Say Yes to God

[0:00] Jeremiah. Chapter 1. Jeremiah chapter 1.

[0:13] Excuses, excuses.! Weezy, wee, wishy-washy excuses.! That's what I'm going to talk about tonight. Now some people are good at making excuses.

[0:24] Now as a preacher often you get to hear all the excuses, don't you? You get to hear all the reasons why people cannot do the will of God. They cannot serve. They cannot follow. They cannot commit.

[0:36] Jeremiah was such a man. Go with me to Jeremiah chapter 1. Jeremiah chapter 1. Now all of us have a calling. All of us have an assignment. You have one.

[0:47] A God-given assignment. There is an assignment from God to you. But we can be like Jeremiah. Jeremiah. Who made excuses.

[0:59] Why he felt that he could not do God's will. We pick it up in Jeremiah chapter 1 from verse 4. Jeremiah says, Then the word of the Lord came unto me.

[1:10] Saying, The word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah. Chapter 1 verse 4. Then the word of the Lord came unto me. Notice here the call of God.

[1:21] Verse 4 says it is from the word of the Lord. The word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah. When God calls you, it's his word. His word quickens you. It directs you.

[1:32] It is quickened unto you. I can think back when I was about 17. And I had a New Testament. A light to this one. And what actually been this one?

[1:45] I was about 17. And I think I was in England at the time. And I was seeking God. What do you want me to do, Lord? What do you want from me?

[1:55] What do you want from my life? And I opened the scriptures. And the word that came to me, the scripture that was quickened to me, was 1 Peter 5 verse 2. Feed the flock of God, which is among you, taking the oversight thereof.

[2:09] Not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy luke, but of a ready mind. Feed the flock of God, which is among you. And I took that to say to me, that God was saying to me that I had a work to do to feed the flock of God.

[2:30] That one day I would have that ministry. And God's helped me to come to that place. That was just 17 from recollection when I felt the Lord quicken that word to me.

[2:41] And from Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. Jeremiah 1 verse 4, the word of the Lord came unto me. It was a turning point for me, and for Jeremiah, it was a turning point here.

[2:53] God tells Jeremiah, I have an assignment for you. I've got a job for you to do. Verse 5, it goes on, Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. And before I came forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

[3:10] I set you apart, he's saying, I appointed you. God formed Jeremiah in the womb. And brother, sister here today, God formed you. He knew you before you were even born.

[3:22] God formed you, and he knew you then, even before you were born. Even before you were conceived, he knew you would be. And so, we see there's a real joy that comes to us as we recollect, wow, God knows me intimately, through and through.

[3:40] He knows me even before I came to be. Likewise, we hear of John the Baptist. He was filled with the Holy Ghost in his mother's womb. You know, think, there might be little babies in wombs, and God is filling them with himself.

[3:56] There's a sense where God can touch the pre-born. He can touch the unborn. Of course, they need to be saved when they are born. They need to be born again. But there's that sense where God works it out in some amazing way.

[4:12] that he can see us before we are born, and what he can make us to be. Amazing to think that, isn't it? That long before Jeremiah was born, God had chosen him, and consecrated him to the ministry.

[4:28] God says that in verse 6, that he set him apart. And in verse 6, Jeremiah says, What does Jeremiah say?

[4:43] Ah, Lord God, I cannot. God gives you something to do, and what's the first thing you say? I say, we can be like this.

[4:54] We begin to make excuses. I cannot. I can't. It's human nature to say no. Sometimes it's our default response when there's a work to be done when there's a ministry to fulfil, when there's a service to render.

[5:08] We say, I can't. We say, no. I cannot. God may assign you a task that's demanding, a call, that he will keep you, he will keep you going to do.

[5:22] But we can be like Jeremiah. Jeremiah had forgotten that God is not limited by human weakness. Now, can we get a hold of that? We limit God by our own human weakness.

[5:35] God himself is everything Jeremiah needs to answer his call. Isn't that right? If God calls you, he will enable you. If God puts something on your heart to do, then do it.

[5:48] Don't hold back. Don't make excuses. If God calls you to do something, he will enable you to fulfil it. Even when we don't want to. When we don't want to go.

[5:59] When our human nature says, no, I don't want to, I'm not ready, or whatever. And we'll come to some excuses in a minute. So I'm going to give you a list of excuses and then I'm going to demolish them because they don't stand up before God.

[6:13] What does the word say? What does God say? God says, I can. I can. Philippians 4.13, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

[6:26] I can do all things. Can we believe God? Now, I'm not getting political here. I'm not supporting the former President Obama, but his slogan was good.

[6:40] Yes, we can. I like that. Don't you? Yes, we can. I think that's a good slogan to have as a Christian, as a church. And it's a bit like, you know, you've got these octas, what is their slogan?

[6:54] Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I think that's a good thing, isn't it? I'm not sounding very spiritual here tonight using these worldly slogans, but yes, we can. And yes, the default response to our Lord should be yes.

[7:10] Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yet some people do a Jeremiah. Easy to do a Jeremiah. Some people's default response is, I cannot.

[7:24] I can't. You ask them to serve and they say, no. And they begin to make excuses. Now, thank God that we don't have, I don't think we've got anybody in this church that this would relate to because I've found that some of you are really well trained and the minute I ask you to do something, they say, yes, sir.

[7:42] Yes, pastor. You know, yes, I can. But of course we know the human nature is, I cannot. Just like Jeremiah, excuses, excuses.

[7:53] Weedy, weak, miserable excuses. I cannot. What are some excuses we can say? I can't. I'm not smart enough. I'm not old enough. I'm not young enough.

[8:04] I'm not fit enough. I'm not strong enough. I'm not spiritual enough. I'm not holy enough. We can use excuses like that, can't we? Like Jeremiah, we can say, I cannot.

[8:18] But what does God say? In faith, you can confess God's truth and say out loud, I can. I can. Stop making excuses and do the will of God.

[8:31] Do the will of God. That's my encouragement here for you tonight. Not to condemn or to give you a downer here but to give you a lifter up. A lifter up.

[8:42] Amen. And the Lord chides Jeremiah here. God's word overrides our fears. Verse 7. Jeremiah 1 verse 7. But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child, for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee, thou shalt speak.

[9:03] Now friends here tonight, God is in the business of qualifying the unqualified. Isn't he? None of us can of our own selves really deliver.

[9:15] But God can. God can. And he does through human vessels. Willing human vessels. Verse 8. He goes on to Jeremiah. Be not afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.

[9:28] Now as a preacher, I look out on you, on these lovely faces here tonight, and I'm not afraid of your faces. You've all got quite nice faces, in fact. But in Jeremiah's day, there were some people, they had faces that were, were angry faces, or faces that were frowning faces, or, or, and we know that, in some preaching in the New Testament, they were gnashing on, on the preacher with their teeth.

[9:56] So I've never had a congregation do that to me just yet, but there's that sense where they're, he's saying to the preacher, don't be afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver them.

[10:07] Now Jeremiah was chosen. He says, I formed you, I knew you, I sanctified you, I ordained you, I shall send thee, I command thee, and I am with thee.

[10:18] It's very personal, isn't it? I formed you, knew you, sanctified you, ordained you, I shall send you, command you, I am with you.

[10:30] This was the call of God. Number one, the call of God. Jeremiah was called. Secondly, notice here, the enabling of God. The enabling of God. Verse nine, that the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth.

[10:43] And the Lord said unto me, behold, I put my words in thy mouth. The Lord reaches out his hand and he puts words in our mouth. Without him doing this, we can, we can be utterly powerless without his word.

[10:59] We cannot accomplish his mission unless his hand touches our mouth. And the good news is that even though we humanly feel like we cannot, God can. And really, there's a sense where being honest like Jeremiah is rightful that we realise we cannot of ourselves.

[11:21] Because as our Lord says in John 15, verse five, he says, you are the branches, I am the vine. He says, he that abides in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me you can do nothing.

[11:35] Without him, we can do nothing. But with him, we can do his will. It's a good thing not to have a false sense of our own ability to put our faith in ourselves, right?

[11:52] Not to think of ourselves too highly. The word tells us oft times that God is able. God is able. Think of these scriptures, 2 Corinthians 9, 8, and God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye have all sufficiency that all things may abound unto every good work.

[12:12] God is able to make all grace abound towards you. Daniel 3, the occasion of the Hebrew children about to be cast into the fiery furnace.

[12:23] Our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us. Hebrews 7, 25, wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

[12:41] He is able to save and save to the uttermost. And then it says in Jude 1, 24, now unto him that he is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.

[12:59] He is able to keep you from falling. And speaking of prayer, Ephesians 3, verse 20, now unto him that is able to do exceeding, abundantly, above, all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us.

[13:15] He is able to do exceeding, abundantly, above. God is able, able to make grace abound, able to deliver, able to save, able to keep you from falling, able to do exceeding, abundantly, above, all that we ask or think.

[13:32] The bottom line is he is able. God is able. God is able. And because he is able, I am able. You are able. God never calls us to do something for him that he doesn't empower us to do.

[13:47] We continue in Jeremiah 1, verse 10. See, I have this day set before thee, sorry, I'll say that again. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out and to pull down and to destroy and to throw down and to build and to plant.

[14:06] Jeremiah was given a mission here, a commission, to deliver a message that wasn't going to be easy. It was one of judgment. We know Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet and it's saying here in Jeremiah 1, verse 10, what had Jeremiah to do?

[14:22] To root out, to pull down, to destroy, to throw down. It doesn't sound like it was going to be easy, does it? You know, I can tell you in my garden I've got lots of things to pull out and to tear down and to, the weeds just blossom, don't they?

[14:42] Even when it's hot they do. And it's like the people of God, the preachers of God have to pluck down and break down some things, some isms and schisms and worldly values and traditions and the general backsliding that prevails.

[15:06] There's some things we've got to pull down but then the good news is there's some things to build, some things to plan and Jeremiah's message was a blessing, a message of blessing as well, of salvation because once the old is plucked up and broken down and destroyed and overthrown and you can be planted and nourished and nurtured and grow, be built up.

[15:29] Excuses. Let's get back to excuses. We can find all sorts of excuses why not to follow God. All sorts of excuses not to obey his voice.

[15:41] God says stop making excuses. If you take one thing from tonight, three words, stop making excuses. Our ability depends on his enabling.

[15:52] Verse 7, what does God say to Jeremiah? Jeremiah's just said, I cannot, I cannot speak, I'm a child. The Lord says unto me, say not. Say not.

[16:04] He says, shh, shh, say not. He doesn't want to listen to the excuses of Jeremiah. He says, you shall go, I shall send you, what I command you, you shall speak.

[16:19] Let's be honest, when you have a work to do for God, what sort of excuses are you using? Look, I'm preaching to myself too. I've been in this camp. Ben Franklin said, here that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.

[16:34] We can get good at making excuses. Jeremiah had many excuses that he could muster. And we can try these same lame excuses for not heeding God's voice.

[16:47] One excuse we can try is this, it's too hard. It's too hard. Perhaps the task seems too demanding. What did Jeremiah do? He was going to stand up in front of his nation and he was going to do something that was very hard.

[17:00] He had to bring a message that nobody wanted to hear. And he could have said, it's too hard. We can say, when God puts something on a heart to do, look, it's too hard, it's too inconvenient, it's too costly, it's too demanding, it's too heavy, it's too big a sacrifice.

[17:21] It's going to cost me. It's going to cost me time, money, friends, my leisure time. It's just going to be too hard. And they will blame other things as well why they can't serve God.

[17:33] It's too hard even to fellowship, even to get to a meeting. But it's too hard, they blame the weather, they blame the family, their children, their health, their work, their having to make a living.

[17:44] Sure enough, Jeremiah was faced with this, and was a tough one, as Jeremiah, as the prophets were sent to deliver God's message. It was going to be hard, no doubt about it. He had a message of repentance, a message of challenge, of rebuke.

[17:58] And those who would hear the prophet, they would largely reject it. You know, the faces that were facing Jeremiah were not happy faces, they weren't smiley faces.

[18:10] Jeremiah was going to a backslidden Judah and Israel, and they did not heed God's warning. They didn't want to hear it, blah, blah, blah. That was the message. And they were holding up, when he went to preach, zero.

[18:23] They didn't want to hear this preacher. They didn't want to hear this message. They didn't want to hear from God. But God had an assignment, and Jeremiah was the one to deliver it. And he was going to be rejected and despised.

[18:36] God may assign you something that's hard. Just because it's hard, doesn't mean that God isn't going to help you get it through. Just because it's hard, doesn't mean you quit. You throw in the towel, and you have a pity party, and do a Jeremiah.

[18:53] As it were, you hopefully be the Jeremiah that he ended up being, a good Jeremiah. But when God gives you a demanding task, his call will keep you going. And the work that he may give you might be hard.

[19:05] You know, preacher, church folk, all the saints of God, there's things that are hard as a Christian. He says, take up your cross daily. There's some things that are going to be hard.

[19:18] And we can feel like we just want to quit. But we have the promise of God's sustaining power. We have the promise of God's purpose. We have the promise of the one who says, I have chosen you.

[19:29] I saw you in the womb. I formed you there. I've chosen you. I set you apart before you were even born. God knows you, and he knows the work that he has just for you to fulfil.

[19:41] So each one of us can know a real sense of purpose as we hang on to God's purpose. He'll enable you to let go of your own plans and fears and to go forward in faith.

[19:53] Another excuse we can try is, I'm not able. Perhaps we can feel like we're not able. Jeremiah protested, oh no, Lord.

[20:05] Lord, I don't know how to speak. I'm only a youth. Effectively, it says a child, effectively he was like a youth. He was only a young man.

[20:17] He says, I'm too young. I can't speak. He was saying like Moses did, the same lame excuse Moses used in Exodus 4, verse 10. He's saying, I can't speak.

[20:28] Now all of us can speak, let's face it. I don't think there's anyone present who cannot speak. God can use your voice box. He can use your voice. God will help you to overcome your weaknesses and your insufficiencies.

[20:44] Where does it start? When we realise our sufficiency is of God. That's when we realise our own inadequacy, but we realise it is overwhelming all-sufficiency. Our sufficiency is of God.

[20:56] Our sufficiency is for God, for God's service. It comes only from Him. His all-sufficiency, it's one of His characteristics. God is all-sufficient. Verse 17, the Lord says to Jeremiah, be not dismayed.

[21:12] It's going to be hard. If you might feel like you're not able, He says, be not dismayed. He says, just soldier on. Carry on. Bear witness faithfully.

[21:23] Be faithful. When we know our own inadequacy, let it not put you off. Let it make you stronger. Let it make you more determined. To learn to rely upon God.

[21:35] To trust Him enough to see you through. To trust Him that He'll take you beyond your own strength. That His strength is made perfect in weakness. And His glory is manifested in frail human vessels such as we, such as everyone in this book.

[21:50] They're just humans. They're just human beings. Humankind just like you and me. Men and women, frail and weak and inadequate and lacking and faulty just like you and me.

[22:02] If God can use them, He can use you. If God can use Jeremiah, He can use you. And those He equips are those that He calls. He always equips those that He calls.

[22:15] So we see Jeremiah 1 verse 9, the Lord reached out His hand, the Lord put forth His hand and He touched my mouth. The Lord says, Behold, I put my words in thy mouth.

[22:28] Jeremiah was given God's words. And these were not easy words, but they were God's words. That's what mattered. And friends, you might have times where you have to say the truth and the truth hurts.

[22:42] But if it's God's truth, you can say the truth in love. Look at the message that He has to deliver. He ridicules the nation's worship. He tells them they're deceiving themselves.

[22:52] This is chapter 2. He calls them backsliding adulterers. He calls them fools and children who lack understanding. chapter 4 verse 20. We see there's this theme throughout the book of the desolation of the city of Jerusalem.

[23:08] What matters is that we have His words in our mouth. We receive His touch. And friends here today, God uses not the most gifted and talented, but the ones touched by His hand.

[23:22] Just let Him touch you. Let Him touch you. Let Him touch your life. God can use the most unlikely, the most inadequate, to do wonders for His sake.

[23:39] Never underestimate the power of God, His touch on your life. Here's another excuse you might try. You might say, okay, I've still got some excuses, preacher. You might cry out like this, I'm not ready.

[23:51] I'm not ready. It's just, you know, I've got things to do. It's just not the right timing. Perhaps we can think that the time is not right. The time is not right for me to really get serious about following God and doing what He's put on my heart to do.

[24:08] Jeremiah said to God, I'm only a youth. People reckon that this term, as we have child here in the King James, it's speaking of a youth, it's speaking of a young person, it's speaking, someone reckoned that Jeremiah at this time was perhaps some 20 years old, 20 to 25.

[24:27] So he felt like he was too young. He felt inferior, he felt inexperienced. you know, younger brother, younger sister here tonight, we are never too young to be used of God.

[24:39] Don't ever use that excuse. Look at Samuel, young man, young woman, God is able to work in your life. Don't hold back, don't hold back saying, I'm not old enough, I've not got enough grey hairs or losing in the hairs.

[24:54] You know, don't think you've got to wait until you're old and grey to serve God. Serving now, serving now. Now, the man from Gadara, he got saved and Jesus sent him home to preach within hours, Luke chapter 8.

[25:09] There's a sense where you're saved, you're called. You're saved, served. the man of Gadara had no time to study or know the depths of theology, but he was sent home and told to preach, told to go and tell.

[25:28] And maybe he felt, as Jeremiah felt, that others were more qualified than he was. We can think that, can't we? We might think of ourselves, just humble little old me.

[25:41] There's other people amongst us here who have got much more knowledge and they're much more qualified. Let somebody else do it. But the trouble is, everybody thinks like that, don't they?

[25:52] Let somebody else do it. And it ends up nobody does it. So here's another good excuse, really. We might think that we're not qualified enough.

[26:03] He chooses us just as we are. Everybody starts at the foot of the cross. We're all equally needful of his grace. Sometimes we might feel like we need more time to get ready.

[26:18] And look, it's good to get training. I was talking to a brother here tonight, there's a good Bible school, information on the wall there, the Victorian Bible College, you can do studies online.

[26:30] It's good to get ready, it's good to get prepared, it's good to train. But don't let getting ready stop you from doing the work now. Don't let, that's a cop out.

[26:42] And some people look, let's be honest here tonight, and I don't mean to demean those that say this when they say I've got to pray about it. It's a kind of Christian cop out, isn't it?

[26:55] A preacher says something and they say, oh, I've just got to pray about it. Give me a few months to pray about it. Don't do that. It's a cop out. It's a cop out.

[27:07] Get ready, yes, but get serving now. Now, don't make excuses. Don't put other things first. Some have got other priorities, other commitments, such that they never get around to it.

[27:22] And they make some excuse, they will do it later. Later. Some vague, future, unconfirmed date, later.

[27:33] other tasks trumped. Other tasks trumped. Those who are at home, at my house.

[27:55] Other priorities, crowd in and take his place. other tasks trump serving God. And we can feel like, yes, we can feel like we need to get more trained.

[28:09] I need more training. I'm very poorly trained. We need to get more trained. We need to be more experienced. We need to get further. We know enough, but don't let that inadequacy stop you from serving now, today.

[28:23] Jeremiah was feeling inadequate, intimidated. The task before him was huge. But the Lord promises I will be with them. Now, someone once said that when God calls us to a task, he doesn't give us a road map to follow and then leave us to our own resources.

[28:41] He's with us. That's the good thing, isn't it? He's our mentor. He's our master. We're following in his steps. We're following close to him. We're walking with him. He's walking with us.

[28:52] And his presence gives us the strength we need. Here's another excuse we can try and use. I'm scared. I'm scared. This is a bit scary. This is scary stuff. We can feel a sense of danger.

[29:04] Well, you're asking me to step out into the unknown, to trust God, to go and do this. I might lose friends. This might cost me my joy.

[29:18] I might get looked at as a Bible basher. Jeremiah could have thought this. that he could be misunderstood as he was. He was persecuted.

[29:29] He was arrested. He was in prison. More than once his life was threatened. People don't want to hear the truth. And Jeremiah knew what he was facing. He was a bit, you can imagine, it was scary.

[29:41] It was a bit threatening for him. But we have the promise of God that God will provide. Friends, young people, older people, brothers, sisters here tonight, got the promise of God, I am with you.

[29:53] I am with you. And the person who stands with God will prevail. One with God is the majority. Now we look at the early message today, Gideon, 300 against 135,000.

[30:05] With God you are in the majority. Alone we are helpless, but with God we will prevail. Another excuse, again, people try, is not now.

[30:16] Not now. Do I have to go now? When it falls down to it, really it comes down to today. The word today, isn't it? God says a lot about today.

[30:28] He doesn't talk about tomorrow. He doesn't say tomorrow. He says today. Today, if you'll hear his voice, rather than not your heart. Today, do I have to go now?

[30:45] We can feel like we're not ready. We feel like it's not the right time. We want to put it off. We'll do it later, later, some distant later. But God wanted immediate action from Jeremiah.

[30:57] He says, now, get ready. This is Jeremiah 1 verse 17. You see, in Jeremiah's day, the men had to tie their loose ropes together. They had these flowing ropes, and they would tie them together with a belt, so they could run, so they could work.

[31:13] And Jeremiah was told here, he says, gird up your loins and arise. here he was, Jeremiah, on this threshold of entering into this daunting task, this struggle, this fight, this test, this trepidation that he would have felt to go and speak to the backsliding nation.

[31:40] God says, arise. He says, gird up your loins, be not dismayed at their faces. In other words, he's saying, get dressed for action, get ready for action, dress yourself for work.

[31:55] We might say, roll up your sleeves. Jeremiah was called to act. We see with Jeremiah the call of God. We see secondly, the enabling of God.

[32:07] And thirdly, we see the presence of God. Verse 19, and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee. Why? For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver them.

[32:21] We've seen God call Jeremiah, he's enabled Jeremiah, he says, my presence will be with you, Jeremiah. Here he is about to deliver an offensive message.

[32:32] This wasn't tickling ears and winning some popularity contest and dazzling them with his charm.

[32:43] He was delivering an offensive message and he would not be welcomed, he would not be accepted, he would anger his hearers, they would have angry faces, but God says, go.

[32:55] simply go. I am with them. Now friends, here tonight we have his call. He's called every one of you.

[33:05] He's formed you and he knew you while he was forming you. He knew you before you were born. And he's called you. You've got an assignment, a divine assignment, an appointment, a commission.

[33:21] And we have his call and touches us, with his enabling, with his power. You have an assignment, a mission from God. Nothing is more important than that. He will equip you to fulfil it.

[33:33] And you have the presence of God. He doesn't lead you to your own ends. If he did, we can't do nothing without him. We'll get nowhere. But we must act.

[33:47] And we could leave here tonight and think, yeah, it's okay, I've heard about excuses and I've heard about challenges and I heard about Jeremiah. Yeah, Jeremiah, he ended up doing the right thing.

[34:00] What about me? What about you? We must act. God expects obedience immediately. Let your default response be, yes.

[34:15] Amen. Let your response be, yes, I can. Yes, we can. Yes, get that optus slogan, yes, yes, Lord. Let that be your heart's cry, yes, Lord, yes, Lord.

[34:30] I'll say, yes, Lord. We have the promise of his power. And immediate obedience is the appropriate response. When God calls, has God called you?

[34:41] Yes, he has. Yes, he has. You have an assignment from God and he will fulfill his mission in you by his spirit. He will enable you to, he will equip you, he will protect you and he will accompany you.

[34:58] Paul says, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

[35:08] Isn't that a glorious thought? he that has begun a good work in you shall perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

[35:21] If you're saved here tonight, God will perform that good work in your soul. He will enable you, he will equip and empower you, he will fulfill his will in you, even despite your lack, even though you might say I cannot, you'll say you can.

[35:39] I shall. enable you. Are you sharing the word? You know friends, we may not all be Jeremiah's, we may not be called to prince per se, but we're all called to have the word of God and to be deliverers of that message.

[35:55] We're all called to be his messengers. He says go ye, that meant a whole lot into all the world. He says for every believer, go ye, go ye, there wasn't anyone excluded.

[36:06] He didn't say go some of ye, he says go ye, and we're in the ye, all right? Ye plural means you and me. And he says go ye. We've all called to that.

[36:18] We're all called to be messengers. And no matter how the people respond, and we know when you go telling people, sharing the good, glad, blessed, most wonderful, precious, beautiful news the whole world can ever hear, the most precious and essential, vital, heart changing, life transforming truth that you can ever impart to a human soul.

[36:41] They'll say we don't want it. But don't let it stop you doing that. Don't let it stop you. It's all the more reason why you must. And do it now.

[36:52] Do it now. Serve God now. Just be faithful and be his messenger. Friends, we've seen Jeremiah. Jeremiah. He said, the word of the Lord came to him.

[37:09] God says, I've formed you, I've made you, I've designed, I've ordained you, I've sanctified you, I've set you apart from your very womb of your mother.

[37:21] Jeremiah says, oh Lord God, I cannot, I cannot, I cannot speak. I'm a child, I'm too young. And God says, say not, say not, don't say not.

[37:38] I shall send thee, I shall, I shall enable thee, be not afraid of their faces, I am with them, to deliver them. And he put his hand on his mouth and he touched and he says, behold I put my words on thy mouth.

[37:53] Let's pray. Lord we bless you. Lord we see in Jeremiah so much I know for myself, I see so much of myself in Jeremiah. Lord and I know humanly I would say no, I cannot and yet Lord you say you shall, you shall do the work and you shall perform the work in me and each one here that knows you, you shall perform the good work that you've begun and until the day of Jesus Christ.

[38:21] We pray for every believer here tonight that each one might be urged to press forward, to see the reality that the time that we have is now, not tomorrow.

[38:34] Lord help us to see today is the day we have and as your word tells us if there's any present, I've yet to trust you that today is the day of salvation. Now, now is the accepted time, Lord that we can put our trust in you and know you're saving in the here and now for the hereafter, for eternal life to be our portion, receive a gift, receive now and forever receive, forever held in store for us, that reservation.

[39:04] Lord, we pray, does any get to trust you? I say, Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for my sin, I trust you now, I receive your gift, I receive your dying on the cross for my sin, I receive your salvation gift, I receive that eternal life that you promise to those who are trusting you and Lord help us each one to be messengers, faithful messengers, help us Lord to see you've called us, you've called us, every one of us here, you've called everyone here, you've given us a calling, commission, an assignment and it's your doing Lord, it's your enabling that helps us to get it done.

[39:42] Help us Lord not to use excuses, but when you call us, when you challenge us, we'll say yes Lord, yes Lord, help us not to say no, help us not to say I cannot, but help us to say I can, I can, yes we can, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

[40:01] Praise you Lord, we thank you, the word enables us to make that statement of faith, to confess that word of God and to realise it in our hearts and lives, in Jesus precious name, Amen.

[40:15] Amen, praise God, we challenge, be encouraged, be stirred up, Amen, be transformed, be blessed. Let's go to our final song, 106, tell us of a new name written down in glory, 106.