Desiring GOD First

Greeting

Good morning! My name is Joel Cossins, and I’m the pastor here at Libby COTN. I’d like to welcome all of our guests here today, especially to those of you checking us out online. Hello! If you’ve not yet visited us in person, I look forward to the day we can welcome you to our fellowship. You should know when you visit, you will most likely be invited to stay after, as we have a potluck every Sunday after the service—unless otherwise noted. So, come hungry for an encounter with JESUS and bring your appetite for food, as well!

Announce text: Jeremiah 32:26-41

Key Text: Jeremiah 32:26-41

Review

Our FATHER really is desiring to see transformation in and through HIS kids

It seems HIS vehicle is through fasting & prayer

Both a pruning—purification—and an adding to that HE is doing

It’s important to remember this is a season …

40 days of intentionally leaning into HIS Presence

seeking HIM in prayer & fasting

for transformation in ...

our lives as individuals & in our family

our church fellowship (our body)

our community

It’s also important for us to remember this is a season within a season ...

a season of change

at the onset and throughout this season of change, GOD is extending an invitation to rest in HIS Presence

the first Sunday in Lent, we looked at this burning invitation

Our text was Psalm 95 which presented a heartfelt appeal for worship

emphasizing both celebration and caution as it invites us to acknowledge God's power and mercy

while reminding us of the importance of listening to His voice and not hardening our hearts

Big Idea: Worship is an active engagement that requires both joy and a vigilant heart, calling us not only to celebrate God’s majesty but to continually seek His presence and guidance in our lives.

requires both joy & a vigilant heart … Wednesday night

sometimes spiritual warfare

don’t feel like praising

praise is a weapon

vigilant heart - praise anyway

not dependent on how we feel

our feelings have nothing to do with it

joy isn’t a feeling … it’s a fruit

let part of your worship be confession—the FATHER knows anyway

confess how you’re feeling and ask the FATHER

to change your disposition

to enable you to praise, anyway

to make you a ...

true worshipers in Spirit & in Truth

that is a prayer our FATHER will always honor

when it’s from a sincere (vigilant) heart (again, not emotion rather a choice)

sometimes HE transforms our disposition before HE transforms our situation

and we find joy in the midst of—while we’re going through the difficulty

because it is a fruit of the SPIRIT

and we’re engaging in SPIRIT and in Truth

So, that first Sunday, we discovered that genuine worship not only involves celebrating God’s goodness

but also requires a posture of humility and responsiveness to His guidance and word,

urging those who will listen to avoid spiritual complacency.

last Sunday, we explored Psalm 84 and discovered a burning need

a deep yearning for God's presence, illustrating the joy and satisfaction found in communion with Him.

The psalmist highlights the beauty of the dwelling place of the LORD and the blessings that come from being in His Presence.

our Big Idea: Our deepest need is for the Presence of GOD, which brings joy and strength in every season of life.

The psalmist in this passage portrays a heartfelt expression of longing for GOD's temple, depicting it as the ultimate refuge and source of life.

He emphasizes not just the physical structure but the intimate relationship cultivated with GOD through worship.

Each verse in the passage reveals layers of desire and praise, reminding us that true fulfillment comes from being in close proximity to GOD.

So, our greatest fulfillment in this life is found only in GOD's Presence, and that fulfillment creates in us a yearning for GOD that leads to spiritual richness and joy.

While we may face trials—in fact, JESUS assures us that we will—drawing near to GOD provides strength and sustenance for our journey.

This morning, on this third Sunday of Lent, we are continuing in our series, A Consuming Fire, and our Scripture reading, once again, is found in ...

Announce text again: Jeremiah 32:26-41

Scripture Reading

Jeremiah 32:26–41 NIV

26 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 27 “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me? 28 Therefore this is what the Lord says: I am about to give this city into the hands of the Babylonians and to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who will capture it. 29 The Babylonians who are attacking this city will come in and set it on fire; they will burn it down, along with the houses where the people aroused my anger by burning incense on the roofs to Baal and by pouring out drink offerings to other gods. 30 “The people of Israel and Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth; indeed, the people of Israel have done nothing but arouse my anger with what their hands have made, declares the Lord. 31 From the day it was built until now, this city has so aroused my anger and wrath that I must remove it from my sight. 32 The people of Israel and Judah have provoked me by all the evil they have done—they, their kings and officials, their priests and prophets, the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem. 33 They turned their backs to me and not their faces; though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline. 34 They set up their vile images in the house that bears my Name and defiled it. 35 They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molek, though I never commanded—nor did it enter my mind—that they should do such a detestable thing and so make Judah sin. 36 “You are saying about this city, ‘By the sword, famine and plague it will be given into the hands of the king of Babylon’; but this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 37 I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. 38 They will be my people, and I will be their God. 39 I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them. 40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. 41 I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.

Prayer for added blessing to the reading of the Word

The title of our message this morning is A Burning Desire.

In this passage, God illustrates His unwavering sovereignty over the nations and His intimate knowledge of His people's struggles. He emphasizes that despite their shortcomings and the dire consequences of their actions, He remains committed to their restoration and renewal through a covenant steeped in mercy and faithfulness, intending to bring about a profound transformation in their society and relationship with Him.

Big Idea: GOD's commitment to restoration is unfailing and invites us into a transformative journey that not only renews us but also impacts those around us, revealing His glory in the world.

The sermon teaches that no matter how far we stray from God, His desire is always to draw us back into relationship with Him. It emphasizes that God's plans are not foiled by our failures but rather that He uses them to fulfill His purpose of transformation and restoration.

Introduction

Distractions are everywhere. Anyone who has tried to focus on any one thing for too long knows how easy it is to get distracted. This may be truer now than ever. There are screens everywhere that constantly beg for our attention.

You must check social media regularly to see what friends and family are up to. You can’t miss out! You gotta watch the latest episode of your favorite show or the most recent sports game right now. Oh, and there’s another show you need to check out! Don’t miss it! Hey, the news has all this essential information to tell you. There are constant updates, and you can’t miss a second of it, or you’ll be uninformed! And while you’re looking at all of this, you are bombarded with ads that remind you that you need this newest item or service. You can’t miss out on this groundbreaking revolution!

Everything constantly calls for our attention. Everything is necessary. Desire and distractions are everywhere. And mixed up in it all is the belief that more is always better: more shows, more news, more stuff, more money. You need more.

Our passage today calls us to question whether that is actually true—or if these things are just distractions from the one thing that is truly good for us.

Having seen how modern screens and endless notifications pull our attention in every direction, we now turn to Scripture to ask: What does God say about a people who repeatedly turn away from Him? The history of Israel—its idolatry, corruption, and neglect of the vulnerable—shows us the biblical portrait of a nation caught in the very kind of distraction we face today.

◆ TROUBLE IN THE TEXT

The Israelites forget the Lord.

The people of Israel and Judah have done nothing but evil, time and time again.

They have worshiped other gods.

There is corruption at every level: kings, officials, priests, prophets.

They have not followed God’s commandments of love and justice for the most vulnerable in their community.

They have even practiced child sacrifice.

God has tried to teach them again and again, has tried to provide correction and has offered them numerous “second” chances.

If you want to see how God has given them chance after chance after chance, just read the book of Judges.

The whole book is just a spiral of the Israelites sinning and forgetting God, being oppressed by another nation, crying out to God, and God raising up a judge to rescue them.

This pattern repeats over and over, yet they always quickly forget what God has done for them. They quickly turn back to their old ways and worship other gods.

It seems like all the Israelites do over their long history is turn their backs on God.

They do not face God and listen to God’s judgment and guidance. Instead, like a child who doesn’t want to hear a parent tell them it is time for bed, they turn and run away.

They forget their God.

It is no shock here in our Jeremiah passage that God is giving the city over to destruction.

God is letting them reap the consequences of their own actions.

By turning their backs on God, the Israelites have sealed their fate.

The pattern of Israel’s forgetfulness and rebellion is not confined to ancient Judah; it mirrors the ways we, too, let “more is better” and self‑interest eclipse our devotion to God. Let us therefore ask: What contemporary temptations—greed, self‑centered ambition, the endless chase for information and possessions—draw us away from the Lord today?

◆ TROUBLE IN THE WORLD

What makes us forget the Lord?

What are the things in our lives and our world that cause us to turn our backs on God?

What draws our attention and distracts us from God?

For Israel, it was other gods and the security they sought in worshiping many gods.

But it was also greed. If you spend any time in the Prophets, you quickly find that the

Israelites are prone to bribes, and to not caring for the poor and the widow and the foreigner as they’ve been commanded to do.

They looked out for themselves first. Who cares about justice?

Does that sound familiar, Beloved?

It is a far too common temptation for the people of God throughout history to forget who God has called us to be and to get distracted by all that we want.

We fear there is not enough to go around, so we hog and hoard. We grasp and grab for all we can get, looking out for ourselves first.

We’re number one. Forget God. Forget our neighbors. We love ourselves first.

Even as Israel’s history records repeated failure, Scripture also reveals God’s unwavering response. Before we move to the present, we pause to hear the prophetic promise that God, despite Israel’s sins, extends restoration, covenant, and a renewed purpose. This biblical grace invites us to see how God’s faithfulness can break the cycle of our own distractions.

◆ GRACE IN THE TEXT

Despite how they treat God, God will never stop doing good to the Israelites.

It is not shocking that God would give the Israelites over to the destruction that their own greed and selfishness have wrought. By all accounts, God should give up on the Israelites. And on us.

What is shocking is that the story does not end there. The prophecy does not end at verse 35.

God has more to say. Listen to Jeremiah 32:37–41. (Read the passage aloud.)

Jeremiah 32:37–41 NIV

37 I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. 38 They will be my people, and I will be their God. 39 I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them. 40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. 41 I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.

There is not even a sense of repentance from the people. The passage goes straight from child sacrifice to God’s promise of renewal and restoration—because God is never done calling, never done seeking restoration and renewal for all.

God offers them peace and safety, a land and an identity again.

God wants what is good for them even when they want anything but God.

Though the Israelites have turned their backs and run away from God, God is running after them, wishing only love and goodness upon them.

God wants the Israelites to return to God for their own good—if only they could stop being so distracted and chasing after all these other things.

If God can promise singleness of heart and a fresh covenant to a people mired in idolatry, then He can likewise transform our scattered, distracted lives. Let us now reflect on how that same divine grace operates today—empowering us to refocus, to repent, and to live with a single‑minded devotion to Him amid the noise of our world.

◆ GRACE IN THE WORLD

“I will give them singleness of heart and action” (v. 39).

But God doesn’t just want to bring the Israelites back to the same condition as before.

God promises to give them a singleness of purpose that orients them toward God.

God wants to transform them and help them narrow their focus so that they truly desire God first.

Beloved, the good news is that we believe this is possible. We do not always have to live distracted! God is able to transform us, to give us singleness of heart and one purpose, to make us holy.

We must be willing to listen to and obey God’s instruction.

God empowers and transforms us, but we must cooperate. We must be willing to take the instruction, to offer confession, and to turn back to God when God calls again and again.

We must not run from our need to repent of the things that have distracted us.

God desires us—all of us, even the parts that are corrupted by greed and selfishness. So turn back to the Lord. Let God speak to us face to face.

So, pj … What’s the point?

Conclusion

As we draw this message to a close on this third Sunday of Lent, let's return to where we began. We live in a world flooded with distractions—screens that demand our constant glance, social media feeds insisting we can't miss a single update from friends or family, the endless pull to binge the next episode or catch every highlight of the game, the relentless news cycle that promises we're one refresh away from being truly informed, and advertisements whispering that we need the latest gadget, the newest trend, the more that will finally satisfy. Everything screams that more is better, that we can't afford to miss out, that our desires must be chased endlessly. These voices pull us in a thousand directions, fragmenting our hearts and turning our backs on the One who alone is worthy of our full attention.

Yet in Jeremiah 32, God cuts through the noise with a promise that refuses to be drowned out. Even when His people had forgotten Him completely—chasing idols, embracing greed, neglecting justice, and even committing the unthinkable—God declared that He would not abandon them. He would gather them, bring them home, give them singleness of heart and action, make an everlasting covenant, and never stop doing good to them. He would inspire in them a holy fear so they would never turn away again. This is not a God who gives up; this is a God whose burning desire for restoration burns hotter than any distraction or failure we can muster.

Beloved, that same promise echoes to us today. No matter how far we've strayed—distracted by the screens, consumed by the pursuit of more, or weighed down by our own selfishness—God's commitment to restore us is unfailing. He invites us into a transformative journey, not just for our own renewal, but so that His glory might shine through us into the world around us. This passage points us forward to its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ, who establishes the new covenant through His blood. In Him, our hearts are truly transformed; the law is written within us by the Holy Spirit; we are empowered to fear God, to turn from distractions, and to live with singleness of heart. Through Christ, we receive forgiveness, new life, and the assurance that God will never stop doing good to us—planting us firmly in His love with all His heart and soul.

So today, hear the call: Turn your face back to Him. Let go of the scattered desires and the fear of missing out. Confess where you've been distracted, where you've run the other way. Cooperate with His grace—repent, receive His instruction, and allow Him to give you that unified heart that desires Him above all else. As you do, you'll find not just personal renewal but the power to become agents of His hope in your community, extending His transformative love to those still caught in the noise.

May we leave here with a burning desire—not for more of the world's offerings, but for the One who desires us most. Let's pray that God would kindle in us that singleness of heart, so we might live fully for His glory. Amen.

Closing prayer & Introspection for Communion

Communion

1 Corinthians 11:24 NASB95

24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

1 Corinthians 11:25 NASB95

25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

Benediction

Numbers 6:24–26 NASB95

24 The Lord bless you, and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; 26 The Lord lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.’

Numbers 6:27 GW

27 “So whenever they use my name to bless the Israelites, I will bless them.” 

So, receive and go with the blessings of YAHWEH!