WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:14.920 God is good at asking people to do things that just seem impossible, and you know why? 2 00:00:14.920 --> 00:00:21.400 Because when he asks you to do something for him and for his kingdom, and it's bigger 3 00:00:21.400 --> 00:00:25.880 than you, then he gets all the glory for it. 4 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:30.720 Hi, my name is Leanne Friesman, and this is Restoring Word. 5 00:00:30.720 --> 00:00:37.720 You know, this is Mother's Day weekend, and one year ago, I was at lunch with my precious 6 00:00:37.720 --> 00:00:44.760 husband, sharing with him a vision to begin to talk to people online, and to have the 7 00:00:44.760 --> 00:00:52.680 freedom to, you know, do what I wanted to do, and just obey God with whomever would 8 00:00:52.680 --> 00:00:53.680 listen. 9 00:00:53.680 --> 00:00:54.680 And here I am. 10 00:00:54.680 --> 00:01:01.800 A year later, I've just stepped out in simple obedience, and guess what? 11 00:01:01.800 --> 00:01:08.680 God gave me divine appointments, divine favor, and insight, and revelation. 12 00:01:08.680 --> 00:01:10.680 And that's how he moves. 13 00:01:10.680 --> 00:01:16.320 Oftentimes, we don't see the end at the beginning. 14 00:01:16.320 --> 00:01:23.600 We only see the next step in front of us. 15 00:01:23.600 --> 00:01:24.600 Because you know what? 16 00:01:24.600 --> 00:01:28.880 If we knew the whole story, we would mess it up. 17 00:01:28.880 --> 00:01:33.120 Today I want to talk about the first chapter in Jeremiah. 18 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:38.200 And I love this book, and I've been reading out of the Message translation. 19 00:01:38.200 --> 00:01:45.080 I've never studied out of the Message before, but I just got a new Bible, and I'm having 20 00:01:45.080 --> 00:01:46.480 fun with it. 21 00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:50.600 And I'm reading out of Jeremiah 1. 22 00:01:50.600 --> 00:01:55.960 Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you. 23 00:01:55.960 --> 00:02:02.000 Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you, a prophet to the nations. 24 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:05.840 That's what I had in mind for you. 25 00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:14.640 You know, you can have an idea of what you want to do with your life, but the bottom 26 00:02:14.640 --> 00:02:20.360 line is, where the blessing is, where the anointing is, where the provision is, is when 27 00:02:20.360 --> 00:02:24.840 you do something that God wants you to do. 28 00:02:24.840 --> 00:02:28.200 And you do it God's way. 29 00:02:28.200 --> 00:02:33.100 We often don't get to do things our way. 30 00:02:33.100 --> 00:02:36.160 We get to do it his way. 31 00:02:36.160 --> 00:02:38.760 See God knows what he has in mind for you. 32 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:41.560 All right, verse 6. 33 00:02:41.560 --> 00:02:43.560 But I said, hold it, Master God. 34 00:02:43.560 --> 00:02:44.880 Look at me. 35 00:02:44.880 --> 00:02:47.320 I don't know anything. 36 00:02:47.320 --> 00:02:49.960 I'm only a boy. 37 00:02:49.960 --> 00:02:55.760 I can't tell you how many times I have felt just like this portion of Scripture. 38 00:02:55.760 --> 00:02:59.680 God, what are you asking me to do? 39 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:05.000 Started out with me when I worked at a Christian school, and nobody was training worship leaders. 40 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:06.880 God, what are you asking me to do? 41 00:03:06.880 --> 00:03:08.520 I don't know how to do this. 42 00:03:08.560 --> 00:03:10.560 He's never done it before. 43 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:12.320 But it was his heart. 44 00:03:12.320 --> 00:03:14.680 He wants to be worshiped and glorified. 45 00:03:14.680 --> 00:03:15.800 It's all about him. 46 00:03:15.800 --> 00:03:18.720 It's all about building the kingdom. 47 00:03:18.720 --> 00:03:20.600 It's not about building it for you. 48 00:03:20.600 --> 00:03:25.200 No, it's about what's going to honor and glorify him. 49 00:03:25.200 --> 00:03:26.520 And you know what? 50 00:03:26.520 --> 00:03:29.000 You're never going to feel adequate. 51 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:32.280 You're always going to want to make excuses. 52 00:03:32.280 --> 00:03:38.560 Someone once said to me, Leanne, if it isn't big enough to scare you, it's not God. 53 00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:42.360 And over the years, that's proven to be true. 54 00:03:42.360 --> 00:03:49.720 If he is dealing with you right now about doing something that is bigger than what you 55 00:03:49.720 --> 00:03:53.120 could imagine, it's probably him. 56 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:55.480 Now there's going to be some checks and balances in there. 57 00:03:55.480 --> 00:03:57.520 Does it line up with the Word? 58 00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:02.720 Does it line up with what you've been previously taught or what the Holy Spirit has previously 59 00:04:02.720 --> 00:04:03.720 shared with you? 60 00:04:03.720 --> 00:04:12.280 If it is, not only will he provide for you, but he's going to confirm it through others. 61 00:04:12.280 --> 00:04:20.519 And when you try to make excuses with him, you know, Moses was given Aaron, right? 62 00:04:20.519 --> 00:04:24.160 He'll give you the people and he'll give you the resources to obey. 63 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:29.160 Moving on, God told me, don't say I'm only a boy or don't give me your excuses. 64 00:04:29.160 --> 00:04:32.400 I'll tell you where to go and you'll go there. 65 00:04:32.400 --> 00:04:35.440 I'll tell you what to say and you'll say it. 66 00:04:35.440 --> 00:04:38.040 Don't be afraid of a soul. 67 00:04:38.040 --> 00:04:43.400 I will be right there looking after you. 68 00:04:43.400 --> 00:04:46.920 God's decree. 69 00:04:46.920 --> 00:04:50.800 Where he sends you, he protects you. 70 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:58.240 What he asks you to do, he will give you a tangible anointing to do it. 71 00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:00.040 It's not maybe going to be walked out over. 72 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:05.360 night. It may financially be over your head. You may not have the knowledge or the resources that 73 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:13.600 you need to do it, but if you will step out and obey Him, you can rock the world for Jesus. 74 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:22.720 Isn't that good? I'll be right there looking after you. If God's asking you to step out onto 75 00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:28.160 the battlefield, He knows the battlefield and He knows where you are on that battlefield. I 76 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:37.280 remember years ago I shared a word with a pastor up in Iowa. I saw this vast battlefield and he was 77 00:05:37.280 --> 00:05:44.560 down with a sword and he was whacking away at the battle. It was like a drone coming down right next 78 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:53.840 to him. The word was something along the lines of, he's only seeing the battlefield from my 79 00:05:53.840 --> 00:06:00.400 perspective. Then it kind of came up. I saw it in praise and worship at this church. He said, 80 00:06:00.400 --> 00:06:07.520 but this is how I see the battlefield. If He asks me, I'll give Him joy in the battle. 81 00:06:08.480 --> 00:06:16.320 Isn't that a good word? Yes, God is right there with you on the battlefield. He knows what you're 82 00:06:16.320 --> 00:06:22.160 dealing with. He knows what you're up against. He knows the battle that you're fighting in your 83 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:29.200 region, but God looks at things differently. He sees the battlefield from His perspective. 84 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:37.200 God reached out and He touched my mouth and said, look, I've just put my words in your mouth, 85 00:06:37.760 --> 00:06:43.440 hand delivered. See what I've done? I've given you a job to do among nations and governments, 86 00:06:44.080 --> 00:06:52.080 a red letter day. Your job is to pull up, tear down, take apart and demolish, 87 00:06:52.960 --> 00:06:57.280 and then start over building and planting. 88 00:06:59.520 --> 00:07:05.920 This is a lot of action. These are verbs here. This is things that God is asking Jeremiah to do. 89 00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:11.440 This is Jeremiah's divine encounter. This is chapter one, guys. 90 00:07:12.320 --> 00:07:16.560 This is at the very beginning of his ministry. He's going to go for 40 years, and guess what? 91 00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:21.280 It's going to be pretty miserable. But most people that are called to do something prophetic 92 00:07:21.280 --> 00:07:25.040 are called to do something big. They have a divine encounter at the very beginning, 93 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:30.880 and then they have to hold on to that divine encounter through the next 40 years. That's 94 00:07:30.880 --> 00:07:36.320 why God gives people prophetic words. It isn't to puff them up or make them look spiritual. No, 95 00:07:36.880 --> 00:07:43.040 it's usually something that they're going to have to stand on down the road when things get kind of 96 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:50.560 crazy. You're going to have to stand in the middle of that battlefield knowing God's told you to do 97 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:57.280 something, and then it's going to take some action. What good is it for you to get a prophetic word 98 00:07:57.280 --> 00:08:04.080 and then sit on it? What good is it for God to give you direction about what he needs done, 99 00:08:04.080 --> 00:08:13.200 and then you don't obey? Oh, I am preaching to myself this morning. Oh, my goodness. 100 00:08:13.200 --> 00:08:18.800 Let's go on here. God's message came to me. What do you see, Jeremiah? I said a walking stick, 101 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:27.120 that's all. And God said, good eyes. I'm sticking with you. I'll make every word I give you come 102 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:33.760 true. Whoa. God's message came again. So what do you see now? I said, I see a boiling pot tipped 103 00:08:33.760 --> 00:08:39.679 down towards us. And God said, disaster will pour out of the north on everyone living in the land. 104 00:08:40.400 --> 00:08:48.160 Watch for this. I'm calling all the kings out of the north. God's decree. So from day one, 105 00:08:48.160 --> 00:08:53.920 Jeremiah knew that what was going to happen. These kings from the north were going to invade. 106 00:08:54.720 --> 00:08:57.520 And if you think about it, if it's a boiling pot, 107 00:08:59.760 --> 00:09:06.800 well, first off, let's go back to the stick. Okay. A walking stick is something that you use that 108 00:09:08.160 --> 00:09:11.840 accompanies you and stabilizes you on the journey. Okay. 109 00:09:14.640 --> 00:09:20.720 And that's likened to the almond bud. And really in other translations, it's the almond bud. 110 00:09:20.800 --> 00:09:26.880 You see the almonds bud every single year. The flowers come forth. They're fragrant. You know 111 00:09:26.880 --> 00:09:34.640 what season it is when the almond tree begins to bud. It's time. And he says, he'll be right with 112 00:09:34.640 --> 00:09:39.760 you. And then he goes on here and the almond bud is in another translation. Sorry, guys. 113 00:09:39.760 --> 00:09:46.400 But in 13 here, he says, he's talking about the boiling pot. When I think of a boiling pot, 114 00:09:46.400 --> 00:09:54.320 think of, you know, what does boiling water do? Well, it purifies. It disinfects. It gets 115 00:09:54.320 --> 00:09:59.920 rid of the bacteria. It gets rid of those stinky things. And you know, when that 116 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:05.880 happens it's it's a cleansing. So unfortunately what's happening here is 117 00:10:05.880 --> 00:10:09.120 there's going to be an invasion from the north and it's going to be a cleansing 118 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:16.200 and yes it can be painful when that happens. Verse 15, they'll come and they'll 119 00:10:16.200 --> 00:10:20.900 set up headquarters facing Jerusalem's gates, facing all the city walls, facing 120 00:10:20.900 --> 00:10:26.580 all the villages of Judah. I'll pronounce my judgment on the people of Judah for 121 00:10:26.580 --> 00:10:32.500 walking out on me. What a terrible thing to do. And courting other gods with their 122 00:10:32.500 --> 00:10:37.220 offerings, worshiping as God's sticks they'd carved and stones that they'd 123 00:10:37.220 --> 00:10:42.860 painted. The one thing God wants more than anything else is your heart and 124 00:10:42.860 --> 00:10:48.960 your obedience and if you really love him you're going to obey him and you're 125 00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:55.580 going to obey his word. That's what he wants more than anything else. He doesn't 126 00:10:56.380 --> 00:11:00.540 want to harm you, he doesn't want to harm anyone, but remember this is Old 127 00:11:00.540 --> 00:11:09.260 Covenant and he's warning his people you need to focus on me and not worship 128 00:11:09.260 --> 00:11:14.420 other idols. You know we live in a time in a season where idolatry is rampant. 129 00:11:14.420 --> 00:11:22.060 People worship money or fame or entertainment. God wants our heart. He 130 00:11:22.100 --> 00:11:27.780 wants our worship. Verse 17 here, but you stand on your feet and get dressed for 131 00:11:27.780 --> 00:11:32.980 work. Stand and say your peace. Say exactly what I tell you to say. Don't 132 00:11:32.980 --> 00:11:39.500 pull your punches or don't pull back when I give you something to deliver or 133 00:11:39.500 --> 00:11:44.460 I'll pull you out of the lineup. You know one thing about being used by God is he 134 00:11:44.460 --> 00:11:50.060 wants you to be obedient and if you're obedient in an area he'll use you again 135 00:11:50.060 --> 00:11:57.860 and again and again, but if you pull back and you don't obey then there might 136 00:11:57.860 --> 00:12:05.020 be a season of time in there where things adjust. Maybe that anointing lifts. 137 00:12:05.020 --> 00:12:11.620 Maybe the grace is gone. Maybe the provision dries up. Why? Because you 138 00:12:11.620 --> 00:12:19.300 weren't in obedience. Does that happen? Yeah, absolutely. When he tells you to do 139 00:12:19.300 --> 00:12:24.140 something, he'll give you the grace. He'll give you the anointing. He'll give 140 00:12:24.140 --> 00:12:31.260 you the provision to do it. Okay, if that lifts, maybe you better check yourself. 141 00:12:31.260 --> 00:12:38.460 Going on here, 18 and 19. Stand at attention while I prepare you for your 142 00:12:38.460 --> 00:12:45.260 work. I'm making you as impregnable as a castle, immovable like a 143 00:12:45.260 --> 00:12:53.700 steel post. So he's telling him, I'm gonna make you like a hard and stable and 144 00:12:53.700 --> 00:12:57.060 strong as a wall. Have you ever seen the walls of Jerusalem? They're beautiful and 145 00:12:57.060 --> 00:13:03.580 they've been there for thousands of years. They've never moved and that's 146 00:13:03.580 --> 00:13:06.700 what he does with Jeremiah. I mean the one thing I love about this book is no 147 00:13:06.700 --> 00:13:16.300 matter what this prophet goes through, he doesn't budge. He stands steady. Man, 148 00:13:16.300 --> 00:13:21.700 you know in the day and the hour that we live in, what I admire more than anything 149 00:13:21.700 --> 00:13:26.740 else is people that even when they screw up, guess what? They just keep going. They 150 00:13:26.740 --> 00:13:32.500 don't stop. They don't back up. They don't give up. They just suck it up, repent, 151 00:13:32.500 --> 00:13:41.100 apologize, and go at it again. That's what God's asking of us. Hey, it's okay if 152 00:13:41.100 --> 00:13:46.140 you screw up. It's okay. Get up and keep going. 153 00:13:46.140 --> 00:13:53.140 Immovable as a steel post, solid as a concrete block wall. You're a one-man 154 00:13:53.140 --> 00:14:00.820 defense system against this culture. Ooh, listen to that. A one-man defense system 155 00:14:00.860 --> 00:14:11.060 against this culture. You know, the pressure to change in this hour is 156 00:14:11.060 --> 00:14:17.180 unbelievable. I don't get to change this. I don't get to rewrite this. I don't get 157 00:14:17.180 --> 00:14:23.540 to decide, you know, what prophets said and didn't say thousands of years ago. It 158 00:14:23.580 --> 00:14:33.860 doesn't change. I'll fight for you, but they won't even scratch you. I'll back 159 00:14:33.860 --> 00:14:42.580 you up every inch of the way. God's decree. Stand strong, body. Stand strong, 160 00:14:42.580 --> 00:14:47.260 believers. Don't get weary in well-doing. If God has asked you to do something in 161 00:14:47.260 --> 00:14:51.980 this hour, he's positioned you for purpose, and there's a reason for it. You 162 00:14:51.980 --> 00:14:55.700 know, sometimes you kind of go through seasons, and you just want to ask God, 163 00:14:55.700 --> 00:15:01.980 why? Well, he knows the beginning from the end. Back to my... 164 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:07.120 illustration. He knows what it's going to look like in the long term. He knows what 165 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:14.280 he's going to ask you to do and all he's asking for you is for you to obey and do 166 00:15:14.280 --> 00:15:23.520 your part. Thank you for listening. Like and share and subscribe and I appreciate 167 00:15:23.520 --> 00:15:29.680 you. You have no idea. Thank you and have a great day.