Jeremiah 20:7-18

Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to coffee and devotions this morning. We are at Jeremiah chapter 20 verses 7 through 18 Let's have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll see what's in God's Word for us today Just a little sip Yeah, okay, okay I want the whole cup. No, you can't have the whole cup. Here, go ahead and use both hands. Use both hands, please. All right, let's pray.
God, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for the blessing of getting to... If there's been time in your word, Father, we pray that you would please help us. Please help us to understand, and to listen, to believe, and to know your word in Jesus' name. Amen.
Here we go. Jeremiah chapter 20, beginning at verse 7. Are you ready to read? We're right up? Okay. We're right here. So you've been sitting with Devin? Yes. All right, here we go. All of you induced me and I was... Good job. Persuaded. You are stronger than I and have prevailed.
I am in derision daily. Everyone mocks me. For when I spoke, I cried out. I shouted violence and plunder because The word of the Lord was made to me a reproach and a derision daily. Then I said, I will not make mention of him nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in my heart like a burning fire. shut up in my bones. I was weary of holding it back, and I could not. For I heard many mocking, fear in every side.
Report, they say, and we will report it. All my acquaintances watched my stumbling, saying, perhaps he can be induced. Then we will prevail against him, and we will take our revenge on him. One, one, right? Yep, one, one, 11. But the Lord is with us. Oh, yeah you do. As a mighty awesome one. Alright, but the Lord is with me as a mighty awesome one. Therefore my persecutors will stumble and will not prevail. They will be greatly ashamed for they will not prosper. Their everlasting confusion will never be forgotten. Verse 12. Oh, Lordy, for. Lord of. Of. Of. You. Are. Oh, you who. Who. Is. Teased. Not teased, but. Test. The. Righteous. Mind and heart. Let me see your vengeance on them for I have pleaded my cause before you.
Sing to the Lord. Praise the Lord, for he has delivered the life of the poor from the hand of evildoers. Cursed be the day in which I was born. Let the day not be blessed in which my mother bore me. Let the man be cursed who brought news to my father saying, a male child has been born to you, making him very glad. And let the man be like the cities. I overthrew and did not relent. Let him hear the cry in the morning and the shouting at noon, because he did not kill me from the womb, that my mother might have been my grave and her womb always enlarged with me. Why did I come forth from the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame? We got far yeah, we got far. Yeah, you're right, so we have our three things. We need to do we need to ask ourselves a what is this?
B. What's the? No, it's the best verse to summarize and see what are we called to do so so this is Jeremiah, right? What is this about?
This is Jeremiah wrestling with God and what God has given him to do, right? In the first part, it's that the Lord has given him a job to do. Oh God, you induced me. I saw I was persuaded. Yeah, so it's God is stronger than him, but God is mightier than him And even and God has told him he's got a job to do but guess what everybody does with the job I Am in derision daily everyone mocks me Jeremiah's an idiot. He says they're gonna conquer us.
He's a dummy or Why do you say that against God in the temple and against the Lord you shut up and they beat him? Does that sound like a fun job? No, no No, so he cries out I shot him violence and plunder because the word of the Lord was made to me a reproach and a derision daily And nobody says This is I'm tired of getting beat up and mocked. I'm gonna just keep my mouth shut So I'm not gonna say the word of the Lord.
I'm not gonna do it and you know what happens I It's like a fire in his bones. He can't keep quiet. He has to say the things that God told him to say, even though he knows it's going to cause problems and trouble for him. And so he says it. He says, I was weary of holding it back, and I could not. For I heard many mocking fear on every side.
And then he says, even though all this was going on, he says in verse 11, But the Lord... Yeah, verse 11 here. Oh, you're in the wrong chapter. You turned the page. Verse 11 here. But the Lord is with me as a mighty awesome one. Even when Jeremiah is struggling, does he run away from God? No. What's he do instead? He runs to God. He remembers that God is awesome and strong. Right? And so he says, he knows the persecutors will stumble. He knows the people who are mad at him are going to fall. Are they going to fall right away? No. Yes. Nope, not right away. But eventually, would the King of Babylon come? Yeah. Yeah, eventually would.
But, O Lord of hosts, you who test the righteous and see the mind and heart, let me see your vengeance on them, for I have pleaded my cause before you. He says, God, I prayed against those evil people who don't want to hear your word. I've prayed against them who are trying to do idolatry. And so, please, God, stop them.
But then he has this part here. Sing to the Lord. praise the Lord for he has delivered the life of the poor from the hand of evildoer in 41 1 4 well this is verse 1 3 13 right here right sing when things are going wrong with you when things are going wrong with you is your response I want to sing to God Yeah, it should be our response, right? Sing to God. It's gonna be okay.
But then he also has the sad part of this in 14 through 18 where he says, some days though, I almost wish I was never born. Why? Because his life is so hard. People are so mean. But see, boy, don't go try. What's that? People don't treat us that way? No. Isn't that, we're very grateful for that, aren't we? Yeah. We're really blessed. Not everybody's like that.
There are many people who, they hate God and they hate God's messengers. I talk to pastors around the globe all the time, that they get beaten and thrown in prison. They get ridiculed and smacked. And I hear about Christians who lose their jobs and pastors who are, their families are taken away from them. All because God's Word is like a fire in their bones. Do you think God's Word is a fire in your bones?
Yeah. Yeah, I tried to think maybe I could just do other jobs, maybe I could do other things, but guess what? I always end up preaching. Yeah. Did you know that it took Daddy a long time to become a pastor? No. I don't even remember. How old are you now? Seven.
So I went to school for four years thinking maybe I should be a pastor or maybe not. And then I went to another school for two years trying to figure out should I be a pastor or should I not. And then I went to another school for seminary for three years. So for nine years more than you've been alive I went to school. to study the Bible, and to study history, and to study the languages, and to think, should I really be a pastor?
Is this what I should be doing? So you did it when you were one? No, I was much older than one. Oh. Why did you find Mama? I met Mommy when I was in the Navy. Yeah, actually because God's Word was in my bones, that's why I left the Navy, so I could go study God's Word. All of this is about Jeremiah having a hard job. Jeremiah having a hard job being a prophet of God. But I have in my Bible, verse 11, you see that right there? I have verse 11 double underlined, but the Lord is with me as a mighty awesome one.
So that's what I have. Let's go ahead and talk about see calling. What do we call it to do from this? What do you think? I don't think you should growl like that. What do you think? How does this show you Jesus Christ? Or what are you called to do? Um... What am I called to do? Yeah, what are you called to do?
Praise God? Okay, yeah, you can still sing to God in hard times. Good. You know what I think about? I think about how wonderful it is that Jesus was even chased and persecuted and yet still loved. He cared for us, even though it cost him a great deal of difficulty. And so we can know God will take care of things in the end, even though we may be mocked or ridiculed. If they hated Jesus, might they hate us too? Yeah. Mm-hmm. You ready to pray? All right, let's pray.
God, we thank you so much for sending us your Son, who endured the shame of the cross that we might have everlasting life. Father, we pray that you would please care for us and teach us to walk in your ways. You are a great God, wonderful and awesome. And Lord, we pray that you would please help us to walk Lord, walk in not fear, but in honesty of who you are and even who you've shown us the world to be. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. May God bless you. May you not be ashamed of Jesus Christ, but may you walk in His ways always. And I'll see you next time. Bye. You want to say bye-bye? Oh, bye.