April 11, 2021
Upcoming Events and Notices
We have resumed in-person worship service. Please join us at 11 AM. You can find the order of worship and songs here
Please join us as we read another collection of great books for the year 2021. You can find the list here.
April 14 (Wednesday 7 PM): We will begin a new book study on Dane Ortlund's "Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers." Please read chapters 4–7. The chapters are short and easy to read! Zoom Meeting ID: 876 1265 9998
Thank you for your continued support of Grace Fallbrook (PCA). Your loving support makes the proclamation of the gospel and the building up of the saints possible. Please continue to mail in your gifts and offerings to our church treasurer, Bruce Summers. In addition, our church website now features online giving. Please visit the church website and click on "Give" which you will find in the upper left corner of our church's website. When you click on "Give Online Now" button on that page, you will be directed to the PCA Foundation where you can give towards Grace Fallbrook (PCA).
Before We Worship
The Book of Psalms include 150 individual psalms. And because it is composed of a more or less 150 discrete units of thoughts, it makes Psalms one of the most accessible Bible books to study. One can, for example, jump right into any of the 150 psalms for much spiritual benefit even when that particular psalm is looked at in its isolation from its surrounding context. This makes it somewhat unique from the rest of the Bible, where the meaning of any one particular passage is tied more or less inseparably to its surrounding context.
Still, every now and then, the context of the psalms seems meaningful. Take, for example, Psalm 22 which we looked at last week for Call to Worship. Psalm 22 is the song of Messiah's suffering and triumph. The first half of Psalm 22 is a heart-wrenching cry of the suffering Savior. It is Psalm 22 that gives us the words, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" However, the tone of the psalm changes midway, for it then becomes a heart-healing song of praise. Once again, this psalm gives us one of the remarkable description of the Savior leading his people in joyful praise: "I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you". See how these words are the Lord Jesus' words in Hebrews 2:12.
And now it brings us to this week's Call to Worship, which is Psalm 23. And seen against the backdrop of Psalm 22, these words take on added weight: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." Jesus' passage through the valley of shadow of death was a lonely one, for God was not with him. Jesus cried out "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Neither was Jesus comforted. The LORD's rod and staff fell heavily upon him to crush him.
Yet Jesus' passage through the valley of the shadow of death is ultimately our way home. Psalm 23 is equally the song of the Messiah as much as Psalm 22 is. For this is the song of the Lamb who trusted his life to the Shepherd's care. And though the rod and staff fell heavily on the Lamb, that same Shepherd restored his soul and led him in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. And we can fully expect the same from the heavenly Shepherd. For even when his hand seems heavy upon us, his hands hold us and lead us home. And we can be sure. His goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives.