Psalm 8
August 6, 2017
preached by Doug Cooper
Download

Time of Reflection Quotations

“I used to be uncommonly terrified with thunder, and to be struck with terror when I saw a thunderstorm rising; but now, on the contrary, it rejoiced me. I felt God, so to speak, at the first appearance of a thunderstorm; and used to take the opportunity, at such times, to fix myself in order to view the clouds, and see the lightnings play, and hear the majestic and awful voice of God’s thunder, which oftentimes was exceedingly entertaining, leading me to sweet contemplations of my great and glorious God. While thus engaged, it always seemed natural to me to sing, or chant for my meditations; or, to speak my thoughts in soliloquies with a singing voice.”

~ Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), American pastor, philosopher, theologian and author

“The peril for us is when God’s beauty seems vague, because then so does His desirability. Might this explain the embarrassing ebb and flow of my passion for God? I am too easily convinced that God is not capable of satisfying my longings and too quickly seduced into thinking that some earthly beauty can.”

~ Steve Dewitt, contemporary pastor and author

“The most distinctive feature of the biblical understanding of man is the teaching that man has been created in the image of God.”

~ Anthony Hoekema (1913-1988) American minister, theologian and professor

“We were made to be prisms refracting the light of God’s glory into all of life. Why God should want to give us a share in shining with His glory is a great mystery. Call it grace or mercy or love – it is an unspeakable wonder. Once we were not. Then we existed – for the glory of God!”

~ John Piper (1946-present), American pastor and author

“This sense of being made in God’s image calls us all constantly to look for it in others and to do what we can to help them acknowledge it and to realize it by joining in worship. We thereby carry to others the answer to their inmost longing, a yearning for union with the Trinity, a thirst to respond with adoration to the God who made them.”

~ Marva Dawn (1948-present), American author, theologian, musician and educator

Sermon Passage

Psalm 8 (NIV)

¹    Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
      You have set your glory
in the heavens.
²    Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
³    When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
⁴     what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
⁵     You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned themwith glory and honor.
⁶     You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
⁷    all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
⁸     the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
⁹     Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!