If You Know What Is Good For You . . .
Notes
Transcript
Handout
This Week’s Theme: Apply the Truth
Word for the Week: Discipline is loving and corrective training that leads to maturity and responsibility on the part of those who experience it.
Memory verse: Psalms 119:71 “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes.”
Essence of the Text: In this poem, the prophet contemplates the profit of waiting and seeking the LORD in the midst of affliction
Proposition: Christians should know that seeking the LORD while patiently waiting on Him is the proper response to adversity.
Objective: I want those in attendance to develop a plan for handling adversity.
Sermon Passage: Lamentations 3:24-33
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!”
The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him.
It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for a man to bear The yoke in his youth.
Let him sit alone and keep silent, Because God has laid it on him;
Let him put his mouth in the dust— There may yet be hope.
Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him, And be full of reproach.
For the Lord will not cast off forever.
Though He causes grief, Yet He will show compassion According to the multitude of His mercies.
For He does not afflict willingly, Nor grieve the children of men.
INTRODUCTION:
TRANSITION:
I. RECITED THE ADVERSITY
I. RECITED THE ADVERSITY
A personal account of the agony of affliction
Afflictions does not care what your name is
It doesn’t care about your cash or your connections
It doesn’t care about your fame or your fortune
Some of you may have believed the untruth that because you are blessed that no problems will come to your door. Yet, the Bible says
Many are the afflictions of the righteous
Those who desires to live godly shall
His Sight
His Sight
He has led me and made me walk In darkness and not in light.
His Skin
His Skin
He has aged my flesh and my skin, And broken my bones.
(repository of the physical) Job 30:30 “My skin grows black and falls from me; My bones burn with fever.”
His Surroundings
His Surroundings
He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out; He has made my chain heavy.
(Negative image of confinement) Joh 19:8 “Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid,”
His Shouts
His Shouts
Even when I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer.
His Soul
His Soul
You have moved my soul far from peace; I have forgotten prosperity.
His Strength
His Strength
And I said, “My strength and my hope Have perished from the Lord.”
His Studying
His Studying
Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall.
My soul still remembers And sinks within me.
II. RECOGNIZE THE AUTHOR
II. RECOGNIZE THE AUTHOR
I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.
He has led me and made me walk In darkness and not in light.
Surely He has turned His hand against me Time and time again throughout the day.
He has aged my flesh and my skin, And broken my bones.
He has besieged me And surrounded me with bitterness and woe.
He has set me in dark places Like the dead of long ago.
He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out; He has made my chain heavy.
Even when I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer.
He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked.
He has been to me a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in ambush.
He has turned aside my ways and torn me in pieces; He has made me desolate.
He has bent His bow And set me up as a target for the arrow.
He has caused the arrows of His quiver To pierce my loins.
I have become the ridicule of all my people— Their taunting song all the day.
He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drink wormwood.
He has also broken my teeth with gravel, And covered me with ashes.
You have moved my soul far from peace; I have forgotten prosperity.
And I said, “My strength and my hope Have perished from the Lord.”
Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall.
My soul still remembers And sinks within me.
A hard pill to swallow is when you know the reason you hit rock bottom is because of your own actions.
put yourself in that situation.
It is bad when you are at rock bottom that you are destitute. You are left broke and broken.
III. REFLECTED ON HIS ATTRIBUTES
III. REFLECTED ON HIS ATTRIBUTES
This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.
Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!”
For the Lord will not cast off forever.
Though He causes grief, Yet He will show compassion According to the multitude of His mercies.
For He does not afflict willingly, Nor grieve the children of men.
The author provided help for everyone here. Those who have hurt, who are hurting, and who will hurt.
It provides us with instructions for the injured
Teaching for the
Advice for the afflicted
Counsel for the confused
Has anyone ever experienced any difficulties. You fell on hard times. You found yourself in dire straits due to something that was beyond your control?
A. REMOVE THE COMPLAINING
A. REMOVE THE COMPLAINING
Let him sit alone and keep silent, Because God has laid it on him;
Let him put his mouth in the dust— There may yet be hope.
Why should a living man complain, A man for the punishment of his sins?
B. REPENT OF THE CORRUPTION
B. REPENT OF THE CORRUPTION
Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the Lord;
Let us lift our hearts and hands To God in heaven.
We have transgressed and rebelled; You have not pardoned.
You have covered Yourself with anger And pursued us; You have slain and not pitied.
You have covered Yourself with a cloud, That prayer should not pass through.
WHEN I MEDITATE ON HIS MERCIES
This is what's maintaining me.
This is what keeps me going.
WHEN I CONTEMPLATE ON HIS COMPASSIONS
This is my source of sustenance.
WHEN I THINK ON HIS TRUSTWORTHINESS (FAITHFULNESS)
This is what's giving me strength.
THEREFORE I HOPE IN HIM, MY CONFIDENCE IS IN HIM
REVERSE ONE’S ACTIONS
SILENCE INSTEAD OF SULKING
Humility instead of
What new truth did you learn from the sermon today?
After hearing the sermon, what sinful thoughts, feelings, desires, actions, or inactivity did the Holy Spirit convict you of today?
Write out a plan to get better at living for God based on the sermon or a plan to remove your sinful thoughts, feelings, desires, actions and replacing them with scriptural thoughts and/or biblical practices:
The Scriptures: Positive and negative Bible verses on your issue you will read and meditate on in order to align your thinking with God's
a. Write out those positive verses
b. Write out those negative verses
c. When will you meditate on these verses and how often?
The Spirit: Praying in the Spirit for God to help you to hate sin and love righteousness and for God through Christ to help you to live out His Will for your life.
a. Write out a prayer using the Scriptures you wrote above.
b. How often will you pray this prayer 3 times a day, daily, every other day, weekly, etc.
c. When will you pray this prayer or what time during the day will you pray this prayer?
The Saints:Those you will look to as a model of strength in your area of wrong. Those who will hold you accountable in this area and will hold you accountable to keep your plan.
a. Name the saints God wants to help you.
b. How often will they contact you?
c. What time should they contact you?