My Current study has found me in Jeremiah. For those who do not know, Jeremiah was of the Family of Aaron (a priest), called at a young age, preached and prophesied for 40 years and had absolutely no converts. He faced false prophets who would preach “peace, peace” to itching ears, and especially to a culture that would worship other gods, make their children pass through fire, and then claim “peace” because they had the Temple of the Lord in their midst. In my reading this morning, God said (paraphrased by me) “Do you think having this Temple will save you? Look at Shiloh [which was in Israel and had been ransacked and destroyed by the Assyrians] where I first put my name, and how it is desolate! Do you not think that I will not do the same here?” God, pleading with His people to not trust in the Temple, but to return to Him, was telling them He wasn’t afraid to destroy the place where His Name dwelt.
Today there are houses of praise full of people who Paul called “itching ears,” and many preachers compromise the word of God to keep their “jobs.” Many Christians know the truth, but to keep kith and kin happy, they don’t speak up, and keep to the doctrines of men, rather than the Scriptures of God. This is the state of the Church, and has always been the struggle we face. Meanwhile, people are dying, being arrested or tortured for their faith as we speak. Loved ones, it’s time to stand firm, stand proud, and stand up. Even if it costs you your “job,” your friends, your family, everything. Don’t listen to the false people shouting “peace, peace” who make YOU the main character of God’s story, instead of Jesus Christ drawing us to the Father. We are but a breath and a vapor. We are a mist that is here for a little while and evaporates. The Word of God stands forever. Trust in Him!
My fellow proclaimers and preachers of the Gospel: don’t worry about your job. My fellow believers in Christ, don’t worry about family and friends. Stand firm on Christ and His word. Seek to follow Jesus, not the word. Wade against the current, and, though the current pushes you and seeks, at times, to drown you, fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of your faith. In the end, we don’t hear “well done, good and faithful servant” by appeasing and pleasing others. We hear it when we serve the Master, however He calls us to do so.
Matthew 10:16-42
“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.
“So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
“Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”
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