Monday, April 17, 2006

Out of the depths I cry to you.

Psalm130
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD; O Lord, hear my voice.Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins,O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness;therefore you are feared. I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. O Israel, put your hope in the LORD,for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.

Now that'll preach. I'm teaching the third and last class in the Sharing Your Faith segment of Cornerstone's Stepping Stones ministy. I'm using this as the basis for my "testimony" in answer to the question: How do you overcome the mistakes of the past that haunt you?

I'll post my testimony tomorrow...after class is over. In the meantime, how do YOU overcome the skeletons in the closet?

4 comments:

Jan said...

Maybe this is too simplistic but... remembering I'm not perfect, only Jesus is without sin. This life is a journey of learning from our mistakes and then celebrating God's grace in our successes. God gives us "do-overs" and we can do better today because we know better today. We must receive the forgiveness Jesus offers and allow him to do a NEW work in us. The old is gone and the new has come. Praise God!

Brett Probert said...

Not too simplistic at all. After all, isn't that what the church does too often (which makes the Lord cry?) We complicate the simple message of the gospel. Praise Jesus indeed! God made He who had no to sin to be sin for us!!!

Keith H. McIlwain said...

On Sunday, I preached on "Who will roll away the stone for us?" My point was that, regarding our sins, mistakes, imperfections, and often embarrassing past, we are incapable of rolling away the stone which serves as a barrier to the door of our hearts.

The women at the tomb were hoping that someone - soldiers, disciples, etc. - would be able to move the stone...not too likely. Miraculously, God moved the stone for them, that they might experience the wonders of Jesus' Resurrection.

Similarly, God himself is the One who can roll the stones away from the entrances to our hearts. He's the Only One who can do it, and is more than willing to do so, if we invite him.

It worked well as a "recommitment" sermon. "How do you overcome the mistakes of the past that haunt you?" you asked. It starts with allowing the Lord to move the stone away...prevenient grace is alive and well.

Brett Probert said...

Keith,

I preached a similar message. We handed out a stone to every person and I preached from behind a life size paper mache stone which was "in the way." At the end of the service, I invited people to come lay their stones, representing whatever was standing in the way of their relationship to God, on the platform. Very moving. And praise God for prevenient grace, and every other brand on the shelf.