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We hope these readings, prayers, songs, sermon notes + quotes are beneficial to you this week. See you next Sunday at 9 or 11 am, 10 am on TVC Online or anytime!
Sermon Notes for November 16, 2025
Psalm 119:25-48
Growing in God’s Word
Pastor Matt Pierson
The God who is there
The God who sees
The God who speaks
“So God, in the beauty of his grace, did not turn his back on our foolishness and walk away. God looked on foolish humanity with a heart of compassion and not only sent his Son to rescue fools from themselves, but also gave us the wonderful gift of his word so that fools would not only recognize their foolishness, but would also have a tool by which they could progressively become wise.”
Paul David Tripp, Do You Believe?
Psalm 119:
- 176 verses
- 22 stanzas
- 8 lines each
- Acrostic
8 Shared Synonyms in Psalm 119:
- Law/Instruction: 25 times
- Testimonies/Decrees/Statutes: 23 times
- Precepts: 21 times
- Statutes/Decrees: 21 times
- Commandments: 22 times
- Judgments/Ordinances: 23 times
- Word: 24 times
- Promises: 19 times
“Failure is succeeding at things that don’t finally matter at all.”
Rico Tice, Faithful Leaders And The Things That Matter Most
1. When we grow in God’s word, we grow in the knowledge of who God is.
“To understand the Scripture is not simply to get information about God. If attended to with trust and faith, the Bible is the way to actually hear God speaking and also to meet God Himself.”
Tim Keller, Prayer
2. When we grow in God’s word, we grow in trusting God’s ways.
“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”
Isaiah 26:3
“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that…does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
3. When we grow in God’s word, we grow in dependence on Him.
“Prayer is God’s way of keeping us in close, conscious, personal dependence on Him.”
John Piper
“But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me… For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
4. When we grow in God’s word, we grow in our resolve to share the Gospel.
“It is the whole business of the whole church to preach the whole gospel to the whole world.”
Charles Spurgeon
“What matters supremely is not, in the last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it-the fact that He knows me. I am never out of His mind. All my knowledge of Him depends on His sustained initiative in knowing me. I know Him because He first knew me, and continues to know me. He knows me as a friend, one who loves me; and there is not a moment when His eye is off me, or His attention distracted from me, and no moment, therefore, when His care falters.”
J.I. Packer, Knowing God
Songs, Readings & Prayer for November 16, 2025
Songs
“Come Christians Join To Sing“ by Christian Henry Bateman
“Anchor Of Hope“ by Brown Bannister and Ellie Holcomb
“O Great God“ by Bob Kauflin
“Take My Life And Let It Be“ by Frances Ridley Havergal
“Doxology” by Thomas Ken and Louis Bourgeois
All songs are used by Permission. CCLI License #2003690
Call To Worship: How Lovely Is Your Dwelling Place
(Excerpts from Psalm 84, 72, 73, and Ezekiel 15)
LEADER: How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!
PEOPLE: Our souls long, yes faint for the courts of the Lord; Our hearts and flesh sing for joy to the living God.
LEADER: Who is like you, O Lord, Majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
PEOPLE: It is good to be near God; Make the Lord God our refuge and tell of all His works.
LEADER: Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.
ALL: Blessed be His glorious name forever; May the whole earth be filled with His Glory! Amen and Amen!
Classic Prayer: Basil the Great
O Lord our God, teach us, we beseech Thee, to ask Thee aright for the right blessings. Steer Thou the vessel of our life toward Thyself, Thou tranquil Haven of all storm-tossed souls. Show us the course wherein we should go. Renew a willing spirit within us. Let Thy Spirit curb our wayward senses, and guide and enable us unto that which is our true good, to keep Thy laws, and in all our works evermore to rejoice in Thy glorious and gladdening Presence. For Thine is the glory and praise from all Thy saints forever and ever.
Discussion Questions for November 16, 2025
- How have you seen God revealed to you or others?
- What things in our lives that do not finally matter (are worthless) are allowed to take up our time? What are the things we should be focusing on instead?
- Are there things in your life that you are trusting to God? In what situations may you be depending upon God? How can prayer work in these situations?
- Who in your sphere of influence needs to hear the gospel? Have you shared the gospel with others, and how was it received? How did you feel sharing your testimony?
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