As Sure as the Sunrise
Sunday Evening English Worship
February 3, 2019 - 5:00 pm
Messenger: Don Frank
Bible Passage: Lamentations 3:22-26
Introduction: Another month has passed and we're back together again here at ODC. Praise the Lord. It's always a joy and a great pleasure to be able to share this time together, opening God's Word and diving deep into it. And as we think about opening the month of February together, maybe one of our first thoughts is Cupid, the little guy who slings the "love" arrows around. That's a common thought of many people in the world. I, on the other hand, have a more "delicious" view of this season ~ chocolates!
But whatever your idea is about Valentines Day coming up in a couple of weeks, I would like to have you join me this evening as we unpack some ideas from Scripture about one of the aspects of God, "lovingkindness." The title of my message is As Sure as the Sunrise. And we see this aspect of God in tonight's main Bible passage. So, let's get right to it. You can follow along with me on the screen or you can open your own Bible as we take a look at Lamentations 3:22-26. And it reads like this from the Good News Translation,
22 The LORD's lovingkindness and mercy still continue, 23 fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise. 24 The LORD is all I have, and so in him I put my hope. 25 The LORD is good to everyone who trusts in him, 26 So it is best for us to wait in patience—to wait for him to save us--
1. Let's Look at This Aspect.
So, I'd like to begin tonight by looking at those crazy letters that you see on the screen and finding out what's that got to do with our study tonight... and with us. Actually, I'm hoping to start a series of messages on the Aspects of God and we're going to begin tonight with this word right here "חֶסֶד." This is a Hebrew word and it's pronounced "chesed." The Old Testament writers used this one word 248 times! And to be honest, Jewish teachers say this is one of the harder Hebrew words to translate. In the scripture that we just read, Lamentations 3:22, the English Bible translators from over 400 years ago used the word "lovingkindness." And if you're thinking, "I've never heard that in English conversation before" then you'd be right. It's very old English that's not used anymore. Instead, the Bible translators used words such as mercy, kindness, goodness, kindly, merciful, good favor, good, goodliness, pity, or in more modern English Bibles, steadfast love and unfailing love.
So, what does this actually mean? The basic definition of this word "lovingkindness" comes from the Hebrew word "chacadh" meaning "to bend or bow over." The image here is of a parent bending over a child to help them or take care of them. Any of you that have had children know what that's like! You just follow the child around, picking them up when they fall down, picking up toys they leave behind or just cleaning up the messes that they always make!
And what a wonderful image that is of God constantly bending over us to take care of us, to be gracious and merciful to us! It's not hard at all to have the image of a shepherd bending over his sheep, gently leading them and even picking up the lambs that have become tired and carrying them on His shoulders.
2. The Aspect Looks Back at Us!
And isn't that the way God's Word always works? When we look deeply into Scripture, then it looks back at us and speaks to us by the power of the Holy Spirit. So, let's go back and take a slower, deeper look at the whole of our Bible passage. (Lamentations 3:22-26) 22 The LORD's lovingkindness and mercy still continue, 23 fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise. 24 The LORD is all I have, and so in him I put my hope. 25 The LORD is good to everyone who trusts in him, 26 So it is best for us to wait in patience—to wait for him to save us--
The Spirit is telling us here that we can have such wonderful hope in the lovingkindness of God. It's just as fresh as the morning and you can count on it just as surely as the sun comes up every morning! This is what the Good News Translation says, but other versions like the New American Standard Bible say, "They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness." And that's the song we just got done singing! Lamentations also tells us that besides putting our hope in God, we should also wait patiently on God - and He will save us. And we'll be talking about that aspect of God next month!
Psalm 138:2 (NASB) says to us, "I will bow down toward Your holy temple and give thanks to Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; for You have magnified Your word..." So, what do we do in response to God's lovingkindness? This tells us that we should bow down in worship and give thanks to God.
Then, when we move over to the New Testament, the word "lovingkindness" doesn't show up, but the writers use other words such as "mercy," "goodness," "kindness," and "brotherly love." For example, looking at Colossians 3:12 (NLT), "Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience." Here we see ourselves putting on a whole new set of clothes that the Holy Spirit prepares for us. We are not only to show our love back to God, but we need to do the same with all those who are around us.
Conclusion: And to kind of draw things to a close this evening, this lines up exactly to what Jesus said when asked what was the greatest commandment and he said in Mark 12:30-31 (NIV), "Love the Lord God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength... Love your neighbor as yourself." God showers us with His lovingkindness, then we praise and thank God and show love and kindness to all our family and friends.
Closing Prayer: Let's close out our evening by reading together our main Bible passage this evening.
Lamentations 3:22-26 (GNT)
"The LORD's lovingkindness and mercy still continue, fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise. The LORD is all I have, and so in him I put my hope. The LORD is good to everyone who trusts in him, So it is best for us to wait in patience—to wait for him to save us—"
Now let's look at our closing prayer, based on God's Word and pray it back to Him together:
Dear loving Lord, thank you so much for teaching us about Your lovingkindness tonight. Thank you for greeting us each morning with Your mercy. It is as fresh as the morning and sure as the sunrise. You are everything we need and we trust you with all our hearts. Help us to trust You more and wait on you always. We pray this now in Jesus' kind and tender name, Amen.
February 3, 2019 - 5:00 pm
Messenger: Don Frank
Bible Passage: Lamentations 3:22-26
Introduction: Another month has passed and we're back together again here at ODC. Praise the Lord. It's always a joy and a great pleasure to be able to share this time together, opening God's Word and diving deep into it. And as we think about opening the month of February together, maybe one of our first thoughts is Cupid, the little guy who slings the "love" arrows around. That's a common thought of many people in the world. I, on the other hand, have a more "delicious" view of this season ~ chocolates!
But whatever your idea is about Valentines Day coming up in a couple of weeks, I would like to have you join me this evening as we unpack some ideas from Scripture about one of the aspects of God, "lovingkindness." The title of my message is As Sure as the Sunrise. And we see this aspect of God in tonight's main Bible passage. So, let's get right to it. You can follow along with me on the screen or you can open your own Bible as we take a look at Lamentations 3:22-26. And it reads like this from the Good News Translation,
22 The LORD's lovingkindness and mercy still continue, 23 fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise. 24 The LORD is all I have, and so in him I put my hope. 25 The LORD is good to everyone who trusts in him, 26 So it is best for us to wait in patience—to wait for him to save us--
1. Let's Look at This Aspect.
So, I'd like to begin tonight by looking at those crazy letters that you see on the screen and finding out what's that got to do with our study tonight... and with us. Actually, I'm hoping to start a series of messages on the Aspects of God and we're going to begin tonight with this word right here "חֶסֶד." This is a Hebrew word and it's pronounced "chesed." The Old Testament writers used this one word 248 times! And to be honest, Jewish teachers say this is one of the harder Hebrew words to translate. In the scripture that we just read, Lamentations 3:22, the English Bible translators from over 400 years ago used the word "lovingkindness." And if you're thinking, "I've never heard that in English conversation before" then you'd be right. It's very old English that's not used anymore. Instead, the Bible translators used words such as mercy, kindness, goodness, kindly, merciful, good favor, good, goodliness, pity, or in more modern English Bibles, steadfast love and unfailing love.
So, what does this actually mean? The basic definition of this word "lovingkindness" comes from the Hebrew word "chacadh" meaning "to bend or bow over." The image here is of a parent bending over a child to help them or take care of them. Any of you that have had children know what that's like! You just follow the child around, picking them up when they fall down, picking up toys they leave behind or just cleaning up the messes that they always make!
And what a wonderful image that is of God constantly bending over us to take care of us, to be gracious and merciful to us! It's not hard at all to have the image of a shepherd bending over his sheep, gently leading them and even picking up the lambs that have become tired and carrying them on His shoulders.
2. The Aspect Looks Back at Us!
And isn't that the way God's Word always works? When we look deeply into Scripture, then it looks back at us and speaks to us by the power of the Holy Spirit. So, let's go back and take a slower, deeper look at the whole of our Bible passage. (Lamentations 3:22-26) 22 The LORD's lovingkindness and mercy still continue, 23 fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise. 24 The LORD is all I have, and so in him I put my hope. 25 The LORD is good to everyone who trusts in him, 26 So it is best for us to wait in patience—to wait for him to save us--
The Spirit is telling us here that we can have such wonderful hope in the lovingkindness of God. It's just as fresh as the morning and you can count on it just as surely as the sun comes up every morning! This is what the Good News Translation says, but other versions like the New American Standard Bible say, "They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness." And that's the song we just got done singing! Lamentations also tells us that besides putting our hope in God, we should also wait patiently on God - and He will save us. And we'll be talking about that aspect of God next month!
Psalm 138:2 (NASB) says to us, "I will bow down toward Your holy temple and give thanks to Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; for You have magnified Your word..." So, what do we do in response to God's lovingkindness? This tells us that we should bow down in worship and give thanks to God.
Then, when we move over to the New Testament, the word "lovingkindness" doesn't show up, but the writers use other words such as "mercy," "goodness," "kindness," and "brotherly love." For example, looking at Colossians 3:12 (NLT), "Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience." Here we see ourselves putting on a whole new set of clothes that the Holy Spirit prepares for us. We are not only to show our love back to God, but we need to do the same with all those who are around us.
Conclusion: And to kind of draw things to a close this evening, this lines up exactly to what Jesus said when asked what was the greatest commandment and he said in Mark 12:30-31 (NIV), "Love the Lord God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength... Love your neighbor as yourself." God showers us with His lovingkindness, then we praise and thank God and show love and kindness to all our family and friends.
Closing Prayer: Let's close out our evening by reading together our main Bible passage this evening.
Lamentations 3:22-26 (GNT)
"The LORD's lovingkindness and mercy still continue, fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise. The LORD is all I have, and so in him I put my hope. The LORD is good to everyone who trusts in him, So it is best for us to wait in patience—to wait for him to save us—"
Now let's look at our closing prayer, based on God's Word and pray it back to Him together:
Dear loving Lord, thank you so much for teaching us about Your lovingkindness tonight. Thank you for greeting us each morning with Your mercy. It is as fresh as the morning and sure as the sunrise. You are everything we need and we trust you with all our hearts. Help us to trust You more and wait on you always. We pray this now in Jesus' kind and tender name, Amen.