Lamentations 2:19 (5/15/24)

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Lamentations 2:19 (5/15/24)

What To Do After Repentance

May 15, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Lamentations 2:19

- When we’ve sinned and confessed, what do we do then?

- This verse tells us.

- The Israelites were on their way to Babylon, and there was no going back.

- Regardless of repentance, the consequences remained the same.

- Jeremiah shares five things we must do.

- vs 19 - “Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin; pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger at every street corner.”

- 1) GET UP!

- Don't wallow around in self-pity.

- You don’t have to “keep repenting.”

- But you also don’t want to forget what you’ve repented of.

- This memory will keep you from doing it again.

- Get up! And then...

- 2) GET ON YOUR KNEES!

- Posture yourself before the Lord.

- Submit in reverence to Him.

- Dr. Towns at Liberty taught the importance of posture.

- After you posture yourself, then…

- 3) POUR OUT YOUR HEART TO GOD!

- Pray fervently.

- Don't hold anything back.

- Pouring it out to God keeps you from pouring it onto others.

- They can’t handle that weight.

- God likes it when we come to Him in fervency.

- 4) SURRENDER TO HIM!

- This is what "lifting up your hands" means, like a child reaching for his dad.

- Full surrender to God.

- Acknowledge His sovereignty, Declare your dependency, and Surrender your will to Him.

- 5) INTERCEDE FOR OTHERS!

- Don't just pray about you, but others.

- God is moved in a special way when we pray for His other kids.

- This helps get us out of our own situation.

- KEY - your discernment is your direction.

- God shows us other’s faults so we can pray for them.

- God will make a message out of your mess when you walk through these five steps.

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