November 23, 2020

 A Linen Belt

This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water.”  So I bought a belt, as the Lord directed, and put it around my waist.

 Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time:  “Take the belt you bought and are wearing around your waist, and go now to Perath and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks.”  So I went and hid it at Perath, as the Lord told me.

 Many days later the Lord said to me, “Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there.” So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.

The Lord speaks: In the previous chapters God compares himself to idols and the one thing he says is idols were created by men. One cuts the wood and another shapes it. They cannot speak. He says I am (GOD) and I speak. If you serve him then it is okay to listen to his voice. To desire his voice. To want direction because he is nothing like an idol. He tells Israel do not treat me like an idol. He is not a God that sits back and be still. But he tells us to be still and see his salvation. Why do people love idols. They do not speak. The man is head over it. But when it comes to the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob he is head over us. He is the leader and we seek directions from him. 

1.He speaks through a voice

2. He speaks through a person

3. He speaks through situations and circumstances

The method of communication depends on our understanding. For example a person who questions a voice or knowing his voice God may use a person that they respect. If he uses situations and circumstances it helps us understand a heavenly concept as well as it may get our attention. Someone out there may say why would God use bad things to speak to Israel. I want to say with confidence that he spoke in a voice but it seems like they ignored him. He spoke through a person and in front of the person they do it but when the person is not  present they still do not respect it. When he gets to using circumstances and situations it means that he is going to get our attention. Its sad that it take bad things to get our attention. But look at the Psalms. David was always praying because the enemy was always working.

EXPECT HIS VOICE

EXPECT HIS THOUGHTS

EXPECT HIS WORD

HE IS GOING TO SPEAK IT ONE WAY OR ANOTHER

THERES AN EASY WAY AND A HARD WAY

BUT HE IS NOT AN IDOL

HE HAS GIVEN US THE BIBLE 

Ethos, Logos, Pathos are modes of persuasion used to convince others of your position, argument or vision. Ethos means character and it is an appeal to moral principles. Logos means reason and it is an appeal to logic. Pathos means experience or sadness and it is an appeal to emotion. Ethos. Ultimately, ethos is all about trust.

LOGOS =THE WRITTEN WORD

PATHOS= THE SPOKEN WORD

ETHOS =REVEALED TO US 

 Then the word of the Lord came to me:  “This is what the Lord says: ‘In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.  These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt—completely useless!  For as a belt is bound around the waist, so I bound all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,’ declares the Lord, ‘to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.’

Sometimes an enemy wakes us up to a real friend. What do I mean when you get under someone who hates you you begin to appreciate someone who loves you. We take for granted those who care for us and sadly it is when we lose them we begin to appreciate them. 

Wineskins

 “Say to them: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Every wineskin should be filled with wine.’ And if they say to you, ‘Don’t we know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?’  then tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land, including the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets and all those living in Jerusalem.  I will smash them one against the other, parents and children alike, declares the Lord. I will allow no pity or mercy or compassion to keep me from destroying them.’”

Threat of Captivity

Hear and pay attention,

    do not be arrogant,

    for the Lord has spoken.

 Give glory to the Lord your God

    before he brings the darkness,

before your feet stumble

    on the darkening hills.

You hope for light,

    but he will turn it to utter darkness

    and change it to deep gloom.

 If you do not listen,

    I will weep in secret

    because of your pride;

my eyes will weep bitterly,

    overflowing with tears,

    because the Lord’s flock will be taken captive.

Say to the king and to the queen mother,

    “Come down from your thrones,

for your glorious crowns

    will fall from your heads.”

 The cities in the Negev will be shut up,

    and there will be no one to open them.

All Judah will be carried into exile,

    carried completely away.

 Look up and see

    those who are coming from the north.

Where is the flock that was entrusted to you,

    the sheep of which you boasted?

 What will you say when the Lord sets over you.

    those you cultivated as your special allies?

Will not pain grip you

    like that of a woman in labor?

 And if you ask yourself,

    “Why has this happened to me?”—

it is because of your many sins

    that your skirts have been torn off

    and your body mistreated.

Can an Ethiopian[b] change his skin

    or a leopard its spots?

Neither can you do good

    who are accustomed to doing evil.

 “I will scatter you like chaff

    driven by the desert wind.

This is your lot,

    the portion I have decreed for you,”

declares the Lord,

“because you have forgotten me

    and trusted in false gods.

 I will pull up your skirts over your face

    that your shame may be seen—

your adulteries and lustful neighings,

    your shameless prostitution!

I have seen your detestable acts

    on the hills and in the fields.

Woe to you, Jerusalem!

    How long will you be unclean?”

Have a great day!