A New Hope (8 of 10)
Series: Journey Through Jeremiah
Jeff Strite
Jeremiah 31:31-35
OPEN: I recently ran across a ''good news'' ''bad news'' joke for preachers:
Good News: You baptized four people down at the river last Sunday
Bad News: You lost 2 others to the river's current
Good News: You finally found a choir director who did things your way.
Bad News: The choir mutinied
Good news: The Women's group voted to send you a get-well card.
Bad news: The vote passed 21-20.
Good news: Church attendance rose dramatically the last three weeks.
Bad news: You were on vacation.
Good News: Mrs. Jones is wild about your sermons
Bad News: Mrs. Jones is also wild about the ''Texas Chain Saw Massacre.''
Good News: The board just accepted 100% the job description just the way you wrote it.
Bad News: They also formed a search committee to find someone to fill the position.
APPLY: Jeremiah has the distinction of being known as the ''weeping prophet'' and with good reason… it seemed (even to Jeremiah) that all he ever talked about was bad news. At one point Jeremiah cried out: Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction...'' (Jeremiah 20:8).
It seemed that every time he opened his mouth he declared judgment and destruction and death.
But here in this part of Jeremiah, all that changes. In this section of his book, Jeremiah is allowed to give a message of hope.
In Jeremiah 30:14 God told Judah: ''I have struck you as an enemy would and punished you as would the cruel, because your guilt is so great and your sins so many.''
But then three verses later He declared: ''I will restore you to health and heal your wounds… because you are called an outcast...''' Jeremiah 30:17
In fact God promised them: ''I will restore the fortunes of Jacob's tents and have compassion on his dwellings; the city will be rebuilt on her ruins, and the palace will stand in its proper place. From them will come songs of thanksgiving and the sound of rejoi ...
Series: Journey Through Jeremiah
Jeff Strite
Jeremiah 31:31-35
OPEN: I recently ran across a ''good news'' ''bad news'' joke for preachers:
Good News: You baptized four people down at the river last Sunday
Bad News: You lost 2 others to the river's current
Good News: You finally found a choir director who did things your way.
Bad News: The choir mutinied
Good news: The Women's group voted to send you a get-well card.
Bad news: The vote passed 21-20.
Good news: Church attendance rose dramatically the last three weeks.
Bad news: You were on vacation.
Good News: Mrs. Jones is wild about your sermons
Bad News: Mrs. Jones is also wild about the ''Texas Chain Saw Massacre.''
Good News: The board just accepted 100% the job description just the way you wrote it.
Bad News: They also formed a search committee to find someone to fill the position.
APPLY: Jeremiah has the distinction of being known as the ''weeping prophet'' and with good reason… it seemed (even to Jeremiah) that all he ever talked about was bad news. At one point Jeremiah cried out: Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction...'' (Jeremiah 20:8).
It seemed that every time he opened his mouth he declared judgment and destruction and death.
But here in this part of Jeremiah, all that changes. In this section of his book, Jeremiah is allowed to give a message of hope.
In Jeremiah 30:14 God told Judah: ''I have struck you as an enemy would and punished you as would the cruel, because your guilt is so great and your sins so many.''
But then three verses later He declared: ''I will restore you to health and heal your wounds… because you are called an outcast...''' Jeremiah 30:17
In fact God promised them: ''I will restore the fortunes of Jacob's tents and have compassion on his dwellings; the city will be rebuilt on her ruins, and the palace will stand in its proper place. From them will come songs of thanksgiving and the sound of rejoi ...
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