Sermon

I Almost Quit but I Got a New Fire!

Rock Hill Baptist Church II Podcast

Open publisher episode ↗

Publisher transcript

Transcript

View source ↗
  1. Welcome to the official podcast of Rock Hill Baptist Church 2

  2. where we are focused on glorifying God, spreading the

  3. gospel, and making disciples of Jesus Christ right here in the

  4. heart of Greenville, SC. Each week we bring you a life

  5. changing word from our Senior Pastor, Pastor Matthew D Long

  6. Junior, or one of our anointed guest speakers.

  7. We pray this message strengthens your faith, deepens your

  8. understanding, and empowers you to elevate in every area of your

  9. life. Let's join the service already

  10. in progress. Chapter 20, verse #1 Says Now

  11. Pashur the son of Emma the priest, who was also chief

  12. governor in the House of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah

  13. prophesied these things. Then Pastor smote Jeremiah the

  14. prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high

  15. gate of Benjamin, which was by the House of the Lord.

  16. And it came to pass on the Morrow that Pastorum brought

  17. forth Jeremiah out of the stocks.

  18. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The Lord have not called thy name

  19. Pashor, but Magora Misabim. For thus saith the Lord, Behold,

  20. I will make thee A terror to thyself and to all thy friends,

  21. and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies.

  22. And then I shall behold him, and I will give all Judah into the

  23. hands of the king of Babylon, and he should carry them captive

  24. into Babylon, and shall slay them with this sword. 5

  25. Moreover, I will deliver all the strength of this city, all the

  26. laborers thereof, and of the precious things thereof, and of

  27. the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand

  28. of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them and

  29. care of them to Babylon. 6 And thou, or you, Pasha, and all

  30. that dwell in your house, shall go into captivity, and thou

  31. shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and shall be

  32. buried there, you and your friends, to whom your prophesied

  33. lies. Verse 7 O Lord, Thou hast

  34. deceived me, and I was deceived. Thou art stronger than I, and

  35. has prevailed. I am in dare vision.

  36. Every day everyone mocketh me. A For since I spake, I cried

  37. out. I cried violence and spoil,

  38. because the word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me, and a

  39. dare is. And daily Then I said, I will

  40. not make mention of him nor speak anymore in his name, but

  41. his word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my

  42. boats. And I was very with forbearing.

  43. And I could not stay the word of God for the people of God.

  44. Thanks be unto God. Help me out as you turn to a

  45. neighbor and say, hey, neighbor, are you OK?

  46. OK, all right, all right, help me out with turn to other

  47. neighbors. Say hey, neighbor, are you OK?

  48. Nope. OK, we got one over there.

  49. OK, Praise the Lord. You know, after I dropped this

  50. time. I just need y'all to hit it real

  51. hard after after I drop this. It's going to help push me where

  52. I need to go for the next few fleeting moments.

  53. If you don't mind, I'm going to preach from the thought I almost

  54. quit but I got a new fire. Thank you.

  55. I just, I just need to hear the right sound as I get started

  56. because my dear brothers and sisters, every generation has

  57. had to face this question. Is it even worth it anymore?

  58. The truth of the matter is, the numbers do not lie.

  59. According to the American Psychological Association, 40 to

  60. 50% of first marriages fail. They said one of two marriages

  61. in the United States and then divorce.

  62. They say. According to George Bonner, the

  63. Bonner group in tuning 23 state of passes that 42% of pastors

  64. seriously consider quitting full time ministry almost every year.

  65. the US Bureau of Labor just yeah, still here, right.

  66. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics says 50% of of

  67. entrepreneurs shut down their businesses within five years.

  68. And then also in 2023, the American Psychological

  69. Association had also put out a report called the Stress in

  70. America Report, and they had confirmed that Gen.

  71. Z's have the highest stress level of any generation by

  72. millennials in genetics report. Historic burnout.

  73. So according to the support across generations from boomers

  74. to Gen. Z's, burnout, breakdowns and

  75. silent suffering are on the rise.

  76. And if we all can be honest in the room that there's some that

  77. did not almost quit a job or relationship.

  78. There's some here that can always say that, you know, I

  79. really almost quit my faith. You know what?

  80. Almost quit praising because it didn't seem to change my pain.

  81. Almost, almost, almost quit sewing because the harvest

  82. seemed stuck in heaven. Almost quit studying my Bible

  83. because I felt like God went silent and I just kept getting

  84. sleepy. Almost quit fasting and

  85. travailing praying because the breakthrough felt like all that

  86. was broken was sweat and spit. And and even some say they

  87. almost quit going to church because they were tired of

  88. pretentious, phony, prideful people who sin more on accident

  89. than they love purposely themselves.

  90. And some even say they almost even quit tuning into the cyber

  91. church online because even that was becoming too much with

  92. people singing, oh, happy day, but looking sad while doing it,

  93. yet still spelling through it. There's many in the room and

  94. online that that that posted through it, that worked through

  95. it. But inside you and I might have

  96. been 2 steps from saying I'm done, I'm done, I'm done, I'm

  97. done. I, I don't know the author of

  98. the quote. Maybe it was an adaptation from

  99. one by Johnny Depp. But it was said people don't

  100. quit because they're weak. They quit because they're tired

  101. of being strong for too long. And minding brothers and

  102. sisters, Deacon Glenn, that's where we find ourselves in

  103. between the black and white pages of the book before us or

  104. the electronic device which you may be reading from exactly with

  105. this prophet, this man named Jeremiah who was not weak, not

  106. faithless, not rebellious. He's just tired of being strong

  107. for too long. He's tired of speaking what God

  108. said about getting no applause but only attacks.

  109. He's, he's tired of crying out for people who never cried to

  110. God for him. He's tired of preaching the

  111. glory down and getting thrown in shackles and tired of, of waking

  112. up obedient and going to bed broken.

  113. And and it's the famous words of Fannie Lou Hammer who said I'm

  114. sick and tired of being sick and tired.

  115. And here, my new brothers and sisters, I and Jeremiah chapter

    Jeremiah 20 chapter mention

  116. 20, we don't meet the bold prophet calling down fire from

  117. heaven, but we meet the broken man in the stocks.

  118. He's between the mantle that's on him and the entire mess all

  119. around him. And it is right here, here in

  120. your Bible, my Bible, my name. Brothers and sisters, between

  121. life and God's purpose, we see Jeremiah in the breaking point.

  122. I promise you I won't be before you long if you holler back at

  123. me. But we find 3 movements in the

  124. text that are worth exploring in your Bible.

  125. Jeremiah chapter 20 verse #1 says Now pass sure the of Immor

    Jeremiah 20 chapter mention

  126. the priest who was also chief governor in the House of the

  127. Lord heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things.

  128. Verse 2 Then Pashor smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put

  129. him in the stocks that were in the high gates of Benjamin,

  130. which was by the House of the Lord.

  131. Verse 3 And it came to pass on the Morrow that Pashur brought

  132. forth Jeremiah out of the stocks then.

  133. Jeremiah said. Unto him the Lord have not

  134. called thy name Pashur, but not God I miss a bit.

  135. For for thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will make thee A

  136. terror to thyselves and to all thy friends, and they shall fall

  137. by the sword of thy enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it.

  138. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon,

  139. and I should carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay

  140. them with the sword. The very first movement of this

  141. Texas he's persecuted for proclaiming.

  142. He's persecuted for proclaiming. God gave Jeremiah a hard word,

  143. not a revival word, not a trending word, not a seeker

  144. friendly word, a costly word. God gave Jeremiah a

  145. confrontational word, and he had just finished preaching in the

  146. valley of that old slaughter in chapter 19, a word of divine

  147. judgment on Judah and the desecration of the temple.

  148. He had even smashed a claim pot in a prophetic act to symbolize

  149. how God will shatter their nation for their sin.

  150. That's Jeremiah chapter 1910 and 11.

  151. And now here in chapter 20, he is punished by the church.

  152. He's punished by the church. And notice in your Bible after

  153. the establishment of time, we see Pastor, pastor.

  154. Pastor was not just a priest. He was the chief governor in the

  155. House of the Lord. The Hebrew word here calls him

  156. Pakid Nagid. It means the chief officer or

  157. the overseer of order. He was important in church

  158. pasture. He didn't just attend church, he

  159. was on staff at he wasn't just in leadership, he enforced

  160. leadership. Are you still with me?

  161. And when he had heard Jeremiah proclaim, but thus said the

  162. Lord, the Bible says that he didn't repent.

  163. He didn't inquire. But this priest's name pastor

  164. had retaliated because Jeremiah spoke a word that made religious

  165. people uncomfortable. And sometimes I am.

  166. This life true doesn't get you celebrated.

  167. Instead, it may get you silence. Because Pashure had position,

  168. but Jeremiah had power. Pashure had the keys to the

  169. church, but Jeremiah had the word of the Lord.

  170. Let me help everybody that's in the room and that's online.

  171. For those in the Silent Generation, you may be watching

  172. and listening and you might have even seen how some people keep

  173. their titles even when they lost their integrity to others.

  174. You, you, you, you, you, you. You might have been taught to

  175. respect those of the cloth even when the clothes were dirty and

  176. and then others in the room. You you might have might have

  177. got yourself caught between the tradition and the faith or or

  178. you're still impacting how church heard and control mask

  179. itself as community. I get it.

  180. You may even be wondering if you can love God without being by

  181. his people or you may be just trying to figure out how this

  182. church thing works and you you really just want truth.

  183. That's how you want you want truth.

  184. And then there are those are trying to hold everything

  185. together, pain and purpose. But let me give you just a

  186. little bit of revelation real quick.

  187. God will always raise up a voice.

  188. That position can't be Muslim. Hallelujah.

  189. Thank you, Jesus. You don't need a title.

  190. Uh huh. To carry the truth.

  191. You don't need the platform to have power.

  192. You don't even need the mic to make movement.

  193. But I do. I do.

  194. I do, I do. I do want to show you something

  195. the Bible says in Jeremiah. I feel like preaching.

  196. I'm sorry. Chapter 20, verse 2 A it says

  197. then pastor had smoked Jeremiah. Lord, it's a fight that's broke

  198. out in church. Did you see it?

  199. I'm a reader one more time. It says pastor smoked Jeremiah.

  200. This Hebrew Hebraic word for smote is naka.

  201. Naka means to strike means wound.

  202. It means to punish violently. It's almost to to hit, but

  203. intent to kill. This was not a rebuke, it was a

  204. beating. This was not a conversation, it

  205. was a condemnation. And the Bible says after the man

  206. in God's house had beat the man of God up when the preacher was

  207. fighting the other preacher in that round.

  208. And the Bible says here that the word preacher then put him in

  209. stocks. That's Jeremiah chapter 20 in

    Jeremiah 20 chapter mention

  210. the B claws and put him in the stocks.

  211. Put them in the stocks, Put them in the stocks.

  212. The word stocks there shows us that it is a device that twists

  213. and contorts the body publicly shame a person by applying

  214. pressure. He was put in the Highgate

  215. Jeremiah in the Highgate of Benjamin, the main entry of the

  216. church, so that everybody walking around, in and out of

  217. church as they were walking around would see him stuck,

  218. stiff and shamed. But here's the part we need to

  219. unpack together for those in the room and online.

  220. What if you've never been beaten in church?

  221. What if you've never, never, never, never found yourself in

  222. stocks made of wood? Let's tell the truth.

  223. Some of us have been put in mental stocks by our family,

  224. bound by their silence, twisted by their expectations, and

  225. bruised by their betrayal. OK, come here.

  226. That wasn't you. Some of us have been placed an

  227. emotional stocks at work, punished for being ethical,

  228. overlooked for being excellent, and even boxed out because you

  229. didn't blend in that it's not you either.

  230. OK, come here. Maybe it's for somebody online.

  231. You've been place to end, placed in academic stocks, suffocated

  232. in classrooms where you were too gifted for the level.

  233. You've been in there but, but, but, but but not seen, not seen

  234. enough to be actually accelerated.

  235. And some, some have found themselves in some social stocks

  236. where you've just suffered for standing up, found yourself

  237. isolated for telling the truth and not for your integrity.

  238. And then some of you, some of you are just tired.

  239. Yeah. Thank you.

  240. Deacon Hauser. I think one out of three.

  241. Come on. Tired.

  242. Tired of tired. Tired of trying to hold it all

  243. together. Tired of being the strong one.

  244. Tired of being the one who was always forgiving, always

  245. praying, always always smiling. But bleeding, bleeding and still

  246. sinking. The truth is, you're not weak.

  247. You're just over it. The text says here Jeremiah was

  248. in the stocks. But check this out because this

  249. is what's even more crazy. Sister Mary and Jeremiah,

  250. Jeremiah chapter 20, verse 3, it says, and it came to pass on the

    Jeremiah 20:3

  251. Morrow, the next day, that passion sure hadn't brought

  252. forth Jeremiah out of the stocks.

  253. Then Jeremiah has said unto him, the Lord have not called thy

  254. name pashur, but magar misabem. Now, now check this out.

  255. Jeremiah just came out of the stocks.

  256. He's still sore, he's still humiliated, he's still hurting.

  257. But the moment he's released, he does not cower.

  258. He confronts look, look, look, look, look.

  259. But he says, he says, he says, the Lord gave me a new name for

  260. you. He said, I know you say your

  261. name is Pasha verse three, he says, but your name really is my

  262. God. Miss a miss a beep, which means

  263. terror on every side. Jeremiah says you look like

  264. stability, but God sees your fear.

  265. Jeremiah says you're hiding behind religious structure, but

  266. God sees your spiritual chaos. And so whenever we're in study

  267. mode, looking at our Scriptures in our Bible, we see often times

  268. that people are are renamed and they're renamed because it is to

  269. reveal the essence of who they are.

  270. Jeremiah says you wear priestly rose, but you're trembling

  271. behind that curtain. And he says you might have

  272. silenced me, but God's just unmuted your judgment because

  273. you aren't who you really say you are.

  274. I think I better get on that, this first movement.

  275. But some people only know how to function and control.

  276. So when you walk in truth, they call you a problem.

  277. And I'm going to let you know that the system doesn't hate you

  278. for being loud and hates you for being clear.

  279. So the stocks didn't silence Jeremiah, they staged him for

  280. his next word. Because God will use your public

  281. pain to reveal someone elses private panic.

  282. God, I feel like preaching. That's why I ain't got time

  283. though. I got 15 minutes.

  284. So so so so so I'm gonna let you know.

  285. I'll let you know that if you've been doing silent suffering, if

  286. you worked hard but still find yourself overlooked, if you're

  287. parenting through pressure, if you try to to fight and then you

  288. really find yourself tired out of fighting to be heard.

  289. If, if you you've been serving as systems that celebrate

  290. mediocracy and punish truth. If you feel like nobody sees

  291. you, then you too. You, you, you, you in the Pew,

  292. you online, you. You know what it means to be

  293. persecuted for proclaiming. So it's here we find ourselves

  294. now into the second movement of the text.

  295. I've already read verse 4 for you, but the second movement is

  296. that there was a pronounce, a pronouncement of judgment with

  297. precision. You would think Jeremiah would

  298. have been done by now. You really thought at?

  299. Going through all of this in just a matter of a few verses,

  300. that he had really just tapped out.

  301. You would think after being beaten, after being locked in a

  302. contorting device, after being humiliated in front of the

  303. temple crowd, that he'll come out with his head down and his

  304. mouth shut and his confidence crushed.

  305. But no Bible says he comes out of the stocks still clear and

  306. still called because when the system tried to strip his

  307. dignity, God gave him a word so sharp it will cut through the

  308. road ranks and respectability of even the religious elite.

  309. Because such I got to remind you today that there has to be

  310. prophetic precision. Jeremiah begins by adjusting

  311. Pashore. Check this out directly.

  312. But no sub tweets but no sneak tacks.

  313. Yeah, he came to him directly, not as a peer, not as a priest.

  314. But that's a problem God has marked for judgement.

  315. Come here, let's read it again. We're in verse #4 He says the

  316. Lord have not called thy name pastor.

  317. But not gore, Misabin. Terror on every side.

  318. Terror on every side, He said. He said the name that you said

  319. you were pastor, which means freedom, liberation.

  320. No, he said you really are a terror on every side.

  321. Jeremiah renames him not to embarrass him, but to expose

  322. him. I guess I better go down the

  323. list real quick and help you out because sometimes you're going

  324. to walk into to school and and you're going to feel like nobody

  325. sees the fear you carry. But God sees every hallway,

  326. every class, every bully, every weights, and he will never call

  327. you to something that you're not able to handle.

  328. OK, you've learned how to keep it cool on the outside by chaos

  329. surrounds you on the inside. You look like ease on your

  330. timeline, but inside it's tear on every side.

  331. And that's that's for sure. But I want to let you know how

  332. about for the young folks in the room, maybe, maybe the

  333. middle-aged people, you find yourself working hard with your

  334. little side business and you know, working hard, hard which

  335. on your enterprise skill, smiling through anxiety, trying

  336. to build a life with pressure, pressure, pressure pressing on

  337. every angle. You know what it's like to be

  338. productive when panic rise your back.

  339. OK, let me find another group 'cause I ain't found the group

  340. yet in the room. Maybe if you spent your years

  341. holding the house down, carrying both kids and parents faith and

  342. frustration, and now the panic's on the inside and nobody knows.

  343. Let me go a little far farther up in the age rank and see if I

  344. can find you. Maybe you're the person that

  345. you're. You find your pieces constantly

  346. threatened. You've navigated the pressure of

  347. aging, maybe retirement or or health issues.

  348. You've, you watch the world shift faster than your body can

  349. catch up. That ain't it.

  350. Let's go a little bit higher. Maybe the silent generation.

  351. You don't leave your house much anymore.

  352. You're not fighting crowds, but you're fighting loneliness.

  353. You're fighting the fear that your life no longer has meaning.

  354. I'm going to let you know that panic doesn't always show up in

  355. the body. It often hides behind

  356. performance. I thought I'd find you

  357. somewhere. God used Jeremiah to rename, but

  358. the system refused to confront and look at this.

  359. Look at this. And here he tells him.

  360. He tells him that thus saith the Lord.

  361. He does not say God might. He says to the man, thus saith

  362. the Lord. Verse #4 thus saith the Lord.

  363. This word is not open to interpretation.

  364. It's precise as to Jackie, it's personal sister Jackie, it's

  365. piercing. Sister Jackie, God is saying,

  366. you've manipulated my church. My temple long enough Dick and

  367. Davis, you silence prophets, prophets and preachers and

  368. platform liars in this text. You've called yourself free

  369. pastor, but I see fear coming from every side of you.

  370. And now the punishment will fit the potential.

  371. Check this out. But God doesn't just judge lies.

  372. He just the systems that let them that that keep working.

  373. The lies work. And I and I had to say that

  374. because I know the world we live in, we keep trying to figure,

  375. Lord, when will it in? But I want to let you know that

  376. we serve the righteous judge and his timeline is not ours.

  377. Get out of God's business. I hear my grandmother can't

  378. nobody do it like him. And God says to him, he says

  379. you're going to Babylon and you would Dang them.

  380. I'm Papillon so specific almost surgical system Mary now this

  381. divine accountability, but no anesthesia.

  382. He says you and yourself go get on out of here.

  383. Well, well, OK, you may not be past sure, praise the Lord.

  384. But have you, have you ever had to deal with consequences from

  385. someone else's compromise? You, you were the child, but

  386. they, they made you care of the brokenness.

  387. You were, you were the employee, but but leadership lied and you

  388. lost your peace. OK, you were the faithful one,

  389. but the family dysfunction keeps dragging you back.

  390. And here's the tension of the text.

  391. What happens when you're caught in someone else's collapse?

  392. OK, but there's good news. Even if you live around fear,

  393. you don't have to live under it. I think I better rewind that one

  394. back right there. That was good, huh?

  395. Even if you live around fear, you don't have to live under it.

  396. So Jeremiah releases this judgment.

  397. There's something shifts, and then I believe his voice

  398. trembles, his spine softens, his chest collapse.

  399. And all of a sudden, from finally confronting Pastor,

  400. giving the word of the Lord, your Bible says in verse #7 to

  401. chapter 20, the book of Jeremiah, he says, 0 Lord, yeah,

  402. that has deceived me and I was deceived.

  403. I was deceived. The word deceived means

  404. persuaded or seduced. This isn't doctrinal doubt.

  405. This is deep disappointment. Jeremiah says, God, you didn't

  406. tell me it will feel like this for every kid going back to

  407. school this week and next week and you got butterflies, but

  408. they don't see your burden. To every college student that

  409. said yes to that major, but now you're wondering if you chose

  410. the wrong one. To every teacher that's got to

  411. go back to teaching who loves their kids, but the system is

  412. choking your joy out. To every single parent in

  413. another state or in another area who's doing everything they know

  414. to do right and it still feels like something's wrong.

  415. To every business owner and entrepreneur who follow the

  416. vision, but the bills are louder than your calling, OK?

  417. To every retiree at the house that you still got this wonder

  418. going on in your mind if your life matters.

  419. To every pastor that's watching and listening, every mentor,

  420. caregiver that's on the line, who's pouring, trying to figure

  421. out who's feeling you. God is what?

  422. Jeremiah cried out. Then he said you checked me into

  423. this calling. He said you tricked me and you

  424. didn't show me the pain. Can I give you a quick

  425. homiletical highlight? I only got two people talking.

  426. It's OK, I ride with it. I'm going to let you know that

  427. sometimes God will let your calling break your heart.

  428. So your heart will never break covenant with your calling.

  429. I Did you go to sleep on me? What happened to you?

  430. I'm preaching harder than you talking.

  431. I said sometimes God will let your calling break your heart.

  432. So your heart will never break covenant with your calling.

  433. I'm not ready, John. Hold on now.

  434. Jeremiah didn't get. He didn't keep going because

  435. ministry felt fair. He kept going because the

  436. calling was too sacred to surrender for comfort.

  437. And here's rare. Here's rare.

  438. I got to really help us out. The name Pashor means ease,

  439. liberation of freedom. But don't miss this Pashor is

  440. the name that tries to convince you that you don't deserve

  441. exemption from pain because you're anointed.

  442. Pastor is the voice that says I shouldn't have to suffer like

  443. this. Pastor is entitlement in

  444. priestly robes and garments. And some of us are not at war

  445. with the enemy. We're at war with our own

  446. expectations of ease. We've confused favor with

  447. insulation. We've mistaken calling for

  448. comfort. I feel your Lord.

  449. We've idealized the idea of serving God, but we despise the

  450. reality of obeying him under pressure.

  451. And the truth of the matter is entitlement must be eradicated.

  452. Because if you're going to carry this word of God with power, if

  453. you're going to find yourself doing the real of God, yeah, you

  454. have to bury the lie that you're owned.

  455. A painless journey. This is not about what you're

  456. old. This is about the honor of being

  457. entrusted with God's truth even when it hurts.

  458. You're entrusted with God's glory even when it hurts.

  459. You're entrusted with this salvation even when it hurts.

  460. So Jeremiah says yes, yes, yes. He says yes, but, but, but, but,

  461. but, but he didn't understand, didn't understand that the yes

  462. will lead to bruises. He yeah, Jeremiah obeyed, but he

  463. didn't know his obedience. But get him overlooked.

  464. Yeah. Jeremiah spoke up, but he didn't

  465. know that the truth will get him isolated.

  466. And yet now Jeremiah says, God, I love you, but I'm tired.

  467. He says, yeah, dear Lord, I trust you, but I'm triggered.

  468. He says, God, I follow you, but I feel fooled.

  469. Have you ever found yourself there?

  470. Sometimes you don't feel like quitting the call, you just feel

  471. like quitting the cost. I know Mother was hollering.

  472. You couldn't hear me. I better say it again.

  473. Sometimes you don't feel like quitting the call, you just feel

  474. like quitting the cost. It's not the word that's heavy,

  475. it's the wounds that came with it.

  476. Oh, I like that sound. Yeah, sometimes the biggest test

  477. is not if you'll preach or share.

  478. It's if you'll stay pure while being punished.

  479. God can handle your honesty. That's all I need you to know.

  480. So don't hide behind a fake Hallelujah.

  481. Don't hide behind this fake praise.

  482. Don't hide behind that. Because Jeremiah shows that you

  483. can be powerful and processing it at the same time.

  484. You can prophecy and still wrestle with pain.

  485. You can be strong in public and stretched out in private.

  486. And you're not less anointed because you find yourself

  487. crying. See you.

  488. I've got to get out of here. My last few moments sharing with

  489. you that the last movement of this text.

  490. Sometimes you have to be pressed by the pain.

  491. Come, you got to be pressed by the pain.

  492. I better skip this text because I ain't got much long.

  493. Let's go to verse #9 Verse 8 says.

  494. Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak

  495. anymore his name. Jeremiah makes a decision in his

  496. soul. I'm done.

  497. Not because he doesn't believe, but because belief has been

  498. costly. Not because he's lost his

  499. calling, but because he was losing himself.

  500. He didn't walk away from God. Yeah.

  501. He just tried to retreat from the weight of obedience.

  502. And let's be real. Real in the room.

  503. Yeah. That sometimes it's not the

  504. enemy that exhausts us. It's the expectations of being

  505. faithful. It's not the cold, cold, cold.

  506. Yeah, that breaks us. Yeah.

  507. It's the silence that follows obedience.

  508. You prayed and it got worse. You fasted and still got laid

  509. off. You stayed faithful and still

  510. got misunderstood. You're not a weak.

  511. You're just human. And Jeremiah shows us in the

  512. text that you can be real with God.

  513. Yeah, I'd still be righteous before him.

  514. I've got to get out of here now. But I'm reminded of a story of

  515. this old man who was a world famous violinist who had came on

  516. stage one time with this priceless violin in his hand.

  517. The orchestra was tuned up real good, the lights had dimmed real

  518. low. Sister Chris, the audience had

  519. waited breathlessly and the man begin to play.

  520. Yes, Lord, he played so well, Mother, that the sound he was

  521. playing was like heaven kissing the earth.

  522. The notes seem to dance all around the walls of that concert

  523. hall, and the crowd was mesmerized.

  524. Then suddenly, the man stopped and he smashes the violin

  525. against the floor. Yeah, and he's smashing it until

  526. it's crushed into pieces. Sister Sherry, the crowd is

  527. looking like your eyeballs up in amazement at the story, gasping

  528. at what happened, This violinist calmly reaches around and behind

  529. him. He pulls out the real violin,

  530. and he takes a second and he yells out to the audience.

  531. He says what you just heard came from a cheap imitation, he said.

  532. But I want you to know, yeah, that it's not about the the

  533. instrument, but it's about the fire in the hands of the one who

  534. plays it. I got to get out of here for

  535. real now. But God will let life press down

  536. on you to prove the power. They come from you.

  537. And there'll be moments, yeah, you feel broken.

  538. And when you find find yourself in that place, when he breathes

  539. through you, you still release glory.

  540. Don't know how I'm going through it, but I still got glory.

  541. Glory to the Lord, but I'm so glad that he even thought

  542. Jeremiah had been through this ordeal.

  543. Jeremiah shows us him that says that he didn't just stop

  544. preaching, he just shut down. He he didn't just leave the mic.

  545. He had buried the message, but there's something about burying

  546. the message because at the core of the message is the word.

  547. And you can't walk away from the platform.

  548. Oh my God, let me say it again. You can walk away from the

  549. platform, but you can't walk away from what's pulsing in your

  550. bones. I believe Bible's so real.

  551. Yes, Lord, Jeremiah shares his ordeal with God.

  552. Jeremiah shares his complaints with God.

  553. But as he's there, yes, Lord, He feels the pool of purpose in the

  554. middle, in the middle of pressure.

  555. The Bible says in verse #9 Then I said, I will not make mention

  556. of Him, not speak anymore in His name, but His word was in my

  557. mind. No, that ain't what your Bible

  558. says. I want to see if you had it

  559. open. It says but his word was in my

  560. pinky toe. No, that ain't what it said.

  561. It says box. His word was in my heart as a

  562. burning I. AM shut up in my bones, my Lord,

  563. you're. Trying to hold it in turned,

  564. tried to sit down. But something stood up inside.

  565. Something. Got a hold of them?

  566. Something we ignited him and. Somehow, I'm sorry the word

  567. didn't just visit him, but the word inhabited him and I.

  568. Got to let you. Know you can't quit when.

  569. God made your body. His Tabernacle you can cancel

  570. coming to church. You can quit watching online,

  571. but I. Want to let you know.

  572. You may even find yourself following the Sunday school.

  573. Book away but his word but his. Word.

  574. But his word was. Somehow we ignite you even when

  575. life has snubbed out the flame of your life.

  576. I can hear. Mama now cooking in the kitchen.

  577. And sometimes the flame will go. Out on the stove but.

  578. Mom. But say don't.

  579. Wear it, all you got it do is re lighted the pilots.

  580. Already on. Don't worry, God is still

  581. working in your life. Don't worry, God.

  582. Is going to use his word. Like a match and he going to

  583. light you up. That's all I came to tell you.

  584. Happy 1st Sunday, have a good week.

  585. But whatever you do, but whatever you do, but whatever

  586. you do, don't forget the word of God.

  587. Because here's where here's a lap potato shot, a lapid to my

  588. feet. Here's where it is a light to my

  589. path. It may be dark.

  590. Come here deep. Help me preach.

  591. It may be hard, but I want you to know that God will steal you,

  592. light you up. You may feel cold, you may feel

  593. like you've lost your feeling, but God, God, God, God, God, God

  594. will use his own word to light you back up.

  595. I don't know how bad it is for you now, but I got one word.

  596. I got one way. I got one way.

  597. I got one way I don't. Want to know what?

  598. It is, I said. I got one word.

  599. Oh y'all don't? Like surprises, I talked.

  600. To my own child. But I got a one word.

  601. I almost quit but I got a new fire and I.

  602. Came to tell somebody. Quitting might have happened for

  603. a moment, but I got a new fire. I found the fire that Moses

  604. found him, the burning Bush. I found the fire that fell on

  605. the church on the day of Pentecost.

  606. I found the fire that said I'll never leave you nor forsake you.

  607. Found the new fire, Somebody said, what's the new fire?

  608. Well, the new fire needed some wood, and that wood had a lure

  609. to it. That wood had to be nailed

  610. together, but they put the fire with the wood.

  611. I lifted it up and his name was Jesus, and he died.

  612. Didn't he die? I.

  613. Don't know what I tell, I didn't decide.

  614. No, I said. He died on our old rugged cross.

  615. He died just long enough to light me up.

  616. He died, but that's not all the story is.

  617. He might have died, but they buried him trying to contain his

  618. fire. But early someday morning, early

  619. someday morning, it seemed like it was cool as a cucumber.

  620. But somehow on a Sunday morning, the fire came out The Cave, the

  621. fire came out the grave, and the fire is now burning, burning,

  622. burning, burning. Help me appreciate, I said.

  623. It's burning and I'm trying to figure it out.

  624. You say Anybody yelts in the room?

  625. Yelts online. That's the Lord I want the Fire

  626. Lord. I need the Fire Lord.

  627. Light my fire Lord. I can't stay here.

  628. Lord, I need your help. Lord, Lord, Lord.

  629. Thank you for tuning in to the Rock Hill Baptist Church 2

  630. Podcast. We pray today's message planted

  631. something in your spirit and gave you the strength to keep

  632. growing here at the Rock Hill Baptist Church 2.

  633. We're a growing church, and growth starts with one step.

  634. If you're ready to go deeper, visit us online at

  635. www.myrockhill2.org and click Next Steps to get connected,

  636. join a ministry, or give your life to Christ.

  637. Be sure to follow the podcast so you never miss a message and

  638. share this episode with someone you know is ready to grow too.

  639. And remember, no matter what comes your way, you were built

  640. to elevate. Until next time, walk in

  641. purpose, live in power, and grow in grace.