The Broken Nation Breaks it’s Prophet | Jeremiah 19 | Pastor William Hixson

Well, I'm very thankful that we could be

here this evening. We're going back to

the book of Jeremiah.

You please open your Bibles to Jeremiah

19.

I'd remind you, which we've said before

last week, Jeremiah 18:1, 19, and 20 are

Jeremiah 18:1

is all one section. It's all one

section. And the section very much

begins with this phrase, the word of the

Lord came to Jeremiah.

The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah

from the Lord. That covers chapter

17, 18,

and excuse me, that covers 18, 19, and

20.

18, 19, and 20. So, we have chapter

divisions, but those chapter divisions

are really introducing us to

a section that should be looked at as a

whole. Uh, and uh, and we've already

looked at chapter 18, Jeremiah's first

visit to the pottery shop

where the potter was making pottery.

Now, he's going back to the pottery shop

to buy something

and he's buying it. so he can break it.

He buys it and then breaks it.

It's expensive to be a prophet. You got

to, you know, you go buy that linen,

remember, and then go bury it in the

Euphrates River and uh now he's buying

um a new pot and then he a clay pot and

he shatters it. The difference in the

chapters 18 and 19, in chapters 18 you

have wet pottery.

wet pottery that's being formed. In

chapter 19, you have dried pottery

that's already been fired

and so it's hardened.

But in both cases, it's the same place,

but there's different things going on.

And so Jeremiah gets his clue from the

visual

things that are going on in the pottery

shop.

And this the second message I'm sure he

was wondering what now? What now?

So

u to kind of begin this let me read a

couple of things that others have said.

Bible teacher Derek Kner said

if there is nothing so workable as clay

put in the put in the making. there's

nothing so unalterable as uh as is found

uh after it's worked and you know and

and hardened.

And so that's the point.

And at this point Jeremiah was to make

his own uh uh reaction uh unforgettable.

Everybody had saw it.

Everybody was to see it. and he's to do

something that's irreversible. You take

a perfectly new and expensive clay pot

and you smash it. You price tag still on

it. Bang.

So he buys it to smash it.

It's a symbolic act.

That symbolic act was tanite tanal to

the word of God according to one.

Now, Philip Reichen said Jeremiah 18 was

an object lesson in God's sovereignty,

the wet clay and making the clay and

then remaking it. Jer chapter 19 is much

Jeremiah 19 · chapter mention

more dramatic lesson in his wrath.

So, chapter 18 was a lesson in God's

sovereignty. Chapter 19 was a lesson in

his wrath.

I I'm telling all myself and forgive me

for doing this. I've actually told this

from the pulpit before,

but when I was a young man in my teens,

I played a practical joke on a

individual

that I probably shouldn't have done. I'm

not going to tell you what it was, but

it made him mad and I thought it was

funny, but he didn't appreciate it. It

had to do with my car and his car, and

that's all the farther I'm going to go.

So, I'm in I'm in a bowling alley and

I'm playing pool with other people and I

shouldn't even tell this story, but

there's several there's about 10 to two

pool tables there and a bunch of us are

in there playing and I'm trying to shoot

and this guy comes in with two other

guys and he says he he took a beer

bottle and smashed it in the wall over

my head and the beer and the glass went

everywhere and he said, "Hixon, we're

going to take you outside and blankety

blankety blankety blank." Well, that

kind of got my attention.

Fortunately, I had more friends in there

than he did. So, nothing ever happened

after that. He decided, "My friends are

going to be on Hixon's Hixon's friends

are going to be in his side, so we're

outnumbered instead of us outnumbering

him." So, they backed off and left.

So, uh, but again, that smashing of the

bottle into the wall was meant to convey

a pctoral picture of what they were

going to do to me. And it wasn't long

after that, a football player that was a

fullback, an extremely strong guy. Uh,

this same guy and a few other guys took

him out in the parking lot,

beat ganged up on him, and ran over him

with a car and put him in the hospital.

So, they were serious about the damage.

they wanted to do to me. That's what

that told me.

And u so

uh

God is serious.

The breaking of this pottery that

they're going to see, they're going to

see how serious God is

about the judgment that's going to come.

You see, clay is very mild. When it's

wet, you can make other things into it.

you make it, you remake it, you you you

you do something with it and so forth.

We saw that earlier. But when it's dry

and it's heated and it's warm and it's

hard, you can't no more remaking.

And so that's what's going on here. when

he smashes the pottery

and he smashes it in the garbage dump

was which was the very place where they

were sacrificing their own children to

the potterer lived near there because he

had to put his broken pottery into the

near the dump. And so that's the

background

of all of that.

Warren Wearsby said, "The nation of

Israel was beyond discipline.

They were beyond prayer.

And now they're beyond repair."

They're beyond discipline. They're

beyond prayer. And now they're beyond

repair.

And he quotes Jeremiah 2:23 for beyond

Jeremiah 2:23

discipline. Jeremiah 7:16 for beyond

Jeremiah 7:16

prayer and now in 19 they're beyond

repair. Time to break it all down.

He said they had so hardened themselves

against the Lord that all hope was lost.

And then he quoted a section. I've been

looking up verses on pottery in the

Bible. Had a great time. I had a good

time studying that. It's a fascinating

subject to really dig into, but I'm not

going to put that across the pulpit. I

think it's better in the private study.

But he said in the near east in that

day, kings and generals often smashed

clay jars in a special ceremony before

they went out to battle. Apparently that

fellow in Chilikopy was related to them

and it was symbolic of their total

defeat of their enemies. This image is

also used of the Messiah in Psalm 29.

You shall break them with a rod of irons

dealing with the enemy gentile nations.

You shall dash them in pieces like a

potter's vessel.

Now in Psalm 29, that's gentile nations

that are going against the Messiah.

Here it's his own people.

The Old Testament theocratic kingdom of

the Old Testament is beyond repair. The

only thing you can do is smash it and

start over.

Here, God's not smashing

some Gentile people somewhere. He's

smashing Jewish people.

It's a shocking shocking business here.

So, let's look at it. Let's pick it up

and I'll read the text.

And uh before I read it, I want to

remind you when we get to chapter 20,

which I'll save for next time,

Jeremiah got arrested

for this sermon.

He got thrown in jail.

For this sermon,

he got beat for this sermon and put in

the stocks. That's chapter 20 and verse

two.

And

that helps us to understand chapter 20

when Jeremiah complains to God about his

life and he wishes he's never born and

that other stuff

because it was serious persecution

that he'd never done anything to these

people but try to help them if he warned

them and he got he got smashed for it

and himself.

So sometimes those things happen

and Jeremiah is quite discouraged and

you will see all of that next time.

So let's just look at let's focus in on

19

and the shattered pottery is followed by

the shattered prophet

and put it that way.

The shattered

poverty is followed by the shattered

profit. That's an old outline I came up

with a long time ago. And uh uh it it's

u and he he Jeremiah just shattered.

He's so discouraged.

People he loved, people he ministered

to, people he sacrificed for

that repaid him with hatred, animosity.

and rejection.

If you

many parents that have had that from

their own children or their friends or

other or their church or whatever.

So we know something of what this is all

about.

Jeremiah 19, thus says the Lord, go and

get a potter's earthn flask and take it

to the ancients of the people and of the

ancients of the priest. Don't go alone.

Go shopping for it alone. You go, but

you take the leaders of the people and

the leaders of the priests.

I want you I want them to watch you buy

it. I want you them to watch you destroy

it.

It's a vis people say there's visual

aids are helpful in sermons. Well, this

is a visual aid.

And go forth to the valley of the son of

Henim, which is by the entrance of the

east gate, and proclaim there the words

that I shall tell you, and say, "Hear

the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah

and inhabitants of Jerusalem. And thus

says the Lord of hosts, the God of

Israel, behold, I will bring evil on

this place." That means calamity

concerning which whoever hears his ears

are going to tingle. God said that a

couple other times in the word. This is

not something you want your ears

tingling because of what God's doing.

It's a shock

when you hear about

because God says they've forsaken me.

They've desecrated this place. And by

the way, look at the word this place and

this city. I circled those in one of my

studied Bibles when I went through the

year. It's very interesting. God keeps

talking about this place and this city.

He's talking about Jerusalem

which is where God's temple is which

they desecrated with idols.

And so he keeps talking about this place

and other places he says this city. So

he says in verse four, "Because they've

forsaken me and have desecrated this

place and have burned incense in it unto

other gods whom neither they nor their

fathers have known nor the kings of

Judah, and have filled this place with

the blood of innocence." That's the

sacrifice of their children.

And they built also the high places of

Bale to burn their sons with fire for

burnt offerings to Baal, which I

commanded not, neither spoke it, neither

came it into my mind.

Therefore, behold, the days come, says

the Lord, that this place shall no more

be called Tophath, nor the valley of the

son of Hinnim, but the valley of

slaughter. We're going to rename this

place.

and I'll make void the council of Judah

and Jerusalem in this place.

And I will cause them to fall by the

sword before their enemies and by the

hands of those who seek their lives. And

their carcasses will I give to be food

for fowls of the heaven and for the

beasts of the earth. In other words,

they won't be buried. They're going to

be eaten

by wild birds and beasts.

And this is a picture of the Babylonian

invasion and the destruction of the city

and the slaughter of the people and

bodies laying all over the ground and

the scavengers come and eat them.

And I will make this city desolate.

You think God's okay with a little bit

of adultery,

spiritual adultery? Would you be okay of

that? a little bit of physical adultery

by your marriage mate in your bedroom,

in your house, in your bed. This was

God's city. This was God's temple. They

brought the idols in. It was just like,

how can we how can we flaunt

our disregard for God anymore and our

disrespect for him?

That's why this place, this place, this

place, and this city, it it's it's

emphasizing the wickedness of what was

going on. Be bad if it went on anywhere.

It's even worse if it goes on in the

capital of the theocracy.

It's bad that America supports adulter

supports

uh killing of babies. That's bad. That's

terrible. abortion is there's people

just promoting it as if it's a good

thing. It's worse when you got apostate

churches promoting.

That's worse.

So verse nine, excuse me, I will cause

them to eat the flesh of their sons and

the flesh of their daughters, and

they'll eat everyone the flesh of his

friend in the siege and distress with

which their enemies, and they will seek

their lives, and shall distress them.

They shall break the flask. Then after

you give the message, you're all going

to become cannibals. And then you're

going to become you're going to eat each

other, and then the animals and birds

are going to eat you. How's that for

wrath?

Then shall you break the flask in the

sight of the men that go with thee.

That's the Old Testament equivalent of

the beer bottle against the wall.

Now the people he took with him, the

leaders knew what's coming. Now,

that action spoke. There's some actions

that speak louder than words, and that

one did. This is it.

Judgment's coming. It's not going to

stop.

It's over. God's had enough.

And so

verse 11,

and you shall say to them, that's the

leaders, the so-called leaders, not real

leaders, not godly leaders, but the

apostate

leaders. Thus says the Lord of hosts,

even so will I break this people and

this city, as one breaks a potter's

vessel that cannot be made whole again.

And thou shalt bury them in toeth till

there's no place to bury.

They're all going to the dump

till there's no more. The only burial

yard where they'll bury is the dump and

then there won't be enough to bury and

so the birds get to eat. Thus will I do

to this place, says the Lord, and to its

inhabitants, even to make this city like

Tophath. And the houses of Jerusalem,

and the houses of the kings of Judah,

shall be defiled, like the place of

Tophath, because all the houses upon

which whose roofs they burn incense unto

all the hosts of heaven, and have poured

out drink offerings to other gods.

Then came Jeremiah from Tophith where

the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and

he stood in the court of the Lord's

house. So, first he said it with the

leaders right there at the dump which

was at the uh there's the entrance of

the potter's gate. Now he's into back

into the city

and he says, "Behold, I'll bring on this

city and upon its towns all the evil

that I pronounced against it because

they've hardened their necks that they

might not hear my word."

And that was enough. That's what got him

arrested.

So

when I hear when I see Jeremiah doing

stuff like this, I feel like I'm kind of

a whippy preacher.

I've never got arrested.

I've had police tell me I can't go

doortodoor and so forth. I've been

threatened with arrest. I've never got

arrested.

happened to us in Lancaster 50 years

ago.

Cults were behind it, but I won't get

into that.

So, here's an awesome picture of what's

going on in chapter 19.

And

at this point in the book,

the readers and the students of the book

of Jeremiah,

and I'm sure it's true of you, begin to

become weary with the intentional

monotony and repetition of the same kind

of material.

We've had almost 20 chapters of the same

stuff.

Idolatry is bad. Judgment's coming.

and you better repent.

There's not much difference, right?

You've been unfaithful.

And again and again, read about

idolatry. When I last time I read

through Jeremiah as a book, I counted

over 70 times it's mentioned. And again

and again, you hear about the coming of

judgment.

And again and again, we read about a

broken covenant. And again, we're

reading about a theocratic nation that's

not listening to the prophet and

refusing to hear God's word. We keep

hearing the same stuff

over and over and over again. Isn't

there something else Jeremiah can do or

say? Or why do you have to draw it out?

Why didn't you just make one chapter or

two chapters or maybe three chapters,

but why do we have to still hear it? And

we're in the 20th chapter now, and we're

still dealing with the same stuff.

It's it's an intentional monotony.

It's an intentional monotony.

God's intentional.

And I I want you to They're just not

listening. Jeremiah keeps preaching.

It's like the preacher that preached the

same sermon to his church five Sundays

straight. And people said, "What's the

matter, pastor? You preached that the

last five sermons." And he said, "Well,

when you put that one into practice,

I'll preach another one." Well, that's

kind of what Jeremiah's doing here. It's

again and again.

And I I I hope you when you're reading

Jeremiah, it begins to sound monotonous

to the almost the point of irritation.

Uh, a lady was here this morning that

was born the same year I was, and she

she said, "I related to some of your

illustrations because I'm the same

generation you are." She said, "You were

born in 1949, weren't you?" I said,

"Yep."

So,

and she says, "I was too." Well, those

of us of that generation or near that

generation, we remember the so-called

record players that played 45s or 78s

and the needle would get stuck. Anybody

remember that?

You even remember that? And he goes,

and my grandmother had an even older

thing than that. She had one of those

windup uh record players that was in a

wood case. Victola.

>> Victrola. You'd wind that. You crank

that thing up and the wonderful records

that were like 1920s or something like

that and she's playing your we kids love

that thing. We crank that up and listen

to that old music.

But inevitably there'd be one or two in

there that that would get stuck and just

and so we'd have to stop playing ping

pong or whatever we were doing and go

over and redo it and it finally got

tired. Well, when you read Jeremiah,

it's almost like Jeremiah, you're like a

you're like a broken record. You're

stuck. You Why don't you get off of this

and go on to something else?

And there's that uh there's that

repetition to the point of irritation

that comes to mind

like a broken record

or a dirty record or whatever it was

that made that happen. What was it?

>> Scratch.

>> A scratch.

>> A scratch. Okay. Yeah, the needle, Mr.

Scratch.

Now, here's another illustration. Every

parent knows this.

Or everyone is not a parent, but they've

taken children on a big long road trip

know this.

Kids on a road trip, and I was that way,

and my kids were that way, and I'm sure

my grandkids are there. You're on the

road after two hours. When are we going

to get there?

Are we there yet?

And you keep, no, we're we got a long

way to go. And you go another hour. Are

we there yet? No, we're not there yet.

Are we there yet? They, you know, they

are they are up. They're frustrated with

the monotony, especially if you're in

some place like Kansas. No insult to

Kansas or

even Montana, which I love Montana, but

it all looks the same pretty much.

So if you're in one of those states that

are flat and long and just you just

repetition,

repetition, mile after mile, pretty soon

kids are saying, "I want out of this

seat. When are we going to get there?"

Well,

that's kind of what you feel here.

Enough already, Jeremiah. You could have

made this book a lot shorter. Why are

you making it so monotonous?

You ever ask that question?

It doesn't seem like a good prophetic or

pastoral procedure

to make the book first part of the book

so monotonous

and but they didn't put him in jail

because of monotony.

But it is it is monotonous.

So why so much space especially when

you're writing is writing is expensive

very expensive whether you're writing on

parchment or whether you're writing on

uh Egyptian paper all that stuff is

extremely expensive why go to all the

expense why not cut it down

the monotony is there

for a reason

and we think why exhaust the readers.

Why test the patience of the hearers

you're trying to reach?

I've been thinking about that this week.

I've thought about it before, but I've

been thinking about it again this week.

And I came up with three very clear

reasons for this. And if you know the

reasons,

it will help you to appreciate this

book. Remember, he's dealing with

hard-hearted people who've hardened

himself against God and who are just

flagrantly disobeying God.

Number one, the repetition of these kind

of outreaches by Jeremiah and sermons in

the temple, even though he's mistreated,

it emphasizes the long suffering of God.

Longsuffering

is one of God's great attributes.

Moses learned that the Lord, the Lord,

and it talks about his longsuffering.

Exodus 34:5,

Exodus 34:5

Numbers 14:18, Psalm 18:15. There's many

Numbers 14:18 Psalms 18:15

places in the Bible about the long

suffering of God.

And the New Testament picks that up of

God's longsuffering in Romans 2:4 and

Romans 2:4

Romans 9:22 and 2 Peter 3:9. He's not

Romans 9:22 2 Peter 3:9

willing that any should perish but his

longsuffering. So God is longsuffering.

We don't have to look up all those

verses I just quoted. There's plenty of

verses on God's longsuffering.

So the repetition of it deals with the

fact that these people were hard to

reach and it they just hardened

themselves more and more and more and

more rather than were reasonable or even

susceptible to really hear it.

That's the first reason I believe and I

think it's a legitimate reason.

Second,

the nation of Israel broke

the Palestinian covenant. I hate the

name for that, but that's kind of what

many people call it. Now, remember, they

got the Ten Commandments through Moses.

And then the case law, but what's called

the Palestinian covenant is when they

were on the mountains, cursed me this

person, and blessed be that person. That

was when they were in the right on the

edge of the promised land.

and they came under a conditional

covenant. Enjoyment of the promised land

is based on obedience.

Disobedience will take you out of the

land. That's Deuteronomy 29 16-29.

It's Deuteronomy 27

and so forth.

And so the nation of Israel broke the

Palestinian covenant. That was a legal

uh legal relationship with God.

They did it back then and were

continuing to do the very thing God kept

telling them not to do. He they kept

doing it. He kept telling them, "Don't

do it or judgment's coming." And he was

reminding them of that covenant

relationship and the consequences of

breaking it and they kept breaking it.

Now the Abrahamic covenant, Davidic

covenant are unconditional covenants.

But this covenant is a Palestinian

covenant is the land covenant is u a

conditional.

If you're disobedient, you get evicted.

If you repent, I'll let you come back.

And that covenant been in effect for 864

years.

Anybody

that's had a rental property knows

sometimes people don't pay their rent.

And I have one relative that had rental

property. And the guy was supposed to be

a Christian. He hadn't paid his rent in

a year.

And I told this person, "If he hasn't

paid in a year, he's never been

better get him out of there."

And she finally did.

And my dad had a rental property and

people could miss once but if they

missed twice

he let them catch up.

The disobedience became a habit

and they broke the covenant. And that

covenant was given back in Joshua's day,

Moses's day and Joshua's day. And now

we're up to Jeremiah's day. over eight

and a half centuries

of

repeated and accelerating disobedience

of the most flagrant God.

So they're just asking God for

I'm reminded of what Jesus said when

Peter said, "How often shall my brother

sin against me and I forgive him?" Seven

times.

And Jesus said, "No, 70 times."

70 * 7.

What's 70 * 7?

490 times.

They'd already exceeded 70 * 7

for 864 years. They were breaking this

this covenant that they swore to do.

Now, that gets us to where

the whole point is this is never going

to work.

This is never going to work out. Like my

one relative's render that hadn't paid

any rent in a year, might as well get

they're never going to pay. If they

could if they there's no emergency, they

just don't care. They're not going to

ever pay. So, just get rid of them and

cut your losses.

If the people had not obeyed after

warning after warning, prophet after

prophet, prophet after prophet,

they're never going to obey

after all this time.

And it's proof

that they can't.

They can't.

Idolatry is deeper than their loyalty to

the Lord.

And that's the whole point. And where

Jeremiah is going with all of this

is the old covenant

is never going to work with this people.

That's why we need the new covenant.

And that new covenant appears very

famously in Jeremiah 31.

where God puts his law in their heart

and all of that, the forgiveness of

sins. And that's the new covenant. We

celebrate with the Lord's supper because

we get in on it not because we're Jewish

people, but because we're related to the

Jewish Messiah, we get the privileges of

the new covenant ourselves by the

forgiveness of sins that we have.

So I believe that that that

uh that that

centuries old disobedience was to show

you can give people enough time. You can

give them generations to get it right

and they're not going to do it. Time

alone can't fix this. We need surgery.

The heart is deceitful above all things.

Who can know it? I the Lord.

I the Lord. I can deal with this.

Third thing that I observe,

we all need to be long-suffering to

those we minister to who mistreat us.

I don't think that the just that the

people were tired of hearing Jeremiah. I

think Jeremiah was tired of talking to

the people.

He was they were wearing him out.

And but we all need to be long-suffering

to those we minister to who mistreat God

and us. And if they mistreat God,

they're going to mistreat us.

And the New Testament is chocked full of

verses on longsuffering

for Christians.

2 Corinthians 6:6, Galatians 5:22. It's

2 Corinthians 6:6 Galatians 5:22

a fruit of the spirit. Ephesians 4:2. We

Ephesians 4:2

have to be longsuffering with each

other. Colossians 1:11, Colossians 3:12.

Colossians 1:11 Colossians 3:12

Why do we have to put up with so and so?

Why does so and so have to be in the

church? I can enjoy it a lot if they

never came.

Well, you better learn to deal with hard

people. You're you're another hard case.

God deals with you.

God's longsuffering with you. Maybe that

person is one of those uh sandpaper

Christians that Hudsonshed used to talk

about that God want they are a rough

person. They're sanding you and making

you better. And so how many times people

have said in the Psalms, I want to fly

away like a bird.

You just get tired of it.

In 1 Timothy 3:16, the Apostle Paul

1 Timothy 3:16

says, "If Jesus put up with me, he can

and you he can we you can put up with

one another.

He was longsuffering with me and with

you. We can all be longsuffering with

each other. Basic 1 Timothy 3:16 and 2

1 Timothy 3:16 2 Timothy 3:8–14

Timothy 3:8-14,

2 Timothy 4:2, 1 Peter 3:20, 1 Peter

2 Timothy 4:2 1 Peter 3:20 1 Peter 3:13–17

3:13-17.

Whoa, there's so many verses on this.

Why? Because sin hasn't changed. Sinners

haven't changed.

Uh life hasn't changed,

and so forth.

Jeremiah is going to go so sick of this

at the end of chapter 20 after he gets

arrested and he confronts Passure and

all of that. He says, "I just want to

die.

I don't want to lie. I don't want to

live anymore.

Just take my life." In fact, he he said

even more than that, "I wish I'd never

been born."

Have you ever had your child say

something like that? I wish I'd never

been born.

Get mad at mom and dad. They say

something like that.

Well, this is a whole fascinating study

and we will get to that next time.

Jeremiah said it.

Job said it.

Both of them said it.

And both of them were wrong.

There's only one person in the Bible

that says it was better off for him if

he'd never been born.

And we'll reveal that person next time.

Wasn't Jeremiah

and it wasn't Job.

And our Lord Jesus who suffered more

than anybody suffered

by the hands of man and by his he

heavenly father said something even

better

in Psalm 22

and we will get to that next time.

So we will follow up from the shattered

pot

to the shattered prophet

who just basically wants to quit.

and I hope you'll be back for that. Why

should we study this? Well, one, to

prepare us for the new covenant and the

appreciation of what the new birth does

for anybody that's genuinely sick

and for ourselves because apart from the

new birth, we would be as just as

frustrating to God and men as these

people were Jeremiah.

And next time we'll also see, yes, other

people can wear you out.

Other Christians can wear you out.

Unsaved people can wear you out.

God knows that.

The prophets know it. Jeremiah knew it.

He wrote about it. And we'll talk about

it next time.

And so, uh, I hope that this has been a

little helpful to you. And just

remember, the shattered pot was followed

by the shattered prophet. Jeremiah

himself was just shattered.

And

uh, life, his ministry wasn't easy, but

I'm so thankful for his ministry.

And I'm thankful for the any ministry we

have and any hardship we have in life.

We didn't have it as hard as Jesus.

and we will be glad. It'll be worth it

all when we see Jesus.

It'll be worth it all when we see

Christ.

Father, we know all of us have to deal

with uh folks that are hardened and hard

against you. Sometimes it's neighbors.

Sometimes it's family. Sometimes it's

our own children.

And we see the train wrecks that they

make and we can't stop it and just so

hard.

And we feel the

distance that they put between us and

themselves

in his heart after we've poured our life

into them. Well, Jeremiah poured his

life into the city of Jerusalem and the

temple and the people there and all he

got was death threats and went in jail

and then later put in a system to rot

and die.

Oh God, you are so good to us even

though we have hard.

And we don't want to live soft lives

when some of the prophets and the

apostles and Christians of other

dispensations or areas are Christians

even now

are dying for their faith.

Black Lives Matter doesn't seem to care

about the Nigerian Christians that have

been slaughtered. They're quite silent

about that.

and the hypocrisy and the stupidity

of so many people in our own nation

and uh they they can't even hide their

hatred of God and God's people.

We just pray, Father, that you would

help us to be patient and longsuffering.

And many times we want to say, are we

there yet? Are we there yet? As life

gets hard and long, someday we will be

there

by God's grace

and we look for that day and we pray for

that day. And if we have a new heart

already,

we've been forgiven already.

If you done the work of the new covenant

in us already, we praise your name

because we didn't do it to oursel.

Jesus name.

Stand turn to page 145

145 as we go from this place

loving you more trusting you more.

May the power of your love and the light

of your word shine

to a sin darken world as we go from this