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00:00:01 uh good morning everybody uh nice to see everybody again and uh let's play a before we play a video I just thought i' share a bit last time I spoke I spoke of this idea called safe space and there appear to be quite a lot of interest in it so I thought I extend that a little bit um in particular I received an email from somebody who wasn't from this church and he's an introvert he said his name is not to be mentioned um and I I I think this is quite an important topic let me just give you what I think I think most
00:00:32 people feel churches are not safe spaces you know you know you tell you something you going to tell the whole world churches are spaces where people get judged so I thought we sort of expand a little bit on this and go back to what scripture says I'm going to play you a little video and uh I just want to ask you a question at the end of the video you just tell me whether is this the right way we should speak to God so let let's let's watch this video my wife my church that's a temple I built for
00:01:03 you and I'm going to yell at you cuz I mad at you I can't take it give me a sign or something blow this paint out of me give it to me tonight lord god Jehovah if you won't give me back my wife give me peace give it to me give it to me give it to me give me peace give me peace I don't know who's been fooling with me you are the devil I don't know and I won't even bring the the human into this he's just a mut so I'm not even going to bring him into it but I'm confused I'm mad I love you Lord I love
00:01:37 you but I'm mad at you I am mad at you so deliver me tonight Lord what should I do now tell me should I lay hands on myself what should I do I know I'm a sinner and a once in a while woman I but I'm your servant since I was a little boy you brought me back from the dead I'm your servant what should I do tell me I've always called you Jesus you always called me sunny what should I do Jesus it's a sunny talking now all right you let me down hello Missie it sounds like you got a wild man over there carrying on and
00:02:29 hollering whatever I'm just who who is that over there is that your son or who is that oh well that's that is my son that he's I tell you ever since he was a little bitty boy sometimes talks to the Lord and sometimes he yells at the Lord and tonight he just happens to be yelling at him well could you tell him to talk a little or whatever people got to get their sleep you know what time it is hello now I'm calling you Jesus talk to son you don't talk to suay tonight and all right so that's that's actually from
00:03:03 a 1997 movie called The Apostle so you heard what the mother said let me tell you the context his wife he's actually he's actually a pastor of a church and his wife is actually committing adultery with the youth pastor that's just a story right okay so it's very angry very upset uh get very worked up and so the the the line is this the mother he's he's speaking so vigorously with go the neighbors complain and the Clincher line is the mother receives a complaint and the mother says sometimes he talks to
00:03:36 God sometimes he yells at God so let me ask you a question and this is really from the heart no judgment how many of you feel that is not the right way to pray to God okay we have some hands we being honest right we have some hands you me the rest of you feel that's the right way to pray to God then my next question to you out of love is when have you done that and when is it appropriate to do that you see we always talk about safe spaces like the word safe space is a secular term and I like to start this
00:04:15 before we can talk about creating a safe space with other people to ventilate like the what he did on your issues because safe spaces is where you ventilate are you in a safe space to ventilate to God because the vertical informs the horizontal and today we look at a text in Genesis where Abraham really talks back to God and we're going to springboard a little bit to see how we should look at our prayer life so let's come before God In Prayer Lord we just come before you and ask ask in humility
00:04:50 that you speak and not me and that you really Pierce us with your understanding of scripture and they we learn how to pray to you properly in Jesus name we say this amen so I'm just going to read this text this text is quite famous is Genesis 18 it comes when three men uh Angels come and uh and Under The Moriah tree uh Abraham welcomes them they give a prophecy about Sarah is going to give birth Sarah laughs and then they get up to go they angels and let's look at verse 16 when a man got up to leave they
00:05:24 looked down toward Sodom and Abraham walked along with them to see them on the way then the Lord said shall I hide from Abraham what am I about to do and this is the famous story where Sodom and Gomorrah are going to be destroyed Abraham will surely become a great and powerful Nation All Nations and Earth will be blessed through him for I have chosen him so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just so the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has
00:05:55 promised him so then this is what Abra the Lord tells Abraham this is what he's not hiding then the Lord said the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great this is like a cancer that spreads out and the sin is so Grievous I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that reached me if not I will know so this is what you call a setting up question because God doesn't need to go down to have look he's basically telling this to Abraham to elicit a response because as he said
00:06:33 Abraham is going to become a great and powerful Nation this is a test a teaching lesson a test all right so let's see how Abraham responds and it says this the man turned away away turned away went towards Sodom but Abraham remained standing before the Lord then Abraham approached him and say will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked this a little bit like the video we just saw right what if there are 50 righteous people in the city then the tone gets more stronger will you really sweep it away and not spare the place
00:07:09 for the sake of the 50 righteous people in it then he gets worked up far bit for you to do such a thing to kill the righteous with the wicked treating the righteous and the wicked like far be with you quite wed up you know will not the judge of the earth do right he's actually teaching God what to do know telling God off you know and the law says if you find 50 righteous people in the city of Sodom I will spare the whole place for their sake so God agrees right you're right you're right and of story no he he's now a bit
00:07:46 bold okay let let's see where we go and then he says then Abraham spoke up again now they have been so bold as to speak to the Lord then he uses a phrase never used in Genesis it's only found in The Book of Job though I'm nothing but dust and Ashes that term is a lament word when people are grieving they sit in dust and Ashes is a Hebrew term what if the number of the righteous is five less than 50 oh this guy got Chinese blood in him will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people he doesn't even use
00:08:27 the word 45 five people five people only less God very patient if I find 45 there I will not destroy it wow and story know it still goes on oh 45 can H let's see what we can do once again he spoke what if only 40 are found there and God says okay 40 I want to do it I'm not very bold already he's been lowering down by five you know a factor of five let's see what happens if he lowers down by a factor of 10 then he said may the Lord not be angry but let me speak what if only 30 can be found there
00:09:10 actually if I'm God I'm not God it's very irritating know this hello from 50 Neo neoo you know he answered I will not do it if I find 30 there so at this point at this picture is appropriate you know you know when they call you Uncle they're not happy really buy Duran you're 50 years old so they call you Lang Uncle you know you go by rabutan better you know the point is people think the text is a baring is not because bargaining means you start with one number you go with another number and you meet in the middle correct you
00:10:03 not you negotiate right but whatever number Abraham TRS to God God accepts God accepts and so he goes on now they have been so bold as to speak to the Lord he goes even lower what if only 20 can be found and God say for the second of 20 I will not destroy it so God is trying to say okay come on come on come on come on oh then he say okay may the Lord not be angry notice there a refrain of that word not be angry I will be bold so remember the little words but let me speak just once more how many more times
00:10:43 but you say speak once more what if only 10 and God say for the sake of 10 I will not destroy it and then what happens verse 33 he B ahuh like that one what an anticlimax right that's an anticlimax the story function like an anticlimax you know I mean this not mean to be fany know like Indians are very interesting they everything like that know so you try to imagine it's like sometime people think story is pleas sir 50 rupees 45 rupees sir 40 rupees oh jolly good 30 rupees 20 rupees 10 Rupees go on going what about
00:11:31 one rupee that is the question no the question is why 10 why did he stop at 10 that is the way the text throws itself at you because God is saying you started 50 fine 45 fine 40 fine 30 fine 20 fine 10 come on he chicken out you know he B that's the way the story is phrased and we know this because in Jeremiah God does the same thing he's going to destroy the city and so God says go up and down the streets of Jerusalem look around in con search through the square if you can find but one person who deals
00:12:14 honestly and six the truth I will forgive the city just one and as we know the whole city of Jer of go of Sodom there's not even one so why did Abraham stop at 10 and if you read chapter 19 you know what was he on about he's not really interested in Sodom who does he really want to save who's in who's in Sodom correct he wants to save Lord but Canon he dare not ask so he cover with 50 40 so he stops at 10 then should be okay because Lord M plus what should be okay save so go home he he goes far but not far enough
00:13:13 and we know in chapter 19 God destroys the city because there's not even one but the Angels go there rescues Lord pulls out zoah the wife and the two daughters that is God's mercy but the point of the story is Abraham you could have gone further what did he get maybe C+ he didn't fail the test definitely not an a now what's interesting in this story which is a fascinating story you find a very similar story in Exodus same thing again Exodus after the golden Cal God wants to wipe out the Israelites so
00:13:49 the both are stories of intercession and now here this text is really quite interesting you look at the details and so this is after golden Cal Moses comes down punishes them the Levites come sweeps across the camp then the Lord says to Moses go down here this because your people whom you brought out Egypt had become corrupt is it is there is there something wrong with that sentence he tells Moses go down because your people whom you brought out of Egypt that's setting him up you know the rest of it you you can read and then
00:14:28 verse 9 I seen these people they stiff neck leave me alone my anger may burn against them I may destroy them and then he's going to do an Adam with him again I will make you into a great nation I'm going to reboot and start with you but Moses picks it up he said no no no no no no no no no no why should your anger burn against your people God whom you brought out Egypt it's like a god uh I think you made a mistake you all it's not my people uh it's your people and then he doubles down why should the
00:15:03 Egyptians say it was the evil intention he brought them out to kill them in the mountains that to wipe them off the face of the Earth turn from your Fierce anger relent and do not bring disaster your 50 this is Moses 50 to 45 to 40 and then he goes down to his 30 remember your servant while not only he corrects Gods he reminds Gods you know this guy even worse than Abraham you know who TI all these people oh no maners on you know remember your servants God oh God can forget you know need a human to remind him to whom you
00:15:38 SW by yourself I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars and skies I will give you descendant all the land promise and you will be their inheritance forever so did God take lightning and smite down this insolent person no the Lord relented the Lord agreed yes okay you're right I won't do it and then afterwards the plot TI vers 33 the Lord says to Moses leave this place you and the people and go to the land I promis on o to Abraham I will give to descenders Hallelujah then the twist I will send an
00:16:11 angel before you driver the Canaanites Amorite hites etc etc go to the land flowing milk and honey and here's the Clin chip but I will not go with you because you are stiff neck people and I might destroy you on the way so the negotiations go from I'm going to destroy all the people Moses negotiates okay don't destroy and then now God says fine you go I'm not coming with you I'll send an angel and state it is now 30 yeah he's going to bring it down to 20 Moses said to the Lord you've been telling me lead these
00:16:44 people you not let me know whom you will send with me you have said I know you by name you found favor with this guy is a lawyer you know if you please with me teach me your way I may know you continue to find favor you remember this nation is your people wow REM he reminds God again wow really God forgets and Lord says okay deal my presence will go with you I will give you rest meaning my present go with you alone this is down to 20 then Moses says cannot cannot your presentence does not go with us do not
00:17:23 send us from here well not blackmailing God you know how anyone know you're pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us what else will distinguish me your people from all the peoples on the face of Earth and here the cliner the Lord said to Moses I will do the very thing you ask because I'm pleased with you and I know you by name whoa that's 10 now I think somehow the thing will cut off you know what he does in his one he says Show Me Your Glory and God does that now what we are going to tell you
00:17:59 little thing is first was God slow to anger only after Moses no he has never been slow to anger what we have in both cases are test God draws both Abraham and Moses out into a very vigorous dialogue and at the end of Moses he says I'm pleased with you and Moses goes on 50 45 40 302 10 and he goes to one because he ask the most ultimate D thing Show Me Your Glory oh Lord and the Lord does that you don't get higher than that now if you read scripture and you follow the prayers of Jeremiah the prayers of
00:18:38 habc the prayers of Ezekiel you find a similar thing and the New Testament is this nagging person called the persistent Widow goes on and on and on again and so what is the text telling us God Delights in vigorous dialogue with us that is a key point and so we ask ourselves are your prayers my prayers defined this way do you wrestle the way Moses and Abraham and habc and all these Saints do do we do it like the persistent Widow and in particular the story of Moses Abraham is about what intercession and as we know lately we've
00:19:22 been having a lot of people who are sick in our midst and so the lesson to you and I this one one thing to pray for the sick is another thing to lament over the sick and say Lord why did it happen why did your Justice do this why do you allow so and so to get cancer he's been faithful God I don't get it God that's the function of the text to go before God and boldly say Lord is not right and to do it again and again and again and again in hca's case he said God look at it will you turn your fa look at what Israelites are doing and
00:20:06 God says sh I'm going to do something you don't expect I'm sending the Babylonians and and heo says you can't do that you you can't do that and God says write it down I'm going to punish the Babylonians so habac doesn't like the answer and then God tells him be silent for the Lord is in the Temple and so he replies no my need Shake I will wait for the day of Calamity upon those who are coming upon us and that famous verse though the victory does not blossom and there's no wine in the fields no Fe I will honor the Lord I
00:20:42 will bless the Lord and sometimes we wrestle in pray for people who we love God gives us an answer we don't like but we will be like a backup even though there are no good news we will praise His name name that is vigorous dialogue that is being in a safe space with God I want to take you a few how this is I think very applicable on many fronts okay one a second point is if you look at the way Abraham does it is very incremental he doesn't jump in and whack God you know that's very rude he tests the waters you know okay
00:21:23 so when you look at this video and we ask ourselves is it right or wrong the question is how does a person do this habitually that is the question and so when you look at it you find few words keep coming up I have been bold that's the thing it's a bold prayer number two he keeps telling Lord don't be angry now whether he doesn't understands God's character he gives God that respect and I think there's a difference between this and the video we just saw so those who put out the hands I'm not quite
00:22:00 wrong you know I think they were brave enough to put out head because the way Abraham does it is incrementally and Moses does the same let me not be angry I am but dust and Ashes slowly and slowly that me he moves from A to B to C to D slowly and carefully now let's see why this is important because the more he does this he does two things one he realizes a lot about God and a lot about himself elves he thinks Abraham thinks there's 10 at least there should be 10 people in Sodom that's his lack of faith
00:22:36 at least there should be 10 actually there's not even one and number two he he he doesn't dare go past 10 because he thinks he go past 10 God will say no but God would do it even just for one so very often we underestimate our sinful nature and we underestimate also the grace of God now that's a starting point in any dialogue we have with God and can I say that's a starting point in any dialogue you have with anyone else we often understate underestimate our sinful nature and we often underestimate Our God's level of
00:23:15 Grace that's the S nature now here's where the vertical affects the horizontal right because the way you are bold with God incrementally that's the way we should speak to other people and I like to suggest this an area where we all fail very often fail you see there two types of personality type A type B like I say some personalities like me and Peter we are confrontational people everything let's debate talk Come on talk problem talk to me come and talk you talk to scared there's no sharing of
00:23:57 narrative is intimidation there's an owning of a space Oh this guy's a walking Bible dictionary or this guy like his English is so good my England not very powerful don't want talk to him correct or not so we either don't talk about it and we Retreat to our own little Echo Chambers where we say this this honor CH character Peter all like that one all the elders all like that one or tell us what to do never listen one prob nobody listens you know me either we SE the other side again to fight talk talk talk talk face
00:24:34 turn rate after that nothing gets settled because argue argue already nothing happens so there's a fundamental lesson here about safe spaces and about speech and today we really want to talk about speech so let me give you something which which I I think is quite useful this is not incendiary here it really is in America and I'm in a cheat group with some Malaysians who went over to the states what we call liberals and last week one of them posted a few things about the RO versus weight and then went
00:25:07 on a tiate against pro-choice people you know pro-choice people are people who support guns pro-choice people uh don't respect women went on afterward I cannot T so i w i w back and you know how the dialogue always goes and why it gets nowhere a pro life will say people like this are murderers what that's very helpful and then the pro choice will Lobby you back you people treat women as objects so when you come from that point you don't get anywhere you just fight let's debate let's debate why the debate
00:25:45 doesn't work because we underestimate our sinful nature to be reactive and we don't show people the grace of God you see we want to see this as the narrative you know we don't want to see this we don't want to see her so I have a friend in in in Japan who really brother I really love he's in one of my Bible study group I I have this Bible study from from few countries all meeting together and he told me about about International person went there a girl and got drunk got drunk and after a while period
00:26:22 didn't come period didn't come came up to my friend who's a church leader and says you know um she wants to get an abortion where can you get it in Japan you know my friend told her he says you don't do it if you don't want a kid I will adopt the kid so that's the narrative The Narrative isn't about pro choice or pro lifee is about Pro love and so the lesson God will ask you is how much do you love your neighbor that you're willing to show that is not about this argument about you're a murder you don't respect women does the
00:27:01 church love The Unborn Child enough to take it in if the world does not do it that's the discussion because God would have saved the city of Sodom for one person that's the point now we can put this narrative to many things then that's why when people see this people people get discouraged so any meaningful difficult dialogues begins with small steps and if the other side reacts you stop this is the template for us let me give you how this works in real life the first thing to understand is the church
00:27:38 isn't a building it is but a place but it is not its location is the shared Humanity of his person for for confrontational people when you talk to someone always remember it's about a shared narrative when you go into a space and you try to talk down to a person no matter how much logic you have the other person is not going to listen to you so these are little things to pick up so let me give you example how this works in real life this is rosaro Butterfield you know what she is or who she is she used to be a professor in a
00:28:13 leading University you know what her major was queer Theory she's what you call a feminist lesbian and she ran a support group for lesbians she's what you call a vocal lesbian feminist supporter and she wrote books on it so one day she decided to write a book about all these Christians who hate gays you know and she went after a particular group called the promis keepers and so in the dialogue she met some Christians and one Christian pastor says why why don't you come over for dinner and you know we just be friends we eat
00:28:48 don't need to talk you don't one to and so she went over there and wack the guy wack the guy wack the guy and over time she waged and she waged and she waged and she went at the guy went from 10% to 20% to 30% sorry 50 40 30 and now she is one of the most vocal supporters of the Christian faith and she wrote a book uh last year called The Gospel com with house key basically saying the way you dialogue with people is small steps friendship little things and you bring them in and so you always start with 50
00:29:27 45 40 going there stop and over time they will know a bit more that all people are sinful and they know a bit more that God's grace is with us and it is my prayer that this is a church that can Embrace people that way here's the flip side like what Francis Chan says we do the same thing with Christians we don't agree with Catholics Hebrew Roots uh Armenians you name them we much quicker to point to see Prosperity salvation by works idolatry gospel plus but we very often stop and go 50 45 40 30 let me
00:30:11 hear your voice there the only way people soften to listen to the truth now here let me just go with the cruncher of the text right as mentioned there are some key words being brought up the key word being brought up is the word dust and Ashes that's a lament word a grieving word so what is the boldest form of dialogue with God is this thing called lament now this is very often a misunderstood word so if I ask you a very simple question what's the difference between sorrow grief and lament most people can't explain it you
00:30:50 know so let me try to process this with you and see where Genesis 18 springboards us all right so let me give you the key point that safe spaces are sacred spaces to lament so let me explain what lament is a bit and we we take a pause and pull back you know when you enter the world all of us cried when you leave this world they will be crying so there a point about life showing you that this world is a world of Tears you enter with tears you leave with tears so that's the reality so God is trying to tell you by by creation this
00:31:29 life expect bad things to happen and sometimes worse and it's not fair from the God go is that start go this life God is warning you there Genesis 3 again Genesis 9 Genesis 11 this world is corrupted but the Bible tells us in Revelations that there is a New Hope a new place where Heaven and Earth meet and there will be no more tears and so lament sits in between the reality of a painful world and a future hope where there are no tears meaning we are in a city of tears but there is a future where there's a city with no tears where
00:32:10 God will be our God and he will wipe away every tear a lament straddles in the middle how do we do that let us pick up a very famous character with springs B this and he was also undergoing a test job and you see a lot of people like to look at the Book of Job as about God's sovereignty and it's partially true but that's not really the full story I think there's a lot of misreading of job and job and Genesis 18 Genesis 22 are very parallels you know because they're all about testing of Godly men uh Abraham is
00:32:44 tested in 18 next week we'll take 22 Abraham is tested again and job is tested and they all got to do with speech now let me tell you another point which people often don't pick up what uh job is job is not just about sovereignty of God you know that because in the end job never knows what happened and people look like God smacked him in the end where were you when I created the world and I created the Behemoth and the thing who are you m moral to talk back to me slap you man I think there's a horrible
00:33:17 misreading of job and really doesn't understand the text you see the key story of the story of job is this it is about how you and I remember this uh process pain that's it it narrates how you and I process pain is a what if situation what if we talk an innocent man and job could be anybody is a typological parable although he a real person what if we talk a innocent man somebody in FBC you really love and you say God is not fair he's got cancer that's it that's what job is why if we talk an innocent man
00:33:56 and we put him through the fire and we turn up the heat slowly that's the story of job is about dealing with pain so let me show you a few ways where job tells us we deal with pain number one you spiritualize the struggles Christians very good at this one you know oh God has a plan for you oh uh the Lord has a will for you you know every time you got a problem they quote you Bible verses God will find a way where there seems to be no way the guy got canceled thir stage and you told him that you just lost all your
00:34:31 money and you you you tell him you know this world just passing away I can't send my children to study anymore know and then you tell but all this thing God does is for your good let's slap the guy and so it starts off with this and you know why it starts off this because the heat is just starting up you know he can do it now because not so bad and then the accuser the Satan goes back and turns up the heat so one we spiritualize your struggles here's the opposite end it gets so bad you cannot tan so two you give up
00:35:07 your faith curse God exactly what Satan wants and go jump off a building go cut your your your your your hands go take sleeping pills go kill yourself you see where job is going that's just chapter you know now the progression is important now because every time you read it you put yourself in the shoe this is how we progress pain and what I want all of us to do now is to put yourself and say I identify with this that's where I am now that's what safe spaces is here's the third one you bottle it
00:35:49 inside this I tell you men all suffer from one jant stoic it works to a point and after a while job open his mouth and he cursed and he cursed and he cursed so when you ask people how are you fine no you're not fine I don't want to talk about it now there's a space for that because next week we'll look at silence there's a place for silence because Genesis 22 Abraham is completely silent but there a point where silence crosses the line and you are going to explode and when you explode it doesn't
00:36:34 come out well that's the point of chapter 3 notice we just going chapter 1 2 3 now the most fascinating part of job is chapter 4 on wordss I you notice from 4 to 30 no one preaches on it but because it's 4 to 30 the job is trying to tell you this is how most of us process our pain this I tell you the 1 2 three some of you have this problem four I tell you all of you have it and it's this you slip slowly into depression by trying to rationalize what happened to you why God maybe something something
00:37:12 happened look at the words of friend you know this guy build that tells him this a he blames his children when your children sin because the children died he gave them over to the penalty of sin that mean they died they deserve to die wow what a great friend you have man job and then here is the the stupidity of the argument if you seek God plead with God you're pure meaning this is you because you're sinful he will Rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your prosperous day this is exactly
00:37:41 what what the Satan wants him to say meaning it's because you sin you got cancer it's because of your sin that your children don't love you it's because of your sin that you lost all your money now Lamentations does that but very often The Book of Job saying no and you read the discourse the discourse has a has very similar thing one job you're at fault is your sin two this classic among Christians God is trying to teach you something God is trying to train you God trying to make you a better person you know why you you
00:38:18 you lost that person you love so that you could minister to someone else you want to say what the beep that's just what it I lost my so and so so I can Minister what's wrong with you that's the response and you know what's interesting about this because and why this is the buck of the chapter because every time the friends give one long CH job wxs them back Cowa he doesn't take it ly down IL says one chapter he and he wxs longer another guy comes in he wxs again he is like livian he like beim off behim off sits there
00:38:56 with a mouth and you are like the torrent of criticism and I hold I'm levian I will put out fire because all of your accusations are wrong and it goes again and again and again and it holds and that's why this painting captures the main intent of job now you don't need friends because Asians don't talk you just have voices in your head we call this monkey mind they call this rumination in Psychology you will go again and again and again and again it's my fault it's my mother's fault is the elders fault is the
00:39:42 church's fault is God's fault is this is this is this and it numbs you that is the point of the story of job so what's the right approach then is this lament so what is lament you bang your head and you scream to God and at chapter 7 after hearing all this nonsense he gets up I will complain in the bitterness of my soul and so it goes on and on now he's not the only guy who does it look at Psalm 88 and this psalmist Haman says this about God you have put me in the lowest pit in the darkest dep your wrath lies heavily over me you
00:40:37 have overwhelmed me with all your W you have taken from me my closest friends and made me repulsive with them I confined and cannot Escape my eyes are dimmed with grief that's like the video clip he's talking to God God should Smite him down with lightning right and he Contin news from my youth I suffered I borne your Terrors your wrath has swept over me all day long you taken me my friend my neighbor Darkness closest and the end huh that's it no good ending no Psalm 39 same thing Lamentations same
00:41:16 thing go look at all the last chapters no good ending is there a kernel of help yes the beginning of it Lord you are the god who saves me day and night I cry out to you may my prayer come before you turn your ear to My Cry Lord why so much cancer in FBC we don't understand that's the kind of prayer he wants Lord I don't know why my children they don't come back I try my son I haven't seen him for one year Lord I haven't spoken to my mother for 3 years why did my uncle cheat me on money you are the God who saves me day
00:42:11 and night I cry out to you that is lament and that is where Genesis 18 leads us to and we're going to just go through a bit of it today and next Sunday we're going to really open this up and so job laments and he laments and at the end of it you know what he says after the Lord had said these things to job this is the part where a lot of people never read carefully he say to elifas the terminite these are the guys who talk a lot nonsense I angry with you and your two friends because you not spoken
00:42:52 the truth about about me as my servant job has now what God is doing is comparing what the Tre fans have spoken and job's response and you read all the threee fans they all glorify God God is great God is good you must be a sinner they're talking rubbish you know and God chastises them job screams at God I wish I was never born and God says what you have spoken the truth and I'm going to challenge you have you ever done a prayer like that because if you have not you are botling it inside and you are going through the
00:43:37 motions and you can come through FBC and say hallelujah Lord but you go home and it will break you because without lament there only two ways a person suffers one bitterness the other one anger because you lash out you lash out to your children you lash out to your family you lash out but L man takes it to God and we go 50 45 40 30 God I may not go up to one but slowly I will get there and what is the best example of that because in the New Testament a person went into a garden called Gethsemane and with tears he said if you
00:44:26 can take away this cup from me but the cup was not taken but the Lord sent angels to comfort Jesus and at the cross Jesus lamented this my God my God why have you forsaken me and if Jesus can lament like that what do you think the Lord is telling you and me this morning Safe space safe space start first with you and God before you even try to say let's make FBC a safe space of others now we really need to process this and next week we're going into another critical part of it silence but let us maybe Ponder a bit on
00:45:27 our prayers today that we go into vigorous prayers vigorous dialogue with God and that we do it in incremental boldness and we learn to lament now you may be in a space today where you have no problems but I will tell you many in our church suffer and so as we start to sing this song I I want us to maybe pull down a little bit and think of especially this morning those who are suffering with illnesses in our midst because there's a lot and I pray your heart will be broken by them because God will not have you
00:46:12 anyway and if you say God I don't think it's fair God will say yes bring it on that's your 50 Lord I don't understand why this is happening bring it on that's your 45 and as we continue to do that may his presence come into you and slowly heal us as a church as we remember we live in a city of tears but the day will come where all of us will be in the city without tears let I just close in prayer and I want to take us through a time of quiet and reflection Lord we lament is such a difficult thing to
00:47:07 preach and so Lord here we come in your presence undo us Lord let us come undone we break before [Music] you and Lord one day Heaven and Earth will come together and there will be no more tears the always way have passed away but in the meantime we struggle with this this world of unfairness and pain and maybe right now here there are those who just suffer with it so much and they bottle it inside so we ask that in the quietest your healing hand comes and we just come into your presence to know you are here
00:47:53 with us and we are comforted that we can talk with you you and we say it in Jesus name amen we're going to sing this song and I as we stand up I just want to ask that the song heals you if you're struggling that's your eyes let's petition to God in his presence bring it to our Lord let's open up our hearts to God found in your hands fullness of joy every fear suddenly wide away here in your presence all of my gains now fade away every crown no longer on displ here in your presence Heaven is trembling in all of
00:49:45 your wonders the Kings and your kingdoms are standing here in your presence we are [Music] [Applause] undone here in your presence Heaven and Earth become one here in your presence all things are new here in your [Laughter] pra everything bouns before you [Music] [Music] B in your hands fullness of joy every fear suddenly wi away here in your presence all of by games now fade away every Crown no longer on display here in your presence Heaven is traving in all of your wers the Kings and your kingdoms are
00:52:04 standing here in your presence we are on hear in your presence Heaven and Earth become one here in your presence all things are here in your presence everything falls before [Music] you can I get everybody to sit down with just going to take it slow and we're going to go into a time of intercession right now and I'm going to get everyone to pray for the sick in our midst as a body I want you to sit down I want you to think of a person you care about who is sick who's ill and I want you to weep in your
00:53:24 hearts and if you think it's not fair I want you to raise your hands and say God it's not fair would you raise your hands right now thank you brother thank you thank you raise your hands and say Lord I don't know why I don't understand like Abraham and Moses why Lord and take it thank you thank you for the head put it down lord we come before you now we Lament [Music] for that is the only way to do it so Lord as we live between two poles a world a city of Tears as we anticipate a City without tears and in that tension our heart
00:54:17 breaks in our midst of so many who suffer here and so we are in ashes oh Lord and like the persistent Widow we knock and we pray let our tears really flow as we plead on the multitude in FBC who are suffering so many in our midst are stricken with cancer we pray also for those in our midst who are aliens who just want a better life and they can't get that and we pray for those in midst we broken relationship we take every heartbreak every pain and this morning in this quiet no moments we weep oh Lord we do not hide
00:55:09 our tears as Jeremiah would say in Lamentations our tears will flow like rivers and we ask oh Lord you take this lament and you will be acceptable worship to you let our lament oh Lord be real real let our lament be as worship to you and so now in this quietness we break our hearts before you we can come no other way I'm going to give everybody a moment of silence to just slowly process this and do a little bit of prayer and then after that the musicians will just slowly come back in and then we will just finish up this
00:55:54 song let's take a few moments to just spend time with God quietly we hear God in scripture and we speak to him in prayers we hear God through scripture and right now he says speak to me my child let's take a minute or so to do this [Music] this is leads bring it back to worship as the spirit leads worship team bring us back into worship wonderful beautiful glorious sh we in every wonderful beautiful glorious mous in every wonderful beautiful glorious in every way wonderful beautiful glorious matchless in every way
00:57:48 wonderful beautiful glorious m wonderful beautiful glorious in everywhere wonderful beautiful glorious prous in everywhere around us here in your presence Heaven and Earth become one here in your presence all things on you hearing your presence everything BS before you Lord take our prayers and we ask that these prayers are coming from a sincere place oh Lord hear our tears oh Lord let this not just be another Sunday service and we ask oh Lord in the same way the Israelites cried out oh Lord and
00:59:24 you heard their cries and you had compassion on them and you rescued them this morning our cries in particular goes out to those who are very sick in our midst we cry like the Israelites cried out we ask oh Lord you have compassion and you will turn and you will heal them we say this in Jesus name amen let's quiet in our hearts right now you may be seated we are not going to take the Lord's supper and can I ask Maybe maybe we have the lights back on again if you do not have one of these little emance uh why don't you raise your hands
01:00:05 and uh the ASAS will come around and pass it to you let's take a moment right now to just quieten our hearts as we prepare ourselves to partake of the Lord's Supper as we eat of the bread of life as we remember again how Jesus lamented on the cross he is the man who has seen afflictions and we are know that while our pain as in this world this painful world it is one day we will join him because he has prepared the way because all sufferings direct and indirect are due to sin and so Jesus Christ Our Lord on the
01:00:55 night he was betrayed took bread broke it and said this is my body broken for me take this in remembrance of me let's take the bread as remember how Christ died for our sins and let's have a moment of silence to just grief over our sins and lament over it and in the same way after breaking bread he took the cup and after blessing it said this is my blood that's part up for you and so we drink of his blood as we will again drink with him in the wedding Feast of the lamb in a city without tears let us drink
01:02:10 together let's come before the Lord in prayer Lord we remember Gethsemane The Garden of tears and one day there will be another Garden where the Tree of Life flows and the fruits and the leaves are for the healing of the Nations there will be no more cancer then there will be no more pain remember Jerusalem sacked by the Babylonians a city of tears but we look forward to a city the New Jerusalem where Heaven meets Earth where you will be our God and you will wipe away every tear we look forward to that day oh Lord
01:02:58 we long towards it in the meantime we are about solders we are just journeying through as pilgrims and this life can be very painful for some people so we pray FBC is a safe space where we can commune and and pray vigorously with you and the same way we can do vigorous discussions with one another and we may not be ready some of us are 50 some of us at 45 some of us at 40 but step by step boldly politely with Grace in dust and Ashes In humility let us share our stories together with you in the middle let us
01:03:47 have shared stories let us have shared spaces let us make FBC not just a safe space but a Sacred Space for all who come here and we say this in Jesus name amen the service is now over receive the benediction may the Lord who comforts you during times of Trials may the Lord who hears you when you cry out may the Lord who comforts you with his angels when you feel you are drowning that same Lord the god of Abraham Isaac and Jacob the god of Moses the god of Jesus Christ the god of First Baptist Church be with you
01:04:57 today and for the rest of the week and God's people say amen God bless all of you service is over if you need to talk to any of all the elders or the pastors we are here we'll be in front if there anything you want to cry out Bang Your Head scream this is a safe space God bless you all
