My Attempt before Listening to the Sermon:
Title: Hope in GodTelos: Thirst for God, hope in him in Times of trouble, cry out to Him and remember times of praise
My Outline:
1. Does your soul thirst for the Living God?2. Do you pray when you are in anguish, when tears have been your food day and night?
3. The writer remembers times of praise
4. Do you ever speak to your soul, telling it to "Hope in God"
5. In times of trouble he cries out to God and tells his soul to "Hope in God... for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God"
Notes from Jared's Sermon:
Title: The Gospel and DespairIntro - psalm that has blessed him personally
- because of it's authenticity about the depths of despair perhaps even depression
- not of David but perhaps a teaching psalm
- hope this will be a great joy for those here in despair
- quotes John Calvin on psalms "an anatomy of the soul"
- anatomy book he liked as a kid, the psalms are a bit like it, flip through and see the different parts of the body
prayer
- watches TV preachers
- what kind of reality do these people live in where they move from victory to victory?
- not helpful as some of the most faithful people I know have gone through hard times
- doesn't live in a world where a dark night of the soul happens
- Psalm 22 "my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" which Christ echoed on the cross
- shallow sentimental Christianity has no words for this type of experience, throw inspirational aphorisms at it
- I'm convinced the Scriptures teach us, it's when Christianity has bottomed out is when it actually begins to work
- when you come to the end of yourself that you begin to see just how gracious, loving, glorious Jesus actually is
- for many Christ does not become our only hope until he really is our only hope and all other options have been pulled away from us
- Psalm 42 is what life looks like bottomed out
- notice the emotional exposition in vs. 1 & 2
- it means "I'm dying!" "In desperation to live!" weary from weeping, overcome by grief
- vs. 9 & 10 abandonment and persecution
- 4 primary means of the ministry of Christ in the midst of this despair, dark night of the soul
- vs. 1 & 2 utter loneliness
- Jesus ministers to us through our time of fellowship
- Proverbs 10:19 "when words are many transgression is not lacking"
- well intentioned people want to fill up the space with words because the silence makes them uncomfortable
- because the Gospel does it's work in our weakness we have to understand church people that awkward is good [wow! great point!]
- awkward is a kind of felt weakness, weakness is good at being used by the grace of God
- our instinct is to withdraw from community but that's the worst thing to do
- uses example of Job who was suffering
- cultural teaching on people just sitting and being present with those suffering
- personal story of shepherding a body with a lot of suffering
- sat with woman whose child died of a drug overdose, just sat there thinking I was failing her because I had no words for her
- "all I remember is that my pastor was with me when I had to go identify my son's body"
- learned a big lesson in that moment
- pastor who lost his wife, youth pastor just came and hung out, didn't expect anyone to feel a certain way or talk much, just showed up
- when ministering to people, often just keep your mouth shut - just be there
- it's awkward, it's weird, but obey the impulse to just be present
- don't try to manage it for them, mourn with those who morn and let God do the heavy lifting and they'll remember that, not anything you said
- when you're hurting don't withdraw, press in
- vs. 4 he's remembering worship times, times of praise
- Jesus comforts us through our praise and prayer because thanksgiving and Despair can't take place in the same place
- music, art, is more powerful in times of despair
- there's a reason the bible calls us to rejoice in suffering, count it all joy in trails
- praise might not ward off pain, but you can ward off despair with praise
- "all YOUR breakers and YOUR waves crash over me"
- even in his lowness and loneliness he has a very high view of God's sovereignty
- shares personal struggle with depression and suicidal thoughts
- teaches on Charles Spurgeon and his depression
- quotes Charles Spurgeon
- Jared Wilson has really good transitions, it all just flows together
- Job preaches to himself
- Jesus rescues us through his Gospel, maybe not from our circumstances, but more profound problems than our circumstances
- the cross of Christ is the ultimate faithfulness
- eternal proof God loves you
- God doesn't just come through, he HAS come through, it's a done deal
- your suffering isn't wasted
- because of the everlasting Gospel despair has an expiration date
Comments
Post a Comment