Good Morning!
When God calls you to say something or to do something that is not totally popular with people...not even believers...should you say it or do it anyway?
Jeremiah was called by God. He was in the line of Abraham to be a prophet of God to the Israelite people. In Deuteronomy 18:18 God told Abraham:
"I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers.
I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them EVERYTHING I command."
Compare that verse to Jeremiah 1:7-9:
"Then the Lord said to me:
'Do not say: I am only a youth, for you will go to everyone I send you to and speak whatever I tell you.
Do not be afraid of anyone, for I will be with you to deliver you.
This is the Lord's declaration.
Then the Lord reached out his hand, touched my mouth, and told me:
Look, I have filled your mouth with My words.'"
What if someone comes along and tells you that you are full of hot air? What if someone disputes you and tells people you are a liar and that you are NOT to be believed? Should you then stop being God's instrument for service?
I remember standing in an indoor arena at the conclusion of sharing the Gospel in a city in Ukraine. While I was giving an invitation for people to receive Jesus as their Savior a man came up behind me and began talking. He was speaking in Russian therefore I did not understand what he was saying. Suddenly, three men from behind me grabbed the man and carried him off the platform. They saw what I did not see. The man had taken a knife out of his pocket and was holding it to my back. As the men carried the man away he was yelling in Russian, "Don't listen to him. He's not Russian. He's another Hitler!"
He was claiming that everything I was saying was a lie and people should not trust my words.
Jeremiah came face-to-face with another prophet named Hananiah. Hananiah was prophesying Peace in the name of the Lord. He was telling this in front of the people of Jerusalem. He was calling Jeremiah a liar and told the people that his words could not be trusted.
Jeremiah knew the truth. He told the people that if Peace comes then we will know that Hananiah was a true prophet.
Later, Jeremiah gets a word from the Lord that Hananiah would die within one year...and he did!
I don't wish disaster on the enemies of God, but, I question the lack of loyalty that believers show toward God. Unbelievers are searching for answers for their lives while many believers are more focused on world issues rather than spiritual issues.
At one time in this nation, the evangelistic approach to sharing Jesus was a priority. Churches were having evangelistic services and special meetings to draw the unbelieving crowd to a personal relationship with Jesus. Evangelists were being used as God had given them and thousands of people were being brought into the family of God each year.
What happened? Where did pastors and believers and denominational leaders lose their evangelistic spine bone?
The result is obvious. Churches are dying. I spoke with a director of local missions a while back and asked him how things were going in his ministry. He told me that during the recent few weeks he had overseen the closing of five churches and the opening of one church. This is the result of our change.
Why don't we work at having evangelistic meetings today? I hear people say, "Oh, our people won't come to them." That's nonsense. Jesus is still Jesus. The Holy Spirit is still here. God is still God. They haven't changed. Therefore, the change must have come from someone else!
What are we to do with evangelism? Are we ready to stop pronouncing the Gospel? Have there been enough "Hananiah's" offering the message that all is good is we just organize our meetings and make sure the finances are good and continue to sweep under the rug that Jesus is "The Way, The Truth, and The Life and no one gets to heaven without Him?"
Regardless of what people may say...DO GOD'S WORK! SHARE GOD'S MESSAGE! BE A JEREMIAH AND DON'T STOP DOING WHAT GOD HAS GIVEN YOU TO DO!
Remember, the liberal ways of the church and the world will one day die, like Hananiah. But, we must stay true to our calling by God.
May God Bless You!
Don Betts
DBEA/campus320
DBEAWINNING.COM
TO GOD BE ALL GLORY!