Kerwin Baptist Church Daily Broadcast

Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ.

Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church located in Kernersville, North Carolina. For thus saith the Lord, the Maker thereof, the Lord that formed it, to establish it, the Lord is his name. Call unto me, God says, and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.

For thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses, circle that highlighted if you can, the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judo, which are thrown down from the earth, and by the mounts, or military, and by the sword. They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is to fill them with the dead bodies of men whom I have slain in mine anger and in my fury for all those wickedness which I have hid my face from this city. Look at verse 6. Behold, I will bring it health and cure.

Why? Because, he said, if you call unto me, this is what I'll do. I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth, and I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return and will build them as at the first, and I will cleanse them from all their iniquity whereby they have sinned against me, and I will pardon all their iniquities. Aren't you glad you serve a Savior that is willing to pardon your iniquities?

Maybe there's only 10 or 12 of us sinners in here, but aren't you glad God is willing to pardon your iniquities? Whereby they have sinned and whereby they have transgressed against me, and it shall be to me a name, God says, of joy, of praise and honor before all the nations of men. Remember this, the very people that have turned against Him and have done wrong to God and have backslidden and gotten away from Him.

God says, if you call unto me, I will heal and I will cure and I will protect, I will do all this, and then their name shall be to me a joy. Well, these are the very people that to Him for a long time were a discouragement and were an embarrassment, and they had turned away from God, but God said, if you call unto me, if you'll just come back, He said, I will do all these things, and then your name will be a joy to me, a praise and an honor before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them, and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I procure unto it. Now notice closely, verse 10, the Lord saith the Lord, again, there shall be heard in this place, which place? Notice this, God says, which ye say shall be desolate without man, without beast, even in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate without man and without inhabitant and without beast. God says, let me tell you, again, there shall be heard in this place, the place that you just said is desolate, the place that has been missing, the place that has been barren, the place that has been blessed of God, the place where folks have gone away from God, and God had to remove his blessing, and now they've been in captivity, now they've been under the control of others because of what they did years ago to God. God said, again, in that place, notice verse 11, here's what you shall hear, the voice of joy, the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, praise the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good. Wait a minute, this is the place that was down and out and barren and hurt because of things that had happened, captive, there was no joy, there was no praise, and God says, if you call unto me, I'll answer you, and I will do some great and mighty things, I'll heal and I'll cure and I'll do all these things, and then you'll be a joy to me once again, and then I will also put in the streets of your cities where once joy was not, now I'll put back the voice of joy, and I'll put back the voice of gladness, and once again, there'll be people saying, praise God, he's been good. Notice verse, middle of verse 11, for his mercy endureth forever, and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord, for I will cause to return the captivity of the land as at the first saith the Lord, notice this, thus saith the Lord of hosts, again in this place, which is desolate without man, without beast, and in all the cities thereof, and in the nation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down, in the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the vale, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that telleth them, saith the Lord. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord. Remember, all this happens when they call unto him. Thus saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel, unto the house of Judah, in those days, and at that time, will I cause the branch of righteousness to grow up unto David.

Who we talking about? Do you know where Jesus came from? The lineage of David. God says, you just call unto me.

If you'll just come back to where you used to be, I'll do all this because let me tell you what's coming. Without saying, he's saying right now, you're in the Old Testament. You don't know it's an Old Testament yet, but it's the Old Testament. But what's coming in the New Testament and years down the road out of the lineage of David will come a branch of righteousness. Notice what he says, to grow up unto David, and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land, and those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely.

And this is the name wherewith ye shall be called, the Lord our righteousness. See preacher, what is all those verses? I'm going to ask you to listen very quickly, but this morning I'd like to preach on this subject. And by the way, if it's okay with you, do you mind if I just brag on Jesus a little bit more? This is the third Sunday I've been bragging on Jesus. It's rare that I'll take another Sunday in a row and almost preach on the exact same type of thing that I preached the Sunday before.

But I'd like to brag on Jesus a little bit today. I'd like to preach on this subject again in this place. Father, I'm sure in this building are folks that used to have joy. There used to be praise and there used to be worship. They used to love being at church and they used to love opening that Bible and reading and spending time with you.

They used to love being on their knees and praying. And Lord, they used to be close to you and used to be serving you. And Lord, many of us that used to be at a point in our lives and a relationship with you where we should be.

And Lord, it might be because of different things that maybe there are some of us that are not there right now. And Lord, as you brought folks into this place today, I believe it is important that they know that if they will simply call unto you that you again in this place and again in their life and again in their marriage can give them the voice of joy. Lord, I pray you'd help us this morning. In your name we pray.

Amen. Let me give you some quick background and history. Jeremiah prophesied to the southern kingdom of Judah. His name means God establishes. Jeremiah was sent to, I guess you would say prophesied to the southern kingdom because they had been through quite a bit. Jeremiah, he ministered and prophesied during the reigns of Josiah, King Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoakim II Zedekiah. He began his ministry when he began the northern kingdom of Israel, had already been in captivity for a hundred years. And God sent Jeremiah to prophesy to the future of his people.

The people that had been through difficulty, the people that were now in captivity. And God sent Jeremiah so that he could prophesy of what would happen. Manasseh was a king and Manasseh's evil reign had ended 15 years before Jeremiah had prophesied.

After Manasseh came a king named Ammon and Ammon's reign was evil and it lasted barely two years. Jeremiah began during this time and here's what had happened because of circumstances and choices and all the things that had happened. Now God's people were in captivity. They had belonged to the Egyptians.

They had belonged to the Babylonians. They had been taken captive by kingdom after kingdom because God's protection had been pulled away because of the choices that they had made. So God sent Jeremiah here to prophesy what could be if they would just call unto him. Jeremiah was prophesying.

Number one, you might want to write this down. Number one, I notice this, that circumstances had damaged them. Circumstances had damaged them. You'll notice in verse four that we are told that they were thrown down by military.

They call them mounts. And what had happened here, here they are as a kingdom. They're a people.

They're trying to do the best they can. But they had been outnumbered. They had been outsmarted and they had been outpowered. They were outnumbered by the military. They were outnumbered by the military. They were outsmarted by the military because this kingdom just couldn't fight back against the numbers that the military had taken over and that's what's told in verse four.

Then it said that they were taken over by the sword. That means that they were outnumbered. They didn't have enough people to fight back. They didn't have enough smarts to fight back.

They didn't have military strategies. They were a sitting duck without the protection of God. And so are you. And so am I. Listen to me dear friends, Satan has his strategies.

And if you and I aren't right with God, we are sitting ducks for Satan. I find that they were outpowered. It might be that you would say that circumstances had absolutely damaged them. All the things that had happened to them and you know all of a sudden they turn around and now they're being captivated by this people and now they're being beaten up by this people and now they're being conquered by this people and they're going from captivity to captivity and from person to person and place to place and all of a sudden now they don't have any joy, now they don't have any praise, the very people that God had chosen, the people that God had blessed, the people that used to marry and have big weddings and have big celebrations and went to the temple and served God and gave sacrifice to Him. Now it was all gone because circumstances had damaged them. I notice secondly that choices had damaged them. They had made some wrong choices along the way. Number one I see this that they made sinful choices.

In this passage you'll find that God said I'll forgive you for the iniquity that you've done to me. Sinful choices. You know I think about the, as we often talk about how people can be, I think about the children of Israel as they're wandering through the wilderness and after all that God had done and here they go they melt down a bunch of gold and start worshipping a golden cow.

That is really smart. Just when they needed God the most. I have watched person after person go through difficulty in their life and just when they need God the most is when they turn their back. When they need God the most is when they're not in church. When they need God the most is when they get out of their Bible.

When they need God the most is when they won't listen to the preacher. They had made sinful choices. I notice secondly they made selfish choices.

The Bible says in this passage that they had transgressed against God. That means that they willfully chose to go against what God had told them to do because they wanted what they wanted. Dear friend, am I the only person here that's ever made selfish choices in your life?

Am I the only one that's messed up and done things because I wanted it, because it's what I wanted, because it's what I thought was best? And let me tell you where those selfish and sinful choices had led them. It had led them right into captivity. I notice thirdly that they made senseless choices. They started making choices that didn't even make sense. Anybody ever seen this happen in people that get away from God? I've seen teenagers that get away from God and they will start dating people and you say, what is their problem?

Why would you date something like that? And I say something. You know why? When you get away from God you just start making senseless choices.

That's just what happens. I find that circumstances had damaged them and choices that they had made had damaged them. I find thirdly in this passage that captivity had damaged them. We find in this passage that they had made frequent attempts at trying to free themselves and get their freedom back and get their nation back and it had failed. And we also find in the chapters before this that not only was there failed attempts but there was frequent apathy. They had gotten to the point, listen to me, that they had been in captivity so long they had been governed by them so long that they quit trying. I've watched some people struggle with sin and habits and things and bitterness in their life so long they've quit trying to get rid of it.

They're just content. Like, well I guess I'm just going to be captor the rest of my life. Well I guess this is just the way life's going to be. Well I know I used to be closer to God and I used to have some joy in my life but you know all these things that have happened to me and it just might be sitting here this morning that some of you have been damaged by circumstances in your life. Some of you might have been overtaken by something more powerful than you.

I want to remind you the Bible says greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. It just might be that maybe not only circumstances but maybe choices have damaged you. Maybe there's been some wrong choices you've made. Maybe there's been some sinful choices or some selfish choices or even some senseless choices and you say preacher I'm just not where I need to be and I just don't think God would take me back and be as close as I used to be.

This is just going to be life for me now and I'm here to tell you it doesn't have to be that way. Maybe thirdly, maybe some captivity has damaged you. Maybe there's a sin that has had a hold on you so long that you've almost stopped trying to fight it. You've tried before and failed and you've tried and failed and you've tried and failed and everything you tried you do good for a while and then you need to go right back into captivity.

You might just be like these precious folks. They just tried to fight it and tried to fight it and they just couldn't win so they had just given up. Then God sends a man named Jeremiah. You know as I look at this passage I find that first I see that these people had lost their will number one. You say what do you mean lost their will? Notice the Bible tells us obviously in the second part of this and it's really my favorite verse of the whole thing is in verse 11 we find the voice of joy.

God says I'll return that. That means that they had lost their joy look at me. When you lose your joy you lose your will because you have no strength because the joy of the Lord is our strength. These people had lost their will. They didn't even want to change.

They didn't even want to change and do better. They had almost gotten to the point that hey I don't have the joy. I don't feel like this. There's no sense in fighting.

There's no sense going here and doing this. They had lost their will. I note a second in this verse 11 that they had lost their weddings.

You say preacher what in the world does that mean? Well notice he says there that I'm going to return the voice of the bride and the voice of the bridegroom. That means their families. Look at me they had been in captivity so long. Here they used to celebrate marriage and they used to have that institution and they would have these big seven day long weddings and everybody would have fun and everybody would be together and everybody would fellowship but because they had been in captivity so long they couldn't have these weddings anymore. Now they had to act like the Ammonites wanted them to act or now they had to be like the Egyptians wanted them to be and now they lost their weddings. They'd lost their joy. They'd lost their family unit. Men and women weren't marrying like they were.

If they married they just had a simple ceremony because they just wanted to be together. You couldn't have the joy. You couldn't have the celebration because of the captivity. I notice thirdly that they lost their worship. We find in verse 11 that God says I will return the voice of him that praises the Lord and says the Lord is good. That means this they no longer worship. God said I hadn't heard you for a long time. Say boy God is good. Praise the Lamb. Praise the Lamb. God said I hadn't heard that in a long time.

But if you'll call unto me I'll bring it back. I find not only had they lost their will and their weddings and their worship but I see that they lost their work. We find in the next verse that God says what I will do is I will bring back shepherds in these pastures that used to not have sheep.

I'll put sheep back in these pastures and I'll put shepherds in these pastures and I'll put sheep back and now that was where they made their livelihood. That was the thing that they had made their money and that was their work and that was how their system was built and they had lost all that. So they'd lost their work. I find last that they'd lost their way.

Verse 11 at the end it says for I will cause to return the captivity of the land as at the first sayeth the Lord. They just somehow because of all that had happened they just lost their way. They ended up at a place they didn't want to be.

All of a sudden they found themselves captives to the Ammonites and to the Egyptians. They never planned on being there. They never thought they would and they ended up where they never wanted to be. Oh dear friend I've sat in that office. I've sat in that office. I've sat in rooms back here and I have literally counseled with people that have found themselves at a place they never thought they would be.

They don't even know how they got there. Oh dear friend listen to me that's exactly what happened. You say well preacher this doesn't sound like a very positive sermon. I thought you want to brag on. Jesus and I thought you want to encourage us this morning.

Oh listen to me dear friend. There's a whole bunch of encouragement in this passage. I want you to notice in verse 3 I see first the plea.

The plea. This is what God says. Call unto me. That's what God asked us to do.

What he's saying is this. If you'll just call again in this place. Again there shall be heard in this place. I will bring it back.

I will restore it in this place. If you will just call unto me. Now let me tell you what I see about this that really encouraged me. Number one I see this that the word call means that there are some things that are implied. Now this is good. I want you to listen to this.

We're almost done. When God said call unto me he did not say you have to work your way back to me. He did not say you have to prove yourself again to me and then I'll help. He did not say you have to go through a process of change and then I will take you back. He did not say you have to display for a period of time a change in your character. All God said is I don't care what you've done.

How far you've gone. The only thing I ask is that you call unto me. Listen to me dear folks. There's not anything you've got to prove to anybody. You don't have to go through this and work yourself back and prove yourself back and change yourself.

Look at me. All you've got to do is call on him. Let him do all that.

All he wants you to do is to call him. The Bible says draw an eye to him. He'll draw an eye to you. You say well preacher I just don't know about that. The Bible says him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. You say well preacher I just don't. The Bible says there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. You say well preacher I just. The Bible says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. You say preacher I just don't.

The Bible says we have a high priest that is touched with the feelings of our infirmities. All you've got to do today is call. You don't have to impress me.

You don't have to impress your husband or wife. You don't have to do all these things. Make all these works. All you've got to do is say God I need you today. You just got to call. God says please please call.

Look at me. He's simply waiting on the call. That's all he's waiting on.

I know to second the promise. He says you call I will answer and I will show. I will answer you and I will show you some great and mighty things. And then he begins to list them.

And I've already mentioned some of those to you. Look at me dear friend you say well you say preacher it's just that easy I'm just gonna call. Yeah it's just that easy and if you call he is waiting ready anxious as we would say he's got his hand on the buzzer. And if you call he said hey I'll answer you immediately and I will immediately begin to show you some great and mighty things that you've never seen.

But I want you to notice third and this is the best part about the whole thing and we'll go home. The possibility. He says hey it might be that you've gone through a rough time and hey maybe circumstances have damaged you and maybe your own choices have damaged you and maybe captivity is starting to get to you and it's caused some damage.

But if you'll just call unto me I'll show you some great things and let me tell you what's possible when you call me. Say preacher what's possible? Well maybe you could be here this morning and maybe you've lost the joy in your life. Maybe you've lost the joy in your family. Maybe you've lost the joy in your little area of ministry that you do around here. Maybe it used to be a joy for you to sing in the choir and now it's maybe it's not. Maybe it used to be a joy to maybe work in a nursery and do your part.

Maybe it's not now. Maybe it used to be a joy to work in a different ministry or teach a class or whatever it might be and maybe that joy is just not there. Maybe you've lost the voice of gladness living for the Lord. Maybe you're here this morning and you've lost the motivation to praise God amidst your difficult circumstances. Maybe you've lost the ability to worship in the presence of God like you used to. Maybe you've lost the experience of that sweet fellowship with God reading his word and praying.

Maybe you've lost your way a little bit because of confusion. Maybe you're not as content at your job as you used to be. Maybe you're not as content at home as you once were. Maybe you're not as content at church.

Maybe you're even laying down in your own bed at night. You're struggling because you're just not content like you used to be. Maybe you've fallen to him.

He will answer. It could be that maybe you've been damaged by circumstances that have come your way. Maybe you've been damaged by the results you received from a doctor. Maybe you've been damaged by life not resulting like you had hoped. Maybe you've been damaged this morning by someone that did you wrong. Maybe you've been damaged by the choices that you have made.

Maybe guilt has taken over where God's mercy used to reign. Maybe you've blown it. Maybe you've bruised it. Maybe you've broken it.

Maybe you think you've ruined it. Whatever the case might be. But I'm here to tell you, God's made a promise. He said, again in this place, I can give the voice of joy. I'm here to tell you, dear friend, God can bring it again.

God has promised, again in this place, I will do everything I did and more. Maybe you're being held captive by a habit this morning. Maybe you're being held captive by a past hurt or a bitter fear.

Maybe you're being held captive by unfair treatment. God says, again in your place, you can have the voice of joy. God says, again in your place, you can have the voice of gladness. God says, again in your place, you can have the voice of praise.

God says, again in your place, you can have the voice of worship. God says in verse 6, he can bring healing. He says in verse 6, he can bring peace. He says in verse 7, he can bring restoration. In verse 8, he says, he'll bring forgiveness.

prosperity, God said he can take what is desolate and fill it with joy. Let me tell you what else he says. He can take pasture that is empty and fill it with sheep. He said he can take houses that are vacant and fill it with a bride and groom. He said he can take people that were beaten down by military strength and give them victory.

Oh, the possibility! When you call upon God, I wanna challenge you this morning, there might be some of you here, and it's just not like it used to be. That joy that once was there, it's just not there.

And I'm here to challenge you, plead with you, beg you, and encourage you. Again, in your place, God can restore that voice of joy. Again, in your house, God can once again bring the voice of gladness. Again, in your life and in your relationship with God, he can bring back that worship that you used to enjoy. I'm here to tell you, again, in this place, it can happen to you. Dear friend, I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes. You say, preacher, I just don't know that I come forward today. That means that I'm just telling people that, hey, I'm just backslid.

No, it's not. Let me tell you what it tells people. You're going through exactly what they've gone through, and you're willing to step out and admit, you know what, I don't have the joy that I used to have. I don't have the gladness that I used to have. I don't have the praise for God that I used to. I don't appreciate what I used to. I'm not thankful like I used to be, and I don't see the blessings that I used to see.

All I see is all the things I don't like. Oh, dear friend, I'm here to tell you, God said, if you'll just call on me, I'll answer, I'll show you, and I can bring once again in this place the voice of joy, the voice of gladness. Thank you for listening today. We hope you received a blessing from our broadcast. The Kerwin Baptist Church is located at 4520 Old Hollow Road in Kernersville, North Carolina. You may also contact us by phone at 336-993-5192 or via the web at kerwinbaptistchurch.com. Enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app. Thank you for listening to the Kerwin broadcast today. God bless you. ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"]