Jeremiah 45:3-5 (5/8/24)

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Jeremiah 45:3-5 (5/8/24)

Make You The Message

May 8, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Jeremiah 45:3–5

* Oftentimes, before God entrusts you with a message, He has to make you into the message!

* This typically involves a “mess.”

* But we can turn a mess into a message if we keep our eyes on God.

* Backstory - The long letter Baruch worked so hard on was burned in the fire.

* The ministry Baruch was a part of was not going well.

* He was frustrated.

* Deep down, there was something in Baruch that wanted a little bit of fame and fortune from his services.

* Being attached to Jeremiah, a great influencer of his time, was Baruch’s path to becoming something great.

* But it was not to be.

* God allowed Baruch to work hard on something only to have it destroyed before his very eyes as preparation for what God was going to do with Israel.

* God was going to destroy Israel as well, something He had worked hard on, and He chose Jeremiah to be the voice to warn them about it.

* Baruch started to complain.

* vs 2-5 - “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to you, Baruch: 3 You said, ‘Woe to me! The Lord has added sorrow to my pain; I am worn out with groaning and find no rest.’ 4 But the Lord has told me to say to you, ‘This is what the Lord says: I will overthrow what I have built and uproot what I have planted, throughout the earth. 5 Should you then seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them. For I will bring disaster on all people, declares the Lord, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life.”

* God had to make Baruch the message before he would deliver the message.

* EX: This happened to us back in 2010 - the retaining wall for our building collapsed, costing us over $1million to repair.

* In the process of repairing, we felt God call us to speak a message of “rebuilding the wall” of faith in our culture.

* God had to make us the message before we would speak it.

* And He’ll do the same with you!

* What you’re going through is not about you, it’s about what God can do through you to help others.

Psalms 121:6 (5/29/24)

May 29, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Psalm 121:5–7

* God is our protector - He will not allow anything to harm us. * But He will allow things into our lives that will hurt us. * EX: Dentist - hurts but doesn’t harm. * EX: Candy - harms but doesn’t hurt * Which one is better? The doctor, of course. * God does the same with us—He allows hurt into our lives to protect us from harm. * Hurt is all about what happens “in this life.” * You lose a loved one, get sick, or have relational issues with someone you love. * Those are all hurts that will never harm you if you keep your faith in God. * Harm is all about what happens “in the next life.” * vs 5-7 - “The Lord watches over you— the Lord is your shade at your right hand; 6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life…” * If you live a life of ease down here but you end up in hell, you avoided the hurt, but you’ll experience the harm. * Mark 8:36 makes that clear - “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but forfeits his soul?” * So embrace the hurts that come your way. * They are God’s way of purifying and protecting you from the harm that could be yours if you didn’t know Him. * EX: Advice to dad whose daughter was upset because he had to leave for an extended work trip.

Proverbs 10:5 (5/29/24)

May 29, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Proverbs 10:5

* God calls us to be prudent. * To be prudent is “acting with or showing care and thought for the future.” * It’s making decisions today based upon what we see in the future. * Anxiety is projecting fear into the future. * Faith is projecting power into the future. * A prudent person operates in faith. * The book of Proverbs has many verses on the prudent person. * vs 5 - “He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.” * The ‘harvest’ is a season. It does not happen all year long. * When it does occur, the ‘prudent’ son is ready to go! * He knows the seasons and when to push and when to pull back… * …when to work hard and when to rest. * vs 19 - “When words are many, sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is prudent” * The prudent man knows when to back off and when to keep quiet. * There are times when I am free to speak and there are other times when it is best to keep my mouth shut. * The prudent man knows the difference and acts accordingly. * A prudent person knows seasons and times. * He knows that there is a time for everything. * The prudent person “understands the times,” just like the Men of Issachar. * 1 Chronicles 12:32 -“The Men of Issachar, who understood the times, and knew what Israel should do.” * How do we understand the times so we can become prudent? Four ways: * 1) We look up - we spend time with the Lord every day, allowing Him to speak to us about all things. * 2) We look in - we ask God to comb through our lives to see if there be any unclean way in us. * 3) We look back - we pay attention to history and we look back at past experience. * 4) We look forward - we take what we learned by looking up, in, and back and we project into the future what we see. * We do all of this in faith, putting God into the picture. * These four things, done consistently, will help us be the prudent people God has made us to be.

Ezekiel 3:5 (5/22/24)

May 22, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Ezekiel 3:5

- If I told you God called me to be a missionary, what would you think? - I’m moving somewhere overseas. - If I told you I’m called to be a missionary to the business world, what would you think? - I’m going to be a corporate chaplain or something. - But God has called each of us to be missionaries - wherever He puts us is our mission field. - Satan doesn’t want you to see yourself as a missionary. - Satan knows that how you see yourself determines how you behave yourself. - He doesn’t want you to know your true identity. - You’re a Minister - You’re on Mission - Your Work is Worship - Listen to what God told Ezekiel: - vs 4-6 - “…Son of man, go now to the people of Israel and speak my words to them. 5 You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and strange language, but to the people of Israel—6 not to many peoples of obscure speech and strange language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you.” - God told Ezekiel that He had made him a missionary to his own people! - It’s easier to minister to people you don’t know than people you do. - EX: AIA in South America. - We need missionaries in America more now than ever. - Stay home and be a missionary right here until God calls you elsewhere. - When you see your workplace as a mission field, it changes everything. - EX: AAU basketball.