I trust that this day has already proven to be a most blessed start to the New Year for you and your families. We are so thankful for another year of life and of service to our faithful Savior and Lord!

On Sunday our first sermon of the New Year will come from the very last psalm, Psalm 150. And what a glorious ending it is to the divinely inspired ‘hymn book’ of Old Testament Israel! This final psalm contains the command to “Praise the Lord” (vv.1, 6), and it supplies the answers to four practical questions about the praise of our sovereign God: Where is the Lord to be praised? Why is the Lord to be praised? How is the Lord to be praised? By whom is the Lord to be praised? We will also give careful consideration to what the praise of God does for and inthose of us who have found His mercy and love in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.

As you prepare for Lord’s Day worship, it would be very good to read and meditate on the last five psalms, 146-150. These final five make up the last ‘book’ that we find within the psalter, and each is composed around the divine command to “Praise the Lord” (146:1; 147:1; 148:1; 149:1; 150:1).