This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday evening, October 28, 2007, and was taken from Jeremiah 8:4-9:1.
To which passage in the Bible would you go to find a picture of gospel ministry? Would you ever think of Jeremiah?
A genuine gospel message dares to proclaim the truth about sin and its consequences, but it speaks that truth through tears and with a broken heart. The common danger in our evangelism is to emphasize only one of these two elements. Either extreme leaves you with something that is less than the gospel.
1. Jeremiah 8:4-17: A genuine gospel ministry dares to tell the truth about sin and it’s devastating consequences. We are not doing anybody any favors when we gloss over the seriousness of sin.
2. Jeremiah 8:18-9:1: A genuine gospel ministry is heart broken over the lostness of the world, and those around us.
Speaking the truth in love is why Jeremiah 8:4-9:1 is a beautiful picture of a genuine gospel ministry.