All Ministry is Empowered by the Holy Spirit

Scripture: Ezekiel 2:2

As He spoke to me the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet; and I heard Him speaking to me.

Insights: The second point this week is all ministry is empowered by the Holy Spirit.  Notice that Ezekiel was not able to stand up when he Lord commanded him until the Spirit of God entered him and set him on his feet.  Whenever God speaks with us it is overwhelming.  Think about it for just a moment—the Creator of the universe comes to you, a mere human, and shares His heart with you.  That thought alone overwhelms me.  I am grateful for the Lord’s love, patience and understanding as He deal with me and my slow ways.  In regards to the Spirit’s empowerment think about the disciples for a moment.  These guys were fleeing for their very lives at Jesus’ arrest, but forty days after Jesus’ resurrection the Holy Spirit came to permanently dwell within them.  These men are no longer the same after this encounter.  They are bold, powerful, and unafraid.  They speak before kings and rulers and do not denounce Christ Jesus.  These are the same men, but the Holy Spirit in them changed them forever.  This same Spirit changes us as well if we will let Him.  My prayer is you will humble yourself before the Lord and let Him work in and through you by His Spirit’s promptings.  May your surrender bring Him glory.

Questions:

1.  Are you presently feeling the power of the Holy Spirit enabling you to do the work the Lord has commissioned you to do?

2.  In what ways are you able to testify to the Holy Spirit’s empowerment in your life?

Prayer: Father, thank You for filling me with Your Spirit.  It is only through you that I am able to accomplish anything in this world.  Help me to never strive to complete a task in my own power and strength.  Mold me into Your image and encourage me through Your convicting presence to always be dependent upon You.  Amen.

All Ministry is Initiated by God

Scripture: Ezekiel 2:1

Then He said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet that I may speak with you!”

Insights: This week we are going to look at five truths about all ministries.  We are going to use Ezekiel’s call to ministry as our template for our understanding  of these truths.  The first truth we find about all ministries is that the Lord initiates the work.  Notice in today’s verse that it is God who starts the conversation with Ezekiel.  In other words, Ezekiel did not wake up one morning and say to himself, “Self, today is the day you are going to be a prophet for the Lord.  Now get up and get dressed and start saying, ‘Thus says the Lord!’”  God initiated the call.  This truth is in regards to everything the Lord God does.  Even at the level of salvation.  What does Jesus say about those who come to Him?  He says none come to Him unless the Father first draws them (John 6:44).  Beloved, I would challenge you to humble yourself and slow down.  Slow down from the hectic pass of our world and listen for the Lord to speak to you.  When He does, follow Ezekiel’s example and stand up and speak with the Lord.  Tomorrow we will look at the second truth found in all ministries from this passage.

Questions:

1.  What ministry is the Lord initiating in your life?

2.  Have you come to realize the Lord’s initiation is always outside of your comfort zone?

Prayer: Father, thank You for allowing me to partner with You in ministry.  You always are at work and You initiate every activity that brings Your name glory.  May I be sensitive to Your promptings and join You in the work You have for me to do.  Amen.

We Feel Jubilated

Scripture: Jeremiah 20:13

Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord!
For He has delivered the soul of the needy one
From the hand of evildoers.

Insights: There is one last emotional state I wish to share with you from Jeremiah’s experiences this week.  Jeremiah also felt jubilant as he worshipped the Lord.  Notice the extremes of Jeremiah’s emotions this week.  He started off feeling abandoned because he felt that the Lord had lied to him. He then concludes with praise and adoration to this very same God because he understands God is his only hope and help.  Beloved, we also need to get to this point in our walk with the Lord.  We ought to always be ready to praise the Lord.  Our hearts ought to be anxious to sing praise to the Lord.  It is vital for us to recognize that our souls have been delivered from death and hell only through Jesus Christ.  This reality alone ought to bring about a feeling of jubilation and exaltation to our Savior and Lord.  I encourage you to hold nothing back this coming Sunday in your corporate worship experience.  Worship the Lord with all you have and bring Him praise.

Questions:

1.  Has the Lord’s involvement in your emotional well being brought you to the point of jubilant praise?

2.  Is your praise a contagious and inspiring display of worship?

Prayer: Father, You are the only One worthy of praise.  You alone transform my life to that of jubilant exaltation of You and Your greatness.  May you receive my praise and may it honor You.  Amen.

We Feel Encouraged

Scripture: Jeremiah 20:11-12

But the Lord is with me like a dread champion;
Therefore my persecutors will stumble and not prevail.
They will be utterly ashamed, because they have failed,
With an everlasting disgrace that will not be forgotten.
Yet, O Lord of hosts, You who test the righteous,
Who see the mind and the heart;
Let me see Your vengeance on them;
For to You I have set forth my cause.

Insights: Jeremiah, as we have seen throughout the week, has gone through a lot of emotions.  In today’s verses we see the Lord sweeping in as a dread champion who supports, defends and encourages Jeremiah’s heart.  Notice the last line of verse twelve informs us that Jeremiah’s total defense is found in the Lord.  He takes his case to the Lord because he knows the Lord is his champion.  We have the same dread champion that Jeremiah had if we have received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  He has amazing and unbelievable ways of encouraging our hearts.  He knows exactly what we need when we need it.  Beloved, one of our biggest challenges is believing what God has said to us.  Let me encourage you to hold fast the Lord’s promises in your life.  He will never leave you nor forsake you.  He will always be there to hear your cries and petitions.  Run to Him and let Him truly be your dread champion.

Questions:

1.  In what ways has the Lord encouraged your heart recently?

2.  How might you be able to encourage others?

Prayer: Father, thank You for encouraging me.  Your words are truly a comfort to me.  Lord, allow the changes You produce in me to be an encouragement to others for Your glory.  Amen.

We Feel Attacked

Scripture: Jeremiah 20:10

For I have heard the whispering of many,
“Terror on every side!
Denounce him; yes, let us denounce him!”
All my trusted friends,
Watching for my fall, say:
“Perhaps he will be deceived, so that we may prevail against him
And take our revenge on him.”

Insights: If you truly have received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then you will walk in obedience to Him.  If you are walking in obedience to Him, then this world is not going to understand you.  Because the world does not understand you, it will attack you.  The degree of the assault may vary, but the attack will occur.  Jeremiah lost all of his trusted friends because of his loyalty and faith to God.  We in America are very blessed to have as many freedoms as we do have, but those days are quickly diminishing and I wonder how prepared the church is for such attacks from a pagan world.  The key to such assaults is to run to Jesus.  This movement toward Jesus does not mean the attacks will stop.  This movement toward Jesus does not mean He will rescue you from this earthly torment.  Rather, what it does mean is He will never leave you nor forsake you.  He will walk this journey with you and provide you with the strength and determination to remain faithful to your Lord and Savior.

Questions:

1.  What attacks from the enemy have you recently experienced?

2.  Did you run to Jesus to be the defender of your faith during these assaults?

Prayer: Father, thank You for allowing me to run to You when I am attacked and wronged.  Grant me the ability to forgive those who have hurt me and help me to show and reflect Your love and mercy to them.  Amen.

We Feel Convicted

Scripture: Jeremiah 20:9

But if I say, “I will not remember Him
Or speak anymore in His name,”
Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
And I am weary of holding it in,
And I cannot endure it.

Insights: The first word is a powerful three letter word, “BUT!”  In other words, Jeremiah had felt as if God had abandoned him and the commission he had been given was too hard.  When you come to today’s verse, however, you see Jeremiah say, “But.”  God began to convict his heart and he came to the realization that if he did not speak and obey the Lord’s commands that it would kill him from the inside out.  Beloved, we all experience conviction in our lives if we are a child of the King.  Let me caution you, however, if you are being told by the Lord to do something, then you had better do it.  if you do not, you will experience the same kind of conviction that Jeremiah felt and it he thought he would die.  Now please do not misconstrue my words.  God is not some capricious god in heaven who sits there and waits for opportunities to cause pain and suffering on his children for their every act of disobedience.  God’s convicting presence is always restorative in nature.  He desires to have the best possible relationship with Jeremiah and He knows the best ways for this to occur is through obedience.  The Lord, therefore, places such an intense burden on him that he could not help but speak for Him.  May the Lord receive glory, praise and honor as a result of our obedience to His commission and conviction in our lives.

Questions:

1.  Are you presently feeling the Lord’s conviction in your life?

2.  How are you going to respond to His presence and love?

Prayer: Father, thank You for convicting my heart.  Thank You that You never abandon me and for always drawing on my heart to return to You.  Your compassion and love are overwhelming.  May I never take for granted Your grace. Amen.

We Feel Abandoned

Scripture: Jeremiah 20:7-8

O Lord, You have deceived me and I was deceived;
You have overcome me and prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all day long;
Everyone mocks me.
For each time I speak, I cry aloud;
I proclaim violence and destruction,
Because for me the word of the Lord has resulted
In reproach and derision all day long.

Insights: I incorrectly titled yesterday’s sermon The Emotional Cycle of God’s Pilgrims.  It ought to have been titled Some of the Emotions of God’s Pilgrims.  The reason is because the emotions we are going to look at this week are not dependent upon the preceding emotion.  Nor are all of the emotions that are mentioned this week the complete list of emotions we might experience.  These are just a handful of them.  In today’s verses we find out that Jeremiah felt abandoned by God.  He actually felt as if God had lied to him regarding his ministry and purpose.  The reason he felt this way was because the work was harder than he had anticipated.  Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet because he wept for the people and also because he wept for himself and all of his difficult experiences.  No one wants to be made fun of or ridiculed and that is exactly what Jeremiah was experiencing.  In these moments of deep depression he felt as if God had left him alone in the midst of his pain.  We today may not be experiencing exactly what Jeremiah did, but many of us have experienced a time in which the Lord was silent and it felt as if He had abandoned us.  Satan uses our emotions against us a lot.  The truth of the Scripture is that God has never left us or abandoned us.  He is always with His own and He is their defender and fortress.  Beloved, even Jesus, in His humanity, felt as if God had abandoned Him when He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me.”  We know, however, from the very Psalm Jesus was quoting that the Lord had not abandoned Him because we are told in that very same Psalm, “I will tell of Your name to my brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.  You who fear the Lord, praise Him; All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,
And stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel.  For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden His face from him; But when he cried to Him for help, He heard (22:22-24).”  The point being, Beloved, is God does not abandoned His children, no matter what we feel.

Questions:

1.  Have you ever experienced a time in which you felt abandoned by the Lord?

2.  Have you come to realize that the Lord has not abandoned you; rather, it only feels that way?

Prayer: Father, thank You for never leaving me or forsaking me.  You are always with me no matter what I feel.  Help me to not allow my emotions to dictate my actions and decisions.  Amen.