Before I formed you in the womb I knew you

before you came forth out of the womb

I set you apart

I ordained you a prophet to the nations.

But he complained, Lord GOD! Look, I can’t speak: for I am a child.

But the LORD said to me, Say not, I am a child:

for you will go to all that I will send you to

and whatever I command you, you will speak.

Don’t be afraid of their faces: for I am with you to deliver you

Then the LORD reached out his hand & touched my mouth.

And the LORD said to me, Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.

I have set you over the nations

I have set you over the kingdoms,

I have set you over the politicians

to root out,

to pull down,

to destroy,

to throw down,

to build,

to plant.

Jeremiah 1:5-19

God calls us in all our assumed deficiencies

Jeremiah means “exalted of the Lord” or “established by the Lord.”

God is omniscience (all knowing), before we were ever conceived.

He knew us because He had determined our conception.

Every conception is God’s amazing doing

This is the greatness of our all powerful God

We’re compensated for each personal weakness by Gods enabling grace

Jeremiah complained he had an articulation problem.

“I cannot speak”

He knew the message would be a difficult one,

and since he didn’t want to speak it so claimed an inability to speak.

Moses & Jonah didn’t want their message from God.

They came up with the same excuse

Jeremiah complained he had an age problem.

“I am a child”

He bemoaned his Immaturity or inexperience

These are perceived inadequacies

These are feelings of our lack of personal qualities

Our 2 cats Fiona & Maisie had their 1st birthday yesterday

They are terrified of going outdoors

But they love to stare through the window & fantasize

If I take them outside they can’t stand up to anything

They run back inside in terror

God says whatever I command you say

Our message is not our ideas

It’s what God wants us to say

Failure to speak is rebellion & defiance against God

That never goes well but results in bondage to monstrous consequences

Are our Churches cowering in fear of consequences from our enemies

Or do we respect & have awe in our God

So we hear:

If you don’t wear a mask

If you breath on someone

We’ll kill each other

The shrieking weirdos are calling us murderers if we don’t do as we’re told.

What if God wants us to call Inslee?

What if God wants us to call Bill Gates?

What if God wants us to declare this all as a manufactured crisis?

What if God wants us to call this a planned-demic not a pandemic?

What if this whole scheme is youth-in-Asia (euthanasia)?

What if we’re acting like a bunch of babies?

What if we’re cowards in hiding with our location services turned off of our phones?

What if we’re called to say “let my people go”?

When God calls us He enables us in all our assumed deficiencies!!!

When God calls us in all our assumed deficiencies

We’re compensated for each personal weakness by Gods enabling grace!!!

Our 2 cats Fiona & Maisie has their 1st birthday yesterday

They are terrified of going outdoors

But they love to stare through the window & fantasize

If I take them outside they can’t stand up to anything

They run back inside in terror

God says whatever I command you say

Our message is not our ideas

It’s what God wants us to say

Failure to speak is degrading ourselves

Are our Churches cowering in fear of consequences?

What if we’re acting like a bunch of babies?

What does God want us to

to root out,

to pull down,

to destroy,

to throw down,

to build,

to plant.

Be not afraid of their faces … be not dismayed at their faces”

Faces say a lot, often they speak much louder than words.

They can approve & disapprove.

We find many faces we have to ignored

We want approving faces.

We have to concentrate not on face but on delivering God’s message

“Be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound you before them”

“dismayed” is the same word translated “confound”

It involves shame

If let faces upset us, we’ll be shamed by God.

We have to concentrate on God’s face

His face gives courage, the other faces destroy us in destructive cowardliness.

Don’t toady up to our enemies proclaiming a puny message they want to hear.

To root out & to pull down, to destroy to throw down

describe symbolically a condemning message

These four verbs simply emphasize a work of criticism & condemnation.

Preaching against oppressive nonsense is echoing out their negatives

most people want to cling to their bondage to sins tenaciously.

“To build, and to plant”

describe symbolically a positive constructive communication

We only want to be constructive not ever condemning or adverse

The negatives come before the positives

Christ spoke of a heart cleaned of evil spirits
but not filled with any other spirits
so when the evil spirit returned,
the heart became worse then previous.

We tear down to build up, we prepare the field to plant,

The negative is necessary & vital but without the positive,
there is a lack of purpose. We separate from evil that we
might give ourselves to the good.

Separation is not a work in itself,
it is simply to make room for better association.

We need both the positive and the negative.

We need to scrub the nasty spirits out
but then we have to be immediately filled & immersed

Filled with God’s Spirit by staying immersed in His Word