"Don't Waste The New Year"

These are my notes for the sermon at Apex this morning.
Worship was great.. " All Creatures of Our God and King" and "O Praise Him", "Majesty","I Am" ..Phil Wing's new song.

Lamentations 3:19-33

19(A) Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
(B) the wormwood and(C) the gall!
20My soul continually remembers it
(D) and is bowed down within me.
21But this I call to mind,
and(E) therefore I have hope:

22(F) The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;[a]
his mercies never come to an end;
23they are new(G) every morning;
(H) great is your faithfulness.
24(I) "The LORD is my portion," says my soul,
(J) "therefore I will hope in him."

25The LORD is good to those who(K) wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
26(L) It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
27(M) It is good for a man that he bear
the yoke(N) in his youth.

28Let him(O) sit alone in silence
when it is laid on him;
29(P) let him put his mouth in the dust—
there may yet be hope;
30(Q) let him give his cheek to the one who strikes,
and let him be filled with insults.

31(R) For the Lord will not
cast off forever,
32but, though he(S) cause grief,(T) he will have compassion
(U) according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
33(V) for he does not willingly afflict
or(W) grieve the children of men.





This message is for 3 groups of people
1 Non Believers
2 New Believers
3 Those who have been through hard times in 2008

Lamentations was probably written by Jeremiah. It has the same attitude/writing style(poetry). It measns wailing,crying,tears,durge(song sung at a funeral)
It was written in 586 B.C.
Nebechenezzar destroyed Jerusalem. He destroyed the buildings including the temple.
There was separation of families.
It is the equivalent to the morning after Sept 11,2001 in New York.

Life has sudden curves and they can hurt.

There are moments in life that are hard to swallow (v.19-20)
worwood and gall-plants in the desert. They were ground up and put in drinks. It had a foul odor to it. It was used for those in pain to take their mind off of their pain.
When Jesus was on the cross he was offered gal.
YOU NEED TO REMEMBER THE MOMENTS

God is actually involved in those moments (v.32)
God is authority and in control of those hard to swallow moments

Those moments are part of God's continual flow of mercy (v.22-23)
God pours mercy at the same time he pours grief

God's merciful grief:
1 Refines our hope. (v.24)
Nothing amplifies our life more than pain. We tend to make everything Jesus +____
God refines us so that it's just Jesus..he is our portion..we don't need more.

2 Matures our hope (v. 25-30)
A follower of Jesus that isn't growing in Jesus..isn't a follower of Jesus..something is terribly wrong. Hebrews 12: 9-11

Discipline is teaching..He is growing us to be more like Him.
You may hear people say " I tried the God thing...." 99/100 times they got hit with the hard thing in life and they believed the lie.

3 Culminates with the love of our hope (v.31-33)
Psalm 30:5
Someday that bruising and pain will be over. Revelation gives us that promise.

DON'T WASTE YOUR NEW YEAR BY:

1 Not looking back at the wilderness..taste the wormwood and gall
2 Having incomplete worship.talk,pray, sing,etc
3 by not coming to the end of yourself
4 By not receiving all of God's methods to mold you to Himself