Here are some questions based on last Sunday’s sermon text (Psalm 115), in case they’re helpful to you for personal growth or group discussion…

• [1] What is God’s name? What is the significance of his name? What does it mean to “give glory” to God’s name? What does it mean to do this instead of “to us”? God is the one being asked to give glory to his name, “for the sake of [his] steadfast love and faithfulness”—why would you ask him to do this for this reason?

• [2] How do you feel about the idea of God’s invisibility? Is this difficult for you? Is it difficult for people with whom you’ve talked about God? What do you say about it? What does the whole Bible have to say about God’s (in)visibility?

• [3] This verse is often referenced as biblical proof of God’s sovereignty, but it’s about more than bare sovereignty or sheer power. How is it good news that God does (and has always done) all that he pleases?

• [4-8] What are some modern idols that you recognize around you, whether through advertising, media, arts, business, relationships, or in yourself? How are these idols our distortions of God’s good creation? What have we imagined these idols to promise to us? In what ways do those who make and trust such idols become like them (v. 8)? What contrasts between false gods and the one, true, Triune God revealed in Jesus can you think of?

• [9-15] The true and living God has called us to a relationship with himself which is utterly different from the ways we relate to idols. What things characterize the way he calls us to relate to himself?

• [16-18] Idolators are spiritually dead, but Yahweh’s people will live forever to bless and praise him. How does the Gospel of Christ’s resurrection and his gift of the Holy Spirit make you spiritually alive now? How does this Gospel serve as the guarantee your eternal life in the New Heavens and New Earth?