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Jeremiah 42
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Live from Bremerton. It's Monday night, Jeremiah 42. Rob Rob just left the building, but he'll be back, and we're gonna worship the lord in spirit and truth. Guys are missing out tonight on apple pie, banana cream pie, meatballs, nachos casserole. Nacho casserole. Alright. We had a good night already. We had to drive through snow and and hail, and we're here. We are. And let's pray. Are you ready, Ram? I'm ready. Okay. Right on. Father, we come before you, and we commit this night in your hands. Thank you that we could make it here. Help Sean as he's on his way and help those that were lying in the ditch to get out of the ditch. And Yes. Thank you for traveling mercies, Lord, and we ask you anoint and bless this bible study, this fellowship, this time of worshiping you. Just bless mightily in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Alright. Thank you, Rob. Thank you everybody for all the food. I can't hardly speak. I got too much food in my belly, but we'll get through it. Alright. Jeremiah 42. Oh, father, we just thank you so much that we got through the snow and the sleet and tornadoes and all those things to be able to get here. And thank you how warm it is. Thank you for nice seats, chairs. Thank you for Robin, Vicky, and Brandon's hospitality. Thank you for all the food and the hands that prepared it. Pray you keep us healthy and strong. We pray that you'd be with Sally. Continue to heal her. Thank you that Judy's arm's doing better. Continue to help Fred as he improves. And Alan and Cora, be with them, Lord. Lord, thank you Kathy's doing better. Help her to continue to do better. And then, Lord, anybody else that's sick, we pray we come through this flu and cold season. And, Lord, that we'd we'd get much stronger. We lift up Juanita, Kevin Lee's wife, and thank you that she got through her heart surgery. Pray that you help her regain her cardio and her stamina and just be with them, bless them mightily, and bless this night, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Jeremiah 42. Now last week, we were looking at in 41, and we looked at at 17 times the name Ishmael is mentioned. Now Ishmael in the royal line, but if we take Ishmael back to Genesis when Abraham and Hagar got together coming out of Egypt, Sarah and Abraham were trying to help God out. Come on in, Cheryl. Come on in. They were trying to help God out in that ten years into their walk of faith where God told them that he was gonna bless them. They'd they'd be fruitful, multiply, and all that. After they came out of Egypt, Hagar had an idea that Abraham would go into her handmaiden who was Hagar and to help God out into having a child. So they had a child named Ishmael, and Ishmael is asked of God. And and Ishmael represents the work of the flesh, a man of the flesh, our fleshly side. And we talked about on Sunday three parts for us as Christians, the flesh, the which the carnality, the carnal Christian can be fleshly or he can be spiritual. The natural man's fleshly. And then we have the option of yielding to the holy spirit, being spiritual. So Ishmael got together some guys and killed over 80 people, threw them in a pit, And and so we we analyzed and looked at the war of the flesh against the spirit. And so this remnant, this group that came through that, they they don't have Gedaliah to lead them anymore. And now they're asking Jeremiah. Jeremiah made it through, and a small remnant made it through. They're in Jerusalem, and they're asking they're in the area of Jerusalem, but they're asking they're asking Jeremiah to pray for them, asking Jeremiah to see if we can get god's blessing on our plan to go to Egypt. So and so that's where you pick it up. Then all all the captains of the forces and Johanan, the son of Kirai and Jezaniah, the son of Hasheh, and all the people from, at least even unto the greatest came near. So Johannan who told Gedaliah that Ishmael has a plot to kill you, once he found out Gedaliah was killed and the other others were killed, he went after Ishmael. Ishmael escaped, but he was able to wipe them out. So he's providing some leadership there. They're having a crisis meeting, God's will, or do we want guidance? We want wisdom. And said unto Jeremiah, the prophet, let we beseech thee our supplication be accepted before thee and pray for us under the Lord thy God, even for all the remnant for we are left but a few of many as thine eyes do behold us. So Nebuchadnezzar came and took a lot killed a lot of them. Book of Lamentations, we see a lot of them are wiped out, but he took refugees like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, these kind of guys, took him to Babylon, but this group was allowed to be there. And now they've lost Gadaleh, and so the captains are there. They're praying. And notice notice they say to Jeremiah, forty years he's been ministering, they've never once asked Jeremiah to pray for them. They basically ignored Jeremiah for forty years, everything that God has told them. That's the reason why Nebuchadnezzar came and destroyed the city of Jerusalem in May. And they just won't listen. They won't listen. They won't listen. They won't And now they've got a plan, and their plan, they wanna see if the Lord will accept their plan. And my thought is if you don't wanna do things God's way, then why pray? You know? Just what's the point? You know? Why why do you need God's endorsement, you know, on your idea? Jesus prayed, father, if you're willing, remove this cup from me, but nevertheless, not as I will, but thy will be done. So we're we're taught, you know, even the son of man, Jesus, as he's praying, that he wants nothing less than, you know, his father's best. He said, I do always those things that please the father. And and the father says, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. So there's our example. And these guys are in a place of perplexity. In Luke, twenty one twenty five, this perplexity is the sign and the sun and the moons and the stars, men's hearts failing them, and that word perplexity means no way out. So within the tribulation period, as it's sold unto people, as a time of peace, peace, give it your freedom, and we'll provide security, the satanic governmental system. Jesus said, there should be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars and upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring. And, again, that word perplexity means no way out. So the problems that we're facing today, economic, war, we we're not even entering into the weather stuff, you know, at this point, although people are telling me about eclipses that are coming, meteorites that are coming, aliens are coming, all sorts of stuff people are saying are coming. But eventually, Klaus Schwab and all these guys that are planning for everybody, their best life now and that sort of thing, they reach a place of perplexity where there's no way out. And you would think that people would lift up their heads and pray, but in the book of Revelation, we see when God's pouring out his wrath upon them, they just get angrier. And when God gives two witnesses up to chapter 11 to testify of who God is, and they're able to bring, you know, the two witnesses able to bring different various weather things, cause it to rain or not to rain for three and a half years. When the Lord takes them up or when the Antichrist kills them, they seemingly, they throw a party. They're refusing to seek the true living God and to humble themselves and to repent. And they actually throw a party and then the Lord causes them to be raptured up and taken on up into heaven at the midpoint of the tribulation period. So you see the hearts of men, the various ways that God pours out his wrath, but it just makes them angrier and angrier and angrier at God. And there's a glimpse here of hope that maybe these people will listen this time. And if you ever had children that don't listen or maybe you were the children that wouldn't listen? Me. You wouldn't listen? That's me. You just wouldn't listen? That's me now. You now? You won't listen? I'm trying. Well, that's good. That's good. I mean, I as a parent or as a pastor, if I put my myself into Jeremiah's position as a teacher of God's word, you're gonna spend your whole life sacrificially for these people, and they just won't listen. Do know you how frustrating that is? Do know how frustrating it is to pour your life into your children? And then they become teenagers, and they just won't listen. I don't know anything about that. What's that? I don't know anything about that. Yeah. They won't listen. And it's so it's so frustrating because what's it gonna take for them to finally want to listen? What's it gonna take? I think one of the guys at my work was was there to try to get me to find God for the last more than twenty years. Twenty years? Yes. He'd been praying for you? I believe so. He needs an award. Yes. He needs an b. Wow. He he I think he tried and tried and tried. He made it known to you over and over again? You can't really at work. But Oh. He was there for the Lord, and that was it. That's why he was always happy, never said anything negative, nothing. He was there for the Lord, and it was not a coincidence that I finished reading the Bible, and the next day he retired. Wow. So Well, you need to tell him. Thank you. Oh, I did. Oh, good. Mister Bean. Little angel. Mister Bean. Praise the lord. God has his people everywhere, everywhere as witnesses. And it's and so they're wanting to get God's endorsement for what for what they're gonna do. Now notice he says, and pray for us unto the Lord thy God. So they don't they don't recognize the Lord our God. Right? It's the Lord thy God. Jeremiah, you're the one with the relationship with him. We don't know him. Can you intercede for us and pray for the Lord thy God even for all this remnant? For for we are left but a few of many as thine eyes do behold us. And so, pray for us and see if our will can be done. You know? And then down in verse, let's see, verse five, then said Jeremiah, the Lord be true and faithful witness. No. Wait a minute. Verse four, notice it says, I have heard you, behold, I will pray unto the Lord your God. You see that? Mhmm. And so Jeremiah is trying to not, you know, provide some exclusivity like you have to only go through me to hear hear from God. He's letting them know he's your God too, He's and been your God the whole time. And he'll go on to probably teach them how they can pray and how they can have access directly without, you know, going through going through the prophet. And so so there's a little remnant there that the Lord thy God may show us the way in which we may walk and the thing that we may do. And so what's the way to walk? What's the way to walk? The straight and narrow way. Right? Narrow is the way that leads to life eternal and few there be that find it. Not the broad way. The broad way, you know, leads to destruction and many go in there at. So we choose a way of Jesus said, I'm the way. Right? Not I'm not gonna show you a way for you to live your life. Jesus points to himself and says, I'm the way. Follow me. Right? Buddha can't do that. Muhammad can't do that. Confucius can't do that. The globalist can't do that. Why? They're not. How do we know they're not the way? Because they didn't raise themselves from the dead. They didn't raise themselves from the dead. Now they're they're spouting off huge things like technologically, we're gonna be able to control you. We're gonna be able to know what you're thinking. From a distance, we can actually get into your brain waves and and, you know, coherence you into doing what we want you to do. So they're they've got a god complex prognosticating what they're gonna do. And, unfortunately, the lie that they believe that they can be as gods is just that it's a lie, but many people are gonna be seduced and deceived by it. And so we know that Jesus is the way. So, Lord, where are you going? You know, what do you what would you have me do, Lord? How can I serve you today? And and Jesus is the way. So I don't have to look at a myriad of different new things that are coming along. If I was at Mars Hill and the Epicurean philosophers and everybody there, and they're always looking for some new thing, we don't have to do that because Jesus proved that He's God by being crucified, buried, raised from the dead. He said destroy this temple in three days, I'll raise it up. So that's what separates him from everybody else, and that's why we would use a word where we're not going to be inclusive. They don't like that. They don't like that we would be exclusive. The only way is Jesus, and that makes them go crazy when you narrow it down that Jesus is the only way to life eternal. And it makes the crazies even crazier. They want inclusiveness that every freak, every ism, everything can make it into heaven, you know, but have to go through Jesus. So then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you. Behold, I will pray unto the Lord our God according to your words, and it shall come to pass that wheresoever thing the Lord shall answer, I will declare it unto you. I will keep nothing back from you. And so whatever the Lord gives me to say is what I'm gonna tell you, and I'm not gonna hold back anything that he lets me say. So here I am, Daniel, and you're getting a dream or a vision or you're Joseph getting a dream and a vision and people want you to interpret it thereof. There's parts of the dream and the vision that are negative. How can you tell king Nebuchadnezzar that you're gonna be beaten grass for seven years, and things like that. And so you have to tell them the whole story, the whole everything, all of it. And the apostle Paul in teaching in acts 20, he said he was innocent in the blood of everybody because he for the space of three years, night and day with tears that he gave the full counsel of God. So, when you stand before God in Ezekiel three and Ezekiel 33, that's where Paul was getting that truth that we are accountable and a person's blood is on our hands if we don't warn that person. But if we warn that person, then the responsibility lies completely with them. So we have a responsibility as witnesses to warn people of impending judgment, to get right with God that Jesus is coming, and we have to speak of sin and of death and of hell and of heaven and of being born again and of repentance and and all of it. And unfortunately, whole lot of the church today is in apostasy, and they're they're holding a lot back, and they're adding to adding to Christianity a lot of things that aren't in the Bible, the ideas of men that have psychology and such. And so God didn't ask us to add psychology to the Bible. And and yet most of the pulpits in America are geared toward alleviating fear and alleviating uncertainty and anxiety, and they're doing it on a human level and not feeding people's spirits so they have enough faith to trust in the Lord that the Lord will, you know, get them through whatever it is that they're facing. And so faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. We talk about watering down God's word. We don't allow the full brunt of the cross. We soften the message so as not to offend people, you know. We can change words and not call it sin or judgment. We can say, well, you just made a mistake. You know, you just made a mistake, you know, and it doesn't sound as sound as bad as sin and missing the mark or transgression or or whatever it is. And and so the wages of sin is death, you know, not allowed to say that. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So so that God can be merciful, so that he can be gracious. So the full counsel of God, he says, I'm gonna get I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you everything he he tells me to say. So, king Balak, when he was trying to hire Balaam, the prophet, the false prophet, he was trying to get Balaam to curse the children of Israel. And Balaam made it real clear that, hey, whatever he says, that's what I have to say. I can't say anymore, any less, you know. What God gives me to say, that's what I'm gonna say. And you can't curse God's people. And then Balaam taught Balak how to get God to, you know, to judge his own people by seducing them into idolatry and fornication. So the error of Balaam. So I'll keep nothing back from you. And I I worried on Sunday when I shortened my sermon to finishing by twelve that I might have to hold something back, you know, but we can always meet another day. Right? Can't do it all in one day. And I was I was pretty pretty amazed the way you guys cheered. Everybody cheered. And if bet if Betty was there, her alarm would have went off at twelve noon. And but she was excited at home. I heard her laughing from home. It was just joyous. Her prayers are answered. That way your back doesn't hurt as bad and, you know, you can use the restroom and and you're not just like, you know, like that, you know, in agony. So then they said to Jeremiah, the lord be a true and faithful witness between us if we do not even according to all things which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us. So they're setting their self up for a fall. Jesus said, let your yes be yes, let your no be no. When you make a vow, a rash vow, you make an agreement with the Lord, he's gonna make it binding. Right? He's gonna make it so you're gonna have to hold up your end of the bargain and there's gonna be consequences. But notice how he says they said, Jeremiah, the Lord be true and a faithful witness. The Lord's a true and a faithful witness. Is that true? You and I are to be witnesses. Right? You're my witnesses. And the Lord is a true and a faithful witness. Who wants to look at Revelation one verse five? Revelation one verse five? Revelation three fourteen? Okay. Do I have a Revelation one five? Do I have a revelation three fourteen? Yeah. I'm gonna K. And revelation nineteen eleven. All good. Okay. So revelation one five. And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Don't you love that? Loved us in the past tense pointing to the cross and washed us from our sins in his own blood. That's powerful. That's a powerful statement. That's our witness. He's our witness. He's testifying. And Revelation three fourteen. Three fourteen. And under the angel of the church of Laodicea write these things, sayeth the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. Faithful and true witness. I can trust Jesus. I can trust his witness. Mhmm. He's not a liar. He's a man of his word. He's gonna keep his promises. Amen. Revelation nineteen eleven. And I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true. And in righteousness, he doth judge and make war. Amen. A faithful and true. So, be true and a faithful witness between us if we do not even according to all things for which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us. So these guys are digging a hole for themselves, and they are liars. Verse six, whether it be good or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we send thee, that it may be well with us when we obey, here's that word again, obey the voice of the Lord our God. So they're indicating that we're gonna we're gonna obey. And if we obey him, it's gonna go well. If we don't obey him, it's gonna go, you know, evil. Deuteronomy 28 has that picture there. If you do good, if you obey my voice, I'm gonna bless you. If you do evil and you don't keep my word, you're you're gonna be judged for it. And so they just come out of a huge season of judgment, forty years time to repent and all. The city of Nineveh had forty days and they repented. The nation of Israel has a prophet named Jeremiah preaching and teaching for over forty years and they refuse to repent. The solution for America is what? Repentance. Are you hearing anybody in the public, anybody calling our nation under repentance? Why not? What is the solution what is the solution to the problems that America is is experiencing? What's this everybody wants to know how to fix it. How do we fix it? How do we get to go back to normal? But that would give it to god. Give it to god? Yeah. He can fix it. God's gonna only one that can fix it. Right? But how how difficult or how easy if we listen to Eric Mithaxas, he wants us to fight. Right? Yeah. Don't think there's a rapture. You guys need to fight. You need to vote. You need to get involved, you know, in government and all that. How's that work, Nancy? Nancy ran for office. Nancy's gone door to door for years. So the solution is the same solution for an individual, for a family, or for a nation, and it's repentance. It's turning back unto the Lord. And in repentance, turning from your sins and saying, God, I've been disobedient, and Lord, I wanna obey your voice. I wanna do things your way. And Lord, I'm yours for whatever you want. That that means that can happen when obviously, you first get saved. It can happen fifteen years later, twenty years later, forty years later. The Lord is always a prayer away. Just a prayer away. And unfortunately, we try to fix it ourselves, and we we exhaust every avenue, every means that we can think of to try and fix the problem. And we can spend years and years and years doing the same thing, a different result, and that's the definition of insanity. Right? I mean, this whole election cycle, Trump's getting huge crowds. He got huge crowds last time. The Republicans and Democrats were in on stealing the election and giving it to Biden. Nothing's been done to correct it. Nothing's been done to prosecute. Nothing's been done to fix it for a future election. People thinking we can elect them in now this time. You know? What didn't you learn? What didn't you understand? Your your vote means absolutely nothing. Absolutely nothing. So why not wake the church up and get the church to call the nation under repentance and allow God to fight for us, allow God to purify and to remove that which needs to be removed because we're at a stalemate. We don't know what to do. People just don't know what to do. So they keep falling back on onto what they've been doing. And if if you understand where we're going, we're going to a one world government. If you understand prophetically, we're going to a one world government. We are in the way, and our elected leaders are globalists, all of them. And they are doing a job for the globalists to take America down. If you don't understand that, then you don't understand the solution, which is to call the nation to repentance because you're being sold out by your elected leaders. And the church has turned its back upon the Lord because the church is in love with love with America and in an idolatrous fashion, thinking that, well, we can find a man. We can find a man that'll lead us, that'll that'll that'll fix all this. But you already had the man. He tricked you. Mhmm. He didn't arrest anybody. He didn't do it. And then he did the warp speed jab. So these guys are perplexed. For forty years, they've been doing it their way. For forty years, they've been telling Jeremiah no. For forty years, God's been saying, hey, how about do it my way? How about do it my way? And for forty years, they've been ignoring the voice of the Lord. And now they have the audacity to say, we will obey the voice of the Lord. And and it came to pass after ten days that Jeremiah that the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah. How long have you been praying, Cheryl? Six months. Six months? Yeah. Six months. And what's you asking the Lord for? Well, a lot of things. But You were so honest. Newest word is discernment. Discernment? Yeah. Because I never really understood that word before. So now that's what I'm praying for now. Impairment. I'm Patience. Patience is my biggest problem. That's kinda what we're looking at. We're all we're we want our prayers answered in ten minutes. Mhmm. Not ten days. Oh, he's teaching me. Right? All of us. All of us want our prayers answered in ten minutes. Right, Cath? Since they're out of our mouth, we want the prayer answered. We want an answer from God, right? Now Jeremiah, he's a pretty spiritual guy. I mean, he's more spiritual than any of all of us put together, right? He is close to the Lord, he's been faithful. Why would it take a guy that heavy, that in there with God, why would it take ten days to get an answer? Why why ten days of praying? Have any of you ever prayed for ten days straight? Well, with breaks. With breaks? Yeah. Now, in Daniel chapter 10, Daniel prayed twenty one days, three weeks to get an answer. Twenty one days he began to pray and the prince of Persia was keeping Michael from coming to Daniel and oh, Daniel, you know, beloved of God. Let's turn to Daniel chapter 10. We'll see a picture what happens when we pray, especially when you're praying over the target. A lot of our prayers, you know, are meaningless prayers, they're selfish prayers, And God is is concerned about everything about us. The smallest minutest detail Daniel 10. Daniel chapter 10. So in the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, a thing was revealed under Daniel whose name was called Belteshazzar and the thing was true, but the time appointed was long and he understood the thing and had understanding of the vision. In those days, I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. So more than praying, a picture of a word used, mourning. So he's an intercessor mourning on behalf of the children of Israel. And it wasn't a time of happy time. I don't know that Americans understand the times we're living in, how dire that this is a time of sackcloth and ashes. This is a time of mourning. Just how serious this time we're living in is. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all till the whole three weeks were fulfilled. So he's exercising that of fasting, prayer. And the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river which is Hiddekel, which is the Tigris River, then I lifted up mine eyes and looked and behold a certain man clothed in linen whose loins were girded with a fine gold of euphaz. His body and this is a description of Jesus in Revelation one. His body was like the burial and his face like the appearance of lightning and his eyes like lamps of fire and his arms and his feet in color like the polished bronze and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude. Man, that's pretty heavy, Revelation one twelve through 16. And I, Daniel alone, saw the vision for the men that were with me saw not the vision. So kind of like Paul on the road to Damascus, he saw the Lord, the guys that were with him could hear like a mumbling, but couldn't hear, couldn't articulate exactly what was being said, but Paul did. But a great quaking fell upon them. So this is where we get the phrase for the Quakers. Remember the Quakers? Quaking. I'm just kidding. I'm kidding. So the Quakers were those while they're praying, they would shake. They would start shaking. They called them the Quakers. And they have those Puritan type hats and all that, you know, the start of our country. But a great quaking fell upon them so that they fled to hide themselves. Therefore, I was left alone and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me for my commonness was turned in me into corruption and I retained no strength. Yet heard I the voice of the words, and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, my face toward the ground. Now that is what happens to me when I try to pray, I fall asleep. I can't last very long. Even when I am studying today, it is four in the afternoon and I am like and I wake back up, you know? There's just something something there. I don't know. But put a cookie in front of me, I'm wide awake, man. So and behold You're so adorable. A hand touched me. I don't know about that. Think Kathy would have to verify that. Alright. I mean, what pastor would sit there finishing this message with vote for Pedro? He's got a mustache. You know what mean? Come on. I'm not very normal. Alright. And behold, a hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. And he said unto me, oh, Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee. And stand upright for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. Now this is this is the reaction of human beings when they see angels. There's something about angels that makes people tremble, fall on their face. I've never seen an angel, but there's gotta be something about them that's majestic and freaks out, you know? And he could be Gabriel. So fear not Daniel. Then said he unto me, fear not Daniel for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand and to chasten thyself before thy God, Thy words were heard and I am come for thy words. So twenty one days, three weeks you've been praying, and from the very first moment you began to pray, your prayers were coming up before the Lord as incense. Right? Your prayers are like incense and as a means of worshiping the Lord. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia so where's that at? Iran. So now we we're thinking in terms of Ephesians six. We fight not against flesh and blood, but against spirits and principalities and powers. So there's a representative of Iran, of Persia, a demonic force, a demonic entity that this angel is fighting with for twenty one days. There's a battle going on in the heavenly. So we fight not against flesh and blood. So if the church wants to win, the church is a repentant church, a mourning church in sackcloth and ashes, and it's a praying church appealing to God to fight for them. Right? Because it's a spiritual battle that we are losing. We are losing. Right? But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one in twenty days. But lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, so he speculates this possibly Gabriel, and so now he's identifying that Michael came to help me, and Clarence is in there somewhere, but lo Michael, one of the chief princes came to help me, and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall the people in the latter days for yet the vision is yet for many days. And when he had spoken such words unto me, I set my face toward the ground and I became dumb. And behold, one like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips. Then I opened my mouth and spoke and said unto him who stood before me, oh my Lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me and I've retained no string. For how can the servant of this my Lord talk with this my Lord? For as for me straightway, there remain no strength in me, neither is there breath in me. Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man and strengthened me and said, oh, man greatly beloved, fear not. Peace be unto thee. Be strong. Be strong. Isn't that what we need? Isn't that what we need? We need that. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened and said, let my Lord speak for thou has strengthened me. Then said he, knowest thou why I come unto thee? And now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia. And when I'm gone forth, lo, the prince of Greece shall come. Because the Greeks are gonna subdue the Persians. Right? There's a battle going on in the heavenlies, in the spiritual realm. But I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth. I like that scripture of truth. And there is none that holdeth with me in these things but Michael, your prince. And so and so we see Daniel as a prayer, what we would call a prayer warrior, and you're a person that stands in the gap. And a lot of the prayer warriors in the church today, we don't even know who they are, but God has placed them in various communities and various various places in the body of Christ. And and we see Daniel waiting twenty one days to get an answer. And boy, what an answer he got. Right? Now Jeremiah, he's he's gonna wait ten days. I his part of it might be like with Daniel, there's a battle going on in the heavenlies. There's a warfare taking place, or it might be the Lord's enjoying the worship that Jeremiah is bringing him. Our prayers come up as incense, as offerings. Right? And the Lord's enjoying that special time with Jeremiah. The Lord's enjoying fellowship as Jeremiah is, you know, seeking the Lord. And we we sometimes think, well, I'm I'm gonna approach the Lord in a manner and just ask for something. And, well, nowadays, you can go to Google and you can ask for information concerning the people that started America, and Google will show you a black George Washington. Right? Are you getting good information? You can talk to artificial intelligence who are anti white right now. Vicki showed it to me yesterday and I read about it today. And they will will demonize and get rid of white people. Historically, they're changing it. And they'll show you a black George Washington. What? Yeah. Right, Vicky? Yeah. Yeah. Google is doing that. So people are turning. They have a question. They have a prayer. They need an answer. They're being taught to turn to artificial intelligence. Right? But God wants us to turn to him and not turn to him like he's artificial intelligence, but that he's omniscient, that he's all knowing, that he's our heavenly father. There's intimacy. There's relationship. We're children. We're his kids. We're his sons, his daughters. And so he wants more than just our words. He wants our hearts. He wants our our worship, our intimacy, our fellowship. And so Jesus said, ask, seek, knock. Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. In in the in our father prayer, give us this day our daily bread. And a lot of times I think the reason we've been taught to ask for bread, our daily bread, I can't think now. Carbs. Is carbs. If he gave us a week supply of food, we'd go back a week later to talk to him. But if we walk by faith day by day, give us this day our daily bread, then every single day, we're walking in fellowship with him. Right? Mhmm. And so we Matthew six it. We seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all these other things be added unto us. Came to pass after ten days that the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah. I've heard it said that one of the biggest questions the angels are gonna ask us when we get to heaven is why didn't you pray more? Yeah. Why didn't you pray more? Because God's standing there ready to send us. We're messengers sent by God to help you guys. Why didn't you pray more? That the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, then called he Johannan the son of Kiria, and all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest. And so the call goes out to whosoever will, let him come. Let's get together. Let's have a prayer meeting, a bible study. Whosoever will, let them come. We meet at 10AM on Sunday morning in Kitsap County. Whosoever will, let them come. And said unto them, thus saith the Lord thy God of Israel, unto whom you sent me to present your supplication before him. And so he's letting them know that I have got word from the true and living God, the one that you sent me to, not of Baal, of Astaroth, not of any other idols or false gods, false deities. I went before the true and living God, the God of creation, the God of redemption. If you will still abide in this land, then will I build you and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not pluck you up, for I repent of the evil that I've done unto you. So he's given them a choice. He's letting them know. If you turn to chapter one verse 10, turn all the way back to the very beginning of the book where God gave Jeremiah his walking orders. He said, see, I of this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out, to pull down, to destroy, to throw down, and to build, and to plant. So when our culture uses make America great as a slogan or squishy hope of Obama or build back better, they're letting you know they're tearing everything down. They're tearing everything down. They're rooting it out, tearing it down. So in their opinion, they can build it back better as a globalist society, globalism. And the Lord's saying, I'm gonna root out and I'm gonna tear down these nations, and then we're gonna plant. We're gonna build again. So Jeremiah's getting the word from the Lord saying, it's a time to plan. It's a time to build. I've repented of the evil that I did. I've I've satisfied in my justice that I've done in in disciplining the nation of Israel. Now I wanna show mercy. Give me a reason to show mercy. Please let me show mercy unto you. Stay here. Abide. Abide with me. Don't go to Egypt and don't fear. Don't fear Nebuchadnezzar. I know you guys haven't had bread. I know a lot of people have have starved. I know a lot of people have died from the war, pestilence, the famine. But abide in me and I in you, and you're gonna bear much fruit is what he's saying. And to plant. And we go through different seasons. We go through seasons of pruning where the Lord will prune us back as a as a Christian, as a couple in marriage, as a single person, where you get pruned. And so those of you that know horticulture as well as I do, I I'm I'm really good with rose bushes, and I'm just kidding. But my mom had me weed around her rose bushes. And one of the things I learned with my mom's rose bushes is that I'd have to cut off all the little balls, you know, and then I'd have to certain time of year, I'd have to take that thing and I'd have to cut it down small and get rid of all the nasty branches and the stuff that's brown and all that. It looks like you almost killed it, you know, and then you put some some fertilizer around it and then you gotta walk away from it. And that's what the Lord does to our life sometimes is he'll prune. He'll prune us way down and almost almost feels like, man, Lord, you've taken everything from me. There's nothing left, you know? And and he'll dig around the base and he'll start to put some manure. He'll put some fertilizer. And Lord, manure is all around me, man. You know? It stinks, Lord. My life stinks. And and then there's another season coming where the sun is shining, and all of a sudden shoots start shooting out of your life. And in that time of breaking, in that time of cultivation of the Lord cutting you back, your life's narrowed down to less things. There's less distractions. And so your roots are gonna grow deeper unto the Lord, unto Jesus, and you're gonna spend time with him. And that nourishment, as you're spending time with him, is gonna be evident later as your life begins to bear fruit, much fruit. Turn to John 15. That's the third time today that parody of the soil came up. Yeah? Yeah. For you? Uh-huh. Because you're a gardener? Yeah. I think so. What's everybody doing that to you? Yeah. I got one sent to me, and then one of the girls that's been praying for me told me about it. And then That same story? You were just talking about Wow. Well, maybe the holy spirit's wanting to say something to us. Well, I am planting. Yeah. No. K. We're gonna have Robbie Reed. She has a very, very good public voice. And we're gonna have Robbie read John fifteen one through 17. And I want you to pay close attention to the word he says here, abide. Verse 10, he says, if ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not pluck you up. For I repent of the evil that I have done unto you. Not repent that he did anything wrong, but it's a time for a change. It's a time for mercy. I've I've exhausted my judgment upon you. Now I wanna be merciful to you as a remnant is what he's saying. And he's letting you know, it's time for your relationship with me to be cultivated. Don't run away from me to symbolically Egypt is the world. Don't turn to the world. Give up your freedom for security. That's what the that's what the temptation here is in America. Give up your freedom for the security of a totalitarian regime, you know, and don't do it. Don't fall for it. So crisis reaction solution. So they've gone through a terrible, terrible crisis. They don't know who they can trust. They're tired of being hungry. They're tired of the war. They're tired of the people they've lost. And the Lord's meeting them there through the prophet Jeremiah and he's saying, I wanna be tender to you. I want to I want to help you. I wanna build you. I'll protect you from Nebuchadnezzar. And the key is the key for you and I is to abide. Abide in Jesus. Don't walk away from him. Stay as close to him as you can and he's gonna abide, you abide in him and he'll abide in you and he will cultivate just as you're gonna see the fourth time now or third time. You 'll see a picture here in John 15 of a husbandman, of a planter, and the way that he cultivates, and the way that he causes our lives to bear fruit, fruit, much fruit, more fruit, right? Alright, Robbie. Fifteen one through what? One through 17. Okay. I am the true vine, and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that bear fruits, he prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up. And they gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. Just as the father has loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in me you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made in full. 17. This is this is my commandment that you love one another just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves for the slave does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from my father, I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit and that your fruit would remain so that whatever you ask of the father in my name, he may give it to you. This I command you that you love one another. There we go. Only way we can love is by abiding, abiding in him. And so they have a choice. And Jeremiah is gonna do a really good job here. He's not gonna give them legal advice. Pastors shouldn't give legal advice. Right? He's not gonna give financial advice. He's not going to give medical advice. He's going to as a pastor, he's gonna lay it out for them spiritually. You guys choose. It's your choice. But this is what the Bible says. This is what God's word says. And if you wanna be in equally yoked with an unbeliever, that's your choice. But the Bible says, don't do that. If you wanna go to Egypt back into the world, that's your choice. But God says, abide in me. God says, let me prune you. Let me, you know, let me pour my pour myself into you. Let my life flow into you. And so Jeremiah is letting them choose just like Joshua did as a leader. Choose you to this day who you will serve. As for me and my house, we're gonna serve the lord. Right? You guys wanna serve the gods on the other side of the Jordan that your father served or whatever, you go for it. I'm not a cult leader. We can't force our kids. We can't force anybody to love us. We can't force anybody to listen to us. If I could if I could rule my home as the head of the home with a heavy hand and force everybody to do what I'm telling them to do, first chance they get, they're gonna go do what they wanna do. Right? It has to translate from the young formative years of giving them structure, which shows love to a place as they as they begin to make choices, as they begin to exercise their freedom of choosing to love God. Each person needs to choose whether or not they wanna love God or not. And if they're in love with God, I don't need to follow them around and punishing them or beating them or forcing them to do, you know, what I'm instructing them to do. And so it it has to be love. It has to be like Joseph. He's away from home. He's unjustly treated, and Potiphar's wife's making advances at him. And he said basically, how could I do this great evil not against your husband? How could I do this great evil against God? So Moses looked to the left, Moses looked to the right, and he slew an Egyptian. He didn't look up. You and I wanna be looking up. We wanna be abiding. We wanna stay in that place where God where we're connected, you know, to the Lord. So if you will still abide in this land, then will I so God's telling you what he'll do. Then will I build you and not pull you down, and I'll plant you and not pluck you up for I repent of the evil which I've done unto you. So God wants to show mercy. So now he says, be not afraid three times back over in 41 in verse 18, they were afraid. And when God says, be not afraid, that means you're afraid. When he says be strong, that's because you're feeling weak. Right? When he says be courageous, that's because you're, you know, you're fearful. So we saw that fear not's in the Bible 63 times, fearing not a 144 times, so be not afraid of the king. So Nebuchadnezzar's a heavy dude. Don't be afraid of him. I've got Nebuchadnezzar. He's gonna leave you alone. Just stay here. Trust me. He's he's the most powerful man on the planet. Right? Be not afraid of the king of Babylon. And so it really comes down to since God is for us, who can be against us? We can be so incredibly bold in standing for righteousness. We don't need to fear what man's gonna do unto us. The fear of man's a snare. So as soon as you get into that mode of fear, they've convinced you, you know, you're gonna lose your job. You're gonna get COVID. You're you've lost. You can't think. You just can't think. Now you're open to being being deceived. So be not afraid of the king of Babylon of whom you are afraid. Be not afraid of him, saith the Lord, for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand. So yesterday, we talked about Zara who had a military of a million men in his army and 300, you know, chariots. And Asa had 580,000, you know, soldiers and all. We think of David fighting against Goliath. We see many many cases within the bible where the enemy seems to be just, you know, no way we can we can win this. You know? And we see where Gideon had 33,000, then it's down to 10,000, then it's down to 300. And Kathy will remind you from the Sunday school lesson that it was because God wanted the glory. God didn't want Gideon and the boys thinking they got the victory because they're such good soldiers. You know? And so if God's for us, we have a majority. Only person I need to please you need to please is the Lord. That's the only person. If you're pleasing the Lord and he's for you and his smile's upon you, his favor's upon you, he's gonna fight for you, he's gonna protect you, he's gonna provide for you, and he loves it. He loves it when the odds are against you and you choose to honor him. That just tickles his heart that you would trust him in that way. So I'm with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand. So trust in God. I mean, this is a direct word from God. It took Jeremiah ten days to get this word from God. I mean, how clear could it be? It's really clear. Is there anything you don't understand about what I'm saying here? You know? And I will show mercies unto you. What's mercy? Grace is unmerited favor. Mercy is what? Not getting not getting what you deserve. So what do you think these guys deserve, the small little remnant? Forty years have given God all this headache. Yeah. Yeah. You know? What do they deserve? Big kick to the curb. You know? But but the Lord's saying, no. That's not my heart. And and, you know, it's a love relationship. The Lord's saying, I want you to love me. Oh, you don't have to get that. I'm not that important. Rob won't be able to take his eye off it, but I I hope Rob won't either. Alright. It's there. Okay. I'm just so funny. I just can't stand it. Alright. So I will show mercies unto you that he may have mercy upon you and cause you to return to your to your own land. So you get to go home. You get to go home. You get to have your own yard and your fence and your house and your fig trees and and grow a garden and have some chickens and you get to go home. You guys have been traumatized. You guys have PTSD. You've been through a lot. I mean, a real no. If you look at the book of Lamentations, they've been through a lot. I mean, a real lot. And Jeremiah, as he describes when we get into Lamentation, he describes all these mothers boiling their babies, eating their babies and stuff, and noblemen, people, their bodies all black, their skin black because of, you know, the famine. And Deuteronomy 28, blessings are cursings. You could go through there and look how God offers blessings and curses based upon obedience or disobedience. But if you but if you say, we will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the Lord your God. So if you wanna go that way, if you wanna be rebels, if you wanna be hearers of the word, not doers only, you're gonna build your house on the sand, and the storms are gonna come against you, and you're not gonna have me there to help you. You're not gonna have the foundation. You're not gonna have, you know, Jesus as the rock foundation, you know, of your life. A lot of you, lot of us have been through a lot of heartache, a lot of difficult times. And the reason we get through the storms is because Jesus is our rock. He's the foundation of our life. And that's the only way. Saying, no, but we will go into the land of Egypt where we shall see no war nor hear the sound of the trumpet nor have hunger or bread, and and we will do well. There we will do well. So if you're thinking of running off to Texas or to Montana and you're gonna escape, you're you're mistaken. I'm just kidding. Probably right after I know. You're going to Montana. I'm trying. You're going to Montana. You're trying to get out. But you're gonna you're gonna grow. No. I don't I don't give advice. We're not giving advice. Thus saith the Lord. No. If you need to move, go ahead and move. We we we're equal opportunity church. Right? So but sometimes we're wanting to run. We're wanting to run somewhere envisioning that we're going to have it better there, that the grass is greener on the other side, that I'm gonna leave this marriage because, you know, it's gonna be better with another person. You know? And we got married too young, and we, you know, we were just kids when we got married. You know? And people reason all kinds of different reasons why they wanna bail on on their marriages and stuff. And and we as Christians, Jesus is our rock. We're married to Jesus, and there's gonna be good seasons, bad seasons, and such. And can two walk together except they be agreed if your spouse wants out of the marriage? Nothing you do about it. They have free will. They get to go. But from our standpoint, the decisions we're making, we wanna honor God. We wanna do what he's asking us to do. And it's always too soon to quit. You know? So no. But we will go into the land of Egypt. So you know you're going into Egypt, and now you gotta sell everybody. You gotta sell all the people in the church and all your friends why this is such a great idea, why you're leaving. Right? Gotta be a reason. And the quickest way is, hey, we prayed about it. God told us to move. Then everybody has to shut up because God didn't tell them you weren't supposed to move. Right? So everybody's free to go. And then later on down the road, we find out if that was God's will or not, So you you can't you can't force people to stay. If they wanna go, help them load up their truck and go. But the number one thing I say to you if you're gonna go, and this is this is I think this is important. What is what's your priority? What is it these guys are looking for in Egypt? Easier life. Just better life. I mean, life's been rough, so they're looking for time out. So who's it for? Themselves. Self. Is there anybody you know that packed it up and left when Jay Inslee made them insane that the first priority was there's a really good church there. We're going for spiritual reasons. Never happens. That's the low thing on the list. We'll hope we can find a church. So that means this church means zilch to them. It means nothing. It means we're gonna go for us. And if God blesses us, maybe we will find a church that teaches the Bible. Maybe. Right? And so these guys that are going to Egypt, are they going to Egypt because their spiritual lives are gonna be better? Are they going to Egypt because Egypt's got some really good bible studies there, some really good churches, a temple, Judaism, whatever. No. No. Nothing. Nothing to do. God's saying if you abide with me, even though it may be harder here, you're gonna grow. Right? You're gonna grow spiritually. So Jeremiah is like, spent forty years pouring my life into you guys. Forty years trying to get you to listen to God, and you still won't listen. You're still so obsessed with yourselves. So pastors, prophets, teachers, you gotta let them go. You just they gotta go. Don't even try to talk them out of it. Just, alright, go. Can't talk him out of it. But, boy, you can sure make fun of him every time you teach. Right? Hey. Vote for Pedro. Vote for Pedro. So Kathy and I, do you think we came up here from California because we hated yeah. Because because because California was, like, making us insane, you know, that the governor was governor was talking mean to me. You know? You know what I mean? It's like so what's your motivation of going? You know? Hopefully hopefully, if there is no bible study, you start a home bible study. But what I'm trying to point out is it's always the spiritual that's the number one priority. Always the spiritual. And but what I hear people say is, oh, I can get more more acreage. Oh, I can get a bigger house. Oh, our house is worth x amount. Now we can cash it in and we can move there. It's been our dream. Where are you going to church? And I'm just What that means is there's 50 churches to choose from. It doesn't matter. You know, there's churches everywhere. There isn't any one better than another. You know? And yet, there's very few churches that teach the Bible. Very few. Mhmm. Teach prophecy, that teach verse by verse, that go from Genesis to Revelation, and there's got to be a remnant of people that appreciate that, and that are willing to sacrifice to be a part of a a work like that. But if you're if you're in the bless me club, then I'm going where where I feel best. Say no, but we will go into the land of Egypt where we shall see no war. So you and I are at a war. We're in a war. It's a spiritual battle here. This is a blue state. We got nut jobs in, you know, in office. And the guy coming after Inslee, I hear is is gonna be even worse. So the policies and the things that that are and really, it's a psychological warfare. The stuff that they say they're gonna do really messes with people's heads and and overwhelmed with fear and anxiety. And so say, no, but we will go into the land of Egypt where we shall see no war. So they're weary of war. Now Winston Churchill helped England get through the second world war, and he was a a good leader. Now there's a bunch of stuff behind the scenes that, you know, they're globalists. They're working for the bankers. But on the surface, he's the guy that spoke into the radio and instilled courage in into the British people and helped them, you know, not give up or whatever. And so he led them a leader, a wartime leader that led them through a very difficult time of being bombed and, you know, and all that. Now, the people, the people, after the war, part of the purpose of the war was to present socialism. So after the war, they did not reelect Winston Churchill. Why? Because he was a wartime leader. They didn't want any more memory of war. They wanted the guy that promised them socialism, peace, and, you know, all that. No more wars. You know? And so that's part of human nature is you you you've been through the war. You don't want no more war. So they think Egypt is a place where there'll be no war. Is there anywhere you can go where there's no spiritual warfare? When I've been to weekend retreats and gone up to the mountain at Big Bear and Twin Peaks, Pastor Chuck Costa Mesa had a conference center up in the mountains, and we'd be able to go away after work on Fridays and drive up there and spend the weekend there or family camp all week. And you're in Bible studies all day long, You're around Christians all day long, and you're worshiping the Lord all day long at night and games and everything. And it's like, wow, I wish life would be like this. This is great, you know, just filled with the spirit around all these Christians. You think in terms of I'm in Matthew 17, you know, I'm I'm on the mount of transfiguration. And, hey, Peter says, hey, let's build some booths here. Let's just stay right here. You know? Is there any way I can move up here and work here? Can I can I put my trailer over here and live up here, pastor Chuck? You know? I wanna stay here. And then the reality of life is such that you gotta get back to work. It's part of the curse. So you gotta drive down that mountain. And as you're driving down the mountain, you get at the base of the mountain. What's waiting for you? Trouble. I'm the devil. Trouble? Trouble. The devil's furious, isn't he? Yeah. He's furious. And he wants to steal your joy. So if you're a wife and you go on a a women's retreat and you're just so stoked, sometimes the husband's the one that's gonna knock that smile off your face. Right? He's gonna be the one that quenches you because he's jealous. He doesn't like you being so filled with the spirit and all. And he's gonna remind you that there's laundry to do and, you know, the kids did this and kids did that. Get back to reality. Right? He's gonna say to you, hey, there's no money. You know? Don't spend it. Well, I don't need any money. I wanna read my bible. You know? Let's put some praise and worship music on. But when the disciples came down from the Mount Of Transfiguration, there was a man there with a demon possessed son. The demons are gonna be waiting for you, you know. They're gonna be waiting. They're gonna steal your joy. So the trick is, if we use the word trick, is in the midst of normal life, working and laboring and fighting, we need to be able to walk in the Holy Spirit. And that's that's a result of abiding. Abiding moment by moment in fellowship with Jesus, not compartmentalizing it like, alright, it's Sunday, so I'm gonna go abide with Jesus on Sunday or I'm gonna abide on Monday. No. Every day is a day for us to stay connected to Jesus, fellowship with him, and when the adversity comes, when the war comes, when the fight comes, we're gonna be able to battle in the power of the spirit rather than the arm of the flesh. Right? So we're gonna be able to pray through it, worship through it, have the scripture, have discernment. We're gonna be able to battle recognizing the battle. The strategy of the wicked one is to steal our joy, to steal your faith, to bring anxiety, to bring fear. But as we stay connected in the word and in fellowship and in prayer, now we get the victory because we're walking by faith. We're not gonna give in to the lies of the wicked one. And if we don't have any money and we're broke, we're gonna get kicked out, you know, we pray. We say, Lord, help. Lord, provide a house. Lord, provide somewhere else. You know, you turn to the Lord in that. And so some wanna run back to the world. It gets tough as a Christian, Cheryl. So picking on her, she's a brand new believer. If things get real tough on her, there's gonna be an inclination to go back to the world, an inclination, a desire that'll well up and say, you know, this Christianity really isn't working for me, And I'm gonna go back to the bars. I'm gonna go back to how I was before because I thought coming to Jesus would mean that my life would get better. It got harder. It got harder. It got a little bit harder. It's just a lot. So you're here, though. Every day I'm being tested. Yeah. We're not trying to candy coat the life ahead for you. Yeah. It's gonna be hard. It's gonna be But it's gonna be victorious. Yeah. You're gonna get the victory in Christ Jesus. He's gonna help you to be an overcomer. Right? Yeah. You're not gonna give in to the world. You know? When you give into the world, you get no victory. You know? There's no victory. The world's there to destroy you. I had a lot of anxiety, and now a lot of my anxiety is going. It's leaving because I'm trying to just go with it. You give it to him. Mhmm. You don't hold that anxiety. Cast all your cares upon him for he cares for you. So we learn to do that. We learn to walk by faith, not by sight. Lord, this is yours. This problem's too big for me. You take this problem. And, Lord, what would you have me do? You know? So the walking away, going back into the world. A lot of the people that we started out with as Christians aren't walking with the Lord today. Very zealous in the beginning, but went back into the world. And maybe they'll come back around later, but they didn't like. And and Jesus gives a parable to support types of soil. The first soil is the wayside soil, the real hard soil. So the gospel is the seed, and the seed hits the ground, and then the bird comes, which is the devil and snatches it away. Right? No germination. The next kind of seed is the shallow soil. In the shallow soil, the seed gets down, but there's a ledge of rock underneath, the rocky soil. Ledge of rock. You don't see that ledge of rock. So it has very shallow root system. And that root system is the shallow ease of believers in churches. And they look real big, but the root system is really small. So as soon as trials come, the sun beats down on it, it withers, dies, not so excited anymore raising the hands. Right? Because that's a trial. The trial exposes a very shallow root system. And then the third type of soil is the weedy soil. And the weedy soil grows, and then the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches choke that plant so that it doesn't bear fruit. Right? Because the love of the world cares like deceitfulness of riches. Then the fourth type of soil is the good soil, and the good soil bears fruit. And so we wanna be the soil, and the soil is the soil of the heart. So we want the Lord to be the husband and cultivate. Pull those weeds out, Lord. Pull those things out that I'm in love with the world. Lord, help my roots grow deeper in you. And so it's constantly turning to the Lord, abiding in him and allowing his life to flow through us. So now therefore hear the word of the Lord, ye remnant of Judah, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, if ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, go to search and go to Ser Jon there, then it shall come to pass that the sword which ye feared shall overtake you there. The land of Egypt and the famine which ye were afraid shall follow close after you. There in Egypt and there ye shall die. So the very things you're afraid of, you got the negative and you got the positive. The negative side is if you go to Egypt, the very things you're all afraid of are the very things that you're gonna succumb to, that are gonna take you down. It's because of fear. It's because you don't have faith. If you had faith in me, then I would take care of you. So here they are afraid. So we're gonna give up our security in the Lord, our our freedom and our security in the Lord to trust a foreign government that they'll take care of us, that a man will take care of us. So Adolf Hitler, when he took over Germany, he had a constitution that was in his way. So he had to get the German people to allow him to change the laws. And the way that he did it was he had his own men light the government buildings on fire, the Reichstag buildings. And so the the government buildings are on fire, and then he blames it on the communists. So you have to create a boogeyman. You have to create somebody that's a boogeyman gonna hurt them, and then he postures himself as the guy that'll save them from the bookemen, from these terrible communists. So you give up your freedom, which is guaranteed in your constitution, and you give this power over to a man, and now he legally can do whatever he wants with everybody. Right? And so, the church in in Germany should have kept trusting in the Lord and recognize that we have limited powers. We're not gonna give that sort of power to a man because absolute power is gonna corrupt, and it did. And so you need to trust the Lord. So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt and sojourn there. They shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them. Now you're an enemy of God. God's gonna bring the evil. God's gonna bring this down upon you. And you're given up your freedom for security. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, as mine anger and my fury have been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall my fury be poured forth upon you when you shall enter into Egypt and ye shall be ex execration, and a whore, and a curse, and reproach, and ye shall see this place no more. I mean, that's pretty strong. That's that's very strong language. You got the positive. You got the negative. Your guys' decision. Jeremiah is not intervening. Jeremiah is not saying you have to do anything. Jeremiah is laying it out for him. This is you have the way of life, you have the way of death. Choose you this day who you will serve. You know? And so we see Hebrews eleven six, which says what? What's it require? Faith. Right? Without faith, it's impossible what? For they that come to him must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. So all through Hebrews 11, we see the phrase by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith. And that's how we please God is by faith, walking by faith. The Lord has said concerning you, oh, ye remnant of Judah, go ye not into Egypt, know certainly that I have admonished you this day. And so is that a pretty clear warning? So can you can you say can you say read my lips, you know? How how much clear does it have to be? And you ever talk to your kids and they've got that glazed look on their eyes? And they've heard it a million times, it's kind of glazed, and they're in a trance. They're and you know, as soon as they get the chance, they're gonna go to the pigpen. They're gonna go do what they're gonna do. And my daughter, Brittany, used to tell me, dad, because we had a rule that you weren't allowed to ride in cars with boys alone, that you go in groups. Christian kids go in groups, you know? And she goes, dad, you know, if we wanted to have sex, we could have it in the back of a car, you know, nothing to do about it. So she's letting me know. It's her decision. Well, she's like 17, 18 years old, I guess it is, you know. By then, she should know what she wants to do. But when they're younger, you know, younger than that or whatever, you're trying to get them to not be in a situation of temptation. And, you know, accountability with other Christian people, we help one another stay accountable. And when you have daughters That's my What's that? That's my shin. Yeah. Yeah. You wanna you wanna iron sharpens iron, wanna wanna help each other. And but she's a good girl. Britney is a good girl. Alright. So I've admonished you this day, admonishment. And and, man, it hurts. It sure hurts to see your kids, you know, follow a path that you know is destructive, that they're gonna be hurt, scarred. All you're wanting to do is to keep them from that pain, that scarring, that hurt that maybe you experienced before you became a Christian. Kathy and I, before we're Christians, we have a BC history. We become a Christian, and it's just radical, the change. But unfortunately, kids that are raised in Christian homes don't value what they have. And they're so curious about the world, they gotta go out there and quote unquote sow their wild oats and discover it for themselves. Well, that's a really poor way to learn. That's that's like saying, hey. Are you gonna marry this person? You guys are gonna get married, you know, and and you're a Christian couple? You know, we would we would recommend that you be abstinent, that you not sleep together until your, you know, your wedding night. But the world's telling them, well, how do you know you'll be compatible? How do you know how do you know? You need to try each other out, you know, beforehand. That's the world. That's the world's advice. Mhmm. And then once the you know, anyway, it's much better to do things God's way. He's not gonna make a mistake on on if this person's the right or the wrong person for you. If you're waiting ten days, can you pray ten days about who you are going to marry? You pray twenty one days about who you are going to marry? My friend Jason, he is a sweet, sweet man, and he had five years of sobriety, a Christian man, and I work out with him at the gym. And, of course, he's got a lot of women coming after him to marry him and stuff, and he doesn't want no part of it. You know? He wants to stay in his groove with the Lord, you know? Stay in that place of sobriety and all that. Well, a lovely woman came into his life and she's she's a nice lady, Christian lady, everything. But it was the timing was wrong. It's too much for Jason. It's too much Rob will say he doesn't have enough testosterone, but it's just too much. You know? And it was coming too fast. Well, he totally crashed. He crashed. So we can pray for Jason. He's going into detox tomorrow. And he he words he's using is, I am devastated. You know, those are big words. And then he let me know that he's no longer with this girl from Texas. He went down there for the holidays to meet their family. Loved her. Great person. Nothing negative about her. She was very aggressive. He was wasn't sure. But those triggers, all that pressure, that anxiety of having to choose now, all that stuff, you know, overwhelmed him. So he's gonna go back to square one now. He's gonna go back to square one with his walk with the Lord and his sobriety and get going again, you know? So it's a it's a serious thing. These are serious things that that maybe we could take more time in prayer. You know? Mhmm. The gal was in a big hurry, and Jason wanted to wait. He wanted more time. He was conflicted. Something was something wasn't quite right. And so that can happen to any of us, any of us, any of us. The good thing is is the Lord's gonna restore him, and I'm sure his girlfriend will find the right guy, you know, for her too. But so I can't imagine anything more serious than the person you're gonna spend the rest of your life with. And why you wouldn't, spiritually speaking, spend time with the Lord and make sure that you have 100% approval that this is the right one. With Kathy, I didn't even need to think about it. It's just our hearts were knit. So I was fortunate in that way. And for some reason, she's still with me. She she she still loves me, I think. So she never lets me know though. Always wants to keep me guessing. So alright. For you dissembled in your hearts when you sent me under the Lord your God saying pray for us. So you guys deceived me. Why'd you even waste my time? Why'd you even want me to pray for you? You haven't listened to me in forty years. Our God and according unto all that the Lord our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it. You liars. You hypocrites. In the next chapter, you see what they they they just totally refuse them. We're not gonna do it. That isn't what we wanted to hear. Tell us smooth things in Jeremiah five. Tell us smooth things. A lot of times people don't wanna hear what the pastor has to say. No. We don't wanna hear that. We've got itchy ears. Tell us things we wanna hear. Tell us what we wanna hear. And how shameful for the pastors to give in to that pressure to tell people fables and doctrines of demons and to leave God out of it. You know? I mean, what's the point? So we will do it. And now I have this day declared it to you, but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, nor anything for which he has sent me unto you. So you're rebels, you're in love with the world, and basically you're unbelievers. Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword. I mean, that's pretty clear. You're gonna die by the sword. You could avoid it if you just trust the Lord. By the famine and by the pestilence in the place where you desire to go and to sojourn. So they have fair warning. And remember in the book of Jonah, they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy in Jonah two verse eight. So we talk about Jesus saying, take heed that no man deceive you. They that observe lying vanities, so you're self deceived. You're self deceived. You're deceiving yourself by rejecting the truth. They that observe lying vanities, you're being lied to, somebody's lying to you. Somebody's telling you Egypt's great. Egypt's great, man. They that observe lying vanities, vanities emptiness, forsake their own mercy. God's wanting to be merciful to you. He doesn't wanna judge you. He doesn't want the sword, the famine, the pestilence to destroy you and your kids. Abide in him. Stay close to the Lord, and he'll take care of you. But they're gonna roll the dice, aren't they? They're gonna go on their own. Human nature, cycle, cyclical. After a time of great great heartache, a time of great persecution, what comes out of it is revival. People revive. They love Jesus. And then they become prosperous, and then they forget Jesus, and then they go back into bondage, they go back into cruelty, and then out of that, they cry out to the Lord, and they go through another cycle of revival, prosperity, and it just repeats itself through the book of Judges over four hundred years. Alright. Well, let's pray. Lord, we just thank you that we're in your will. And, Lord, wherever that may be, doesn't mean location, but could be. But, Lord, we just thank you for this day that we're have the privilege and the blessing of serving you and studying your word, never gets old. Thank you for Rob and Vicky's hospitality. Thank you for all those who brought food. Thank you for for your love, Lord. Thank you for your instruction. Thank you as we read in in John 15, Lord, as we abide in you and you abide in us that we your intentions that we bear fruit, that we bear much fruit and that you cut away the old leaves, the old branches, the things that are hindering and that you're the husbandmen, you're the vinedresser heavenly father. And Jesus, you're the vine and we're the branches. And as we are connected to you, your objective is to cause us to bear fruit, much fruit for your kingdom and your glory. So thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Pastor?
About This Podcast
Calvary Chapel Bremerton - Home Bible Study
Listen to Rick Beaudry, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bremerton, lead our home Bible Study session in worship and teaching the Word of God. Be edified and built up in your faith with solid Bible teaching. New episodes released on Tuesdays in the Pacific Standard Timezone.
