Pastor Phill Howell provides the 26th sermon of the Songs of the Savior series by expositing Psalm 26. The big idea this week is just like David, we need to confidently have a case of our innocence before the Judge. We who follow Christ know that Jesus Christ makes our case of innocence as our advocate, declaring us not guilty! The scripture readings from our worship service were from Luke 2:41-52 and Jude 24-25. We read these passages during our 3rd week of Advent to demonstrate that Jesus loved being in the temple just like David loved dwelling in the house of God as seen in Psalm 26.

Discussion Questions:

1. How does it impact you to know that because of Jesus, you are presented as not guilty?

2. Have you ever asked God to examine your heart and mind and/or refine you? If not, what keeps you from praying that? If so, what was the result?

3. What do you think brought David to be confident to pray and ask to be vindicated? How does he know this?

4. What kind of people do you surround yourself with regularly? Who is your community?

5. Are you regularly coming to God to confess and repent of your sins? How does that impact your walk w/ God? How does it impact you personally and your relationships with others?

6. Do you love to be with the Lord and His people? Is there anything that you love doing more? What contributes to that?

7. Does Psalm 26 describe you If not, what do you think keeps you from living this way?

8. What ways is David’s confidence of innocence similar to our confidence of innocence as Christians?

9. What does it look like for you to regularly put your hope in God and trust Him with your life?

10. How often do we minimize and explain away our sins? Why do we not need to as followers of Jesus?

11. What do you think would occur if we regularly sought to know and understand the weight of our sin and embrace the grace of Jesus?

12. What does it look like for us to know Christ as our advocate not just next to us but also in us? What would our lives look like?