God Encounters: Jeremiah Series

Too Young the Hero is a movie about 12 year old Calvin Graham who managed to enlist in the Navy during WWII.

Read Jeremiah 1:4-10.

Jeremiah was young. How young? We don’t know. The word translated “youth, child, boy” could mean an infant to a young man.

I. God’s CALL.

We typically think of God’s call as being the full-time ministry. That’s no always the case.

A. God WIRED us.

God made us the way we are. He wired our DNA. A computer hard drive is wired to perform certain functions. God gifted each of us with a set of skills, talents and likes.

B. God KNOWS us.

God knows us better than we know ourselves.

C. God SET us ASIDE.

God has done this so we can fulfill his purposes. This isn’t, as some suggest, proof of predestination. We can choose either to follow God’s will or not.

D. God has a JOB for us.

God has given each of us a job to do. There are people over whom only each of us individually has an influence.

II. Our INSUFFICIENCY.

Jeremiah is stating a legit concern. He is young. Who would listen to him? We are insufficient for the task.

A. Our INEXPERIENCE.

How do you get a job without experience? And, how do you get experience without a job? We are not fit for the task on our own.

B. Our PERSONALITY.

Jeremiah was melancholy, hardly the one you would expect to be a great preacher. Personally, I hate public speaking.

III. God’s SUFFICIENCY.

The good news is that we don’t have to do it on our own. God is with us to help us. God reassures Jeremiah, “I am with you.”

A. What God DOESN’T promise.

God promises to be with us, but there some things he doesn’t promise.

1. An EASY ROAD.

Life won’t be a cakewalk.

2. PROSPERITY

Following God is not a get rich quick scheme.

B. What God DOES promise.

There some things that God does promise.

1. Our DESTINATION.

He will show where to go. He will show to whom we are to go. He will show us like he showed Paul in Acts 16.

2. Our MESSAGE.

We don’t have to come up with our own message. God will give us the words to say.

3. Our PROTECTION.

While God doesn’t promise us an easy road, he does promise protection for the journey.

IV. Our COMMISSION.

God has given a job to do. We are commissioned like officers in the army.

A. The DESTRUCTIVE element.

This perhaps seems odd. You can’t build a new highway without first deconstructing the old. When we ask Jesus into our lives, the sin has to be removed by him before we can have him grow in our lives. Jesus said, (John 12:24 ESV), “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

1. UPROOT.

We have to remove the weeds from the ground before we can hope to have a garden.

2. BREAK DOWN.

They are renovating part of uptown Greenville. They have to tear down the old buildings, or at least gut them, before they build something new.

3. DESTROY.

Cancer cells have to be destroyed before before

4. OVERTHROW.

In order for the founding fathers to establish the US, they first had to overthrow King George.

B. The CONSTRUCTIVE element.

The message doesn’t end on a note of destruction. The thing is there is a constructive element. When Jesus made the comment about the seed falling into the ground he was talking about himself. We can’t get to the joy of Easter morning without passing through the death and suffering of Good Friday.

1. BUILD.

The good news is that the building gets rebuilt into something more useful. Our old house was gutted and refinished before we moved in.

2. PLANT.

The weeding of the garden isn’t the end. The lack of weeds increases the harvest.

OUR GOD ENCOUNTER

What is God calling you to do? Where are you insufficient? Realize that it is God who makes you sufficient. Is there something in your life that needs uprooting, destruction or something of the sort? What is it? What does God want put there instead?