The call and commission of Jeremiah Jeremiah 1:1-10

 

  In the study that we have been doing on Experiencing God, one of the things that is said is that God calls us to work with him and that calling leads to a crisis of belief which will lead us to make adjustments in our lives.  This is obvious in the life of Jeremiah and in his calling and commission here in Jeremiah 1:1-10.  It clearly indicates that God is the one who initiated the call and that God is the one whose words Jeremiah spoke.  This calling resulted in Jeremiah having to make major adjustments because his calling was not going to be an easy one.

   There is evidence that during Jeremiah's ministry he was never married (16:2), his family opposed him (12:6) people in his hometown threatened to kill him (11:19,21) and that he was flogged (20:2; 37:15).  More than once he was imprisoned (32:2; 37:15-16) and he was lowered into a muddy cistern to be left to die (38:6).  Not only this, but he was ridiculed daily and the people did not listen to his words.  It must have been a very discouraging position and I think this is why God himself tells Jeremiah that he is the one who appointed Jeremiah to this position.

    There is plenty of evidence in this passage to show that Jeremiah didn't think he was qualified to do the work that God had called him to do.  He said that he was only a youth alluding to his age.  Moses said similar things when God called him and complained that he was not eloquent of speech (Exodus 4:10).  Yet, God in this vision reaches out to Jeremiah and touches his mouth, symbolizing that he is putting the words that Jeremiah will say in his mouth.  He tells Jeremiah that he has "consecrated" (verse 5) Jeremiah to be a prophet before Jeremiah was even born.  The word "consecrated" means to set apart.

    While I admire Jeremiah and his staying power (his ministry lasted 40 years), I would not want to have been in his position.  By speaking the words of God to the people he put himself in opposition to many of the people he was speaking to.  Not only that, but when Jerusalem was under siege he had to experience all the hardships that everyone was experiencing including drought and famine, along with persecution.  It was a tough calling for Jeremiah and that just tells me that it will not always be easy to do what God calls you to do.  It doesn't guarantee that people will listen or that you will be popular or always have a positive word.  Jeremiah would ultimately be judged as faithful because he did what God told him even though not many responded to his words in Jeremiah's lifetime.  Yet, we have him as an example to us of what being faithful to God in hard times is all about.

  

13 Things that the Holy Spirit does

The Role of the Holy Spirit-

1.        To convict the world concerning sin  John 16:9  The Spirit convicts people of their need for Jesus.

2.        Conviction concerning righteousness John 16:10. The word convict is the word elencho which means to convict, refute, confute, to find fault with, correct

3.      . Convict concerning judgment John 16:11. 

4.      The Spirit has a regenerate wok John 3:5, Titus 3:5 Jesus said “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

5.        The Spirit indwells the Believer  1 Corinthians 6:19  “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?”

6.       . The Spirit seals the believer  Ephesians 1:13,14.  He is the pledge of our inheritance

7.        Baptize the Believer  1 Corinthians 12:13; Acts 1:5  The Acts reference specifically refers to the day of Pentecost  The word baptize is baptize in the Greek which means to immerse, to submerge, to cleanse by submerging or dipping.

8.       Infill the believer   Ephesians 5:18; John 7:38  The word “fill” in Ephesians 5:18 is pleroo which means to make full, to fill up, to render full

9.       Empower the believer  Acts 1:8  Jesus said, "but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth."

10.    Lead the believer  Galatian 5:16-18  An example would be when Paul was passing through the Galatian region and was forbidden to speak the word in Asia  Acts 16:6,

11.  Administer the spirits gifts of the believer  1 Corinthians 12:1-11 The Spirit distributes the gifts of his Spirit for the “common good” verse 7

12.   Teaches the believer  John 14:26, 16:13-14  The Spirits points to Christ and reminds the believer of what Jesus taught and said John 15:26. He glorifies Christ.

13.    The Spirit intercedes for us in prayer according to the will of God Romans 8:26  “And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words”