Ascent #5 - Ascend for Blessing
Psalm 128
Dr. Terry Thomas
Part of Ascent—January 5 - February 23, 2025
January 31, 2025

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Message Notes and Group Study Guide

Date: February 1-2, 2025
Speaker: Dr. Terry Thomas
Series: Ascent
Message: #5 - Ascend for Blessing

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Scripture

1 Blessed are all who fear the Lord,
who walk in obedience to him.
2 You will eat the fruit of your labor;
blessings and prosperity will be yours.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
around your table.
4 Yes, this will be the blessing
for the man who fears the Lord.
5 May the Lord bless you from Zion;
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
6 May you live to see your children’s children—
peace be on Israel. —Psalm 128:1-6 (NIV)

Notes

Study Guide

Step One: Icebreaker (Optional)
Name one way you’ve been blessed in the last week. How did that influence your day? What might be one way you could bless someone in your life this week?

Step Two: Prayer and Scripture Reading
Ask someone in your group to pray to open your time together. Ask another person to read Psalm 128.

Step Three: Discuss

  1. Weekend Message: What was most challenging, encouraging, confusing, or stood out most to you?

  2. Defining Blessing: Psalm 128 connects the concept of fearing the Lord with being blessed. How might you define blessing? In what ways does reverence for God result in blessings?

  3. Blessing in Obedience: Psalm 128:2 connects obedience to God with prosperity in our labor. Have you experienced this personally? Is it right to expect blessing from obedience? How might you advise someone who was frustrated with their work?

  4. Blessing in Labor: Here we see a connection between hard work and blessing. How do you see the relationship between your daily work and your spiritual life? Do you see your work as a blessing or as a distraction?

  5. Blessing in Family: This Psalm emphasizes the blessing of family. What are some ways that family blesses us? In situations where family relationships are strained, how might the Christian faith redeem our experience with family?

  6. Blessed in the Future: This Psalm ends with the vision of being blessed forever. What does a blessed life look like? How can we, as a community, establish an environment where lives experience the blessing of God?

Step Four: Close in Prayer
Ask someone in your group to close in prayer, focusing on specific requests for people to find and follow Jesus.