Jeremiah 1:4-8
Romans 1:16
Topic: Don’t be afraid to teach or preach the gospel of Jesus Christ
In these passages of scriptures, we see and read how the prophet Jeremiah had described how he was called to the prophetic ministry. In Jeremiah 1:4-5, Jeremiah says, “then the word of the Lord came unto me saying, ‘Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and ordained thee a prophet unto the nation.”
Now, what Jeremiah was telling us here in these passage of scriptures is that when the Lord called him to the prophetic ministry, God told him that before he was born, before he had ever existed, God already knew him. And guess what? It is the same way with us. God knew all of us before we were born. He knew all all of us before all of us had ever existed on this earth because God is an omniscience God, which means God is all knowing. The reason why God knows all about us before anybody else and before we even come to know ourselves is because God is our Creator, and He is the one who has made us. And since He is the one who has made us, He knows all about us.
Secondly, God told Jeremiah that before he was born, God already had a plan for him. He says, “Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee and ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” What God had told Jeremiah is that before he was born, before he had ever existed, He had a calling on his life. Before He was born, or ever existed, God had already sanctified and ordained Jeremiah to be a prophet. Now the word, “sanctified”, means “set apart”, and the word “ordained”, means “to be chosen.” God had already chosen and set Jeremiah apart to be a prophet before to be a prophet before he was born. And guess what? God has already chosen us and set us apart for a specific ministry before we were born as well. You may not be called to be a pastor, minister, Sunday School teacher, evangelists, or whatever, but you still have been called, sanctified, and chosen by God to do a specific ministry for the Lord. Your calling may not be like my calling, but you still have been called by God. My calling may not be like your calling, but we still both have been called by God to do a specific ministry for the Lord.
You see, when God calls us, He first calls us to salvation. That is, He calls all men, women, boys, and girls everywhere to repent and come to His Son Jesus Christ to be saved. Secondly, when God calls us, God calls us to discipleship. That is, after we get saved by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, God calls us to discipleship, that is, He calls us to follow Jesus Christ, He calls us to study His Word so we can learn more about who Jesus Christ is, and to live for Him. Last but not least, when God calls us, God call us to minister. He calls us to witness and to evangelize the world about the saving power of Jesus Christ, and this where all of us get into the different ministries in the church. You see, when God calls us to salvation and discipleship, He call us to His Son Jesus Christ. But when He calls us to the ministry, He calls us according to His will and according to the gifts and abilities that He has given to us. You see, not everybody in the church can pastor, not everybody in the church preach, not everybody in the church can teach, but everybody who has been born again can tell somebody the good news of Jesus Christ. You see, You don’t have to be in the pulpit to tell somebody about Jesus Christ. You don’t have to be in a Sunday School class to tell somebody about Jesus Christ. If you been born again, you have a ministry, and your ministry is to share and tell somebody about the saving power of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Now when God told Jeremiah that He has called him to be a prophet unto the nations, Jeremiah told God, “Ah, Lord God! Behold I cannot speak: for I am child.” What Jeremiah was telling the Lord that he couldn’t be a prophet because of his age. He felt that he was too young to do that type of work. Jeremiah felt that he was not old nor experienced enough to be a prophet. But God told Jeremiah, “Say not that you are a child, for thou shalt go to all that I send thee, and whatsoever I command thee, thou shalt speak.” God was telling Jeremiah not to say he was too young to be a prophet, nor use his age or his lack of experience to become a prophet. You see, it does not matter how old you are, or, how young you are, God can use anybody. I doesn’t matter if you are 6, or 66 years old. God can still use you in His service. It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, God can still use you in His service. It doesn’t matter if you been saved for three years or thirty years, God can still use you in his service. It doesn’t mater if you have graduated from seminary or not, God can still use you in His service. It doesn’t matter if you sit in the pulpit or not, God can still use you in his service. For if God can use a little boy named Josiah at the age of 8 and use Moses at the age of 80, He can use anybody in his services. If God can use Paul, an uneducated man, and use Peter and John, men who were considered “unlearned men”, God can use anybody.
Then God tells Jeremiah, “Be not afraid of their faces; for I am with you to deliver thee, saith the Lord.” God told Jeremiah not to be afraid of the people facial expressions when he speak the Word of God, not to be afraid of the people if they don’t say “Amen” when he speaks, not to be afraid of the people if they threatened him with physical violence because He said that He will be with him to deliver him for the people. You see, there are going to be times when you tell people what thus saith the Lord, and they don’t want to hear what you have to say from the Lord. But you cannot be persuaded by the reactions of the people. You have to be persuaded to speak God’s words regardless how people think or say. People may say or do some cruel things to you for speaking the Word of God, but you still have to press on and speak what thus saith the Lord. You may become unpopular with people on certain issues, but you have to still press on and speak what thus saith the Lord. People may stop speaking to you, stop inviting you over the house for dinner, and walk the other way when they see you coming, but you got to continue to speak only what thus saith the Lord. You may lose some friends, and gain some enemies, but you got to keep pressing on, and keep speaking what thus saith the Lord. And to be a pastor, to be a minister, to be a Sunday School teacher, to be a missionary, to be a evangelist, or to be just a plain witness for Jesus Christ, you cannot be afraid to teach and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. You cannot be because God has not given the spirit to fear, but of power, of love, and of sound mind. God wants you to stand up boldly proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. People may talk bad about you, lie on you, scandalize your name, backbite on you, criticize you, but never let that stop you from preaching and teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. They may even kick you out of their cliques, but you have to still keep on preaching and teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. You see, God said He will never leave us, nor forsake us, and He will be with us unto the end of the world. And if God will never leave us or forsake us, and He will be with us unto the end of the world, God has your back when you preach and teach the Word of God despite how people may react against you because if God be for you, whoc an be against you. And if God is for you, you should never be afraid to preach and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ because the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.
You see the gospel of Christ has saving power, healing power, delivering power, resurrection power, and the only way people can get saved, they need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. They need to hear that God so loved the world that He gave us only begotten Son Jesus Christ who came and died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead with all power in his hands, in that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but shall have everlasting life. You see, this is the message that people need to hear so they can turn to and trust in Jesus Christ for their salvation, and we cannot be afraid to preach and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ. We need to tell people that because He lives, I can face tomorrow! Because He lives, all fears are gone! Because I know who holds the future, and life is worth living just because He lives!!!!!!
