From Hearing to Heading | Eld Peng Hoe

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Amen, man, thank you so much. You may take your seat.

It's so good to be back here in ex Subang.

I was actually away for a family trip and so

it's good to be home. And I want to say

big thank you to the worship band today. Of course,

Eron uh this is technically his first time, his first

time worship leading, and he was called he was called

uh well, I think at least in the Subang plan.

I've seen Aaron worship lead in different youth gatherings and

youth events, but in the in the main plan, I

think it's his first time. He was called upon last

minute actually because our very very dear sister Elie. If

you know Elie usually the one that worship leads, the

little tiny little girl. Yeah, okay, anyway, please not well.

Allie's in the hospital and if you know Ellie, pray

for Ellie. Ellie's blood pressure was unusually high yesterday and

so she got herself checked in into SGMC. She's currently in.

I don't know whether she's still in the High Intensity

unit CCUS called the c CU. Of course, She's like,

I don't know why I'm here. People here are really sick.

Then we're like, uh, but your blood pressure is really high.

It's like one hundred and ninety or something like that.

So Ellie just came back from Mount Kinabaloo. She she's

skilled Mount kinger Balloo and the joke is she survived

the mountain, but we don't know why she didn't survive

her I don't know her apartment or something that restressed

with the cats stress out something. Okay, anyway, pray for Ellie. Uh.

We trust that she's going to be well. She hopes

to be discharged at least from the CCU into a

normal ward soon. So if you all know her dropper

and encouraging text, she's stuck in. She apgizers for not

being able to be here and so the team had

to step up. We also have Dylan, who is the

first time serving on key. So thank you, thank you

so much Dylan for availing yourself and straight away gets

thrown into two services to serve. But what a privilege

to be able to serve the lot. Also, apologies for

the slight technical issues I know the xtvs. Then Daniel

probably Daniel's blood pressure probably on par with Ellie's already.

We need to help him come down. Sorry, Daniel, Uh,

it's okay, we'll make it work. We had the issue

from the morning itself. In the morning, actually the congregations

sang without lyrics, and of course Aaron being the first

time in his life, I'm going to introduce to you

a new song, and then he's life but there are

no lyrics, and then we're like, oh God, bless this boy.

But he did well. Aaron did well, and so we

can we can still worship the lot if we don't

have the lyrics well. One of the ways, of course,

is that's why we want to encourage and I've been

saying this time and time again, it's okay for us

to sing songs repetitively. I know sometimes you're like, why

are we singing the same songs for months? So boring? Well,

you will commit it to memory. That is why I'm

encouraging our worship bands. Don't worry if you're singing the

same If you're introducing a new song, sing it, singing

until you can memorize the lyrics. Of course. My time, okay,

I think my era was one of the eras where

we had shorter songs. The lyrics was not so. I

mean it had like one verse and one chorus. That

was my era, of course, the ancient era. The hymns

whoa those firsts can write? But I love I love

singing hymns. I know. I used to worship in a

Methodist church many many, many years ago, and the hymnal

is brilliant. But I don't know where they get they

get this amazing ability with words, and so every stanza

is different words, every line is there. You if you

can memorize hymns, you're a scholar. That's all I can say.

But they used to write amazing, amazingly long songs. My

era was shorter. I still remember verse chorus. Uh. And

it's that's why it's quite easy to memorize songs. Of course,

we sang it repetitively. Uh. This is now the era

with very worthy songs as well a lot of words

in it. So the only way in which we can

commit to memory really is to keep singing it. Uh.

And then one day some things are not going to work.

But that doesn't mean we can't worship God. That doesn't

mean we can't continue to declare his goodness. Uh, That's

also one of the reasons why we tell our songwriters,

right songs, I mean, lift the songs, lift the words

out from scripture, because you will never forget scripture, because

we are supposed to be reading scripture all the time.

Lifted up from the sound, there are already you have

a whole book of psalms and problems, which are basically

the best lyrics you can ever find. And it's all

in God's Word. And so we want to continue to

help our partners grow in these areas, and sometimes things

like this does happen. Thank you for still worshiping God,

because it's more than an experience. It's more than just

coming or great worship, great word. That doesn't count for anything.

Because what I hope for each and every one of

us is that when we leave the service, when we

leave church, we can say, great God, Great God, not

just great worship, not just great Word, but great God.

I encountered a great God. And that is something that

only you are able to do for yourself, whether you

are encountering God in a real manner or not. It's

something that only we ourselves can achieve in that sense,

because it's going to help you achieve it lyrics is

not going to help you achieve it. Really, you know,

everyone playing in the right key and right No, it's

not going to help you achieve it. It can sometimes

deter us if you know, and I know sometimes it's

very hard, very hard, all playing wrong key. But ultimately

it's how you are on the inside, very very important.

So I want to encourage the team, don't I know,

the serving team. They're doing their best, especially in XTV

started from this morning. Jess who was on XTV, I

think she lost a few years of her life trying

to figure it out. Some cables were taken. I I

that was what I was made to understand to be

used in different places. So it sort of, yeah, mess

things up a little bit, but it's okay, we're still here.

I pray we are able to hear God's word, Worship

God and go out of this place saying that great God,

saying that I worship a great God. Amen. Okay, Andy

of a celebration is coming up. We are all very

very excited. Of course, as a church, the final weekend,

the last weekend of February is when we celebrate our anniversary,

and this year, of course it's even small special because

it's twenty five years. We are twenty five years as

a church from Tree to where we are today, in

multiple locations in different countries. Every one of you a

part of this church and we want to say thank

you so much for being a part of this church.

We are going to be celebrating our twenty fifth anniversary

on the Sunday, which is again twenty third of February.

It's our anniversary Sunday. This year is a little bit

different because we want to have a meal together with everyone,

and that's why we are selling the passes. So the

past will give you a place to sit, it will

give you a chance to participate in the blessed draw,

and it will also be a simple meal that we

will be sharing together. We love to fellowship over a meal.

We do it in all our church plans. After service, well,

we try our best. I know some of us we're like,

I just want to go home. I want to go

off a bit earlier. For this Sunday on the twenty

third of February. I want to encourage all of us

just stay on. Whether you like the food, whether you

don't like the food, stay on. You can take the

food eventually and bless someone else with it. But we

want to just invite all of you to stay on

as partners of the church because we're going to celebrate

God's goodness together. Amen. Of course, the Saturday before, on

the twenty first, twenty second, is our ex Partner's Conference

happening also in Putrajia International Convention Center, and all our

welcome to sign up that one. The registration will be

done mainly through our homes and so you will get

the sign ups through the homes. Homes is happening this week.

Homes is our small groups that we meet. Some people

call it cell groups, some people call it care groups,

different groups. Okay, so we call it homes. Here in

ex Church we'll be meeting. There's going to be a

chance for you to sign up for our Partner's Conference

happening on the Saturday is a full day of conference

with speakers, workshops happening. So we want to encourage again

all of you are part of X come. We want

to invite you to come for the Partner's conference as well. Amen. Okay,

did I miss anything out? Again? Once again, it's good

to be home. I prepared a message actually sort of

like a New Year's message because I was away. I

think this was probably one of the first few years

that I've been away from the country during the new year.

And so yeah, I've shared with some of you all

that I brought my mom back to China, her home,

her hometown. My mom is actually born in Hainan Island

in China, so she spent a good six years of

her life as a child in Heinan, and she still remembers,

actually until today, she told me she can still remember

the petty fields in front of the house. So we

got a chance to go back visit relatives. She's got

two more uncles, her dad's younger brothers, who are alive

with their families, and so it was like a big homecoming.

She visited it once when she retired, that was about

twenty years ago. That was her first time, and then

this time around, it was my mom, our whole family,

and also my mom's younger brother has never been before,

so it was like a big family affair and they

were so excited. The family over there is so excited.

I don't know how many of us, So I was

telling my kids, not a lot of young people from

your generation can actually say that I've got relatives in China.

I can actually walk into the house that my grandma

was born. It's not and we actually walked into the house.

In fact, we walked into the room where my mom

was born. The house is still standing today. It's in

uh smaller town city uh in Heinan called one Chug

where you get the chicken. Okay, they're famous for their

chicken okay, Heinani chicken rice has a root to it

and it comes from uh this region where apparently they

feed the chickens with a lot of coconutsu And I

kick you not. It's the best chicken I've eaten, but

you have to wrestle with it because it's tough. So

it's like it's like kampung chicken on steroids. That's that's

the only way I can. I can, I can think

of it. So it's like big free range kampung chicken.

We have something called kampung chicken basically our our our

village chickens that runs around freely and usually eating it

is like eating a stone because the meat is a

bit tough. For they exercise a lot. Okay, it's chickens

that exercise a lot. This chicken is fat, Okay, it's

a big fat chicken. But the meat is tough. It's

really tough. I think they these are the Jim chickens

I call it. I don't know how else to describe it,

but it is really great. And then we had so

much food, so much food. It's like every course, every meal.

Sometimes it's like thirteen fourteen dishes. World of food, and

all of it really is something that's very unfamiliar to me.

Sometimes we think, oh, henis cuisine. Then we're taking oh

heinan copitiamla. You know, it's like eating in any shop here.

You know, you can allder your tasty pain, your your eggs,

your semi cook eggs, your softball eggs, and your pop jobs.

And actually what happened is a lot of the hyenas

when they came over to Malaysia many years ago, they

ended up as cooks. But they ended up as cooks

in the British Army. My grandfather was actually one of

them that cooked for the British Army. That means they

were cooking in the barracks for the British. I mean

that's why a lot of hyenas food in Malaysia. You

always see hahp sauce, you always see wooster sauce, lea

and parents. That's one of the ingredients that they use.

But that is not original traditional hyenis cooking. That is

some hybrid with British cuisine, which I have to say,

I live in the UK for one year and the

Brits have the lousiest food, honestly, the most boring stuff,

the most boring anyone will be able to that. You

go to the UK, what you eat, fish and chips,

bangers and mesh. I don't know what jelly eels I

thinks that you like. It's like they they find their

own food. But anyway, so the hinane food that we

have in Malaysia is is infused with a lot of

British way of cooking pop chops, chicken chops, that kind

of stuff. Over there, it tastes completely foreign actually for me.

So it was it was interesting, very interesting. Uh good

taste and I love it. It tastes like home cook it

tastes it tastes a little bit of what my grandfather

used to prepare as well. And so yeah, we're back,

and so I prepare a message actually for New Years.

Uh it's still going to be a New Year's message

to a certain extent, I'm going to be teaching preaching

from Jeremiah as the first message of the year. And

it's not really it's not one of those books that

people get excited or excited about, Oh, let's learn from Jeremiah.

But and there's a reason why that is. And now

i'll explain it. I'll give you a little bit of context.

But there's a lot of truth that I believe you

can get and clean from the book of Jeremiah. So

Jeremiah is, of course one of the key figures in

the Old Testament, and he is one of the best

known prophets. That's why a lot of people like to

name the children Jeremiah's school name. Right, Jeremiah can become Jerry,

you can become Jeremy. But his book is not one

of the most popular ones. And one of the reasons

why people dislike Jeremiah is that it's one of the

most depressing part of the Bibles. If you read it,

it's depressing. It's like, Ah, it's very strong, but it's

always like it's bad news. It's full of bad news.

And it's full of bad news for Judah actually, which

is where the place the area where Jeremiah was actually

prophets eying at Uh. And Jeremiah is always sharing the

pain that he felt at what was happening to the

nation and also the pain in which he was going

through in his own ministry. And I've read about preachers

preaching from the Book of Jeremiah identifying with it so much,

and they are in tears as they are preaching. Uh,

you know, from the Book of Jeremiah, because really it's

it's it's one which is is deep. Uh. You know,

Jeremiah wrote another book. You don't know what it's called.

It's called Lamentations. I mean, if you name a book

from the word complain, what else do you think you

do you expect to get? But that is the truth.

It was not all nice, rosy and hunky dory. Uh,

it's it's really the truth, honest heart hitting things which

are real. And so that is Prophet Jeremiah. He reveals

his heart and his inner struggles more than any other prophets.

But there is also a divine interest because it is

packed with information about God. So if you take your

time and study the Book of Jeremiah, of course, study

every word every book in the Bible. But if you

study Jeremiah's seriously, you will understand God better really, because

you will find God in all parts of it. Jeremiah.

Of course, again some context. His birth was in the

reign of Manasse. Of Manasse before sounds like a cool name,

not a cool guy. He was an evil king actually,

and most likely Manase was the one who sought is

that the right word? Sowt Isaiah into two? He put

Isaiah into a tree trunk, a hollow tree trunk, and

decided to cut him into half. Of course, there is

no biblical reference to that, except in Hebrews chapter eleven,

where is there's some reference made to those who have

gone before us, some of them suffered, saw them sown

into two. Most of most scholars believe that that he's

talking about Isaiah put into a hollow tree trunk son

into two. And the king that did that to him

Mana say so bad boy. Okay, Mana say not a

good guy. But the birth of Jeremiah was during Manassays rain.

In fact, there were two baby boys born of significance

during Manassays Rain. The other one is Josiah, you know,

Josiah King. Josiah King. Josiah became king when he was

how old, try try eight years old. I'm just thinking no,

Amma and Lizzie. In fact, I think about them thinking

about myself. When I was eight years old, I was

still trying to figure out how many fingers I have

on my hands. But Josiah became king during that time,

and Manasse was eventually replaced by another wicked king, and

his name is Aimon, who lasted a few years before

Josiah found himself on the throne at the tender age

of eight. And it was during Josiah's reign, Okay, I'm

just giving you a little bit of context and understanding.

It was during Josiah's reign something happened, Okay, So basically

they found the Book of Deuteronomy in some old, dusty

cupboard somewhere in the temple. You can read that account

in Two Kings, chapter twenty two. And Josiah when he

discovered the Book of Deeronomy, he was of course horrified

to read that the curses of God were on the

land and on the people because the laws were there.

God has given them all the instructions that they need,

but all of them were like, yeah, I don't have

to follow it. And so when Josiah found the Book

of Deuteronomy, he is like, O MG, we really need

to do something, and so he tried very hard to

reform the people as a king. So you will read

those accounts in Two Kings. Josiah was a good king.

He did his level best. Of course, the interesting thing is,

although Jeremiah was one of Josiah's contemporaries, Jeremiah was silent

about Josiah's real forms. Jeremiah doesn't talk about Josiah in

the Book of Uh in his book, and of course

the Book of Kings also does not mention Uh Jeremiah.

In that sense, it's almost as if Jeremiah realized that

a reform ordered by the king did not change people's hearts.

While it looked good outwardly, the situation has not changed.

And eventually we will read the account that Josiah's ill

advised battle with the Egyptians led to his death and

all the problems that was existing remain. And so Josiah's

death led to a succession of evil and weak kings.

So after Josiah, it was all a lot of bad boys, okay.

And it was during the reign of the last four

of these bad kings that Jeremiah did the bulk of

his work, which is one reason why he is seen

as being very negative sometimes when I mean you are

you are The consecutive reigns of kings were all evil kings.

And what do you expect a prophet to come and

share when in governance the sovereign is evil? And you know,

sometimes he expresses the hopeless feeling. He's almost like he's saying, ah, man,

it's too late, It's too late. But yet at the

same time, in Jeremiah's pitching and prophecy, you always find

that there is a tiny home that eve they repent.

God can change the situation. So reading Jeremiah is like

reading this, is it too late or is there a

tiny home? It's almost like there's that dichotomy that is ongoing.

Is it going to be too late? Is there a

tiny home? And this tension can actually be seen. You

can actually see this tension if you read Jeremiah. One

of the most famous chapters in the Book of Jeremiah

is Chapter eighteen of Jeremiah is the one that God

tells Jeremiah to go go and visit the Potter's house.

Remember that the Potter's house okay, where the potter is

making vessels with the clay in his hands, and many

assumed that the message concerns God's ability to choose to

do whatever he wants with us. Sometimes we think that

that is the message because songs have been written. No, Lord,

you are the potter, I'm the clay. Come what may

do whatever you want with me, and that is the

end of it. But this is not the lesson that

Jeremiah picked up. He saw the potter's intention to make

a beautiful vase, but because the clay will not run

and flow in the potter's hands, he eventually put it

into a lump, through it on the wheel and made

a take crude pot That's the story. That's what he saw,

and that's what he witnessed. Of course, God asked Jeremiah

if he had learned the lesson, who decided what the

clay would become? And the answer is that the lay

decided because it wouldn't run with the potter's original intention.

So the message was that God wanted to make the

clay into a beautiful shape, but if the clay would

not respond, he would make an ugly shape instead. So,

in the context of Jeremiah's times, God was saying that

even at this late stage, his people could repent and

change and become the beautiful vessel that God intends for them.

That is what the scripture is essentially saying. So there

is a dynamic relationship between God and the people in

the Bible. God is not dealing with puppets. Sometimes we

think our life we are just puppets. You know, there's

there's a master puppetyal which is doing everything No, deciding

our future, no, and decring everything. No. He wants a

respond from us, and he will make us what he

wants us to be if we cooperate. So there is

free will on your end as well. And the parable

of the potter had a further lesson. You see, the

ugly clay pot was eventually baked, right, that's what they

do with clay. Once you mold it, you shape it,

then you bake it. And it became so hard that

you couldn't change after that, And then Jeremiah what they

had to do. He had to take the hard pot

and basically throw it into the value where rubbish is thrown.

That is essentially what he's saying, Okay, I'm not making

this damp read the scriptures if you have the time.

Jeremiah chapter eighteen, which is not where I'm going to

be preaching from today, but enough for us to get

an understanding. And God is saying that if we hadden

our hearts, we will reach a point where we cannot

change into a beautiful state. Sometimes we think that we

have all the time in the world, and so God

can bring us to a place where there's no turning

back now. And I pray that again, we are people

of knowledge, we are people in the know. God prefers

our lives to be beautiful and that we will respond

to him and he will make it so. He will

make it so, but we must respond to him. So

in a nutshell, this was Jeremiah's prophetic message to the

people of Judah. Jeremiah was young when he started his ministry,

probably about seventeen, and he was called into this big ministry,

this big task, this big office that he had to feel,

the prophetic ministry. And he was very scared, very nervous,

and God had to reassure him. And God said that

I will fortify you, that is the word that is used.

I will forty five you so that whatever hostile looks

that you get, whatever hostile commands that you get, whatever

hostility that you get, you will not be intimidated by

the people around you because the mess sish that you

will carry ain't going to be a very nice, pretty message.

So his life as a prophet was tough. No, he

had to move to Jerusalem. Then he had to move

away because his family was going to try to kill him.

And then for forty years. No, his career ran for

about forty years. He was alongside prophets like haberkerk, Zephaniah

Ez he killed Daniel, and so he was right in

the take of things, right in all the political turmoil

that was happening. But you know what, he spoke the

truth and until today it is still the truth that

sets people free. Amen. Okay, Now, let's look at a

portion of scripture from Jeremiah that I want us to

see and highlight our attention to Jeremiah Chapter twenty six.

Everyone see Amy, Okay, then one introduction in me. Okay, Okay,

I'm going to read the whole chapter twenty six. But

there is a reason why the introduction is as such,

because it's all tight whether I want us to be

able to see and so it says this Jeremiah twenty six,

verse one. This message came to Jeremiah from the Lord

early in the reign of Jehoiah Kim, son of Josiah,

King of Judah. This is what the Lord says. Stand

in the courtyard in front of the Temple of the Lord,

and make an announcement to the people who have come

there to worship from all over Judah. Give them my

entire message. See this is what the Lord is saying.

Give them my entire message, include every word. Perhaps they

will listen and turn from their evil ways, then I

will change my mind about the disaster I am ready

to pour out on them because of their sins. Say

to them, this is what the Lord says. If you

will not listen to me and obey my word I

have given you, And if you will not listen to

my servants, the prophets, for I send them again and

again to warn you, but you will not listen to them,

then I will destroy this temple as I destroyed Shiloh,

the place where the tabernacle was located. And I will

make Jerusalem an object of cursing in every nation on earth.

The priests, the prophets, and all The people listened to

Jeremiah as he spoke in front of the Lord's temple.

But when Jeremiah had finished his message saying everything the

Lord had told him to say, the priests and the

prophets and all the people at the temple mobbed him.

Kill him. They shouted, what right do you have to

prophesy in the Lord's name that this temple will be

destroyed like Shiloh? What do you mean saying that Jerusalem

will be destroyed and left with no inhabitants? And all

the people threatened him as he stood in front of

the temple. When the officials of Judah heard what was happening,

they rushed over from the palace and sat down at

the new gate of the temple to hold court. The

priests and prophets presented their accusations to the officials and

the people. This man should die. They say, you have

heard with your own ears what a traitor he is,

for he has prophesied against this city. Then Jeremiah spoke

to the officials and the people in his own defense.

The Lord sent me to prophesy against this temple and

this city, he said, The Lord gave me every word

that I have spoken But if you stop your sinning

and begin to obey the Lord your God, he will

change his mind about this disaster that he has announced

against you. As for me, I am in your hands.

Do with me as you think best. But if you

kill me, rest assured that you will be killing an

innocent man. The responsibility for such a deed will lie

on you, on this city, and on every person living

in it. For it is absolutely true that the Lord

sent me to speak every word you have heard. Then

the officials and the people say to the priests and prophets,

this man does not deserve the death sentence, for he

has spoken to us in the name of the Lord,

our God. Then some of the wise old men stood

and spoke to all the people assembled there. They said,

remember when Micah of Moreshev prophesied during the reign of

King Hezekiah of Judah. He told the people of Judah,

this is what the Lord of Heaven's armies say. Mount

Zion will be plowed like an open field. Jerusalem will

be reduced to ruins. A ticket will grow on the

heights where the temple now stands. But the King Hezekiah

and the people kill him for saying this no, they

turned from their sins and worshiped the Lord. They begged

him for mercy. Then the Lord changed his mind about

the terrible disaster he had pronounced against them, So we

are about to do ourselves great harm. At this time, Uriah,

son of Shemaiah from Kiri Jerim, was also prophesying for

the Lord, and he predicted the same terrible disaster against

the city and nation as Jeremiah did. When King Jehoiakim

and the army officers and officials heard what he was saying,

the King send someone to kill him. But Uriah heard

about the plan and escape in fear to Egypt. Then

King Jehoiakim san Elnadan son of Akbor to Egypt along

with several other men to capture Euriah. They took him

prisoner and brought him back to King Jehoiah. King. The

King then killed Uriah with a sword and had him

buried in an unmarked grave. Nevertheless, are he come? Son

of Cheferon stood up for Jeremiah and persuaded the court

not to turn him over to the mob to be killed.

The Lord blessed reading of his words. I've just entitled

the message simply as from hearing to heeding. We do

a lot hearing in our lives, but the question we

have to ask ourselves is are we hard in hearing?

Because to heat, you got to be humble enough. To

heat is to do, basically, not just to hear. Okay,

So let's start okay again. It's a new Year's message.

Have that in mind. Let's start the year with these questions.

Are there second chances in life? And of course, as believers,

we would like to say yes, that's what the new

year does to us. Every time the new year comes,

we're like, oh man, last year's resolutions, palm, let's forget

about it. Let's make some new resolutions and let's just

resolve to be better than what we were back then.

No problem, And that is what the new year does,

because it's a great reminder that let's start afresh. And

thank God, he is such a patient God, he's patient

with us. He's been patient with us for a long

time coming. But we also need to be reminded of

this that there will come a day when he will

eventually say that it is too late to hear, too

late to listen, and it will come for some of

us before the day we die. Right, of course, for

all of us. It will come on the day that

we die, because that's when we can listen normal. That's

the reality of it, and that's the way God will say,

I can't speak to you anymore. And it's a lesson

that we need to know. Are we listening? Are we hearing?

That is the lesson that I want us to learn

today because the team is going to be on day hearing, listening.

And so the Book of Jeremiah, in chapter twenty six,

the year is approximately six zero nine BC. Okay, history

lesson six zero nine BC. And there was a new

king on the throne. Okay, we mentioned his name just now,

Jejoya Kim. Okay, I don't know what I'm pronouncing correctly,

but you know what I'm referring to. And when you

get a change, well technically, if you get a change

of a new prime minister, a new president, there is

always hope that there is going to be a change

of direction. Hey, we're all looking forward to changes, right

and so, uh, you know, new person comes into power,

he or she is not set in their ways yet.

And so Jeremiah at the beginning of the reign of

King Johoya Kim is going to speak and see if

the nation will now listen, because this is an opportunity,

and that's what usually happens. And he chose his time

and his place carefully. He knew how to get his

message across to the people. Of course, we know the

Lord guided him as well. And you know, Jeremiah was

a good mass communicator. Okay, I think he study mass com,

study mass com. He chose the right place, the right situation.

What was happening. There was actually a national festival that

was ongoing, and so he was led the Lord led

him to the temple where the national festival was ongoing,

and everyone, the whole nation is gathered in one place

and everybody was talking. So it's the most public setting

that you can think of. And he was using the

best media of those days, which was of course the

media of your own voice, to prophesy and to share

and to bring this message across. But you got to

remember this, this is a man who knows that he's

bringing a message to the people who have been far

away from God that means they have turned away from God.

And that is essentially him putting himself in great risk actually,

because he knows this message ain't going to be your

usual message that everyone wants to hear and everyone's going

to be happy to hear. And Jeremiah was a man

of few words. Actually, if you study his character, I

wouldn't say he's a shy person, but he was someone

who lacked confidence. That's why the Lord in the Jeremiah

Chapter one had to fortify him, had to strengthen him,

because he felt that I can't do this, but his

ministry is crazy. I mean, that's why I say, if

you study Jeremiah, you realize what he had to go through.

And not being such a man of few words, he

did not hold back any words here because the Lord said,

you must speak every single word, don't leave anything out,

because God also knows no. When the pressure is on,

sometimes we tend to live things out in our message

because it's tress if I say something that people don't

like to hear, and so maybe I leave this by,

I leave this by. The Lord had to remind Jeremiah,

make sure you spill the beans, and you spill it

all out as it is. It's going to be important.

And so Jeremiah told them before you entered the land,

you received the law of God. That was the way

to live the way to conduct national affairs, the principles

of happiness and holiness. Everything was encompassed in God's laws,

which the people knew about. And ever since they had

got into the land, they had profit send time and

time again to remind them of the law, and not

just to remind them of the law, to remind them

to keep the law. So they can't be pleading ignorance.

They can I say, huh bullah, I don't know Upper two.

What is the law? They can't please? Actually, the only

thing they can admit to is disobedience. They were not ignorant.

They knew how they ought to have lived. It's just

that they had not heeded the law. Neither have they

heard or listen to what the prophets had to say.

But and I thank God for bats Okay, because Jeremiah

did introduce a bad b u t say it's Jeremiah,

and but always of course, usually but brings about opposite.

If it's something bad, then but becomes good.

Live.

If it's something good, then you have a butt. Usually

becomes something bad. But this is something bad. But there

is good news and appeal based on God's mercy. And

he says, but and if hallelujah. Thank God for if

statements as well. And that means that the statement that

Jeremiah issued to the people was conditional. It's a conditional statement.

If with this new king you will listen, then God

will repent. That's why he said, if with this new

king you will all listen, then God will repent. I

wonder if you realize that we have in our hands

the power to make God repent. Have you ever thought that?

Because I'm not making this up, It's in the scriptures.

You know, we say prayer changes things. Well, it also

changes people, But did you ever realize that prayer changes God.

It is surprising, quite a surprising statement. But Moses actually

succeeded in changing God's mind by prayer. The account of

it is in Exodus chapter thirty two. You can read

of it there and here we have a very definite

condition attached. It says this, if you will listen, if

you will amend your ways and your doings, if you

will put things right, then God will repent. Basically, that

word repent can also be translated to he will change

his mind, the nalty users that change his mind, and

he will not bring the national disaster upon you. That

is on the way. Wow. And this is the very

import message and the teaching that I want us to

draw and dig deep into. Notice this that firstly it

was a reminder of the past. Why was it the

reminder of the past. Because Jeremiah was saying that you

had the law and you had the prophets that God

has sent to you persistently. That's a reminder of the past.

Notice it also contains a warning for the future, to

which we will come to in a moment as to

what the national disaster will be if they don't listen.

And then, of course this is where Jeremiah is primarily

concerned with the present and their response at that moment.

So I believe it is so very important for us

to be aware of the past, the present, and the future,

and things will not just remain as white noise. Because

a lot of things become white noise in our life.

Sometimes we couldn't care less, Like whatever whatever that's being

said goes out one year, comes out the other year.

There's no awareness, there's no awareness of what has happened,

there's no awareness of what is to come, there's no

awareness of where we are today. We sometimes leave this

case Sarah Sarah life. Anything goes, whatever happens, happens. Things

are not just all settled and sealed. I don't believe

in that is that is a philosophical thinking called fatalism.

If we think that everything is predetermined and inevitable whatever,

And there are religions that teach that as well. Everything

is corent ut is settled, is inevitable. It cannot be changed,

cannot be altered. I don't believe in a God like that.

I believe in a God who says, if my people

will repent, then I will change my mind. That is

a cooperative relationship. It doesn't mean that there is inconsistency

in God because some people like, wh why God so

fickal when one minute like that, one minute after that

he say he can change his mind. No, he always

acts consistently with his character, which is righteousness, which means

that if people will not listen, he must punish them.

God is a God who is righteous and just. But

it also means that if they will listen, he can

change his mind and not punish them. He has not

changed his character one little bit. And it is such

a lovely thing to have a God who never changes

his character. Amen, that's why today we can still testify

and say that God is the same yesterday, today, and

forever more. He is not a fickle God, even though

some people like to claim that, Ah, why why Sally,

he can change his mind. No, it's not that he's

consistent to his character. Amen. And so we have a

God who will change his mind if we repent, and

so we thank God for that. If in that statement, hallelujah.

The warning about the future which Jeremiah added is this,

if you do not listen, then this house basically he

was making reference to the temple, and this city will

be ruined or strong, very strong words. But Jeremiah had

the gods to tell them that God will not hesitate

to destroy his own house and his own city if

they did not listen to him. In other words, eh,

think of this. The strength of a city does not

lie in the religious building, but in its character. That

is what God is essentially saying. The strength the sign

of the presence of God is not a religious building,

nor the fact that God has founded the city. It

is the present relationship of the people who live within

it to the God who first started it. That is

the message. It's not a structure it is the personal

relationship between the people and God, and so that was

what Jeremiah was trying to get it. But to the

jew the only thing they heard was, whoa, this is

secretly just talk. He's saying that the temple is going

to be destroyed. And they were up in arms, and

they were so unhappy. And of course the result of

that was they immediately planned to kill him. And that's

why the rest of the chapter had eight times the

word death recorded it, and all eight times was making

reference to Jeremiah, because in their minds, this guy has

got to go. But they twisted what he had said

so much that they thought that the case against him

was deserving of capital punishment, not even corporal punishment, no

capital punishment, deserving of his life being taken. And I

want you to notice also that it was the priests

and the prophets, the religious people who did it to Jeremiah.

They then tried to get the authorities and the officials

to agree to the death sentence. This did not remind

you of someone else, because we know many years later

human nature doesn't change. And the religious authorities were so

angry at this threat to their security. These men who

challenged their city, challenged their temple, challenged their livelihood. That

they all ganged up against him, against him, they reported

him to the officials. They all alleged that Jeremiah said

this in the name of the Lord, this temple would

be ruined and this city will be ruined. Now, that

was not what Jeremiah said, was it? Because he had

said if they conveniently left out the eve part. And

they reported that he was preaching something that was absolute

when it was not. He preached something that was conditional.

And so they say, this man has predicted that certainly

this house in the city will fall. Actually he had

said nothing like that. He said, if you a man

your ways, you can't keep it. They didn't put their

condition in there. And do you know why, because Jeremiah

hadn't been prophesying against the temple of the city, but

he had been prophesying against the people in it. It's

always people. They said he had been preaching against the places.

That's what they're claiming. No, or see, he's claiming that

the place he's talking about, the place, he's talking about

the physical structure he's not. He is talking about the people.

Is subtle, but it is the truth. Do you remember

when they put Jesus on trial, what did they say

about him? They said he would pull down their temple

in three days, same thing. They will focused and they

were heart pressed on the fact that it was a

place that is being threatened and he was going to

attack the place. Where else what Jesus was talking about,

And Jesus kept on talking about the Pharisees. He was

talking about the people, not a place. And so sometimes

we get all mixed up between holy people and holy places.

And they twisted Jeremiah's words and they thought they had

a good case. And so Jeremiah found himself where in

court and for his own defense, he was given no lawyer,

just like Jesus also was not given any defense. And

so Jeremiah spoke, and he's not concerned about his safety.

You realize as you read Jeremiah's like, bringing on man,

I'm just speaking the truth. And here's a man who

is willing to stand in court and say you can

do to me whatever floats your boat. But he reminded

them of two things. And he said, firstly that what

he actually said is a man your ways and your doings,

because he was prophesying about people, not a place. And

then secondly, he reminds them that if they put him

to death, they will become murderous because he came to

them in truth, in the name of the Lord. Just

two things he said, and he is quite bold. Actually,

I really take my hands off to him, because if

you want me to testify that God answers prayers and

if Jeremiah's prayers, God please strengthen me. What kind of

coward has the courage to do that? The Lord fortified him,

and God said, when he called this seventeen year old,

I will make you into a fortress. I will fortify

you here. Indeed was a fortress standing in front of

everyone who was against him, and he said, you do

to me what you want to do. But I have

said what I want to say to you, and I'm

still saying that there is a chance. And so the authorities,

the officials, they realized and they gave the final verdict

because they realize, Hey, this guy did nothing wrong to

deserve Doesn't that remind you of someone as well, Jesus.

How history repeats itself, and Jeremiah and Jesus went through

the same thing with this difference. And I'll tell you

what the difference is it's quite obvious Jeremiah was released.

He was released because we read on this is only

chapter twenty six and some more chapters why. And he

was released because there was certain group of older people

who had good long memories. Hallelujah, praise God for good

long memories. And the elders of the land that stood

up for him, the elders of the Lord, they are

the ones that do. And what did they say? They say, remember,

remember do you read that you're not real? They say,

remember there was some years ago another prophet by the

name of Micah. And they say, remember Micah because he

said the same things. And you know perfectly well that

we deserve that. And Jerusalem wouldn't be here today if

Micah hadn't spoken to us back then and warned us,

because they he the whatever they heard the advice. Remember

that God changed his mind and he didn't send the

disaster like how Micah did with us a long time ago.

So they stood up for Jeremiah, and they were saying

that he remember. They also reminded the people of another thing,

because not only was there Micah for them to remember,

there was also another prophet by the name of Urrayah.

This is Jeremiah's contemporary, staying and living the same time

as Jeremiah. Of course, he was also prophesying the truth.

His eventual outcome was a little bit less fortunate in

that sense, because you know, he was fearful. He realized

the king was after him. He ran away. The king

didn't give up. He sent for an extradition order to

get him out of Egypt, and brought him back to

the land, and then they killed him. They slaughtered him,

threw him into the Kidron Valley. And so the elders

in the land they are saying, are you also going

to do that to Jeremiah? Putting an innocent man to death?

That was what they stood up and fought for. And

we thank God that the elder spoke. Because of that,

Jeremiah was safe, especially one particular elder, his name is Ahikam.

He spoke on behalf, And the last sentence in the

chapter tells us that because of this elder, the authorities

release Jeremiah, and the priests and the prophets lost their

case and Jeremiah was free to go on preaching and prophesying. Hallelujah.

Sounds like a happy ending, right Okay, let's continue. We're

almost there. Another thing that I just want us to

take note of this from chapter twenty six, is this.

You notice how people, the people is actually one group. No,

because you got prophets and the religious authorities, then you

got the officials the government, then you have the people.

The people are there. Reading carefully, you will see the

people and people are the ones all shifting sides. You

see the religious authority they stood by I mean, they

weren't happy with the final decision, but they they were

against Jeremiah from the start. They were against Jeremiah and

the authorities from the start. They were like, I don't

think this guy ever did anything wrong. The people were

siding with the religious authorities at the start, and then

towards the end they decided with the officials because they're like,

he actually, yeah, he didn't do anything wrong. These players

are making sense, so can we just let him go?

How fickle people are because we switch from one bandwagon

to another, How easily they are sweet and that's why

we read centuries later. One moment is Hosenna, Hosenna in

the highest and then the next moment is one crucify him,

crucify him. People are always fickle, and we cannot remain fickle.

The crowd shifts in this chapter, and when he realizes

what will happen, they just get in. Which way would

the crowd go in the near future? Do you think

they will stay with the authorities or will they side

with the prophets and the priests? And we know, actually,

if you read on, this story has actually a more

tragic ending because now the year four years later is

six zero five busy, and Jeremiah reveals that their support

will eventually go back to the religious authorities and they

will not listen. And then from then on, when Jeremiah

was prophesying, no longer was there. If it no longer okay,

if you repent, everything is going to be okay. Now

he says, you're out of eaves. There's no more you

can steal a man your ways, because it was now

too late to do that, and we read it in Geremany.

Eventually the city was destroy the temple was destroyed. And

so I pray, you know, how do we move from

hearing to heating? I know, like I said, it sounds

like a strong message, but there is something in which

we can learn from this portion of scripture. I'm going

to invite the band. I'm almost done. How do we

move from hearing to heating? And you know I told

us to take note just now. There's something about the past, present,

and future that is so important for us to have

that awareness. We need to learn from the past. We

cannot be ignorant. We cannot say I didn't know better.

We can't. We need to live in the present and

we need to anticipate the future. We are Christians, we

are believers, and as believers, what we have is this,

we are enlightened people because God's word has enlightened us.

Look what God has done in the past, and we

have been one of what He will do in the future.

But the present is the moment when you can change

the future. How do we move from just hearing and

listening to heeding is to realize that in the present

is where you can change the future. You can't change

the past, but you can change the present. And if

you can change the present, you can alter the future.

And that is the glorious freedom in which we live in.

Do you'll realize that that today, as believers in Christ Jesus,

we are bless because once upon a time we had

only a fatalist ending, a fatal ending. Actually that's the truth.

Before Jesus came into my heart, the ending was it

was a fatal ending. There was only one ending. It

was an inevitable ending. But once Jesus came into my heart,

and once grace was offered, what we don't deserve, we

get today we have the opportunity to make the right choice.

Back then, what there was no opportunity to even make

any choices, because it was already said. That is why

I believe as Christians, as believers, we don't need to

subscribe to the fatalistic kind of way of life. Because today,

if you stand here and lif and you say that

I have Jesus in my heart, you are essentially saying Lord,

thank you right now for the chance to make the

right choice. He has given us that chance and the opportunity.

And that is something in which we can celebrate as believers.

But we can only know that when we know our past,

when we are aware of our present, and we are

privy to what the future holds. It's so important, you know,

I initially intended and I thought of this as a

message for the first week of the month, on the

of the new year where we are particking communion together

because for me, communion is a very very powerful thing

for us to do. Sometimes we think the Holy Communion

I just you know, I just take it, you know,

once a week, maybe some churches every week. It's a routine,

is no, But do you know that communion, the Holy

Communion is basically present participation in preparing for the future

by remembering the past. Does that make sense? I'll say

that again. Communion is present participation because you are doing

it now in preparing for the future by remembering the past.

That's why it says, remember me, do this in remembrance

of me. That is the purpose of the Lord's Supper

is to help us move from just hearing to heating

because we are doing it consciously. We are saying that Lord,

I am participating. That's why I always teach that communion

is not just symbolic, it's active. We are actively participating.

We're saying, Lord, I remember what you have done for me,

because you also for me that now I live in

the New Covenant, and the New Covenant promises me that

I'm safe. And because I'm safe, I have a choice

to make today. All of us have a choice to

make and we can either choose to do what is

right or we can choose to do what is wrong.

Do we realize that we are in an amazing dynamic

relationship with our law. Are we able to cooperate? Because

at the end of the day, the Lord does not

just want us to be hearers of his word. He

wants us to be doers of his word. Amen. Can

I encourage you church as you start the new year.

It's a new stud it's a new beginning. But this

is our calling and our purpose really to not just

know the Word, but to live out the way. I

want to encourage all of us to be able to

do that, start afresh, because we are still alive and

we have breath in our lives right now, and that

means that we have that opportunity to choose God. Amen,

let's stand and let's respond in him. When I asked

Aaron and the worship band to lead us, and I

pray that you start this year in the Lord. Most importantly,

doesn't matter how far you have wandered, doesn't matter how

twenty twenty four was not the greatest. But again, while

circumstances in life is inevitable, we do not need to

be circumstantial Christians, We do not need to allow circumstances

to dictate and determine how we live our lives and

how our lives should be. I believe we are overcome

us in Christ Jesus. And if you believe in me,

then pray and ask the Lord to feel you, because

I believe the spirit of God is going to fill

his people. He is a wonderful, wonderful God who is

mighty to save. And if he who has begun a

good work in our lives, I believe he will be

faithful to see it come to completion in accordance to

His plan and purpose. We love Jeremiah because of chapter

twenty nine, verse eleven. It always says is for God

has a good plan for all of us. I believe

that He has a good plan. But that doesn't mean

that the plan will just go and operate like a robot. No,

the plan involves how we respond to His plan, and

so let us be responsive believers today. Amen. Hallelujah, Aaron,

will you lead us?

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

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this week is going to be a good week. I

hit for you, God bless