Sylvania Wesleyan Church 1
Sunday Morning 11/23

      • Luke 1:37NIV2011

  • Good Morning. I am glad that we are here together this morning. For those who prayed for me this week I appreciate the prayers. I came down with a pretty bad head cold on tuesday and it knocked me for a loop most of the rest of the week.
    It actually delayed me writing this sermon for quite a few days because of my headache and not being able to think clearly. One of the interesting parts that comes with that is I had written the introduction and had an idea on where I wanted to go with this sermon and by time I was feeling well enough to sit down and work on the sermon I just couldn’t recapture that line of thought.
    I tried and I tried yet it kept slipping away from me and I wasn’t sure if i was going to get it back. In fact it led me into a kind of funk yesterday as I was trying to get through and finish this sermon. I then decided to take a moment and just to listen to the passage I felt was the one God wanted us to hear this morning. Let’s start there by simply reading the word together.
    Jeremiah 23:1–6 NIV
    1 “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. 2 Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the Lord. 3 “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. 4 I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord. 5 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior.
    and Colossians 1:11-20
    Colossians 1:11–20 NIV
    11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

    The Dark Days

    After reading this passage I couldn’t escape the overwhelming feeling of Despair, Loneliness and Sadness that weighed heavy on my heart.
    I kept asking. Why? Why God am I feeling this way?
    Was I doing something in my life that I wasn’t supposed to be doing?
    Am I failing in some way that I can’t see?
    Why must I go through this struggle?
    These are the kind of questions that plague the mind when you are in that pit. Not that different than the Israelites found themself scattered across the nations in exile from their home. They were lost broken, led astray by bad shepherds. They were hurting and in pain.
    How often do some us enter into this place of pain. That these three words describe how we are feeling in the moment?
    I know, we don’t like talking about these things some times in church because that would me we are some how falling short of being totally reliant on God.
    Yet, Is that really what is happening when we enter into the pit.
    One of my favorite passages that has had a profound impact on my life was Lamentations chapter 3.
    Lamentations is a book of five poems that depicte the horrors of the seige of Jerusalem. This is a dark place for the people of Israel. Yet it sits there in our Bible and it speaks to us if we let it.
    Lamentations 3:1–3 NIV
    1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the Lord’s wrath. 2 He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light; 3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long.
    I feel no connection I am struggling the Days are coming where I feel like there is no hope. God why are you silent. God why have you turned form me. What is happening that I no longer feel like I am in your light.
    Lamentations 3:4–6 NIV
    4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones. 5 He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. 6 He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead.
    My body is failing my shoulder has hurt all week, Sickness has come upon me. I can’t think, I can’t write, I am failing.
    Lamentations 3:7–9 NIV
    7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains. 8 Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. 9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked.
    I cry out I need help. This sermon isn’t going to write itself. God give me the words. Why aren’t you hearing my prayer? What is this wall in front of me God? Are you really keeping me from you?
    Lamentations 3:16–18 NIV
    16 He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust. 17 I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. 18 So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”
    All hope is lost. I won’t ever be done. I won’t ever succeed. I won’t ever live up to what you had for me.
    This is the place that is too easy to enter into. This place of sorrow, and crushing defeat.
    You know what is the most interesting thing about what I just shared with you. This was not a cry or plea from me for help from any one of you.
    This was a utter recognition that I have to depend on God and even when I feel like my heart and spirit are so far from him that I can cry out in my brutal, and raw honesty about the state of my heart and mind.

    Turning to Him

    It is in the process of entering into this place recognizing the pain and the hurt that freedom is found. It is in entering into the embrace of God that We cn find the relief that we are longing for.
    Earlier we read the passage in Jeremiah and the dark place of being in exile weighed heavy on the hearts of the Israelites. Lost and scattered what did God do for them. He made them a promise.
    Jeremiah 23:4–7 NIV
    4 I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord. 5 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior. 7 “So then, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when people will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’

    Turning to Him

    I read this passage over and I can’t escape the beautiful prophecy that I read here. The promise of the deliverance through Christ. The blessed savior, the Righteous branch the Beauty the power of the promise that the days are coming. The Days are coming that the King will be here. That as we prepare our hearts for the coming savior we can look to him and we can have hope. The completeness that is there is powerful because it reminds us that he is king in our lives and that he is the ruler over all. He is the one we look to. It gives even more meaning to the promises found in the New testament.
    Colossians 1:11 NIV
    11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,
    Be strengthened in the pain. Through his glorious might because it is only through him that we can endure.
    Colossians 1:12 NIV
    12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.
    Give thanks because he has brought us into the flock like the wonderful shepherd he is. That we can be at peace and know who he is. That he is helping us to be a Holy People i his Kingdom. Giving thanks for all that he ha done for us.
    As we enter into this week of thanksgiving we can’t escape this truth that it is through him that we are able to be free and that we are to find the hope. It is in the place that we are reminded.
    Colossians 1:13–14 NIV
    13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
    It is in his love
    his grace
    his peace
    his forgiveness
    his redemption that we can be free from the bonds of sin.

    The Days are Coming

    The days are coming both good and bad. Peaceful and hard. All of us may be experiencing different moments right now but the truth is that no matter where we are at we can find peace and joy in him. That we have the promise of the coming Savior in Jesus. Next week we start the season of Advent. The time of year that we look to the coming of Christ and in many ways we started that this morning by looking to him and being reminded of all that we can be thankful for.
    I invite you to come tonight for a special service. In honor of thanksgiving we will be celebrating communion tonight. We will take some time in prayer and scripture reading and reflect on what Christ did for us on the cross and all that we have to thankful for in it.
    This morning I remind you though that we have so much to be thankful for. If you have welcomed Jesus into your life this is your reminder that he has given so much for you.
    For others in this room if this message captured you even just for a moment. If it helped you see that God loves you and wants good things for you and that no matter where you are at he his arms are outstretched for you. He is calling you to the flock to simply believe in his forgiveness and the freedom that can be found in him.
    Let’s Pray together.

      • Jeremiah 23:1–6NIV2011

      • Colossians 1:11–20NIV2011

      • Lamentations 3:1–3NIV2011

      • Lamentations 3:4–6NIV2011

      • Lamentations 3:7–9NIV2011

      • Lamentations 3:16–18NIV2011

      • Jeremiah 23:4–7NIV2011

      • Colossians 1:11NIV2011

      • Colossians 1:12NIV2011

      • Colossians 1:13–14NIV2011

Sylvania Wesleyan Church 1
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