Now Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah was saying to all the people, 2Thus says the Lord, Those who stay in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but those who go out to the Chaldeans shall live; they shall have their lives as a prize of war, and live. 3Thus says the Lord, This city shall surely be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon and be taken. 4Then the officials said to the king, ‘This man ought to be put to death, because he is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, and all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm.’
If you read the rest of the chapter you'll find that Jeremiah was quickly thrown into a well with nothing in it but mud and left to die. However the king has compassion for Jeremiah and pulls him out.
I'm not concentrating on how the story goes however. I'm thinking about what Jeremiah said. When thinking about it as history it's obvious that the reason was because the city was exeedingly wicked and the king did not listen to God. You'll see that if you read chapter 37 However if you look at it from the people's perspective at that time it's also easy to see why they would think that Jeremiah was crazy.
The question I have is could this be going on today? What I mean is, could a pastor or person preach about something unpopular or unacepted yet it is the truth about a subject? In my mind the answer is yes and I'm pretty sure it is in yours as well but I want to know what you guys think.
Questions or comments? I hope what I said wasn't confusing. =S
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Jeremiah 38 1-4
Posted by Justin at 3:57 PM
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2 comments:
Yeah, I think that's totally true that pastors can preach something that's not accepted by everyone else in today's world. But what can you do when it's God's word? Not everyone is going to like the truth, but it's the truth. But at the same time, the truth has to be preached in love, not in an offensive type of way. Jesus' love changed sinners, not anger or condemnation.
Then again, you can't please everybody. The truth is going to hurt, but what can you do? Just keep on doing what's right no matter what.
Always remember, Jesus would do the same for you. :)
“I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (II Timothy 4:1-2
"The vague, indefinite, popular view of religion has no prayer in it. In its programme, prayer is entirely left out or put so low down and made so insignificant, that it hardly is worth mentioning. Man’s standard of religion has no prayer about it.
It is God’s standard at which we are to aim, not man’s. It is not the opinions of men, not what they say, but what the Scriptures say. Loose notions of religion grow out of low notions of prayer. Prayerlessness begets loose, cloudy and indefinite views of what religion is. Aimless living and prayerlessness go hand in hand. Prayer sets something definite in the mind. Prayer seeks after something specific. The more definite our views as to the nature and need of prayer, the more definite will be our views of Christian experience and right living, and the less vague our views of religion. A low standard of religion lives hard by a low standard of praying.
Everything in a religious life depends upon being definite. The definiteness of our religious experiences and of our living will depend upon the definiteness of our views of what religion is and of the things of which it consists."
- E. M. Bounds Essentials of prayer ch 9
just two quotes =\
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