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769. Bible Study: Jeremiah 8 ("Appointed Times," Warning, "Peace," End times?) · Faith by annm2705

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Chapter 8 from the book of Jeremiah.
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Dear God, please give us wisdom and insight as we read through
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this chapter. We ask this in Jesus name, Amen.
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So at the time, declares the Lord, the bones of the kings and
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officials of Judah, the bones of the priests and prophets, and
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the bones of the people of Jerusalem will be removed from
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their graves. They will be exposed to the sun
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and the moon and all the stars of the heavens, which they have
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loved and served, which they have followed and consulted and
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worshipped. They will not be gathered up or
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buried, but will be like dung flying on or lying on the
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ground. Where.
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Wherever I banish them, all the survivors of this evil nation
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will prefer death to life, declares the Lord Almighty.
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So I, This was interesting because it says in here,
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Wherever I banish them, all the survivors of this evil nation
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will prefer death to life. And we hear things of, you know,
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like throughout time. This is when, when we read this
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chapter, there's some interesting things in here
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because it seems like some of this may be future as opposed to
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current or not current but past, but I'm not really sure.
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And, and, or it could just be a foreshadowing of the future.
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So I will point out those things.
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And I also, I have not read what the study Bible says here, so
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I'll read that too. But it says at that time.
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So at the time that he was speaking to Jeremiah, it was
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going to be in the future and that all of the bones of all the
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people would be removed from their graves.
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Well, if you think about it, I It just does not seem like that
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probably is something that happened in the past.
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The bones of the priests and prophets and the bones of the
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people of Jerusalem will be removed from their graves and
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they will be exposed to the sun and the moon and the stars of
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the heavens, which they have loved and served and which they
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have followed and consulted and worshipped.
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They will not be gathered up or buried, but will be like lying
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dung on the ground. So these are people who refused
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God, who were into idolatry and it says, you know, then wherever
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I banish them, all the survivors of this evil nation will prefer
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death to life. Now lots of time has passed and
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I'm just wondering when I hear this preference for death to
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life and I see what's happening in the world and where people
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have been banished. And you know, there's a lot of
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different places where people are dispersed after wars and
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when people get moved to different places.
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But it, it just triggered something that I had heard.
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And it's this ideology that I have heard from.
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And I'll just read it too, because I searched like, because
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there are people who currently say they prefer death to life.
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So this is an ideology. The glorification of martyrdom
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is used by groups like Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad as
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a tool for political influence and justification of violent
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acts. The sentiment in quotations we
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love death as our enemies love life has been used by Hamas
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leaders to celebrate acts of self sacrifice.
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So it's just interesting to me, you know, as I'm reading this
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and it says all the survivors of this evil nation will prefer
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death to life. So I, I don't know if it's
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relative, but it certainly came to mind when I read this because
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of the current times that we are living in and what we are
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hearing today. So then continuing on in verse
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4, it says, say to them, this is what the Lord says.
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When people fall down, do they not get up?
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When someone turns away, do they not return?
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Why then have these people turned away?
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Why does Jerusalem always turn away?
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They cling to deceit. They refuse to return.
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I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right.
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None of them repent of their wickedness, saying what have I
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done? That's something that I think we
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can all relate to is, you know, do we ask God, what have I done?
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Do we wait for God to not wait? But do we do we have this like
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conversation with God? Do we ask him to reveal to us
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like what we've done? Or are there things in our life
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that we need to change? Or do we just make it up on our
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own and think about think we're, we're good and that we don't
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need to change anything because it, you know, this, this
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repentance part is throughout the Bible and it doesn't get
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talked a lot about by many churches.
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They don't like to talk about repentance.
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They don't like to talk about sin, but it's clear throughout
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Scripture and so important that we recognize that what what we
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naturally are, what our natural tendencies are.
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It says the heart is deceitful. The heart is like wicked.
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And so that's not a normal thing that people like to think about
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or that people would say that that's what their hearts are
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like. And so that's another reason why
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we don't follow our feelings. And, and when we do, we have to
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recognize that the heart is deceitful.
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So if we're following our feelings, then we can be
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deceived by those feelings if they are not something that
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comes from God. Now God can change the desires
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of our hearts from wickedness into what he says is holy and
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what is holy. So that can change, but when
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we're at that beginning part of getting to know God, there's,
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there's a lot that we don't really know and we think we are
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good, but we aren't necessarily good and we don't tend to ask
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God to reveal to us where we need to change in our lives.
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What do we need to repent of? The Bible clearly tells us what
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things God is not happy with and what things are holy and unholy.
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He does, He does let us know that.
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But if we're not reading the Bible, we don't really know what
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those things are. But they are what they are.
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They are the truth. They it's it's our fault if we
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don't see God and and learn this because it's here.
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It's been here for thousands of years.
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And if we ignore it and don't do anything with it, we're just
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foolish. This is like the most important
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thing of everything that we can learn about is what is in the
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Bible. What does God say is holy?
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What does he say is unholy? What does he say about the way
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we should live? Because it's really clear that
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obedience has blessings and it also brings about curses.
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But it's our decision. So we can't really be mad at God
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when things happen in our life if we are disobedient, because
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that's really a consequence of our decision when that happens.
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We can be mad about it but not direct it to God because that's
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not really appropriate. If we're going to be mad at
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anyone, it would be angry with ourselves for the stuff we've
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brought on ourselves. But we also at the same time
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have to remember that God loves us, that he doesn't want us to
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remain in that state, and he is merciful and forgiving.
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So we may have experienced something that a consequence of
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our decision when we weren't right with God, but that stuff
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can stop once we turn to God and and that's what he ultimately
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wants. That's what you see he wants of
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Israel too. He's like, none of them repent
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of their wickedness. So we can't just keep on doing
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things that God calls witness or wickedness and and never ask
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God, you know, like what have I done?
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So he's he goes on to say about these people.
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Each pursues their own course like a horse charging into
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battle. Even the stork in the sky knows
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her appointed seasons and the dove, the swift in the thrush
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observe the time of their migration.
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But my people do not know the requirements of the Lord.
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Now this happened several times like in the past, God gave Moses
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the law and within the law, the kings, the future kings were
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supposed to read and study it every day and they were supposed
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to stay in the word. And Solomon, I don't believe he
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really, I don't know if he did that.
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And so that would, that would give us information and bring us
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closer to God to learn to know God more.
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And, and it's obvious that at a certain maybe it was after
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Solomon, I'm not really sure. I don't know if Solomon, Solomon
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did some strange things that were not godly related.
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But then after him, everything, the Kingdom became divided and
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there were two kings that were, you know, divided up the land
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and they, they had different rulings and different authority,
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the 10 tribes and then the 2 tribes.
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So anyway, they leadership, it's like my people do not know.
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I think it was Josiah and he was like one of the young kings.
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But he actually found the book of the law and realized that
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they had not been following it for all these years.
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And then he had somewhat of a revival back at that time where
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he turned people back to God when they found this book of the
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law that they hadn't been reading, that they hadn't been
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studying. And then they started
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implementing some things. And that's where, you know,
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it's, it's one thing to read it and know it, but it's the, it's
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another thing to actually put it into action.
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And that's what you know, God's not giving us this information
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just to be studious and to know the answers to everything.
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But He's giving us this information so that we can apply
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it to our lives and have changes as a result of it and receive
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blessings. I mean, it does say about the
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blessings that God has, that God is a giver of good gifts and He
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wants to give blessings to people.
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But if we are not seeking Him, then how should we?
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If we're not learning any of this, then how should we expect
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that God is going to bless us in our wickedness?
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He does sometimes actually to draw people near to Him, but at
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other times there's consequences of it.
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So anyway, when I say He, I don't know, He, he has
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compassion on people, but there's a certain point where
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people ignore him and refuse him that he determines he's just
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going to turn people over to what they, what they keep
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wanting, what they keep going to.
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And that's kind of a fearful thing that you don't want God to
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turn you over to that at least for some people, it's fearful.
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Other people may not have that same fear anyway.
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It's just, you know, the requirements of the Lord,
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They're in the Bible, they're in Scripture.
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It's good to read Scripture so that we know what God wants for
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us. So how can you say we are wise
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for we have the law of the Lord. See, it's not really, that's not
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the big emphasis here. To know the law isn't the part
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that God's really upset about. He's like, they're just not
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actually doing it. So he says, how can you say we
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are wise, for we have the law of the Lord, when actually the
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lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely.
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So in the study Bible it says, what had the scribes done wrong?
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It seems that they had twisted and distorted the law, perhaps
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misinterpreting it in their commentaries.
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They manipulated the law of God so as to assure the people that
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their sinful behaviour, including the worship of other
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gods, would go unpunished in the interest of avoiding conflict,
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peace, peace. From verse 11.
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They seemed willing to tolerate anything.
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The scribes could have used their considerable influence to
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teach the truth. Instead they wrote with a lying
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pen. So this is the way that things
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are today. There are churches who are
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calling themselves churches but do not have the truth of what's
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written in Scripture fest in their church.
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So it's we're at a really deceitful time where you really
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have to know what's in the Bible before you go to a church.
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I mean, church is great for community, but you need to know
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the Bible because there are a lot of churches that are not
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teaching what is in the Bible or they're only giving you a
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portion of it. It's an edited version or
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they're misquoting scripture and giving you false doctrine.
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So we have that today too. And that's why the, you know,
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the most important thing is to read the word of God and to be
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in prayer and to ask God the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom
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when we read it. If there's something that we
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don't understand and God will answer those prayers, he will
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answer when we are seeking him. He that's what it says.
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It says first seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and
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everything else will be provided.
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Like we don't have to worry about anything.
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If we're seeking God and we are seeking His righteousness, then
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all other things will be provided to us.
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So there is that righteousness part.
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It's not just seeking the Kingdom of God, but it's also
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the righteousness that goes along with it.
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So then Jeremiah continues and says, since they have rejected
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the word of the Lord, what kind of wisdom do they have?
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Therefore I will give their wives over to other men and
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their fields to new owners. So I mean, this is the
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consequence of not being in the word of God, rejecting the word
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of God, what it says, not putting it into action.
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This is a consequence he goes Therefore, I will give their
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wives over to other men and their their fields to new owners
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from the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain.
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So it's saying, you know, like everyone great and small,
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they're all greedy. So greed is something that is,
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is driving the people not to follow the word of the Lord or
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not to basically to reject it. So we can see that could be the
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case for some churches today, that they are greedy for gain.
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They're greedy for money. So they don't want to say
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anything that would keep the people who are funding the
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church away. Like, if they don't like what
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the church is saying, they're not going to give their money.
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So instead, the church wants the money.
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So they're not going to say anything that's, you know,
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something that might offend their donors.
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Well, that's the time that we're in today.
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There aren't, you know, it's not all churches, but that's where
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we need discernment to see what kind of church, if we're going
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to go to one. Are they speaking from
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Scripture? Are they giving us the whole
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important part of Scripture, the whole truth, or are they
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dissecting it and just giving us like good Nuggets and nothing
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that makes us look at ourselves, which will ultimately save us if
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we look at ourselves and we apply the Word of God?
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There are uncomfortable things in the Word of God,
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uncomfortable things that we don't like to hear and that
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maybe this is how we live our life.
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And it in the Bible says you're not going to be in the Kingdom
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of God if you live that way. And so people don't want to hear
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that. They don't want to hear, I'm not
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going to be in the Kingdom of God.
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But isn't it better if you learn ahead of time, before Jesus
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returns or before you die, that this these kinds of behaviors
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are not in the Kingdom of God, and those who practice them will
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not be in the Kingdom of God? That was that.
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Those verses really hit me hard because, yeah, they described
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some of what was in my life and. And so I know what it feels
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like. And there are a lot of times
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where you go into the Word of God and you read it and it
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convicts you of the way that you're living life and it
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becomes personal. But, and that's a good thing
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because that's where we have a choice.
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We can either continue in that path or we can change it.
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And we can change it with the help of the Holy Spirit because
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Jesus promises that to anyone who comes to him in a repentant
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way and ask for forgiveness. If we truly have our hearts
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repentant and want to be close to God, he will give us the Holy
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Spirit to guide us. We still get to make our own
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decisions. We're not controlled by the Holy
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Spirit, but we will be influenced by the Holy Spirit.
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So we'll feel that guilt when we're doing something that
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doesn't align with God. And then it's our choice.
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Do we correct it? Do we decide what God would want
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us to do, or do we follow our own ways of doing things?
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And that's exactly what these people in Israel were
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experiencing as well, but they just didn't want to have the
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word of God impact their lives in a negative way.
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So it it says here the least of the greatest all are greedy for
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gain, prophets and beasts alike. So this is not talking about
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people who were non religious. This is talking about religious
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people. It says they all practiced
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deceit. So people that are prophets,
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people that are priests, they look religious, but they're
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practicing deceit because they're not telling people the
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truth. They just are in it for the
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money. And it says they dress the wound
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of my people as the as though it were not serious.
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So there's this like you're good lie that gets told where people
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feel comfortable in their sin. I see that today in some places
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where in some churches where they overemphasize grace and
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don't use it in the appropriate way.
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Like grace is not a license to keep on sinning.
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Grace is the power of God. It's the mercy of God that, you
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know, we are saved by grace through faith, through our
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belief and through and by grace. That is true.
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But it is not a license to sin. And I see so many people miss
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applying it. You know, just like saying,
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well, I'm such a Sinner, thank God for grace.
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Well, you're very much at risk if you read what the Bible says
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if that is your opinion about what grace means, because that
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is not the truth. And if a church has LED you to
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believe that, they are not teaching you the truth.
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We are saved by grace, which is a gift from God, just like the
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Holy Spirit is a gift from God. But the Holy Spirit is a gift
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from God so that we can overcome our sin.
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It's not so that we can stay and remain in our sin.
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So get into the word and try and prove me wrong because I've
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tried to prove myself wrong on this topic and it's not in
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scripture. So I am only going to speak the
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truth and and it's in it's in scripture.
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And again, this is what God was telling the people of Judah
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through Jeremiah, that these prophets and priests, they dress
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the wound of my people as though it was not serious.
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So the sin in somebody'd life, they're just saying it's not
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serious. You know, it's, it's fine.
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It's and but these people are wounded.
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They are headed to destruction, to eternal separation from God.
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But these prophets and priests are not caring about them and
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they're not pointing out the sin.
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They're like, because it's uncomfortable, because they're
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going to not have money coming in if they tell people, oh, you
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need to repent, this is sinful. These, these types of actions or
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activities are not going to get you into the Kingdom of God.
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They are, you know that you are going to be banned from the
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Kingdom of God if you keep on doing this stuff and and you
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don't, I hear a lot of churches saying that.
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So it it's scary today because there's a lot of people who are
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relying on their churches and they love the feel good message,
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but they don't want the truth just like back here.
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But it's not going to be successful for them.
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So in my opinion, the peace priests and prophets and people
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that will say those kinds of things are doing destruction and
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they're going to be held accountable for God by God for
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what they've said to people because their role is actually
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to bring people to God and to increase the number of people
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who are in the Kingdom of God. That's ultimately what Jesus
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wanted. He wants more brothers and
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sisters in the Kingdom of God. And he taught his followers how
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they get there. He did the thing that no one
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else could do. His death on the cross was the
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sacrifice that was was required so that we could become
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purified. When he returns we will be
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changed. Until then we will still be
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sinful and working towards becoming more holy.
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So we unfortunately don't eradicate all of our sin.
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But I believe when we're our minds and our thoughts and our
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prayers are turned towards God and we are doing the work, God
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knows our intent. He does help us, but we're not
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going to be perfect yet, not until Jesus returns and that's
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when we become the people that God created us to be.
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So then it continues on in verse 12, it says, are they ashamed of
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their detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all.
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You see people that are like that today that you know,
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there's things that God calls detestable, but these people
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have no shame at all. So I think, you know, when you
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feel guilty about something, or you know, it, it may be
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scripture offends us about some way that we're living.
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It's actually a good thing. It's it's God letting us know,
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hey, you can change this. You don't have to live like
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this. And there's the freedom that
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we're freed from slavery, slavery to the evil 1 when we
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keep practicing the sin that separates us from God.
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It's like this, the circuitous thing that happens that, you
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know, if we keep on succumbing to sin or choosing sin over
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God's righteous ways, then we are, we are just making it worse
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and worse. It seems like whenever somebody
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starts to sin it, it's like a snowball.
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If you're rolling it down a hill and it's picking up more and
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more snow, that's kind of like what sin is.
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You know, you start with a little bit and then the more you
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get used to it and the less, you know, if you don't have any
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shame for it, it just keeps getting bigger and bigger and
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bigger and on to bigger and bigger things.
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And that's what happens. But it's, it's leading to
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destruction. So anyway, they do not even know
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how to blush. So they will fall among, so they
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will fall among the fallen, they will be brought down where they
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are punished, says the Lord. So this we don't go without
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consequences. If we stay in sin, it's our
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choice and we will have consequences of that.
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So God says I will take away their harvest, declares the
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Lord. There will be no grapes on the
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vine, there will be no figs on the tree, and their leaves will
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wither. What I have given them will be
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taken from them. So we also have to remember that
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all good things truly come from God.
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We have to recognize the source like God enables us to receive
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good things. But if we are rebellious to God,
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everything that he's given will be taken.
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So there is a consequence to our actions and it probably has to
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do with the law and not all of us.
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As you know, there are blessings and curses that God gave to the
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Israelites, which I think are also applicable to to us.
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Blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience.
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Bad things will happen as consequences of disobedience.
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So it continues to say, why are we sitting here?
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Gather together, let us flee to the fortified cities and perish
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there. For the Lord our God has doomed
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us to perish and has given us poisoned water to drink because
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we have sinned against Him. So they're receiving poisoned
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water because they have sinned against Him.
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And so there's the reason why it's a consequence because of
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sin. This is what happens.
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And I don't know, and maybe the study Bible addresses this, but
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I don't know when Judah was given poisoned water to drink.
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You know, I'm sure that could be symbolic, but it seems almost
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literal, like he has given us poisoned water to drink because
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we have sinned against him. So poisoned water could, you
28:34
know, be symbolic of the word. That's not the truth but that,
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but it doesn't make sense in this context because it says
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because we have sinned against him.
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So the cause is the sin and then they get the poisoned water.
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So it's not that they are getting poisoned water first.
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They get that after because they have sinned.
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And we see in the Book of Revelation it talks about this
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again like a literal sense in Revelation chapter 8 verse 12
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and also in Revelation 16 verse 4.
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So at the third trumpet and the third bowl, these kinds of
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things happen. So at the let's see, at the
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third trumpet, here's what it says.
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Revelation chapter 8, verse 10. The third Angel sounded his
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trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from
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the sky on 1/3 of the rivers and on the springs of water.
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The name of the star is Wormwood, which is which also
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means bitter substance. 1/3 of the waters turned bitter and
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many people died from the waters that had become bitter.
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So this is definitely in the future.
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I don't know if it's happened in the past that waters became
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bitter or that people died from the well.
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People have died from polluted waters, but this is like talking
30:09
about 1/3 of the waters. It's talking about the rivers
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and the springs having this happen.
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And we can see here that God gave poisoned water because
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people sinned against him. And then in let's see, it's in
30:27
the seals. Are not seals the the bowls?
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The third Angel poured out his bowl on the rivers.
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This is in Revelation 16 verse 4.
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The third Angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs.
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So again of water and they became blood.
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So are these two different events?
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I mean they became poison, but then in this one it says they
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became blood. So, and that was also something
30:58
as that was, I guess, foreshadowed in the Book of
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Exodus when the waters turned to blood, when God was trying to
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bring his people out of Egypt. So there is a lot of repetition
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in the judgments. We see a pattern from God where
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God punishes because of sin, because of rebellion against
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Him, and allows these things to happen.
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So again, this is where it said. Then I heard the Angel in charge
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of the waters say, you are just in these judgments, O Holy 1 you
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are, and who were For they have shed the blood of your holy
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people and your prophets, and you have given them blood to
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drink as they deserve. So this is a different kind of a
31:52
sin, not a sin against God, but a punishment for those who have
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killed people, basically the holy people and the prophets.
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So they get to drink blood. So there's again, this is it is
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still a sin to God, but it's a sin against people, against his
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holy people, that this is the punishment for them.
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So going back to Jeremiah, it says we hoped for peace, but no
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good has come for a time of healing, but there is only
32:26
terror. So I think about this again, in
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the times that we're living in, not to be negative, but the
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Bible does say, and prophecy does say when they are saying
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peace and safety or peace and security, then comes sudden
32:41
destruction. And it's very concerning because
32:45
in a major global way, we are hearing peace and safety, peace
32:51
and security. So it leads me to wonder, are we
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going to see sudden destruction next?
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And again, it's not meant to create fear in people, but it's
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a fact that's in the Bible that we should really pay attention
33:07
to. And how do you prepare for that?
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Will you prepare with your relationship with God?
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God, Make sure that you are right with God.
33:15
Make sure that you talk to God about whatever it is that you
33:19
might be doing that is considered unholy to Him and
33:23
sinful. That needs to come out of your
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life. Like you want to get rid of sin
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and you want to ask God for help in doing that, and He will do
33:33
that when you're sincere. I mean, some people just love
33:35
their sin and they don't want to change, but there is a
33:38
consequence. And that's what I'm talking
33:39
about right now, is these consequences of what will happen
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to those who are unrepentant. So the snorting of the enemy's
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horses is heard from Dan again, this, this seems like, you know,
33:52
the north. Oh, it always comes from the
33:55
north. And whether that was in the time
33:57
of Jeremiah, which it was, but does it also reflect it to the
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future? For for us, I mean, meaning from
34:06
Israel, somebody coming from the north and in the end times,
34:11
because some of these things do sound like end times.
34:15
At the naying of their stallions, the whole land
34:18
trembles. They have come to devour the
34:20
land and everything in it, the city and all who live there.
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See, I will send them venomous snakes among you, Vipers that
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cannot be charmed, and they will bite you.
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So again, this is almost like, I mean, maybe it was a literal
34:38
thing where there are lots of snakes that came and bit them
34:41
and they had no control over them.
34:44
But it's also seems to be symbolic because even back to
34:48
the book of Genesis in chapter 3, I think it is where it says
34:54
that I will put enmity when God was talking to the serpent and
34:59
to Eve and he said, I will put enmity between your seed talking
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to the serpent and the woman's seed.
35:07
And it said that enmity was referring to Jesus, actually.
35:14
And it's like the seed of the woman.
35:19
So it says, now I'm getting scripture.
35:21
I'm sorry, you'll have to go look this up because I'm not
35:25
saying it correctly, but it's basically it says that you will
35:29
strike his heel and he will crush your head.
35:33
So the serpent is going to strike, you know, it's going to
35:36
wound Jesus, but Jesus is going to crush his head head
35:41
eventually. So this is this is what I'm I
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wonder if it's symbolic to that because venomous snakes or
35:51
serpents among you Vipers that cannot be charmed.
35:54
Also in the Book of Revelation, it talks about this army that
35:58
comes to destroy and it says that they, you know, these
36:05
horses like have something that's like a snake that comes,
36:09
that their tails are like snakes and they inflict wounds on
36:12
people. And this is part of the
36:13
judgements too. So again, it could have been
36:16
something that happened back then, but it could also be
36:19
symbolically talking about what is written in the Book of
36:22
Revelation for the future. It declares the Lord.
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You who are my comforter in sorrow my heart is faint within
36:32
me. Listen to the cry of my people
36:35
from a land far away. Is the Lord not in Zion?
36:39
Is her King no longer there? Why have they aroused my anger
36:44
with their images, with their worthless foreign idols?
36:49
The harvest is past, the summer has ended and we are not saved.
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When I read that, I you know, we are not saved.
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That's that's the keyword there. We are not saved.
37:06
The harvest is past, the summer has ended and we are not saved.
37:10
Is that a reference to the future gathering of people by
37:16
through the angels and Jesus? When there is the gathering that
37:23
people, you know, there's unrepentant people still on
37:27
earth that haven't. And is this a a quote that's
37:32
referring to that the harvest that's is that the gathering is
37:35
past because this is talking about salvation.
37:38
So the harvest is past. The summer has ended and we are
37:41
not saved. That has a literal meaning like
37:45
Jesus is the Savior, Jesus is the Messiah, He is the one that
37:50
will be coming to gather people. But there are, this is like
37:54
almost a warning from back in Jeremiah's time, which is, you
37:57
know what, 1400 to 400 BT thousands and thousands of years
38:03
ago that he was seeing these things and talking to people
38:09
about it. It's the same message that comes
38:12
over and over with prophets is repent, turn to God and and be
38:18
saved. I mean, Jesus made the way we
38:20
have everything in front of us. All it relies on is our choice.
38:25
How are we going to respond to God when God calls us?
38:29
How are we going to respond to him?
38:32
Then It says, since my people are crushed, I am crushed, I
38:35
mourn and horror grips me. Is there no balm in Gilead?
38:40
Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for
38:45
the wound of my people? And that's the end of chapter 8.
38:50
I'll read the questions and answers that are in the Study
38:54
Bible. So why repeat the same material?
38:57
Repetition is common in Jeremiah.
38:59
For example, 99 repeats Jeremiah 5929 and 52 versus 4 through 16
39:08
repeats chapter 39 verses one through 10.
39:13
The material here may have been repeated because poetic language
39:17
often relies on repetition for emphasis or to express mood.
39:22
It's also possible that Jeremiah repeated warnings to emphasize
39:27
their importance, or he may have repeated the event to provide
39:31
more in depth details. Why did they go to the fortified
39:36
cities to die? To avoid being captured by the
39:40
enemy, People living in the countryside would seek refuge in
39:44
the nearest walled town. But Jeremiah said these cities
39:48
would not offer protection against God's judgement.
39:51
Even people who fled there would die.
39:55
Did God literally send poisoned water and venomous snakes?
39:59
These are metaphors for the bitterness and deadliness of the
40:04
coming judgment. These images also reflect some
40:08
of the literal judgments the Israelites faced during the time
40:12
of Moses found in Exodus 15 verse 23 and Numbers 21 verse 6.
40:19
But also, like we said, this is also in the Book of Revelation
40:23
chapter 8, verse 12 and. Also, Revelation 16, verse 4.
40:29
Why switch voices? The use of different voices
40:32
produced a dramatic effect. In this dialogue, we hear the
40:36
people's fear about coming judgement, God's unrelenting
40:40
response, Jeremiah's Jeremiah's lament over the Lord's
40:46
unwavering judgement, the people's hopelessness, and
40:50
Jeremiah's deepening despair. Jeremiah's drama intensified the
40:55
anguish of Judah's desperate situation.
40:59
And that's referring to verses 814 where he's yes, where it it
41:08
goes away from God saying these things to Jeremiah responding to
41:14
God and you know, saying we hope for peace, but only disaster is
41:19
coming. And and you know, we were
41:22
getting poisoned water and the harvest is past.
41:26
So all these things it's Jeremiah speaking to God.
41:30
But then there's parts where God says, but when it says declared
41:33
the Lord. So anyway, what was significant
41:36
about Dan? Dan was traditionally considered
41:39
the northern limits of the Promised Land.
41:42
The enemy was traveling through the northern outpost of the
41:46
land, rushing S to attack Jerusalem.
41:51
Dan would be the first city affected by the invasion.
41:54
The snorting of the enemy's horse horses was a warning to
41:57
those people South of Dan that the invaders were advancing
42:01
toward them. Why did Jeremiah hear cries from
42:05
a land far away? Weren't the people still in
42:08
Judah? Most were.
42:10
However, Babylon had already deported some people between six
42:14
O 5 and 597 BC. Jeremiah was envisioning the
42:19
forthcoming exile which would occur along with Jerusalem's
42:25
imminent destruction in 586 BC. Well, we know that again, a lot
42:32
of prophecy repeats itself because Jerusalem was destroyed
42:36
in 586 BC, like it says here, and then it was also destroyed
42:42
in 70 AD, so it repeated a couple times already.
42:50
Did they expect salvation before autumn?
42:54
No. Again, this is a metaphor,
42:56
perhaps an ancient proverb about hopelessness.
42:59
Grains were harvested from April to June.
43:02
Fruits were harvested at the end of summer.
43:05
If nothing was reaped by then, it meant a lean, hard winter
43:10
with little or no food. So again, if it's a literal
43:15
thing, sometimes literal statements have symbolic
43:19
meaning. And does it symbolize or does it
43:23
symbolically tell us a little bit about the gathering?
43:26
I mean, there are appointed times.
43:29
It does, You know, this chapter talks about appointed times like
43:33
the the stork knowing it's appointed times and the dove
43:38
knowing appointed seasons and observing the time of their
43:41
migration. Does this have prophetic
43:44
significance to the future? It could perhaps because there
43:50
is a, there are theories or a theory that God does things at
43:58
appointed times. For example, Passover, that was,
44:02
you know, from Exodus and Moses releasing the captives, you
44:06
know, that was something that was celebrated.
44:08
Jesus died on Passover and raised and was raised from the
44:13
dead during that time. So that was really significant.
44:17
And that was a festival. God does things on appointed
44:21
times and then you have the Holy Spirit coming upon the disciples
44:28
of Jesus after he passed away and he promised that the
44:30
Advocate would come, the Holy Spirit who would teach them and
44:34
truth and speak for them and so forth.
44:36
And this is the Holy Spirit. And that happened to have happen
44:40
on Shavuot, which was another Jewish holiday.
44:44
Appoint an appointed time. It was during that 50 weeks,
44:48
that fifty week period and not 50 week, 50 day period, 7
44:54
sevens, seven days, seven weeks would bring you to the 50.
45:02
And it was also called Pentecost in Greek.
45:05
So it's Shavuot and for the Hebrew and Pentecost for the
45:10
Greek. But that was when the Holy
45:11
Spirit came. So again, it was a literal
45:15
event, but it had symbolic significance.
45:18
Now here's where the theory is right now.
45:20
The fall feast or festivals that occur, those have not had
45:26
anything prophetic fulfilled on those dates yet.
45:31
So we have not specific dates, but appointed times.
45:35
So in some year people are expecting the gathering to
45:40
happen in the fall at the time of the festival of or the feast
45:47
of trumpets, I guess would be the time because the they're
45:51
talking about the last trumpet. So there's a theory that that's
45:54
when Jesus will arrive on the clouds some year in the future
45:59
and gather his people at that time with the the angels will
46:03
gather the elect. So people do have a theory that
46:08
that'll occur on the Feast of Trumpets are around the Feast of
46:12
Trumpets since other events, major events happened during the
46:17
the time of Passover and Shabuot.
46:22
Then you also have Sukkot, which is the Feast of Tabernacles,
46:26
which is another festival in a celebration that'll actually go
46:29
out into the Millennium and will be celebrated.
46:33
And this is also a potential time for the gathering of people
46:38
because this is a very celebratory event that happens.
46:42
Now. This is very interesting too,
46:44
because the enemy wants to destroy everything that God has
46:49
instilled and with this Sukkot holiday and festival, and it's a
46:56
joyous time. That was actually when the enemy
46:59
attacked in 2023 on October 7th. That's when Hamas attacked the
47:08
people of Israel who were at the Nova Music Festival and also
47:13
went into neighboring neighborhoods and slaughtered
47:16
people and babies and women and raped them and did all these
47:20
things. It was on the last day of a
47:25
Jewish holiday, an appointed time that God had always, I mean
47:32
that they were, they were aware of.
47:34
And so this is, you know, again, the enemy doing something at a
47:38
time that was meant to be joyous, joyful and turned into
47:43
the worst time. And the interesting thing is
47:47
that just recently, on October 13th, the of 2025, the hostages
47:55
were released on the last day of Sukkot.
47:59
So two years later they get released on that same day, even
48:05
though it was a different date, it was the same appointed time
48:09
that that happened. There has to be something that
48:13
is God related in that, in that these hostages were brought back
48:19
on that date. I don't think it's just a
48:22
coincidence. So again, some things are
48:27
literal that they're talking about but have symbolic
48:30
significance. And so I think we just need to
48:32
keep our eyes open and pay attention to what's going on in
48:34
the world and really understand what is in the Old Testament
48:39
because it does give us insight into the New Testament and it
48:45
tells us about the future honestly.
48:48
So, and then let's see where else is this?
48:54
Why did they look to Gilead for healing?
48:57
Gilead was a region east of the Jordan River was known for its
49:01
spices and medicinal herbs and that was found in Genesis
49:05
chapter 37 verse 25. So that that's all that there is
49:10
in the study Bible for chapter 8.
49:12
So next time we will read through Chapter 9 and see what
49:16
we find there. I hope you come back because it
49:19
is. I hope you enjoy getting into
49:21
Scripture like this because it does show us things that we may
49:25
not see the first time we read something like this, but in
49:30
context with the whole Bible, there are things that do get
49:33
repetitious and there is a message to us today.
49:36
It's just not about the past. It's about what does this mean
49:40
to us today? What kind of a message is it
49:42
giving us today that God does not have favoritism?
49:45
So the things that he, the way he operated in the Old Testament
49:49
is the way He's going to continue to operate.
49:52
He does not change. He doesn't have favoritism.
49:54
If He pronounced these judgments on his elect, the people that he
49:59
chose, then he will do that to all, for all of us.
50:04
So we need to listen to the warnings that the prophets had
50:08
given and apply it to our lives today.
50:11
We can't just be lukewarm Christians.