Participants: Pr. Dwight K. Nelson
Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP091110
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00:32 He became sin who knew no sin
00:38 That we might become His righteousness 00:44 He humbled Himself and He carried the cross 00:52 Love so amazing 00:58 Love so amazing 01:04 Jesus, Messiah 01:10 Name above all names 01:16 Blessed Redeemer, Emmanuel 01:28 The Rescue for sinner 01:34 The Ransom from heaven 01:40 Jesus, Messiah 01:46 Lord of all 01:53 All our hope is in You 01:59 All our hope ins is in You 02:05 All the glory to You, God 02:13 The Light for the world 02:19 Jesus, Messiah 02:26 Name above all names 02:32 Blessed Redeemer, Emmanuel 02:45 The Rescue for sinners 02:51 The Ransom from heaven 02:57 Jesus, Messiah 03:04 Lord of all 03:14 Amen. 03:19 You're the promise of our strength 03:22 You're our guide as we seek truth 03:26 You give the courage to make it through the day 03:31 Let's repeat that. 03:35 You're the promise of our strength 03:39 You're our guide as we seek truth 03:42 You give the courage to make it through the day 03:48 You're the comfort. 03:51 You're the comfort in our trials 03:54 The conviction that compels us 03:58 You speak the words when we cannot alone 04:05 So fill our lives with Your presence 04:09 Teach our minds and purify us 04:13 Give the joy that filled the Father's Son 04:18 Holy Sprit, come, meld our hearts as one 04:25 Holy Sprit, come 04:31 Sing that again, you're the promise. 04:35 You're the promise of our strength 04:39 You're our guide as we seek truth 04:42 You give the courage to make it through the day 04:50 You're the comfort in our trials 04:55 That conviction that compels us 04:58 You speak the words when we cannot alone 05:05 So fill our lives with Your presence 05:09 Teach our minds and purify us 05:12 Give the joy that filled the Father's Son 05:17 So fill our lives. 05:19 So fill our lives with Your presence 05:22 Teach our minds and purify us 05:26 Give the joy that filled the Father's Son 05:32 Holy Sprit, come, meld our hearts as one 05:39 Holy Sprit, come, meld our hearts as one 05:44 One more time, Holy Sprit. 05:46 Holy Sprit, come, meld our hearts as one 05:52 Holy Sprit, come 06:10 Alleluia, Alleluia 06:13 Alleluia 06:16 Alleluia, Alleluia 06:20 Alleluia 06:24 Alleluia, Alleluia 06:28 Alleluia 06:32 Alleluia, Alleluia 06:36 Alleluia 06:43 Alle, Alle, Alle, Alle 06:46 Alleluia 06:49 Alle, Alle, Alle, Alle 06:53 Alleluia 06:56 Alleluia, Alleluia 07:00 Alleluia 07:04 Alleluia, Alleluia 07:08 Alleluia 07:11 Alleluia, Alleluia 07:15 Alleluia 07:19 Alleluia, Alleluia 07:23 Alle, Alle, Alle, Alle 07:27 Alleluia 07:30 Alleluia, Alleluia 07:38 Alleluia 07:40 Alleluia, Alle, Alle, 07:44 Alleluia 07:47 Alleluia 07:50 Alleluia 08:00 Late last night I was reading an account 08:02 sent to me by a friend written by Beatrice Neall 08:07 some you know that name she used to, 08:11 she used to be in this community, scholar. 08:14 She's written an historical account 08:17 of the revival that swept through the United States, 08:23 particularly on campuses back in 1970. 08:28 Started in Asbury College down in Kentucky, 08:31 Methodist institution. 08:34 Sprang to Andrews University fascinating story, 08:39 I debated about just taking 08:40 a few moments right here and reading it to you, 08:42 but I'm gonna read it Wednesday night. 08:45 I'm gonna read the entire account Wednesday night. 08:48 I need you to hear what a revival feels like 08:53 when the Holy Spirit ignites a campus and touches a people. 09:00 It's a moving story. 09:02 I'll start with Asbury so that you can see 09:05 God works across the spectrum. 09:11 And then also Wednesday night 09:12 we're gonna have a prayer for healing. 09:14 We did it this last Wednesday night without announcing. 09:18 And when I saw how many people came forward 09:21 healing for yourself or for someone you love 09:23 those were the instructions. 09:24 Healing for yourself or for someone you love 09:26 would you like intercessory prayer? 09:30 I could not-- I was surprised. 09:35 We're gonna do it again this Wednesday night. 09:37 If there's somebody that needs healing in your life 09:39 and you know about that person it may be you nobody will know. 09:43 But you would like God to heal you 09:47 come Wednesday night. 09:48 The story the revival 09:49 and then we'll that very special prayer. 09:52 Let's pray right now. 09:54 Dear God, the candle flickers 09:57 reminder the mighty third person of the God had 09:59 who hovers over this worshiping community. 10:02 And the children of God cry out hallelujah, 10:04 hallelujah, praise to Yahweh, praise to the Lord. 10:11 It is a cry elicited by the moving of the spirit. 10:14 So our hearts are already moved. 10:16 It's a moving a Bible teaching let it be clear dear God, 10:18 we must get this straight in Jesus name, amen. 10:23 So here's a question for you, 10:26 how would you like to have a prophet 10:28 living next door to you? 10:31 You said, well, Dwight, it just depends on 10:33 which prophet you're talking about? 10:35 All right, let me run one by you. 10:36 How about Jeremiah? Say, wait a minute. 10:40 I mean, you're talking about Jeremiah 10:41 is that the one they call the weeping prophet? 10:44 Listen I sleep with my windows open to night 10:46 I couldn't handle and now I'm hearing 10:48 a sobbing of a man next door, no way. 10:51 All right, how about John the Baptist? 10:56 You're talking about the guy that-- 10:57 Yeah no, we can't have somebody running around-- 11:00 running around our neighbourhood 11:01 dressed in camel hair and munchen on locus, 11:04 we've got social decor where we live. 11:07 Forget it. All right how about Jonah? 11:11 See the prophet that ran away? 11:12 Yep, well he'll be fine, because he never be home. 11:14 You got that one. How about Isaiah? 11:18 Hey, wait a minute, wasn't Isaiah 11:19 the prophet that God commanded to walk 11:23 buck naked through Jerusalem to make a theological point? 11:28 We got ordinances around here in this village, 11:31 no streaking in our block. 11:34 All right, how about Deborah? 11:37 Oh you're talking about Deborah the prophetess, right? 11:39 Yep, Deborah the prophetess. 11:41 Hey, you know what she'll be a fine woman have next door 11:43 but I tell you what I'm not really big on women 11:45 to wear the pants in the family so. 11:49 How about Noah? 11:51 You're taking about Noah the Ark, Noah? 11:52 Yeah, Noah, the Ark Noah. 11:57 To be kind with you, hanging around somebody 12:00 who hangs around that many animals 12:02 and keeps preaching the end of the time, 12:04 we don't need an end times zoo around our place not Noah. 12:07 Okay, how about Jesus? 12:09 Oh, now there is a capital "P" Prophet 12:14 I would love to have next door. 12:17 If you can just quit hanging around those riff-raff 12:18 and the porn, those out of town prostitutes and Fishman 12:21 who keep parking on my lawn. 12:24 Ladies and gentlemen, the question already is clear. 12:30 I'd like have an prophet living next door 12:32 nobody wants a prophet next door, you know why? 12:35 Because this strange. 12:37 We got enough crazies around here as it is, 12:40 that's the way Israel felt about prophets. 12:43 Let me put a line on screen, don't look it up, 12:44 I put it from the book Hosea 9:7 on the screen, NIV. 12:48 God speaking, "The days of punishment are coming, 12:51 the days of reckoning are at hand. 12:52 Let Israel know this. 12:54 Because your sins are so many and your hostility so great, 12:57 the prophet is considered a fool, 13:00 and the inspired man a maniac." 13:05 Title of today's teaching "Of Maniacs And Fools 13:09 And Other Such Gifts." 13:12 Because nobody ever dreams of growing up 13:15 to be a prophet someday. 13:18 Open your Bible with me please 13:19 to the writing of a very human prophet. 13:23 Take a look at this, open your Bible please 13:25 to the Book of Jeremiah. 13:27 We're gonna do some brooding you and I over seven stages 13:30 in the lifecycle of a prophet. 13:32 Let's go to the Prophet Jeremiah 13:35 the one you didn't want to live next door to you that Jeremiah. 13:38 Jeremiah Chapter 1 we'll pick it up. 13:40 By the way you did bring a, you didn't bring a Bible 13:42 grab the pew Bible in front of you. 13:43 You need to track this in Jeremiah the seven stages 13:46 it will be page 506 in your Bible. 13:51 Seven stages, stage number one trust me in advance 13:53 you don't want to be one, not a prophet. 13:57 Jeremiah, I'm gonna be here in the New King James Version. 14:00 Jeremiah Chapter 1 will pick it up in verse 4. 14:04 "Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 14:08 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, 14:12 Before you were born I sanctified you, 14:16 I ordained you a prophet to the nations.'" 14:20 Hit the pause button right there. 14:22 You need to know by the way my friend, 14:25 that even though you weren't born to be a prophet 14:27 this line is just as true for you. 14:29 Do you know what God looked down the day 14:31 you've got conceived in your mother's tummy 14:33 and He said, I got a dream for that man. 14:35 I have a dream for that eventual woman. 14:39 So here is the question, 14:41 are you living out your dream right now 14:43 are you living out God's dream? 14:46 The whole goal of life 14:48 is to align your dream with God's destiny. 14:51 When you get those aligned that's called the sweet spot. 14:55 That's the crosshairs. 14:57 I want to tell you this 14:58 you can about go through anything in this life 15:01 if you know you are doing what God raised you up to do. 15:08 We read that again, verse 4, 15:10 "Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying." 15:12 Verse 5 "Before I formed you in the womb 15:16 I knew you, Before you were born 15:18 I sanctified you, I ordained you 15:20 a prophet to the nations." 15:22 There it is ladies and gentlemen, 15:23 stage number one, take out your study guide 15:25 just write it down, let's jot down all seven of these stages. 15:28 Study guide please, 15:30 it's in your worship bulletin pull it out. 15:32 If you didn't get a study guide 15:33 here come our ushers happy to give you one. 15:35 Hold your hand up that goes 15:37 for up in the balcony as well, put your hand up. 15:39 That goes for overflow those of you watching 15:41 in overflow right now glad you are here. 15:43 Hold your hand up, will get a study guide to you. 15:45 Everybody gets a study guide today. 15:46 You're gonna want the seven stages a prophets lifecycle. 15:50 And those of you are joining us right now on television 15:52 we're delighted to have you. 15:54 I hope this teaching today will bless you as well. 15:57 You can get the same study guide. 15:58 In fact, let me put our website on the screen 16:00 and when you go to that website 16:02 there it is you see it on the screen 16:03 www.pmchurch.tv go to that website please. 16:09 You're looking for the series "The Gift." 16:12 This is "The Gift" part 3. 16:13 You didn't hear part 2 and part 1 16:15 they're all there already at the website waiting for you. 16:17 The Podcast, the Videocast you can download it 16:20 watch it your leisure, but the teaching for part 3, 16:23 the teaching is of 16:25 "Of Maniacs And Fools And Other Such Gifts." 16:28 When you see that title it says study guide click 16:30 you have the same study guide as we do. 16:31 Okay, let's go seven stages of the lifecycle of a prophet. 16:35 Stage number one, write it down please. 16:37 God calls a man or a woman 16:40 to deliver a divine message to His people. 16:43 All right, you write a man or a woman 16:46 God calls a man or a woman 16:48 to deliver a divine message to His people. 16:50 Do you remember our teaching from last week? 16:52 Let me put the verse up again, don't look it up. 16:54 Amos 3:7, "Surely the Lord God does nothing, 16:58 Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets." 17:03 Every major chapter in salvation history 17:06 is preceded by God raising up a prophet 17:10 to prepare the people for the impending event. 17:12 Noah, the flood. Moses, the exodus. 17:16 Jeremiah, the exile. 17:19 God does nothing without telling 17:20 the secrets to the prophets 17:21 and then pass it on to the rest of us. 17:24 But what comes as a surprise to some people get this, 17:26 is a discovery that the gift of prophecy 17:29 God's prophetic office is not limited by gender, 17:34 its transgender. 17:37 In fact, women serve 17:40 and the Bible that called prophetess. 17:41 Get you pen moving, let just run a few. 17:43 These are not all of them, but let me run a few 17:45 by some famous women prophetess. 17:47 We put that on screen please. 17:49 Women whom God called, 17:50 here we go number one Deborah, write down. 17:53 No number one is a Miriam, excuse me, 17:55 this is the older sister of Moses. 17:56 We get to Deborah in a moment. 17:57 But Miriam was a prophetess. 17:58 Every text behind the name calls the woman a prophetess. 18:02 All right, number one is Miriam. 18:03 Number two is Deborah. Number three is Huldah. 18:07 She was a prophetess 18:08 during the reign of King Josiah and Judah. 18:10 Number four is Anna. Remember the Christmas story? 18:13 Oh, ladies, what was 80 some year old Anna 18:16 she was a prophetess recognize the Christ child. 18:19 And even in the Book of Acts, the Daughters of Philip. 18:22 Acts 21 says, they had the gifts of prophesy. 18:27 So stage number one what we're looking at? 18:29 We're looking at the life cycle stages of a prophet. 18:30 Number one God calls a man or He calls a woman 18:34 to deliver a divine message to God's people. 18:37 The German scholar Gerhard von Rad 18:42 back in the 20th century got two books in my library 18:45 of his Old Testament Theology in this two volume series 18:48 he describes the implications of a prophets divine calling. 18:52 You got this in your study guide, 18:53 you have to fill it in fact. 18:54 Let's read, this is von Rad writing here, 18:57 "The picture we see 19:00 is of a man appointed to hear the word of God. 19:03 As a result of this divine call 19:05 he surrenders much of his freedom." 19:06 I'm telling you, you don't wanna grow up 19:08 and be a prophet, don't ask for it. 19:10 He surrenders much of his freedom. 19:12 "Occasionally he's completely overwhelmed 19:15 by an external compulsion, 19:17 but paradoxically, just because he has received this call 19:22 he is able to enjoy an entirely new kind of freedom." 19:25 This is something. 19:26 "Drawn into ever more and more close converse with God, 19:30 the prophet is privy to the divine purposes 19:33 and is thereby given the authority 19:35 to enter into a unique kind of converse 19:38 with men and women." 19:39 Look there's no one the divine calling like it. 19:41 Not the calling to preach, not the calling to teach, 19:43 not the calling to lead to be a ruler. 19:45 No this is a unique narrow slice 19:50 of the community of faith. 19:51 Very narrow. 19:53 The reception of the gift of prophecy, 19:55 the divine calling to the office of prophet 19:58 or prophetess drew the called one 20:01 as we just read into an intense converse with God 20:04 enjoyed by no other human beings. 20:08 And by the way that's true. 20:09 Even while the prophet or the prophetess 20:12 is filled with very human foibles, 20:16 failures and works totally utterly human. 20:21 God still draws that human into a relationship 20:25 enjoyed by no other human beings. 20:27 All right, stage number two 20:28 let's go that's stage one, stage number two, 20:30 you have your Bible still open Jeremiah 1:14, 20:34 Jeremiah 1:14 this is stage two. 20:36 "Then the Lord said to me 20:37 'Out of the north calamity shall break forth 20:40 On all the inhabitants of the land.'" 20:42 Verse 15 "'For behold, I am calling 20:44 All the families of the kingdoms 20:45 of the north,' says the Lord; 20:46 'They shall come and each one setup his throne 20:50 At the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem,'" 20:51 that's not good. 20:52 You don't want kings setting up their thrones, that's bad news. 20:56 "'Against all its walls all around, 20:57 And against all the cities of Judah.'" 20:59 Why are you doing this God? 21:00 Verse 16 "For I will utter My judgments Against them 21:04 Judah, against them concerning all their wickedness, 21:07 Because they have forsaken Me, 21:09 They've burned incense to other Gods, 21:11 and they've worshiped the works of their own hands." 21:14 Stage number two, write it down 21:16 it was usually this message interested 21:18 was usually a message of urgency. 21:22 I mean, for Noah, it's the impending flood. 21:25 Wake up, be ready. 21:27 The Moses impending Exodus come on, 21:29 come on God, we got to go, go, go, go. 21:32 Jeremiah, I'm sorry 21:35 the whole place is going down the exile, 21:39 urgent be ready its coming He is coming. 21:42 How do we know the prophets messages? 21:44 Come on Dwight, how do we know that really 21:45 we're generally urgent meaning generally time related, 21:48 how do we know that? 21:49 I tell you why. 21:50 Because you see this book right here 21:52 this is a collection of the messages of the prophets. 21:57 We are right here, don't have to guess, 21:59 don't have to wonder, well, what kind of a message 22:00 do they send, oops, right here. 22:02 This book is written by prophets. 22:09 How did it happen? 22:10 I'll tell you what God didn't send them a letter, no emails. 22:14 You want to know how it happened? 22:16 God is very clear. 22:18 Put this on the screen for you, 22:19 The divine messages were generally delivered by visions, 22:24 jot this down by visions, by dreams or by divine voice. 22:30 Well, take a look that Numbers 12 in a moment 22:32 I want to give you time to get that down. 22:33 What are the ways visions or dreams or by divine voice. 22:39 Watch this Number Chapter 12 let's put it on the screen. 22:42 God speaking, "Then He said, 22:44 'Hear now My words, If there is a prophet among you, 22:48 I, the Lord, will make Myself known to him in a vision. 22:52 I will speak to him in a dream. 22:55 But not so'" here's an other prophet. 22:56 "Not so My servant Moses, He is faithful in all My house. 23:00 I speak with him face to face," there is the voice 23:03 "I speak to him face to face Even plainly, 23:05 and not in dark sayings, 23:06 And he sees the form of the Lord." 23:08 So God says listen "Why where then you afraid 23:11 To speak against my servant Moses?" 23:15 This book is a collection of 40 prophets messages, 23:20 40 of them written over a prey get this, 1,500 years. 23:24 How do we know what the messages where, 23:26 we got it right here, they're here. 23:30 The formula I would love to with you 23:32 just draw the veil aside. 23:33 Just pull this veil aside, take a little peak 23:36 into how the process really worked. 23:39 This is absolutely fascinating. 23:41 Some of you have never read this chapter in your life. 23:43 Stay right here in Jeremiah, 23:44 go to chapter 36 this is an incredible story. 23:47 Open the Bible just go 23:49 a few chapters further to Jeremiah 36. 23:52 Watch what happens here. This is gonna open your eyes. 23:56 Jeremiah 36:1 all right watch this story, 24:04 Jeremiah 36:1 "Now it came to pass 24:08 in the fourth year of Jehoiakim" 24:12 evil king "the son of Josiah, king of Judah, 24:14 that this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying" 24:17 okay here comes now verse 2 24:18 "Take a scroll," take some parchments, 24:21 we need the parchments are rolled up, 24:22 rolled up says why they call them scrolls 24:24 "Take a scroll of a book and write on it all the words 24:29 that I have spoken to you against Israel, against Judah, 24:33 and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you 24:36 from the days of Josiah even to this day." 24:40 You got that Jeremiah, remember we call the messages 24:43 I have been sending through you 24:44 I want you to now write them all down 24:46 from the very beginning until this day. 24:48 So what happens now drop down to verse 4 24:50 "Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah, 24:55 and Baruch wrote on a scroll of a book, 24:58 at the instruction or dictation of Jeremiah, 25:01 all the words of the Lord 25:03 which He had spoken to Jeremiah. 25:05 And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying," hey listen. 25:07 "'I am confined,'" I am under house arrest. 25:10 "'I am confined, I cannot go to the house of Lord.'" 25:11 I can't go to the temple. 25:13 Verse 6 "Therefore you go, and you read from the scroll 25:16 which you have written at my instruction, 25:18 the words of the Lord, in the hearing of the people 25:21 in the Lord's house on the day of fasting. 25:23 And you shall also read them in the hearing of all Judah 25:25 who come from their cities." 25:27 So Jeremiah remains in hiding and Baruch takes that scroll 25:30 because remember it Jeremiah has dictated the words 25:32 that he from the messages he recall from God 25:35 and Baruch has it he goes to the temple, 25:37 he unrolls the scroll 25:38 and he starts reading the pronounce judgments of God. 25:42 Some of the princes of Judah hear him 25:44 and they come to him and say my man give me that scroll, 25:49 this is treasons you will be-- they will kill you. 25:51 Go into hiding quick 25:53 and the loyal princes take the scroll to the evil king 25:58 and he says you need to hear these messages from God. 26:02 So here is what's happening now verse 23. 26:07 So the king now is listening, 26:09 verse 23 "And it happen, when Jehudi" 26:12 that's the reader of the scroll that was appointed, 26:14 "when Jehudi had read three or four columns, 26:17 that the king cut it with the scribe's knife 26:20 and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, 26:22 until all the scrolls was consumed in the fire 26:24 that was on the hearth." 26:25 Read me some more so, that he dutifully reads 26:27 and the king reaches over with his pen knife he would go, 26:30 takes it puts right in the fire, gone. 26:32 All right, read me some more. 26:33 Here is a few more gone, gone. 26:38 Goes to the entire scroll tell us all ashes 26:42 that's what I think about the Word of God 26:44 come with you boys. 26:47 Now what he is he just burn the Bible up. 26:51 What happens now watch this verse 27 26:54 "Now after the king had burned the scroll 26:57 with the words which Baruch had written 26:59 at the instruction of Jeremiah, 27:00 the word of the Lord came back to Jeremiah," 27:04 watch this "saying" verse 28 "Take yet another scroll, 27:09 and write on it all the former words 27:11 that were in the first scroll 27:12 which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned." 27:18 So Jeremiah due to flee, look at verse 32 now 27:20 "Then Jeremiah took another scroll 27:23 and he gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, 27:26 who wrote on it at the instruction of Jeremiah" 27:28 now hold on you see "at the instruction of Jeremiah 27:31 all the words of the book 27:33 which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire." 27:36 Now here comes the clincher. 27:37 "And besides, there were added to them many similar words." 27:43 Isn't that something when Jeremiah has-- 27:46 he has to do it all over again. 27:47 He is got to dictate-- everything he can recall 27:50 from every message God has ever given him 27:51 since the beginning of his ministry. 27:52 He says, I got to start over, Baruch. 27:54 But as he goes he is picking up 27:57 oh, I forgot that let's include that this time. 28:02 The reason we need to see this is because 28:04 we need to be reminded. 28:05 Whatever is going on here this process of inspiration, 28:08 in revelation is a very human process as well. 28:11 Everybody is clear to divine 28:12 but its also human, very human, 28:15 dependant on the jog memory of the profit himself. 28:21 In fact, I got to read this to you. 28:22 This is at the bottom, this is the little note 28:25 in the this new Andrew's study Bible for verse 32 28:28 and he added many similar words, 28:30 the record of Gods' word grows instead of diminishing. 28:34 It grows that scroll gets bigger. 28:37 What's the point? 28:38 God's word can do a very human memory. 28:41 Oh, I forgot all about that he wants good thing 28:43 right this over Baruch, get this one down, 28:46 well the spirit more. 28:48 Look it I know God is able to handle, 28:50 we call Him what He needs to have recalled 28:52 but He is dependant on the human mind 28:54 being able to recall it. 28:58 A very human process this business called inspiration. 29:04 In fact, would you write this down please? 29:07 Divine revelation this is in your study guide now, 29:09 "Divine revelation inspired a prophet's thoughts, 29:12 which he then shaped into words 29:14 that either he or an assistant then transcribed 29:17 into the written word of God." 29:20 Say that's our words, 29:21 divine inspiration inspires the thoughts, keep writing. 29:23 The Bible prophets who wrote were not Gods pen, 29:27 God didn't make the prophecies to a giant big pen. 29:30 All right, now let me just hold you straight. 29:31 Okay go-- good. No, the Bible didn't work that way. 29:37 When God inspired the Book of Genesis 29:39 it didn't go like this. 29:41 All right Moses, let's go. You're ready? 29:43 Ready, in, in, the, the, beginning, beginning, 29:50 I God, God, created, created. 29:54 It didn't work that way. 29:57 God says let me give your picture. 30:01 Now out of that write it down what I've just shown you. 30:06 "The Bible prophets who wrote were not Gods pen, 30:08 they were rather Gods penmen." 30:11 Big difference. 30:12 "Thus" keep it pen moving 30:13 "it is not the words of the Bible that are inspired, 30:16 but rather than writers of the Bible." 30:21 Are you getting this? 30:22 Just nod your head if you're getting this. 30:23 Look this is your critical point. 30:26 There are some people running around the world 30:28 who are holding up the Bible and saying, 30:29 every single word God put it right here. 30:32 My friend, that's not what happened. 30:35 God didn't dictate the words. 30:37 Look how He did it with-- 30:38 look how He did it with Jeremiah you tell your friend, 30:41 here write it down and then you read it. 30:44 God says I'm very dependent on this human process. 30:46 I'm not just gonna over power and take it over. 30:49 No, we're gonna have be in partnership here 30:51 and I need your mind to be very alert. 30:58 Well, then you know what happen is that inspiration works? 31:00 Yeah. 31:01 Okay then does that mean that when I get up 31:05 and I feel impressed by the Spirit of God 31:07 to say something that, that inspiration? 31:11 No, that's not the inspiration that's inspiring. 31:15 But that is not inspiration, 31:16 not that inspiration of the prophet of God. 31:19 It's a different process. 31:21 If the music of choir whoever wrote that piece 31:25 I got the word down that you where singing. 31:29 Whoever wrote that, that beautiful, 31:32 the music and the melody but I was inspired. 31:36 Was it inspired? No, like the prophets. 31:39 How about you Dwight, 31:40 when you get up and preach are you inspired? 31:44 You can just talk to Karen and ask her 31:46 how much of my word around the house is canonical. 31:50 Be very clear. No, I'm not inspired. 31:54 Here's how it works on me, okay, 31:55 since you brought it out, here is how works with me. 31:59 With me God comes along He says, hey boy, 32:03 you need to be concentrating on that passage right there 32:05 that's what I think would be very appropriate 32:07 for the little community that you are part of. 32:10 What He does to me 32:11 as He gets me back to the inspired writings 32:14 and then He helps me pick where 32:16 in the inspired collection do we concentrate on this week. 32:20 So the Holy Spirit, you know, 32:22 there is little fire that flickers in you and me 32:24 the might third person the God had is at work 32:26 but we are not, we are not inspired 32:27 like the prophets of all. 32:28 Oh no, no, no. 32:30 In fact in the Christmas story 32:31 I love this line in the Christmas story 32:33 and the word was made, 32:35 Word was made flesh, that's the truth. 32:39 That's not only the truth about incarnation 32:43 that's a truth about inspiration. 32:46 Totally, totally divine, totally human 32:51 and its blended into a divine human process 32:54 so that Gods "W" Word is composed 32:59 of little "w" word human words. 33:04 That's how it works. Isn't that amazing? 33:07 So this is why this text that we looked at last week 33:09 it makes much more sense. 33:10 By the way from the New International Verse 33:12 this will be II Peter 1:21, fill it in your study guide 33:16 "Men spoke from God as they were carried along" 33:19 I like that the Bible that we read 33:21 out of last week said moved 33:22 but I like this better they are carried along 33:24 why because it's a very much its very much a process. 33:27 How is your memory today Jeremiah, 33:29 because I would like you recall that which I've spoken to you. 33:31 I'm gonna jog your memory 33:33 but you're gonna find out that you won't remember 33:34 everything and you have to come back to it. 33:36 God limits Himself 33:38 to the human's ability to communicate. 33:42 I'm telling you what guys, doesn't this say something 33:45 about the God of the universe 33:46 who is willing to take that kind of a risk. 33:50 And let us mess it up sometimes. 33:56 All right stage one, God calls a man or a woman 34:01 to deliver a divine message to His people. 34:03 Stage two, it's usually a message of urgency. 34:05 And by the way as a great Prophet Elijah reminds us, 34:09 having a divine message doesn't mean you 34:12 end up in the book with writings of your own. 34:15 Was Elijah a great prophet? 34:17 You bet he was taken to heaven without seeing death. 34:20 A great prophet but not a single word 34:22 of his ended up in this book. 34:26 John the Baptist, Jesus said John the Baptist 34:28 was the greatest prophet ever born out of a woman's tummy. 34:33 Did He had did He write one word in this book? 34:35 Not a single word. 34:37 So here is the point in fact, I wish you jot it down please. 34:40 "Just because it didn't get written down 34:43 in the canon of Holy scripture 34:45 doesn't negate the divine authority 34:49 and source of the prophet's message." 34:52 Never forget that line you may recall it one day 34:57 just because I didn't get in that book 35:00 doesn't mean I Elijah did not have divine authority 35:05 and a divine source for the words I spoke. 35:09 Elijah, John the Baptist, Nathan, Noah, Abraham 35:15 and a host of other prophets never make it into the book 35:18 but they have would anybody challenge 35:19 their divine credentials and authority? 35:21 Not a solo speaker word against them. 35:22 Why? 35:23 Because we know it has the ring of authenticity. 35:27 All right, stage number three, jot it down. 35:28 "The prophet responds by either protesting or acquiescing." 35:34 Nobody wants the job. 35:36 When God comes to Jeremiah-- 35:37 go back you kept your finger in Jeremiah 1, 35:39 when God comes to Jeremiah and says, 35:41 hey, I saw you in your mother's stomach. 35:43 I'm ready for you now. 35:44 Then look at verse 6 "Then said I," 35:46 Jeremiah 1:6 "Ah, Lord God! 35:50 Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth." 35:55 Sound familiar? 35:57 Have you ever given that speech to God? 36:00 God, there must be some terrible mistake. 36:01 I'm getting this impression that I should be doing this, 36:03 there God do you understand who I am? 36:06 You can't mean me. I'm not gonna do it. 36:09 I cannot do it. 36:13 Its by the way was precisely, 36:15 Moses reaction that the burning bush. 36:17 Me, send anybody just don't send me. 36:20 Which by the way in around 36:22 about sort of way was Isaiah's reaction. 36:23 When He gets to divine call, whoa, it's me. 36:26 For I'm undone, I'm man of unclean lips 36:28 and I live in the midst of a people of un-cleaned lips, 36:30 you don't mean me for this mission do you? 36:32 No, I mean, you very human foible, 36:35 failing, Isaiah, I mean you. 36:40 So, Jeremiah is no exception. Nobody wants the job. 36:43 Abraham has show the great Rabbi scholar the 20th century, 36:46 we quoted from him last week. 36:47 I want to come back to his two book series the Prophets. 36:50 Put this on the screen you'll need to fill it up, fill it in. 36:54 "Over the life of a prophet" this is good, 36:57 "Over the life of a prophet are invisibly inscribed" 37:03 these words are invisibly inscribed 37:05 "All flattery abandon, ye who enter here." 37:11 You don't want the job, 37:14 you're not going to get flattered in this job trust me, 37:17 they're gonna rip you apart. 37:20 Heschel is right, "All flattery abandon, ye who enter here." 37:23 Keep reading "To be a prophet 37:24 is both a distinction and an affliction. 37:28 The mission the prophet performs is distasteful to him 37:31 and repugnant to others, no reward is promised him 37:34 and no reward could temper its bitterness. 37:36 The prophet bear scorn and reproach" get this 37:39 "He is stigmatized as a madman by his contemporaries, 37:43 and, by some modern scholars, as abnormal." 37:48 I hear it even today. 37:54 Let me tell you a little bit about this 37:56 the psychosis going on here. 37:59 You got really messed up mind that's what's happened. 38:02 Modern scholarship has written the prophets off. 38:08 Haschel is right, don't you succumb 38:11 to that siren song about the gift of prophecy. 38:16 Cause they look like crazies. 38:19 Look what they went through to communicate 38:24 Gods word to the lives of you and me. 38:29 How tough is the job 38:31 and Jeremiah tells how tough this job is. 38:33 Jeremiah Chapter 9 tells you here, 38:35 Jeremi, how tough is this job? 38:38 "Oh that my head were waters, 38:41 And my eyes a fountain of tears, 38:43 That I might weep day and night 38:44 For the slain of the daughter of my people! 38:47 Oh, that I had in the wilderness 38:49 A lodging place for travellers, 38:51 where I could run away to That I might leave my people, 38:54 For they are all adulterers, 38:56 An assembly of treacherous men." 38:59 The weeping prophet sobs through 39:01 this 40 years of ministry. 39:03 Oh, how about a-- how painful was it Jeremiah 39:06 let's go to chapter 10 verse 19. 39:09 "Woe is me for my hurt! My wound is severe. 39:14 But I say, 'Truly this is an infirmity, 39:17 And I must bear it.'" 39:20 Nobody wanted the job. Stage five, write it down. 39:26 The popular response generally is one of rejection. 39:29 Is that an understatement or what? 39:33 The popular response to the message 39:35 interested to the prophet is generally one of rejection. 39:39 Listen to this heartbreaking appeal 39:42 that the Lord Jesus Christ issues 39:45 just before His execution. 39:48 He is bearing His heart now the gloves are off, 39:51 He knows its curtains He's dead. 39:53 Mathew 23 is He's preaching now 39:56 straight to the religious hierarchy 39:57 of His land and His people. 39:59 Look at this Mathew 23 40:01 Jesus reminds them of their history. 40:04 "Therefore you Scribes and Pharisees 40:06 are witnesses against yourselves 40:08 that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets. 40:12 Therefore, indeed, I'm gonna keep sending you prophets, 40:15 I'll send you wise men, I'll send you scribes. 40:17 Some of them you're gonna kill and crucify, 40:19 some of them you scourge in your synagogues 40:22 and persecute from city to city. 40:24 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets 40:29 and stones those who are sent to her! 40:32 How often I wanted to gather your children together, 40:36 as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, 40:39 but you were not" ready "willing!" 40:47 The mortality rate of a prophet is 100%, 40:53 they all died except for Elijah and Enoch. 40:58 But the martyrdom rate for the saint prophets 41:01 is nearly as high as the mortality rate. 41:06 You killed, you killed them the prophet I sent to you. 41:13 Listen, of maniacs and fools and other such gifts 41:16 the next time your feeling rejected 41:19 because of your stand for Christ if your roommates, 41:23 she is making this little snide remarks, 41:28 your officemates, your classmates, 41:34 your family rejecting you 41:35 because of your stand for Christ Jesus. 41:38 The next time you feel rejected, 41:40 remember the words of Christ in the beatitude 41:42 "Rejoice than and be exceedingly glad, 41:45 for so persecuted they the prophets 41:48 who where before you." 41:50 You're in good company, 41:54 when you're rejected for standing alone for Christ. 42:01 Stage number six, write it down. 42:03 Only one more after this. 42:05 Stage number six, the prophet struggles. 42:07 Oh my, the prophet struggles with his mission and message. 42:14 Does that happen or what? 42:15 You want to talk about the great prophet? 42:16 Probably the greatest outside of Christ. 42:21 Many consider Moses, discourage Moses struggling 42:26 with his divine mission. 42:27 What's the matter for you, God? 42:29 And this is a direct quote from Numbers. 42:31 What's the matter for you, God? 42:32 Why have You afflicted me with these people? 42:34 Did I conceive them? Did I bear them? 42:36 Why you've mad me a nurse made to them kill me, kill me now. 42:41 I'm ready to go. Exact quote. 42:47 Here's another one, come here, 42:51 grabs the bars of his cell. 42:53 Come here, you man, 42:58 I want you to go to this Jesus of Nazareth 43:01 and ask Him to question, are you the one to come 43:07 or I'll wait to be looking for someone else. 43:10 Discouraged John the Baptist with his divine mission. 43:14 Discourage Jeremiah with his divine mission. 43:18 This is one of the most pathos filled pieces 43:21 of sacred literature anywhere in the Holy Scripture. 43:23 Now, I want you to read in your own Bible, 43:24 I'm not putting on the screen 43:26 so you have to read it out of your Bible 43:27 to get the impact of it. 43:29 Jeremiah Chapter 20, you'll find anything, 43:33 you won't find a piece of literature 43:35 more pathos written than this. 43:40 Jeremiah 30:7 "O Lord, You induced me," 43:47 by the way Hebrew word for induced here 43:50 is what you do when you seduce a little girl. 43:54 Oh Lord, you're treating me like a little girl, 43:58 you seduce me, you induce me and I was persuaded. 44:03 You are stronger than I and you were prevailed. 44:06 We're having arm wrestling 44:07 of course You when You're stronger. 44:10 I'm in derision daily everyone knocks me. 44:12 Verse 8, "For when I spoke, I cried out, 44:15 and I shout, 'Violence and plunder!'" 44:17 Does it happen? No nothing happens. 44:18 "Because the word of the Lord was made to me 44:20 A reproach and a derision daily." 44:21 Verse 9 and so "Then I said, 44:23 'I will not make mention of Him, 44:25 Nor speak anymore in His name.' 44:27 But His word was in my heart like a burning fire 44:29 Shut up in my bones 44:31 and I was weary of holding it back, And I could not." 44:33 You have tricked me. I can't get out of this thing. 44:37 The moment I quit preaching the end of the world 44:40 Jesus is not coming soon folks, 44:42 I've changed my mind it's not happening. 44:45 The moment I decide I'll never preach sermon 44:47 like that again in my life in that moment God, 44:50 you're ignite a fire burning ambers in my bones 44:53 and then I can't, I can't shut it in. 44:57 You seduce me. 44:59 Here something, verse 10, 45:03 "For I heard many mocking, 'Fear on every side!' 45:06 'Report,' they say 'and we will report it!' 45:09 All my acquaintances watched for my stumbling, 45:11 saying, 'Perhaps he can be induced, 45:13 then we will prevail against him, 45:14 and we will take our revenge on him.'" 45:16 Verse 11, "But the Lord," 45:18 oh, boy, Jeremiah is getting little more strength now. 45:19 "But the Lord is with me as a mighty, awesome One. 45:22 Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and will not prevail. 45:25 They will be greatly ashamed, for they will not prosper. 45:27 Their everlasting confusion will never be forgotten." 45:29 Verse 12, "But, O Lord of hosts, 45:31 You who test the righteous, and see the mind and heart, 45:34 Let me see Your vengeance on them, 45:35 For I have pleaded my cause before You. 45:38 Sing to the Lord!" 45:39 hallelujah, here come the very word hallelujah. 45:41 Praise the Lord! 45:42 For He has delivered the life of the poor 45:44 and the hand of evildoers." 45:46 But Jeremiah almost as if he is manic depressive, 45:51 build his way back up to that soaring height 45:54 and then the very next words 45:56 he plunges into the darkest of human valleys. 45:59 Look at this cursed verse 14, 46:01 "Cursed be the day in which I was born! 46:03 Let the day not be blessed in which my mother bore me! 46:06 Let the man be cursed Who brought news to my father, 46:09 saying, 'A male child has been born to you!' 46:11 Making him very glad. 46:12 And let that man be like the cities 46:15 Which the Lord overthrew, and did not relent, 46:17 Let him hear the cry in the morning 46:18 and the shouting at noon, 46:19 because" verse 17, "He did not kill me from the womb, 46:23 that my mother might have been my grave, 46:25 and her womb always enlarged with me." 46:28 If only I had died as a fetus in my mother's uterus 46:31 and remained inside of her for the rest of her life 46:33 that would have been sufficient for me. 46:38 That's pretty bad. 46:41 Verse 18, "Why did I come forth from the womb 46:45 to see labor and sorrow, 46:47 that my days should be consumed with shame?" 46:54 Wow. 46:57 John Goldingay, Old Testament professor 47:01 of Fuller Theological Seminary, 47:02 I'm reading his powerful little book 47:04 Gods Prophet, Gods Servant. 47:06 Put this on the screen for you. 47:07 Goldingay questions, "Who is this man 47:11 who proclaims that God is judge, 47:14 and that God commits violence and outrage. 47:17 Who declares God's praise, and curses the day he was born, 47:20 who is as hard as a rock outside, 47:22 but torn apart inside?" 47:25 Who is he? 47:26 "The most extraordinary thing 47:28 is that the chapter ends on that note of despair. 47:33 But even more remarkable is the fact 47:35 that Jeremiah's agonizing finds a place in God's book. 47:37 God, in other words, 47:39 accepted Jeremiah's complaints and protests 47:41 and prayers for vengeance on his enemies." 47:45 Final line and boy, this is like gets me 47:47 "God let Jeremiah batter him on the chest, 47:51 and implicitly encourages us to follow Jeremiah's example." 47:55 Had you ever seen a little child 47:57 may be in the supermarket throwing a temper tantrum 47:59 as little children can do and the mother comes up 48:01 because the child has been denied something 48:02 and the mother scoops that child up 48:03 and the child is just howling and sobbing 48:05 and pushes back from mother's chest 48:07 and begins to pound on the mother. 48:11 Furious, you don't understand me, mother. 48:14 You don't know what I've just gone through pounding. 48:18 God, batter my chest, 48:22 batter my chest, Jeremiah. 48:26 Pound on me, 48:28 I'm leaving you a story unedited for the world to see. 48:35 I tell you what ladies and gentlemen, 48:37 it's okay to be furious with God. 48:43 If you let Him hold you while you batter His chest. 48:50 Some of you are going through stuff 48:53 that ought to make you furious. 48:56 It's okay. It's okay. 49:00 The God of Calvary, whose best to you been there. 49:07 Batter Him on the chest, 49:12 you don't understand what I'm going through God, 49:14 you have no clue what my life is like. 49:18 Batter Him it's okay. 49:21 Isn't that amazing 49:23 seven stages in this lifecycle of a prophet and God 49:26 make sure stage number six gets there 49:30 for the likes of you and me? 49:31 Final stage number seven, write it down 49:33 "The prophet's mission and message 49:34 are eventually divinely vindicated," 49:42 are eventually divinely vindicated, 49:44 "though by then the prophet is either martyred 49:47 or had disappeared into obscurity." 49:50 Isn't that's sad? 49:53 The last picture-- look at this guys, 49:54 the last picture we have of Jeremiah, 49:56 Goldingay points this out, 49:58 the last picture we have of Jeremiah in his book 50:01 is of his back, his back. 50:06 Turn from the stage of this narrative and walks away 50:09 conscripted by a band of survivors 50:10 after Jerusalem's heart wrenching, sacking 50:13 Jeremiah is lead by them 50:15 southward into the gathering gloom of Egypt. 50:18 And in Egypt tradition tells us he will be murdered, murdered. 50:24 Forty years as a prophet pastor 50:27 in one perish never took a call anywhere out stayed there 50:31 and in the end that ends in a obscured martyrdom. 50:36 Reading von Rad-- 50:38 Gerhard von Rad to reflect this is good 50:41 "It is still Jeremiah's secret 50:45 how, in the face of growing skepticism 50:48 about his own office, 50:49 he was yet able to give 50:50 an almost superhuman obedience to God, 50:53 and, bearing the immense strains of his calling, 50:56 was yet able to follow a road 50:57 which ultimately led to abandonment." 51:00 Ladies and gentlemen, some of you are on a road 51:02 that will lead to eventual abandonment. 51:04 You're not gonna go up to a mountain top and be-- 51:07 and be transported into eternity. 51:13 You're gonna end in a valley, 51:15 dark abundant, its okay. 51:23 "Never for a moment did it occur to Jeremiah 51:26 that this mediatorial suffering 51:27 might have meaning in the sight of God." 51:30 What you're going through 51:31 I know it doesn't occur to you now my friend, 51:33 but it may be moving the heart of God 51:36 in ways you cannot understand until eternity comes. 51:38 Didn't occur to Jeremiah. 51:42 "Again, if God brought 51:43 the life of the most faithful of his ambassadors 51:46 into so terrible and utterly uncomprehended a night 51:49 and there to all appearances allowed him 51:52 to come to utter grief, this remains God's secret." 51:59 We will never know until heaven 52:03 and that may be true about your life as well. 52:08 The divine secret by the way 52:10 fully unfolded in the life of Jesus himself 52:14 talking about a compliment after you are dead, 52:16 talking about a compliment after you are dead. 52:18 Jesus turns to His disciples He said, hey guys, 52:21 tell me, tell me who are they saying I am. 52:23 And well one puts up his hand 52:24 they say you are Jeremiah, come back to life. 52:29 What a compliment that the God the universe 52:32 would be mistaken for Jeremiah, for you, for me. 52:38 You know what ladies and gentlemen, 52:42 that may have been the life of a prophet 52:48 but if that's true then it surely is reason enough 52:53 wouldn't you say for you and me 52:56 to take seriously the messages 52:58 of every prophet God raises up. 53:05 I remember reading somewhere in the Bible 53:08 a line that goes like this "Believe in the Lord your God, 53:13 and so shall you be established, 53:16 believe His prophets, 53:20 and so shall you prosper." 53:25 Believe. 53:28 Believe. 53:33 Believe. 53:36 Stand with me I want to sing this 53:39 we never have sung this hymn before in our lives 53:41 413 God has spoken by His prophets. 53:44 Sing your heart out three short stanzas 53:46 of this profound, Bible truth we've discovered today. 54:06 God has spoken by His prophets 54:12 Spoken His unchanging Word 54:18 Each from age to age proclaiming 54:24 God, the one, the righteous Lord 54:30 Mid the world's despair and turmoil 54:36 One firm anchor holding fast 54:43 God is King, His throne eternal 54:48 God the first, and God the last 54:56 God yet speaks by His own spirit 55:03 Speaking to the hearts of men 55:09 In the age-long Word expounding 55:15 God's own message now as then 55:22 Through the rise and fall of nations 55:28 One sure faith yet standing fast 55:34 God is King, His Word unchanging 55:40 God the first, and God the last 55:52 And so Holy Father, 55:53 we pray that through the grace of Christ, 55:57 the courage of the Sprit 56:00 we too might believe the prophets 56:06 that we too might spiritually prosper. 56:14 And now may the God of all grace 56:22 and the Christ of divine love 56:29 and the Holy Spirit 56:32 of continual fellowship be with you and me. 56:38 Amen. 56:42 It's been a pleasure to be able to worship with you today. 56:44 I hope that the Spirit of Jesus 56:46 has blessed your time with us right here 56:48 in the Pioneer Memorial Church 56:49 on the campus of Andrews University. 56:51 Do you know that around the world 56:52 people join us every week for this hour of worship? 56:55 We're always looking as a consequence 56:57 for new ways to bridge some how to connect with this people 57:00 who come here to worship via the telecast. 57:03 One of the areas 57:04 that is quickly growing for us is our website. 57:06 We had more than 140,000 visitors last year. 57:10 It's an incredible opportunity 57:12 that God has given us to expand His kingdom. 57:15 If you'd like to help partner with us 57:17 as we seek to spread the everlasting gospel 57:20 I would love to have you call our toll free number. 57:22 We've got very friendly operator standing by 57:25 here is the number 877-His-Will. 57:28 877 and then the two words His-Will, 57:30 one of the operators will be happy to give you the details 57:33 of how you can partner with this global ministry. 57:36 If you prefer listen, you could do it all online 57:39 go to our website please www.pmchurch.tv. 57:43 I'd be honoured to have the privilege 57:44 of partnering with you 57:46 as we seek to spread the truth about God for this generation. 57:49 We are living in urgent times, 57:52 now more than ever we've got to go to the world 57:55 with the good news entrusted to us. 57:57 So once again here is that toll free number 877-His-Will. 58:01 Thank you in advance for your generosity 58:04 that blesses me and you grow this ministry. 58:07 I pray that the Spirit of Christ will abide with you 58:10 every step of the way 58:11 and I hope you'll come back again next time right here 58:14 as we continue our worship journey together. |
Revised 2014-12-17