Psalms 119:23-24 (5/1/24)

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Psalms 119:23-24 (5/1/24)

The Power of Meditation

May 1, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Psalm 119:23–24

* "Meditation is to your inner person what digestion is to your body." —Warren Wiersbe

* Your body must process food to extract nutrients, which fuel and repair your body.

* Your brain must process thoughts to extract truth, which fuels and repairs your soul.

* Meditation Definition:

* “think deeply or focus one's mind for a period of time, in silence, for religious or spiritual purposes or as a method of relaxation.”

* “to think deeply or carefully about (something).”

* Satan wants you to clear your mind so it stays empty.

* God wants you to clear your mind so He can fill it!

* This is why you must meditate on God’s Word.

* Truth will fill you and fuel you.

* vs 23 - “Though rulers sit together and slander me, your servant will meditate on your decrees.”

* David cultivated a practice of meditation.

* Few things are better than timely advice in a situation where you desperately need wisdom.

* This is the beauty of reading God's Word every day.

* Just watch how you will read something on the very day you need it most - something will just pop off the page and explain things in a way you didn't see before.

* You may have read the verse 100 times before but now that you're in a new situation you see it differently and it really speaks to you.

* The result:

* vs 24 - “Your statutes are my delight; they are my counselors.”

* This is how God's Word becomes our delight - we realize that what we're reading has the answers to ALL of life's issues.

* It's literally the road map to living life to the fullest.

* David meditated before he experienced delight.

* When you meditate you think deep, and when you think deep patterns begin to emerge.

* This helps you process through situations so the next time they come up you have a plan in place to get through it in power!

* So don’t just read the Bible, meditate on it and watch what happens.

Lamentations 2:19 (5/15/24)

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.

Lamentations 5:14 (5/15/24)

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.

Jeremiah 45:3-5 (5/8/24)

May 8, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Jeremiah 45:3–5

* Oftentimes, before God entrusts you with a message, He has to make you into the message! * This typically involves a “mess.” * But we can turn a mess into a message if we keep our eyes on God. * Backstory - The long letter Baruch worked so hard on was burned in the fire. * The ministry Baruch was a part of was not going well. * He was frustrated. * Deep down, there was something in Baruch that wanted a little bit of fame and fortune from his services. * Being attached to Jeremiah, a great influencer of his time, was Baruch’s path to becoming something great. * But it was not to be. * God allowed Baruch to work hard on something only to have it destroyed before his very eyes as preparation for what God was going to do with Israel. * God was going to destroy Israel as well, something He had worked hard on, and He chose Jeremiah to be the voice to warn them about it. * Baruch started to complain. * vs 2-5 - “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to you, Baruch: 3 You said, ‘Woe to me! The Lord has added sorrow to my pain; I am worn out with groaning and find no rest.’ 4 But the Lord has told me to say to you, ‘This is what the Lord says: I will overthrow what I have built and uproot what I have planted, throughout the earth. 5 Should you then seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them. For I will bring disaster on all people, declares the Lord, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life.” * God had to make Baruch the message before he would deliver the message. * EX: This happened to us back in 2010 - the retaining wall for our building collapsed, costing us over $1million to repair. * In the process of repairing, we felt God call us to speak a message of “rebuilding the wall” of faith in our culture. * God had to make us the message before we would speak it. * And He’ll do the same with you! * What you’re going through is not about you, it’s about what God can do through you to help others.