One of the main themes in the Psalms is righteousness: God’s attitude toward the righteous and unrighteous, contrasts between the behavior of the righteous and the wicked, and warnings and promises for certain kinds of actions and attitudes. What do the Psalmists consider to be “righteousness,” and why is it so important?
(Preaching on the wisdom of Israel. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on May 4, 2025.)
Songs have a complex relationship with culture; music is both shaped by, and also shapes, the culture in which it is written, and serves as a vehicle for transmitting the norms, values, and ideals of a culture to the next generation. Viewed in this light, it is no wonder that we are instructed to teach and admonish one another with “Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.” What can we learn from the Psalms of Israel, and how does teaching with the Psalms shape the people that are immersed in them?
(Preaching on the wisdom of Israel. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on May 4, 2025.)
2 Samuel 11-16 are the low points of David’s life: sinning with Bathsheba followed by several devastating consequences and the fallout of family discord and civil war. But out of this terrible time comes one of the most powerful Psalms. What can we learn from Psalm 51 and how can we read it prophetically as something we too can pray to God in the depths of our sin and consequence?
(Preaching through the history of early Israel. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on April 20, 2025.)
The book of Psalms has a complicated relationship with foretelling. Some parts of it clearly tell the future in the vein of one of the prophets like Isaiah or Jeremiah, but a lot of the prophecy in the book is more subtle. The Psalms are full of “dual prophetic fulfillment” – prophecy that meant one thing for the original writers and readers, and something else for readers aware of Jesus, the covenant king. How can we come to grips with the dual nature of Psalms, and how can we learn to read the Psalms prophetically in the way that Jesus, his apostles, and early church did?
(Preaching on the wisdom literature. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on April 13, 2025.)
The book of Psalms spans a thousand years of Israelite history, and is the greatest collection of songs and prayers to Yahweh ever assembled. How was this collection assembled, why was it structured the way it was, and how can we begin to use this incredible resource in our own lives?
(Preaching through the wisdom literature. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on April 6, 2025. You can find the chart mentioned below.)
The book of Psalms spans a thousand years of Israelite history, and is the greatest collection of songs and prayers to Yahweh ever assembled. As we begin weaving the Psalms into our reading of the Bible through the year, I hope this overview can help you make sense of the structure and themes of the book.
Watts in the Word 