Great Is Thy Faithfulness Pt 1

turn with me in your Bibles to the book of lamentations in Chapter number three lamentation would be right after the Book of Jeremiah lamentations at chapter three verses 21 through verse number 26 this are recalled to my mind therefore I have hope it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his Compassion's fail not they are new every morning great is thy faithfulness the Lord is my portion Seth my soul therefore will I hope in him the Lord is good unto them that wait for him to the soul that seeketh him rest 26 reads it is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord thank you you may be seated the grass withers and the flower fades with the word of our God shall stand forever I asked brother Lofton do change whatever with him we were singing this morning till that great hymn of the church great is thy faithfulness because there is a line there is a verse in that song that moves me I have pardon for sin and a peace that endure is mine own their presence to cheer and a guide I have strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow blessings all mine with ten thousand beside great is thy faithfulness great is thy faithfulness the Book of Lamentations is a series of dirges or songs of mourning that were written against the backdrop of the Babylonian invasion and devastation of Jerusalem in the verses of this book we can see the awful sufferings endured by the people of that city at the hands of their captors the writer is the Prophet Jeremiah a study of Jeremiah's life reveals a portrait of unending sadness and deep depression Jeremiah received an unwanted called to minister God said to him I formed you in your mother's womb while you were yet in your mother's womb I made you I ordained you a prophet jeremiah says i am a youth i am too young and god says just open your mouths do not be afraid of their faces and then jeremiah is called to a Ministry of nothing but judgment he preaches judgment for 50 years without one single convert then Jeremiah was forbidden to marry because he was the dedicate his life solely to the work of God which led to a life of loneliness and then he was a man of deep sadness he wept openly over the sins of his people on one occasion he wept so that God said quit praying for these people don't you see what they're doing that children are gathering sticks their husbands are building fires and their wives are about to bake cakes to Idol gods and so Jeremiah says oh that my head were rivers of water and my eyes were fountain of Tears I would we day at night for the sins of the daughter of my people the harvest is past the summer is ended and these people still are not saved is there no balm in Guinea yard is that no physician there why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered Jeremiah endured depression and on one occasion he asked God to get out of the ministry he told God he would not preach another sermon he would not cry out again in his name and in Jeremiah when he thought about it when he mused over it when he remembered how good God had been in spite of that difficulty he said I said I wasn't going to preach but it's like fine shut up in my body he endured imprisonment by King Zedekiah because Zedekiah did not want to hear Jeremiah's message but in spite of all of this Jeremiah was still able to stand forth amid the rubble and the bodies of the dead and lift his voice in praise to God but God was still great God's faithfulness was still unfailing towards his people Israel how can Jeremiah still praise God emits destruction how can he still give God glory in the middle of his depression how can Jeremiah still shout when conditions have not changed how can Jeremiah still raises voice in Athens of hallelujahs when the situation remains the same God afflicts us not to cast us off but to draws closer to him Jeremiah shows us this morning that if you're going to get through life's depressing moments you've got to have a sanctified view of Providence you got to have a sanctified view of Providence God never brings discipline without doxology God never brings burden without benediction if he brings discipline he gives you the praise to get through it if he brings burden he gives you the benediction the blessing to get through it this this past weekend Friday night and part of yesterday the Thunder and the lightning the heavy rain all Friday night seemed like it would be unending in some areas of the city the power went out we were struck in darkness the sky was lit up with lightning the Thunder almost shook the house rain came down in torrents but when we woke up the next morning the Sun was bright and shining the grass looked greener the world look cleaner because after the rain somebody ought to help me talk him everything seems to wash away that was dirty and filthy God has a way of letting storms come in our lives lightning and thunder wind and rain but when the storm is over we have a fresher outlook on life I need somebody here who's come through some storms who can help me testify weeping may endure for night but joy comes in the morning after every dark cloud the Sun will shine this this this word this word for us this morning from the lamentations shows us that God is faithful even when we are unfair God is faithful I shout this morning I give God praise this morning because there have been days and seasons in my life when I have been unfaith but God has been faithful he does not let my unfaithfulness stop him from being faithful towards me somebody ought to help me praise God this morning even when I walk contrary to his will he still opened doors even when I didn't do what I know was the right thing to do he still made a way out of nowhere even when I stepped across the line and I knew that I had gone too far God loved me enough to let me come back to my senses great is the faithfulness I need somebody here to help me testify who used to be a crook you used to be lowdown come on talk back to me here you've got some skeletons in your closet some things you shame to talk about but even when you did not write God was still fated he is faithful first of all in his grace hmm faithful in His grace it's right here in the text but before I get to verse number 22 I got to jump back in verse 21 this I recalled to my mind therefore if you're going to shout this morning you got to have a good memory if you're going to praise God this morning there's some things you don't have to call back to your mind when I was hungry he fed me when I was sick he healed my body when I was lost he came and found me when I was crooked he made my path straight and if you got a good memory you can shout this morning cuz when you bring it back to your mind that if it had not been somebody here was raised without a father but God kept you in your right mind somebody here had some burdens that you just can't even talk about right now but God's been good to you some of us some of us have suffered pain that is so bruised and is wrong and sensitive even this morning it happened 25 27 years ago but it's still raw it still hurts it's still painful but God kept you on your feet what what should have taken you out God made you stronger I wish I had somebody to help me preach it you could have lost your mind but God gave you a bigger testimony you got a good memory do you remember where you were when God found you and you think God for where you are right now when it comes to my mind Vasil have I who no I'm brothers in this recession I can live without my mother but I can't live without hope I can live without my wife but I can't live without a hook I can live without my house but I can't live without hope I can live without a car but I can't live without hope I hope that that's a bright idea head I hope that he'll make my enemies my footstool I hope he'll lift up my bar down head baffle come on now let me get in verse 22 it is of the Lord's mercy and we are not consumed you you're you're not in here this morning because you've been so holy you're not in here this morning because you read the Bible last week that you're not here because you kept the Lord's commandments so closely you're not here because you got a large print Bible with a big cross around your neck or on your ankle you are here this morning because of the laws of mercy it is of the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed God is faithful in his grace the word message is a Hebrew word one word in Hebrew that requires two words in English in order to translate it's one word in the Hebrew but it requires two words in the English to translate in the Hebrew message is the word have said hese D have said you have to roll your tongue to say it I said come on say it with me I said you gotta sound like a cap when your friends pronounce it I said that's a that's a good word that's a that that's the word that that means mercies it means bowels of compassion my sis has said but but but in the English is two words loving-kindness that word loving-kindness all has said is used over 30 times in the Old Testament it finds its New Testament equivalent in the idea of God's love and God's grace His grace saves us I wish I had one or two more Bible readers only grace could have reached us in our lost and doomed condition we could not get to God so he came to us he emptied himself he lowered himself we could not reach him so he came down to us that's called grace His grace saves us not only does His grace save us but that same grace secures us grace not only sought us out and we were lost in our sin grace keeps us in our salvation because brothers and sisters we are prone to failure we are prone to spiritual wandering someone would help me preach it so God in His grace saves us and that same grace keeps us safe is its its my grace through faith not of works lest any man should boast because if you could work for your salvation do you have to work to keep it and since you didn't earn it since you don't deserve it since it came to you as a free gift of God through Jesus Christ all you do is receive it we don't we don't shout over Grace much cuz we're not graceful towards one another some of the meanest people in Houston sit in these pews every Sunday morning and we're so hard on people come on talk to me here we put exacting standards on people that we can't keep ourselves we try to make people jump through hoops that we can't jump through ourselves measure up to a standard that we can't measure up to ourselves but thank God for grace and grace means I don't have to live up to your standard because even when I blow it His grace is sufficient I wish I had somebody to help me shout it even when I mess up his grace covers a multitude of my sins even when I walk contrarian to his word his grace undergirds me well when my daughter was growing up in my house she displeased me because of our behavior in school and her conduct and our grade and she wanted to go somewhere and I was angry because of her grades and conduct she was in elementary school and she wanted to go someplace sleepover I don't remember what it was but she wanted to to go someplace outside my presence and I said you ain't going nowhere because of how you acted in school and I thought about it I thought I would teach her a lesson I said what do you think I should do with somebody who's been disobedient she said show him grace I dropped her where she wanted to go I brought it myself to where she wanted to go cuz she ended up teaching me a lesson somebody ought to help me preach it what do you do with somebody who's been disobedient God show him your grace and somebody he ought to help me testify that that's a whole lot of times God should have cut you off but because he's so full of grace because he's so full of lesson because the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases and His mercies never come to an end they are new every morning great is the Lord's faithfulness his grace saves us he's faithful in His grace he never runs out of grace he never stops having mercy he never runs out of being kind he never gets tired of being loving he never bores of hearing me when I pray he never weary of me coming to him with my burdens and my Clair's His grace saves me and that same grace sustains me God is faithful in His grace as I heard God is faithful secondly I don't have time to get to the third when I'm out to get to that at 11 o'clock but God is faithful secondly in his gifts is right here in the B part of verse 22 and verse 23 because his Compassion's fail not they are new every morning great is thy faithfulness when you read the word compassion or when you see in the scripture that Jesus was moved with compassion it's a visceral response it's a biological response to somebody's condition compassion is not sympathy because you can sympathize with me and never get in my situation but compassion means you walk around in my shoes and you feel what I feel you hurt like I hurt someone ought to help me talking you're down when I'm down you don't step on me when I'm down you get down with me until I can get up again that's showing compassion yeah God's gifts are faithful now brothers and sisters Grace is usually defined as God's riches at Christ's expense that's an anachronism for grace that's true but that's not the whole story grace is usually defined as the unmerited love and favor of God toward sinners that's true as well but that's not the whole story grace carries that idea of God's riches at Christ's expense and grace carries the idea of unmerited favor a love of God towards the sinner but this is a word that has come to mean so much more than what I just did crying grace means the strength of God to face battles and to berra under times of difficulty let me see if I can make it plain Paul said that was given to me the messenger of Satan to buffett me lest I should be exalted above measure and I went to the Lord a sufficient number of times and asked God to move it but God said my grace is sufficient somehow to help me here God could have removed the thorn but then Paul would have gotten exalted so God had to keep him with the thorn to keep his feet on the ground I wish I had somebody to help me I told you about my my my bushes I put in my front yard and during the spring or late winter in my my yard guy came and did my grass cut it down real low and then he he cut my Mike rape-murders and I'd gone to the Houston garden center and paid a lot of money for those creep murders I say hey man that's the gist of what I said I'm giving you the revised standard version I say hey man with what with what you're doing you know how much money I paid for those bushes here Evan calm down I got to cut them back to keep them from becoming top-heavy I got to prune them to keep them from becoming top-heavy and in the life of every serious Christian God's got to prune you to keep you from becoming top-heavy because if you get too much too soon you forget where your blessings come from and look like some of us I forgot to who kept us cuz you haven't opened your mouth yet you haven't praise God yet but then some of us who know that God kept us God provided for us God opened the door for us and it will either need to be Sunday morning sometime sitting in the house by myself I start thinking about how good God's been to me never got a witness here sometime riding in the car by myself I started musing over the goodness of God singing to myself thanking God for His goodness coz of a sign that you know you've been saved if she's got melody in your heart unto the Lord sing unto the Lord a new song yeah brothers and sisters then let me give you a few gifts of God and then I have to leave us alone his presence is a gift hebrews chapter 13 and press number five says I will never leave you nor forsake you his presence is a gift Matthew chapter 28 and verse 20 says lo I will be with you always even unto the end of the earth no matter what your struggle God is in there with you no matter what your stress no matter what your affliction no matter what your burden no matter what so problem you got God's presence this man had inherited his father's fortune but someone challenged him in court about his daddy's possession and he did not have any evidence though he knew that his father had left everything to him and so he had to leave the courtroom leave the test station to go home and try to find some documents that what his father had belonged to him and he went to his father's house and went up in the attic and turned it upside down and he finally found a book and out of that book fell this piece of paper that was wrapped in a red ribbon and he untied that ribbon and read his father's will and went back to court and said here are my father's promises to me and every Christian how to open this book because in it are your father's promise I will never leave you nor forsake you that's a promise that the father has willed to every one of his children and since I'm God's child I'm in his will and I can find his will in his book we have his present and then we have the gift of his performance his presence is a gift but his performance is a gift Ephesians at chapter 3 verse number 20 gives us his perform now unto Him I wish I had a Bible who is aim to do exceedingly abundantly above all that I can even ask or think according to the power that is at work in me even though I can't do it he's a someone ought to help me here have you ever just thought about that I can't make it by myself but God is evil I can't even stand up here to preach to you this morning but God is evil I'm not even I don't even have a strength to get out of bed by myself but God is evil I can't even put my clothes on without God I can't even think walk talk eat do anything God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that I can ask all thing his presence is a gift his performance is a gift I got to leave you now his provision is a gift Philippians chapter 4 and verse number 19 says my God shall supply oh my knees according to his riches and glory true Christ Jesus Psalm 37 and verse 25 says I've been young and now I'm old and I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging for bread I wish I had somebody to help me close him he will show up with his presence he will show up with his performance but ah he will show up with his provision come with me a minute walk with me a minute back to the old testament to the book of Genesis where Abraham was going up on Mount Moriah you're gonna help me close this watching because the Lord told him to take your son your only begotten Son and sacrifice him on the mountain I wish I had a Bible reader and Abraham brought with him his servants his horses some fire and some wood and he told his servants wait here a moment me and the boy will go yonder and worship every Christian here today all I have a young there where you go to worship it maybe at the desk in your office it may be in the office in your home it may be in the bathroom and maybe in the car it may be in the living room but wherever you get quiet and stop thinking about God's goodness that place is the place where you worship God the best it may be in the seat you're seated in this morning I'm not mad with you for sitting in the same seat every Sunday morning because that's where you shouted last on them on that might have been where you got saved twenty or thirty years ago but wherever you can find a place where you feel comfortable giving God glory that place is your yonder he said me and the boy will go yonder far to worship now he's going to make a sacrifice but he calls it an act of worship and that's what worship is brothers and sisters is the sacrifice of praise you don't care who's looking at you you don't care what nobody thinks about your praise you don't care about them laughing about how loud you get and and how you jump and shout and carry on they don't know your story they don't know where you've been they don't know what God has brought you through they don't know how many storms have rained down in your life they don't know that you by yourself and God still keeping you they don't know that you've been sick but the Lord got you looking good this morning they don't know that you broke even right now because you're walking that you got money somebody ought to help me testify all your bills are not paid but God is still faithful everybody don't love you but God is still faithful that's some enemies who are trying to stop you right now but God is still faithful Abraham said many bar will go yonder and worship you're gonna help me close this won't you and on that way up to Mount Moriah young Isaac turns and looks at his daddy and says to him father I see the world father I see the fire but where is the sacrifice and Abraham looks down at his boy and says God will provide I wish I had a witness I wish I could stop at the word provide cuz that's enough to shot on the right van but you got to read further in the verse he said God will provide himself you're looking for a job and God wants to give you himself you looking for a man and God wants to give you himself you looking for happiness and God wants to provide himself he said the Lord will provide himself a lamb for the burnt offering you know the rest of the story they got up on Mount Moriah and Abraham tied Isaac hands laid him down on the altar and he was ready to come down on his only son and take his only son's life but the Bible says an angel of the Lord stayed his hand and God said to Abraham now I know that you trust me now I know that you believe in me turn around and you will find a ram caught in the thicket and he sacrificed that RAM and he called God by a new name he said God's name is now Jehovah Jireh the God who will provide is there anybody here know God will provide if the Lord open doors for you help me call him by my name if the Lord made a wave - and you're not embarrassed to testify why don't you grab somebody shake somebody's hand tell him he's your home a job my provider his Jehovah Rapha he's my healer he's your home of Shama he's my righteousness he's Jehovah Shalom he in my peace is there anybody here who knows my Jesus come on help me talk about it he's a rock in a weary land he's a shelter in a time of storm y'all know him don't you he brought me from a mighty long way he kept me when I couldn't keep myself why don't you hug somebody tell them God is faithful come on preach it like I'm preaching God is faithful whatever you're going through come on preach it like I'm preaching come on raise your voice put some music in your voice tell them whatever you're going through God is faithful yes he him yes he is yes is yes if yes is yes is yes is yes is he I said yeah see yeah see yeah yes yes if yes if I know whenever it comes up in my mind baffle I have hope it is of the Lord's mercies and we are not considering and those mercies are new ever I'm gonna get to that at 11 o'clock not only is God's mercy faithful but it's fresh cuz the mercy he sent me yesterday I used it a whole when I woke up this moment brand new MERS great is live our brothers are standing now and there's somebody here who's heard the gospel that we got to move from Mount Moriah to Mount Calvary because God would not let Abraham do on Mount Moriah what he was getting ready to do on Mount Calvary the reason he stopped Abraham from sacrificing his only son was because one Friday he would sacrifice his only Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life God sent his son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved

Channel: lillygrovembc

Views: 56,579

Rating: 4.6871796 out of 5

Keywords: Reverend Terry Anderson Pastor Lilly Grove Missionary Baptist Church Houston Texas

Id: _56AWNgX0Zo

Length: 47min 52sec (2872 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 14 2016