* 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.