Luceat lux vestra! Wednesday, Apr 7 2010 

Biographical and Motivational kennethbow 10:48 pm

Luceat lux vestra is latin taken from the fifth chapter of Matthew’s gospel.  It means “Let your light shine”

Thirty days ago tomorrow Martyn Ballestero encouraged me to write a blog.  I was hesitant.  He had seen great success with his blog, in my opinion. He persisted in encouraging me, and even set up my blog to get me started.

So here I am, on the brink of thirty days later, very surprised at how many wonderful people have taken time to visit my blog.

I would like to take this moment to say thank you.  I know you all lead busy lives.  It is so gratifying to have people visit and leave comments.  I thank you.

Writing this blog has given me a new perspective on life.

We all need a new perspective at least once in our lives!

In the late 1960’s there was a young man who had a dream of becoming a famous musician.  He knew what he wanted so he dropped out of high school and began to play his music. He was one credit short of his diploma.  His thought was, I am not going to Columbia University, I am going to Columbia records!

The opportunities came slowly.

He found himself playing in small dirty clubs.  He was playing his music to drunks night after night.  This was not his dream!

He had dreamed of playing to sellout crowds across America.  He dreamed of his music in the stores.  He even had the courage to dream of playing to a packed baseball stadium.  No one had ever thought of that or dreamed it.

It was not an easy road.  He had come on difficult times.  He was broke.  He was a failure.  His only joy in life was his girlfriend.

He and his girlfriend slept in laundromats to save hotel bills.  Finally one day she got sick of all the travel and failures.  She had dreamed of being married to a famous musician and singer. This was not the life she had dreamed of.  She left him.

This young man felt like there was nothing left in life for him. The night she left him he made an attempt to commit suicide. He drank a bottle of furniture polish and a bottle of vodka.  The next day, very sick, he checked himself into a mental institution.

Less than three weeks later he checked himself out.  He was a new man. He was refreshed and excited about life. He was cured!

He had not been given any medication of any kind. It was not anything the doctors or nurses had said to him.  The mental patients had cured him!

They told him how gifted he was, and they made him believe he could have so much more from life!

He was given a new perspective on life!

He walked out of that mental institution resolved to pursue his dream.  He would do whatever necessary to achieve that dream.

Three years later he wrote a song called “The piano man”.  Today most people in America have heard of Billy Joel.

June 22 and 23, 1990, Billy Joel played to sell out crowds of ninety thousand people at Yankee stadium.

Billy Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States.

Billy Joel had Top 10 hits in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s and has 33 Top 40 hits in the United States, all of which he wrote singlehandedly.

He is also a six-time Grammy Award winner, a 23-time Grammy nominee and has sold over 100 million records worldwide.

Billy Joel

We all need a new perspective at least once in our life.

I have a new perspective because you have read my blog.

Thank You!

Luceat lux vestra!

Thanks for reading today.

 

I would give anything to be able to……. Tuesday, Apr 6 2010 

Biographical and Motivational kennethbow 7:56 pm

What?

To play an instrument?

To sing?

To be a soul winner?

To be independently wealthy?

Itzhak Perlman

Itzhak  Perlman plays the violin.

He might just be the greatest violin player on earth today.  In fact, he might be the greatest violin player in history.

When he plays, it is so much more than music.  It is an experience.

Was he born with some rare gift no one else has ever possessed?

Why don’t you decide!

Every morning Perlman wakes up at five-fifteen.  He showers, has a light breakfast, and begins his morning practice session, which lasts four and a half hours. He has lunch, reads for  a while, exercises then begins his afternoon practice session, which lasts for four and a half hours. In the evening he has dinner with his family and relaxes.

This is his schedule every day of the year except on days he plays concerts.

On concert days he wakes up at five-fifteen, showers, has breakfast and then practices for four and a half hours. He then has lunch, reads for a while, exercises, and then takes a ninety minute nap. When he wakes up he gets dressed and goes to the concert venue.  They perform a sound check, and have a brief rehearsal.

Forty-five minutes before the concert Mr Perlman goes to his dressing room and locks the door.  Two security guards are posted outside his door, no one is allowed in under any circumstances!

What do you think he does?

He prays.

Itzhak Perlman prays.

He spends one minute asking God to help him play the violin that night.  He spends the other forty-four minutes praying for the people who will attend the concert that night.  He does not doubt God will help him play the violin brilliantly for the concert. Why?

Because Itzhak Perlman plays the violin brilliantly for nine hours a day, every single day, day in and day out, in an empty room,  for nobody but his God!

Itzhak keeps his part of the bargain.  He has passion, dedication and faith. Therefore he has confidence God will keep His part of the bargain.

Itzhak Perlman makes people cry when he plays the violin, and they do not know why they are crying. He makes people feel and hear things they have never felt or heard before. He shares his excitement and passion through his music.  He motivates people.  He touches people.  He moves people. He changes people. He makes a difference in people.

Itzhak Perlman has found a way to touch other people’s lives, to raise them up, to share his passion.

Listen to the theme from “Schindler’s list”, and you will feel the passion.

Several years ago Perlman agreed to attend a charity event  in Vienna, after one of his concerts. Tickets were five hundred dollars each. The guests were allowed to speak to Mr. Perlman and get his autograph.

One man entered the roped off area where Perlman was and stretched out his hand to shake hands. The man said, “Mr. Perlman you were phenomenal tonight. You were absolutely amazing.”

Perlman smiled and said “Thank you.”

The man said, “All my life I have had a great love of the violin, and I have heard every great violinist, but I have never heard anyone play the violin as brilliantly as you did tonight”.

Perlman smiled and said nothing.

The man continued, “You know Mr. Perlman, I would give my whole life to be able to play the violin like you did tonight”.

Perlman smiled once more and said,”I have”.

Itzhak Perlman at the White House

What would you give to….

  • Be a soul winner
  • Be a prayer warrior
  • Be an intercessor

I would give anything to be able to…..

Thanks for reading today!

( Perlman was born in Tel Aviv, in what was soon to be Israel, where he first became interested in the violin when he heard a classical music performance on the radio. He studied at the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv before moving to theUnited States to study at the Juilliard School with the great violin pedagogue, Ivan Galamian, and his assistant Dorothy DeLay.

Perlman contracted polio at the age of four. He made a good recovery, learning to walk with the use of crutches. Today, he generally uses crutches or an Amigo POV/Scooter for mobility and plays the violin while seated.

The world falls in love with music when Itzhak Perlman takes up his violin. A superstar by any standard and a rarity in the classical field, Perlman has taken hold of the public imagination as few violin virtuosos ever have, bringing joy to millions with his playing. Having lost the use of his legs after falling victim to polio at the age of four, Perlman always sits as he plays. But he never fails to bring audiences to their feet.)

 

You are invited….. Tuesday, Apr 6 2010 

Biographical and Doctrine and Family kennethbow 7:18 am

First Pentecostal Church will be holding it’s

39th Annual Services April 9~11, 2010.

We would like to extend a cordial welcome to all who would like to attend!

First Pentecostal Church of the Puget Sound

Schedule of Guest Speakers:

Friday  7pm:

Garry Streeval,

Noblesville, IN

Saturday  6pm:

Jerry Rowell,

Yuma, AZ

Sunday 10am:

Martyn Ballestero,

South Bend, IN

Sunday 7pm:

Glen Burgess,

Chehalis, WA

Saturday Night following the service,

a Panamanian meal will be served at

Brank’s Restaurant.

Come celebrate 39 years of  ministry of

Kenneth Bow & First Pentecostal Church .

  • Recognition of visiting ministers.
  • FPC Choir,
  • Chorale
  • & Orchestra
  • will be singing and playing nightly.
  • Fellowship for all age groups.

For information about lodging please call our church office~~~ 253 862 4314.


Where truth still takes  center stage!

 

Who signed the document to rebuild the temple? Friday, Mar 26 2010 

Biblical history and Biographical and Doctrine and Old Testament kennethbow 10:18 pm

Daniel

Daniel is considered a major prophet, even though his book is not that lengthy. In my notes about the Major Prophets I explain that it is more than length that determines a major prophet.

Daniel was carried away captive into Babylon in the first wave of captivity.  There were three waves of captivity.  In the first wave Nebuchadnezzar carried away the finest young men and minds of Jerusalem.  He then carried away 10,000 and placed them in a captives settlement on the River Chebar. Ezekiel was in this group.   Then the final gleaning carried all the rest into Babylon in 586 BC (2 Kings 24).

Daniel probably would have had a great career in Jerusalem, but he was never given the chance.  At 18 years old he is ripped from his prominent family and carried away into a far away country.  The Babylonians did not care about his dreams or plans.  He was a refugee to them, a captive.

The Babylonians saw his potential and trained him in their schools.  After his graduation Daniel was put to work for the King.  This same king Daniel worked for, continued to war against Daniel’s people for another 20 years.

I find no record of any family members around Daniel.  It appears he was alone except for some other young men also carried captive.

Daniel rose to the position of Prime Minister.  For an outsider to achieve this high position speaks volumes about Daniel.  He kept this position for many years, even when Kings were dethroned.  Daniel’s career at the top lasted at least 66 years.  When he was thrown into the Lion’s den he was over 80 years old. There is no finer example in the Bible about how to live and excel with people who do not serve your God or share your beliefs.

Later in His life, God gave Daniel a series of visions about the future of planet earth.  In grapic terms God showed Daniel the future. Daniel’s people would duplicate his personal experience on a world scale.  God used Daniel to show the Hebrew people what to do when the Diaspora unfolded.

The Hebrew people thought they had exclusive rights to God.  The book of Daniel shows God’s intent was to save the world, not just the Jew.

To me one of the most magnificent things the book of Daniel offers, is the proclamations by heathen kings. These proclamations brought more honor to God than anything a Jewish King had done in decades!  Daniel’s book teaches how God’s people can live caught in the jaws of brutal world politics.

Daniel continues his career at least until the 3rd year of Cyrus.  Cyrus was a despot.  When Cyrus was killed, the queen cast his head into a vat of blood and said, “Thy thirst was blood, now drink thy fill”.  Somehow this incredible man Daniel was able to navigate all these treacherous waters of politics, and remain unscathed.

The first 6 chapters of his book are stories about the life in Babylon.  The rest of his book is a series of visions about the world’s future.

An interesting note is that before the captivity is final, Daniel refers to God as “Lord of hosts”.  After the captivity happens, he refers to God as “The God of heaven”.  I wonder if he felt God had moved out of planet earth because of the captivity?

When Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem, he carried away 2499 vessels.  These were kept in storage until Cyrus gave the permission to return and rebuild the Temple.  Then these vessels were used in the rebuilt temple.

I am of the opinion that it was Daniel that signed the decree to rebuild Jerusalem.

That decree was issued in the first year of Cyrus, and Daniel continued at least until the third year of Cyrus.  What an honor to live your life in such a manner to be the one to attach your signature to the rebuilding of the temple.

I am also of the opinion that Daniel is the author of Psalm 119.  This great Psalm sings of the word of God.  That was all Daniel had.  Whoever wrote Psalm 119 had no temple to attend.  The author had enemies in high places, and was persecuted for his love of God.  These parameters seem to fit Daniel perfectly.  If this is true, how it must have thrilled him to be able to sign the document to rebuild the temple for all future Jews!

Daniel was forced to live for over 80 years without the house of God, but future generations would be blessed again with a temple.  His exemplary life allowed him to see this come to pass.

In addition to his long and fruitful career in foreign palaces, he also had a personal audience with the archangel Gabriel.

He also took up Jeremiah’s theme of 70 years and gave us the 70 weeks of years.

How much more magnificent could one life be?

Finally let me offer this about Daniel.

Daniel speaks about how a young person can do great things for God.  He was a contemporary of Ezekiel.  It is simply amazing to me how Daniel receives honor from his peers.  In Ezekiel 14.14, Ezekiel says though Noah, Job and Daniel stood before me, they would deliver but their own souls.  Again in chapter 28 and verse 3, Ezekiel speaks of the wisdom of Daniel.

For future generations to venerate you and speak of your greatness is not that uncommon. Here is a young man while in his prime that is seen by his peers as one of the greatest of all time.  Ezekiel looked at Daniel and placed him with Noah and Job, then used Daniel as the ultimate measure of wisdom.

Show me another example in the Bible of a young man who gathered that kind of honor while still young.  Show me another young man in the Bible who received such honor from his peers, and from God himself.

Daniel was a giant of his day and one of the truly great men of the Bible.

The shadow he casts reaches across thousands of years.

Thanks for reading today!

 

Kings, Harlots, Wars, Famine, and the Siren Song Of Victory! Thursday, Mar 25 2010 

Biblical history and Biographical and Doctrine and Old Testament kennethbow 7:46 am

Minor Prophets

All of the issues that produced the Major Prophets are the same for the coming of the Minor Prophets.  They are called “minor” for several reasons in my opinion.

First of all they are generally very brief in length.  Next, they are generally narrow in their application and audience.  For example, the Major Prophets spoke to the nations around them as well as to Israel.  Minor prophets focus on one area or nation as a rule.

Next their subject material is focused on a limited time era.  They generally are not dealing with a broad period of time.  And lastly, it is my opinion many of them played a supporting role to the Major Prophets.  Many of them were contemporaries with the Major Prophets.

They also, like the Major Prophets are diverse in background and ministry.  One thing is startlingly clear; God dealt with a world, not just Israel.  What an amazing revelation to all the Bible scholars who insist God was exclusively interested in the nation of Israel.  Some of these men of God spoke solely to Gentile nations.  There is the example of Jonah and Nahum to Nineveh, and Obadiah to Edom.

A poor analogy is, these men were short stories compared to the novels the Major Prophets wrote.  They are short, concise diatribes to very particular audiences.  They played an important role in the moment of their existence, but did not have the distilled major contribution that the Major Prophets had.

The Minor Prophets are God speaking a brief conversation with Israel, while the Major Prophets were a long involved discourse for many years.

However, do not let yourself think for even a moment they are less in importance.  To take that opinion would strip from you their magnificent contribution to God’s overall plan.  The Bible was written by Holy Men of God, and the spirit of God included each of these “minor” books for a reason that God saw need for.

The pageantry and principals in these books span from the Assyrian empire to the end of the Old Testament under the Persian Empire.

In the Hebrew writings these twelve books were one book called the book of the twelve.  There were actually twenty-one segments broken at different places without stopping at the books beginnings.

If read as one continuous book like the Hebrews do, it is quite a journey!  You will visit palaces and market places.  You will go from world capitals to country dells and villages.

You will read of Kings and harlots, siege and famine, plagues and songs of victory.  You will read of war and envy, of conquest and human endurance.

Above the din of this cacophony of human existence, you will hear the voice of a loving God, desperately in love with His people.  It is the voice of God weeping, wooing, and willing His people to return to Him.

The key to your automobile may seem small and easily replaced, but without it you aren’t going anywhere.  God saw they were needed and served a purpose, and we would be incomplete without them.

When studying one of these small brief conversations with God, I suggest you remember that the Creator saw the need for this to complete the Book of the ages.  Words from God called men, brief and pointed, that are forever settled in Heaven!

Could not all of us take encouragement from this, knowing that God included us in His master plan?

No matter how large or small our part on the grand stage of time, we are still important.

Without our part, the whole would be lacking.  While it is true that taking Obadiah out of the Bible would not have the same effect as removing Isaiah, it was God who decided Obadiah needed to be in the book that is forever settled in heaven.

It is apparent that God placed value on each man who contributed to the Bible.  What a lesson!  Will any of us refuse to do our part because it seems small and less important than that of others?

Here are my thoughts on the Minor Prophets as to who they spoke to and when:

  • Hosea, Wrote to Israel the northern kingdom, about 700 BC
  • Joel, wrote to northern kingdom about 800 BC
  • Amos, spoke to northern kingdom during Jeroboam II reign, 700 BC
  • Obadiah, spoke to Edom (Esau’s decendants), His date is very controversial
  • Jonah, spoke to Nineveh (world empire), 200 years before Nahum
  • Micah, spoke to northern kingdom, same time as Isaiah
  • Nahum, second voice to Nineveh
  • Habakkuk, spoke only to God, his book is a Theodicy, after the captivity
  • Zephaniah, spoke to the repatriated nation, after the captivity
  • Haggai, same as Zephaniah, spoke to the nation after the captivity
  • Zechariah, spoke to the nation after captivity and rebuilding of the temple
  • Malachi, spoke to the repatriates at the close of the Old Testament

One of my most helpful thoughts has been to think of about ten ministers you know.  Think of how they preach.  Think of how they approach a subject.  Think about their vocabulary, their illustrations, and their message.  That will give you a good appreciation of the Minor Prophets and their diversity.

They were  courageous men who devoted their life to delivering God’s message.  It was almost universal that their message was unwanted and unheard.  Yet, they obeyed their call and completed their message.

I look forward to the day when I can sit and talk with them and learn the rest of their story.

They were a magnificent breed indeed!

Thanks for reading today.

 

I. H. Terry and the Rose Wednesday, Mar 24 2010 

Biographical and Doctrine and Motivational kennethbow 7:31 am

My pastor was a great man!  He loved the doctrine, he loved preachers, and he loved poetry!  Brother Terry would read poetry to me when I would go to his house.  For seven years his wife was bed ridden, and I would go as often as I could to sit with him.  Most of the time it was one to two times a week.

When I got there he would reach over and take up one of the two books he used the most, we would settle in for the evening and he would read.  He had this cute look that he used, he would look up to see if you were getting the meaning.  He wanted to make sure you “caught” it.

There are many poems he would read, like “Maud Muller” by John Greenleaf Whitier.  It is an incredible story of a judge riding down a country lane who stops to get a drink of water at the hand of a young maiden.  He rides on but always remembers that moment.  Both of them go through life wondering what might have been if they had married.  It is from this poem the famous line is often quoted,

“the saddest words of tongue or pen, are simply these, it might have been”.

There were other poems he loved like “Curfew shall not ring tonight”, “The face on the barroom floor”, “The hell bound train”, “Casey at the bat” and the two sequels to “Casey”.

One poem he loved very much and used to help many people is called “Let it unfold”.  He preached about it and so have others.  The man who has made this poem most recognizable is Vaughn Morton.  Vaughn Morton has preached a classic, unforgettable message using this poem entitled “Let it unfold”.

The poem speaks about just letting life unfold the way God unfolds a rose.  Brother Terry would take people, mostly young preachers, out in his back yard and hand them a rosebud.  He would insist you unfold the rosebud.  As you tried you destroyed any chance of the rose ever reaching beauty or completeness.

Then Brother Terry wisely handed you a  rose.  Asked you to smell its fragrance, look at its beauty.  And he would quote the poem.

I remember like it was yesterday the moment I stood in his backyard with broken pieces of a rose in one hand and a beautiful red rose in the other.  With a tear in his eye, that old, wise mentor said…

It is only a tiny rosebud,

A flower of God’s design,

But I cannot unfold the petals

with these clumsy hands of mine.

The secret of unfolding flowers

Is not known to such as I,

The flower that God opens so sweetly,

Would in my hands would fade and die.

If I cannot unfold a rosebud

This flower of God’s design,

Then how can I think I have wisdom

To unfold this life of mine?

So I’ll trust in Him for His leading

Each moment of everyday

I’ll look to him for guidance

Each step of the Pilgrim way.

For the Pathway that lies before me,

My heavenly father knows:

I’ll trust him to unfold the moments,

Just as he unfolds the rose.

Thank you Brother Terry for one of my life’s greatest lessons.

Thanks for reading today!

 

16 Men Who Changed the World! Monday, Mar 22 2010 

Biblical history and Biographical and Doctrine and Old Testament kennethbow 8:53 am

The Prophets.

When Israel left Egypt on that fateful night of the Exodus, they were ill equipped to be a world member in the family of nations.  Their centuries of slavery had left them without the basic skills to form a nation and function.

They needed laws and leadership.  God provided them with both.

While they made the transition from slavery to a warrior nation to conquer the Promised Land, they needed something to anchor them to their past, to their beliefs and their survival.  God gave them the Tabernacle as that anchor.  It was the central element that polarized them as a people.  It was the central purpose and function of their lives.

The Tabernacle eventually became the Temple and the Temple stood as their foundation and polarization for centuries. It was the central point and purpose of their lives.

After their conquest and several hundred years of judges and monarchy, they had become an urban people with need of a different anchor.  The nation had not become, or remained what God had intended!  They needed another anchor for a different environment of urban life.

God sent them their second anchor…the Prophets!

The first prophets were miracle workers.  Elijah and Elisha types.  They got the attention of the Nation at locals like Carmel when Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal.

When it was evident that the miracles alone would not  turn the nation back to God, God then sent them a whole new group of men.  The writing prophets!

About 40 years after Elisha, the first writing prophet appears on the national scene.  God introduced the second anchor for the nation!  His word!

From the moment the writing prophets arrived, all of history changed.

These prophets were diverse.

  • Some were highborn, educated and mixed with the highest echelons of society.
  • They were consults of Kings!
  • They were advisors of the highest decisions made in the world.
  • Others were simple country men.
  • They were ridiculed and scorned.
  • Their verbiage and illustrations were simple and homespun.
  • They preached messages,
  • Wrote poems,
  • Composed songs,
  • And condemned Kings.

They are without equal or comparison in any period of history or in any culture in the world.

The Eastern religions of Buddism, Hinduism, and Muslims, for all their lasting impact, have never produced the likes of the writing prophets!

The Prophets wrote their visions and conversations with the Almighty.  They left behind a glimpse into the mind and nature of God that became the mantle of all preachers for all time.  We would not have survived without their writings.  Simple or complicated, rich or poor, heard or rejected, to a man….

They were magnificent!

Thanks for reading today.

 

He was only 14 years old, he lived a lifelong nightmare! Saturday, Mar 20 2010 

Biblical history and Biographical and Doctrine and Motivational and Old Testament kennethbow 9:16 am

Jeremiah

Which fourteen-year-old boy in your church can you envision preaching and being God’s Mouthpiece?  That was the age Jeremiah began his prophetic work.  He then proceeded to speak to a nation who would not listen for the next 40 years.

He has been called the “weeping prophet” because of the times in his book he sheds tears.  Jeremiah prophesied while his nation tottered on the bring of captivity.

Jeremiah certainly lived one of the most dramatic lives in the Bible.  It appears he never learned to like his role.  He was reluctant and unhappy with the job God asked him to do.

God chose him before he was even born, while he was still in his mother’s womb.  His assignment was to be over nations, to root out, to tear down, to build and to plant.  The only resource he had to accomplish this task was his mouth.  His response?  “Ah Lord God, I cannot speak, for I am a child” (1.6), and he was! He was only 14 years old!

He was given the unusual directive that he could never marry, never attend a happy event or a sad event.  He was not to experience any human emotion so he would never be confused as to what he felt.  He felt what God felt!

For forty years Jeremiah gave the nation’s leaders messages they did not want to hear.  They arrested him, they imprisoned him, and they almost killed him.

Jeremiah hung on.

He let them know that the Babylonians were coming and would carry them into captivity.  He warned them that alliances with powers like Egypt would not do any good.  They ignored him and he pressed on anyway.  Jeremiah made it clear, Judah’s only hope was to renew their relationship with the living God.

Jeremiah does not impress us like Isaiah.  His book is not poetic or beautiful in imagery.  The power of the book comes entirely from the insight of this prophet’s mind.

He was living a nightmare and that nightmare was coming true.

The nation was going under!

No person in the Bible shows their feelings like Jeremiah.  He quarreled with God.  He told God he wished he were dead.  He accused God of being unreliable. And yet, he stood, never wavering!  No relationship in the Bible speaks more to me of what it means to serve God.  He continued to follow God no matter what.

I am sure he tired of the ridicule.  He continued to stand alone against the crowd.  He spoke dark things in dark times.  His message was not wanted or popular.  In the end his message proved true.

He stands greater and more important to the kingdom of God than the very Kings who detested him.

The book of Jeremiah is an anthology of prophecies given at different times.  It jumps back and forth and is not in any chronological order.  It is a glimpse into the troubled mind of a man trying to warn a drowning nation.

300 years before the nation had been split into two nations with the civil war.  Israel and Judah had existed side by side for 200 years.  Then, 100 years before, the northern nation had been carried away into captivity into Assyria never to be heard from again.  He was seeing deja vu for Judah.  This time mighty Babylon was breathing down their neck and invasion was imminent.

Bullet points for Jeremiah:

  • Prophesied during 5 kings
  • Lived through the Babylonian invasion
  • Contempories were Zephaniah and Habakkuk
  • He was forbidden to marry
  • He was forbidden to go to any social meetings, happy or sad
  • His book has no particular order
  • He was called at 14 years old and preached for 40 years
  • Tradition says he was stoned in Egypt at the end of his life
  • He was the first person to speak of 70 years, then Daniel picked it up
  • Never liked his role but he obeyed
  • His only weapon was his voice
  • He was one man against a surging mass going in the opposite direction
  • He quarreled with God and told God he wished he were dead (20.14-18)
  • Accused God of being unreliable (15.18)
  • Had no social life (16.8)

Some of his memorable messages:

  • Broken cisterns
  • Potters house (18)
  • Rechabites (35)
  • The miry clay
  • The buried sash
  • The smashed pot
  • Purchasing land for the return after the exile

His supreme contribution:

It is my opinion that Jeremiah gives us the high point of the Old Testament.  In chapter 31 he gives the turning point after 1000 years of failure as a nation.

God wrote the law on tables of stone and the nation never was able to fulfill their destiny.  It was smoke, ashes, debris, and failure.  It was time for the second edition to be written!

Abraham was called in 1921 BC.  The children of Israel entered Canaan in 1451 BC.  It had been 1300 years since Abraham’s call and 800 years since they crossed the Jordan.  The judges, the kings, the prophets, had all proved unable to stem to tide.

God called a fourteen-year-old boy.  God quarantined him from social events, and gave him the New Covenant!

1000 years of history flowed into this young boy’s heart. From that river flowed out the New Covenant that is the foundation of the New Testament.

This time God would write it not on tables of stone, but on their hearts.  Jeremiah chapter 31 becomes the foundation of all the teachings of Jesus and the Apostle Paul.

It is an incredible story of an incredible man, used by God.

It is the story of a 14 year old boy who lived a lifelong nightmare!

Thanks for stopping by today.

 

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