Sermon for Aug. 25, 2019

This morning I'll be reading Jeremiah chapter 1 verses 4 through 10.

And I'll be reading the Holman Christian Standard Bible.

This part of Jeremiah is where God's call to Jeremiah is recorded. Jeremiah was young when he began as a prophet but in these verses God explains to Jeremiah that he was chosen even before he was born.

4 The word of the LORD came to me: 5 I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations. 6 But I protested, “Oh no, Lord, GOD! Look, I don’t know how to speak since I am only a youth.” 7 Then the LORD said to me: Do not say, “I am only a youth,” for you will go to everyone I send you to and speak whatever I tell you. 8 Do not be afraid of anyone, for I will be with you to deliver you. This is the LORD’s declaration. 9 Then the LORD reached out His hand, touched my mouth, and told me: I have now filled your mouth with My words. 10 See, I have appointed you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and demolish, to build and plant.

God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning.

Let us pray:

Dear Lord, as we begin this morning, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen.

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As I began reading and trying to see what God wanted me to work on for todays sermon,,, the words in this scripture really got my attention as I read them earlier in the week.

From the very beginning to the end,,, were things that I really wished that I had paid attention to earlier in my life.

Words that all of us as Christians should understand and live by.

These are words that let us know that every one is special,,, worthy,,, and we were loved before we were even formed,,, and we are loved even now,,, as sinful as we have been!

God has plans for all of us and it's up to each one of us to answer the call that He has prepared for us.

Now your call will be personal.

It may be something that is totally different than mine.

Just because that's my call doesn't mean that's what yours will be.

The main thing that I want you to remember from this morning is the fact that God is calling you for something and you are special to Him.

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Beginning in verse 4: 4 The word of the LORD came to me:

This is Jeremiah's words and he's letting us know that God is speaking to him personally.

It's always a blessing to hear and understand that God is speaking to us individually.

God still speaks today but we don't take the time possibly to really listen like we should.

It requires a relationship with God to hear His voice as well,,, and that's something that is available to each of us since the life,,, death,,, and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord!

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In verse 5: 5 I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

In this verse Jeremiah is told that God chose him before that he was formed in the womb.

He was set apart before he was ever born.

And he was appointed a prophet to the nations.

Jeremiah was born into the line of priest that descended from Aaron.

Even though this was the line of duty that Jeremiah was born into,,, God had a different plan in mind.

God let Jeremiah know that he was chosen and set apart before he was even born.

We are also chosen and set apart before birth for something special by God.

The plan that God has for you might be trusting in Him and being able to spend eternity with Him.

That is available to everyone.

It's also something that you have to decide that you want to accept.

The choice is yours to either accept or reject!

God might have plans for you that you haven't acknowledged yet.

You might have accepted God's call and be saved today but you have been dodging the question of what God has planned for your life.

I can't tell you the number of sermon's that I sat through and felt that call but I always had excuses.

(5:07)

One of the first things that you need to do if you are feeling God's call,,, is acknowledge it,,, then admit it to God and accept it.

Just hearing these words sounds easy.

But I know from experience that it's much harder than that.

When I realized that God really was calling me into ministry,,, my first response was denial of any ability to do this job.

I knew that the call was there but denied it for years.

Then the denial became that if I was younger I really would do it but now I'm too old to learn.

The main thing that allowed me to fully accept God's call was realizing that I can't do this on my own and it would have to be through God's help,,, I couldn't do it and I would never be able to do it myself.

That's what we are required to do when we accept Jesus as our Savior,,,

We realize that we are sinners,,, hopelessly separated from God by our sins and we will never be good enough on our own.

Just by accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior,,, allowing Him complete control of our life,,, through the Holy Spirits help,,, then we are able to live our life in the freedom of God's grace!

We can't do it on our own,,, we have to accept that first,,, then we can receive all the strength we need from God to get us through each and every day.

It's the same way with whatever God is calling you to do,,, God will provide,,, you just have to obey!

A year and two months later,,, I'm so amazed at how faithful God has been each and every week when I fought this for so long!

I'm not any better than any of you either,,, just because I'm up here in this pulpit,,, God is faithful to me because of His promise,,, not because I'm so good because I fail Him in so many ways and He is still faithful to me in spite of that.

God will be the same for you,,, you just have to trust Him!

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Verses 6 and 7 say: 6 But I protested, “Oh no, Lord, GOD! Look, I don’t know how to speak since I am only a youth.” 7 Then the LORD said to me: Do not say, “I am only a youth,” for you will go to everyone I send you to and speak whatever I tell you.

Jeremiah protested that he didn't know how to speak since he was so young.

God told him that excuse wouldn't work,,, he was to go to everyone that He sends him to and He would give him the words to speak.

Jeremiah had to learn at an early age that God was going to supply everything that he needed to do his job.

It's the same for us as Christians.

We need to quit relying on our own strength to get through each day and lean on Gods strength daily.

We could accomplish so much more if we truly relied on the strength of the creator of everything that we know,,, instead of our own strength.

How many times have we held back from trying to accomplish something because we felt like it was impossible.

While at the same time,,, ignoring the fact that we have God on our side who is mighty and powerful.

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Verse 8 says: 8 Do not be afraid of anyone, for I will be with you to deliver you. This is the LORD’s declaration.

God is telling Jeremiah that he should not be afraid of anyone because He would be with him.

It's the same for us,,, God is with us every day,,, helping and guiding us,,, through the Holy Spirit,,, so that we can live a life that is pleasing to Him.

Let me also say that we should ignore the fears that we put upon ourselves.

The fears that we have of not ever being good enough or strong enough,,, because just like it was with Jeremiah,,, we can't do it on our own.

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Verse 9 says: 9 Then the LORD reached out His hand, touched my mouth, and told me: I have now filled your mouth with My words.

In my Bible Knowledge Commentary it says that Jeremiah must have received this message from God in a vision because he spoke of God reaching out and touching his mouth.

This visible example by God let Jeremiah know that God would put the words that he needed in his mouth.

Jeremiah wouldn't have to worry about what to say because God would provide the very words that he would need.

That's what God has done for me,,, week after week,,, He has been faithful just as He promised me that He would be.

Not because I'm faithful and good,,, but even in spite of my failures,,, where I have come up short,,, God has been so good and true to His word.

And He will do the same for you if you trust Him and give your life to Him,,, don't wait until you think you will be good enough,,, because you will never be good enough on your own.

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Verse 10 says: 10 See, I have appointed you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and demolish, to build and plant.

In this verse,,, God then summarized the content of Jeremiah’s message.

It would be a message of both judgment and blessing to nations and kingdoms.

Here God used two metaphors to describe Jeremiah’s mission.

Comparing Jeremiah to a farmer, God said he would uproot (announce judgment) and … plant (announce a blessing).

Comparing Jeremiah to an architect, God said he would tear down,,, destroy,,, and demolish (pronounce judgment) and build (pronounce a blessing).

This verse is telling Jeremiah what God has planned for him to do and the way that he needs to accomplish that task.

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What does this mean for us today?

First,,, we are special in God's eyes.

God knew us before we were born.

We were created for a purpose.

It doesn't matter what anyone any where thinks of you,,, God loves you and you were put here for a reason.

When God created Adam and Eve,,, they were told to eat from all of the trees in the garden except for the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

They chose to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil so they were banished from the Garden of Eden.

God had a plan in place to bring us back to perfection from that day but it requires us choosing to rely on God instead of ourselves or anything in this world.

We each have a choice to make and its up to each one of us personally.

No-one can do it for us,,, we must make this choice.

We bring glory to God by making the correct choice and choosing to live with Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

Then once we make that choice,,, we need to use the talents that God gave us to fully live out the calling that we were created for.

For me,,, I'm finally doing what I was put here to do,,, and oh what a blessing it has been to finally answer that call.

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But what about you?

Are you answering God's call the way that you should be or like I used to do,,, you are sitting there and ignoring that call?

This is personal and no-one knows but you and God.

Let me also say that your call will probably be different than mine,,, each call is personal.

You may be called to be a prayer warrior.

We have several of those in both congregations.

It may be a call of service,,, of hospitality,,, of maintenance as far as the church grounds and buildings,,, support,,, the list goes on and on.

The important thing is to find your calling and really begin to live out the full potential of your earthly life because living your life for God at your highest God given ability is so fulfilling.

That's our purpose in life,,, by bringing glory to God through our life and our choices day by day.

A choice that we have been given by God to love Him or reject Him!

He wants true love and it's only through the choices that we make that this can be done.

I urge you to choose to love God today because He loves us unconditionally and even loves us while we were sinners and separated from Him.

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So as we end this morning,,, I want us to remember the call of Jeremiah and how God knew him before that he was formed and he was put here for a purpose.

Just as we are put here for a purpose its our choice to listen to God and figure that out.

Then live out that purpose to the full potential of our God given talents so that we can make disciples for the transformation of the whole world.

And if you haven't chosen Jesus as your Savior,,, I ask you to do that this morning because we aren't ever promised tomorrow.

We don't know the hour or the day when Jesus is coming back or the hour or the day when we will be called home by God,,, so please don't put off something this important.

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So as we sing our final hymn,,, let me remind you that the alter is always open,,,

If you feel God speaking to you,,, don't hesitate to come,,, maybe you just have questions,,, God will answer,,, you just have to ask Him,,, whatever the need may be,,,

As we sing the final hymn,,, come if needed!

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Seminary - Hymn Page - 467 Trust and Obey