Video to come.
Morning Message Text: Jeremiah 2: 4-13
4 Hear the word of the LORD, you descendants of Jacob, all you clans of Israel.
5 This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.
6 They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, a land of drought and utter darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’
7 I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.
8 The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols.
9 “Therefore I bring charges against you again,” declares the LORD. “And I will bring charges against your children’s children.
10 Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and look, send to Kedar and observe closely; see if there has ever been anything like this:
11 Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols.
12 Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the LORD.
13 “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
Morning Message:
I was thinking as I started to write this message that maybe this is a question Christians should ask ourselves more often. Where is the Lord in this? When we think of the Lord we always tend to focus upward to the heavens because that’s where we know that Jesus sits at the right hand of God, but we also know that the Lord is with us in everything that we do. Sometimes all of us wonder where is the Lord. Usually that thought crosses our minds when we are going through something that seems bigger than ourselves. I have shared this story several times during the course of my ministry to emphasis this point. I remembered it while I was preparing. I wonder how many of you remember it.
The story of Timmy and Tommy, two mischievous youth living in a small town. Do you remember the story?
Many times, I compare this nation to Israel for the purpose of pointing out the mistakes that we make as a nation. God is calling out Israel and reminding them of who they were. Descendants of Jacob; clans of Israel. Sometimes we need to remember who we were when we first met our Savior. The people understood what Jeremiah was saying to them and what God meant when he reminded them that they were descendants of Jacob. Jacob was a deceiver, a shyster who stole his twin brother Esau’s birthright and then for a long time lived in fear of his brother’s reprisal. God took Jacob, changed him, and renamed him Israel. Israel wondered for years and ended up in Egypt where his whole family’s descendants became slaves and lived under oppression for hundreds of years. God freed them and saved them and brought them into the promised land. It’s an old saying, but I can remember being told, don’t get too big for your britches. What does that mean? For Israel it meant, apart from God, you are still just Jacob.
As a nation, who are we? Let’s start with who we were. Our forefathers were small in number, but strong in their faith. They were brave and determined to find a new land, a place where they could live in freedom. There is no doubt in my mind that God blessed and formed this nation to be a beacon of freedom to the world. God gave this young, small bunch of pioneers victory over the powerful nation of England and made them into one nation under God. This nation would not exist apart from the grace of God. Our forefathers had that in mind when they formed this republic. They always remembered where the Lord was in everything that this nation stood for. Israel forgot. Have we forgotten too? Why did they forget? Because they left God out of their plans and their decisions. They did not ask, “Where is the Lord? Not just any god, but the Lord that formed us, delivered us, saved us.
This passage in my Bible is titled: Israel Forsakes God. What did they do? They allowed so many so-called gods to infiltrate the land and the people’s hearts that there was no room for the true God, the one who was the reason for their very existence as a nation. I am a big believer in preserving our history. Not because I want to dwell on how great this nation is or even take great pride in what we have become. The most important thing that studying history does is it shows us the power and wonder of what God did. When we see how small and insignificant we were we understand that only God could have formed us.
There is a great warning in today’s scripture for this nation, but I doubt that many will take it seriously. Israel, God’s chosen people wondered so far away that the only way for them to see the error of their ways was for God to take away the very thing that he had blessed them with, the land. They had wondered so far away from God as a nation that even the priests no longer stopped to ask, “Where is the Lord?” Those who dealt with the Mosaic law should have understood. The prophets of the Lord became prophets who worshiped Baal.
We face a very clear and present danger in this country. The very freedom that we cherish can become a stumbling block if we are not careful. I am not advocating against freedom of religion, but I am advocating for the Christian faith that this country was built on. When other beliefs are allowed to move us from true faith in Jesus the Christ, the only true God and the only way of salvation we must be cautious.
Here is something that I have preached throughout my entire time in ministry. When it comes to our faith there is no room for compromise. There is one Lord, one Savior, one Way, one Truth, and one life. That is eternal life in and through Jesus our Lord. There is no room for other gods. There is no room for idols. I’m sorry if I sound too rigid, but I have no patience or time to appease other faiths and beliefs that disagree with what I know is true about salvation. I think that we waste far too much time worrying about whether or not our faith is going to offend others when, especially as a Pastor, I should be asking, where is the Lord in this. As followers of Jesus, we should be asking, where is the Lord in this.
Listen, I want you to understand what I am saying. I am not anti-any religion; I am pro Christianity. My purpose, our purpose in this life as disciples of Jesus should be to proclaim him to everyone. We can’t do that unless we are bold enough to stand up for the one and only truth of who God is. We should ask in every situation, where is the Lord in this, and if the Lord is not in it we should either remove ourselves from it, or better yet, interject Jesus into it. Where is the Lord? Where is God? He is always with you if you will claim him. No one can take God from you so don’t give him away.
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
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