I Will Be You God and You Will Be My People (Sermon)

Sermon: I Will Be Your God and You Will Be My People

Character is the ability to follow through on a resolution long after the emotion with which it was made has passed.

(Brian Tracy)

Jeremiah 31:31-34

31 "The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to ^[d^] them, ^[e^] " declares the LORD. 33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

Recap: God frees Israel from Egyptian Bondage in order to given them liberty and a relationship with a real God.

• Following God Almighty whole-heartedly requires a total break for former gods
• fear, comfort, selfishness, greed, hatred

• God’s presence was revealed...God’s character is taught (they didn’t know God)

• A full-break with the old god is required in order to clearly see God Almighty

• Israel needed to be retrained (spiritually, attitudinally, emotionally) before they could handle the Promised Land.

• God is certainly with the destitute...but at some point, God expects the destitute to have a hand in bringing other broken people to God.

Today: We fast forward to Jeremiah: (Jere 31:31-34)

• He prophesies because Israel forgot or ignored what happened in Egypt, Sinai and Canaan

• He prophesied that Jerusalem should surrender to Babylonian powers

• He further prophesies of a New Covenant and points to Calvary

Where I want to end up:

• Israel often felt like an orphan, a nomad or an refugee.... Neither had roots or stability!

• God offered them a promise to be their God and they’s be the people of God
• Become a people was dependent upon having a leader (God)

• God wants to renew our minds and give us new character that will beckon his continued presence in, and pleasure with, our lives.

Questions:

• Do you find yourself feeling alienated from the plan of God and the center of that will?

• As a believer, Is God an after thought in your life?

• How is the New Covenant working for you?

• How do you follow the presence of God to a place where the Holy Spirit can begin to write the truths of God into the fiber of your being?

• The Lord God Almighty is willing to be your God...are you willing to be God’s People?

Challenge:

• When we fail to pursue the God Who is pursuing us; we find that we have fallen prey to a lesser god that has been desiring to pursue us in order to devour us.

• It’s is God’s character that ushers the Presence of God into our midst