Daily Bible Reading, Week 31

Hello,and welcome to the Westside churches special Monday Morning Coffee podcast on this podcast,our preacher Mark Roberts will help you get your week started right.With look back at yesterday's sermon so that we can think through it further and better work the applications into our daily lives.Mark will then look forward into this week's Bible reading so that we can know what to expect and watch for.And,he may have some extra bonus thoughts from time to time.So grab a cup of coffee as we start the week together on Monday Morning Coffee with Mark.

Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to the Monday Morning Coffee podcast for Monday, July the 31st. We're almost through summer getting school stuff going again, and all that happens with that. It is the end of July. Can't even believe it. Where did summer go? I'm holding some coffee. I've got my Bible, but I don't have sermon notes because, because, because I did not preach yesterday at West Side I was in Conway, Arkansas with a Highway 65 church in their youth lectures and bestest of all I was with my granddaughter, Jane. That was and is a true joy. But what really matters in the podcast is our Bible reading. It's Jeremiah, the 27th chapter that we're reading today. We're gonna read Jeremiah 27 and 28 this week, get your Bible out and let's get started. Our reading for today is Jeremiah the 27th chapter verses one to 11 in the beginning, verse one says of the reign of Zakiah , the son of Josiah, king of Judah. So we need to think about j Zakiah . I can't even say his name. He is not a good king. He is weak, he is spineless. He does not lead the people to do what is right. He has serious flaws in his character and he will not listen to Jeremiah. We will have lots of opportunity to see in our Bible reading what a complete failure as a leader he is. I would encourage our men to pay attention to that and to think about how to not be like Zac because he does not lead well and his failure of leadership will cost him personally. His end is just dreadful, but even more it costs the people because he is a leader. And when leaders don't lead, it hurts the followers. The followers here needed to say some things to Zakiah . They needed to encourage him to listen to Jeremiah and do what was right as well. So once again , Jeremiah needs to use an action sermon. We've just seen a lot of that in the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah's always doing something to try to get people's attention. And so here he makes himself a yoke . The Lord said to me, verse two, make yourself straps in yoke bars. And you just get this image of Jeremiah walking around with this yoke . And a yolk would have two hoops, two places for oxen, a pair of oxen, a yoke of oxen. So Jeremiah's wearing one side of that and you can see that kind of lopsided burden there. And he invites his hearers to occupy the other place of this empty yoke. Hey, put yourself in this yoke. And he's going about, and he's preaching and he's teaching and he's trying to say to people, you need to submit to Babylon. And Nebuchadnezzar is even called verse six, the servant of God. He is my servant and I have given this to him. Call these other kings. Verse three. Everybody needs to submit to Babylon. And that's just the huge issue in Jeremiah's time. Nobody wants to submit to Babylon. And there's all this fishing around for some kind of political alliance. Maybe Egypt will help us. We can rebel, we can do this. Stop with all of that. Don't listen. Verse nine, to those who are telling you, we don't have to serve the king of Babylon, they are prophesying to you a lie. You need to listen. Put yourself under the yoke of the king of Babylon. Verse 11. That's the message here. And maybe a good application here is sometimes we have to do things that we don't like and , and even in the sphere of politics, as as Christians, sometimes we're gonna have to submit to a government that we're not excited about. We are not interested in how they rule and what they say and what they do. And sometimes we are called Romans 13 to submit to government. And that's being, that's the call that's being issued here in Jeremiah chapter 27. People don't like that very much. And we're gonna see Hannah and I , the false prophet directly takes on Jeremiah more about Tiah and a direct word from God to him in our reading tomorrow it is Tuesday and today, just an enormously long reading. I hope you have time for this long reading. It's verses 12, 13, 14, and 15. That's it. Not very long. But this is a specific and personal message to Zakiah to bring his neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon because if he fails him, he and his people, they're gonna die. They're gonna die. He's leading them into destruction. And what's what's causing that is listening to false prophets. So there's a number of key pieces here. It's a really short reading, but there's a lot for us to unpack here to think about submitting to God by submitting to human authority. Verse 12, to think about what leadership fails cost and what they cause. And to think especially about listening to the siren song of false prophets, listening to those who are telling us what we want to hear. Now, I I , I want us to work with this a little bit. Somebody says, Hey , Zetia is just really young. How is he supposed to know Jeremiah was right and Hania and these other false prophets were wrong. But if you start doing the math, and I got some help with all of this. Zeke's got no excuses here. Yes, he's 21 years old. But Jeremiah began reigning in the 13th year of Josiah. That would be in six 20 . Jeremiah . Jeremiah began reigning. Jeremiah didn't reign , Jeremiah began preaching. Jeremiah began preaching in 6 27 bc. That's the 13th year of Josiah. So Zakiah is born in six 18 when Josiah is still reigning of course. And then 21 years later in 5 97 he begins reigning. So during his 21 years of life, what all has he seen? Remember he was born in six 18. Well in 6 0 9 he'd be nine years old. He could see that Jeremiah was right. The trouble was coming. He would be able to see in 6 0 5 that Jeremiah was right about Nebuchadnezzar coming and that Jehan would die and not be mourned. He would be able to see when he was 2021 that Jehan would be taken away in 5 97. That's right before Zeek took the throne, before Nebu er put him on the throne as a puppet king. So he has had the opportunity to see repeatedly throughout his life. Jeremiah has always been right. And even more Zeek could have seen that Jeremiah's message was consistent with the law. The law was found during the time of Josiah. We read about that in Two Kings 22. And the king was supposed to write out his own copy of the law. Remember Deuteronomy 17 says the king was to do that. And Jeremiah's preaching has always been consistent with that law. Even more Zakiah could have talked to some counselors. There's a couple of places thinking about Jeremiah 36, some other places where Zeca could seek counselors who could say, Hey, this guy has always been right. He's preaching the word of God. We need to listen to this man. So here's Zeca is he's a young king at a difficult time politically, people are saying We can break away from Babylon. People are saying, no, we need to serve Babylon. Lots is going on. What should Tiah do? Answer. He should seek the truth. He should try and do all that he can to find the truth. And guess what? God would have blessed him if he would have done so. You and I are, if you will, too young to have seen the events of calvary and the the empty tomb. But what do we need to do? We need to seek the truth. We need to see what the eyewitnesses say. We need to read the Bible. We need to see how it's a consistent message. Zakiah had plenty of evidence that Jeremiah was a prophet of God. He should have listened to that prophet soak in Jeremiah's message today verses 12 to 15. Think more about being in Zia's place and how different things could have been if Zakia would've listened to him. Jeremiah has a message to the priest and all the people. We'll read that message to tomorrow. See you on Wednesday. It is Wednesday and today we are reading in Jeremiah the 27th chapter verses 16 to 22. Hope that you are looking forward to being at West Side tonight as we continue our summer series, the Case for Christianity. And Shane Carrington will be talking about the evidence of the prophets. Shane will help us think about prophets and how they help us believe the word of God. Now let's read one of those prophets in Jeremiah the 27th chapter. Beginning in verse 16, Jeremiah speaks to the priest and all the people and says, don't listen to the false prophets. The treasures of the temple that have been taken away aren't coming back. These false prophets are clearly having a hard time. They have told people that all things are gonna be great. Now, Nebuchadnezzar shows up and sacks the temple, strips it, a bunch of its gold and many of its holy things and carries that off. Well, what are you gonna say if you're a false prophet and you've been saying Nebuchadnezzar wouldn't even come. Well now you gotta say what? Oh, all that's coming back home. They're we're not gonna be in captivity long. All those treasures are coming back home. No, no, and no what Nebuchadnezzar didn't take this time. All of that will be taken the next time he shows up and the temple will be destroyed. Then verse 22, I'll bring them back and restore them to this place. So there's much more destruction coming. There's much more awaiting the people of God because they won't do what's right. And Jeremiah continues to call that out. That drama continues. However, in our readings tomorrow and Friday in the 28th chapter of Jeremiah, don't go away. It gets even more dramatic. See you tomorrow. It is Thursday. And today we read Jeremiah the 28th chapter verses one to nine. Sometimes we may wonder what was the reaction to Jeremiah's preaching? He's never saying what people want to hear. And chapter 28 gives us that reaction. Hananiah , the son of Zer , the prophet from Givon begins to preach and teach and he brings a different message. In fact, here's Jeremiah wearing this yoke and giving this message of judgment. And Hannah and I utters just the kind of false teaching that Jeremiah has been opposing. He contradicts what Jeremiah has spoken. This guy's not a true prophet. I'm telling you what it's gonna be. It's gonna be good. I've broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Verse two, two years gonna bring back all that stuff that Nebuchadnezzar drug out of the temple and stripped out of the temple. And I'm bringing back all the exiles, bringing the king back. Verse four, it's all going to be okay. Don't listen to Jeremiah. No . Everything will be just fine. So then Jeremiah says in verse six, amen. Now that may confuse you. Why is Jeremiah amening a false prophet? And the answer is that we can't hear his tone of voice. But I'm pretty certain that if I'd been standing there, if you'd been standing there, you would've heard deep sarcasm. Deep sarcasm. Jeremiah says, oh, I wish the Lord would do what you say. Oh, that would make me so happy. Amen. I wish the Lord would do that. But the Lord is not gonna do that. That is not what's going to happen. But the issue is how can you know that Hannah and I is a false prophet and that I'm a true prophet? Jeremiah says, well, verse nine, as for the prophet who prophesize peace, when the word of that prophet comes to pass, it'll be known that the Lord has truly sent the prophet Jeremiah issues The challenge. Let's just see whose word comes to pass that's straight outta Deuteronomy 18, verses 21 and 22. What false prophets always hate is having their prophecies checked up on whether that's the Watchtower Bible and track society, job's, witnesses telling everybody that the world's gonna end in 1975, whether that's Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and all the wrong things that he said about the temple lot in Missouri or about the Civil War. All false prophets always hate people checking on what they have said. Jeremiah says, alright , Hanna says, everybody's coming home in two years. Let's just see if Hannah and I is right or if I am right. And I'm so glad that we're reading this 'cause it's gonna help all of us as we continue in the book of Jeremiah, we're we'll all get to the place where we're going to say, Hey folks, listen to this guy. Listen to Jeremiah. He's been proved right again and again and again. We'll see a little bit more of that in our reading tomorrow. Let's read more in Jeremiah chapter 28 on Friday. Welcome to Friday. And we are completing the dramatic confrontation of Hananiah and Jeremiah recorded in the Jeremiah, in Jeremiah the 28th chapter verses 10 to 17. Our reading today, Jeremiah 28, verses 10 to 17, if Jeremiah could preach action sermons and do all kinds of visual aids to get people's attention, well, Hania says, I'll take a page outta your playbook. Verse 10. He breaks the yoke that Jeremiah is wearing, breaks it and says, God's broken the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar from the neck of all the nations. Verse 11, remember, Jeremiah bid all the nations chapter 27 and verse three to submit to Babylon. So Hannah and Iah says, that's a bogus message. Nope , that's not gonna happen. God's bringing everybody home. Babylon's not gonna rule. They're going down the tubes. Everybody just hold on a second and it's all going to be just fine. But notice, notice verse 12. Notice in verse 12, Jeremiah does not respond immediately. Jeremiah waits to hear from the Lord. And then the Lord says, verse 13, you have broken. You say to Hannah and I , you have broken wooden bars, but you have made in their place bars of iron. That's what false teachers do. That's what false teaching does. It puts people in bars of iron, it puts them into captivity. The captivity of false doctrine. One of the big emphasis in Jeremiah, the 28 chapter that the big application for you and for me is we don't wanna listen to false teachers. False teachers tell us what we want to hear. They allow us to do what we want to do. And what that does is that puts on us a yoke of iron, the yoke of sin, the yoke of error, the yoke of being deceived. Oh , Jeremiah says, this is bogus. Don't listen to this guy. You have made people. Verse 15, trust in a lie, Hania can't cancel or revoke the message of God. By breaking that wooden yoke , God's word will come to pass. And as a sign of that, Hanna dies. Verse 17, in the seventh month, the prophet hania die . That was only two months from when this story began. Verse one, only two months go by and Hania is gone. God takes false teaching very seriously. You and I need to take it just as seriously. There's our Bible reading for the week. I'm so glad you're reading Jeremiah with me. That was pretty exciting stuff. That was just pretty exciting stuff this week, and I hope that you'll continue in the book of Jeremiah as we continue to see a difficult and dark time for the people of God. We'll continue in Jeremiah next week, Hope that you have subscribed or followed the podcast so it'll drop down on your digital device absolutely automatically hope you're telling others about the show. You're reviewing the show. I hope that you'll let other people know this can help you with your daily Bible reading. Pass the word about the podcast. So until next week, I hope that your Friday is wonderful and the Lord will be with you today all day, and I will be home and I will see you Sunday at the West Side Church of Christ. But I'll see you Monday as we continue in the book of Jeremiah, and of course I will see you with a cup of coffee.

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