Obey

Seek Counsel 

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Jeremiah 40:16
“But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, ‘You shall not do this thing, for you speak falsely concerning Ishmael.'”

After taking Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliah as governor of the province of Judah. No longer living in a free state, the people would now be subject to Babylon. In order to make things as safe and comfortable as possible, Gedaliah exhorted the people to put their weapons away and serve the king of Babylon. As things began to settle, many who had fled for safety to the countryside returned to Jerusalem. Among them was a man named Ishmael, who had been a captain of the Judean forces. He was a man who publicly showed submission to Gedaliah, but privately was planning to overthrow the governor and mount a rebellion against Babylon. Some of the other leaders began to suspect Ishmael of treason and reported it to Gedaliah, who dismissed the report as false. Sadly, as the story unfolds, Ishmael will kill Gedaliah and turn the Babylonian forces, once again, on Jerusalem.

Nothing in the text gives us any real clear insight into the spiritual condition of Gedaliah. He may not have been a believer at all, or may have been a believer who simply failed to take the warning he received to the Lord. Whatever the case, his story reminds me of the failure to take things to the Lord. Had the governor taken this warning seriously, gotten alone with God or sought counsel from the prophet, he may very well have avoided death and secured the safety of his people.

As a follower of Christ, we have been given the privilege of access to God. Jesus is our heavenly counselor who seeks to guide us, as we navigate our way through life. When we face obstacles, difficulty or indecision, we don’t have to lean upon our own understanding, but can seek counsel from God. Whatever you are facing, don’t go it alone. Take some time today to seek guidance from the Lord. Who knows what pitfalls a little time of prayer may help you avoid.

Pastor Jim

 

Shhhh! It’s A Secret

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Jeremiah 38:16
“So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah…”

As the book of Jeremiah moves forward, we find the prophet having repeated discourse with King Zedekiah. The king seems somewhat erratic in his behavior. One moment, he is treating Jeremiah favorably, while the next, he is having the prophet committed to the dungeon. By his own admission, he mistreats the prophet out of fear of how the people will react. He seems to conclude, the best approach is to become a secret believer. In public, he denies any relationship to the prophet, but in private, he seeks his counsel.

Zedekiah is not alone in his attempt to be a secret follower. In New Testament times, we read of Nicodemus and Joseph, who both believed Jesus was the Christ, but due to their social status, refused to be open about following Him. Today, many claim to follow Christ in private, but have yet to make their commitment to Him known to others. Sometimes, this is caused by fear of how we will be treated. Other times, it is motivated out of desire to continue participating in certain sinful activities. We realize, as long as we are quiet about our faith in Christ, we will not be questioned regarding how we act, talk or behave.

Zedekiah soon found he must make a decision to either follow the Lord or not. Life brought him to a crossroad where he could no longer live in two worlds. Either he would trust the Word of God and submit to Him, or he would follow the ways of the world in which he lived. Zedekiah made his choice and lived with the consequences. Now, it is time for us to make ours. Will you choose today to follow Christ, not as a secret disciple, but as one who will boldly and publicly confess Him as Savior and Lord?

Matthew 10:32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.”

Pastor Jim

 

Praying Is The First Step

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Jeremiah 37:3
“And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, ‘Pray now to the Lord our God for us.'”

Zedekiah was an ungodly king who refused to heed the word of the Lord, and continued to lead Judah down the road of destruction. Instead of following the word of God, he followed the dictates of his own heart. Instead of listening to the prophet, he surrounded himself with counsellors who gave no regard to the things of God, and even attempted to silence Jeremiah for declaring God’s word. I find it interesting that a man who seems to care very little about God, petitions the prophet to pray for him and the nation. On the one hand, this could be a positive thing. Prayer is the way we access God and begin a relationship with Him. John explained, it is by receiving Christ through faith that we become a child of God. The problem with Zedekiah is,  he was not praying to confess his wrong and commit his life to the Lord, but saw prayer as a means of fixing his problems, without ever making any changes to his life.

This is a pretty common practice. We think of prayer as a magic force that will make everything better. However, prayer is actually a means of communicating with God, who in turn, communicates back through the pages of His Word. How many times have we heard politicians or celebrities asking us to pray in the difficult seasons of life? Whenever tragedy hits a nation, people call out for prayer. The problem is, they see prayer as the ‘easy button’ that will fix everything, instead of seeing prayer as the way to start a relationship with God, who will give us instruction that will in fact fix the problem.

In Jeremiah’s case, as soon as the problem was solved, Zedekiah once again returned to his old ways, and even had Jeremiah put in prison for his message. I think we need to realize, prayer alone is not the answer. Asking God to fix our life is just the first step, we must move on to surrendering ourselves to Him, and live in accordance with His word.

Pastor Jim

 

Locked Up

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Jeremiah 32:2
“For then the king of Babylon’s army besieged Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah’s house.”

Judah was on the brink of disaster with the armies of Babylon were camped outside the city walls. Food, water and morale, were at risk of running out, and the only hope for the nation was locked away in a prison cell. The people were neglecting the one thing that could ensure victory over the enemy they were facing. That victory would be found in obeying the Word of God, spoken by the prophet Jeremiah.

Times have changed and circumstances differ, but we do the same thing today. When faced with a problem, trial, temptation or personal struggle, we often look everywhere else, before we resort to the promises of God. We think money, medicine, counsel, or some other natural thing, will provide us with deliverance. We neglect to go to the pages of God’s Word where we meet the Lord face to face.

Part of the reason Judah ignored the Jeremiah’s message was they did not like, nor want to hear, what he declared. His message was one that involved surrender, and God dealing with personal and national sin. He told them the secret to victory was in surrender to Babylon. Rather than accepting the ways of God, they chose to silence the Word of God.

Again, this is common today. Many who refuse to seek counsel from the Word, do so because they already know what God will say. His message will include a solution to the problem, but the solution will involve dealing with the sin that caused the problem.

If you are facing difficulty, don’t run away from the Word of God, instead run toward it. Open the pages of your Bible and allow God to speak into your life. Some of what He declares may be hard to handle, but in the end, He will always lead us in triumph through Christ.

Pastor Jim

 

Trust In A Lie

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Jeremiah 28:15
“Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, ‘Hear now, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you, but you make this people trust in a lie.'”

As far back as we have recorded history, we have people supposedly speaking for God. Here we find a self-proclaimed prophet named Hananiah, claiming God is OK with the behaviors of the people of Judah, and the warnings of judgment for sin should be ignored. He even went so far as to claim that the current lifestyle of the people would in fact result in the blessing of God, rather than His curse. It is interesting to look back and observe some of the things that culture has promoted as acceptable, while the Word of God has remained the same. There was a time when people of African descent were considered by culture to be less than fully human. This was never the position of the Bible, but of the culture. There were even those, like Hananiah, who twisted the Bible to fit their cultural view.

Today, culture has many views that are diametrically opposed to the teaching of the Word of God. There is no shortage of Hananiahs, who are willing to twist the Bible to make it support their view. I am not sure how much longer God will tarry before His Son returns, but I am sure that if He does, future generations will look back on much of what our culture claims as right, and be as embarrassed by it as we are of Manifest Destiny and slavery. Instead of letting culture shape the way we see life, let’s let the Bible shape our view of culture.

Pastor Jim

Unstoppable 

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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 lived. The writer of Hebrews included him in a class of people who he described as, “Men of whom the world is not worthy.” Jeremiah had a ministry that outlasted kings and kingdoms. Even after the nation of Judah fell, Jeremiah’s voice still resounded throughout the land, calling the people back to the Lord.

If we were to use a traditional scale to measure the value or effectiveness of Jeremiah’s ministry, he would not rank among the greats. Day after day, year in and year out, Jeremiah called on the people to turn to God. Although he saw great reforms under Josiah’s reign, those changes had little lasting effect upon the people. The high places and idols that Josiah removed still remained in the homes of the people, and worked their way back into the public forum. As Jeremiah cried out to his nation, the people continued down the pathway of idolatry and immorality, until it was too late and the nation collapsed.

Fortunately, the God who does not see as man sees, also does not measure as man measures. Jeremiah’s greatness was not determined by how people responded to his message, but rather by how faithfully he delivered it. In the midst of complacency, confusion, and full frontal attack, Jeremiah refused to be silent or dilute his message in any way. Like the rising of the sun, Jeremiah’s voice could be heard daily, calling the people to turn to the Lord.

Faithfulness remains the key to effective service. When we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, we will not be responsible for how others responded to the Gospel message, but rather, how faithful we were to God. If you have been called to be a homemaker, then faithfully minister to your husband, and raise your children to love and follow Christ. If you have been called to work in the secular world, then do your work heartily as unto the Lord, looking for every opportunity to share the love of Christ with your co-workers. If you are in the silver years of life, look for ways to invest in the spiritual growth of young people; perhaps serving in children’s ministry, discipleship, or prayer.

When the day comes for us to stand before the Lord, all that will matter is whether we have received Jesus Christ and been faithful to Him. Let’s follow the example of Jeremiah and not allow the rising tide of worldliness to sidetrack us from faithfully serving the Lord.

Pastor Jim

 

Study Time 

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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 it. Instead of studying the Word and instructing the people, they were playing ‘God’ by coming up with their own form of worship and lifestyle. Jeremiah wonders where are those who studied the Word of God and and are living according to it? Years later, the New Testament addressed the same issue.

Hebrews 5:12 “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.”

Every generation is in need of those who will become students of the Word of God, and live according to its teachings. Here in Jeremiah, we learn how to become a student of the Word.

First, we must be those who will stand in the counsel of the Lord. The idea is, we are the ones who will come to the Word of God for our marching orders. Instead of looking at the culture of the day, or the behavior of those who have gone before us, we must become people who will look to the Word of God for instruction. In 2 Chronicles, when King Josiah stumbled across the Word of God, he immediately put himself under its authority. The highest ruler in the land saw that he must be ruled by the Word of God. If we are going to become effective students of the Word, we must see it as the authority of our lives.

Second, we need to hear the Word and mark it; meaning, we become serious students of Scripture. This involves time, effort and energy. If we want to understand the Word of God and live accordingly, we must devote ourselves to daily reading and study of the Word. The most common objection I hear is “I don’t have time.” While I understand that life is busy and there are seasons when things are especially hectic, I also have come to realize, we all have the same amount of time and make choices as to how we spend it. If we are going to be students of the Word, we must make time to study.

Finally, Jeremiah spoke of marking the Word. I think this paints a picture of a person who expects to hear from God as he opens the pages of the Bible. With pen or highlighter in hand, we should open up the Word and expect that God is going to speak to us about our lives. This expectancy will lead to hearing God speak from the pages of His Word.

Pastor Jim

 

Not Listening 

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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 in life. They had forsaken the Lord and His ways, seeking to become like the nations they were supposed to evangelize. Jeremiah arose to call the people back to the Lord. Over and over again, he reminded them of the folly of leaving the Lord, and the danger of sin. He compared life apart from the Lord to a shrub in the desert, while following the Lord was like being a lush and fruitful tree. He warned of the coming destruction on the nation. He promised that God, as the master potter, could take the broken pieces of the nation, redeem them, and make them beautiful once again. Instead of heeding the message, examining their lives, and turning back to the Lord, most of the people became enraged at Jeremiah and sought to have him silenced. Soon he was arrested for speaking the truth of God. Perhaps the charges against Jeremiah were that of inciting hatred or being intolerant.

Jeremiah’s experiences are all too common. They have been repeated time and time again throughout history. Even now, we see them unfolding before our very eyes. Instead of allowing the Word of God to correct the way we live, we are finding that those who speak the truth are being accused of wrongdoing, themselves. My prayer is that we will see revival happen once again in our nation. However, I believe we must brace ourselves for a frontal attack upon Christianity and the Word of God. We must be prepared to be looked down upon, for the truths we live and preach.

Times will continue to alter and adapt. Cultural mores will change like fashions, but the Word of God will remain an unchangeable bedrock, upon which life can always be built, guided and judged. Let’s be faithful to look to the Word, as we seek to navigate our way through life.

Pastor Jim

 

It’s Ruined 

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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 case, Jeremiah was instructed to strut around town wearing a beautiful sash. Since the normal attire of a prophet was quite drab, this sash would certainly grab the people’s attention. After some time, Jeremiah buried the sash in the muddy banks of the Euphrates river. There it sat until it was ruined and could no longer serve its purpose. Jeremiah then dug it up, put it on and once again strutted through the city. As much as the beautiful sash had captured the attention of the people, this filthy, worn and tattered garment would be difficult to miss. When asked why he was wearing it, Jeremiah was to reply that just as the sash was ruined by the weather, so Judah had been ruined by ignoring the ways of God and living after their own desires.

We were designed by God with a purpose. That purpose is wrapped up in living after the precepts found in His Word. When we neglect or reject the ways of God, we are no longer living according to the design. A flower planter made from a muscle car might be unique and even capture people’s attention, but that is certainly not what that vehicle was designed to be. We were designed to bring glory to God, and will find the greatest fulfillment in life when we choose to surrender to, and follow after, Christ.

Don’t be a muddy sash.

Pastor Jim

 

The Call Of God

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Hebrews 5:1
“For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.”

Hebrews 5:4
“And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was.”

The purpose in referring to the old testament priesthood, was to show that the ministry of Jesus is far superior to their ministry. However, by bringing these verses to our attention, the text gives some key insights into serving the Lord. There are four words in these two verses that are worthy of our consideration. We are told the priests were “taken” and “appointed.” This means they were chosen out of the tribe of Levi, and the family of Aaron, and set apart for the service of God. Next we are told, their service was an “honor” and a “calling.” No one could step into this service, apart from the sons of Aaron. It was the highest of all callings, and carried with it the greatest honor.

I think, in some ways, we have lost sight of the call of God. It seems to me, many of us have a “take it or leave it” attitude when it comes to serving the Lord. We may sense that God is stirring us to get involved in serving, in one capacity or another, only to put it off because we think we are not qualified, it is not important, or we will one day get around to it. We need to have a better understanding of the call of God.

Notice, we are told, “no man takes this honor unto himself”. When it comes to Christian service, the sovereignty of God plays a critical role. In the Priesthood, it was God who selected the family of Aaron from the tribe of Levi. When it comes to New Testament ministry, we are told the Holy Spirit gives us gifts “individually as He wills” (1 Corinthians 12:11 KJV). Those gifts are given so ministry might be accomplished. When you sense a stirring within you to get involved in service, recognize that as the high call of God.

When this life comes to its end, we will care very little about the time we kept for ourselves, but we will revel in the time given to the Lord, in the service of others.

Pastor Jim