Lamentations 5:14 (5/15/24)

Benham Brothers

Studies Download App

Lamentations 5:14 (5/15/24)

When Men Abandon The Gate

May 15, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Lamentations 5:14

- One of the ways you know God is punishing a nation is when righteous leaders grow fewer.

- That’s what happened in Jeremiah’s time.

- They had leaders, plenty of them - but none righteous.

- Look what happened:

- vs 14a - “The elders are gone from the city gate…”

- The church elders, the spiritual leaders of the day, were no longer in places of leadership within the nation.

- Proverbs 29:2 - “When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.”

- The gate is where business, education, and government took place.

- It was the hotbed where the people gathered to exchange products, services, contracts, and ideas.

- When Godly people occupy their place in the gate, bringing the rule of God to the place of business, education, and government, it opens the door for people to flourish.

- We do not need to pull the most gifted people out of the workplace and put them into the church.

- Let them stay in the workplace and effect change!

- So what’s the result of good people abandon the gate?

- vs 14b - “…the young men have stopped their music.”

- Music has multiple positive effects, but two of them are:

- It Connects you to others and it Soothes your soul.

- EX: Worship song in church - all hearts beat together.

- When young people make music they are having a good time.

- Those times stop when Godly people abandon their post at the gate.

Ezekiel 22:30 (6/12/24)

June 12, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Ezekiel 22:30

* There is a gap that exists between mankind and God. * Spiritually, that gap has been bridged by Jesus. * But we can bridge that gap as we represent Jesus to others. * We are called to “stand in the gap” for people and nations. * Job’s fortunes were restored “when he prayed for his friends.” * He interceded for them - stood in the gap. * NOTE - God allows conflict so you can intercede for others (not get bitter toward them). * Ezekiel stood in the gap for his nation. * Many of our Biblical heroes did the same. * vs 30 - “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.” * God is looking for gap-standers today. * Those who will stand for others and bridge the gap as an intercessor. * When we do, we become something special. * EX: Linchpin (hitch-pin) * Farm Equipment * Lawn Mower * The linchpin is small and insignificant on its own but strong and indispensable the moment it is placed in the gap for which it was designed. * God has designed each of us to fill a gap in culture so that we can connect God with those who are disconnected from Him. * On our own, we’re small and insignificant. * Filling the gap God has called us to fill, we are strong and indispensable. * God is looking for linchpins. Will you be one?

Ezekiel 35:5 (6/12/24)

June 12, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Ezekiel 35:5–6

* When you experience conflict with another person, God is showing you how to intercede for them. * Jacob and Esau experienced intense conflict with each other. * Esau forgave Jacob in his heart. * But his kids never let it go. * Generations later, God had to punish the Edomites for nursing a grudge against the Israelites. * vs 5-6 - “‘Because you harbored an ancient hostility and delivered the Israelites over to the sword at the time of their calamity, the time their punishment reached its climax, 6 therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will give you over to bloodshed and it will pursue you...” * Warren Wiersbe - “Some people nurse a grudge the way a mother nurses a child: they love it, cherish it, and cannot live without it. But they forget that the child is growing and may one day turn on them and destroy them. A grudge against an enemy is a very expensive thing, no matter how much enjoyment you may get nursing it.” * To cherish something is to “to hold dear, to feel or show affection, to entertain or harbor in the mind deeply and resolutely.” * When someone does us wrong, we have two ways of dealing with it: * The good path: Anger - Resolve - Forgiveness - Restoration (Biblical Love). * The bad path: Anger - Grudge - Bitterness - Hatred. * Notice they both start with anger. * Anger is an emotion with a purpose, and the purpose is to see justice done. * You can either move toward forgiveness (and give the situation to God) or unforgiveness where you hold them hostage in your heart. * Unforgiveness is our desire for control, and it’s straight from the devil. * Ultimately, you’re bitter and hateful and you become an absolute nuisance of a human being. * You know you have a GRUDGE when the person's name is mentioned and it illicits an emotion. * You think something bad about them and then in time you begin to verbalize it. * You know you have BITTERNESS when you have no desire to reconcile at all. * You hold them hostage in your heart so you always know where they are and can control what they do to you and the way you feel toward them. * A bitter heart attracts other bitterness - you will end up being bitter toward lots of things. * You know you have HATRED in your heart when you want them out of your life, no matter what. * This is when consequences don't matter anymore, and leads people to murder (in their hearts first and then in actions). * In the Psalms we see David feeling anger but resolving to not let it get the best of him. * We should do the same.

Psalms 88:8 (6/5/24)

June 5, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Psalm 88:8

- We are hardwired for connection. - In the Garden, it was not good for man to be alone. - God + Adam = not good. - God is not all you need - you need others! - When we’re not connected to others, we die! - Isolation destroys what makes us human without killing the body. - This is why prison camps employ isolation for severe psychological punishment. - We are socially dependent creatures. - According to the biblical worldview, we exist only in communal relationship—with spouse, with children, with tribe, with God. - Remove our connections—remove our humanity. - David experienced this: - vs 8 - “You have removed my acquaintances far from me; You have made me an object of loathing to them; I am shut up and cannot go out.” - “An object of loathing” is the Hebrew tôʿēbot. - The word doesn’t mean just “separated” - It means, “to be made an abomination.” - Abhorrent! Detestable! Something to run from, to avoid at all costs, to be ritually and culturally impure. - Sort of like the current attempt to vilify all those who have not been vaccinated as the pariahs of society. - “Be afraid of them! Stay away! They are evil. - Satan wants us isolated and operating in fear so he can wreak havoc on society. - He wants to stir up fear and keep you from others. - Satan doesn’t want you to be in covenant with others. - Why? Because he can’t defeat the “church.” - Church is where two or more are gathered in God’s name. - Jeremiah 17:5-6 - “Cursed is the one who trusts in man…whose heart turns away from the Lord…they will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.” - “Cursed is the man” means “isolated from God.” - Tony Evans says community brings special rewards from God. - Like the HOV Lane - when you go with someone else, you get special privileges