Today’s
Message: Give
Thanks: Thankful for Life in the Spirit
Today’s
Scripture: Lamentations
3:19-26, NIV 1984
19 I remember my affliction and my
wandering, the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,for his compassions
never fail.
23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The
Lord is good to those whose hope
is in him, to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
The
sermon series is on giving thanks
But I
hope you are engaged in a life of thanksgiving. Today is the 324th
day of 2012
What about a life of thanksgiving…. Today I am how many days old? 20,226
It is not just a sermon series……Every day should be thanksgiving.
Today
giving thanks for the spiritual life
Our
passage is from lamentations
Little
known old testament book
Written
to mourn the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Babylonians 586 BC
The
suffering of the people is portrayed in great detail.
warfare,
siege, famine, and death that are described - are not just on a ‘society’
level- they are experiences on individual levels. Brave men are reduced
to begging, mothers are unable to nourish their children. The national
catastrophe is made even more real as society disintegrates and people die or
are deported. The entire book of Lamentations is an appeal for God’s
mercy.
Stories of book of daniel originate here
Three men in the firey furnace
Daniel in the lions den
Daniel’s visions
In a time of difficulty, the prophet still points the
people to the joy that we have in the Lord
The life in the spirit helps us rise above what ever may
be going on in the world.
Verse
24 “The Lord is my
portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
When
the lord is our portion, we are full. In the most complete kind of way.
It
was true then. It is still true today.
Spiritual
life
We
don’t like the word
Its
hard to explain
We
feel more earthly than spiritual
We
can relate to the physical
We
are more comfortable with earthly issues
Mow the grass. Get yr nails done. Go to the grocery store. Watch
tv.
Spiritual
things? Tend to frighten us
Read the bible. Pray. Pray outloud. Think harder about how we
live.
The spiritual life is hard work, but it is rewarding.
We
tend to divide life into compartments
The
spiritual and the carnal, or the worldly
Yet
when we open our heart, we can see that everything in life can be spiritual
Everything
is spiritual
See
the joy in a sunrise
Finding
people to love in the grocery store
Thanking
god for breath as you mow the grass
Give
thanks for your pain…..its when we feel the most alive
See
life as a journey with our father
Celebrate
it
What
is the Story of your life
Smiled
at baptism
What
do you want to be when you grow up – a football player – or a pastor
First
prayer remembered june 1969- brian adams was doing what?
Thankful
for salvation – punch the ticket
Decisions
decisions decisions for christ
I am doing it wrong
Spiritual birthdays
My
journey
I am a child. I go because they make me
I am a youth. I am starting to think about this
I have an epiphany
I know it all
Life breaks me
I don’t know it all
There is so much to learn, not that we will attain
There
is no arrival
Seeing
is so important
The
spiritual journey begins when we start to see the world differently
Most
of us have a very narrow view of life…….. horse blinders
We
see and evaluate experiences and people in very human ways
God
sees so differently, and invites us to see as he sees
Seeing every moment as a gift from god
Seeing his presence every where
Seeing
others as souls
Seeing yourself as a soul
The
spiritual search
Allowing
others to have theirs – folks looking for a church
Allowing
yourself to enjoy yours
Setting
aside guilt
Welcoming
celebration
Taking
a serious bent
What
can you take from this?
Ed
wimberly’s book, remembering your faith story
We
all have one. What happens to you when you remember the stories?
This
is the side of life that delivers us joy. Hope. Love. gratitude.
Do
you have something to be thankful for?
Today
can be a day of decision for you.
To choose Christ for the first time
To choose him again- every day is a day of decisioin/embracing christ
To
tackle a bad habit or attitude
To
release someone from bondage
To
love someone
To
love
To
live the generous life
To
find the joy
What
are you waiting for?
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