Gratitude for God's Mercy - JDS Chapel Service [Thursday, November 21, 2024] ((music playing)) well welcome our JDS faculty staff students and all those that are tuned in to week three of our Chapel service my name is Dr Oscar Williams Jr the dean of our worship arts program here and all this month we've been talking about gratitude this week we talk about gratitude for God's mercy I am grateful thankful that God continues to have mercy on my soul on my life every day I wake up there are brand new mercies awaiting me and for that I am grateful and I'm sure you are too so you know it is our custom here that before we dive into the amazing things that will happen in this Chapel service we love to worship we love to open our hearts and our minds to hear what God is saying to us through song and through worship and through prayer and through all those things that condition our heart to receive his word so I invite you to worship with us in the spirit of gratefulness for God's mercy let us pray dear heavenly father today our hearts are overflowing with gratitude for the boundless mercy and compassion you shower Upon Us each and every day we humbly acknowledge our human Frailty and how we fall short of your glory again and again yet no matter the trials we face or the struggles we wrestle with you meet us in our mess and in our Brokenness you lift us up in our times of Despair and you sing songs of of Joy over us in our moments of Triumph your word invites us to approach your throne of grace with boldness to receive Mercy in our time of need we thank you for the abundant resources you provide to us to help us navigate life's challenges may we never take your grace and mercy for granted but celebrate through our worship and Devotion to you the unwavering unconditional love you pour out upon on us no matter our circumstances let us never forget that nothing can separate us from your love and mercy which are Everlasting and new every morning we bless you and we thank you for being a god of such great Mercy in the powerful name of Jesus we pray amen hey family Pastor Winfield here here and I would like to bring our hearts and our minds and our thoughts away from the thinking of the world and bring them into how God would want us to think I want you to imagine with me what life would be like without the mercies of God see if Grace is the thing that God bestows upon us that we do not deserve then mercy is the thing that God withholds from us that we do deserve that means that there are things in our lives that we deserve but God's mercy causes for us not to be consumed by them now Jeremiah wrote In the book of Lamentations for it is by the mercies of God that we are not consumed it is by the mercies of God that we are able to be upheld even in the midst of the vicisitudes of our own lives there are problems and situations there are concerns and challenges that everybody faces on a daily basis weekly monthly yearly it's not that those things dissipates but it's just that God's mercy increases to be able to overcompensate for the very thing that we cannot get ourselves out of his mercies protect us his mercies cover us and it is those mercies that I I want us to extend a heart of gratitude and thankfulness for let's pray father thank you so much for my brother and my sister I ask and pray right now that even as we come into this place of having gratitude extended towards you because of your mercies that we would meditate upon your mercies that we will meditate upon the things that you hold back from us that you would cause for us to know and to understand that we couldn't do this life without your mercy so thank you thank you for your mercies that are new and fresh every morning it's in the name of Jesus we pray amen K kados We Worship You kados kados Kos kados we worship you oh everybody ((music playing)) sayos we worship we worship oh ((music playing)) You Are Holy we worship then we say hallelujah hallelujah Kos we worship you lift that up say hallu hallelu come On You Are Holy God worship hallelujah hallelujah hallelu come on when you catch it declared with us God s worship hallelujah ((music playing)) hallelujah worship come on you have it now come on say say we Worship You wor somebody call your God different say God there ((music playing)) is come onos we worship you we join with the angels join with the ((music playing)) Angels We join with the Saints and we say and we say we worship say hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah God we worship you come on say ((music playing)) hallelujah hallu holy holy holy God we worship you come on say hallelujah hallelu hallelujah come on say God we worship come on let's join together come on Hallelujah We Sing To Our God and king oh so we say holy holy holy come on holy we worship you we worship you oh I God You Are Holy Holy Holy nobody like you oh god oh so we say you're holy H say holy God we worship you yeah ((music playing)) holy holy come on hallelujah hallelujah ((music playing)) Hallelujah Come On You Are Holy Holy we were come on hallelujah hallu hallelujah You Are Holy oh we worship say it again say ((music playing)) hallelujah come on somebody look at Jesus and say You Are Holy so we worship you oh God hallelujah hallelujah hallelu You Are Holy ((music playing)) yah yah yah we worship you say the name of God we worship we wor now we're going to shout we say this Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus we worship Jesus we ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) worship Jesus we worship lift it Hallelujah Hallelujah hallelu Jesus we worship you we wor say hallelujah Hall hallelu Jesus we wor say hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah We join with the angels and we wor Jesus we wor hallelujah hallelujah H Jesus we worship you you LIF your voice and ((music playing)) worship worship ((music playing)) worship ((music playing)) wowow give him R him H give him rence pay him h is the Lord God strong and mighty the Lord God Mighty in battle the Lord God ex it forever Hallelujah Hallelujah Jesus we worship you say hallelujah ((music playing)) Hallelujah hallelu Jesus we were Jesus we were wor you hey and that's what we came here for that's what we came here for what we came here that's what we came here for what we came here that's what we came here that's what we came here to worship yah that's what we came here that's what we came here to lift the name of Jesus that's what we came here that's what we came here to worship with the angels that's what we came here that's what we came here that's what we came here what we came that's what we came here what we came that's what we came here what we came to B with the elders to bow with the elders to praise with the Saints to cry holy with the angels that's what we came here for we came that's what we came here for what we came here for no other reason for no other reason we came for God we came for God what we we came for God what we we came for God what we we came for Jesus what we came we came for Jesus what we came we came to what we came here we came the blessing we he lift him high we he to lift you high we can here to bless your name we here to bless your name we to see you move we to see you save we to see you heal we can he to see you deliver to get pushed into our next Dimension we came for the Holy Ghost we came for the Holy Ghost for you to break us out and bring us through to another dimension to another level what we came do what we came in from we came here do what we came in from what we came here do what we came in from what we came here do what we came here what we came here we came to Bow what we came we came to Bow we we came to Bow we we came to Bow we we came to surrender we we came to lay it on down we we came to turn it over we we came from repentance we came for Revival we came for restoration we came for reformation we came for your word we that's a lamp what we can to our seat what we can your word is a light what we can to our path we live you're what we can't live what we live nothing less what we nothing less what we he nothing else we can he nothing else we can he nothing else we can what we what we came what we came ((applause)) ((music playing)) he now as we quiet everything around us let us find within ourselves the Gratitude and the Thanksgiving that God so richly deserves let us put to bed all of concerns and worry and consternation that leads to complaining open your heart now to the graciousness of God hello family this week's Old Testament scripture comes from Deuteronomy 4: 30-31 the NIV version when you are in distress and all these things have happened to you then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and Obey him for the Lord your God is a merciful god he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the Covenant with your ancestors which he confirmed to them by oath our New Testament scripture comes from 1 Peter chapter 1 veres 3-5 blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to His abundant Mercy has begotten us again to a Living Hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance Incorruptible and undefiled and that does Not Fade Away reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time now may the Lord richly bless the reading of this word good afternoon my name is Dr Kimberly Harris I am excited to be sharing during this month of gratitude with you on the subject of gratitude for God's mercy I do want to take a moment to appreciate all of the leadership of Jake's Divinity School as well as those of you who will be participating in this Chapel service today um again my topic today that I get to share in with you is gratitude for God's mercy and this is a topic that is near and dear to my heart because it is one that I try to keep in the Forefront of my mind and in my thoughts and in my relationship with God on a daily basis um the Bible tells us it is because of his mercies that we are not consumed and with so many things going on in our world and so many things within us and on the outside of us that can consume us on a regular basis it is good to keep our gratitude for his Mercy in the Forefront of our minds um I am so grateful that not only do we get to share in this month with our family and our friends as it is C um at least in our country in the US that um we share in times of thoughts about the things that we are grateful for um we every day is an opportunity for us to share in our gratitude for God's mercy um when we wake up every morning it is a time and an occasion to share with God our gratitude for his mercy and also to share with others in our gratitude of his Mercy um our Focus passage for this topic today is going to come from Lamentations chap 3 and verses 21- 23 but I would also like to read in your hearing um verses 1 through 20 because I feel like it gives a a really good contrast for the thoughts that um how Jeremiah's thoughts take a turn in verses 21 through 23 um I'll be reading this to you um in your hearing from the English Standard Version and it reads I am the man who has seen Affliction under the rod of his wrath he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long he has made my flesh and my skin way he has broken my bones he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago he has walled me up about so that I cannot Escape he has made my chains heavy though I call and cry for help he shuts out my prayer he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones he has made my paths crooked he is a bear lying in weight for me a lion in hiding he turned aside my steps and tore me to Pieces he has made me desolate he bent his bow and sent me as a target for his Arrow he drove into my kidneys the arrows of his quiver I have become the laughing stock of All Peoples the object of their taunts all day long he has filled me with bitterness he has saded me with wormwood he has made my teeth grind on gravel and made me cower in ashes my soul is bereft of peace I have forgotten What happiness is so I say my endurance has perished so has My Hope from the Lord remember my Affliction and my wandering the wormwood and the gall my soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me that's verse 20 and I want to just pause right there to take a moment to talk about how Jeremiah is giving us this play bypl of how God has now become in his mind and in his sight his enemy he says that he is under the rod of his wrath he has driven him out of a place of light into a place of Darkness darkness and he's his flesh and his skin have wasted away and he's going through this time of talking about his suffering and he's giving us details of how his steps have been turned aside and he feels abandoned by the Lord and not only abandoned but he feels like God has become his enemy he says he drove him into his kidneys the arrows of his quiver and he's become the Laughing stck of All Peoples have you ever felt like youve become the laughing stck of everyone around you because of the sufferings that you are um are occurring in your life because of the hard times or the Desolation that you might be experiencing even some things in your life that you may be experiencing that you don't even understand why you may be experience in them and it may not be of any fault of your own it may not be of any um because of Any sin of your own that God is answering it may be because just a consequence of living in a fallen world or perhaps it is a conse cons quence of a a broader um issue a broader sin that God is answering a judgment upon a nation that has forgotten their God but whatever it is I'm sure that you have um experienced some times of loness where it feels like the Lord has abandoned you and that is what Jeremiah is experiencing in Lamentations and that is what he's pinning in this third chapter of Lamentations during the first 20 verses he's giving us a play byplay of how he is suffering and he says it's even to the point where his soul is bereft of Peace he no longer has peace he's forgotten even What happiness is I'm sure at times that you have gone through so much that you have forgotten even What happiness feels like because either you have been in a space so long that you feel like you're you may not have hope to come out of it or because just the impact of the heaviness in a moment it may not be long lasting but it may be a moment in time where it's a heaviness that you've never had to carry or never experienced before and so you've forgotten What happiness is and so he says his endurance has perished he doesn't feel like he can go on another moment and it says also not only has his endurance perished he says but so has My Hope from the Lord all his soul continuously remembers In This Moment is the Desolation and the and what he's EXP experiencing from all that has happened around him but verse 21 says and here's the contrast he says but this I call to mind and therefore I have hope so he's going now in a a STK contrast from a place of hopelessness to a place where he says once he calls this thing to mind he therefore now has hope verse 22 says the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases this is the thing that he has now called to mind that has changed his hopelessness to hope he says the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases his mercies never come to an end they are new every morning great is your faithfulness great is your faith faithfulness so he takes a moment as this as God's faithfulness comes to mind and he takes a moment as God's mercy the Lord's mercies that are Everlasting comes to mind and he gives gratitude in that moment for the Lord's mercies so that he has come at least for a moment out of that space of hopelessness out of that downtrodden space of feeling like he is never going to be able to move on his endurance has perished to come into a place of remembering the character of God who he is and what he's able to provide and what he always provides and it reminds Jeremiah that even in this space of feel feeling hopeless that God has not taken his Mercy because his Mercy is Everlasting and it's renewed every morning so even though he's going through something right now the mercy of God is still there God is still there great is your faithfulness he said and I just want to take a moment to give a little background about how we got here into this space by sharing in this manner the book of Lamentations was written in reaction to the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians in 587 BC um according to the perspective of some biblical historians this Exile was the climax of a long struggle that had pitted the people of Israel and the people of Judah against their God despite numerous warnings that their presence in the land depended on their obedience to the Covenant relationship that God had established L with them at SI and so nevertheless God being faithful remained faithful and merciful to them through these long years of rebellion and sin he sent Prophet after Prophet to call them back into a sincere and vital relationship with him sometimes we are in a space where we can take for granted the mercy of God because he continuously calls us over and over again back into a space of sincere and vital relationship with him and so now they're in this place where God who is also a god of justice has to answer because of his character he must answer their Disobedience and their rebellion and their sin after all of the mercy that has been shown to them his Mercy doesn't run out but he also has to live up to the other part of him that they have not experienced in the way that they're going to experience in this moment and so now they're experiencing utter Devastation physically psychologically and spiritually the city walls have been torn down the palace and great houses have burned and perhaps the most debilitating of all the temple was set on fire and the precious metals CED away Lamentations expresses not only the destruction that they experienced and that was going on around them but it expresses the emotion following the discovery that the power behind this destruction was ultimately not the Babylonian Army but God himself God had answered them despite all of his faithfulness despite all of his Mercy that he had shown them for which they had not shown gratitude by being obedient to him they now understood that God God had answered and so although the book of Lamentations grapples with this question of corporate suffering and the acknowledgement of God's judgment against Jerusalem in chapter 3 this is really where we see a cry of one man regarding his individual suffering in the midst of this corporate suffering and his experience that he's having with God and how he sees God and he's describing him now as more of an enemy than a God that he knows right and that's what we experienced when we saw that um description of Jeremiah's bitter Affliction and his hopelessness in those first 20 verses yet this direction changes dramatically at the end of that passage when we go into verse 21 which is what we saw um verses 21- 23 it's such an interesting passage in that it marks this turning point in Jeremiah's attitude and his disposition regarding regarding what he's going through and even though he's still in the midst of what he's going through he remembers the character of God he remembers his character outside of his present suffering sometimes we may not be able to change the situation and sometimes God may not change the situation immediately for us that is causing us the suffering that makes us feel hopeless but he can remind us of his character and remind us of his unending mercy and who he is to us right in the midst of our current situation so we can be having an individual moment of suffering amidst corporate suffering where God does not change the corporate suffering or our individual suffering but he allows us to understand in that moment and remember his character outside of our present suffering just as he did for Jeremiah God's Mercy is designed to transform our experience when stress fills our lives the knowledge of God's mercy fills us with peace because his Mercy transforms our experience so what is Mercy Mercy is goodness it's kindness It's faithfulness it is a withholding of just condemnation when we deserve punishment we instead receive blessings because as James 2 and13 tells us Mercy triumphs over judgment Mercy triumphs over judgment and for Jeremiah for the people of of Israel and Judah Mercy had triumphed over judgment time and time again for them did God's mercy for them run out no but God had to stay his Mercy in order to answer their Disobedience and to give them their just condemnation because remember he's a god of justice but even in the midst of that his Mercy was still Everlasting God's mercy it reaches far further than we can ever imagine God's mercy reaches upward Psalm 103 And1 says for as Heaven is high above the Earth so great is his Mercy toward them that fear Him God's mercy reaches upward Beyond any where any space that we can attain any level that we can reach in life it reaches past presidents and kings and Generals all of those who would have to Humble themselves and accept him and accept his Mercy it reaches past any level that we can attain it even reaches Beyond to the highest places of pride and arrogance it reaches upward God's mercy not only reaches upward but it reaches downward his Mercy reaches downward to do great and good things because his Mercy is great and good it reaches downward to the Low Places to the discouraged to the distressed to the depressed this is exactly in the the space that Jeremiah was in Lamentations and God's mercy reached him exactly where he was Psalm 136 and 23 tells us it says who remembered us in our lowest state for his Mercy ures forever his Mercy endures forever even through our trials even through our t even through our Hard Times his Mercy endures forever even in the lowest places that we find ourselves even when we feel like we've been forsaken by God his Mercy endures forever it reaches to the low place it reaches upward past everything that is high in our lives even our own pride and hotess it reaches down to the lowest places and it sets every bit of that on the same level as we become one in Christ not only does his Mercy reach upward and downward but it reaches inward God's mercy reaches inward Psalm 119 76-77 says let I pray thee thy merciful kindness be for my comfort let thy Tender Mercies come unto me let thy Tender Mercies come unto me God's tender Mercy reaches inward to the heart the mind and the Soul bringing comfort and contentment his Mercy fills with compassion and love it cheers the bereaved and the lonely and heals the Brokenhearted his Tender Mercies reach inward exchanging our sorrow for his Joy his stability replaces our frustration and he changes our disappointments to hope that we thought we might not ever have again God's mercy not only reaches upward downward and inward but his Mercy reaches outward as well the Earth our Lord is full of thy mercy teach me thy statutes that's Psalms 119 and 64 God's mercy extends outward to the whole world it reaches the Great and the small there is no race no color no Creed no age no socioeconomic status that goes too far away from the reach of God Mercy his Mercy extends outward to all all those who repent of their sins and Believe In Christ may be saved at all times that's his Mercy being extended to all oh give thanks unto the god of gods for his Mercy endures forever that's Psalms 136 2 and 3 God's Mercy is not small it's not finite it's not limited in any way his Mercy is expansive far-reaching and unending Psalm 69:16 calls it a multitude a multitude is an abundance and our greatness his it calls his mercies tender Tender Mercies show his compassion our gratitude for God's mercy should be just as immeasurable as his Mercy itself we should never take God's mercy for granted and although sometimes you may find yourself falling into that space not intentionally but because his Mercy while being enormous and last can be at the same time very subtle and deeply embedded in the way that he loves and cares for us so much so that it's renewed every morning it's always fresh it's never expired it's always there for us and so sometimes the things and that are and the people who are always there for us we can inadvertently take for granted the same way that we can forget sometimes to show gratitude for God's mercy that is Everlasting that's renewed every morning that's always fresh always revived in us he loves us so well and his Mercy is so sweet and so tender that we must be mindful not to slip into feelings of entitlement that would hinder us from showing the gratitude that we need to for his Mercy it was his Mercy that kept me when I was yet a sinner and had no idea no real consciousness of my need for his Mercy it was his Mercy that covered me before I ever had a chance to hear the gospel and to accept the ultimate demonstration of God's mercy in Jesus Christ in the finished work of the Cross there are so many illustrations throughout the Bible of God's mercy because his Mercy there hasn't it has an ex an an Inseparable connection between his mercy and his love part of the way that we show our gratitude to toward God's Mercy is how we extend Mercy to others and so as we are remembering to have gratitude for God's mercy I want to lead you with this um and we've talked about Jeremiah and we've talked about his experience with God's mercy and how it changed his attitude in a moment but I want to talk for just a moment about a parable that Jesus tells Peter um in Matthew 18 Peter has come to Jesus in this this passage and he's asking him about how often he should forgive his brother who sins against him um and he says seven times and the Lord says I do not say to you seven times but 70 times seven and he goes on to tell this Parable to Peter about comparing the Kingdom of Heaven to the servant this account of a servant who's settling his accounts I'm sorry a king who is settling his accounts with his servants and so this King in this Parable begins to settle his accounts and there's one servant who owes him much more than he's able to pay and so this master orders this man that this man is sold with his wife and his children and all that he has but the servant falls on his knees and he asks the master and begs the master for mercy and he gives him Mercy he has pity on him the master forgives him releases him of his debt and so you would think that with this level that the level of gratitude that this servant would have for God's mercy would have caused him to extend Mercy to those who are around him and to show the same Mercy that he had been granted but Jesus tells us in this Parable he tells Peter that this same servant went out and saw one of his fellow servants who owed him much less and when he the he saw this fellow servant he choked him but the fellow servant pleaded for his mercy and mercy was not extended this man has forgotten to because his lack of gratitude for God's mercy he was unable to show Mercy the same as it was extended to him he refused and he put him in prison until he could pay the debt a clear marker of this servants lack of gratitude toward God's mercy was his inability to or his refusal to extend the same Mercy to his fellow man and so I just wanted to say in closing to remember to sh that showing God's mercy toward other others is a showing of God's gratitude to him for his Mercy but also showing gratitude for his Mercy also Keeps Us in a space where it's at the Forefront of our minds if you keep it at the Forefront of your mind it's easier to pull in those thoughts to change your experience by changing your perspective and when you're in the midst of your trials and your tribulations your Low Places of life when there are things that are coming toward you left and right and you feel much like Jeremiah did like the Lord has forsaken you or like he's not no longer being merciful toward you you will easily be able to pull up those thoughts and bring it into mind just like Jeremiah did who the Lord is so I'm asking you to remember this day and every day to show gratitude for God's mercy in everything that you do God bless you oh my gosh my friend my brother my sister I am so grateful that the word of God the songs of God the worship of the Lord the gratitude that comes straight from a holy imagination is blessing you today I I I am I am grateful that these words and these things and this Chapel has found you right where you are and my prayer is that God's mercies would be so highlighted in your life that you will have to do nothing more but to give him praise that there would be a gratitude that would spring up out of your heart and your mind so that you can appropriately survey and assess the blessings of God over your life and I'm quite sure when you look at the blessings of God God you will see all of his mercies in each and every blessing I want to confer this blessing upon you that you would be able to live this life that you would go on in the vicissitudes of your own personal life and no matter what happens that you would be able to concentrate on his Mercy because it is by his mercies that we are not consumed father thank you so much that morning by morning new mercies emerge with the emergence of a new day father your mercies father joins in that with the light and the Revelation that breaks through the precipice of awning your mercies breaks through as well I pray in the name of Jesus that this same Mercy father that has already been bestowed in this day would rest heavily upon my brother and my sister right now that they would live in your Mercies live under your mercies live through your mercies live by your mercies and to rest in your mercy it's in the name of Jesus we pray amen all right my friend go forth in peace to love and serve the Lord and discover all the mercies that God has poured into your day today peace ((music playing)) n ((music playing))