Hey Guys,
so a couple of us went to resolved conference last weekend and i thought it'd be awesome to share w/ y'all a small part. The conference was on sin, and there is just too much to share on one happy wednesday email. Instead, i think that the second sermon given by C.J. Mahoney would benefit the church (plus edward's friends) the most. He talked on spiritual deadness, that place where you earnestly sought after God and heard absolute silence. As i've shared w/ some of you, I've only recently felt this so this was especially helpful towards me.
Sermon was on psalm 42, it's the well known "as the deer pant for hte water" psalm but carefully read over ALL of it when you have a chance. If you do you'll notice, as i never did, that the psalmist vascillates between a thirst for God, not being able to hear/find God, taunts and suffering on account of trials, AND a conversation with himself and telling his own soul to hope in the Lord.
In short, we talk to ourselves all the time and therefore, we are our own strongest influence. What we usually say to ourselves in light of troubles or spiritual deadness are lies about the nature of the circumstances, the ppl we interact with, and about God. The key then, is to not listen to lies about the apathetic God, the uncaring friends, or the unfair circumstances, but instead declare truths to yourself and to God. A great way to do this is through worship. This was how the psalmist dealt with his fears and his supposed abandonment. Notice in v9 how he asks of God, "why have you forgotten me?" Sound kinda like what Christ said on the cross right? Here's the profound bit...the psalmist FELT abandoned while Christ WAS abandoned, so that WE are never truly abandoned. Lastly, if the psalmist can feel this much hope pre-christ, how much more should we hope in God having experienced the grace of the cross.
And now, for your weekly dose of hamster:
http://tinyurl.com/ydgat53
how many of you think the hamster ran jus so he could do the spinney thing at the end?
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