Daily Reading: Jeremiah 25-26 & Hebrews 13
Old Testament: Jeremiah 25- Unstoppable

Jeremiah 25:3
“From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, this is the twenty-third year in which the word of the Lord has come to me; and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not listened.”

Jeremiah goes down in history as one of the greatest men who has ever… Read More

New Testament: Hebrews 13- Praise God

Hebrews 13:15-16
“Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share; for with such sacrifices, God is well pleased.”

Worship is a very important part… Read More 

Jeremiah 26:3
“Perhaps everyone will listen and turn from his evil way, that I may relent concerning the calamity which I purpose to bring on them because of the evil of their doings.”

Jeremiah lived in trying times. A nation that once glorified God and served as a light to the world around them was now turning from the ways of God. The people had lost sight of God and were involved in practices that would soon bring calamity upon the nation. Jeremiah had been doing his best to warn the people and win them back to God. After several years of trying he once again receives a message from the Lord. The message is a commission for Jeremiah to stand in the courtyard of the temple and invite all the people to come to the Lord. This was not Jeremiah’s first attempt and it won’t be his last. The driving force behind the message is, “Perhaps everyone will listen and turn from his evil way.”

The word perhaps is used to express uncertainty or possibility. It is a word of hope. Maybe the last time Jeremiah shared no one listened, but perhaps this time will be different. Maybe the last time his message was met with mockery or hostility but perhaps this time will be different. I don’t think we can overemphasize the importance of hope as it relates to serving the Lord. Hope is a great motivator. It causes us to look at all that is possible if we continue to do what is right. Not all hope has the same value. Hoping that while playing the lottery we will win the Powerball is really a hope against hope. It is like standing in line with 150 million people for a single prize. Hope that the message of the gospel will be received and transform lives is not an empty hope. In fact it happens every day. There is a good chance that if you are reading this it has happened to you.

It would do us all good to be a little more hopeful as we look for opportunity to be used by the Lord. Instead of focusing upon those who reject the message we should fix our thoughts upon the possibility of those who will respond as we once did and see God transform their life and their living.

Pastor Jim

 Daily Reading: Jeremiah 23-24 & Hebrews 12
Old Testament: Jeremiah 23- Study Time

Jeremiah 23:18
“For who has stood in the counsel of the Lord, and has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word and heard it?”

One of the big problems Jeremiah faced was, those who were supposed to be experts of the Word of God were neglecting … Read More

New Testament: Hebrews 12- Bitterness

Hebrews 12:15
“. . . looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; . . .”

Bitterness is the byproduct of being unwilling to forgive. We are warned against allowing bitterness to take root in our… Read More

Jeremiah 24:1
“The Lord showed me, and there were two baskets of figs set before the temple of the Lord, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.”

After years of ignoring the prophets, Judah watched as the Babylonian army surrounded the city and without a fight began to take its people captive. The king, his princes and many of the most gifted within Jerusalem were taken captive and led north to Babylon. After what must have been a time of extreme grief and fear the people began to settle into their new life. They watched as Nebuchadnezzar set a new king in place and allowed the people to function much in the same way as they always had. Soon the inhabitants of Jerusalem went right back to the behaviors that put them under the chastisement of God in the first place. Once the difficulties subsided the people once again turned away from the Lord.

Sadly this is pretty common. When we wander from God and our lives begin to unravel our attention is usually drawn to spiritual things. We might begin to pray, read the Bible, seek godly counsel and even head back to church. These are all good things and should be sustained, but what often happens is as soon as the storm subsides we tend to once again neglect the things of God and go right back to living life our own way.

I think it is important to remember that a catastrophe may get our attention but will rarely change a person’s spiritual condition. Our lives will be transformed by the daily decisions we make. If we choose today to invest in our walk with God by seeking to do the things that are pleasing to Him and avoid the pitfalls that so often cause us to stumble we will find that we are making serious headway in our relationship with the Lord.

It has been said the “Plans may not always work but planning always does.” The surest way to make forward progress in your walk with God is to prepare for success. The first step is a commitment to live for Christ, the second step is to get to know Him better. This can be accomplished by setting aside time each day to spend reading the Bible and talking to God about your life. The third step is to get involved in a local church where people love God and want to please Him.

Pastor Jim

TODAY’S DAILY READING: Jeremiah 21-22 & Hebrews 11
Old Testament: Jeremiah 21- Way Of Life

Jeremiah 21:8
“Now you shall say to this people, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.”‘”

The inhabitants of Judah had a choice to make. On the one hand, they had God’s way that carried a promise… Read More

Jeremiah 22- Responsible

Jeremiah 22:2
“Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates!”

As king of Judah… Read More

New Testament: Hebrews 11- Faith

Hebrews 11:1-2
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.”

We have arrived at one of the most amazing chapters in all of the Bible. It has been aptly entitled, “The Hall of Faith.” It records incidents from the lives of many Old… Read More

 

TODAY’S DAILY READING: Jeremiah19-20 & Hebrews 10
Old Testament: Jeremiah 19- Shards Of Clay

Jeremiah 19:1
​”Thus says the Lord: ‘Go and get a potter’s earthen flask, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests.’”

Jeremiah 19:10-11  “Then you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who go with you, and say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts:’ “Even so I will break this people and this city, as one… Read More 
Jeremiah 20- Get The Word Out

Jeremiah 20:9
“Then I said, ‘I will not make mention of Him, Nor speak anymore in His name.’ But His word was in my heart like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, And I could not.”

Due to his experiences, Jeremiah no longer wanted to publicly declare the Word of God. His message had been ignored and rejected, and now his listeners were becoming hostile. He was mocked, ridiculed, then arrested. It is not difficult to understand why he… Read More
New Testament: Hebrews 10- The Book

Hebrews 10:7
“Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come— In the volume of the book it is written of Me— To do Your will, O God. ’”

Years ago I had a friend who worked in a local book store. Part of his job was to be familiar with the books so he could answer questions and make recommendations. The problem was he really did not enjoy reading. His… Read More

TODAY’S DAILY READING: Jeremiah 17-18 & Hebrews 9
Old Testament: Jeremiah 17- Bedrock To Build On

Jeremiah 17:9
“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?”

There are certain bedrock principles within the Bible, upon which we can build our lives. One of those is recorded here. Jeremiah explains, the heart is deceitful and as a result cannot be trusted. Like today, many ancient cultures referred to the innermost being of a man as the heart. They were not referring… Read More

Jeremiah 18- Not Listening

Jeremiah 18:18
“Then they said, ‘Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us attack him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.’”

The citizens of Judah no longer looked to the Word of God for direction… Read More 

New Testament: Hebrews 9- The Tabernacle

Hebrews 9:23
“Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.”

Hebrews is dealing with the superiority of Christ. Here in Chapter 9, we see Christ is clearly superior to the Old Testament sacrifices, for they must… Read More

TODAY’S DAILY READING: Jeremiah 15-16 & Hebrews 8
Old Testament: Jeremiah 15- Wrong Way

Jeremiah 15:6
“‘You have forsaken Me’, says the Lord, ‘You have gone backward…’”

When I first moved to Florida I was introduced to a surf spot called “Monster Hole.” The wave breaks about 1/4 mile offshore on a sand covered reef. To reduce our paddling time, we jumped into the water and road the outgoing current from the nearby… Read More

Jeremiah 16- Welcome Home

Jeremiah 16:14-15
“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.”… Read More

New Testament: Hebrews 8- Main Thing

Hebrews 8:1
“Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, . . .”

Under the Levitical priesthood, on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would enter into the Holy of Holies bringing… Read More

TODAY’S DAILY READING: Jeremiah 13-14 & Hebrews 7
Old Testament: Jeremiah 13- It’s Ruined

Jeremiah 13:1
“Thus the Lord said to me:’Go and get yourself a linen sash, and put it around your waist…’”

Often the prophets were instructed to illustrate their messages. God so greatly desired His message to be heard that He would wrap it in packages that would be difficult to forget. In this… Read More
Jeremiah 14- Wanderer

Jeremiah 14:10
“Thus says the Lord to this people:
Thus they have loved to wander;
They have not restrained their feet.”

Jesus simplified life into two categories. He said we are either walking on the narrow road that leads to life or the broad road that leads to destruction. The way… Read More

New Testament: Hebrews 7- The Encounter
Hebrews 7:1
“For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the… Read More

 

TODAY’S DAILY READING: Jeremiah 11-12 & Hebrews 6
Old Testament: Jeremiah 11- Should I Follow My Heart?

Jeremiah 11:8
“Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone followed the dictates of his evil heart…”

It is very common today to hear phrases like, “follow your heart.” This seems to be the most common counsel given as it relates to decision making today. When someone is trying to determine if a relationship is… Read More

Jeremiah 12-Do The Wicked Prosper?

Jeremiah 12:1-2
“​ Righteous are You, O Lord, when I plead with You; Yet let me talk with You about Your judgments. Why does the way of the wicked prosper?”

Jeremiah’s question interests me because it seem to be the opposite of what God is accused of today. How many times have we heard someone ask, “Why do… Read More

New Testament: Hebrews 6- Falling

Hebrews 6:4-6
“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since…Read More