I Am NOT Just a Number

The prophet Jeremiah was obsolete in his day. He was a man whose calling in life was to speak the cold hard truth. His message was not popular. It did not pack out stadiums or get air time on the radio. He was ignored and despised. His message was a simple one... Get rid of your earthly idols... stop bowing down to statues that were built by men and cannot walk or think.. instead, worship God whom no earthly statue can truly represent or compare with... The people had all forgotten.. they forgot all the good deeds God had done for their great-grandfathers and fathers.. they were caught up in the now.. fulfilling their desires.. following the worlds advice on worship.. and leaving God completely out of the equation... Just like a woman is "jealous" over her husband, not wanting any other woman for him but herself,... so is God.. over us... Jealous in a good sense... He saw the people of Jersualem "wasting their time" dancing and celebrating around an item made of gol...

What a hurting world we live in... Women sitting in the dark... Alone.. After a wayward husband walks away... Children numbing themselves with pills they've watched their parents take.. Grandmas watching the days tick by after grandpas passed away.. Parents burying children way to early.. Isaiah knew then what the world was to become... He knew that one day the music would stop.. The dancing would be forgotten.. The joy would be a distant memory and the reality was pain... He forecasted that we would place all our trust in people and they would just let us down.. He knew we would invest in our armies, our ambassadors, politicians, friends... But they would all turn out to be a lie... A trap ... And only the darkness would shadow the anger.. Only misery would corrupt the blooming.. We cannot move through life carrying the amount of burdens and bitterness we swallow daily .. We must forgive those who harm us or we will forever be harmed.. God loves us.,, and despite what cards lay in...

They were in the blackest hole... the deepest pit.. 5 miles underground.. they werent exactly alone.. but the darkness of a pit has no color, or fresh air.. or sound... only silence except for a shifting rock... a terror to the anxious.. their cries went unheard.. help... help... the fear of being forgotten must have engulfed the 33 Chilean men for 17 lonnggg days.. and then... a note... "we are fine".. gave the world hope... and an unattractive, bulky, loud machine.. arrived on scene... that would 52 days later...stop the world in their tracks... as we all watched... a beautiful rescue... Many of us have been trapped in a "pit" for much longer than 69 days.. we've been lost in the consuming darkness for years... we have felt as if we were alone... 5 miles underground.. and we could scream at the top of our lungs... and never reach the sound waves of God's ears... we have felt abandoned... hungry.. terrified.. and with each step we have taken... a rock shif...

Have you ever said in your heart that you were not worthy or "good enough" to serve God.. to go to church.. to be used by God... because of your past... or present... You would feel like a hypocrite and the church would crumble or be struck with lightning if you were in attendance???... Than.. ur perfect for service.. why? because God is not looking for perfect people.. he is looking for repentant and humble servants to do His work... In the book of Isaiah, God was disgusted with his prophets and priests...(ie his church leaders)... here they were at the temple vomiting from drunkeness all over the sacrafice table.. They were leading the worship, screaming "Halleluiah", but were leading an entire generation to failure... They would lead the prayer service with empty words.. when their hearts were far from God.. they had lip service only.. but their actions focused more on pleasing themselves than honoring God.. Many of us cannot forget our past.. and our failures..o...

Since the beginning of time, there has always been competition, jealousy, and a struggle for power. Cain, the Bible's first homicide suspect, fed his jealousy and eliminated his "competition", his own brother, in a rage. This is not uncommon as thousands of years have passed and yet this motive for homicide continues today. Humility has definately been lost in a society that is crawling with those who will stop at nothing to win... and anything to succeed... Success is measured in society by wealth, possessions, accomplishments, and status. Self-interest is taught in colleges across the planet, yet Paul writes the Phillipian church and tells them "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others (Phil 2:3)." This is not taught in colleges, high schools, and work... Yet, these are the "general orders" is...

Many of us walk through this life carrying many worries... we worry about work, we worry about our families... we worry about what we are wearing to a dinner... we worry about our nails... we worry about bills... we definately worry about what tomorrow may bring... but how many of us really give concern to what our eternity holds.. We give little thought to the possibility.. that one day.. the life that we now know... will forever be removed... Isaiah says in chapter 24 that "it will be the same from the priest to the people, from lender to the debtor, for master as for servant". No matter your status, wealth, fame, looks.. we will all end the same... in death... Isaiah was a prophet with a message that was not at all popular. He preached about end times instead of "good times" which was not a popular topic of choice. People in his time were living it up in partying and drunkeness.. sin abounded.. prostitutes were common and the people had got caught up in the ...

Nobody wants to be a slave, but since that fateful day in the Garden of Eden, we have all experienced bondage. Eve found out that a simple apple and a slimy snake would become her chains... Adam found out that a beautiful woman and the failure to say no... would be his end... We all have found slavery in such simple things... a pill.. a dollar.. a thought.. a grudge.. a failure.. s bottle.. Though we are not led daily to a beating post for our misgivings, we truly understand the yearning for freedom.. We may not be whipped and beaten in a literal sense, but sometimes... on the way home from work.. we may feel as if we have... Slavery has always come with a price and that is the lack of being free... Whether we feel like slaves at work, home, or with personal struggles... their is a Master who hears our cries... He has not just thrown us to the wolves.. He comes and looks for us... even though we've run away.. given up.. He still chases us.. Why is it that a Holy God cares to chase ...