True Word for Tough Times
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
In August 2010 Dale Ralph Davis delivered these five messages from Jeremiah at the Evangelical Movement of Wales Conference in Aberystwyth. Those who were there on the occasion will recall the power and passion of this rich exposition of the Word of God. As he explains in the Preface, Dale Ralph Davis deliberately chose five passages that focused on the ‘down’ aspect of the prophet’s message. He explains his choice of passages in these words:
. . . they supply a healthy corrective to some of the flippant and flimsy optimism we meet in certain ‘Christian’ propaganda about the Christian life and ministry. My prayer is that a number of the Lord’s servants who are slogging on in the paths of righteousness will, by the Spirit’s chemistry, be strangely comforted by this tormented prophet and the ‘ruthless Warrior’ who stood at his side.
Dr. Davis preaching, slightly adapted here for the printed page, will surely be used to fulfill that prayer.
Key Features
- Contains expositions delivered at the Aberystwyth Conference in 2010
- Examines difficult periods in the ministry of Jeremiah
- Explores the nature and impact of the words of God
Contents
- Astounding Word (Jeremiah 1)
- Can this prophet be saved? (Jeremiah 15:10–21)
- The yoke is no joke (Jeremiah 27–29)
- Jerusalem burning (Jeremiah 37–39)
- Faithful futility, a pattern of ministry (Jeremiah 40–45)
Top Highlights
“It seems to me that we can sum up the testimony of Jeremiah 27–29 in this way—God sometimes decrees a course of history which his people cannot welcome enthusiastically but in which they must live faithfully.” (Page 44)
“We live in a culture that does not think this way. We are so secularized that even biblical people have a hard time thinking this way. We think that what determines the ruin or the prosperity of a nation are economic factors, political decisions, sociological shifts, technological advantages, military alignments, natural resources—all those sorts of things. But no, it is the divine decree. It is whatever word Yahweh speaks through his prophet regarding a nation or kingdom—that is what determines its welfare or its pain.” (Page 18)
“So what should God’s astounding Word in Jeremiah do for you? It should comfort you in that it is relentless and fragile. It should instruct you in that it is so dominating and it should alarm you because it is so fanatical. If it does, it should bring you to repentance under the only shelter there ever is—the cross of Jesus.” (Page 25)
“‘Before I formed you in the belly I knew you and before you came forth from the womb I had set you apart and appointed you a prophet to the nations.’ This happened before Jeremiah was even conceived. So what matters is not Jeremiah’s competence or qualifications particularly, but rather God’s decision. It all rests on that.” (Page 15)
“So if you try to get away from this fanatical God of the Old Testament, you will run straight into his arms in the New Testament when you go to Jesus. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 10: ‘Whoever loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.’ We can translate that! It is an expanded version of ‘You shall have no other gods before me.’ Have you thought of that? How can Jesus of Nazareth stand there and with a straight face demand to have the supreme place of affection in your life? Who does he think he is? We cannot escape it. The Word of God is so astounding because it is so fanatical.” (Page 25)
Product Details
- Title: True Word for Tough Times
- Author: Dale Ralph Davis
- Publisher: Evangelical Press
- Publication Date: 2013
- Pages: 96
- Resource Type: Monographs
- Topic: Jeremiah