The Story - The Almond Branch

Pastor Chris Enoch - February 5, 2017

Link To Sermon Audio

Scriptures:

 

Jeremiah 1:4-15

The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

            “Ah, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.”

            But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.

            Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”

            The word of the Lord came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

            “I see the branch of an almond tree,” I replied.

             The Lord said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.”

            The word of the Lord came to me again: “What do you see?”

            “I see a boiling pot, tilting away from the north,” I answered.

            The Lord said to me, “From the north disaster will be poured out on all who live in the land.  I am about to summon all the peoples of the northern kingdoms,” declares the Lord.

2 Kings 23-25

Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses. 

 

2 Chronicles 36:15-16 

The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the LORD was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.

 

Jeremiah 20:7,8

I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long.