Latest / Faith by annm2705 / 775. Bible Study: Jeremiah 14 (Drought, Famine, War is a consequence of Rebellion to God, Unrepentance)

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775. Bible Study: Jeremiah 14 (Drought, Famine, War is a consequence of Rebellion to God, Unrepentance) · Faith by annm2705

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  Chapter 14 from the book of Jeremiah.
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  Let's get started with a prayer and to read another part of
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  scripture that really is all about why we read scripture.
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  The verse comes from Second Timothy chapter 3 verse 16.
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  All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching,
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  rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.
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  This is something we should Well it continues in 17 so that the
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  servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
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  So the outcome we can see from here is that God wants those who
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  read scripture to be equipped to do good work.
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  So God wants to take all of this information that we're reading
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  and bring about something within us that will be good for people,
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  for us. So dear Lord, please let the
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  Holy Spirit work within us and be with us.
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  As we read through Jeremiah chapter 14, we ask this in Jesus
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  name, Amen. This is the word of the Lord
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  that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.
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  So look at this already. It's there's a drought that
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  happened and that's a natural occurrence.
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  But all of a sudden the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah and it
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  was regarding this drought. So it was about the drought,
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  like probably why it came about. And we have to remember that God
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  is in control of everything. Ultimately, He allows some bad
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  things to happen and all I've found in Scripture, and if
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  anybody else wants to challenge me and find another reason why
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  God does things, then I'm open to it because I've, I've been
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  looking at Scripture, you know, again, to learn from it and and
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  to learn like why do that's a question that everybody asks.
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  Why do bad things happen? Well, bad things certainly
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  happen because of evil. God allows evil because of free
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  will, because he's given free will to those in the heavenly
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  realm as well as people. So all these beings have free
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  will and can choose to do evil. So it's because of the choice
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  that's available, the decision that people make and that
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  spiritual beings make, that evil can happen in our world today.
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  In God's future Kingdom, there will be no evil.
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  It will be isolated from, it'll be separated from.
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  And that's what all of this that we are experiencing right now is
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  leading us to. When Jesus returns and the
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  Kingdom of God is present on earth, then, well, there still
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  will be during Jesus's reign, there still will be some evil
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  occurring. But after that period, there's
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  1000 years still in the future where there will be some evil
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  present. But after that there will be no
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  evil, but you'll have Jesus reigning and there's going to be
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  peace on earth. So I think there's still going
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  to be some people who are not doing things the right way, but
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  they're learning during that time, but it won't be as bad as
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  what it is right now. So anyway, not to get too far
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  down the path on that, which I already did, but let's just
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  remember that God is ultimately in control of everything that
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  happens. And He either allows it to
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  happen, He stops it from happening sometimes.
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  But when he does allow it to happen, what I found in
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  Scripture is that there were two things.
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  It was #1 it was a consequence of someone's decision or it's,
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  it's a consequence of an action, you know, something that
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  somebody did. So that's why it happens.
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  So God allows it to happen. He doesn't necessarily make it
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  happen, but sometimes he does make it happen.
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  Or sometimes he uses people's desires that are evil to bring
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  judgement upon something. So sometimes bad things happen
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  as consequences to decisions, but then other times God does
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  test us. It tells us in Scripture that he
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  tests us to, I guess, find our true motivation.
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  God certainly knows he doesn't he, he knows everything.
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  So it's not like he needs to find out what we're going to do,
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  but it's almost like for us, like we need to see, I don't
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  know. I guess it's, I don't know if
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  that all makes sense to me either as I say it, but there is
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  a testing, there's a testing here while we are on earth and
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  we get choices and God gave us free will and we can either do
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  what we can. Either our actions will either
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  be within God's will or outside of God's will and God allows it
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  to be either way. And and that basically
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  solidifies where we end up in eternity by the decisions we
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  make, the choices we make, the actions we take.
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  And I'm not saying this is a works based how we get into the
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  Kingdom of God. Jesus was very clear though,
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  that said that, and no one, unless you were born again, you
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  cannot enter the Kingdom of God. So we need the Holy Spirit on
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  our own. This is a good reason to say
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  like why we can't do it by ourselves because we can keep
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  trying and we might be good for a while and then we'll, you
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  know, fall down. We, you know, we don't, we're
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  not successful in what we're attempting to do, but the power
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  of the Holy Spirit of God is what enables us to do the things
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  that we can't do on our own, to abide in God's will, to do God's
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  will. We may not be capable of it on
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  our own, but when we invite the Holy Spirit of God to dwell
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  within us and we ask for this help from God, from Jesus, Jesus
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  will receive the Holy Spirit from the Father and will give it
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  to us. He gives it to whomever he
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  pleases. And as Jesus said, I am the way,
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  the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except
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  through me. That's, you know, how we get
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  received. The Holy Spirit is through Jesus
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  and Jesus determines who he will give the Holy Spirit to.
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  And it depends on our sincere desires.
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  Do we really want to do God's will or is it just lip service
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  to God? And Jesus sees that, He knows
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  that, and that's how he, well, I'm not going to say that's how
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  he decides because I don't know how Jesus decides.
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  But it, it is definitely sincerity that people can go
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  through all the actions outwardly so, but their hearts
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  are not changed and they don't receive the Holy Spirit, but
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  people who are very sincere do. And that's supported through
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  evidence in the Bible. So anyway, let's go back.
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  I went way off on a tangent again.
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  But these things are important to and out from Scripture.
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  But again, this is about drought that comes.
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  And a word of God comes to Jeremiah about the drought.
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  Judah mourns her city's languish.
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  They wail for the land. A cry goes up from Jerusalem.
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  The nobles send their servants for water.
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  They go to cisterns but find no water.
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  They return with their jars unfilled.
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  Dismayed and despairing, they cover their heads.
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  The ground is cracked because there is no rain in the land.
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  The farmers are dismayed and cover their heads.
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  Even the dough in the field deserts her newborn fawn because
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  there is no grass, while donkeys stand on the barren heights and
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  pant like jackals. Their eyes fail for lack of
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  food. Although our sins testify
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  against us, do something, Lord, for the sake of your name, for
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  we have often rebelled. We have sinned against you.
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  You are the hope of Israel. It's saviour in times of
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  distress. Why are you like a stranger in
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  the land, like a traveller who stays only a night?
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  Why are you like a man taken by surprise, like a warrior
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  powerless to save? You are among us, Lord, and we
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  bear your name. Do not forsake us.
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  This is what the Lord says about the people.
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  They greatly love to wander, they do not restrain their feet,
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  so the Lord does not accept them, and he will now remember
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  their wickedness and punish them for their sins.
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  Then the Lord said to me, Do not pray for the well-being of this
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  people. Although they fast, I will not
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  listen to their cry. Though they offer burnt
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  offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them.
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  Instead I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague.
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  Now I notice that a lot of times what happens in the Old
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  Testament happens again in the future.
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  Like God does these same things. There's very strong or similar
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  patterns. So the end times have the same
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  thing as the seals get open there, there's war, then there
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  is, it sounds more to me like inflation or scarcity.
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  So that could be famine too. And then there is, you know, the
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  death that follows and the sword, you know, the sword is
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  war, and drought is the result of no rain, which brings about
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  no food, which brings about famine.
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  So God uses these naturally occurring events to humble
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  people, to make, you know, people then realize that they
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  are not in the control of all this and that they need God.
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  And so hopefully, I think, you know, with all these things, it
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  seems very clear in Scripture that God does these things as
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  punishment, but also, and more importantly so, to bring people
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  to repentance because God doesn't want this to happen to
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  people. He cares very much for people
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  and he doesn't want this to be the outcome.
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  But people get so hard headed and so much in their own ways
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  and not submit it to God that he needs to do something big to
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  shake him up. And if people don't respond to
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  that, it you know that that's you know, this is like God's
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  calling his his his final calling to some people.
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  You know, they're just about on the brink of death.
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  Now. Are they going to turn to him or
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  are they going to persist in their rebellion towards Him?
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  Will there be any repentance? And this is kind of like the
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  final call from God. Now going back to Scripture,
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  verse 13. Well, actually I'm going to
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  pause for a minute because there's some study Bible
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  questions and answers. So I will read what it has.
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  How did cisterns hold water? Cisterns were covered.
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  Were covered pits cut into rock or clay to catch and store
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  rainwater? They were critical for people
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  living in arid regions and sometimes symbolized security.
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  Jeremiah used this image before describing leaky cisterns that
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  could not hold water to illustrate the preference the
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  people had for false gods when they could have had the one true
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  God who was like a spring of fresh water.
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  Why did the people cover their heads?
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  Covering one's head was an ancient Near East, Near Eastern
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  expression of grief and may have come from a desire to mourn in
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  private or to hide one's tears. It became a custom for people in
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  mourning to cover their heads, just as mourners today wear
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  black. Why did Jeremiah invoke God's
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  name? Names were often used to
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  describe a person's nature or character, not just to label or
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  identify a person. Names could even be changed to
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  reflect a major life change. Jacob, for example, became
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  Israel. God, however, never changes.
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  Those who blamed God for their problems were attack, attacking
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  the character of his name, saying he was no longer
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  faithful. Jeremiah prayed that God would
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  act not according to what the people deserved, but according
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  to all that his name said he was.
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  If God was like a stranger, how was He among them?
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  Judah's calamities made it seem to the people as if God was
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  unknown. The real problem, however, was
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  not that God had abandoned Judah, but that the people had
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  distanced themselves from Him. Their sin had separated them
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  from God through his, though His presence was among them in the
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  temple and the ark of the Covenant.
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  Is it sometimes wrong to pray? God told Jeremiah not to pray
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  for the for the people because they had already been judged.
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  They had refused to repent while they had the opportunity.
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  Now it was too late. God emphasized his resolve by
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  saying, in effect, I don't want to hear any more about it.
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  My mind is made-up. So I think that's really
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  important for us to think about as well as God does.
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  You know, there's there's times where he will you know, he's
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  given us enough, enough opportunities.
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  How many more opportunities he is he going to get give us?
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  And are we going to test God like that?
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  Are we going to say, well, he always gives opportunities, So
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  I'm just going to keep on doing this and help forgive me.
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  He's forgiven before. That's what the Bible's all
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  about forgiveness. Well, there's a certain point,
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  you know, and God can, you know, that's kind of like pride, like
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  a person who's, you know, that's thinking of, think about like is
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  God, you know, it's pretty prideful if somebody would say
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  God always forgives. And I'm not worried about it.
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  I'll just ask for forgiveness and then, you know, receive
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  forgiveness when I'm ready. That's that's kind of making
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  yourself God and not respecting who God is.
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  And God sees all those things. You know, we as people do not
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  see that stuff with other people.
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  So people can deceive us about where they are with God, but God
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  knows the person's heart and that's all that matters, a
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  relationship between God and a person and the only person you
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  know, we're not to judge other people.
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  We're all on different journeys, if you want to call it that,
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  with God. Our relationship with God is a,
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  a process. It's individual.
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  We're not going to all come to the same level of our faith at
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  the same time, and God knows that.
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  And the most important thing is not necessarily how we're
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  thinking other people are, but how we're looking at ourselves.
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  Where are we with God? What are we doing?
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  Because that's all. That's the only person that we
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  have to answer for. We can't.
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  We aren't responsible for anyone else.
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  We are only responsible for ourselves.
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  So the most important thing is where are we with God?
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  And that's who we're going to have to answer for is all of our
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  own actions. So I'm going to go back to
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  verse, not go back to, but start again at verse 13.
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  But I say a last southern God, the prophets keep telling them
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  you will not see the sword or suffer famine.
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  Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place.
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  So again, God does promise some time in the future, but this is
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  after Jesus returns and Jesus hasn't returned.
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  So there isn't going to be a lasting peace, anything that any
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  kind of peace that we see right now is only going to be
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  temporary. And that's kind of probably
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  disheartening to people. And the people who are behind
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  these peace efforts probably don't want to hear that or maybe
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  don't believe that, or maybe they do.
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  And maybe it's all a deception too, but if you're counting on
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  peace happening and you're relying on peace agreements so
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  that everyone can live globally in peace and security, the Bible
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  warns US against that. It's not going to happen.
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  Jesus hasn't returned yet. But hopefully during the time of
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  peace, people can turn to God, start changing their lives.
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  The only way that we really will have peace is if every single
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  person had the Holy Spirit reciting and residing within
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  them. So, and that's not going to
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  happen until eternity. There has to be a separation of
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  evil, of good and evil. So we don't, we won't see this
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  everlasting peace, even the until Jesus returns.
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  And and then there's people you know who you know, they're going
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  to quote Scripture and they're going to quote things about
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  peace, but you have to know or understand or read the whole
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  Bible to realize that that doesn't come until Jesus
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  arrives. Then the Lord said to me, the
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  prophets are prophesying lies in my name.
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  I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to
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  them. They are prophesying to you
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  false visions, divinations, idolatries, and the delusions of
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  their own minds. Therefore, this is what the Lord
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  says about the prophets who are prophesying in My name.
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  I did not send them, yet they are saying no sword or famine
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  will touch this land. Those same prophets will perish
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  by sword and famine, and the people they are prophesying to
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  will be thrown out in the streets of Jerusalem because of
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  the famine and sword. There will be no one to bury
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  them, their wives, their sons and their daughters.
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  I will pour out on them the calamity they deserve.
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  So again, this is where we, all of us, need to make sure that we
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  are not being deceived. Anyone, especially anyone who
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  claims to receive words from God.
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  We truly need to pray about anything like that because I
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  we've all recently seen a deception because there was
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  September 23rd and 24th, there was this rapture that was going
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  to occur. And this man said that Jesus
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  told him that and he, he was so confident and he did appear like
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  he was a faithful man of God in, in some, you know, of what I
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  heard. And so it, you know, I wasn't, I
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  was skeptical of what he said, but I didn't want to be prideful
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  saying, OK, well, God couldn't do that.
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  He could, but we'll see what happens.
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  Well, it didn't happen. And, and I feel bad for the guy
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  because he sincerely believed that it was going to happen.
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  And, and there were many other people who also were saying, I
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  got confirmation from God about the same thing.
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  Like, you wouldn't believe the number of people that supposedly
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  received confirmation from God about this.
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  And that's really something that is probably very eye opening,
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  people that they will now see that it didn't happen, it wasn't
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  true. And if you receive confirmation
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  from God, who did you really receive it from?
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  Was it your own mind or was it some deceptive spirit that was
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  giving this confirmation? And and it's, it's a, a call for
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  all of us that we really need to, I would, I guess maybe not
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  all of us. Well, yeah, for all of us.
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  We, we can't be deceived by people who are saying they are
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  hearing from God. We really need to get to a point
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  in our own lives where we know the word of the Holy Spirit.
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  We know when it's the Holy Spirit and and any time that we
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  do get a word, we probably always need to be cautious about
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  it because it could be our own mind, it could be deception and
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  we just need to wait and see if it happens.
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  But make sure that it aligns with what God says and do the
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  right thing. The good thing like what would
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  be God's will regarding this word?
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  And I think that should be helpful for people just to
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  really pray about it and also just think logically, like how
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  would this benefit anyone if we shared this with anyone, what
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  would God's intention be and and seek God for it.
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  So hold back any of those words of God unless it there's a
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  really good stated purpose. We basically have everything
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  that we need from as far as the word of God within Scripture and
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  we really don't need outside things God does.
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  I mean, I myself have experienced dreams and words
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  that, you know, that I think are from God that are actually
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  Scripture that's found in the Bible that have occurred in my
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  dreams. And, and I have thought about
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  like, why would God do that? And the response that happened
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  with me was it increased my faith.
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  It drew me closer to God. It created a sense of urgency
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  within me that I needed to be within God's will.
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  And I also felt a warning from God that time is getting closer
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  to the return of Jesus. And I don't really know when my
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  dreams actually alluded. That was really soon, which put
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  me on this path of what I'm doing right now, why I created
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  this podcast and everything. And we'll only see what happens.
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  But it's never harmful to prepare ourselves for the
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  eventual return of Jesus. We don't really know for sure
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  when it's going to be. And I could have been deceived
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  by my own thoughts or by a deceiving spirit that it's going
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  to happen really, really soon. And again, there's other people
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  who are thinking it's going to happen really, really soon.
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  And thankfully I only have one more full year to wait.
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  And then if it doesn't happen by then I'm, I'm good, then I can
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  just go back to being, you know, a sin that follows God's staying
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  in the word and, and just, you know, sharing the word of God
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  being, I guess more normal about it.
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  But I did really feel like the sense of urgency at the times
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  that I was having dreams, which they actually just stopped a few
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  months ago. I haven't had a dream for a
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  little bit now, which they were occurring very, very regularly.
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  And I had like 80 different dreams.
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  So we'll see what happens. But the most important part is
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  that any, every one of us has a, a positive relationship with God
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  that we don't fear. If Jesus returns, we're not
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  going to fear that we're going to welcome Jesus because we're
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  going to know that our relationship with God is solid
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  and that we don't have anything to fear because we are a child
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  of God. That's where we all should be
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  right now. So let's go back to verse 17.
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  Speak this word to them. Let my eyes overflow with tears
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  night and day without ceasing for the virgin daughter.
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  My people has suffered A grievous wound, a crushing blow.
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  If I go into the country, I see those slain by the sword.
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  If I go into the city, I see the ravages of famine.
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  Both prophet and priest have gone to a land they know not.
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  Have you rejected Judah completely?
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  Do you despise Zion? Why have you afflicted us so
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  that we cannot be healed? We hope for peace, but no good
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  has come for a time of healing. But there is only terror.
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  Then there in the Bible it says, who were these false prophets?
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  Most likely these false prophets were the prophets of Baal, whose
• 27:27
  worship was centered in Anathoth.
• 27:31
  That's within the tribe of Benjamin, which is where
• 27:35
  Jeremiah came from. Jeremiah's hometown.
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  Who were true or were true prophets scarce in Judah?
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  Yes, Judah had many false prophets who lulled people into
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  complacency, causing them to doubt Jeremiah's valid warnings.
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  Jeremiah said more about false prophets than anyone else in
• 27:58
  Scripture because false prophets did so much damage and distorted
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  the truth of God's message back to Scripture.
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  We acknowledge our wickedness, Lord, and the guilt of our
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  ancestors. We have indeed sinned against
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  You for the sake of Your name. Do not despise us.
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  Do not dishonor Your glorious throne.
• 28:23
  Remember Your covenant with us and do not break it.
• 28:27
  Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain?
• 28:31
  Do the skies themselves send down showers?
• 28:35
  No, it is you, Lord our God. Therefore our hope is in you,
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  for you are the one who does all this.
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  And that's the end of chapter 14.
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  There's one more question in answer.
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  Why did Jeremiah remind God of His promise?
• 28:52
  God doesn't forget his promises, and he doesn't need reminders.
• 28:57
  But Jeremiah was desperate. He knew he couldn't ask for
• 29:01
  God's help on the basis of Judah's faithfulness because
• 29:06
  Judah had broken the covenant. But he could appeal to God's
• 29:11
  character, which God had demonstrated through the
• 29:15
  covenant. Jeremiah hoped God's
• 29:18
  faithfulness alone might uphold the broken agreement.
• 29:24
  And that ends chapter 14.