The Wonderful Works of God

Download MP3
Speaker: Tyler Estes
Scripture: Psalm 95
August 31, 2025

Psalm 95: Oh come, let us sing to the Lord;
    let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
    let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
For the Lord is a great God,
    and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth;
    the heights of the mountains are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it,
    and his hands formed the dry land.

Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
    let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
For he is our God,
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear his voice,
     do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
    as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your fathers put me to the test
    and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
For forty years I loathed that generation
    and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
    and they have not known my ways.”
Therefore I swore in my wrath,
    “They shall not enter my rest.”

Sermon Outline

1. An invitation to worship

• A corporate invitation

• A kingly invitation

• A pastoral invitation

2. A warning against hard hearts: seeing the hand of God

• In his works of creation and providence

• In his work of salvation

• In the work of the church

“On my way, the thunder and lightning were renewed; but there being no rain, I kept on, and, blessed be God's good providence, arrived safe at the vicarage. The Lord preserved me from a slavish fear; but I felt a very desirable awe on my mind, even such as I would always wish to feel, on such a commanding occasion. I conversed much with God in mental prayer, and desire to bless his name, that the awful manifestations of his power were not commissioned either to hurt or destroy. I have heard much louder thunder; but never, I believe, saw such prodigious lightning; unless my being more exposed to it, than I ever was before, makes me think so.

Thou, O Lord, commandest the waters; it is the glorious God who maketh the thunder: and (adored be the riches of thy mercy) it was Thou who didst bid the lightnings alarm, but prohibit them to strike. O take me, and seal me thine for ever!” — Augustus Montague Toplady, Memoirs (1825)

A Morning Meditation (in the midst of misery)

Download MP3
Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: Psalm 3
July 6, 2025

2 Samuel 12: Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own. This is what the Lord says: “Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you.”

Sermon Outline

1. The lament of troubles rising (vs. 1-2)

2. The cry of the psalmist resting (vs. 3-6)

3. The petition of the LORD reigning (vs. 7-8)

• The crime: 2 Samuel 11

• The verdict: 2 Samuel 12:1-15

• The insurrection: 2 Samuel 15:13-23

Psalm 3: “Oh Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, “There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah

But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah

I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.

Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked.

Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people! Selah”

Sermon Outline

1. Introduction

• The “front door”

• The structure

• The main idea

2. The lament of troubles rising

• The context

• A prayer out of pain upon pain

• Troubles can take the form of false narratives

3. The cry of the psalmist resting

• God’s sovereign protection

• God’s eternal significance

• God’s attentive care

4. The petition to the Lord reigning

• King David’s son problem

• King David’s sin problem

• King David’s divine descendant

• Two questions

Truly God is Good

Download MP3
Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: Psalm 73
June 8, 2025

Psalm 73: Truly God is good to Israel,
    to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
    my steps had nearly slipped.
For I was envious of the arrogant
    when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

For they have no pangs until death;
    their bodies are fat and sleek.
They are not in trouble as others are;
    they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
Therefore pride is their necklace;
    violence covers them as a garment.
Their eyes swell out through fatness;
    their hearts overflow with follies.
They scoff and speak with malice;
    loftily they threaten oppression.
They set their mouths against the heavens,
    and their tongue struts through the earth.
Therefore his people turn back to them,
    and find no fault in them.
And they say, “How can God know?
    Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
Behold, these are the wicked;
    always at ease, they increase in riches.
All in vain have I kept my heart clean
    and washed my hands in innocence.
For all the day long I have been stricken
    and rebuked every morning.
If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
    I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

But when I thought how to understand this,
    it seemed to me a wearisome task,
until I went into the sanctuary of God;
    then I discerned their end.

Truly you set them in slippery places;
    you make them fall to ruin.
How they are destroyed in a moment,
    swept away utterly by terrors!
Like a dream when one awakes,
    O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
When my soul was embittered,
    when I was pricked in heart,
I was brutish and ignorant;
    I was like a beast toward you.

Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
    you hold my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
    and afterward you will receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
    And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is the strength[b] of my heart and my portion forever.

For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
    you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
But for me it is good to be near God;
    I have made the Lord God my refuge,
    that I may tell of all your works.

Sermon Outline

1. Psalm 73

• Theme

• Structure

• Main idea

2. The slippery slope of jealousy

• Observing prosperity can bring the feeling of vanity

3. The wise way of discernment

• Prioritizing gathering

• Discerning the ending

• Instructing our longing

4. The real refuge of God’s nearness

Zion Secure

Download MP3
Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: Psalm 48:1-14
June 9, 2024

Psalm 48:1-14: Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised
    in the city of our God!
His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation,
    is the joy of all the earth,
Mount Zion, in the far north,
    the city of the great King.
Within her citadels God
    has made himself known as a fortress.

For behold, the kings assembled;
    they came on together.
As soon as they saw it, they were astounded;
    they were in panic; they took to flight.
Trembling took hold of them there,
    anguish as of a woman in labor.
By the east wind you shattered
    the ships of Tarshish.
As we have heard, so have we seen
    in the city of the Lord of hosts,
in the city of our God,
    which God will establish forever. Selah

We have thought on your steadfast love, O God,
    in the midst of your temple.
As your name, O God,
    so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is filled with righteousness.
    Let Mount Zion be glad!
Let the daughters of Judah rejoice
    because of your judgments!

Walk about Zion, go around her,
    number her towers,
consider well her ramparts,
    go through her citadels,
that you may tell the next generation
   that this is God,
our God forever and ever.
    He will guide us forever.

Sermon Outline

1. In the Bible, God actually praises Zion

• What is meant by “Zion?”

• Zion is praised for its beauty

• Zion is is the “far north”

2. Zion is wonderfully protected by God

3. God’s protection of Zion is meant to help its citizens experience him for themselves

• People need to go through hard times to experience God’s help

• God wants us to remember what he did

• We’re to rejoice in God’s judgments

4. To aid our recall, God urges us to ponder the church we are in

5. He will guide us even to death

Where Are You Hiding?

Download MP3
Speaker: Dr. Rick Horne
Scripture: Psalm 11
May 5, 2024

Psalm 11: The LORD Is in His Holy Temple

To the choirmaster. Of David.

In the LORD I take refuge; how can you say to my soul, “Flee like a bird to your mountain, for behold, the wicked bend the bow; they have fitted their arrow to the string to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart; if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD’s throne is in heaven, his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man. The LORD tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup. For the LORD is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.

Sermon Outline

1. David wants to hide

• Why so much attention to hiding?

• David hides when there are threats... he was at war; so are you at war

• Many descriptions of the Christian life have reference to spiritual warfare

2. David finds his safety “in the LORD”

• YHWH — the Redeemer

• Jesus identifies Himself as YHWH

• “Refuge” is for those who are in Christ, not those who just know about him

3. David gets misleading advice

• Their advice was sincere

• Their advice was logical

• Their advice was filled with urgency

• Their advice was contrary to trust in God’s promise

• Who do you look to for your counsel for hiding?

4. David hides by faith — in the secure refuge of God’s provision

• YHWH is secure

• YHWH has a plan and a timetable

• YHWH treats His people with parental love

• This leads to a sobering teaching

Problem, Prayer, Promise, and Paradox

Download MP3
Speaker: Tyler Estes
Scripture: Psalm 12
April 7, 2024

Psalm 12: Save, O LORD, for the godly one is gone; for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man. Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts, those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is master over us?”

“Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the LORD; “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.” The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.

You, O LORD, will keep them; you will guard us from this generation forever. On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the children of man.

Sermon Outline

1. David laments the problem of living in a lying society

• David observes part of the problem is that something absent should be present

• David observes another part of the problem is that something present should be absent

• David observes that the flatterers are arrogant

• David observes that the problem is pervasive

2. David prays for God to intervene

3. The promise and provision of God’s word

• When God says He will act, it is as good as done

• Consider your Bible: God speaks to you through this book

• The word of God is pure

• The word of God is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness

4. Note the paradox at the end

• God’s promise and the present reality

• What do we make of “I will now arise?”

5. Applications

• Do not despair

• Do not abandon the word of God

• Do not exalt wickedness

• Instead of exalting wickedness, exalt goodness

The Lord Builds the House

Download MP3
Speaker: Clint Estes
Scripture: Psalm 127
April 23, 2023

Psalm 127: Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat — for he grants sleep to those he loves.

Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.

Sermon Outline

1. Life is futile without the Lord

• House

• City

• Children

• Anxious toil

• Application

2. Life is fertile with the Lord

• Children

• Sleep

• Application

3. The Lord will build his house

• Solomon's temple

• Failure of others

• Fulfilled in Jesus

• The church

We Are Glad!

Download MP3
Speaker: Wendell Stoltzfus
Scripture: Psalm 126
April 2, 2023

Psalm 126: When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
    we were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
    and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then they said among the nations,
    “The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord has done great things for us;
    we are glad.

Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
    like streams in the Negeb!
Those who sow in tears
    shall reap with shouts of joy!
He who goes out weeping,
    bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
    bringing his sheaves with him.

Sermon Outline

Introduction: "He never committed a pleasure"

• Ellen Glasgow's father

• Martin Luther's colleague

1. We are glad! (v. 3b)

• Psalm 126 is a Luther-type psalm

• In the Bible, the chief characteristic of the Christian pilgrimage is gladness and joy

  • Not the gladness of lightheartedness

2. Joy past (vv. 1-3a)

• In the OT, there are many times where God restored His people in hopeless situations

• The ultimate fulfillment of these verses comes later, with Christ

3. Joy future (vv. 4-6)

• In this psalm, two images express the joy or anticipation in a seemingly hopeless situation

• The joy of anticipating what God is going to do -- based on what God has already done -- comes in the context of the pain, suffering, loneliness, of life in this fallen world

4. Conclusion: Joy present

• First Application: Psalm 126 teaches us how to read the Bible

• Second Application: A thought exercise

• Think of a giant scale

• On one side, put all of your stinking circumstances

• On the other side, put all that God has done for you in Jesus Christ

• See which side outweighs the other

• Consider that all the stuff on the hardship side is part of your preparation for God's eternal kingdom

• The Verdict found in God's Word

  • Romans 8:18: For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Help with Being Holy: When My Sanctification Is Stuck

Download MP3
Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: Psalm 130:1-8
November 13, 2022

Psalm 130:1-8: Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
     O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
    to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
    O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
    that you may be feared.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
    and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
    more than watchmen for the morning,
    more than watchmen for the morning.

O Israel, hope in the Lord!
    For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
    and with him is plentiful redemption.
And he will redeem Israel
    from all his iniquities.

Sermon Outline

1. Psalmist's situation: "Out of the depths..."

• Description of depths

• Result of depths

2. Psalmist "cries out"

3. Psalmist waits for the Lord

4. What waiting looks like

• Psalmist waits intensely

• Psalmist reminds himself of what he knows of God

  • Forgiveness

  • Unfailing love

• Psalmist helps others before he gets relief

Closing song: "Tired" by Linda Rich

Benediction

Now to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,... to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. — paraphrased from Revelation 1:5-6

True Blessing: Fear God

Download MP3
Speaker: Dave Royes
Scripture: Psalm 2
July 10, 2022

Why do the nations rage
    and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
    and the rulers take counsel together,
    against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
“Let us burst their bonds apart
    and cast away their cords from us.”

He who sits in the heavens laughs;
    the Lord holds them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
    and terrify them in his fury, saying,
“As for me, I have set my King
    on Zion, my holy hill.”

I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
    today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
    and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron
    and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”

Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
    be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear,
    and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son,
    lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
    for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Sermon Outline

Notes:

1. The world speaks (vs. 1-3)

2. God speaks (vs. 4-6)

• His reign is sovereign

• His wrath is real

3. The Son speaks (vs. 7-9)

• The Christ has come

4. The Spirit speaks (vs. 10-12)

Faith Over Doubt and Anxiety

Download MP3
Speaker: Carroll G. Wynne
Scripture: Psalm 3
March 20, 2022

Psalm 3: “Oh Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, “There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah

But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah

I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.

Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked.

Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people! Selah”

Sermon Outline

1. David's Difficult Place (vv. 1-2)

2. David's Four-Point Sermon (vv.3-4)

• "You, O Lord, are a shield about me."

• "You, O Lord, are my glory.”

• "You, O Lord, are the lifter of my head."

• "You, O Lord, are the hearer of my cries."

3. The King's Benediction (vv. 5-8)

The Friendship of the Lord is for Those Who Fear Him

Download MP3
Speaker: Rick Renninger
Scripture: Psalm 25
January 23, 2022

Sermon Outline

1. Psalm 25 uses chiasm (a literary device in which a sequence of ideas is presented and then repeated in reverse order)

2. Creative outline that shows the chiasm of Psalm 25 as a flight of stairs going up and then down:

D. Pardon my iniquity
(v. 11)

C. Growing confidence C. Growing confidence
(v. 8-10) (v. 12-14)

B. Wanting insight and recalling B. Still waiting in faith but with
the LORD’s faithfulness increased distress
(v. 4-7) (v. 15-18)

A. Waiting on Yahweh in confident A. Waiting on Yahweh in the
trust in the face of his enemies face of his enemies
(v. 1-3) (v. 19-22)

We can also view it more like a ladder:
A. Waiting on Yahweh with confident trust in the face of his enemies (v. 1-3)
B. Wanting insight and recalling the LORD's faithfulness (v. 4-7)
C. Growing confidence (v. 8-10)
D. Pardon my iniquity (v. 11)
C. Growing confidence (v. 12-14)
B. Still waiting in faith but with increased distress (v. 15-18)
A. Waiting on Yahweh in the face of his enemies (v. 19-22)

Singing and Praying, about Your Leaders

Download MP3
Speaker: Wendell Stoltzfus
Scripture: Psalm 125
December 26, 2021

Psalm 125: “Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people, from this time forth and forevermore. For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous, lest the righteous stretch out their hands to do wrong. Do good, O LORD, to those who are good, and to those who are upright in their hearts! But those who turn aside to their crooked ways the LORD will lead away with evildoers! Peace be upon Israel!”

Sermon Outline

• Those who trust in God are secure because God is immovable.

• God surrounds the church, just as the mountains surrounded Jerusalem.

• Bad rulers come and go, but the sovereign God is forever.

• Pray for leaders.

The World in an Uproar

Download MP3
Speaker: Dr. Steven Lawson
Scripture: Psalm 2:1-12
September 26, 2021

This One and That One Were Born in Zion

Download MP3
Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: Psalm 87
August 15, 2021

Everyday Joys

Download MP3
Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: Psalm 128
August 8, 2021

When the Bible Makes You Feel Guilty

Download MP3
Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: Psalm 19:12-14
November 22, 2020

The Gospel of the Blessed Man

Download MP3
Speaker: Wendell Stoltzfus
Scripture: Psalm 1
July 26, 2020

Oil and Dew

Download MP3
Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: Psalm 133
June 14, 2020

David's "Virus" Experience

Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: Psalm 143
March 22, 2020