Praying for Guidance

Christ Restoration Church Sermons

Psalm 25
August 18, 2024
preached by Pastor Doug Cooper
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Time of Reflection Quotations

“Humility is throwing oneself away in complete concentration on something or someone else.”

~ Madeleine L’Engle (1918-2007), American writer

“Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.”

~ C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), British writer and Christian apologist

“Not until we have become humble and teachable, standing in awe of God’s holiness and sovereignty… acknowledging our own littleness, distrusting our own thoughts, and willing to have our minds turned upside down, can divine wisdom become ours.”

“Guidance, like all God’s acts of blessing under the covenant of grace, is a sovereign act. Not merely does God will to guide us in the sense of showing us his way, that we may tread it; he wills also to guide us in the more fundamental sense of ensuring that, whatever happens, whatever mistakes we may make, we shall come safely home. Slippings and strayings there will be, no doubt, but the everlasting arms are beneath us; we shall be caught, rescued, restored. This is God’s promise; this is how good he is.”

~ J.I. Packer (1926-present), British-born Canadian writer and professor of theology

“The great thing in prayer is to feel that we are putting our supplications into the bosom of omnipotent love.”

– Andrew Murray (1828-1917), South African writer and pastor

“Prayer does change things, all kinds of things. But the most important thing it changes is us. As we engage in this communion with God more deeply and come to know the One with whom we are speaking more intimately, that growing knowledge of God reveals to us all the more brilliantly who we are and our need to change in conformity to Him. Prayer changes us profoundly.

~ R.C. Sproul (1939-2017), American theologian, pastor and author

Sermon Passage

Psalm 25 (NIV)

Of David

¹ In you, Lord my God,
I put my trust.

² I trust in you;
do not let me be put to shame,
nor let my enemies triumph over me.
³ No one who hopes in you
will ever be put to shame,
but shame will come on those
who are treacherous without cause.

⁴ Show me your ways, Lord,
teach me your paths.
⁵ Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.
⁶ Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love,
for they are from of old.
⁷ Do not remember the sins of my youth
and my rebellious ways;
according to your love remember me,
for you, Lord, are good.

⁸ Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.
⁹ He guides the humble in what is right
and teaches them his way.
¹⁰ All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful
toward those who keep the demands of his covenant.
¹¹ For the sake of your name, Lord,
forgive my iniquity, though it is great.

¹² Who, then, are those who fear the Lord?
He will instruct them in the ways they should choose.
¹³ They will spend their days in prosperity,
and their descendants will inherit the land.
¹⁴ The Lord confides in those who fear him;
he makes his covenant known to them.
¹⁵ My eyes are ever on the Lord,
for only he will release my feet from the snare.

¹⁶ Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.
¹⁷ Relieve the troubles of my heart
and free me from my anguish.
¹⁸ Look on my affliction and my distress
and take away all my sins.
¹⁹ See how numerous are my enemies
and how fiercely they hate me!

²⁰ Guard my life and rescue me;
do not let me be put to shame,
for I take refuge in you.
²¹ May integrity and uprightness protect me,
because my hope, Lord is in you.

²² Deliver Israel, O God,
from all their troubles!