Daniel 9:18
•O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. (ESV)
Where do we begin?
•Christianity pivots on the following verse:
•“because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9 ESV)
•No qualifiers, no “ifs”, no stipulations- just two basic things-
•“because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9 ESV)
•No qualifiers, no “ifs”, no stipulations- just two basic things-
•Confess with your mouth
•Believe in your heart
•Can’t have one without the other, though. Some might confess out loud with their mouths but there is no way to ever truly know if someone believes in their heart.
•“For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (Romans 10:10 ESV)
•“For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (Romans 10:10 ESV)
Jeremiah 1:4-8
•4 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
•5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
•6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.”
•7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord.”
•5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
•6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.”
•7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord.”
•Jeremiah’s case is not an exception to the rule, it’s actually the status quo. Before you were born your life is known by the Lord and he has plans for you.
•Just like Jeremiah we also are not supposed to let impediments like youth (education, wealth, health etc.) be an excuse to not follow the divine plan for our lives.
•Jeremiah tried to say that he did not know how to speak because he was a youth but even at this point (21 years old) the Lord knew that Jeremiah would go to serve and minister for life- another 53 years.
•Look at verse 8 again and think of it as the Lord saying it to you: “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord”.
•Just like Jeremiah we also are not supposed to let impediments like youth (education, wealth, health etc.) be an excuse to not follow the divine plan for our lives.
•Jeremiah tried to say that he did not know how to speak because he was a youth but even at this point (21 years old) the Lord knew that Jeremiah would go to serve and minister for life- another 53 years.
•Look at verse 8 again and think of it as the Lord saying it to you: “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord”.
•Psalm 139:1-16
•Some highlights are- not that it was ever in doubt but the Lord knows what your message to people is going to be because he put it there. “Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.”
•There is no where in all of creation that you can go to get away from him. “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?”
•Heaven, Hell (Sheol), the bottom of the sea, or the darkness of night are not out of his reach.
•Heaven, Hell (Sheol), the bottom of the sea, or the darkness of night are not out of his reach.
•He knows your entire story from start to finish. “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb…in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”
•Exodus 4:1-17
•Staff into snake and then back into a staff, a cloak turning a hand leprous and then curing it, turning the water from the Nile into blood- these all seem like powerful demonstrations to persuade even the toughest of critics; but you haven’t met Moses yet.
•“But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.”
•If the Lord can do the above things wouldn’t it make sense that he can help you speak? Not obvious to Moses, but then again how many of us are resistant like this?
•Bottom line of the story is when you have the Lord on your side nothing can get in your way.
•“But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.”
•If the Lord can do the above things wouldn’t it make sense that he can help you speak? Not obvious to Moses, but then again how many of us are resistant like this?
•Bottom line of the story is when you have the Lord on your side nothing can get in your way.
Finale
•We are all called from birth into the Lord’s plan where things like youth can’t be used as an excuse.
•There is no where in the universe you can go to get away from the Lord’s presence, Heaven, Hell, bottom of the sea, or dark of night are all human limitations.
•Your story is written and known long before you live, before you were knitted in the womb.
•Finally- “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9 ESV)