On July 23, Pastor Katy preaches on Jeremiah 1:4-9; 20:7-9. This is the first of a five-part series titled “Finding Faith in Hard Times: Lessons From Jeremiah.”

Youthful idealism? Inexperienced naivety? As a teenager Jeremiah first felt a passion so consuming that he describes it as a fire in his bones. Do you know that feeling? Maybe you yourself have pictures reminding you of a time when you stood in protest with picket signs and deeply held conviction. Sometimes it’s a good thing that brings about purpose and fulfillment to life, and sometimes it causes pain, disappointment, and leads only to a life of difficulty. This Sunday we begin a series on the prophet Jeremiah and his own conviction of calling God’s people back to God. It wasn’t a calling he wanted, but it was one that he could not ignore no matter how much he tried. How easy is it for us to forget that following God should come with a fire in our bones? Maybe God so often calls and uses the young precisely because of their idealism and willingness to believe the impossible is possible.