{"id":76,"date":"2018-07-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/01\/sunday-31st-january-2016-he-knows-us-and-calls-us\/"},"modified":"2018-07-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-07-01T00:00:00","slug":"sunday-31st-january-2016-he-knows-us-and-calls-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/01\/sunday-31st-january-2016-he-knows-us-and-calls-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday 31st January 2016 &#8211; He knows us and calls us"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"wsite-content-title\" style=\"text-align:left;\">Listen:<\/h2>\n<div class=\"wsite-html5audio\"><audio id=\"audio_651463209635096123\" style=\"height: auto;\" class=\"wsite-mejs-align-left wsite-mejs-dark\" src=\"https:\/\/theword-this-week.weebly.com\/\/uploads\/4\/1\/5\/2\/4152650\/sermon_epiphany_4c.mp3\" preload=\"none\" data-autostart=\"no\" data-artist=\"\" data-track=\"\"><\/audio><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wsite-content-title\" style=\"text-align:left;\">Read:<\/h2>\n<div class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\"><strong>The Word This Week:<br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu\/texts.php?id=110#hebrew_reading\">Jeremiah 1:4-10<\/a>\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu\/texts.php?id=110#psalm_reading\">Psalm 71:1-6<\/a>\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu\/texts.php?id=110#epistle_reading\">1 Corinthians 13:1-13<\/a>\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu\/texts.php?id=110#gospel_reading\">Luke 4:21-30<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>A sermon on the Word:<br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Good Morning again everyone.\u00a0 You will note that this week\u2019s Gospel narrative continues on from last week\u2019s.\u00a0 And just as we spoke about last week Jesus finds himself the victim of an angry crowd, they try to throw him off the cliff.\u00a0 It\u2019s important to understand that they do this because Jesus points out to them that he, just like the profits of old will be rejected \u2013 but that this won\u2019t stop him fulfilling the purpose that God has for him.<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>But before we talk more about that I want us to talk about Jeremiah.<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>Lets read from the prophet Jeremiah again \u2013<br \/>\u00a0<br \/><em>\u2018Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, <\/em><br \/><em>and before you were born I consecrated you; <\/em><br \/><em>I appointed you a prophet to the nations.\u201d <\/em><br \/><em>Then I said, \u201cAh, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.\u201d<a href=\"https:\/\/d.docs.live.net\/9dc49dfab56bda5f\/Homilies\/Epiphany%204%20C.docx#_ftn1\"><strong>[1]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><br \/>\u00a0<br \/>You see, Jeremiah, one of God\u2019s greatest prophets, tells us that he himself felt inadequate for the task that God had called him.\u00a0 He tells us that he felt under prepared, that he wasn\u2019t ready or capable of the call that God had placed on him.<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>Despite God \u2013 the creator and sustainer of the universe, telling Jeremiah that he truly knew him, that before he was born God set him apart to be a prophet, Jeremiah <strong>still<\/strong> felt under prepared!!<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>But let\u2019s really focus on God\u2019s response &#8211;<br \/>\u00a0<br \/><em>\u2018But the Lord said to me, <\/em><br \/><em>\u201cDo not say, \u2018I am only a boy\u2019; <\/em><br \/><em>for you shall go to all to whom I send you, <\/em><br \/><em>and you shall speak whatever I command you. <\/em><br \/><em>Do not be afraid of them, <\/em><br \/><em>for I am with you to deliver you\u2019<a href=\"https:\/\/d.docs.live.net\/9dc49dfab56bda5f\/Homilies\/Epiphany%204%20C.docx#_ftn2\"><strong>[2]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><br \/>\u00a0<br \/>God\u2019s response is one of encouragement.\u00a0 He says to Jeremiah \u2013 I have called you and I will not abandon you. You don\u2019t need to be afraid because I will equip you for your journey.<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>\u00a0Here\u2019s the thing brothers and sisters, God knows each and every one of us too. He called each and every one of us to be his, and knew<br \/>before we were born where we would go, and what we would do. God knows what we are capable of.\u00a0 Even when we doubt. \u00a0Even when we struggle with fear about our own abilities, and about how others may perceive us. God knows us, and he is with us every step of the journey.\u00a0<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>Jesus that day in the synagogue would have known very clearly what was likely to happen when he started his sermon. Yet he continued anyway.\u00a0 Jesus quotes from the prophet Isaiah and says:<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>\u2018<em>The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,<br \/>because he has anointed me<br \/>to bring good news to the poor.<br \/>He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives<br \/>and recovery of sight to the blind,<br \/>to let the oppressed go free<\/em>\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/d.docs.live.net\/9dc49dfab56bda5f\/Homilies\/Epiphany%204%20C.docx#_ftn3\">[3]<\/a><br \/>\u00a0<br \/>He then says that the scripture is fulfilled.\u00a0 He points them to himself\u00a0 &#8211; he knows that he is not alone as he stands in that synagogue. \u00a0He knows that God is with him.\u00a0 That the spirit of God fills him and that he will fulfill his calling through the power of God.<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>Jesus knew that whether they accepted him or not he <strong><em>is<\/em><\/strong> the promised one \u2013 he is the Messiah who has come to redeem the world. He truly has come to bring good news to the poor\u2026 to proclaim release to the captives<br \/>and recovery of sight to the blind,<br \/>to let the oppressed go free.<a href=\"https:\/\/d.docs.live.net\/9dc49dfab56bda5f\/Homilies\/Epiphany%204%20C.docx#_ftn4\">[4]<\/a><br \/>\u00a0<br \/>Jesus sitting in that synagogue is confident in who he is.\u00a0 He is confident of God\u2019s call on him, and he is sure of God\u2019s love and care for him.<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>As we discussed last week as Christians in the world today we are called to take up this call of Jesus to proclaim release to the captives<br \/>and recovery of sight to the blind, and to let the oppressed go free as well.\u00a0 We are called to bring others to know the love, freedom and forgiveness that comes only through relationship with Christ.<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>Sometimes though that can seem a daunting thing. How do we as individuals, with our own weaknesses and flaws bring others to know about God?\u00a0 Seriously, I don\u2019t know about you but I find it awkward trying to bring up God with others, if I don\u2019t know where they stand in terms of faith.<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>I often feel under prepared, under qualified. What about you?<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>Here\u2019s the thing.\u00a0 We don\u2019t need to <strong>feel<\/strong> qualified.\u00a0 Jeremiah didn\u2019t feel qualified, and God achieved great things through him.\u00a0 When we recall Jesus we don\u2019t see someone who was without fear or struggle \u2013 we need only recall of the Garden of Gethsemane where he asks the Father to take the cup of suffering from him\u2026 Fear and doubt and struggle are all a part of our journey \u2013 the way we conquer them is by being <strong>faithful, <\/strong>by trusting that God is faithful to his promises.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>God has placed a call on each of us, some of us are meant to be teachers and preachers, others are evangelists or prophets.\u00a0 We have all got our own gifts and talents, and each of us is called to use them for God\u2019s glory.\u00a0<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>There is however one thing that each and every one of us are called to be \u2013 witnesses.\u00a0 We are <strong>all<\/strong> called to be willing to bear witness to God\u2019s transforming love in our own lives.\u00a0<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>The way we do that is by being faithful.\u00a0 Jesus that day in the synagogue in spite of facing a hostile crowd, was faithful to the call God had placed on him.\u00a0 We are called today in a hostile world to also be faithful to the Gospel.\u00a0 We are called to be willing to say no to a society that says God doesn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 We are called to be willing to say Jesus is the only way to salvation to a society that says all faiths are equal.\u00a0 We are called to be those who say marriage is between a man and a woman, when the world says it doesn\u2019t matter, we are called to say that Jesus is God incarnate who rose from the dead, to a world that says <em>that isn\u2019t possible<\/em>.<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>It\u2019s a daunting thing to face a hostile world. By witnessing to the truth of the Gospel, we will be ridiculed, called haters and bigots.\u00a0 We will be labelled as backwards and outdated.\u00a0 The truth is though that by holding fast to the Gospel, by speaking the truth to a hostile world we are holding out God\u2019s love, because as St Paul says love does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in truth.\u00a0<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>It seems daunting doesn\u2019t it.\u00a0 Like an insurmountable challenge \u2013 to be counter cultural. But God knows us, and he has called us, he will walk with us and equip us for the journey.\u00a0 We like Jesus and Jeremiah need only be faithful.<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>The Lord be with you.<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/d.docs.live.net\/9dc49dfab56bda5f\/Homilies\/Epiphany%204%20C.docx#_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a> <em>Revised Common Lectionary<\/em>. (2009). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/d.docs.live.net\/9dc49dfab56bda5f\/Homilies\/Epiphany%204%20C.docx#_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a> <em>Revised Common Lectionary<\/em>. (2009). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/d.docs.live.net\/9dc49dfab56bda5f\/Homilies\/Epiphany%204%20C.docx#_ftnref3\">[3]<\/a> <em>The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version<\/em>. (1989). (Lk 4:18). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/d.docs.live.net\/9dc49dfab56bda5f\/Homilies\/Epiphany%204%20C.docx#_ftnref4\">[4]<\/a> <em>The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version<\/em>. (1989). (Lk 4:18). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen: Read: The Word This Week: Jeremiah 1:4-10\u00a0 Psalm 71:1-6\u00a0 1 Corinthians 13:1-13\u00a0 Luke 4:21-30 A sermon on the Word: Good Morning again everyone.\u00a0 You will note that this week\u2019s Gospel narrative continues on from last week\u2019s.\u00a0 And just as we spoke about last week Jesus finds himself the victim of an angry crowd, they &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/01\/sunday-31st-january-2016-he-knows-us-and-calls-us\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Sunday 31st January 2016 &#8211; He knows us and calls us&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}