Latest / Dwelling Place: The Bible for Moms / #158. Jeremiah 1-5 : Seeking the Only Cistern that Can Satisfy Our Souls | The Chronological Bible Plan for Moms

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#158. Jeremiah 1-5 : Seeking the Only Cistern that Can Satisfy Our Souls | The Chronological Bible Plan for Moms · Dwelling Place: The Bible for Moms

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  Steph: This is a Dwelling Place from Entrusted Ministries.
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  Steph: I'm Stephanie Hickox.
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  Steph: In today's episode, we're introduced to the weeping prophet Jeremiah.
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  Steph: He had the particular honor of being the mouthpiece of the Lord, but with this privilege came deep sorrow and persecution This episode will be best for mom ears alone because Jeremiah has some powerful, piercing words for the way
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  Steph: the nation has betrayed their God.
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  Steph: Jeremiah was much like Moses in that he questioned the Lord's call upon his life.
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  Steph: But unlike Moses, it was because he was so young at the time.
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  Steph: His ministry spanned five decades and covered the reign of five different kings in Judah.
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  Steph: He began in 627 BC and continued to after 586 BC.
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  Steph: His name means Jehovah establishes, appoints, or sends.
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  Steph: And scripture lets us see behind the curtain a little bit more with Jeremiah as we have the privilege of reading personal information about him, and even being informed about how God called him into ministry.
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  Steph: He was from a small village slightly north of Jerusalem named Anathoth His father was a priest named Hilkiah, but this is not the same high priest that discovered the Book of the Law during the days of Josiah.
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  Steph: Jeremiah heavily relied upon the assistance of a scribe named Baruch ben Naria.
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  Steph: And even when circumstances got extremely difficult, Baruch stood by him, recording Jeremiah's sermons, prophecies, and words throughout his ministry You won't be surprised that the purpose of Jeremiah is to encourage God's chosen people to repentance and to explain
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  Steph: why judgment has fallen upon them.
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  Steph: As Jeremiah reveals God's heart for them, He also reveals that God has been faithful to them the entire time.
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  Steph: It's been their sin that has required discipline.
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  Steph: Because Jeremiah's words so piercingly portray the impact of our sin and so tenderly exhibit God's intimate love for us, Today, we're going to largely focus on God's words through him There's such an opportunity for conviction when we hear
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  Steph: God describe the impact of our sin.
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  Steph: And I hope that as I read Jeremiah's words, you ask yourself, Am I deeply grieved by the sin around me?"
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  Steph: Whether it's our own sin, the sin of those we love, or the sin of the nation we call home, I pray these words encourage us to evaluate our own devotion to the Lord.
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  Steph: Are we attempting to follow God and culture, or does God remain first in our hearts?
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  Steph: This can be a really difficult thing to teach our kids, and it's often the result of maturity in our faith.
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  Steph: But as we continually pray, we want our kids to be good soil, That they would receive the word of God with joy and that the trials and pleasures of this world would not choke it out Jeremiah's life and
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  Steph: message can encourage us to stay true to the Lord in the midst of all circumstances In chapter one, we're invited into God's call upon Jeremiah It begins with a powerful truth of just how intimately God knows us.
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  Steph: Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you.
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  Steph: I appointed you a prophet to the nations."
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  Steph: Then I said, "Ah, Lord God!
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  Steph: Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth."
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  Steph: But the Lord said to me, Do not say, 'I am only a youth,' for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.
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  Steph: Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you," declares the Lord.
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  Steph: Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
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  Steph: See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."
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  Steph: And the word of the Lord came to me saying, Jeremiah, what do you see?"
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  Steph: And I said, "I see an almond branch."
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  Steph: Then the Lord said to me, You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it."
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  Steph: The word of the Lord came to me a second time saying, "What do you see?"
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  Steph: And I said, I see a boiling pot facing away from the north."
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  Steph: Then the Lord said to me, Out of the north, Disaster shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land.
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  Steph: For behold, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdom of the north, declares the Lord, and they shall come, and everyone shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem against all its walls all
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  Steph: around and against all its cities of Judah.
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  Steph: And I will declare my judgments against them for all their evil and forsaking me.
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  Steph: They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands.
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  Steph: But you, dress yourself for work.
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  Steph: Arise and say to them everything that I command you.
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  Steph: Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them.
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  Steph: And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar And bronze walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land.
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  Steph: They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you.
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  Steph: For I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you When Jeremiah recognizes the almond branch or the almond tree, the Hebrew word derives from the word Meaning to watch.
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  Steph: And that's why the Lord responds, "You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it."
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  Steph: Chapter 2 begins the second section of Jeremiah, which will take us all the way to chapter 45.
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  Steph: These are prophecies concerning the nation of Judah.
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  Steph: and chapters two and three recount Jerusalem's faithlessness to the Lord.
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  Steph: Like Isaiah 55, God rebukes the nation for seeking water that will not quench their thirst chapter two begins, The word of the Lord came to me saying, Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, thus says the Lord,
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  Steph: I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride.
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  Steph: How you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.'
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  Steph: Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest.
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  Steph: All who ate of it incurred guilt.
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  Steph: Disaster came upon them, declares the Lord.
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  Steph: Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel.
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  Steph: Thus says the Lord: What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me and went after worthlessness and became worthless?
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  Steph: And in 2:11, Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods?
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  Steph: But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.
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  Steph: Be appalled, O heavens, at this.
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  Steph: Be shocked.
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  Steph: Be utterly desolate," declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water Beginning again In verse 17:
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  Steph: Have you not brought this upon yourself by forsaking the Lord your God when He led you in the way?
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  Steph: And now, what do you gain by going to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile?
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  Steph: Or what do you gain by going to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates?
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  Steph: Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you.
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  Steph: Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God.
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  Steph: The fear of Me is not in you," declares the Lord God of Hosts.
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  Steph: How can you say I am not unclean?
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  Steph: I have not gone after the baals.
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  Steph: Look at your way in the valley.
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  Steph: Know what you have done.
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  Steph: A restless young camel running here and there, a wild donkey used to the wilderness, in her heat sniffing the wind Who can restrain her lust?
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  Steph: In 28, God questions, But where are your gods that you made for yourself?
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  Steph: Let them arise if they can save you in your time of trouble.
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  Steph: For as many as your cities are your gods, O Judah."
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  Steph: In chapter three, Jeremiah begins calling Judah to repentance because God is about to rightfully judge them, but their repentance could still change the course of the discipline required and the extent to which it's required In chapter three, beginning
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  Steph: in verse six, The Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah, Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel?
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  Steph: How she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore?'
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  Steph: and I thought, After she has done all this, she will return to me,' but she did not return.
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  Steph: and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
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  Steph: She saw that for all the adulteries of the faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce.
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  Steph: Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore."
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  Steph: Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree.
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  Steph: Yet for all this, her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense," declares the Lord.
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  Steph: And the Lord said to me, "Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.
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  Steph: Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say, "Return, faithless Israel," declares the Lord, I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful," declares the Lord.
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  Steph: I will not be angry forever.
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  Steph: Only acknowledge your guilt that you rebelled against the Lord your God, and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice," declares the Lord.
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  Steph: Return, O faithless children," declares the Lord, for I am your master.
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  Steph: I will take you one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.
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  Steph: And I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.
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  Steph: And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the Lord, they shall no more say, The ark of the covenant of the Lord.'
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  Steph: It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again.
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  Steph: At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart.
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  Steph: In those days, the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.
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  Steph: And Jeremiah cries out in 3:23 "Return, O faithless sons.
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  Steph: I will heal your faithlessness.
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  Steph: Behold, we come to you, for you are the Lord our God.
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  Steph: As I mentioned, we want to be good soil, and the analogy that God provides in chapter four aligns with that picture of our hearts being like soil For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem,
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  Steph: Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
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  Steph: Circumcise yourself to the Lord.
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  Steph: Remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem.
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  Steph: Lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds."
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  Steph: Then I said, 'Ah, Lord God, surely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, It shall be well with you," whereas the sword has reached their very life.'"
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  Steph: But in God's response, he assures that Israel and Judah brought this upon themselves Your ways and your deeds have brought this upon you.
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  Steph: This is your doom, and it is bitter.
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  Steph: It has reached your very heart You might be surprised that it seems Jeremiah questions the Lord's motives and his intentions.
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  Steph: This is one of the most complex verses to interpret in the Book of Jeremiah because God certainly does not deceive and does not lie, but he has allowed false prophets to emerge in the nation that were promising them
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  Steph: peace.
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  Steph: However, you and I have read over and over that his true prophets were definitely warning of the impending judgment Now let's conclude with some portions from chapter five where God explains exactly what the nation has done to deserve
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  Steph: judgment Oh Lord, do not your eyes look for truth?
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  Steph: You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish.
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  Steph: You have consumed them, but they refused to take correction.
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  Steph: They have made their faces harder than rock.
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  Steph: They have refused to repent."
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  Steph: Then I said, "These are only the poor.
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  Steph: They have no sense, for they do not know the way of the Lord, the justice of their God.
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  Steph: I will go to the great and will speak to them, for they know the way of the Lord, the justice of their God."
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  Steph: But they all alike had broken the yoke.
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  Steph: They had burst the bonds How can I pardon you?
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  Steph: Your children have forsaken me and have sworn by those who are no gods.
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  Steph: When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of whores.
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  Steph: They were well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor's wife.
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  Steph: Shall I not punish them for those things?
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  Steph: Declares the Lord.
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  Steph: And shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?
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  Steph: And in eleven through fifteen, For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly treacherous to me," declares the Lord.
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  Steph: They have spoken falsely of the Lord and have said, 'He will do nothing.
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  Steph: No disaster will come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine.
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  Steph: the prophets will become wind.
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  Steph: The word is not in them.'
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  Steph: Thus shall it be done to them Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts: because you have spoken this word, behold, I am making my words in your mouth of fire, and this people wood, and the fire
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  Steph: shall consume them.
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  Steph: behold, I am bringing against you a nation from afar," declares the Lord, O house of Israel," declares the Lord.
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  Steph: It is an enduring nation.
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  Steph: It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say.
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  Steph: But even in those days, declares the Lord, I will not make a full end of you.
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  Steph: And when your people say, Why has the Lord our God Done all these things to us?"
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  Steph: You shall say to them, As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so shall you serve foreigners in a land that is not yours."
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  Steph: Declare this in the house of Jacob, proclaim it in Judah.
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  Steph: Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but see not, who have ears but hear not.
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  Steph: Do you not fear me?"
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  Steph: declares the Lord.
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  Steph: Do you not tremble before me I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass.
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  Steph: Though the waves toss, they cannot prevail.
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  Steph: Though they roar, they cannot pass over it.
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  Steph: But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart.
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  Steph: They have turned aside and gone astray They do not say in their hearts, Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the
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  Steph: weeks appointed for the harvest."
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  Steph: Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have kept good from you Heavenly Father, we come before you with an awareness of the depth of our sin.
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  Steph: We hear the way that our iniquities grieve you, separate us from you, and prevent good from happening to us.
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  Steph: We pray we would be quick to repent and that our hearts would be tender toward you.
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  Steph: Break up any fallow ground in our heart that we would be quick to hear your call to repent We also plead that you would bless our children with a desire to be faithful to you, and a maturity and
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  Steph: awareness that the pleasures of this world are like empty cisterns.
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  Steph: They can only provide fleeting happiness Help them to understand that you are the only source of true joy and satisfaction train them to seek you wholeheartedly.
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  Steph: We pray against syncretism in our own lives.
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  Steph: We long for you to have first place and to be our consistent source of wisdom and joy.
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  Steph: Thank you for revealing your heart to us in your Word, and we pray it moves us to stay steadfast to our Savior, Jesus Christ.
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  Steph: it's in His name that we pray.
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  Steph: Amen