Heritage Baptist Church of Frankfort IL Unknown

Lament psalms display a pattern for believers to follow in dealing with agony. The book of Lamentations can teach believers how to lament, but it is given for people to learn from. The first two chapters lay out that the destruction of Jerusalem did not happen by accident. God was the one who did it. He did it for a reason. The people had sin and God in His righteousness had to judge. Sin leads to a broken world that suffers judgment.217

Satan often gets us to sin by tempting us to do sins that do not seem all that bad. The devil gets us to wander in pride and independence from God. The target of this attack is our will. The defense that a believer has is the Holy Spirit.

The ultimate goal of lament is for a person to trust God. This trust in God is active because a believer will have to come back to trust time and time again. To fail to get to trust is to be incomplete in the work that God is trying to accomplish. Trust will express itself in multiple ways.

The third step of lament is a bridge from frustration and complaint to making requests to God. This is a necessary step in the process. The Bible gives many examples of requests made in lament. They are bold requests, but they are given to us as examples of what we can ask.-Note- about 6 minutes are missing from the beginning of this recording.

The devil is out to destroy everything, especially mankind. He attempts to bring suffering specifically to the body. His destructive activities are ongoing. However, the believer is not left without relief.

Jesus' ministry had been seen by a few. They had seen his power by the miracle at the wedding feast. Now Jesus came to Jerusalem where he cleared out the Temple. This act in front of the thousands visiting Jerusalem would have made Jesus a well-known figure. The story points to the fact of Jesus authority by also his concern that people should be able to worship God without outside interference.