Preparation for Departed Service

Word for Today:

Jeremiah 1:5 ESV

5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

God knew he was sending you here. WHY?

Cold, Evil, Sad, Difficult.

Life is Suffering. No one lives without suffering and sadness.

If He loves you. why would he send you here?

If you love someone do you send them to suffer and be sad?

Maybe, by looking at ourselves through the lens of scripture, we can discover why we are here?

First: Image of God

Gen 1:26 Greater good:

Genesis 1:26–28 NKJV

26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

In the Begining, we were made in his image, his soldier, his ambassador. To come here and make this place a better place. To make it fruitful and multiply oursleves to have greater impact.

In the Begining, God blessed us. Baruk. Means to lift us high and give a favour.

In the Begining, he commanded us to have Dominium, which means to govern it as if it is yours. To take care of it. Not just the world, but Every living thing.

In the begining, we had a purpose, a why. But that world is different from our world, it was paradise.

Then we fall away from God and sin and die. Many of us never return. Many of us are lost.

Now the world is evil and so many are lost.

He sends Noah. and says

Genesis 6:3 NKJV

3 And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”

We are not just blessed, in his image, but we have his spirit in us. We have a soul that made of the essence as his spirit.

With Noah to save a few souls, he destroys the rest of the world, and we start again.

we start again, and wickedness enters the world again. The whole world leaves God on side and almost forgets.

God chooses a champion

Abraham is chosen and God promises him a Great Name, a Great Nation, and a Great Blessing.

Genesis 12:1–3 NKJV

1 Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

From all of these heathen, he creates a chosen people who will be children of Abraham. Abram and his children will be a Blessing to all nations.

Moses, Judges, Kings, and Prophets

People keep falling away, and moses bring them back and gives them the Law to guide them forever.

Wherever they fall away, there are Prophets to remind them and bring them back. There are kings to lead them. Judges to ensure justice.

What we see in Jeremiah, is that God does not just send you here for nothing, he send you for a purpose. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jeremiah had a purpose from before they were born.

Jeremiah 1:5 NKJV

5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

This is not just true for Jeremiah, it is true for all of us. We all have a purpose that God sanctified us and chose us for. Jeremiah’s was to be a Prophet. You might not know what your’s is, but it is a purpose to do good.

Jeremiah 29:11 CSB

11 For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

The world still strays, and he sends Jesus and the Disciples.

We are Blessed, Made in God’s Image, Have dominion, we he God’s spirit, and are meant to be a blessing to the world.

Like us, Jesus is human. Blessed, Made in God’s Image, Have dominion, we he God’s spirit, and are meant to be a blessing to the world.

Like Noah, Moses, the Prophets, and Jesus, we are meant to make the world a better place.

You do not have to be prophets, you can be a leader like moses, an example like David, a servant like Peter, a missionary like Paul, a Mother like Mary, a sponsor like Joseph of Arimathea,

But, all of these people Suffered.

Does not answer our question. Why send us here to suffer?

I think the question is wrong because it assumes that we were sent.

If :

We were made in God’s image.

We are blessed

we are given the responsibility to govern this world by taking Dominion.

If share his Spirit.

IT MEANS THAT WE ARE NOT JUST IN HIS IMAGE, BUT WE ARE LIKE HIM.

And if, and for thousands of years, he has sent others to help the world give the world a better future and a hope until, One day, he comes down himself to suffer to make the to give them a Future and Hope.

If we are like him and we exist in Heaven as part of God’s Spirit before we are even in formed our mother’s womb.

and see all this pain and suffering ,

and you see millions of souls who will go to hell

and you believe you can make a positive difference

… why would we have to be sent? Why would we volunteer for the mission to give the world a better future and a hope?

If he came down personally to make this world better,

Volunteers on a Mission

We are soldiers:

His image is the uniform.

Making the world better is our Mission.

Even though we did not agree to it upfront, we ratify God’s decision to send us because would have volunteered to be here because we are like him.

Because God knew us, he knew we would volunteer, so he sent us. Amen.

Amen.