides for that lesson in hopes they would help you prepare this week.

FYI: I have an excruciating travel schedule over the next five weeks and will not be able to post as I normally do. Please chime in however, and add your comments to help other teachers prepare.

When I Need Comfort, Psalm 23

Co-teacher Randy Stewart is on the ball this week and has already posted his PowerPoint slides for this week's lesson, "When I Need Comfort," based on Psalm 23. Thanks Randy!

God is the Greatest, Psalm 135:13-18

Step 4 of the lesson, “God is Great,” calls attention to the lifelessness of idols. Images made by man can’t speak, see, or hear because they are dead.

One of the great mysteries of science is the origin of life, but some scientists expect to create life within 10 ten years. Others think man has already created life. I suspect this frontier is a quest for greatness. Imagine how a secular world might glorify a scientist who is able to create life. His or her renown as the greatest would be sealed for generations to come.

His/Herwork would be quickly extended by others to create communicating life forms that could signal information and receive messages. Eventually engineers would be able scale up and animate these life forms in ways that would be visible to ordinary people. These creatures would be idolized for the functions they perform. Eventually they too would be idolized by humans because Romans 1:20-23 is true.

However, because these creations can be totally understood by the human mind they are not God. He is the greatness that no one can fathom (Psa 145:3).

God is Great, Psalm 135:5-12

Teaching step 3 of the lesson, “God is Great,” focuses on God’s greatness in creation and history. I think you can make this part of the lesson interesting by relating key facts about natural events (as suggested in the LifeWay Adult Commentary).

But keeping to the theme of also teaching correlating truths, relate Mark 9:33-34 with a focus on the argument about who is the greatest. Lead a discussion about greatness using this article and this article.

God is good, Psalm 135:1-4

In step 2 of the lesson, “God is Great,” verses 1-4 of Psalm 135 indicate we should praise God because He is good. Sometimes when you are teaching a passage like this, you can take the opportunity to teach a correlating truth found in another part of Scripture.

For example, Psalm 105 in last Sunday’s lesson mentioned Abraham’s descendants. I took the opportunity to teach the truth of Rom 4:16 to help listeners apply the verses personally.

This week, you could teach the correlating truth that Jesus is good, too. Relate Mark 10:18 and ask if Jesus was teaching that he is not good? Explain there is difference between man’s standard of goodness and God’s standard (see this link), and that Jesus as God is good.

As an alternative, perhaps you can take an opportunity to teach about how the temple was structured. Its courts and are mentioned in Psalm 135:2. How was the temple organized to bring praise to God? As God’s temple today, how should Christians praise God?

God is Great, Psalm 135

I’m enjoying teaching the Psalms. This week we teach Psalm 135 in a lesson titled “God is Great”. The link points to Mark Rathel’s commentary where we are reminded of what worship is. I liked his definition of Hallelujah since we often sing it without realizing what it means.

When I first started teaching adult Life Group classes (Sunday School), my department director, Jack Longgrear, would bring the class to attention by quoting Psalm 118:24, “This is a day that the Lord hath made, let’s rejoice and be glad in it.”

Do you have a signature verse that you quote to start your lesson? If not, may I suggest Proverbs 22:17-19? Consider calling your class to attention by quoting v19, “So that your trust may be in the LORD, I teach you today, even you.” If you are consistent, your class will learn the verse, too.

Quoting v19 fits with the lesson since we want to place our trust in our Great God, the LORD.