23 Jul Jeremiah 1:18 Tackling today’s challenges as a disciple of Christ

Jeremiah 1:18 “Behold, I have made you this day A fortified city and an iron pillar, And bronze walls against the whole land— Against the kings of Judah, Against its princes, Against its priests, And against the people of the land”

Gods plan is never ruined by Man’s failures. God always has a backup plan to the backup plan. He’s several moves a head on the chess board before the first move is ever made. You can’t mess up God’s plan even if you’ve messed up your life. God’s plan continues with you on board, or with you on shore.

Jeremiah was called by God at a very unique time. This verse is important because as prevalent as it was back then, it is as prevalent today, at this very time. Speaking for God has always been a dangerous job. It is a privaledge that brings danger to the person that has been blessed to deliver it.

If God calls you to go out and speak for him, you will have instantly created a list of enemies for yourself. People who you thought were your friends, Family members, acquaintances; Co-workers, your neighbors, will be some of the people on that list.

The truth does not only set us free but it also creates division. Since truth cannot be “straddled”, it forces people to stand on side or the other.

Jeremiah was called because Israel no longer stood on the right side of the fence. It was not just the people who went astray, but the Kings, the Princes, and all the Priest as well. The very ones God put in charge to keep Israel in check had all falling into idolatry and got carried away with the rest of the nations.

God reveals their dire situation in Jeremiah 1:18: “Behold, I have made you this day A fortified city and an iron pillar, And bronze walls against the whole land— Against the kings of Judah, Against its princes, Against its priests, And against the people of the land“.

Everyone God put in charge to lead Israel spiritually had forsaken the scriptures and ran after idols just as the King and the people did. It was so bad that God had to go outside of the Priesthood in order to find a Man he could use to speak his words to the people for him.

There are times when God must do this. That was a time God had to do it. Today is a time that God has to do it.

The ones who were put in charge of nurturing the people of God, are fleecing the people of God. They turned the people away from God through their lustful desires. It is not only the leaders who have strayed, but the people who prop these Men and Women up, have propped up leaders who seek the things of their hearts also, so they can have their ego’s massaged.

It is not just the leaders who lust after temporal things, but the people who follow and sit under them are chasers of pleasures and comfortable things as well. A Teacher cannot have pupils if the message he brings is not desired by those who listen. The World’s language is acceptable by all who belongs to the World. Because they’ve decided in their hearts that the things they saw were more desirable then the things they could not see, they sought out those who were like-minded.

Have you ever hung around someone who didn’t think like the rest of the group or enjoy the same things as everyone else in the group? It’s not a very good experience. I remember when I came to the Lord. I went to a concert with some friends. But it was the same friends I had before I came to Christ.

So they were doing the things that I use to do with them before I came to Christ. They were getting intoxicated and having a great time. My experience was completely different. I don’t know how God did it, but I didn’t have one drink. Not one beer. I felt awkward. I felt weird, and I felt alone.

The life of those who follow Christ, are often times alone. Many of God’s prophets and Priests and disciples were alone for large chunks of their lives, if not most of it. It is in your alone time that God does his best work. When you are surrounded by many, you are easily influenced by many. When you are isolated, God’s voice is the loudest voice.

It’s in these times he has the ability to pour into you his wisdom. I would not wish loneliness on anyone. Being alone and being lonely are not the same. I’ve struggled with loneliness in different periods of my life. I have yet to figure out how to beat it when it arrives, but I believe the person who is lonely a lot of times, is because they have a lot of idle time.

One thing God will do when he reveals your purpose is keep you busy. Jeremiah is about to become the busiest he’s ever been. The Lord told Jeremiah I have made you a fortified city and an iron pillar, and bronze walls all around you. Why would God have to do such a thing?

This is the cost of truth, when everyone around you has turned away from that which is right. Got hedged Jeremiah in, because the truth that is suppose to set free those who hear it, is going to cause those who hear it to seek Jeremiah’s life!

Truth and lie cannot reside in the same place. One of them has to leave. And since truth doesn’t change, the lie has to either retreat or some how cover up the truth. And the way Jeremiah’s people intended to do that, was by killing Jeremiah. If we kill him anyone else who speaks like him against us, we can enjoy our lives without the guilt and condemnation.

It’s hard to sin when you have someone coming around reminding you of it. God did not say he was putting up a bronze wall and an iron pillar to keep out satan from touching Jeremiah, he said it was for the Kings of Judah, the Princes, the Priest, and against the citizens of the land.

So it was not Israel’s enemies that Jeremiah needed protection from. It was from Israel itself, because they have now become enemies of God. Jeremiah is the son of a Priest, so if he needs to be protected from the Priest in Israel, then his life was indeed endanger by people whom he knew.

Truth will cause some people you know in your life, to swiftly exit your life. They may not try to kill you as in Jeremiah’s case, but they’ll certainly kill the relationship. Disowning Jeremiah and not talking to him wasn’t enough, because God sent him. He had a calling on his life, and no matter what anybody says God was going to see him through.

We are called to tell the truth. When some of us do, people we know and love and care about will stop talking to us. Many of us struggle in this place. The place of rejection. The place of abandonment. The place of judgement. The place of loneliness. Many of us try to escape this place as quick as possible, but the closer you get to God, the tighter these things feelings tend to get.

So we have Jeremiah, and God’s preparing him for what’s coming. God’s people have turned away from all righteousness, and they built up iron shields to cover their hearts. Their hearts are so hard and turned away from God, that the mentioning of repentance and judgement from the prophet will invoke murder and conspiracy towards the prophet.

Jeremiah did not pick this. He did not choose this. It was placed on him by God. You did not choose your calling. Your calling chose you. When the one’s God put in charge stop following God, he has to call someone from the outside because those on the inside have become corrupt and unusable.

God is calling people today, outside of the Church Buildings and the Religious Conferences. Outside of the Seminary schools and Biblical Universities. He’s calling people right from their living rooms, from their kitchens, from their bedrooms, from their jobs, God is calling people who have been broken.

God is calling people young and old. God is calling people who have failed and succeeded. The leader and the follower. The external armor doesn’t matter. God is calling people who will be obedient. The Pastors of today’s Church’s are above reproach.

Even God cannot correct them. Their humility has been replaced with arrogance. And their fear has been replaced with pride. So God raised up Jeremiah then, and he’s raising up Jeremiah’s today, to confront the lie that has been covered up the truth!

They’ve went out and gave themselves haughty names like Apostle, and Prophet or Prophetess. They even went out to kill the work of Jesus Christ by calling themselves priest, as if Jesus has cease being the high Priest to all who seek him. And they are above reproach. They cannot be corrected and no one dares to correct them to their face.

They open Churches in God’s name while openly practicing homosexuality, adultery, fornication, and other kinds of wickedness with no fair of natural or supernatural correction. They don’t fear the supernatural correction, and they reject the natural.

This is the religious climate that those whom God has called to truth is stepping into. There will even be strife within your own household. God warns Jeremiah in 12:6 “For even your brothers—your father’s house—even they will betray you,  even they will shout out after you.   Have no confidence in them, even if they say nice words to you.”

You have to question the religious leaders who 7 out of 7 days are always having a great day. Their days are filled with wine and never with sorrow. Their lives are filled with fullness, and never with brokenness. They teach and speak of the blessings of God, but not of the suffering in Christ.

In this they have not shared. Because they have seared their conscious of all convictions. And they denied themselves not. Even I was forced into submission from the crushing of Lord. It was not the will or desire to repent. It was the crushing of the Lord and his pursuit of the one he loved.

Jeremiah’s battle was not with the world, it was with his own Family, Israel and countrymen who became like the world. When unrighteousness is left unchecked, and no one is there to oppose it, it becomes blatantly offensive.

Why the civil unrest in the streets at this time? Why the rioting? Why the protest? Men are killed everyday. But the death of one man who lye down helpless, was blatant. The body of Christ at this moment has blatantly turned it’s back on God.

Like in Jeremiah’s day, they no longer do what is wrong in the cover of night, they do what is wrong in the bright of day, and provoke God mercilessly. It is not just those who provoke God, but also those who are afraid to confront those who provoke God with false doctrine and ill practices. Because they fear the rebuke of offending those who sit right underneath them to hear truth!

But truth they do not teach. They do not touch the very issues that are destroying the church, for fear of inviting in the backlash. They are not Shepherds or fit to lead Men! They have been conformed by the world, and have carved out a comfortable place in the world for themselves, and they lie down in the pasture while miles and miles of field burns around them.

The are oblivious of the smoke, and pretend to not see it, and not notice that the air is thick! The price of God, can cost you everything. This is a price that is too weighty for most. That’s why those who choose it lose it. Only those who are called can persevere to the end.

You will only persevere through what God has called you to. If God has not called you to it, you will not last. Many have tried, and found that teachings of prosperity and blessings overtaking your life, is a much easier gospel to preach and to live.

Without the spirit of compromise unrighteousness cannot prosper. The 10,000 people who attend your Church is not your people. They belong to God. It’s not your job to keep them coming back. It’s your job to teach them truth.

It’s God’s job to bring them back. God is always looking for Jeremiah’s. Their is not an over supply of them. They are always in high demand.

But are you willing to pay the cost…….