Celebrating Our Tenth with Hope

SERMON TITLE:   “Celebrating Our Tenth with Hope”
SERMON TEXT:    Jeremiah 32:1-17
PREACHER:           Rev. Kim James
OCCASION:           October 29, 2017, at First UMC
 
 
INTRODUCTION
 
                To help celebrate our congregation’s tenth year here at this location, we’ve been studying scriptures that have to do with the number 10.  So far we’ve talked about the Ten Commandments and Jesus’ parable of the woman who lost and found one of her ten coins.  Next week, we’re going to reflect on the ten lepers who were healed by Jesus.  In today’s scripture, the number 10 isn’t quite so obvious. 
But it’s right there, in the first verse.  In Jeremiah 32:1, the word of God came to the prophet Jeremiah “in the tenth year of King Zedekiah of Judah.”
                If David had stopped reading after verse one, we might have thought, “Oh, the tenth year.  Maybe the Jews were having a celebration like we are.  Maybe King Zedekiah’s staff was planning an anniversary party.  Maybe they were going to have a royal ball.”  But the situation in Jerusalem wasn’t that festive.  There was conflict and stress, and something really bad was about to happen.  But, just like today, God never leaves his people without a spark of optimism.  Let’s dig into this story of Jeremiah and find out how that piece of Jewish history can inform how we go about celebrating our tenth with hope.

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