Called Before You Were Ready

Transcript

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[0:00] Very good. Okay, it's time for our first reading. And you may have noticed even last week, by the way, last week was an interruption in our Jeremiah sermon series. So it's a six-week sermon series on Jeremiah with a one-week interruption last week because we had Nils and Erica Clausen with us. And if you missed last week, oh, go back and watch the video. It was really good. It was amazing what they are doing in Oaxaca, Mexico. And some of it has to do with helping people who are in the midst of domestic violence, helping them to identify what toxic relationships look like, helping them to identify the sources of violence, helping them to heal their own sort of stories of abuse and then become people who help other people heal. And it's just amazing. It really is like I told them, I think it's really like the gospel with shoes on. They're not just going there and teaching people theology in the Bible, which is all very good. And you can't be a missionary unless you're going to do that. But they're also giving people this very practical help and freeing many people from the bondage of abusive relationships, toxic relationships with toxic and abusive people. And I think that's just so important. And so go back and watch that show.

[1:21] Go back and watch that question and answer time and that update from them from last week. It's well worth your time if you didn't see it last week. But even last week, we had a reading from Jeremiah. Today, we have our first reading from Jeremiah and the sermon text is from Jeremiah. All that to say is you're going to hear a lot of Jeremiah in the next five weeks, including today. But that's the goal is we really want to familiarize you with this very important prophet from the Old Testament, a prophet who is quoted over 40 times in the New Testament. So this is a big deal. It's an important book and we're going to do our best to give it justice in six short weeks of preaching. We could preach a year on it, but we're not going to do that to you. So let's go to our first reading. Our first reading is from Jeremiah 2, 1 through 13. Jeremiah 2, 1 through 13.

[2:15] The word of the Lord came to me saying, go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord, I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest. All who ate of it were held guilty. Disaster came upon them, says the Lord. Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. Thus says the Lord. What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far from me? And went after worthless things and became worthless themselves.

[3:03] They did not say, where is the Lord who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that no one passes through, where no one lives. I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruits and its good things. But when you entered, you defiled my land and made my home. I gave you my heritage and abomination.

[3:29] The priests did not say, where is the Lord? Those who handle the law did not know me. The rulers transgressed against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and went after things that do not profit. Therefore, once more I accuse you, says the Lord, and I accuse your children's children.

[3:56] Cross to the coasts of Cyprus and look. Send to Kedar and examine with care. See if there has ever been such a thing. Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are not gods? But my people have changed their glory for something that does not profit.

[4:17] Be appalled, O heavens, at this, and be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the Lord, for my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water. As heavy as it is, this is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

[4:48] Well, next up is our sermon, and our sermon text is Jeremiah 1, 1 through 19. It's a long reading. There's a lot in there. I'm gonna kind of unpack it in the sermon. So we may go back to it, and it may flash on your screen over here. Oh, goodness, over here. I'm terrible at that. Okay, so Jeremiah 1, 1 through 19, before we start reading, just a few words of introduction. Today, of course, the beginning of the chapter, and we started with chapter seven because that was kind of a good, it gets our attention, but chapter one lays the foundation for who Jeremiah is and what God really has called him to do. And so today, we're looking at how God calls people. We're looking at how God watches over the world. We're looking at how God calls one specific prophet and what that prophet will say, but also in general, that God continues to watch the world, which is both good and bad, and how God continues to call new prophetic voices to speak. God keeps calling for the prophetic voice in this world, even though people like Jeremiah are long gone, okay? So a little more background on Jeremiah. We got some great background two weeks ago, but we're told in this reading that his ministry spanned the reign or the ruling of five kings of Judah, starting with Josiah,

[6:10] and then Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, I'm not making up these names, and Zedekiah. These are all real names of kings of Judah. I mean, I remember this from when I was a kid, but some of them are, they sound a little bit alike. It's because they're all related. They're related to each other. And it was a time, this is important to remember, it was a time of foreign occupation when Judah, the Southern kingdom, as we know it, was a pawn, like on a chessboard, between the two great powers of the time, Egypt to the south, and to the north was the Assyrian empire, which as we've explained before, later became the Babylonian empire up in the north. And so you have these two powers, and right here in the middle, you have Judah and Jerusalem, and these powers are sort of filled with intrigue. Either they're openly attacking each other, or they're sort of plotting against each other. And always in the middle are these small nation states like Judah and others around them. And that sets all of their lives in turmoil to be in the middle of these two very large and powerful empires.

[7:18] Here's a fascinating question that our reading today is gonna pose for us. And I want you to listen maybe, or think, be thinking, to this question as we read, is as people, and I'm guilty of this, we love to win, we love winning. I just watched a baseball game last night. My team didn't win, I didn't love it. If they had won, I would have loved it. So we love to win, it's just how we are. We love to win, and we love to see our own nation victorious over other nations. The question is, how do we process it when our nation is overrun by more powerful, powerful nations? And how do we react to a voice who says, God is telling me to tell you that he's going to use the power of these other nations to punish us for our sins? Would we like this person? I guarantee you we would not. They would be incredibly unpopular. And this is the situation that Jeremiah has been thrust into. He's been sent by God to tell his own people that your enemies are going to come and overrun you, and God wants it to happen that way, as a punishment for your sins. Can you imagine how unpopular Jeremiah was? And indeed, he was unpopular, and he felt how unpopular he was. So, because of that, and you'll listen for this too as well, I hope, that in our reading, we hear that God is planning

[8:48] to give a special protection to Jeremiah, as long as he faithfully continues, as we read, to Jeremiah. So if you remember how great his life was for his people, if you remember how great his life for his people were for his people, if you remember how great his life for his people were for his people, if you remember how great his life for his people were for his people, if you remember how great his life for his people were for his people, if you remember how great his life for his people were for his people, if you remember how great his life for his people were for his people, if you remember how great his life for his people were for his people, if you remember how great his life for his people were for his people if you remember how great his life for his people were for his people if you remember how great his life for his people son of Ammon of Judah, in the 13th year of his reign. It came also in the days of King Jehoiakim, son of Josiah of Judah, and until the end of the 11th year of King Zedekiah, son of Josiah of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month. Now the word of the Lord came to me, Jeremiah, saying, Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me,

[10:32] Now I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to build. To plant. The word of the Lord came to me again, saying, Jeremiah, what do you see?

[10:58] And I said, I see a branch of an almond tree. Then the Lord said to me, You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it. The word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, What do you see? And I said, I see a boiling pot tilted away from the north.

[11:20] Then the Lord said to me, Out of the north disaster shall break out on all the inhabitants of the land. For now I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, says the Lord, and they shall come and all of them shall set their thrones at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem against all its surrounding walls and against all the cities of Judah. And I will utter my judgments against them for all their wickedness in forsaking me. They have made offerings to other gods and worshipped the works of their own hands.

[12:00] But you, gird up your loins, stand up and tell them everything I command you. Do not break down before them or I will break you before them. And I, for my part, have made you today a fortified city, an iron city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people of all the land. They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you. Let's pray.

[12:35] Heavenly Father, thank you for this word. We ask that you would add your blessing to it. In Jesus' name. Amen. Well, let's take a look at the text. Actually, Eric's going to help me here. He might put some of these back from time to time. Let's go ahead and go look at the first one, Eric.

[12:54] The timeline is given, like I said, with the background of Jeremiah. And it says he was just one of many priests, but God chose him out from the many. Why Jeremiah? Well, I think we kind of get some hints. We'll see in just a second why. But God had many choices. But it goes on to say that this wasn't just a spur of the moment thing, like God kind of... Slipping through a Rolodex and his finger landed on one and said, Ah, let's take this one. You young people don't even know what a Rolodex is, but it was a way of having a contact list in your cell phone. But it was on your desk. We even have one here at the church. I'll show you someday. So God didn't just pull one card out of the Rolodex and say, Ah, Jeremiah, let's go with him. He says, No.

[13:37] I chose you, Jeremiah, before you were even born. Before you were born, I knew that you were going to be my Messiah. My messenger to my people, to call them out on their sin. And so Jeremiah has this objection. He says, I'm too young. I'm not ready for this. God says, Well, I've chosen you. And we see similar objections in other parts of Scripture. When there's a prophet to be raised up, generally that prophet feels inadequate to the job. They don't feel like they're ready. They don't feel like they have the skills. They're holy enough. They feel like their sin is going to get in the way.

[14:21] And so we have people like Moses and Isaiah and now Jeremiah, right? And I would say that this is almost a requirement for a prophet, is that that prophet has to say something like that. The alternative is finding a prophet who says, Oh, yeah, I have been waiting for you to notice how great I am. Can you imagine a prophet talking that way to God? I'm ready to get out there and own these people.

[14:50] And it's pretty clear from Scripture that people like this are never chosen by God to do any great things because they haven't been broken enough inside to actually be vessels of God's judgment and of God's grace.

[15:05] So Jeremiah is definitely one of those people who says, I'm not ready for this. I'm not equipped for this. And God says, You are because I'm going to go with you. And that's really the only way a prophet works. That's how Moses worked. That's how Isaiah worked and so on. Take a look at verse 9. Take a look at verse 9.

[15:25] And it says, Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And it's this beautiful thing, similar to Isaiah, where God is giving him some authority. I have put my words in your mouth. So this is so important, right? What Jeremiah is saying in all of these things, is not Jeremiah's opinion. It's not an op-ed editorial written by Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah. It's not in there and it's not on the last page of the newspaper that way. These aren't his words. God says, I am giving you the words. And thus they're reliable. Thus you don't have to be worried about defending it because you're not the one saying it. I am the one saying it. So there's this authority that comes from God giving him the actual words to say. And it's quite an authority. If you look at it, quite an authority, right? To pull down entire nations, to destroy and to overthrow. This is no small thing, right? But also, and this is a theme we're going to see coming up in Jeremiah, that it's not all destruction and gloom, but there's also redemption in new life because Jeremiah also has this authority to build and to plant. And so even in the beginnings of this whole book, we see that God is packaging these things together. And they're always together.

[16:52] On one hand, I'm going to judge you for your wickedness. On one hand, there's going to be punishment. There's going to be exile. But there's always hope. There's always new life. There's a new covenant coming. We're going to get to that later in this series. And I'm going to begin something new in you. Once you have learned, once you have learned your lesson. And so, the theme is you're going to tear down and destroy, but you're also going to build and you're going to plant, right?

[17:24] So now Jeremiah has a vision, a vision of an almond tree. And there's a bit of a play on words here because otherwise this one doesn't quite make that much sense. God says, I am watching. And it's like a play on word in Hebrew. So God is not above a little bit of literary embellishment or flourish sometimes, which is what I love about. Partly what I love about God is, is God is so much a God of the word. And God uses words to powerful effect, not just the words themselves and what they mean, but the format and the meaning and the subtext of all the words has meaning too. So there's multiple layers when God speaks and unpacking those layers is just a joy. It's a beautiful thing. So we have actually two words here, shock head, which means the almond tree branch. This is a shock head, but then there's a shock head. That's not a show kid is a verb. Show kid means to watch. And so God says, what do you see? He says, and Jeremiah says, I see a shock head. And God says, good, because I am going to show kid. I'm going to watch over all this world and I'm going to keep watching and I'm going to watch and make sure or know that people are doing the wrong thing. I'm watching this world. Just like God hears the voice.

[18:45] He hears the voice of his people who are in captivity. God can also see and watch this world with an unblinking eye. How much corruption and brokenness there is in this world. And he says, I'm going to put my words in your mouth and you're going to call it to account. What else do you see, Jeremiah? He says, well, I see a boiling pot and it's pouring down, is tilted away. In other words, it's pouring from the north on down to us. It's what a word image, right? Because if you ever burned yourself with boiling water, it's hot. It's really painful. So here's this idea of not just, it's not like a pot of Kool-Aid or something yummy like being poured. Oh, yeah. A Kool-Aid rainstorm. This is great. No, this is boiling water, right? A pot of boiling water is tilting away from the north and it's going to, it's going to land on us. It's going to land on Judah. It's going to land on Jerusalem. It's going to burn us. It's going to scald us, right? And this is Assyria or Babylon. They kind of change ownership sort of halfway through Jeremiah's lifetime.

[19:51] Assyria, Babylon are going to come down from the north and they're going to destroy. And I'm going to pour down on my own people a disaster. Now remember, and this is, this gets back to this theme that we introduced two weeks ago in chapter seven, where Jeremiah was preaching at the temple. The people there thought that the temple, and God's presence within the temple, created this invisible shield around Jerusalem. This is kind of their thinking, like nothing can penetrate this shield. No weapon, no army, nothing. Because God is here. And if God is here, he has the power to repel all invaders, all forces. But what they don't realize is that God says to them, I am going to remove, if that shield even exists, I'm going to take it away because I can't abide the way you're acting anymore. I cannot be with you anymore because of how you're acting. And so the people thought that there was this invisible shield. But if you look at verse 15, God is saying that these foreigners from the north will come and set their thrones at the gates of Jerusalem. What does that mean? That they're going to set their, they're not actually going to carry. This is another word picture. They're not going to actually carry this massive throne from Nineveh or Babylon

[21:12] and carry it all the way to Jerusalem. Jerusalem because actually that throne belongs in the capital of that empire. What it means is that they're going to bring their might, they're going to bring their power, their rule, their reign, their laws, they're going to bring all their empire, and they're going to put it at the gates of Jerusalem, and nobody's going to go in or out without their permission. They're going to own the city. It's just a powerful word picture. They're going to set their thrones at the gates of Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah. Now be thinking about how this news is going to be received by Jeremiah's countrymen, and we're going to take a little detour right now, maybe a little imaginative detour, all right, and a little bit of U.S. history lesson too for all of you who love history, okay, because we'll get to the rest of this, but we're going to take this little detour right now, and it makes sense. I want you to imagine that you are at the Pennsylvania State Hall in Philadelphia.

[22:12] On August 2nd, 1776, all right, so more than 200 years ago, and that's the day that most people gathered to sign the Declaration of Independence. It was dated July 4th, right, but it wasn't signed until August 2nd. Fun fact, okay, so now you have a little U.S. history in your pocket. August 2nd is the day it was signed, so that John Hancock thing, it didn't get there on July 4th, right, but it was signed on July 4th. What if somebody came to the State Hall that day and said to all the people just as they were about to sign and say, hold on, don't sign this yet. God doesn't want you to sign this document. It is not the time to declare independence from King George III and from England. Now, I know King George has been horrible to you. The worst thing he could have possibly done was to attack you. He was a terrible man. He was a terrible man. He was a terrible man. I mean, you want to make people angry, tax their beverages, right? He also taxed your playing cards, like two of the funnest things you can imagine, going to a public house and drinking and playing cards, and the king wants to tax that? Let's have a revolution, right? There's more to it than that, obviously, but it's kind of funny, right? But this person says to those people at the State Hall,

[23:38] John Hancock and all his friends, King George's rule over you is God's judgment for your sins, for drinking that much ale and playing that much cards, right? Or whatever else, you know? You're going to have to wait for your independence. For now, you need to submit to King George's rule and amend your ways.

[24:02] Now, what would happen to this person, this interloper who comes into the state hall meeting, just as people are about to sign this document that we think is so holy, right? Well, they'd be, I think, they'd be put in the stocks or whatever other barbaric punishments they had in the day, or maybe they'd be ignored or laughed at. How many people in the room would have gone, oh yeah, let's wait. If the Lord says it, let's wait, you know? Or at least slow them down a bit, right? Maybe that person would be told that they were a traitor, or some of them would even say, how do we know you're speaking? For God, I mean, these are all good questions. How do we know you're speaking for God? And that person might say, well, all the other predictions I've made have come true, so you should probably pay attention to me, something like that, right? But it would be hard for those people. It'd be hard for John Hancock and Thomas Jefferson and all these other people in that room because they would say, of course God is always on our side, and God wants our nation to prevail over other nations. Isn't that obvious? God wants us to prevail, and that our people should always prevail over other people's? Isn't it written somewhere that God wants that for us? Of course, the answer is no, it's not written

[25:16] anywhere. That our nation, whichever nation this is, Judah, United States, Canada, you name the nation, it's not written anywhere that one nation should always prevail over other nations. It is written that Babylon, Assyria should prevail over Judah and will, because God's going to judge it, right? So there's no promises like this, that you're always going to win. So just imagine how unpopular that person was. Now let's go back to Jeremiah, right? God knows that Jeremiah is going to get into a lot of trouble for saying these things. He's really challenging, you know, the patriotic side of people. He's challenging, he's calling them to account for their sins. They're not worshiping God, they're worshiping false idols. He's calling them to account for their lack of justice. They're not taking care of their sins. They're not worshiping God, they're worshiping God. They're not taking care of the vulnerable in their society, the orphan, the widow, the stranger in the land. They're going to get mad at him. And so you should imagine, and when he has to repeat these words and say, God has a boiling pot of Assyrians and he's going to pour it out on this city because of its injustice and because of its idolatry, what would people do to Jeremiah? And

[26:38] he says, I know you're going to have some pushback. So I've got your back, in essence. And he says, it won't be easy. You need to gird up your loins. In other words, I would put it on this way. He said, put on your big boy pants, right? You're not a child. Even though you say you're a child, you have to put on some big boy pants because some blowback is going to come your way. It's not going to be easy. It's not going to be fun. It's not going to be joyful or cheerful or anything. Some of these people are going to come for you. They're going to come after you. And all you have to do is tell them everything and don't break down before this onslaught or I will break you down, which is really frightening. This one gives me a little bit of pause, but it kind of makes sense. It makes it easier for Jeremiah. Who would he rather have break him down? The people? That's hard. God? That's even harder. I don't want God to break me down. So all I have to do is, is repeat what God says to be the vessel for his words. So God, but says, God says, if you keep speaking, I will fortify you. And there's this promise. I will make you like a fortified city. And I like this the best. I will make you like a pillar of iron. Can you

[28:00] imagine how powerful a pillar of iron is? Like this giant pole made entirely out of iron. I mean, this is a giant pole made entirely out of iron. I mean, this is a giant pole made entirely out of iron. That's the sort of thing that other things will come against and just smash themselves to bits against it, right? So they're going to push. They're going to call you a traitor. They're going to drop you in a well as you sink into the mud. That's what actually happened to him. They're going to put you in stocks. That's what actually happened to him later on. They're going to put you in prison. That's what actually happened to him later on. But you will stand like an iron pillar and they will break themselves apart as they throw themselves at you. They will not prevail. I will deliver.

[28:38] And God is true to his word. It's amazing that Jeremiah outlives all these people who come after him. He outlives all of them. He's persecuted and punished, but he never loses his life. He's saved from the invasion that inevitably comes and he dies of old age in Egypt after a long life of faithful proclamation of God's word. God's promise to Jeremiah was true. God's promise to Judah and Jerusalem was also true. God's promise to Judah and Jerusalem was also true. God's promise to Judah and Jerusalem was also true, as heavy as it was. And God's promise, always remember that God's promise has a word of hope in it. So there's a promise of punishment, but a promise of redemption. And both those aspects of God's promise was also true. There was new life, new hope, new covenant, but it was after all these things that had led to all this injustice had been broken down and God was then ready to start and build something new with what was left. And God is doing that and will do that. God uses the remnant all to do good. God uses the remnant all to do good. God uses the the time to rebuild new things. I can think of that as the church in America today. Parts of it need to be broken apart. Parts of it need to have boiling pot poured on it and

[29:52] dissolved away. And God is faithful and he will take what's left over that's ready to make him and him only the Lord and center of everything. He will take those remnants and he will build and plant and make something new with a new covenant and a new proclamation. And we're in the midst of that right now, I honestly believe. I honestly believe that.

[30:17] Well, where does this leave us? This is a great introduction to the book, right? It's a great introduction to the challenges. Like I said, there's the geopolitical things happening for Judah and Jerusalem. And God is in this difficult time where people don't know quite what to do. God is saying, these things that are coming, I'm using.

[30:35] Those other peoples as my judgment against you. So don't stand in the way of that. And there's more to that we can get into later, not today, about how God even tells them not to even interfere with this battle between the two empires. And that's advice that Josiah doesn't follow and he loses his own life because of it. It's very fascinating. So where does this leave us? Well, there's still a prophetic voice. I want to say that. So we're not just talking about Jeremiah over 2000, you know, a long time ago. We're talking about the prophet Jeremiah over 2000, about 2300 years ago, 20, no, that's not quite right, but about 2600 years ago. It's not just then that there's a prophetic voice. Jesus has a prophetic voice many times, but yet even today, there's a prophetic voice. God may have called you to a prophetic moment at various times in your life. He may have called you even before you were born to have a prophetic voice.

[31:34] And the spirit, will make you aware. I don't have any other thing to tell you except the spirit will tell you when to speak. It's just like the vision that Jeremiah has. And the spirit will give you the words. And this has happened for us. I know, because we've had conversations about this, about how people have said, yes, the spirit spoke through me on various occasions. And so here's the caveat for us. If we really think, oh, I should be that prophetic voice, like we self-select, it's a good bet that God won't use us. God uses the one, remember, God uses the one who doesn't think they're up to the task. And they're not. It's just that they are able to say what God wants them to say. You don't have to have any skill to do that. You don't have to be super great at anything to do that, to just repeat what God says. And so most authentic prophets are reluctant prophets. Beware the person who runs headlong, into the prophetic voice. They might be doing it for themselves. And here's the other thing that we have to watch out for. If we enjoy telling other people about their sins, and it's just like the funnest thing in the world to do is to point out other people's sins. I mean, that really makes us feel good. So if we really enjoy telling other people about their sins, then we need to watch out.

[32:56] This is pride, and it will always come for us, and it will always precipitate a fall. A prophet is like Jeremiah. As he speaks, and if we were to read other parts of Jeremiah, we would see this. As Jeremiah is speaking, tears are running down his face. We need to be heartbroken about what we are saying. It has to break our heart to say it. Not like Jonah. He's the opposite kind of prophet, right? He didn't really go at first. And then when he went, he said his piece, he left Nineveh, he got a nice view from the hillside, and was just like making popcorn, waiting for God to bring fire down on the city. That's not the action of somebody who's heartbroken about what's about to happen next. And so God actually had to deal with Jonah, and God relented even. That made Jonah mad. It kind of shows where Jonah's heart was. We can't be like Jonah. We have to be like Jeremiah.

[33:51] And we have to be able to weather being unpopular, at a minimum. At a minimum, you'll be unpopular, and to a maximum of losing your wealth, or your honor, or your dignity, or even your freedom. You know what? It's never safe to say, speak out against one's own government. All around the world, it's not safe. And if a prophetic voice calls us to call our government or our nation to task for its sins, that's dangerous. Now, I will say I'm glad that we are protected by the First Amendment in this country. So we are allowed to speak against our own government. But that doesn't mean we can do that without any consequences at all, right? If God tells us to call our own government or our own nation to account for its sins, we need to be protected against it. And if we don't, we're not protected against it. So we need to be prepared for backlash, even from family, even from some branches of the church, right? Because some people have confused the kingdom of God with the kingdom of this world, and particularly with the nation that we live in, which is a mistake and an idolatry. It's a terrible problem. That's what the prophetic word is here to speak against.

[35:00] So if we're going to speak against things, we have to be prepared, but also be prepared that God is going to protect us and sustain us and to make us like a pillar of iron. It's great news, right? Well, what are we to be prophetic about? The Spirit, like I said, will lay that on your heart. And it's been on my heart, and I've spoken about, and I'm not going to do it again, but I'm just going to list for you the things that I feel like the Spirit has asked me to be prophetic about over the last year or more, all right? I've spoken about how the church has been behind our culture in dealing with sexual abuse. And harassment. How the church has tolerated toxic leaders. How the church has been behind the culture on racial justice. How the church has given in to Christian nationalism, which is idolatry to its absolute core. The church has been taken in by conspiracy theories, and it looks ridiculous to the world. There is so little of the church that would attract someone to the gospel. At this point in time, it would be such a miracle, and it is a miracle, if anyone becomes a follower of Jesus with the way the church in this country has been carrying on. And I don't expect other people in this country to go, oh, there's a lot of different kinds of Christians, and some of them

[36:21] aren't as crazy as all the rest of them. I don't trust that they're going to take the time to do that. We have very prominent Christians, very prominent churches, very prominent pastors and leaders saying, idolatrous? And ruinous things. And bringing dishonor to the gospel themselves, all while they pile up money, pile up power for themselves. It's a total mess. They need a Jeremiah. I'm not really, you know, I'd be reluctant to be that to them because they don't know who I am, but maybe somebody within their own, hopefully somebody within their own circle, can begin to speak up and say, I don't think what we're doing is right. We need to return.

[37:02] And what do we need to return to? Here is where it all comes down. For those churches, for our nation, for us, we need to get back to the basics. The only offense the church, a Christian, can bring into the world is the cross, right? Not my theories about vaccines, not my, you know, not my political views, not my idolatry about this nation, not all these other things. The cross, it's foolishness to this world, but it's the wisdom of God. This is what Paul says to the Corinthians. I quote this all the time. I love it. What did he say to the Corinthians? I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. The cross of Christ is our central message. And when we get away from that, we create false idols all around us. It's a mess.

[38:05] Remember that it is Christ crucified, not a victorious, vanquish our enemy ruler, but one who went willingly to his death. Not somebody that anyone would look up to, I guess. Somebody who humbly submitted to the ruling authorities, but most importantly submitted to the will of his father. This is the Christ who spoke prophetically to the church of his time. Those were the religious leaders, and he called out their hypocrisy and their abuses. And this is the Jesus who spoke up for the vulnerable, the one who kept the church from falling apart. And this is the Jesus who spoke up to the people who left erasing the system of honor and shame by keeping company with prostitutes and tax collectors. This is the Jesus who went to the cross. This is the Jesus we proclaim. This is the prophetic Christ. It's the only one we have. It's the one that scriptures reveal so reliably that there is no other Christ. Not any reasonable person could ever think. But I'm afraid the churches, we know it in this country and maybe around the world, have not been able to get has lost sight of this Jesus. They are not watching.

[39:11] They are not watching and looking for this Jesus. They have their own Jesus, the victorious Jesus, the Jesus that confirms all their own assumptions, all their own narratives, all their own power stories. But that's not the Jesus of Scripture. We go back to Scripture to find the true Jesus, the Jesus of the cross.

[39:33] I think that even if they read these Scriptures, they would not recognize Jesus in them at all. And so we need to say, and I say this with a broken heart. If you could look closer, you might see a few tears. There are not any tears coming out of my eyes, but they want to right now. They really want to come out.

[39:52] My heart is broken for the church. My heart is broken for our nation. I repent of all the times I have gotten this wrong, but I will repent of all the times I have gotten this wrong. I repent of myself. I'm not guiltless in this.

[40:06] So there's a prophetic voice goes on. God's going to give it to you through the Spirit. Be open to it and listen for it. So that's what I'm going to ask you to do. Listen, just like God listens. Watch, just like God watches. Be aware of what's going on in this world and be aware of what God teaches about the cross of Jesus Christ. Pray for the Spirit, and when the Spirit tells you to speak, speak, speak. Even if there are consequences, speak. And let your heart break for the things that break the heart of God. Be tender enough to be broken for other people and their sin.

[40:48] Well, that's enough for now. There's more to come later, including Jeremiah's words of hope and redemption. You're going to have to tune in on another Sunday to hear all of those. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you again for your word, for your invitation to us to speak with the prophetic voice. Open our hearts, our eyes, and our ears to hear the prompting of your Spirit, and find us faithful to speak when you tell us to speak and to weather the consequences of that speaking. And into your hands we commit this, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen.