Keion Henderson - The Mystery of New Mercies

I want to talk about this subject this morning: the mystery of mercy. The Book of Lamentations was written by Jeremiah. I wanted to discuss that because Jeremiah is one of the greatest writers in the history of the Bible. I think it’s important that we pay attention, as this immediately grabs my attention. The importance of any book starts with the author. You hear certain authors, and you know immediately that the book is going to be good because of who wrote it. For instance, why do we trust the Word of God? Because we know who authored it. He is the author and the finisher of our faith, and we know that even though men wrote it, they were inspired by God to write it. Since we know that God is connected to the Bible, as the author of the Bible, we believe it because of its author. If it were not for Him, we wouldn’t believe it. There are other holy books; there’s the Koran and other texts, but because they were not authored by Yahweh, as Christians, we don’t consider them as the route to salvation. Why? Because we believe in our holy book based on its author. Thus, we ultimately believe that this is the Word of God. Jeremiah had a father named Hilkiah, who was a priest, which means that Jeremiah was the son of a priest. His father was a prophet and priest, and this means that he was raised in a house where the Word of God was important. His father preached to him and taught him the Word of God, so he grew up around it. It’s amazing because if you look at how he was raised, you see what kind of prophet he became. Two things we know that Jeremiah talks about in all of his writings are his aggressive opposition to false prophets and his stance against greed. Anytime he encountered a false prophet within his influence, Jeremiah was against false prophecy. He’s also against all of these things. Why? Because his father was a prophet who taught him how to prophesy. God called him to be a prophet. Now, to all sixty thousand of you watching and to all of the many thousands in this room, the same is true today. I’m sharing this so that you can grasp the history behind the mercy we’ll be shouting about for the rest of the week. I know Jeremiah was labeled as the weeping prophet because he had a heart for the people, but I want you to not be overly focused on this label. Jeremiah was much more than just a weeping prophet. This is a word I want to release in the house today: you should not respond, nor should you react, nor be concerned with any labels that are placed upon you, because God has a deeper anointing than the label placed on you. I want you to understand this. Jeremiah had no idea what kind of prophet he would be in history, and had he acknowledged the label put on him, he might never have reached the anointing God placed inside him. Greater is He that is in me, not greater is He that is on me. So let me tell you, the label is on you, but the anointing is in you. What is in you is always more powerful than what is on you. He is a prophet; he wrote the Book of Jeremiah, the Book of Kings, and the Book of Lamentations, which we’re studying today. The writings of Jeremiah are essential, not only to Christianity but also to Judaism. Jeremiah has been quoted throughout the entire Bible by Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, the Revelator who wrote the Book of Revelation, and by the author of the Book of Hebrews, whose identity is unknown. What he has to say is so important that other writers referenced him. That’s amazing because these are other geniuses, other inspired writers, and other people whom God has given an anointing. Jeremiah is so anointed that the anointed quote him. He is so anointed that even those at the top might feel inferior to what God has placed inside you. Do you not understand that there is such an anointing on your life that even those at the top will feel inadequate compared to what God has put inside you? There are people you look at now and say, «One day, I will be like that, ” without realizing that the anointing to surpass them is already within you. You might be looking up to someone who looks up to you. You are envisioning a life like someone else’s, not knowing that at this moment, the anointing on your life will surpass those you admire. Saul would have never known that David would surpass him due to where David started. He began head and shoulders above everyone else as king, while David was a shepherd. But get ready for a season because God told me to tell you He’s turning.