Mt Lebanon UMC Wilmington Delaware

Devotional

Day 1: Let the Sea Roar

The psalmist commands the sea to roar, fields to exult, and trees to sing. Every molecule of creation joins the chorus. Mountains tremble. Rivers clap. Even silent soil shouts through sprouting grain. This isn’t metaphor—it’s creation’s DNA responding to its Maker. [30:35]

God hardwired worship into the world’s fabric. When we join this song, we align with our fundamental purpose. Jesus’ resurrection cracked open the door for all things to be restored—not just human souls, but oceans, forests, and stars.

Where have you muted creation’s song in your life? Step outside today. Let the chickadee’s call remind you: every breath is borrowed from the One who fills lungs and orchestrates tides. What ordinary part of creation could recalibrate your worship today?

“Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth.”
(Psalm 96:11-13, ESV)

Prayer: Thank God for three specific parts of creation that declare His glory to you today.
Challenge: Spend 10 minutes outside observing nature. Name each created thing you see aloud as “God’s masterpiece.”

Day 2: A Different Kettle of Fish

Eleven disciples huddle on a Galilean hillside. Some kneel. Others squint sideways, whispering: “Ghosts don’t eat fish.” Jesus stretches scarred hands toward the doubters. He doesn’t rebuke their uncertainty—He commissions through it. [31:37]

Doubters make the best witnesses. Their skepticism becomes testimony when transformed. Jesus gives authority not to the certain, but to the willing. The same hands that cooked breakfast now hold cosmos-shaping power—and extend it to wavering followers.

What “different kettle of fish” has God placed in your life—a situation requiring trust despite confusion? Bring your doubts to the One who served broiled fish to skeptics. When did your uncertainty about God’s ways become a doorway to deeper faith?

“Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.’”
(Matthew 28:16-18, ESV)

Prayer: Ask Jesus to meet you in one specific area of doubt or confusion this week.
Challenge: Text one person today about a time God surprised you through uncertainty.

Day 3: Staging the New Song

Eurovision performers bedazzle cameras with neon costumes and pyrotechnics. The psalmist stages a grander spectacle: families of nations processing into God’s courts with offerings. No smoke machines needed—creation itself provides the backdrop. [35:16]

True worship requires more than vocal cords. It demands our hands bringing gifts, our feet walking justice, our wallets funding compassion. The “new song” isn’t a melody—it’s a lifestyle harmonizing with God’s heart for the marginalized.

What tangible offering can you bring to God’s courts this week? Not perfection, but presence. Not eloquence, but obedience. How might your daily routines become verses in creation’s anthem?

“Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts! Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!”
(Psalm 96:8-9, ESV)

Prayer: Confess one way you’ve separated worship from action. Ask for unity between your songs and service.
Challenge: Donate one item to Emmanuel Dining Room this week—and pray over it as an act of worship.

Day 4: Judging With Equity

The psalmist ends the new song with a jarring chord: God will judge. Not with gavels and jail cells, but with a farmer’s hands sorting wheat from chaff. His justice restores shalom—the right ordering of all relationships. [46:15]

We fear judgment because human courts corrupt it. God’s judgment is different: healing what’s broken, realigning what’s twisted. When we work for justice now—feeding the hungry, freeing the oppressed—we preview Christ’s ultimate restoration.

Where have you equated judgment with punishment rather than restoration? How could partnering with God’s justice bring hope to your community this week?

“Say among the nations, ‘The Lord reigns! The world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.’ He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness.”
(Psalm 96:10,13, ESV)

Prayer: Intercede for one person or group experiencing unjust treatment.
Challenge: Research one local organization pursuing biblical justice. Commit to one action supporting them.

Day 5: Plan Z Grace

Chaos swirls in Genesis 1—formless, void, dark. But ruach Elohim hovers. Not a distant wind, but a mother bird brooding. God doesn’t fear mess. He births cosmos from confusion, life from emptiness. [45:03]

Your chaos is God’s canvas. When Plan A fails, He inks Plan B through Z in grace. The disciples’ desertion became apostolic courage. The cross’s horror birthed resurrection. Our worst chapters become God’s redemptive prologues.

What chaos are you brooding over? Release it to the Hovering Spirit. How might God be preparing to speak light into your darkness today?

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
(Genesis 1:1-2, ESV)

Prayer: Name one current chaos to God. Ask Him to hover over it with creative power.
Challenge: Write “Ruach Elohim” on a sticky note. Place it where you most need Spirit-brooding today.

Sermon Summary

Psalm 96 calls for a new song that names God’s glory before the nations and draws the whole world into glad, trembling worship. The psalm sets God over every rival, naming idols as nothings and the Lord as Maker of heaven, the One before whom honor and majesty, strength and beauty reside. The new song the psalm envisions does not stay in the sanctuary; it moves outward, worldwide, inviting “all you families of nations” to bring an offering and come. The psalm’s own cadence presses this outward movement: “Declare his glory among the nations… say among the nations, The Lord is king.”

The new song, as the psalm frames it, includes creation itself. Fields exult, seas roar, trees sing, because the Judge who comes will set things right in equity, righteousness, and truth. Creation’s choir becomes a cue for the church: worship must not be a closed circle but a widening one that reflects God’s character into public life. Isaiah 58 exposes the danger when praise and practice split—when fasting and liturgy ignore the worker, the hungry, the poor, and the naked. The new song corrects that split by harmonizing adoration with justice, compassion, reconciliation, and real inclusion.

Matthew 28 commissions this song’s carriers. The risen Lord, vested with “all authority in heaven and on earth,” hands responsibility to disciples to go, make, baptize, and teach, with a promise: “I am with you always.” The Great Commission places the church’s mission inside Jesus’ presence and authority. Ascension means Jesus is not absent but reigning; his authority is not withdrawn but shared for mission until he returns. As was said, “the job ain’t over till Jesus returns.”

God’s reign, as the psalm and the gospel insist, sustains hope when the world looks like a different kettle of fish entirely. Methodism’s frank word about freedom acknowledges that people can choose badly, but God, the chaos tamer, works transformation from Genesis onward and keeps plan b through plan z at the ready. Judgment in Psalm 96 is not grim fate but good news: evil will not have the last word, and God alone will judge the earth with righteousness. Therefore, the text bids the church to keep singing, keep declaring, keep teaching, letting the new song permeate daily speech and action so thoroughly that God’s own qualities spill out.

Key Takeaways

1. The psalm teaches a worldwide song The summons “Sing to the Lord a new song” is not a private melody but a global call. Psalm 96 pushes praise into public proclamation, naming God’s kingship before the nations. Worship expands as mission, and mission keeps its center in worship. The new song becomes both doxology and dispatch. [36:39]
2. Worship must mirror God’s character Adoration without justice is a false note. Psalm 96 invites “families of nations” into God’s courts, which demands practices of inclusion, compassion, and reconciliation. Isaiah 58 exposes praise that ignores the vulnerable as worship God refuses. The new song harmonizes praise and neighbor-love. [40:56]
3. The Commission anchors present hope Matthew 28 stakes the church’s labor on Christ’s authority and enduring presence. The mission is unfinished by design, carried forward under the risen Lord’s promise, not human stamina. Hope holds because Jesus is with his people until the end of the age. As said plainly, the job ain’t over till Jesus returns. [43:52]
4. God reigns and tames chaos When freedom bends toward folly, divine sovereignty does not fold. The Maker who ordered the deep can re-order a disordered world, working plan b to plan z without surrendering purpose. Calling God the chaos tamer is not sentiment; it is Scripture’s storyline. That confidence steadies patient obedience. [45:40]
5. Creation joins the church’s praise Psalm 96 hears seas, fields, and trees lifted into worship because the Judge comes to set things right. Creation’s doxology teaches the church to think beyond human boundaries and to act for the flourishing of the whole. Ecological concern becomes liturgical consistency. The choir of all things sings God’s equity. [39:58]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[02:00] - Summer musicians invitation
[03:19] - Joint worship details for May 31
[04:44] - Missions meeting and Memorial Day service
[10:25] - Annual Conference update
[14:27] - Ascension Sunday call to worship
[18:48] - Opening prayer and Apostles’ Creed
[20:15] - Choir anthem: How Great Thou Art / Majesty
[28:43] - Prayer for illumination
[29:27] - Scripture: Psalm 96
[31:37] - Scripture: Matthew 28:16-20
[32:24] - A different kettle of fish
[35:16] - Eurovision night and new songs
[36:39] - Sing to the Lord a new song
[39:23] - Creation’s praise and global worship
[40:19] - Ascribing glory and reflecting character
[41:14] - Isaiah 58: when worship goes wrong
[43:34] - Keeping hope alive in mission
[44:16] - God’s reign, freedom, and plan z
[45:57] - Judgment as good news
[47:14] - Hymn of response
[48:50] - Prayers of the people
[60:45] - The Lord’s Prayer
[61:32] - Offering and prayer over gifts
[64:08] - Closing hymn
[67:32] - Blessing for Courtney, Christian, and baby
[69:47] - Benediction and dismissal

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Psalm 96 (ESV)
1 Oh sing to the Lord a new song;
    sing to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
    tell of his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations,
    his marvelous works among all the peoples!
4 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
    he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,
    but the Lord made the heavens.
10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!
    Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved;
    he will judge the peoples with equity.”
11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
    let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
12 let the field exult, and everything in it!
    Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
13 before the Lord, for he comes,
    for he comes to judge the earth.
    He will judge the world in righteousness,
    and the peoples in his faithfulness.

Matthew 28:16-20 (ESV)
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Observation Questions

Psalm 96 calls creation itself (seas, fields, trees) to worship. What specific actions or emotions does the psalm associate with creation’s praise?
In Matthew 28:18-20, what four imperatives does Jesus give his disciples, and what promise does he attach to them?
The sermon emphasized that worship must “harmonize adoration with justice” [40:56]. How does Isaiah 58 (referenced in the sermon) expose the danger of separating worship from practical care for others?

Interpretation Questions

Why might the psalmist include non-human creation (seas, trees, etc.) in the call to worship? What does this suggest about the scope of God’s reign?
The sermon states, “The job ain’t over till Jesus returns” [43:52]. How does Jesus’ promise in Matthew 28:20 (“I am with you always”) address the challenges of an unfinished mission?
Psalm 96:5 calls idols “worthless,” but the Lord “made the heavens.” How does contrasting idols with God’s creative power shape the way we prioritize worship in daily life?

Application Questions

The “new song” in Psalm 96 is meant to move “outward, worldwide” [36:39]. What is one tangible way your worship (prayer, service, generosity) could extend beyond your current circle to reflect God’s global heart?
Isaiah 58 warns against worship that ignores the vulnerable. Where do you see a disconnect between your adoration of God and your care for people in need? What step could bridge that gap this week?
Jesus’ authority in Matthew 28 is the basis for mission. How might trusting his presence (“I am with you always”) change your approach to a difficult relationship or situation?
The sermon described God as a “chaos tamer” [45:40]. Where do you need to surrender your anxiety about “plan b through plan z” and trust God’s sovereignty? Name one area of chaos (personal or global) to pray over with this truth.
Creation’s worship in Psalm 96 includes “fields exult[ing]” and “trees sing[ing].” How could your daily habits better honor God’s care for the environment as an act of worship?

Sermon Clips

``And finally, we can hope because we know that God does and will continue to rule over all these things. Evil will not have the last word because as Psalm 96 tells us, God will judge the earth, no one but God. And God's judgment is pure and holy and righteous in a way that the world can never be without God's help. Therefore, we can rejoice as the psalm tells us to. We can declare the glory of God's name, knowing that our hope in God is never ever misplaced. [00:45:49] (45 seconds)

Jesus in Matthew instead gave us the responsibility with God's help for bringing about God's mission. But that mission isn't accomplished yet. Jesus is coming back. The job ain't over till Jesus returns. This can bring us hope. Second, our psalm reminds us that the Lord reigns. In God's world, God is capable. Remember how our psalm remind us reminded us that God made all the mechanisms by which we move and have our being, made all the things, made all the creatures? [00:43:48] (42 seconds)

The new song of God calls us to help God transform the earth to the justice and mercy of heaven, and the earth certainly calls out for God's transformation at this time. Amen. So how can we keep hope alive? Not only can our psalm help us out here, but so can our gospel passage. First, we need to remember that God isn't done yet. We celebrate today that Jesus has ascended even if it didn't happen in our Matthew passage. [00:43:11] (37 seconds)

As a result of this significant family and cultural affair, I heard a lot of new songs yesterday. But Psalm 96 calls us to another new song. It tells us, sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord, all the earth, for great is the Lord and most worthy of praise. The new song in which Psalm 96 calls us to participate is one that declares the glory of God, who has made everything, reigns over it all, and judges all with equity, righteousness, and truth. [00:36:27] (40 seconds)

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Mt Lebanon UMC Wilmington Delaware

Devotional

Day 1: Let the Sea Roar

Day 2: A Different Kettle of Fish

Day 3: Staging the New Song

Day 4: Judging With Equity

Day 5: Plan Z Grace

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

Chatbot

Mt Lebanon UMC Wilmington Delaware

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