The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah,
which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.
At that time, the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem,
and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah.
Verse 6, Jeremiah said,
The word of the Lord came to me. Behold, Hanamo, the son of Shalom, your uncle, will come to you and say,
By my field that is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.
Then Hanamo, my cousin, came to me in the court of the guard in accordance with the word of the Lord and said to me,
Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours.
Buy it for yourself.
Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.
And I bought the field at Anathoth from Hanamo, my cousin, and weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver.
I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on scales.
Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions and the open copy.
And I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch, the son of Neriah, son of Masaiah, in the presence of Hanamo, my cousin,
in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase,
and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in the court of the guard.
I charged Baruch in their presence, saying,
Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,
Take these deeds, both the sealed deed of purchase and this open deed,
and put them in an earthenware vessel, that they may last long for a long time.
For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,
Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.
After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch, the son of Neriah,
I prayed to the Lord, saying,
Ah, Lord God, it is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm.
Nothing is too hard for you.
You show steadfast love to thousands,
but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them.
O great and mighty God, whose name is the Lord of hosts,
great in counsel and mighty in deed,
whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man,
rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds.
You have shown signs and wonders in the land of Egypt,
and to this day in Israel and among all mankind,
and have made a name for yourself as at this day.
You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders,
with a strong hand and outstretched arm,
and with great terror.
And you gave them this land,
which you swore to their fathers to give them,
a land flowing with milk and honey.
And they entered and took possession.
But they did not obey your voice or walk in your law.
They did nothing of all you commanded them to do.
Therefore you have made all this disaster come upon them.
Behold, the siege mounds have come up to the city to take it.
And because of sword and famine and pestilence,
the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it.
What you spoke has come to pass,
and behold, you see it.
Yet you, O Lord God, have said to me,
Buy the field for money and get witnesses,
though the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.
The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.
Behold, I am the Lord,
the God of all flesh,
is anything too hard for me?
Now therefore, thus says the Lord,
the God of Israel,
concerning this city of which you say,
It is given into the land of the king of Babylon
by sword, by famine, and by pestilence.
Behold, I will gather them from all the countries
to which I drove them in my anger
and my wrath and in great indignation.
I will bring them back to this place
and I will make them dwell in safety.
And they shall be my people
and I will be their God.
I will give them one heart
and one way
that they may fear me forever
for their own good
and the good of their children after me,
after them.
I will make with them
an everlasting covenant
that I will not turn away
from doing good to them.
And I will put the fear of me
in their hearts
that they may not turn from me.
I will rejoice in doing them good.
I will plant them in this land
in faithfulness
with all my heart
and all my soul.
For thus says the Lord,
Just as I have brought all this great disaster
upon this people,
so I will bring upon them
all the good that I promised them.
Fields shall be bought in this land
of which you are saying,
It is desolation.
Without man or beast,
it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.
Fields shall be bought for money
and deeds shall be signed
and sealed and witnessed.
In the land of Benjamin,
in the places about Jerusalem,
and in the cities of Judah,
in the cities of the hill country,
in the cities of Shefella,
and in the cities of the Negev.
And I will restore their fortunes,
declares the Lord.
This is the word of God.
Amen.
Great. Thanks, Jeremy.
So, we're going to take a little bit of a break
this morning from what we've been looking at
over the last few weeks
with the Missional Justice series,
so that we can kind of come back together
and do that really well
when we're gathering together.
So, just over these next couple of weeks,
we're going to have a little look
at a couple of passages
to really kind of refocus our minds
and our hearts at this time.
And so, today,
we're going to look at this passage
from Jeremiah 32,
which actually we were just looking at
in our staff retreat
just a few days ago.
And so, I want to give us
a little breakdown
of what is going on in this passage,
how then Jeremiah prays
in the context of what's going on
in the situation,
and then think about a few implications
for us as a church.
So, before we do that,
let me just pray for us
that God would really speak to us
through His Word.
Father, we just thank You
that everything else may collapse
everything else may fail,
but You don't.
Because You are the sovereign Lord.
You're the one who has been in control
from the beginning of history
to the end of history.
You're the one who holds our lives
in Your hands.
You're the one who enters into history
to bring us and rescue us
out of darkness
and bring us into light.
You're the one who knows us.
You're the one who cares for us.
You're the one who wants to bring
Your Word to us even today.
And Lord, we just pray
that You would be with us
as Your church.
We pray that we would be
the people that You've called us
to be at this time.
We pray where there is fear
in our hearts, Lord.
We pray You would be
the Prince of Peace to us.
We pray, Lord,
where there is doubt and anxiety.
We pray that You would come
and reassure and rest our hearts in You.
We pray where we're tempted
to turn in on ourselves, Lord,
that You would lift our eyes up to You
and lift our eyes out
to other people around us, Lord.
Show us what it means
to be a light at this time
because of the great hope
we have in You.
And Father, we just pray
for our city
and for the world
with everything that's going on
at the moment.
There's many people, Lord,
who are going to be struggling,
whether it's with jobs,
with finances,
with health.
Lord, we pray for the medics, Lord.
We pray for Graham,
who's going to be going
into the coronavirus wards.
We pray, Lord,
Your protection over him.
We pray, Lord,
for him and all the believers
who are going into the city
from our church
and the churches around this city
that we would be
just an incredible hope
for this city.
We would bring Your light.
We would bring Your joy.
We would have this confidence
which would cause others to ask
what the hope that we have is.
Lord, please work in this situation,
we pray,
because You want to get glory
even when we have no idea
what You're up to.
So show us Your play.
Show us Your plans.
Speak to us this morning, I pray.
In Jesus' mighty name.
Amen.
So the situation in Jeremiah 32 is this.
It's desperate.
The Babylonian army,
the most powerful,
the most fearsome army
in the entire world,
is besieging the city of Jerusalem.
And they have been there for a while.
And it's only a matter of time
before the defenses come down
and they rampage through
and they destroy everything.
Inside the city,
if you can imagine a siege time,
famine has hit.
There's no food on the shelves any longer.
And when famine hits,
malnutrition starts to rise
and disease starts to spread.
And everyone inside the city
will see the bodies lying on the streets
of people who,
one by one,
are dying in the midst
of this terrible situation.
And in this,
Jeremiah,
who God has used to speak to the people,
telling them again and again
to turn back to God,
who has prophesied
the arrival of the Babylonians
and the destruction of Jerusalem,
he's been put in prison
because he's been speaking God's word.
And he cannot escape at all.
So the situation is dire.
It's terrible.
But then in the midst of this,
God gives Jeremiah
this crazy command.
He says to Jeremiah,
buy a field.
And his cousin then comes to him.
And basically in the Old Testament,
people wanted to keep property
within the family
for the inheritance.
So he was either next in line
or he was one of the people
down the line
who,
this guy,
cousin,
who presumably
is finding it difficult
to make ends meet.
He needs the money.
So he comes to Jeremiah,
buy this field.
But this is the craziest investment ever
because at that moment,
property is worthless
because the Babylonians
are just about to overrun everything
and take everything
from themselves.
And Jeremiah,
at this time,
even though this investment
is worthless,
he cannot even go out
and see these fields
because he's in prison.
So he doesn't know
anything about
what this field is like
and yet the word of God
comes to him
and he's just got to obey
and got to trust God
in what he says.
Because you know,
sometimes God will speak things
which to our own minds
don't seem to make sense
in our human wisdom.
but he wants us
to learn how to trust him
because he's up to something.
And for Jeremiah,
this is the time of famine
and when you're in famine,
you want to keep
all the money you can
because prices inflate
and yet,
he's paying
all this money
for what seems to be
a worthless piece of paper
and yet God says,
buy this field
as a sign
that out of death
life will come.
That this won't last,
that there will be
property investments again.
There will be restoration
in my people.
And so that's kind of
the background
to there where I want to focus
on the prayer of Jeremiah
from verse 16.
And normally
when your back's against a wall,
in this kind of terrible situation,
you see no way out.
We normally kind of pray,
God, get me out of here.
We give him the laundry list
of all the things
that we want him to do for us.
But Jeremiah doesn't start there.
Jeremiah starts
with great theology,
with a perspective
of who God is
in this situation.
So let's just kind of
run through this
and here's what he says.
He says,
Our Lord God,
it is you
who have made the heavens
and the earth
by your great power
and your outstretched arm.
Nothing is too hard
for you.
What he's doing,
he's saying,
God, you are the creator
of the universe.
From the asteroid belt
beyond Pluto
to the gecko
in my prison cell
and all the bacteria
and all the atoms
and molecules
in between,
everything of existence
has come to be there
because of you.
That's power.
That means,
I know that
if you can do that,
then there's nothing
that's too difficult for you.
That's great theology.
That's what every Christian
should believe
because that's who our God is.
God can do anything.
And then he goes on.
He says,
You show steadfast love
to thousands
but repay the guilt of fathers
to their children after them.
So what is he saying?
He's saying,
You're a great lover
and you're a great judge.
God shows hesed.
That's the word
Kevin talked about
the other week.
That means unflinching,
unshakable,
unmovable love.
He is utterly devoted
to his people.
You know,
many people these days
have commitment phobia.
We're always looking
for a better option.
God doesn't look
for a better option.
His love is a relentless
pursuit of his people
and nothing throws him off.
But,
what he's also saying here
is he's a great lover
but he's also a great judge.
His love isn't soft.
He takes sin seriously
which is why the Israelites
are in the situation
they are right now.
It's the judgment of God
is upon them.
And then finally he says,
verse 19,
he says,
Your eyes are open
to all the ways
of the children of man,
rewarding each one
according to his ways
and according to the fruit
of his deeds.
What he's saying is
God sees everyone right now.
So,
he knows what Donald Trump,
Xi Jinping,
Carrie Lam
are thinking,
feeling,
desiring,
and doing
right at this moment.
He also knows
how the beggar
in the slum in Mumbai
is thinking,
feeling,
desiring,
doing right at this moment.
He also knows
what you are thinking,
fearing,
desiring,
feeling
right at this moment.
No one escapes
his eyesight.
And your future reward
and my future reward
rest with him.
Not with your investments,
not with your MPF,
not with your career,
not with your health policy.
Our entire future
rests in him.
That's a biblical view of God.
That's great theology
that Jeremiah starts with
in this situation.
He wants us to start
with perspective.
But then he goes on
and he says,
it's not just theology.
He's also,
this is a God of history
who works in reality.
So he goes through
the story of the Exodus.
And he says,
Israel's great moment
of redemption
shows that God's power
is not just in creation.
God's power is in history.
We've seen his love
and his judgment
and his justice
in delivering us
from slavery.
He's taken us
from the worst circumstances
before.
And it says,
even to this day,
even right up till now,
this is the kind of God
we know he has provided for us.
He has done everything for us
again and again and again.
And as Christians,
we might say,
we'll look back to the death
and resurrection of Jesus
and say,
we have seen God's power
in our lives
through forgiveness,
through his provision,
through his power,
through his love
and through his justice.
And if you are a Christian
and you've been walking with him
and seeking to put your faith in him,
then you will have stories
of seeing how God
has been continually faithful to you.
You've seen his provision.
You've seen his grace.
You've seen his love
in your life.
And so Jeremiah
starts with theology
and then God in history
to show that actually
this God is not just theoretical.
But then he brings it down
to the reality.
The reality of the people
here.
Because there's a problem.
The people of Israel,
why are they in this mess?
Because Jeremiah says,
we've just disobeyed.
We've been like a stubborn,
rebellious,
spoilt teenager.
We did not obey your voice.
We did nothing of all
that you commanded us to do.
Jeremiah's been preaching
for 40 years
the same message,
calling people back to God.
And for 40 years,
they have not listened to a single word
that he said.
I mean,
just imagine
preaching a sermon
for 40 years
and never having anyone
listen to you.
In fact,
it's not just they don't listen to him.
They've thrown him in prison
and have tried to kill him
multiple times.
He's not on Israel's
top 10 preacher list.
And the reality is
because of their hearts,
the shelves are empty.
The equivalent of ISIS
is about to enter
into the city.
The devastation is total.
There's a virus going around.
And Jeremiah says,
God,
I know that you're in this.
I know you've promised judgment.
But then you've told me
to go and buy a field.
That is insane,
God.
Like,
I don't know if you
have ever
done something
that God calls you to do
and then had second thoughts
about it.
You start getting doubts.
But Jeremiah,
he's got all this great theology.
He's got this history
that he knows of God
in his life
and God in
the people of God.
And yet,
right now,
he's facing a situation
where he's going,
is that really real?
Right now,
it's the test for him
whether what he knows
in his head,
what he's known
in his experience
is actually
whether he's going to
bank his life on it
right now
in the reality
in the present circumstances
that he's facing.
You see,
faith in God
often remains in your head
until it's tested,
until it costs you something.
Until you have to rely on it.
I don't know if you ever saw,
a few years ago,
Jean-Claude Van Damme,
the Belgian actor,
did an advert
for Volvo trucks.
I don't know if you ever saw that.
Volvo's claim
was that they had
the most incredible
precision steering
on their trucks.
So to prove it,
what they had were
two trucks
were going to reverse
backwards side by side,
and Van Damme
was going to
have his feet
on the wing mirrors
of either truck
and then the trucks
were going to move apart
until finally
Van Damme was going to
do the splits
in the middle of them
as they moved backwards.
And you see
the kind of
the making of this
and you see
the Volvo mechanic
explaining how amazing
the Volvo system is.
The precision is incredible.
And at one point,
Van Damme goes,
but, you know,
if you move slightly aside,
I'm going to fall, right?
And the guy says,
listen, you've got to trust us
because our drivers
are the best.
And for Van Damme
at that moment,
Faith wasn't going,
oh, okay, yeah,
I believe you,
but I don't think
I'm going to go
on the truck.
Faith was actually saying,
okay, I will basically
bank my life
on you guys
because I can trust
that you are reliable.
That's what faith does.
And, you know,
afterwards,
when he gets off the truck
and he's still in one piece,
his faith in those drivers
would have gone from
just being a theoretical faith
to now he knows.
Now he knows.
And Jeremiah,
he's bought this field,
he's wondering,
am I stupid
for trusting God?
This makes no sense.
And God comes to him
and says,
I am Yahweh,
that God
that you've just been
praying about,
God of all flesh,
the God of the Babylonians,
the God of the Israelites
you've been trying
to preach to.
Your God
is anything
too hard for me.
Like,
is even
this situation,
is your theology
enough for this situation
to know that
me,
God,
right now,
I am that same
God of creation,
that same God
of history.
And God's just
got real with Jeremiah.
And he says,
it's going to get worse
before it gets better.
That's not the news
you always want to hear.
But he says,
no,
the Babylonians,
like I've been promising,
are going to come in.
But I want you to know
that I'm doing
something bigger
than you realize
right through this.
In 70 years,
I'm going to bring
the people back
to the land.
But in 600 years,
through Jesus,
I'm going to bring
in an everlasting covenant.
And I'm going to
change people's hearts.
I'm going to do
miracles
in your life.
This moment
right now
is a little moment
in the whole history
of what I'm up to.
Will you trust me?
So that's kind of
the story
of what's going on.
That's his prayer.
That's how God answers him.
So now,
I just want to bring
this down to us
and think,
how does this really
engage with us
in times of trial
and testing
when we go through?
And I think
there's three things
that I think
this passage
draws out for us.
One,
when we face
challenging trials
and crises,
we see it as
an opportunity
to grow
in faith
and love.
You know,
people,
these days,
they love talking
about the Chinese
word for crisis.
I think it's
ngai gei
and the ngai
from ngai him
meaning danger
and gei from gei wui
meaning opportunity.
So people say,
danger is an opportunity.
But what normally
happens in crisis
is we turn in
on ourselves
and we just get
focused on our own issues.
we try and protect
ourselves.
In Jeremiah's day,
it's no different.
We don't know
why his cousin
came to Jeremiah
to sell his field
but it could be
that other relatives
were not willing
to take their responsibility
because,
man,
it's a worthless investment.
You can understand it.
When times are hard,
you try and batten
down the hatches.
Right now,
in Hong Kong
and globally,
people are afraid.
we feel the crisis.
We feel the economy.
We feel
whether it's the virus,
whether it's the stock market,
whether it's the loss of jobs,
whether it's the frustration
with our kids
of what to do with them
for the next few months,
whether it's the loneliness
of isolation.
We can tend to turn in
on ourselves.
But I wonder whether
you see this moment
as an incredible opportunity
that this is what
scripture calls a test,
an opportunity
for our faith
to get real.
You know,
we've been talking about
being part of God's people
means being part
of his mission.
But how does that go
from being just
a head knowledge
to actually being real
right now
in the present circumstances?
Well,
let's take our love offering.
Some of you
may have planned
to give based on
your current financial position.
You've got it all planned out.
And now,
your plans are ruined.
Your investments have collapsed.
And we're still asking you
to consider giving
a love offering.
And maybe you're going,
yeah, but,
okay,
I would have done that
like a couple of weeks ago,
but it's insane now.
Not at this time.
And God will say,
will you trust me?
Buy the field.
Do you believe
nothing is too hard for me?
Put your money
where your faith is,
where your doctrine is,
where your theology is,
because then you will see
whether I'm truly trustworthy.
Maybe it's not money.
Maybe it's sharing the gospel.
You've been so worried
about everything
that's going on,
you haven't even thought
about the lost people
around you.
We so often just
get wrapped up
with how we're feeling.
But God's word
comes to you today
and says,
buy the field.
And what that means is,
this week,
you're going to have
conversations about the virus.
You're going to have
conversations about the economy,
about investments,
about people's fears.
And instead of just going,
yeah,
it's really crazy
at the moment,
I want us as a church
to actually seize the moment
and say,
God,
give me grace
for this.
But,
to reply
in those moments
when they're going to
come up this week
to go,
hey, listen,
yeah,
I know it's been crazy
at the moment.
But one thing I've realized
through this time
is that my security
has never been
in my investments.
My security
has never been
in just whether
everything's working out
because this is
an insecure world.
but I've discovered
something that's more secure
than any of those things
and that's Jesus.
Can I tell you about him?
I challenge
every one of us
this week,
be praying
because there will be
opportunities
and God's saying to us,
by the field,
trust me,
the people's response
may be,
you're insane.
Your own thoughts may be,
that feels insane.
But will you trust him?
By the field,
let's see what I'll do.
It's the first thing.
See the opportunities.
Second thing,
God plays the long game.
Jeremiah would never
actually get to see
his field.
The Babylonians
retreated briefly.
He tried to go out
to see the field
while there was
a bit of a gap.
But then he got arrested
on the way
because people thought
he was going to go
and defect to the other side
and he gets put back
in prison again.
And then he gets dragged
off to Egypt,
never sees the field.
I find this really challenging
because we tend to think
the world revolves around us.
We tend to think that
if I'm trusting God,
then it should all work out
for me,
in blessings for me
and for my interests.
But what if we trusted God
right now
and it wasn't us
who benefited from it,
but there were others
down the line
who were the recipients
of that blessing?
What if it was
generations down the line
that the fruit
of our faithfulness now
was experienced?
You know,
when we first started
Watermark,
there was this phrase
that we kept using
which was,
one plants the seed,
the next generation
enjoys the shade.
What if we planted
the seed of the gospel
through our words
or in our finances
but somebody else
reaped the harvest?
You know,
faithfulness to God
resounds into eternity.
Babylon
is a pile of dust
in the Iraqi desert
right now.
They couldn't even find it
until a few years ago.
Jerusalem still exists
with a property market
that's thriving.
Many of us,
and even today,
we're still reading Jeremiah
2,600 years later
what if in 2,000 years time
if God allows that?
Hong Kong
is a bunch of mountains.
Beijing
is a pile of dust.
But our faithfulness
to God
is still bearing fruit
because He
is making
something much
greater happen.
God plays
a much bigger game
and He calls us
to be part of it
where we trust Him.
Thirdly
and finally,
so He doesn't just
want us to see
as an opportunity.
He just doesn't want
to see us
that actually
there's a much
broader perspective.
He also is more
concerned about our hearts
than just our fields.
You know,
God makes a promise
to the people
who will be exiled
and defeated
by the Babylonians
and He says this,
I will gather them.
I will bring them back.
I will make them
dwell in safety.
I will give them
one heart
and one way
that they may fear me
forever
for their own good
and the good
of their children.
Now for Jeremiah,
what promise
do you think
is the most miraculous here?
You know,
he's gone out
to buy this field
when it seems like
the whole property market
is going to be devastated.
He knows
it's going to require
a miracle
for that ever
to mean anything again.
For there ever
to be a thriving
property market
which isn't just
controlled by the Babylonians.
He knows
that people
are going to be exiled.
But Jeremiah
also sees
that there is
a greater miracle.
Jeremiah,
as we've said,
he's been preaching
for 40 years
and not one
single sermon
has anybody
listened to.
I don't know,
have you ever
tried to warn someone
not to date a person
because you can see
their bad news
and the person
refuses to listen
and then six months later
they come to you
on the phone
crying because
disaster just happened
and you predicted
it all along.
But then
they go back again
to do it again
and again
well for 40 years
and longer
that's been Israel.
And this disaster
is God's judgment
on rebellious sinners
but notice
what he says.
He says
I will give you
one heart.
I will make
with them
an everlasting covenant.
I will put
the fear of me
in their hearts.
I will rejoice
in doing them good.
I will plant
them in the land.
the greatest miracle
in this passage
is that God
doesn't abandon
rebellious
unbelieving
people
like you
and me.
He doesn't
give up
on his people.
He takes
rebels
and he draws
them to himself.
And notice
who's doing
it all.
This is not
kind of clever
Jeremiah.
It's God
who takes
the hard-hearted
and changes them.
It's God
who takes
divided people
and makes them
one.
It's God
who takes
the disinterested
in his voice
and brings them
to fear him,
to love him,
to obey him.
And he says
he does it
through making
a covenant.
A covenant
in blood.
Through Christ's
sacrificial death
on the cross
God does
what we
couldn't do.
Jesus
pursues
rebels
and he will
do anything.
Even dying
on the cross.
Even taking
them through
the most
painful
circumstances
to awaken
them to
see their
need of
him.
Because
God,
is anything
too hard
for God?
Can he
even change
the hardest
heart and
turn it
back?
We cannot
revive our
own hearts.
We cannot
change anybody
else's hearts.
We cannot
stop ourselves
from fearing.
We cannot
stop anybody
else from
fearing.
But nothing
is too hard
for God.
He can
change
even you
and me
and the
people around
us right
now.
You know,
Jesus said,
unless a grain
of wheat
falls to
the ground
and dies,
it will
not bear
fruit.
Jesus
didn't just
buy a field
he'll never
see.
He poured
out his
life for
people who
keep on
ignoring him.
And yet he
has continually
chased after
us.
And we
today are
the
beneficiaries
of that
love
2,000
years ago.
Again and
again.
He could
have said,
it's insane
to give so
much for
people who
be so
ungrateful,
who be so
centered on
themselves.
But he
didn't.
Because God's
love is so
much more
expansive,
so much
more generous
than mine
is or
yours is.
The reason
we can
worship him
today and
say that
theology is
real in our
lives is
because he
said,
not my
will but
yours be
done to
his father.
He entrusted
his entire
life, not
just a field
to his
father, so
that you
and I
could be
his, so
we could
be secure.
Right now,
the biggest
problem in
your life and
in the people
around you is
not the
coronavirus.
It's not
the economy.
it's not
what to do
with your
kids.
It's our
hearts.
And God
shakes
everything down
sometimes to
expose to us
the reality of
where our
hearts are.
You know,
one of the
best things
that is
happening in
Hong Kong
right now in
the midst of
this tragedy
is God is
shattering our
sense of
security and
our sense of
self-control
and our sense
of being able
to control
the world.
God is
because in
history,
when society
is stripped
of the
crutches that
it leans
on apart
from God,
when the
church
realizes it's
got nothing
left,
absolutely
nothing left
to lean on
other than
God himself,
that's when
revivals
break out.
That's when
you begin to
see the
awesome power
of God
coming.
Because you
see,
the way that
God works
through the
cross,
he takes
you through
death to
bring you
into life.
That's the
way the
gospel always
worked,
the cross
before the
resurrection.
God is
bringing death
in multiple
ways in
our lives,
to our
dreams,
to our
hopes,
to our
idols,
to all
kinds of
things,
because he
wants to
bring us
life.
That's where
he's taking
us.
He wants
to resurrect
us through
this with
his power.
So how do
we respond?
We get on
our knees.
We repent
where we
haven't bought
the field
that he's
been telling
us to
buy.
We haven't
listened to
him where
he's been
calling us
to risk
and step
out in
faith.
And we
ask him
to revive
us.
Give us
that fear
of you so
we can step
out in faith
this week to
say, God,
what's the
field you
want me to
buy?
I don't
just want to
have a
theoretical
knowledge of
you.
I don't
even want
to rely
on my
past history
with you.
I want
an experience
and encounter
with you
today and
I want to
trust you
to know
that you're
powerful and
your love
is unfailing.
This is an
opportunity for
us to grow
deeper into
who God
is and
our faith
to grow
and our
love for
others to
grow.
This is
where we
as a church
need to
arise and
be a light
in the
city.
So let
me pray
for us.
Father,
I'm just
so aware
that I
can say
the right
doctrines
about you.
We all
can.
We can
say the
right
experiences
and testimonies
of you
that we
have known
in our
past.
But
Father,
today is
the day
you want
to take
us deeper
into you.
Forgive us,
Lord,
where we've
been so
clinging to
other things
that we have
failed to see
you in the
midst of all
that's going
on.
Forgive us
where we've
not been
willing to
step out in
faith to
trust you
with what
you're calling
us to,
Lord.
Please open
our eyes
to see you.
Speak
to us for
where you're
calling us
to buy a
field this
week,
Lord,
that may
seem insane
in this
current
circumstances.
But because
we know
that we
know
that we
know
that you
are the
creator,
God,
nothing is
too hard
for you.
Give us
that faith
and that
confidence
to trust
you.
Please work
in our
church,
revive us,
Lord.
Let nothing
else provide
the security
in our
lives
that you
do,
Lord.
I pray
that we
would run
to you
with a
new
desperation
and that
you would
just bring
incredible
life,
incredible
fruit,
incredible
freedom
through this
situation,
we pray.
In Jesus'
name,
Amen.