Christ has anointed us with his Spirit. He has set us apart for service to him and to one another. We represent to one another the address of God. We are priests who speak God’s Word and share Christ’s sacrifice.

“An essential part of our theological and missional task today is to tell [the narrative of the gospel] as clearly as possible, and to allow it to subvert other ways of telling the story of the world.” — N.T. Wright

Christian maturity comes when we learn to start responding to God out of love and responsibility and not merely desperation.

“Perseverance is not the result of our determination, it is the result of God’s faithfulness. We survive in the way of faith not because we have extraordinary stamina but because God is righteous, because God sticks with us.”

The church must not only support and repair families but also find a way to become the family of God where everyone, married and single, childless or not, can flourish in love.

We must find peace and comfort in the reality that it is the Lord who causes good things to happen, not our efforts. Like Jesus said, ‘apart from him, we can do nothing.’ (cf. John 15:5)

Joy develops in the Christian way of discipleship by trusting and feeling good about what God has done — not what you have done!

Since the maker of heaven and earth is (through Christ) our help, we will not fear (verse 8). What could be against us (Romans 8:31)?

Believers feel the pain of the world’s contempt (verses 3–4). How do we keep from either adopting its views or becoming resentful and withdrawn?

What Jerusalem was to the ancient Jews the church is to believers in Christ. When we come to faith in Christ, we become citizens in the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22–24; Philippians 3:20).

Psalm 121 calls us to not look towards creation for comfort or help but rather — and always — to the Creator who guards us and keeps us from evil.

It is in our utter dissatisfaction, disenfranchisement, and dismay with the world’s narrative of events that we ultimately take up the path of a ‘long obedience in the same direction’ towards Jesus!

God’s response to human pride and power is to install his “son” on Zion. This points beyond Israel’s king to Jesus, God’s true Son.

“Prayers are tools.” But there’s one important clarification: “Prayers are not tools for doing or getting [as we’re used to in our Western culture], but for being and becoming."