The Psalms: God s Hymnbook (An Introductory Message on The Book of Psalms) Message 1 in Psalms Series: Psalms For Everyday Living.

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1 MESSAGE FOR SUNDAY NIGHT, AUGUST 15, 2010 MESSAGE 1 in PSALMS SERIES: Psalms For Everyday Living by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister The Psalms: God s Hymnbook (An Introductory Message on The Book of Psalms) Message 1 in Psalms Series: Psalms For Everyday Living =================================================== Before we get into tonight s message, let s go to God in prayer. =================================================== Introduction This evening I would like to begin a sermon series from The Book of Psalms I have entitled: Psalms For Everyday Living. I have always loved the Book of Psalms. In fact it is one of my favorite books in the Bible. -In my personal devotions over the years I have probably read from the Book of Psalms more than any other Bible Book. Many times when I have been down in the dumps..depressed..discouraged burned out..afraid or confused I have read from The Book of Psalms and found great comfort and encouragement. While I have spent a lot of time reading through the Psalms over the years, I have never preached a sermon series from this Book. So I am excited about this series! And it is my prayer that you will enjoy this series and be greatly encouraged by it.

2 Now let me tell you how I plan to approach this series. Rather than preach through all 150 of the Psalms, which would take close to three years, provided I preached on one Psalm per week, I plan to select some of my personal favorites, which I think will be some of yours too. And if there is a particular favorite Psalm you would like for me to preach on just let me know and I will include it in this series. =============================== In tonight s message I would like to give you a general overview of the whole Book of Psalms by way of introduction to the series. Because of the nature of this message it will probably seem more like a Wednesday Night Bible Study Lesson rather than a sermon. I believe by the conclusion of tonight s message you will have a greater understanding and appreciation of the Book of Psalms than ever before. So let s get started, shall we! ============= First of all, let s answer a very important question. And that is.. I. What Is A Psalm? The word Psalm or Psalms comes from a Hebrew word (tihillim---tee-hih-leem) which simply means PRAISES. -Individually, each Psalm is a song of praise to be sung to musical accompaniment. (Throughout the Book of Psalms you will find references to 10 different types of percussion, stringed and wind instruments that were played as these songs of praise were being sung.

3 -Collectively each of the 150 Psalms make up a hymnbook, more specifically, GOD S hymnbook. Just imagine if you will taking the pages of the Book of Psalms out of your Bible and putting a hard back binding on it and placing it in the pew rack in front of you. That s what the Book of Psalms was to the Jewish people. And because most of the Psalms are written in beautiful poetic style it is classified as one of the five books of poetry in the Old Testament. God s people have always been a singing people. Throughout history when the hearts of God s people were right before Him there was always lots of praising and singing...when God brought His people out of captivity in Egypt and delivered them from Pharaoh s army, Exodus 15:1 tells us the people sang a song to the LORD...When God gave Israel the victory over Jabin, the King of Canaan, the people sang a song of praise to God...When David brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, the people sang...when King Hezekiah restored the temple worship in Jerusalem, the Levites sang praises to the LORD...At the conclusion of the LORD S SUPPER, just before Jesus and His disciples went to the Mount of Olives, they sang a Hymn, which commentators agree was The Hallel from Psalm When Paul and Silas were unjustly thrown into prison in Philippi, Acts 16 tells us they sang hymns of praise to God at midnight.

4 I think now you can understand why The Book of Psalms was so special to the Israelite people. II. What You Need to Know About The Book of Psalms There are a number of things you and I need to know about the Book of Psalms if we are to fully understand and appreciate The Major Theme of Psalms The three-fold major theme of the Book of Psalms focuses on: The character of GOD, the glory of CHRIST (the Messiah) and the triumphs and trials of MAN. The Writers of The Psalms Unlike most books in the Bible, Psalms does not have a single author, but many. 73 Psalms were written by David. 2 Psalms were written by David s son, Solomon. (Ps.72, 127) 1 Psalm was written by Moses. (Ps.90) 12 Psalms were written by the family of Asaph. (Ps. 50, 73-83) 11 Psalms were written by the sons of Korah. (Ps. 42,44-49, 84, 85, 87, 88) 1 Psalm was written by Heman. (Ps. 88) 1 Psalm was written by Ethan the Ezrahite. (Ps. 89) And 50 Psalms have no designated author. These are often referred to as the orphan Psalms.

5 The Date of The Book of Psalms The oldest Psalm is Psalm 90 written by Moses around 1490 B.C. The newest Psalms are Psalms 88 and 89 written by Ethan the Ezrahite around 444 B.C. This means the entire Book of Psalms spans 1,000 years or 10 centuries. The Structure of the Book of Psalms When you first read through the Book of Psalms it appears to be 150 unrelated chapters. But actually the Book of Psalms is a very organized and structured book. The Book of Psalms can be sub-divided into 5 smaller books which all correspond to the five books of Law in the Old Testament. (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) Book I : Psalms 1-41 corresponds with the Book of Genesis. Book II : Psalms corresponds with the Book of Exodus. Book III: Psalms corresponds with the Book of Leviticus. Book IV: Psalms corresponds with the Book of Numbers. Book V: Psalms corresponds with the Book of Deuteronomy.

6 The Six Classifications of Psalms I want everybody to pick up a hymnbook. Turn to the back of your hymnbook to page 702. You ll notice at the top of the page the words: TOPICAL INDEX OF HYMNS. Then in smaller bold print you see words like: ADORATION AND PRAISE.ASPIRATION. and ASSURANCE. Turn the page and you see a lot of hymns indexed under the name of CHRIST. As you continue flip through these index pages you see TOPICS like: COMFORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT COMMITMENT AND CONSECRATION INVITATION AND ACCEPTANCE. Well just as we have various classifications of hymns in our hymnbooks today, so does the Book of Psalms. In fact there are SIX CLASSIFICATIONS of Psalms: (1) There are Psalms of Instruction (e.g. 1, 5, 7, 9-12, etc. ) (2) There are Psalms of Prayer. (e.g. 38, 51, 102, 129, 137 etc.) (3) There are Psalms of Praise. (e.g. 23, 34, 35, 100, 103, 150 ) (4) There are Psalms of Thanksgiving (e.g. 9, 18, 22, 145, etc.) (5) There are Psalms of Messianic Prophecy. (e.g. 22, 24, 40, 41, 110, 118 etc.) (6) There are Psalms of History. (e.g. 78, 105, 106)

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