I GO TO CHURCH & GET NOTHING OUT OF IT
SPEAK UNTO ALL THE CITIES OF JUDAH, WHICH COME TO WORSHIP IN THE LORD’S HOUSE, ALL THE WORDS THAT I COMMAND THEE TO SPEAK UNTO THEM; DIMINISH NOT A WORD. . . JEREMIAH 26:2
I can sit in church and say the preacher is not talking about me.
I can sit under a sermon and say that the preacher is really talking about so and so over there.
If you get nothing at all out of the message, you choose to ignore God because the Holy Ghost will lead you into truth about your life.
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17
I GO TO CHURCH & DO NOTHING ABOUT WHAT I HEAR
IF SO BE THEY WILL HEARKEN, AND TURN EVERY MAN FROM HIS EVIL WAY. . . JEREMIAH 26:3
Hearing God’s Word sang, read, testified, taught and preached ought to change the way I live.
If I can go to church every week and see no change in my life, it is because I am ignoring God.
Hearing God’s Word proclaimed should bring a change in my life at home, in my neighborhood and in my workplace.
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. James 1:25
I KNOW WHAT MY FAILING TO ACT WILL DO AND CHOSE NOT TO ACT
IF YE WILL NOT HEARKEN TO ME, TO WALK IN MY LAW, WHICH I HAVE SET BEFORE YOU, TO HEARKEN TO THE WORDS OF MY SERVANTS THE PROPHETS, WHOM I SENT UNTO YOU, BOTH RISING UP EARLY, AND SENDING THEM, BUT YE HAVE NOT HEARKENED; THEN WILL I MAKE THIS HOUSE LIKE SHILOH, AND WILL MAKE THIS CITY A CURSE TO ALL THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH. JEREMIAH 26:4-6
We know that there are consequences here for the actions we choose not to take. If I choose not to work this month, then I will not have food to feed, clothe and shelter my family.
We also know that there are spiritual consequences for my choosing not to act.
READ PORTIONS OF LEVITICUS 26 TO ILLUSTRATE
I HEAR A COMMON MESSAGE FROM SEVERAL SOURCES & CHOOSE NOT TO ACT
TO HEARKEN TO THE WORDS OF MY SERVANTS THE PROPHETS, WHOM I SENT UNTO YOU, BOTH RISING UP EARLY, AND SENDING THEM, BUT YE HAVE NOT HEARKENED JEREMIAH 26:5
NIV—If you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again…
Many times, when God is dealing with us about a certain thing, He will deliver multiple messages from different sources to get our attention.
I may hear the pastor preach a message, then read a devotion the next day, then hear a song on the radio, and they all deal with the same subject.
For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Isaiah 55:10-11
I ATTACK THE MESSENGER BECAUSE I DON’T LIKE THE MESSAGE
SO THE PRIESTS AND THE PROPHETS AND ALL THE PEOPLE HEARD JEREMIAH SPEAKING THESE WORDS IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD. NOW IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN JEREMIAH HAD MADE AN END OF SPEAKING ALL THAT THE LORD HAD COMMANDED HIM TO SPEAK UNTO ALL THE PEOPLE, THAT THE PRIESTS AND THE PROPHETS AND ALL THE PEOPLE TOOK HIM, SAYING, THOU SHALT SURELY DIE. JEREMIAH 26:7-8
There are too many preachers across this nation that hold back on their preaching because they are afraid that they will lose their job.
There are churches in our nation who will invite an evangelist and tell him what he is not to preach about.
It is easier for us to tackle the man than it is to take on the message.
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
THE WORD DOESN’T CALL ME OUT OF THE CROWD
THE PRIESTS AND THE PROPHETS AND ALL THE PEOPLE TOOK HIM. . . JEREMIAH 26:8
God’s applied Word will separate us from the world, and sometimes from some church members.
This is the choice: Do I go with God or do I go with the world?
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 1 Peter 2:9
I GIVE MORE VALUE TO THE WAY I THINK THAN I GIVE TO GOD’S WORD
WHY HAST THOU PROPHESIED IN THE NAME OF THE LORD. . . JEREMIAH 26:9
The people thought that God should go along with their ways. They were more interested in how they thought than what God though about the matter.
How wrong we are when we think that our thoughts are more valuable than God’s. And to beat it all, the only time that we agree with God is when if falls right in line with what we think!
I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments. Psalms 119:59-60
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9
