Sermon Tone Analysis

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The Power Of God’s Call

Jeremiah 1:1-5

 

 

       As I thought and prayed about what God would want me to preach tonight, I believe the Spirit impressed me to take about the call of God upon all of our lives.

Those who are ordained to the Gospel ministry, usually give testimony to the call of God upon their lives.

However, they aren’t the only ones who should be able to testify of the call of God upon their lives.

Each of us who are believers in Jesus, the Christ, has the call of God upon our lives.

This call is going to becoming increasing important in the future, because of what we are facing in America.

/(So, what are we facing in America?)/

We are facing an insidious, almost undetectable philosophy that is eating American’s alive—both unbelievers and believers.

The philosophy is called “Nature,” which a capital “N,” but before I can tell you about that philosophy, we need to understand just a little bit about philosophy in general.

Because of our nature, as Human beings, “…we cannot rest contented with a mass of unrelated experiences scattered at random throughout life.

We must take our experiences and weave them into some kind of a pattern, a whole which is more or less satisfying.

*/This pattern, this whole, is our philosophy./*

Your philosophy, then, is the meaning which the world has for you.

It is your answer to the question, ‘Why?’

Having fitted your experiences into a whole, having related them to each other, you say of the world, ‘This is the way things fit together.

This is the world as I understand it.

This is my philosophy.’”[1]

Please understand that our philosophy is *not* always equal to our theology.

For Saints, in America, their theology is a part of their philosophy, but their philosophy is *not* their theology.

Nevertheless, America is teaching a philosophy called Nature, with a capital “N.”

In fact, it is a theology, because it is believed by faith, but I don’t have time to cover that.

“Although we don’t often see it capitalized in writing, we often hear it spoken with a capital N.  Try tuning in to (/any/) …nature programs (on T.V.) …and you will hear It’s name mentioned frequently.

On the screen, you (/will/) see an extraordinary example of a particular animal’s behavior, only to hear the voice of the narrator attribute this awesome wonder to the amazing work of ‘Nature.’

It is amazing what Nature has made of itself!”[2]

/Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary/ defines “nature” as

 

“*4 :* a creative and controlling agent, force, or principle operating in something and determining wholly or chiefly its constitution, development, and well-being:  *a :* such a force or agency in the universe acting as a creative guiding intelligence.”

Did you get that?

“Nature” is a force that has created the earth and controls the earth al by itself!

“May the force be with you!”  */“Nature” is, in fact, evolution./*

This philosophy is being taught and reaffirmed in our schools and on our T.V.’s every day, but we are oblivious to it.

Every time I go to any attraction at Disney World that has to do with “Nature,” this philosophy is promulgated.

*/This was not the original philosophy of America!/*  Let’s listen to Noah Webster’s definition from his original 1828 dictionary.

“Nature” is “a word that comprehends all the works of God; the universe.”

“By the expression, ‘trees and fossils are produced by nature,’ we mean, they are formed or produced by certain inherent powers in matter, or we mean that they are produced by God, the Creator, the Author of whatever is made or produced.

The opinion that things are produced by inherent powers of matter, independent of a supreme intelligent author, is atheism.

But, generally men mean by nature, thus used, the Author of created things, or the operation of His power.”

There was a time, when we considered nature to be God’s creation, *not* some force operating by itself.

/(Right about now you ought to be asking the question, “So what?”)/

Well, this philosophy, even though it is almost undetected is destroying the foundations, freedoms, and hopes of America.

If all that we know has been brought into existence by “Nature,” then there is *no* God!

If there is *no* God, then there is *no* creation or Creator!

If there is *no* Creator, we are *no* more than the chance meeting of chemicals and amino acids.

If we are *no* more than the chance meeting of chemicals and amino acids, then we are *no* different from a rock, frog, or pig.

If we are *no* different than a rock, frog, or pig, then life has *no* real design, meaning, purpose, or value.

If life has *no* real design, meaning, purpose, or value, then life is vanity, meaningless, and hopeless.

\\ If you will look closely at the young people of America, you will see a hopelessness that manifests itself in depression and no value for Human life.

*/The philosophy of “Nature” underlies the hopelessness we see in our children and feel in all American, in general!/*

In the light of these circumstances, Paul’s warning to the Colossians is particularly poignant.

He wrote in

 

Colossians 2:8 (NASB-U), “See to it that no one takes you captive *through philosophy* and *empty deception*, according to the *tradition of men*, according to the elementary principles of *the world*, rather than *according to Christ*” (/bold type added/).

Paul is *not* decrying philosophy or thinking.

He is decrying philosophy that is according to the world, rather than Christ.

Please don’t think that this has bypassed us, Saints.

We are a part of America and this philosophy has been unwittingly added to our intellectual diet.

Even though we are saved, I see just as many depressed, despairing, hopeless Saints, as I do sinners!

To combat this depression, despair, and hopelessness, we need to know—beyond the shadow of a doubt, that we were created with a purpose.

We need to know that there is a reason for our being.

I believe we will be able to see just that by investigating the call of Jeremiah.

/(Turn with me please to Jeremiah 1:1-5.

Let me read this for us out of the NASB?/

/Here we see:)/

 

I.

Jeremiah’s Call (vv.

1-4).

In these words, Jeremiah states the basis of his call in the phrase, “to whom the Word of the Lord came.”

Every person who is licensed or ordained to the Gospel ministry must *know* that s~/he is called by God.  */However, beyond that, every Saint is called of God for some purpose./*

Nobody can say for sure what these words mean, but they denote some experience with Jehovah God, through the Holy Spirit.

Throughout this prophecy, written by Jeremiah under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he constantly repeats the fact that the Word of the Lord had come to him.

*/He lives, moves and has his being within the sphere of the divine call of God.

In Israel, priests were priests by birth, but prophets were only prophets by calling./*

/(Now that we have looked briefly at his calling, let’s take a very brief look at Jeremiah’s commissioning.)/

II.

Jeremiah’s Commissioning (v. 5).

Jeremiah’s commission is covered in verses 5-10, but we only have time to look at verse 5.

       We see Jeremiah’s commissioning by the Lord, firstly, in the same words as his call.

His commission or charge begins with the words, “The Word of the Lord came to me.”

His authority to carry out the will of God is found in the words, “The Word of the Lord came to me.”

Likewise, our commissioning is found in the Word of the Lord.

We shall cover that in a moment.

/(However, before we do that, let’s look at the credentials which God lists for Jeremiah.)/

A.

Jeremiah’s credentials (v.

5).

*/Jeremiah’s credentials entails more than formal education in one of schools of the prophets!

Jeremiah’s credentials are His calling!/*

       Like Jeremiah, whether we have an official position among God’s people or we are without a position, our ultimate credentialing is that we have been called and commissioned by God Almighty!

Ephesians 4:4 (NASB-U), “There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling.”

In fact, we are the /ekklesia/, the “called-out” body of Jesus, the Christ.

Moreover, we also have credentials.

Let’s compare Jeremiah’s credentials to our credentials.

/(Well, God set Jeremiah apart, commissioned him, and credentialed him through His own divinely providential actions.

Those actions were:)/

 

1.

Precognition (v 5).

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.”

*/We see here the sovereign grace of God./*  God calls whom He will and chooses whom He will, and God is *not* dependent upon time.

He knew Jeremiah before he was born.

Not only did God know him before he was born, but evidently He formed Jeremiah in the womb based upon that knowledge.

With God, there are *no* surprises.

With God, there are *no* emergencies.

God does *not* move from crisis to crisis.

God plans.