SOUTH ASIA MISSION

Jeremiah 1:1-10

When the Word of the Lord comes to man

Man often says “Ah, but…..”

• Jeremiah was chosen by God from before he was born (v4-5). So are we. God has plan for our lives and this often means that we are his mouthpiece to share the gospel, and His hands and feet to love others as he loved us.
• Jeremiah gave excuses (v 6). So do we. We often have any reasons why we cannot do something or go somewhere for His name’s sake. Think about it – if we give God’s work priority, we will find the ability to obey Him.
• God says there are no excuses. He told Jeremiah “Do not say……..” (v. 7) So it is with us. Very often, if we are really honest with ourselves, we will have no answer if God says “Do not say…………”
• God is faithful and will always be there to help (v.8). So it is today. His Holy Spirit will give us the power and ability to do what He wants us to do.
• God empowered Jeremiah (v.9-10). So too with us today. We are empowered by God through His Spirit. He will give us the words, the energy, the resources, the finances, the time, the health and whatever we need. We just have to give Him the priority.

Jeremiah heard, gave an excuse, was rebuked, and then empowered. He then went, spoke and gave of himself to serve God.

Friends, as we see the needs of the world and the biblical call to go and make disciple so fall nations, are we following God’s word, or are we answering with negatives, procrastination or excuses (obfuscations) ?

Many times God speaks to us through his word, or an inner prompting, or through circumstances and godly counsel. As Christians, we claim to be followers of the sovereign God, yet behave as though we are sovereign.

Some of the words God may use are:

“go” – He wants you to go somewhere, maybe to meet someone with a need, or even use as kill to help others for the sake of the gospel

“speak” – he wants you to tell someone of the gospel of Christ, or share your testimony with a friend

“give” – He may ask us to give to His Kingdom work (giving of our money, resources, talent and time)

Some of the words we use in response are:

“er..” – We ask if we have heard God correctly! When it is a bit inconvenient or challenges our perceptions of how it may impact our comfortable life, we may make this uncertain response

“maybe” - We respond with a maybe mainly because we may feel inadequate. Or we feel we have no support when we are asked to start a new ministry in our local church or to go out on a mission trip or even as a missionary.

“not yet” – We delay going. Reminds me of the parable Jesus told of the two sons. A father asked his two sons to do a chore. One said he would not do it but he did go and get it done anyways. The other said he would do it but did not go. Jesus’ disciples correctly identified the one who di the job as the proper response. So even if we felt or said “not yet”, we can happily change our mind and obey.

“no” – The response unfortunately of over 80% of church members. Church statisticians even put that number at over 90%. The remaining 10-20% are who runt he church ministries. This is a sad reflection of our adherence to God’s precepts.