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This Sunday
October 8, 2017
Sermon Title:
"Mysteries Revealed"
Ephesians: Spiritual Riches Series
Scripture:
Genesis 12:1-3
Ephesians 3:1-13
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 October 6, 2017
Dear Members and Friends,
Forty days ago today, Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast. Since then, North America has had two more devastating hurricanes, two major earthquakes, enormous wildfires, and now, this week, the horrific shooting in Las Vegas.
"The whole creation has been groaning" for redemption, Paul writes in Romans 8:22. It seems like the groaning is getting louder and louder. We all cry out, "Come, Lord Jesus, come!"
As we await Christ's return, how are we to live in this broken world? As many of you know, I am a strong proponent of praying the Psalms of Lament. David cries out to the Lord over and over in the psalms, asking soul-wrenching questions like "how long?," "where are you?," "why don't you slay the wicked?," and of course, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" These psalms invite us to meet the Lord in the midst of the pain. We meet Him with our whole heart, even the broken, angry, and anguished parts. And by meeting Him there, we invite him to begin to heal our hearts and heal our world.
Almost every lament psalm has the same five parts:
- The Address - the cry directly to God rather than about God, like Ps. 22:1, "My God, my God."
- The Complaint - our chance to tell God everything that is wrong, like "why have you forsaken me?"
- The Request - our chance to tell God what we want Him to do, like Ps 22:19, "Come quickly to help me!"
- The Remembering - the moment when we start to recall that God has been faithful and is able to help us now, like Ps 22:4, "In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them."
- And finally, the Praise - the expression of confidence that we will be able to praise as we rest on the promise of God's faithfulness, like Ps 22:26, "Those who seek the Lord will praise him, may your hearts live forever!"
I would encourage you to spend time with the psalms of lament as you pray over our broken world and weep with those who weep. Consider praying Psalm 13 for Puerto Rico. Consider praying Psalm 74 for persecuted Christians in the Middle East. Pray Psalm 28 for the people involved in the Las Vegas tragedy. Or consider writing your own prayer with these parts of a lament psalm, crying out to the Lord with the things that are breaking your heart. Present your requests to God and see how the "peace of God that passes understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus," Phil. 4:7.
Saturday: As you are praying for these issues, please pray specifically on Saturday, October 7, for EPC missionary Andrew Brunson. It is the one-year anniversary of Andrew's arrest in Turkey, and he has been in prison ever since. He is being used as a political pawn in the unrest there. Even a personal request from President Trump to the Turkish president has not helped free him. But our God can! For more about his situation and specific prayers for him, visit epc.org/forgottenamericaninturkey.
Pastor Carolyn
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