November 14, 2020

 Happy Saturday

Jeremiah finds himself having to deliver an unpleasant message. The good news today is they could not do it and neither can we without his spirit. There's probably some people who might say I can please God all by myself but the reality is we please God when we believe. We do not have to be super man and super woman but we simply need to spend time with Jesus and let him do the good work on the inside of us. We do good because of him and in him (Jesus Christ) we live. As you read this remember this was a people who did not have the Messiah. They had a promise. The Messiah is here today and he has the same teachings the difference is he gives us the power to do what he wants us to do. In this passage Israel is punished but remember it does not have the power to change them long term. If our condition drives or motivates us to change it is temporal but God wanted a lasting change. God seeks a deeper change in us today and it is individual. He is pleased with Jesus Christ and that is the end of that and in Christ we find grace to do those right things. It says to me that God wants my heart. He does not need my sacrifices and bad singing or emotional rants. He sends the message over and over again that he wants something deeper. It is not external. It is internal and it exist between you and God only. It has nothing to do with other people. Why does he do good to us today? He does good for us not because we deserve it but because when you trust him he wants to show us he exist and his word is true. This passage is supposed to display failure and defeat not to convey the message it is over but it is only the beginning because it is meant to point us to Christ. 

"Don't read this passage from the position, I am so bad. You are and guess what God still wants you. Just like he told Jeremiah; before you were born I knew you. Some people don't belong to God but the point I am making is he knows what we are. He finds fault with them because they left him. They wanted to do things on their own. This is more of the problem than the actions they commit. The actions are horrible but God says when you leave me you act like a prostitute. The devil pimps you out. We end up all jacked up. The devil is a sneaky sucker. He uses and abuses people. God helps and holds us. When you trust in God you send him the message I don't trust myself? That's a good thing What is the message to us today?

1. They did not have the Holy Spirit. This is what happens when we trust in Self. It does not please God. Faith in his Son pleases him. 

Passages like this should make us conscious of our SAVIOR 

This passage should make us Celebrate Christ. We needed to be saved. Today draw closer in Thanksgiving. You can go to him and say Father I'm sorry for my actions. God is too big to be mad at you. The devil is the one holding our sins against us and he desires that we deny Christ. Peter had a weak moment. So did John and in struggles we do too. We think my sin is the reason why things are not happening  but it is your believing. The sin is the problem and the devil uses it. But Jesus came that we can live despite our sins. Sin says its over but Jesus says in me you will live again. In sin we die but in Christ we have this life because he died for you. Dont ever deny him no matter what happens or what things look like. Circumstances lie to us. The devil does his dirt first. God waits to see what we believe. Once we believe God steps in. Even if the devil takes you to court, simply believe and confess that God says in him I live.  He has told us the TRUTH. The devil lies and says it will never change that's just the way it is. But God says your faith can move mountains. For example I can do all things through Jesus Christ who Strengthens me. We must be weak if he has to provide strength.  Hang in the fight. Its a battle for our thoughts and beliefs.  God can overturn circumstances. Dont worry about closing doors worry about making sure you believe. Once we believe things change. The devil wants us to think God is against us. He hates your sin. Once again God is bigger than that. Even in this passage he says return unto me. He is not against us the devil is. God is for us. Do you really believe it? Do I really believe it? If we do...we really change.

God wants to see our Faith in trouble times. It's the time to believe. Even if you have to talk to your self work hard to believe. 

Jeremiah 3

“If a man divorces his wife

    and she leaves him and marries another man,

should he return to her again?

    Would not the land be completely defiled?

But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers—

    would you now return to me?”

declares the Lord.

 “Look up to the barren heights and see.

    Is there any place where you have not been ravished?

By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers,

    sat like a nomad in the desert.

You have defiled the land

    with your prostitution and wickedness.

Therefore the showers have been withheld,

    and no spring rains have fallen.

Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute;

    you refuse to blush with shame.

 Have you not just called to me:

    ‘My Father, my friend from my youth,

 will you always be angry?

    Will your wrath continue forever?’

This is how you talk,

    but you do all the evil you can.”

Unfaithful Israel

During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? 

She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there.  

I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it.  I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. 

Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery.  Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood. 

 In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the Lord.

 The Lord said to me, “Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah.  Go, proclaim this message toward the north:

“‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord,

    ‘I will frown on you no longer,

for I am faithful,’ declares the Lord,

    ‘I will not be angry forever.

 Only acknowledge your guilt—

    you have rebelled against the Lord your God,

you have scattered your favors to foreign gods

    under every spreading tree,

    and have not obeyed me,’”

declares the Lord.

 “Return, faithless people,” declares the Lord, “for I am your husband. I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion.  

Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding.  In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,” declares the Lord, “people will no longer say, ‘

The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made.  At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the Lord, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the Lord. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. 

 In those days the people of Judah will join the people of Israel, and together they will come from a northern land to the land I gave your ancestors as an inheritance.

“I myself said,

“‘How gladly would I treat you like my children

    and give you a pleasant land,

    the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.’

I thought you would call me ‘Father’

    and not turn away from following me.

But like a woman unfaithful to her husband,

    so you, Israel, have been unfaithful to me,”

declares the Lord.

 A cry is heard on the barren heights,

    the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel,

because they have perverted their ways

    and have forgotten the Lord their God.

“Return, faithless people;

    I will cure you of backsliding.”

“Yes, we will come to you,

    for you are the Lord our God.

Surely the idolatrous commotion on the hills

    and mountains is a deception;

surely in the Lord our God

    is the salvation of Israel.

 From our youth shameful gods have consumed

    the fruits of our ancestors’ labor—

their flocks and herds,

    their sons and daughters.

Let us lie down in our shame,

    and let our disgrace cover us.

We have sinned against the Lord our God,

    both we and our ancestors;

from our youth till this day

    we have not obeyed the Lord our God.”

Have a great day!