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This podcast is a production of Watermark Community Church in Dallas, Texas, USA. Watermark exists to be and make more fully devoted followers of Christ, looking to God's Word as our only authority, conscience and guide.
Good morning, Watermark family. How are we doing? Nice. We are awake. My name is Jermaine Harrison, if we have not met. What's up, you guys? I'm the students director here at Watermark. I've been on staff for the last 10 years, and I'm so excited to get to learn from the life and ministry of the prophet Jeremiah this morning, for a couple of reasons.
First, I think there's so much we can apply and learn from Jeremiah's experience to our lives today. A more superficial reason is most of the times when people forget my name they call me Jeremiah. When they're walking up to me, I can see it in their eyes. It's the, _What's his name again? What's his name again?_ "Hey, Jeremiah." That's what comes out. So, hopefully, by the end of this message speaking _on_ Jeremiah, you'll remember that I'm Jermaine and Jeremiah is completely different. I'm just kidding. That's not the case at all.
I want to share with you a little bit more about myself and remind you about my family. I have a picture up here of my wife Hannah, our son Winslow, and our daughter Darcy. They are such a joy to be with. Just under two weeks ago, we added another one to the family. We added another baby girl. Her name is Florence, and she has been doing awesome. It has been such a joy and a gift to have her.
This summer, which is marked by that celebration, is a little interesting compared to last summer. Last summer, my wife and I experienced a miscarriage. I will stand up here and confidently say that in the sorrow and grief of last summer and the joy and celebration of _this_ summer, we have seen and experienced the goodness and grace of God in so many ways through God's people here at this church. I would imagine that in a room this size there are some people who are probably going through that very grief even in this moment.
So, before we jump into Jeremiah, I want to invite you to pray. First, just pray for yourself that whatever pain or difficulty you might be experiencing, God would meet you there. Then, ask the Lord to soften your heart and prepare your spirit to receive what he would have for you from his Word. Then, would you pray for those around you that they would be open and receptive to enjoy God, to see God, and to know him? Then, would you pray for me that the Lord would speak through me through his Word today?
God, we love you, and we are so grateful for the opportunity to worship you together this morning. Would you speak to us as we spend time in your Word? In Jesus' name, amen.
We'll start our study of the life and ministry of Jeremiah by asking a question. I want you to participate with me. If you always knew how someone would respond to you, how would it change what you said or did? If you always knew how someone would respond in an interaction, how would it change what you say or do? Let me give you a few examples.
If you always knew that no matter how hard you tried to convince your wife to break down the Amazon box before throwing it into the garage, she would still not listen to you, how would you change what you said or did? (I have no experience with that at all.) If you knew your roommate would start giving you the cold shoulder because you asked them to pull their weight in the chores around the house, how would that change what you said or did?
If you're a parent and you knew your kid would throw a tantrum the moment you asked them to clean up the Legos, how would that change what you said or did? The parents in the room are like, "I already know that's what's going to happen." If you always knew that in that conversation with a coworker, a family member, or a friend they would come to trust Christ, how would that change what you said or what you did?
You see, that hypothetical exercise we just did was Jeremiah the prophet's reality. He always knew how people were going to respond to him. Jeremiah was a prophet sent to the nation of Judah during the final 40 years of the kingdom existing. His message was to invite God's people to repent of their sins and turn back to God, and no one would listen to him.
If this is your first Sunday or your first time in a while, we've been going through a series called _Year of the Word_ where we've been reading the Bible in a year. Just to recap where we are, God has promised that a Serpent crusher, Jesus, would come to save his people from their sins, and this Serpent crusher would come through the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel was God's chosen people through which all nations of the earth would be blessed.
God established this nation. He grew this nation. He rescued them from slavery in Egypt. He established them in the Promised Land, and he set their laws and gave them all of the ways that they could enjoy God and be unique, set apart, and holy to be a sign to all of the nations around them that all of the false gods, all of the idols, everything they were chasing, were no gods at all, but he was the one true God. That was supposed to be the purpose of the nation of Israel.
As time went along, as you can see on this timeline, they began to go their own way. They began to run toward sin, run toward rebellion, and reject God. So, God, in his kindness and mercy, repeatedly sent his servants, the prophets. These prophets would come to the nation, and they would beg them and compel them to turn back to God, to repent of their sins, and to walk in the ways of God, and the people wouldn't listen.
Jeremiah is one of those prophets God sends to the nation of Judah. About a century before Jeremiah ministers, the northern kingdom of Israel is conquered by the nation of Assyria. So, that's the context in which Jeremiah is called by God. As we said before, he knew exactly how they were going to respond 100 percent of the time. In fact, we see it said in Jeremiah 7:27. God, speaking to him, says, **"So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you."**
Why don't you put yourself in Jeremiah's shoes for a second. Imagine that for 40 whole years, you would go to this nation of Judah and beg them, "Please, turn back to God. Turn from your sin. Walk in righteousness. Surrender your life to God," and they would go, "Nope. We're good," over and over again. Wouldn't you be really, really discouraged?
Maybe, if you put yourself in his shoes, you'd think Jeremiah was asking these questions: "Am I making a difference? What am I doing here? Is there a purpose to my work? What does it mean to be successful?" I wonder if you've ever asked those questions of your _own_ life. "Am I making a difference? Is there purpose to my work? What does it mean to be successful?" If you have, Jeremiah's life and ministry has something to say to you today.
We'll spend the majority of our time in Jeremiah, chapter 1. What we're going to conclude is that _embracing your calling is measured by faithful obedience no matter the outcome_. Just so we're all on the same page of what I mean by _calling_, because that word can be used in so many different ways, _calling_ is the intersection of God's direction in your life, your gifts and abilities, and the needs of others. Jeremiah is called to a rebellious people, and God is inviting him to call this nation back to himself, but as we'll see, the nation of Judah does not listen to him.
So, I want to spend our time for the next few moments giving you five reminders to help you embrace your calling. Often, when we think of calling, we think of something that's fun and exciting, and the wind is at your back, almost. As we'll observe, Jeremiah embraces his calling, and from the world's point of view, he had an unsuccessful life and ministry, so there has to be a different way. So, five reminders to help you embrace your calling.
1\. _A broken world needs to hear the remedy for its brokenness_. In Jeremiah, chapter 1, we'll read verses 1-3. It says, **"The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month."**
We kind of get the context. Again, he ministered during the final 40 years of the nation of Judah under the final five kings of the southern kingdom of Judah. We see God outline what Judah's brokenness was in Jeremiah 7:8-10. Let me read those verses for you. It says, **"Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail."** Again, this is God speaking through Jeremiah to the nation of Judah.
**"Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, 'We are delivered!'—only to go on doing all these abominations?"**
So, what's the charge against them? It's exactly what TA just mentioned to us. They were going to "church." They were playing the part. They were offering the sacrifices. They were doing all of the things that made it seem externally like they were right with God. All the while, there was rampant idolatry in the nation of Judah.
They were sacrificing their children to these false gods in hopes of getting prosperity, security, and provision. They were engaging in marital infidelity because they thought it would provide them with pleasure, prosperity, and blessing in their land. They were lying. They were cheating. They were stealing. They were taking advantage of those who were easy to take advantage of: the widows and the orphans. I could go on and on. The brokenness in the nation of Judah was rampant, _and_ they were going to church.
Just like millennia ago when it was so easy to do that, it is quite possible today to look the part of having devotion to God while your heart is distant from him, while you're secretly living in sin or even justifying habits and a lifestyle that does not honor God. If Jeremiah were alive today and he spent a few weeks with you, a few months with you, or a year with you, what would he observe?
What would he point out to us, maybe, as _our_ idols? Maybe they're not made with human hands, made of stone and metals and wood, but would he point out idols to us that are ultimate in our hearts and driving our decisions? Would he point out that we are idolizing money or power or sex or relationships or accomplishments or our reputation or our work?
We see that the nation of Judah is broken. They're dishonoring God and making themselves feel okay in it by going through the motions. Jeremiah jumps in, and we see a few Scripture passages in the book of Jeremiah that point to the remedy for Judah's brokenness. Guess what? The remedy for Judah's brokenness is the remedy for _our_ brokenness today as well.
In Jeremiah 2:13, we read, **"…for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water."** He says there are two evils that they've committed. First, they've rejected God. Second, they've gone to these places searching for living water, searching for satisfaction, but it's not there. Maybe it's there temporarily, but ultimately it's not.
As you hear that language of _living water_, your mind should go toward the New Testament. It should go to John, chapter 4, where Jesus is talking to the woman at the well and says to her, "I am the living water. Whoever drinks of me will never thirst again." The remedy for Judah's brokenness, the remedy for _our_ brokenness, is Jesus.
Jeremiah 5:30-31 says, **"An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?"** The prophets were prophesying falsely so they could continue to remain comfortable in their sin and pride, and the priests, who were supposed to be the spiritual leaders of the nation, were leading selfishly and sinfully, so God calls that out in them.
If you hear that imperfect prophet and that sinful priest being highlighted here in Jeremiah, chapter 5, it should make you think of the book of Hebrews where Jesus is presented as the better Prophet and the Great High Priest. The solution, the remedy, to Judah's brokenness and to _our_ brokenness is Jesus, the better Prophet, the Great High Priest.
One more. Jeremiah 6:16: **"Thus says the Lord: 'Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, "We will not walk in it."'"** The remedy is for them to walk in the good way. As you hear that, your mind should go to John, chapter 14, where Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."
Once again, repeatedly, we see God in his mercy and kindness reminding the nation of Judah, reminding _us_, that the solution, the remedy, for our brokenness isn't better technology, isn't the right political candidate, isn't more money, isn't any other solution we can come up with; the remedy for our brokenness is absolute surrender and submission to the Savior of the world, Jesus, because of his death, burial, and resurrection and provision for us to be made right with God. A broken world needs to hear that the remedy for their brokenness is Jesus.
If you remember, Jeremiah knows the nation of Judah is not going to listen to him. They're not going to respond. They're not going to repent. It's interesting to observe that one of the primary goals of Jeremiah's ministry is to leave the nation of Judah with no excuse. On the day when judgment finally comes, do you know what no one in Judah could say? "We didn't know. We didn't know this was happening. No one ever told us." Someone _had_ told them, over and over, that the remedy for their brokenness was Jesus.
Part of Jeremiah's calling was to apply the remedy for brokenness to his life and to invite others to do the same. That is the case for every one of us who is a follower of Jesus. Tom Constable says it something like this: "We need voices and lives like Jeremiah's today that call people to recognize the fact that all ruin and loss and national decay are due to forgetting God." So, embracing your calling is measured by faithful obedience no matter the outcome, and the first reminder that we just looked at is that a broken world needs to hear the remedy for its brokenness. If you're a follower of Jesus, that is your calling.
2\. _Before you existed_, _God valued you and gave you purpose_. Jeremiah 1:4-5: **"Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you…'"** That's just a big word for "I set you apart. I made you unique. I made you distinct." **"…I appointed you a prophet to the nations."** Before you existed, God valued you and gave you purpose.
I don't know who in the room needs to hear that in this very moment, but let me say it again. Before you existed, long before you were conceived, long before you were thought of, the God of the universe valued you and gave you purpose. One pastor says it like this: "If God holds a life precious before it existed in the womb, how much more should we think that God regards a life precious while it's in the womb and then while it's outside of the womb as well." We see through God's Word that God gives you value and purpose. You are made in his image.
Maybe you need to hear that encouragement this morning. Long before you existed, God knew you, and he created you in his image for a purpose. Long before you existed, God had a unique purpose for your life. We've already seen in our first point about making sure the broken world knows its remedy that there's a general calling for every one of us who's a follower of Jesus to know Jesus and make him known to others. There's also this unique calling that can take many forms.
For Jeremiah, his calling was to go to the nation of Judah and call them back to repentance, but they wouldn't repent. That was his unique calling. For those of us in the room… You may have a calling to vocational ministry. Maybe you have a calling to be a missionary, where you go overseas to an unreached people group to reach them with the truth and hope of the gospel. Maybe your calling is to be the best banker or the best consultant. Maybe your unique calling is to be a stay-at-home parent or an Uber driver or a teacher or a nurse or a grandparent. You have a unique calling from God.
I experienced this in a personal way a couple of weeks ago when I was in the hospital. One of our labor and delivery nurses is actually a member of Watermark. Her name is Abigail Rich. She was awesome. She served us, she cared for us, and she helped us through that process of bringing Florence into the world. As we were talking in the downtime in between, she got to sharing how she was so passionate about serving and caring for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. In fact, she serves here at our church with our church's deaf ministry.
So, while part of her calling is to be a labor and delivery nurse at Baylor, part of her calling is also to use her passion and her desire and her care for this unreached people group that is right here in our country, in our city, with the gospel. Her husband, Sean Rich, is an accountant. He does that for his vocation, and he gets to serve with Watermark South Dallas with their Financial Catalyst ministry where they're educating individuals with financial coaching and discipleship.
So, you see an easy and simple example of two people who are called by God in a unique way. God is directing them. God is using their gifts and talents to meet the needs of others. So, the question isn't "Is God calling people?" God is still calling people just like he called Jeremiah. The question is…_Are we listening and responding?_
Let me say this as a sidenote. A calling to vocational ministry is not more honoring to God than some other vocational calling. No matter your vocation, no matter your job, we are called to be stewards of our gifts and passions to the glory of God and the good of others. This begs the question…_How do you discern your calling?_ If this is something that is so important in my life, how do I know? How do I figure this out? I'm glad you asked. I have a couple of suggestions for you.
The first way to discern your calling is to _take a step_. Take a step. Here's what I mean by that. If you are wondering, "Where should I serve?" maybe here at our church… The only way you can find out, the only way you can know if God is calling you to serve in our kids' ministry, to hold babies in the red classrooms, is by holding some babies in the red classroom.
A lot of us are waiting for this perfect, "I know what it is. I know what my calling is. I'm doing this for the next 50 years. This is what it is." God is like, "Go hold babies in red." Maybe that _is_ the call for you today: to take a step, to try something, to see if it's something you're interested in, something God is directing you toward. So take a step.
The second suggestion is to _ask God to show you what he's calling you to_. In one of the sermons I listened to to prepare for this message, one of the pastors said, "It's always good, from time to time, to check in with God and ask him the question, 'God, is what I'm doing with my life right now what you want me to be doing?'"
In other words, what you've been doing for 10 years may have been God's calling on your life for _that_ season where his direction and your gifts and the needs of others lined up, but maybe he's calling you to something new today. It's always good to stop and ask God, "Am I doing with my life what you would have me do?" So, take a step. Ask God to show you what he's calling you to.
Then there are a few other questions. What are your spiritual gifts? Every single one of us who's a follower of Jesus has the Holy Spirit and, as such, is gifted in a unique way to serve others. Do you have a sense of God's desire for you to pursue that calling? What are you good at? What do trusted people in your life affirm? What do the people who love you most and know you best say you're good at? Listen to them. Ask them.
If you truly want to discern how God may be leading in your life with the gifts and abilities he has given you to meet the needs of others, those are just a few of the ways to discern that calling. As a reminder, embracing your calling is measured by faithful obedience no matter the outcome. We've seen that a broken world needs to hear the remedy for its brokenness, and before you existed, God valued you and gave you purpose.
3\. _God equips you to fulfill your calling_. By way of reminder, the _you_ I'm referring to in this point is Christians. If you're not a Christian, the calling God has on your life right now in this very moment is to turn from your sin and run to him. But if you're a follower of Jesus, God equips you to fulfill your calling.
Notice again Jeremiah 1:6. God has already said, "Before you were formed in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I consecrated you, and I appointed you a prophet to the nations." Verse 6: **"Then I said, 'Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.'"** Jeremiah meets God's calling with hesitancy, reluctance, insecurity, and excuses. In fact, scholars believe Jeremiah was somewhere between the ages of 15 and 20 when God first made this call on his life.
This is a good moment to stop and be reminded that the Bible is full of examples of God calling young people…high schoolers, college students, young adults, and single adults. God is in the business of calling young people to do his work. Give God the young years of your life, and you will never regret it.
Because Jeremiah was young and inexperienced, he felt inadequate for the mission God had called him to. God said, "You're going to go and preach to this nation to repent and turn back to me," and his excuse is, "God, I can't speak. I'm only a youth. I can't do it." It's almost like, when you listen to that or read that… What was he expecting God to say?
"Jeremiah, that's a great point. I hadn't really thought about that. Let me find someone else who's older and more experienced." No. God always calls us to do something that requires deep reliance on him. For me right now it's parenting. If I were to use Jeremiah's excuse, maybe I would say something like, "Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to parent, for these children are wild." But God gives us the dependence, the patience, and the wisdom to care for our kids.
Here's a question I want to ask every one of us: Are you reluctant or hesitant because you think that embracing God's calling on your life is up to you? Do you think that embracing your calling depends on your own ability? It _doesn't_ depend on you. In fact, if we keep going in the story, we'll see exactly that. Notice verse 7. He has given his excuse that he's too young and he doesn't know how to speak, and God says…
**"But the Lord said to me, 'Do not say, "I am only a youth"; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord.' Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, 'Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.'"**
What do we see? God gives Jeremiah the ability to do what he has called him to. God gives him the words, and most importantly, God gives him his presence. God says, "I am going to be with you wherever you go on this calling, this mission I'm giving to you, Jeremiah. I will be with you." So, when it comes to our calling, God's response to our excuses is "I know. I know you're weak. I know you're inadequate, but I'm enough, so trust me." God commands obedience, he promises his presence, and he supplies us with what we need to obey his commands.
God gives you what you need to embrace your calling. So, how do we apply this? The application is this: wherever you are, you are there on purpose…the location, your family, your relationship status, your job, your job search, your roommates, your friend group. Maybe your response shouldn't be to think of the ways you're inadequate or come up with excuses. Maybe your question should be, "God, who are you sending me today? I know you'll be with me and equip me with what I need."
It's Ephesians 2:10 at work. Ephesians 2:10 says, **"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."** Think about it like this. Every single day, if you're a follower of Jesus, when you open your eyes, there are good works ahead, planned out, orchestrated by God. It is our responsibility to yield ourselves to his Spirit and walk in the good works he has prepared beforehand for us to walk in. God equips us for what he calls us to.
4\. _Faithfulness_, _not results_, _is success._ We'll skip down in the story. We'll skip verses 11-14. Basically, God puts Jeremiah through prophet training school. Then we get to verse 15. God says, **"For behold, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares the Lord, and they shall come, and every one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah."** He's prophesying the judgment that will fall on Judah.
**"And I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking me. They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands. But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them.**
**And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you."**
Jeremiah is given his message, and he is reminded that no one is going to listen to him but that his calling is still the same. If you read through the entire book of Jeremiah, you see so much that happens to Jeremiah. Jeremiah is imprisoned. He's thrown in a cistern. He receives death threats repeatedly. He's rejected by his family, rejected by his neighbors. When we look at Jeremiah's life, we might go, "Man! No one listened to him, and all of these horrible things happened to him. That must not have been a successful ministry."
Was Jeremiah unsuccessful because no one listened to him? That's the question we need to wrestle with. The answer is, actually, he was very successful because he was faithful to embrace God's call on his life no matter the outcome. Jeremiah was successful because he embraced God's call on his life no matter the outcome.
So, it's good for us to think about, "Hey, do I need to adjust my definition of success?" For me, when I was about to go off to college, I thought success was a reputable career, a great salary, and a certain lifestyle. That's what I was chasing, but God had different plans for me. Without God's intervention and direction, I wouldn't even be here standing on stage teaching and sharing with you today. Maybe we need to adjust our view of success.
Additionally, there's a price to be paid for answering God's call. Jeremiah experiences the cost of following God. The question for us is, "How do I respond when obedience is lonely or costly?" You see, your calling might be different than what you imagined. In fact, it might be really tough, like Jeremiah's, but it's still your calling.
Maybe you're praying for a family member. You've been praying for years. I was talking to someone this week where they were describing that they've been praying and sharing the gospel over and over with their dad to no success. The truth is that person is being so faithful because they're embracing their calling of inviting their dad to understand and see the remedy for his brokenness.
A good definition for _success_ is courageous and faithful obedience while entrusting the results to God. Here's the truth. Every believer in this room is the direct result of someone being faithful to share with them. Maybe it was a parent. Maybe it was a pastor. Maybe it was a coworker. Someone faithfully shared the gospel with you no matter the outcome, and in God's kindness, he opened your eyes. Someone was faithful.
Faithfulness doesn't always guarantee visible fruit in our timing, but it's always pleasing to God. ChatGPT puts it like this: "You might not see the fruit, but you'll never regret the faithfulness." Isn't that good? It's so good. "You might not see the fruit, but you'll never regret the faithfulness." So, the encouragement for us to consider here is… What if you were the voice that leaves your family with no excuse? What if your courage was what God used to bring your coworker, your family member, or your friend to saving faith?
5\. _A remnant always responds_. Remember, we're in Jeremiah's story, his 40-year ministry. He's preaching repentance, inviting the nation of Judah back to God, and they're like, "We're good. We're going to keep doing our own thing." The large majority of the nation of Judah rejected God's word, rejected God's way, and went on doing their own things, running toward their own passions and desires, when their response should have been one of running to God for mercy, repenting of their brokenness, and turning to the only true living water.
Even in that, a question I want to ask you is…_Are you receptive to God's Word or are you hard-hearted like the nation of Judah?_ It's a good question for us to consider all the time. "Am I receptive to God's Word or am I hard-hearted like Judah?" Here's the good news. The response of many wasn't the response of every single person in the nation of Judah. Let me show you.
Remember that timeline we looked at? Jeremiah ministered during the final 40 years of the nation of Judah. So, from 627 BC, or so, all the way to the exile in 586 BC, Jeremiah was preaching to the nation of Judah to turn back to God, and no one listened to him…until you realize that in the middle of those years of Jeremiah's ministry, there was a young man named Daniel.
The Babylonians exiled the nation of Judah in three different phases: in 605 BC, in 597, and in 586. In 605 BC, when the Babylonians came to the nation of Judah and exiled them, they took some of the best and brightest, some of whom included Daniel, another prophet, a prophet you know, who you're very familiar with, because you've heard the children's story of Daniel in the lions' den. You've heard the story of Daniel and his friends in the fiery furnace and them not being burnt.
During Jeremiah's 40-year, what seemed to be an unfruitful and unsuccessful ministry, somewhere, in some pocket, there were other people, young people like Daniel, who were saying, "We will not bow to these idols. We will follow God. We will honor him." Even as they're exiled into a foreign land, they still do the same thing. When they're pressured to conform to the customs of that culture, Daniel and his friends say, "Can we do something different? Can we follow our one true God?"
If you read the story of Daniel, you see the influence and impact he has in the foreign land of Babylon because he stands with God. Jeremiah didn't have Instagram, he didn't have the news, he didn't have a cell phone, so he most likely didn't even know Daniel existed, but as he was faithful to preach the word that God had invited him to, the realization we come to is that a remnant always responds.
This morning, you can be a part of that remnant. If you're not a Christian, you can be a part of the remnant that surrenders your life to God. Today, if you're hearing my voice right now, this very moment is a day of salvation. If you're already a follower of Jesus, you can be a faithful part of the remnant right now by being a person who rejects external performance without true inward change, by being someone who seeks God as your one true and great treasure, who calls others and invites others into a relationship with God.
A broken world needs to hear the remedy for its brokenness. Before you existed, God valued you and gave you purpose. God equips you to fulfill your calling. Faithfulness, not results, is success. A remnant always responds. Lastly, as we close, Jesus embraced his calling, lived on purpose, and was successful because he was faithful no matter the cost. The Son of God left eternity and became a human, 100 percent God and 100 percent man.
He embraced that calling and lived on purpose. He lived perfectly. He did not sin. He lived on purpose so he could be the ultimate sacrifice, the appropriate sacrifice for our brokenness and sin. He was successful not because he conquered the kingdoms of the world in that moment. In fact, he laid down the opportunity to do that. He hung on a cross, bearing the weight of every sin that _had_ ever and _would_ ever be committed on his shoulders. He did that for you. He did that for me.
Some would have looked at that Friday or Saturday and said, "Man! Jesus' life… Yeah, he was cool, he was awesome, he did some cool tricks, but now he's gone." Thank God that was not the end of the story. On the third day, Jesus rose again from the dead, victorious over sin, death, hell, Satan, and the grave. He invites you and me today to embrace our calling, to live on purpose, and to experience success no matter the outcome. I pray that would be true. Let me pray for us.
God, we love you, and we're so grateful. Thank you for the reminder from the life of Jeremiah that embracing our calling is faithful obedience no matter the outcome. I pray for the ones in this room who don't know you. God, would they see and understand? Would your Spirit open their hearts and their eyes right now to embrace the calling to repentance? For those of us who are followers of yours, God, would you help us to faithfully live out our calling no matter the outcome? We love you, and we sing to you now.