SERMON NOTES

Jeremiah 1:13-14 NLT

13 Then the Lord spoke to me again and asked, “What do you see now?” And I replied, “I see a pot of boiling water, spilling from the north.” 14 “Yes,” the Lord said, “for terror from the north will boil out on the people of this land.

“Jeremiah’s task is to help his community to face the loss of the old world of king and temple and to receive a new world defined by Yahweh.”
-Walter Brueggemann

Jeremiah 9:1-2

1 If only my head were a pool of water and my eyes a fountain of tears,I would weep day and night for all my people who have been slaughtered. 2 Oh, that I could go away and forget my people and live in a travelers’ shack in the desert.For they are all adulterers—a pack of treacherous liars.

Jeremiah 9:17-19 NLT

17 This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: “Consider all this, and call for the mourners. Send for the women who mourn at funerals. 18 Quick! Begin your weeping! Let the tears flow from your eyes. 19 Hear the people of Jerusalem crying in despair, ‘We are ruined! We are completely humiliated! We must leave our land, because our homes have been torn down.’”

Lamenting allows us to face the reality of our loss. It enables us to relinquish what is gone as preparation for the new thing God has for us.

Jeremiah 26:4 NLT

4 “Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: If you will not listen to me and obey my word I have given you,

Jeremiah 26:6 NLT

6 then I will destroy this Temple as I destroyed Shiloh, the place where the Tabernacle was located. And I will make Jerusalem an object of cursing in every nation on earth.’”

Jeremiah 26:8-9 NLT

8 But when Jeremiah had finished his message, saying everything the Lord had told him to say, the priests and prophets and all the people at the Temple mobbed him. “Kill him!” they shouted. 9 “What right do you have to prophesy in the Lord’s name that this Temple will be destroyed like Shiloh? What do you mean, saying that Jerusalem will be destroyed and left with no inhabitants?” And all the people threatened him as he stood in front of the Temple.

Jeremiah 31:10 NLT

10 “Listen to this message from the Lord, you nations of the world; proclaim it in distant coastlands: The Lord, who scattered his people, will gather them and watch over themas a shepherd does his flock.

Jeremiah 31:12-13 NLT

12 They will come home and sing songs of joy on the heights of Jerusalem. They will be radiant because of the Lord’s good gifts—the abundant crops of grain, new wine, and olive oil, and the healthy flocks and herds. Their life will be like a watered garden, and all their sorrows will be gone.13 The young women will dance for joy, and the men—old and young—will join in the celebration. I will turn their mourning into joy. I will comfort them and exchange their sorrow for rejoicing.

Learning to grieve well, will enable you to stay at the center of God’s great story.

James 4:9 NLT

9 Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy.

What is God calling you to let go of?
What new thing is He calling you to embrace?