Prayer in the Midst of Pressure
Psalm 25
August 2, 2020
preached by Scott Sottosanti
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Time of Reflection Quotations
“The other Scriptures speak to us, but the Psalms speak for us.”
~Athanasius (c. 296-373), early church leader
“One of the challenges that we have collectively as a society is that in this country we do victory great, we do success great, we do power great. We do not do shame very well, we do not do guilt very well. We don’t own up to our mistakes. And the absence of shame is what makes us vulnerable to discrimination and bigotry and abuse of power. I actually think if you see two people who’ve loved each other for fifty years, if you ask them what the secret is, they’ve learned how to say I’m sorry to one another, they’ve learned how to navigate those problems and we haven’t done that collectively as a society.”
“There is actually this path toward redemption, only when we acknowledge our sins. We can’t cheat. There is something better on the other side of acknowledgement, and that’s called liberation.”
~Bryan Stevenson (1959-present), lawyer and activist
“When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less. A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right.”
~C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), British writer and theologian
“A man is what he is on his knees before God, and nothing more.”
~Robert Murray M’Cheyne (1813-1843), Scottish pastor and writer
“There is tremendous relief in knowing his love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery can disillusion him about me.”
“He that has learned to feel his sins, and to trust Christ as a Savior, has learned the two hardest and greatest lessons in Christianity.”
~J.I. Packer (1926-2020), theologian and writer
Sermon Passage
Psalm 25 (ESV)
1 To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
2 O my God, in you I trust;
let me not be put to shame;
let not my enemies exult over me.
3 Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame;
they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.
4 Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
teach me your paths.
5 Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all the day long.
6 Remember your mercy,
O Lord, and your steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.
7 Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
according to your steadfast love remember me,
for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!
8 Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
9 He leads the humble in what is right,
and teaches the humble his way.
10 All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,
for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.
11 For your name’s sake, O Lord,
pardon my guilt, for it is great.
12 Who is the man who fears the Lord?
Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.
13 His soul shall abide in well-being,
and his offspring shall inherit the land.
14 The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him,
and he makes known to them his covenant.
15 My eyes are ever toward the Lord,
for he will pluck my feet out of the net.
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.
17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged;
bring me out of my distresses.
18 Consider my affliction and my trouble,
and forgive all my sins.
19 Consider how many are my foes,
and with what violent hatred they hate me.
20 Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!
Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
21 May integrity and uprightness preserve me,
for I wait for you.
22 Redeem Israel, O God,
out of all his troubles.