Gateway Baptist Church
June 8, 2025 D.O. Service**
  • I Stand Amazed (My Saviour's Love)
  • The Family Of God
  • I Will Sing Of My Redeemer
  • Precious Lord Take My Hand
  • At Calvary

  • Jeremiah 1:11-19

    Last Sunday, we were introduced to Jeremiah and his calling to be a prophet of God. We learned that God told him that He formed him in his mother’s womb. God consecrated him; His words would be in his mouth, and God would never leave him. This week, we look more in-depth at the confirmation of his call from God. We read Jeremiah’s DO for God.
    Many of us know what “do” means. Merriam Webster defines it as: to bring to pass, carry out; put; perform, execute, or to commit. Some synonyms for “DO” verbs are go, befit, and serve. I love this list.
    Every morning, we get up and have an agenda of “DO.” Think about the mundane task you perform when you wake up. It might range from brushing teeth to showering to drinking coffee to daily Bible reading and prayer before heading out to work or school. You are already in the mode of “DO.” But somewhere in this translation of life, we lost the most important “DO.” These are directives from God to achieve His objective for us, or “DO.” We see three commands that God gives Jeremiah and us to achieve the “DO” in our lives. These commands are Gird up your loins, arise, and speak. These commands will help you fulfill the objective of your directive.

    Directive:

    What is a directive? In its noun form, it serves to direct, guide, and usually impel toward an action or goal. We see God’s directive for Jeremiah in verses eleven to seventeen. God asks Jeremiah what he sees. Jeremiah answers an Almond Tree. The Hebrew word for Almond Tree is (saqed), which means: awake. God tells Jeremiah, “…he saw well and He is watching over His word,” a Hebrew word (soqed). Jeremiah was not going to prophecy anything that God did not tell him. The purpose of the vision was to warn that God’s announcements of judgment through earlier prophets had not been forgotten. Whenever Jeremiah and Judah saw the almond tree, it reminded them that God was watching them.
    The other part of his directive is in the second vision that God asks Jeremiah.
    This time, Jeremiah saw a boiling pot facing the north. In the second vision, which may or may not have occurred immediately after the first, Jeremiah saw a boiling pot (lit. “a pot blown upon,” i.e., a pot placed on a flame fanned by the wind). It was a cooking pot (2 Kings 4:38) or wash pot (Psalm 60:8), commonly found in Israelite homes. It was an object Jeremiah had seen many times, but now he saw it in a new light—as a symbol of imminent judgment. The pot tilted away from the north (toward the south), with its liquid contents about to boil over. The impending disaster on Judah is compared to the spilling of the contents of a boiling pot, which would scald the people of Judah.
    2 Kings 4:38 NASB95
    When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. As the sons of the prophets were sitting before him, he said to his servant, “Put on the large pot and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.”
    Psalm 60:8 NASB95
    “Moab is My washbowl; Over Edom I shall throw My shoe; Shout loud, O Philistia, because of Me!”
    God then told him the rest of his directive for pronouncing Judah’s judgment. God would be sending the armies out of the North to conquer Judah and take them captive.
    These kings would set their thrones against Judah and the gates and walls. The people scoffed at Jeremiah’s warnings. Assyrian power was ending with the death of its last great monarch, Ashurbanipal. Who would come against Judah with that power?
    May I ask you a question? Does that not sound like America? Judah’s pride is the downfall of the kingdom, and America’s pride will be its downfall. As Christians, we have a directive from God. We are to spread the Gospel and not entangle ourselves in affairs of this life (2 Timothy 2:4). We are to share in the suffering of the Gospel with our brothers and sisters throughout the world (2 Timothy 1:8).
    2 Timothy 2:4 NKJV
    No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.
    2 Timothy 1:8 NIV
    So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.
    Judah worshipped other gods along with God. They had feet in both the world and God’s kingdom.  We can correct this attitude by listening to God’s directive. Now we have the directive, what is the objective?

    Objective:

    What is an objective? Something toward which effort is directed: an aim, goal, or end of action; a strategic position to be attained or a purpose to be achieved by a military operation. Your objective will be in line with your directive. What is the goal of your life? Whatever the priority is in your life, that is where your directive and objective will have their focus.
    Jeremiah’s objective was to spread God’s word to Judah. This was an unpopular prophecy, like when you and I spread the Gospel. It is counterintuitive to the world’s thinking and to the majority of Christians. But God commanded Jeremiah, commanding us to do three things: first, gird up your loins. Second, arise. And lastly, speak His truth. Let us look at these commands to determine our objective.

    Gird:

    Ephesians 6:14 NASB95
    Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
    When soldiers would “gird up their loins,” they were preparing for battle. God is telling Jeremiah to get up and prepare himself for what He has called him to do. Paul was clear about the Christian to “gird up.” We are to prepare ourselves for what God has called us to do.
    Question: What is it that God has called us to do? Matthew 28:19-20
    Matthew 28:19–20 NASB95
    “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
    How many of you are getting up with that directive in mind to achieve that objective? Are we prepared? Are you ready? Is your heart ready? Are your intentions pure and pleasing to God? Is He your LORD? A.W. Tozer talks about how the Church has supplanted the Lord. No longer is He the Ruler of the Church. He talks about the power of custom, precedent, and tradition within the older religious group. “These, like gravitation, affect every particle of religious practice within the group, exerting a steady and constant pressure in one direction. Of course that direction is toward conformity to the status quo. Not Christ but custom is lord in every situation.” Gird up your loins is not being conformed to this world but transforming to the Will of GOD. Romans 12:2
    Romans 12:2 ESV
    Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
    Here is your wake-up call to gird your loins.      

    Arise:

    What did it mean to arise? Hebrew meaning: to stand, to oppose, to stand for, or to make a move. What do you stand for? What are you opposed to? What would you make a move to? Jeremiah knew what he would be opposed to and what he would stand for. He opposed the way of Judah and their worship of foreign gods. He knew he stood with and for God, or more importantly, God stood with him.
    Can I be brutally honest? The true bride of Christ has been asleep for way too long. It is time we arise from our slumber and start conducting ourselves and the business of the Church by God’s word ONLY!
    The Church of Acts lived this way and they were used. Why? Because they allowed Christ to be Lord. We need to ARISE and allow Christ to lead us and not man’s traditions. By-Laws and Constitutions have no room in the House of the Lord. We are to live by His Word and Mandate. Israel lived by anything but the Lord’s Word and they were taken captive. Judah abandoned following God’s Statutes and we taken captive. The Evangelic Church has stopped living only by God’s Word and have been taken captive. God is telling us to ARISE from our slumber and start living only by HIS WORD! Ephesians 5:14
    Ephesians 5:14 ESV
    for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
    Lastly, we are to speak.

    Speak:

    Today, everyone is trying to have a voice. For Jeremiah, the only voice that mattered was that of God’s. Even though this would be a very unpopular message from God, Jeremiah would be obedient. It would cost him, but God would be there with him. I think of our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world who are standing with God and are being driven out of their homes, beaten, thrown in jail, and some even being martyred. They do not stop speaking God’s truth no matter the cost. Jeremiah did speak God’s truth, no matter the cost.
    Jeremiah was quite the character, often seen as the 'weeping prophet.' If he were alive today, he might tweet: 'When God tells you to speak, and you feel like running for the hills, remember, even the greats faced a little reluctance. But just like eating your veggies helps you grow, following God helps you thrive!' So, the next time God nudges you, think of Jeremiah’s example and turn it into a fun adventure instead of a scary mission!
    Henry Blackaby states this about following God’s call. “…God can shake you to the roots of your being and transform you, the change is always for the better, He is your Creator.” Isaiah 66:2; Jeremiah 5:22
    Isaiah 66:2 LSB
    “For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares Yahweh. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.
    Jeremiah 5:22 CSB
    Do you not fear me? This is the Lord’s declaration. Do you not tremble before me, the one who set the sand as the boundary of the sea, an enduring barrier that it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot pass over it.

      • 2 Timothy 2:4ESV

      • Ephesians 6:14ESV

      • 2 Timothy 1:8ESV

      • Matthew 28:19–20ESV

      • Romans 12:2ESV

      • Ephesians 5:14ESV

      • Isaiah 66:2ESV

      • Jeremiah 5:22ESV

  • Pass Me Not
  • The Bond Of Love
Gateway Baptist Church
gatewaybaptistchurch@live.com
8128533787
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