Transcript for DO NOT BE AFRAID TO SPEAK (CAPTIONED)

Sermon text, JEREMIAH 1:4-10,

taken from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION

Let us rise for this morning's sermon text recorded for us

by the prophet Jeremiah,

where we read from Chapter 1, beginning with Verse 4:

THE WORD OF THE LORD CAME TO ME, SAYING,

"BEFORE I FORMED YOU IN THE WOMB I KNEW YOU,

BEFORE YOU WERE BORN I SET YOU APART;

I APPOINTED YOU AS A PROPHET TO THE NATIONS."

"AH, SOVEREIGN LORD," I SAID,

"I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO SPEAK; I AM ONLY A CHILD."

BUT THE LORD SAID TO ME, "DO NOT SAY, 'I AM ONLY A CHILD.'

YOU MUST GO TO EVERYONE I SEND YOU TO

AND SAY WHATEVER I COMMAND YOU.

DO NOT BE AFRAID OF THEM, FOR I AM WITH YOU

AND WILL RESCUE YOU," DECLARES THE LORD.

THEN THE LORD REACHED OUT HIS HAND AND TOUCHED MY MOUTH

AND SAID TO ME, "NOW I HAVE PUT MY WORDS

IN YOUR MOUTH. SEE, TODAY I APPOINT YOU

OVER NATIONS AND KINGDOMS TO UPROOT

AND TEAR DOWN, TO DESTROY AND OVERTHROW,

TO BUILD AND TO PLANT."

This is the Word of our Lord. Let us pray:

Glorious and gracious God,

may the words of my mouth and the meditation of each of

our hearts be acceptable in Your sight

our only source of hope and comfort.

Amen.

Pastor Dave motions for the congregation

to be seated.

Dear Followers of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ:

The time

in which Jeremiah lived,

was certainly a time of turmoil

for God's people. For God's children

at that time, were suffering tremendously.

We realize that throughout

the Old Testament, God had called a people

to be His own. Brought them

up out of Egypt and placed them in a land

that was filled with

tremendous blessings, so that He could show them

and lead them and also through them

send His Messiah.

God's people, when they got into that land

filled with all of the blessings

began to forget about God.

When they came into that land,

they didn't drive out all of those people

who had vile worship practices.

The heathen nations that were there... they let some of

those remain. They even

married with some of those. And year after year,

their worship of the true God deteriorated.

It became mixed with that of idols.

We have the tribe in

the northern part of Israel setting up a new worship

center. Building golden calves to represent

God and having the people come there

to worship them.

God came to them yet repeatedly with His prophets

with His Word,

to forsake the idols and

to return to Him.

The northern tribes didn't heed that warning.

And God brought in the Assyrians

and hauled them off ...

never to be heard from again.

Dispersed them away.

Because they had turned from their true God

and their worship of Him. And now we have

a small group of God's people living in and around

Jerusalem, who are falling

into the same patterns

of neglecting God. Putting their trust in the worldly

kings and the worldly treasures for

protection and for help.

And Jeremiah, one day,

receives the call from God.

God comes to Jeremiah at this time

of tremendous turmoil with

the southern kingdom...all that was left

of God's people. And God comes to the

prophet Jeremiah and He says: Before you

were created, I knew you.

Before you were knit together in your

mother's womb, I had set you apart.

You are going to be the one to go

to My people. To share with them

the message that I have to send to you.

Jeremiah should have taken great

comfort in that fact. Should have been

reassured that God was on his side and that God

was with him. God who had created him. Set him apart

for this very purpose had now

called him to action ...

to be the one to go to God's people.

But maybe Jeremiah himself realized

the people that he was to go to

were not going to be receptive

to all of God's will.

They were just getting further and further away from God.

Maybe he realized that his age was

going to be a problem because that's what he brings up.

He brings it up to God and he says:

You know I'm only a child. I don't know how

to speak well. And God

said to him: Don't say, I am

only a child.

Realize, I

have selected you.

I will put My words into your mouth.

I will be with you and I will

rescue you.

And maybe that should have been a warning for Jeremiah.

That in his ministry he was going to need to be rescued.

To date Jeremiah's ministry was not a pleasant one.

His fellow brothers

in the faith wanted him put to

death for the messages that he proclaimed.

He had a horrible time

when he watched God's children

being dragged off into the Babylonian captivity.

And he lamented in anguish.

The destruction of Jerusalem.

The Holy City of God,

destroyed to rubble.

Maybe Jeremiah knew that his work

was going to be difficult and hard and he said:

I don't know how to speak. But God said to him:

DON'T BE AFRAID!

Don't be afraid because YOU ARE going to go.

You're going to go to the places and the people

that I send you to. And you are going to

tell them the words that I have placed in your mouth.

You need to realize this. That

is why I created you.

That is why I formed you to be the one

to accomplish this work for me.

And God reaches out and touches the mouth of Jeremiah

and said: See, I put My words

in your mouth. Now you are

to go and share that message.

And Jeremiah did.

Jeremiah did what the LORD had asked

of him. He had gone to God's people. He went

to them repeatedly, with the threat

of punishment for their unbelief. With the reminder

of the Gospel that Messiah was still going to come.

He did his building.

He did his planting. He also

did his uprooting and that was what was of most importance.

Not,

where he went, but

actually what he said.

And the same message is true for us today.

We are fully aware that God

has created us to be unique individuals.

We've been reading about that in First Corinthians

in our Epistle Lessons.

How we are all wonderfully special and unique

with different gifts created by God,

for different kinds of service.

Today we are reminded once again that not everyone is

going to be a prophet, not everyone is going to be a

teacher, not everyone is going to have the gift of

administration. We all have different gifts,

but yet we come together

understanding the love of God.

Because God IS love. And He has shown that love to us

in His Son, Jesus Christ.

And that is what brings us together.

That is what bonds us together as the family

of God here at Zion to go and

to do. To go and to speak and

to not be afraid. Not be afraid

because God has created us to be exactly

who we are with the gifts

needed to carry out His work.

And what a wonderful reminder that is and even though

we are sinful human beings, He sent His Son

to save us.

To show us that love, that we are not perfect.

We will NOT be perfect in this world,

but He has come to cover our sin.

He sent His Son

to suffer tremendously;

to die on the cross of Calvary

in punishment and payment

for MY sins

because of HIS love for me.

And He has called me to be His own.

He has made me holy, setting me apart from the world

and He has done the same thing for you.

Called you to be His son. Called you to be

His daughter. Called you out of the world

to be set apart, for Him

and for His purposes.

And He has said: Now go out in your life.

Yes. I have received a call

from you as a congregation

to come here and to lead you in worship.

To carry out the ministry of the Gospel,

to teach and support you in YOUR ministry of the Gospel.

That's a wonderful gift.

That is a wonderful thing that

we practice Biblically in our synod ...

the Divine Call.

That you didn't hire me.

That you didn't put out an ad saying:

This is what we need in a pastor. And if you don't meet

all of that criteria, don't even bother responding.

You gathered together as the people of God and

prayed. And the Holy Spirit

led you to a decision.

And you extended to me a call.

And the Holy Spirit

worked in my heart and in my life to come to you and to

proclaim the Gospel.

To come here with all of my

imperfections; with all of the things that I CAN do,

and all of the things that I can't do.

To know that at this time God has said we are

here working together with all of the things that

YOU can do and all of the things

that you can't do. And all too often

we get in the mindset of Jeremiah

saying: I'm too young.

I can't talk. Maybe we're like

Moses. Moses said: I have a stammering tongue.

But the prophets of the Old Testament when faced with that

great task ahead of them

focused on their own insecurities ... their

own shortcomings, instead of focusing on who it was

that would make them unafraid.

That it was the LORD who had called them.

The LORD who would be with them. The LORD who would

rescue them. And the same thing is true of us.

When we put up barriers to going and

doing God's Word, it's because usually our

own insecurities are our own things

that we think we can't do well and

we don't want to stress ourselves.

Instead of focusing on what God is going to do when He is

with us and His strength

and His power. So often we DO sit back and say: I don't know

what to say. I wouldn't know

what to do. God will TELL you

what to do. God will put the words

into your mouth. You trust in Him

and His Holy Spirit from the message that

He has taught you day after day

and year after year as you have lived

as one of His children.

In the Word ... studying what God has said.

Using all of those passages

that have brought you comfort to comfort others.

Using those passages that have reminded

you of your own sinfulness.

To go to those who are trapped in sin,

who are struggling with sin. Reminding yourself of the

passages wherein you find comfort in the forgiveness of

God and going to those who need that

same comfort of forgiveness.

To do the work of God and to do it unafraid.

That IS the high calling that we have.

That is the WONDERFUL GIFT

that God has given to us as His church.

Which He reminds us in the Psalm for this morning.

We take that so seriously;

we share that with our children. With the next

generation. We have such GREAT JOY

in the knowledge of our salvation.

We cannot help but share that with those who are living in

pain and suffering outside of the Gospel message.

It is Satan who

wants us to be afraid.

It is Satan who wants us to remain in one spot

doing nothing.

It is Satan who wants us to be silent and

we need to realize

that our God has been victorious over him.

Through His resurrection on

Easter Sunday morning, He silenced

Satan and all of the critiques he could have against God.

Jesus Himself has ascended to the right

hand of God, sitting there on God's throne

ruling over all authorities that have been placed

under His feet. That IS

OUR GOD!

He IS MY LORD and MY Savior and ...

What do I have to fear?

I have no fear in Jesus Christ

because His perfect love, drives out

all my fears.

And I trust in that. I rely on that.

So I look at the world around me and say: God you have

placed me here to go to them.

You have created me and placed me at this

exact time FOR YOUR PURPOSE.

Use me for that, LORD.

He will give each of us the words

that we are to tell; the words that we are to say,

whether they be words of Law, or words

of Gospel; words that tear down or words

that build up. It is the whole counsel of God

that He has given to us.

So I encourage you today:

Do not be afraid,

but go, and do what God has

in store for you.

Amen.

Let us rise.

Now may the peace of God which goes beyond all of our

understanding, keep your hearts and your minds and

especially your lives in the one true faith unto life

everlasting. Amen.