From Heading to Heeding | Elder Peng Hoe

You're listening to a message to go from acts church.

We hope this message will light up your day.

Sort of.

This is like reading Jeremiah because it's probably one of

the more depressing books in the Bible. And you know,

Jeremiah was a prophet to Judah, the Southern the two

Southern States, and really most of the things that come

out with his mouth is almost like bad news. One

it is bad news, that there's a reason for it.

And then through all these bad news, Jeremiah is also

sharing the pain that he's feeling, the pain that he's

going through, whatever that's happening in the nation, whatever that's

happening in his own personal ministry. He's sharing, and he's

sharing very openly. And that's why he not only wrote

the Book of Jeremiah. Do you know there's one more

book that he wrote. Who knows what that book is?

And you want to give you a shot. Jeremiah prophet

Jeremiah wrote two books. Actually it's called Lamentations. You think

about it, lamented to lament means to complain. He wrote

a book called Complain. So this guy is like the

complaint center you can think of. Yeah, sometimes I know

a lot of preachers who can preach from Jeremiah and

really over identify and cry because really they're feeling his

pain and his Yeah, it's just bearing the weight and

the burden of the people. And people kept on complaining,

kept on like like like really persecuting him. It was

so much struggle, and he reveals his heart. He reveals

his inner struggles more than any other prophets, especially to

his writing. But there is also a lot of him

referring to God. So it's not a book that is

devoid of divine interests. Is a book that is actually

filled with divine interests as well, because really, if you

study Jeremiah seriously, you will understand God much better, I

assure you.

And again some background.

Jeremiah's birth was actually in the reign during the reign

of King Manasse. Okay, sounds familiar. Manassa basically one of

the bad boys, bad boys, bad king, evil king, not

a very nice man.

Janna, do you do something your hair? You look a

bit different?

Okay, anyway, sorry, maybe you're the only one sitting in

the empty space was entrolled.

By your beauty.

Come back, come back okay, sorry, sorry, sorry, I digress,

I come back Okay. Jeremiah's birth during the reign of

King Manasse, going, but you do look a bit different.

I thought never min Uh.

And Manasi was he was the evil king the most

likely sought Isaiah into two.

Okay Uh.

In the Bible, it's not explicitly mentioned that Isaiah was

sort into two, but if you read Hebrews chapter eleven,

the story on Faith, the chapter on Faith, you actually

see his some uh.

Die and on into two.

A lot of people believed, through extra biblical references that

that person who was sorn into two was Isaiah, and

extra biblical reference who so points to the fact that

he was most likely King Manasse who put Isaiah into

an empty law and saw him into two. So we

know basically he's a bad boy and okay, not a

very nice person. And two baby boys of significance were

actually born during Manasse's reign. One was Josiah. Okay, King Josiah.

You remember King Josiah. We like King Josiah. He's a

nice guy. Uh sat on the throne when he was

remember how old actually he was a young kid, young boy.

He became king, and then of course Josiah and Jeremiah,

two of them contemporaries.

Actually Mannasse.

King Manasse was eventually replaced by another wicked king called

amon Amon, who lasted a few years before Josiah found

himself on the throne at the young age of eight

years old. And so when Josiah came and sat on

the throne, he was a young kid, young boy, and

he was during his reign that actually, somehow they discovered

the Book of Deuteronomy hidden somewhere in the deep recesses

of the temple. Actually, you read second Kings, you will

see their account. They discovered God's writings, the Book of Deuteronomy,

which we know Deuteronomy is talking. It's all about the

laws actually, and so they discover it, and then, to

Josiah's horror, he was reading it, and then he was

reading about the curses of God on the land and

on the people when they don't obey this book. And

he was like, he was terrified. He was like, oh,

my goodness, what have we been doing. This is God's

word and this is the laws, and we have been

neglecting it.

All this one.

And so what Josiah tried to do was he tried

to reform the people. He tried, he tried his level best,

but we all know he failed. And I told you.

The interesting thing is Jeremiah and Josiah were both contemporaries.

They were this thing at the same time, but you

don't see them talking about each other. Jeremiah is silent

about Josiah in his writings. Second Kings does not mention Jeremiah.

But for Jeremiah's side, it's almost like as though he

realized that a reform that is ordered by the king

does not change people's hearts.

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

And that's what I mean.

Just now know when I was talking, I mean, there's

the reason why I tell story and sometimes now I'm

saying that in China, no, you have all the laws,

you have everyone watching you, you try to behave yourself.

But is sometames his external reforms. You can put in

laws and you can put in everything, but deep down inside,

no change. And so Jeremiah realized all those reforms that

Josiah ordered, he tried. Josiah really did try. I mean,

we've got to give him some credit for what he did.

And that's why he is still known as one of

the better kings. We don't look at him we don't

read in second Kings and say that Josiah was a

bad king. He wasn't a bad king, but unfortunately he

was ill advised towards the end he went to bettle

with the Egyptians, led to his death, and that all

the problems still remain. And Josiah's death led to a

succession of evil and weak kings. And it was during

the reign of the last four of these bad kings

that succeeded Josiah that Jeremiah was called to prophesy, which

is one of the reasons why it is usually seen

his prophecies are usually seen as very negative. Why I mean,

you can't blame him, right, You are prophesying at a

time where naughtivelers are reigning and sitting on the throne.

And most times no he expresses the hopeless feeling of

it's too late. It's too late, you jokers, it's too late.

But then from time to time he will introduce but

there's a tiny home. There's a tiny home if you repent,

so you read Jeremiah, you will see that it's too late.

It's too late. But if you repent, God can still

change the situation. So you see always that tack of

all too late versus tiny hope, too late versus tiny hope.

That is the tension that can be seen in Jeremiah.

And you can actually see in one of the illustrations

in chapter eighteen of Jeremiah. How many of y'all read

before the Potter and the Clay. We love reading The

Potter and a Clay. It's not a parable, okay, it's

a story from Jeremiah. And basically, in chapter eighteen, God

tells him to go and visit the potter's house and

observe as he mixed vessels with clay using his hands,

and so it was like rombonga and sambia blaja and no,

God told Jeremiah, okay, go go visit the potter's house,

go and see and observe. And many people have assumed

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

whatever he wants. No, he's the potter. We are the

clay and we write songs. No, you are the potter,

I'm the clay. Basically, whatever you determine that is exactly

as it will come to pass. But that is not

the lesson that Jeremiah picked up because he saw the

potter's intention to make a beautiful vase. He saw that,

but because the clay will somehow not run and flow

in the potter's hands, eventually what the potter did was

he just made it into a big lump and threw

it back on the wheel, and instead of making a

beautiful vase, out came a nice, thick, big crude pot

That was what Jeremiah noticed. And God asked Jeremiah if

he had learned the lesson, who decided what the clay

would become? And the answer is that the clay decided

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

have to understand that. And 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. And 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 he had intended. There is still a chance.

That's what God is trying to get through. There is

a dynamic relationship between God and people in the Bible.

God is not dealing with puppets. Sometimes we think, oh,

you know, we're just all puppets. Everything is pretty determined, uh,

you know. But he wants a response from us that

will make us what he wants us to be if

we cooperate.

And so this whole.

Story of the pottery and blake clay actually has even

deeper lessons that we can learn from. You see, the

ugly clay pot was eventually baked, because that's what they do.

They shape it. Eventually they baked it and it became hot,

and once it becomes hot, can't change. And then Jeremiah

had to take this hard, ugly pot and break it

and throw the bisiness into the value of hindum. Value

of hindum is a translation in Hebrew. In the Old Testament.

You see the same translation in Greek. It's called Gahana,

which actually is a reference to Hell. No, sometimes, if

you think the Bible doesn't talk about her, it talks

about her. It talks about how if we continue to

remain hardened, there will come a point in time when

you are completely hardened and there is no way in

which things can be undone, and then that's it. So

God is saying that if we carry on hardening our

hearts we will reach a point no where we cannot

change into a beautiful state again, and that's when God

will break us. And God, of course prefers our life

to be beautiful.

If we will.

Respond to him, he will make it so. That is

the promise in the Bible. So in a nutshell, this

was Jeremiah's prophetic message to the people of Judah. Repen

and change your ways. That was what he was talking about.

There's the reason why I'm choosing to share all this

at the start of the year as well, because you

know Jeremiah was He was a young guy and when

he started his ministry about seventeen years of age, began

to preach, he was very scared, very nervous. You read

jeremih chapter one, you realize this is not a confident

young lad who were like, oh, I'm ready to take

on the world. No, he was nervous, but God had

to reassure him. In fact, the word that God uses

to real show him is God actually told him that

I will fortify you.

I will strengthen you.

That you reach a station no matter how hostile people

are towards you, you will not be intimidated by them.

And we know Jeremiah, of course, went through the most

one of the most hostile periods he was. Yeah, no

one liked it. Even his family tried to assassinate him.

You see that in Jeremiah chapter twelve. His friends chapter

tried to assassinate him. I think you see that in

Jeremi chapter eleven. And it was challenging for Jeremiah. His

forty year career ran alongside prophets like Habaco, zeph Andyah, Ezekil,

and Daniel. And it was right in the tick of

a politically tumultuous time for Israel as well. But you

know what, Jeremiah spoke the truth and it is still

the truth that sets people free until today.

Amen. Amen. So okay, that introduction. Let's go into the

message proper.

But I wanted us to get an overview and some

context and some understanding of Jeremiah, how he was writing,

why he wrote. And now let's look at chapter twenty six. Okay,

I'm going to read the whole portion of chapter twenty

six of Jeremiah, and then after that we will dissect

it a little bit.

Let's go.

This message came to Jeremiah from the Lord early in

the reign of Jehoiah Kim, son of Josiah. So currently

at Rain is one of the king of Judas is

Josiah's son Jehoiah Kim.

Bad boy. Okay, And this is what happens. This is

what the Lord says.

Stand in the courtyard in front of the temple of

the Lord. Of course, this message came to Jeremiah. So

the message is 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, 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 listen 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 errors, 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 began to obey the Lord your God,

he will change his mind about this disaster that he

has announce 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 said 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 Moorshev prophesied during the

reign of King Hezekiah of Judah. He told the people

of Judah, this is what the Lord of Heaven's armies said.

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 war ship 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, Euryah's son of Shemaiah from Kyria, 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 sent someone to kill him,

but Uriah heard about the plan and escaped in fear

to Egypt. Then King Jehoiakim sent Eleanad and son of

Akbar to Egypt along with several other men to capture Euriah.

They took him prisoner and brought him back to King Jehoiakim.

The king then killed Euriah with a sword and had

him buried in an unmarked grave. Nevertheless, Ahikam, son of Shepherd,

stood up for Jeremiah and persuaded the court not to

turn him over to the mob to be killed. The

Lord bless the reading of his word. Okay, hearing to heeding?

Are we hard in hearing? Or are we humble enough

to heed what we have heard? Let's start as we

start twenty twenty five new year, So fast right, twenty

twenty five. It's always good to ask ourselves this question.

Are there second chances in life? And the short answer

to this question is yes. And we thank God that

he is an ever patient God. He will patiently journey

with his people. But but there will come a day

when he will say that it is too late to listen.

That is the reality of it. I don't know that

they could come before our death, that they will definitely

come on the day we die, because when we die,

no longer can you respond to God anymore?

Too late really right?

And God is saying that no, now I can speak

to you, but there will come appointment I can't speak

to you anymore. And this is the lesson that we

need to learn, and it's a very important lesson in life. Basically,

we need to learn how to listen actively active listening

so important.

And then it's the main team.

The main team in chapter twenty six is listening to

God because the year that it was written is six

zero nine BC. Okay, so anything before Christ before yeah,

before Christ. It goes backwards on a take. So six

zero nine BC is the year there was a new

king on the throne, Jehoiah King is his name, Josiah's son.

And of course with anything new is a chance for

a new start. And so when you get the change

of prime minister, there's always hope, right science We're like, oh,

new prime minister, hallelujah, prais the Lord. There might be

a new change in direction. Let's see how we can

capitalize on it. Because people are usually not very set

in their ways. And so Jeremiah at the beginning of

the reign of King JEROI Kim is going to speak

and see if the nation will listen. And he chose

his time, and he chose his place.

He knew how to get his message across.

Thank God, Jeremiah was almost a master in mass communication.

And we know that it was the Lord who was

also leading him. The Lord guided him because the Lord

led him to the temple. And it was during a

national festival. It was a big festival that was ongoing.

The whole nation was gathered together in one place and

everybody was talking and so in the most public possible way.

He used the media of that day to get his

message across. And you know this, any man who speaks

to a nation that has neglected God and is essentially

saying what God is asking him to say, is usually

putting himself in great risk. Again, the nation has turned

against God, and so God is asking to deliver a message.

And so Jeremiah, being someone he wasn't a man of

many words. No, he was a shy person. He was

someone who was not overly confident. And that's why the

Lord had to remind him speak for me and say everything.

You must peak every single one I tell you.

You mustn't miss anything up because you realize this and

God knows this. No, sometimes when the pressure gets to you,

we sometimes conveniently live some matters out. It happens to

the best of us. It happens to us preachers. It

happens to how we live our lives. Sometimes life the

one maybe not going to generate a lot of good support,

nor maybe we can live that one. But the Lord

is saying, don't leave anything out. And so Jeremiah stood

up and told them the people, before you entered the land,

you received the law of God. The law showed you

the way to live, the way to conduct your national affairs,

the principles of happiness, the principles of holiness. It covered everything.

Ever since you got into the land. There were profits

that were sent to you to do, what to just

come and chill. No, the prophets were sent to you

to read. Mind, you to keep the law. So this

is Jeremiah talking now, and he was stating facts and

so basically he was trying to tell them that you

cannot plead ignorance.

You cannot say, oh, your girl, right, law? What law?

You know? What law you're talking about? You cannot plead ignorance. No,

like you, No, you can.

Only admit this obedience had hard. So we know they

were not ignorant. They knew how they ought to have

lived their lives. But they had not listened to the law.

Neither had they listened to the prophets that reminded them

of the law. And then here comes the magical words

that we thank God. Jeremiah said, he said, but be

yout So he presents to them worst case scenario.

When worst case scenario is presented to you and there

is a.

Bad Hallelujah praised the Lord usually something good is gonna

come out of it. If you are presented with the

best case scenario and then and there's a bad one,

not so good. It usually it's taballet, okay, but this

one bad case. But and Jeremiah says there is some

good news. And this good news is basically an appeal

to God's mercy because he says this Eve, and that

basically just means that whatever statement that Jeremiah made is

a conditional statement. He says, Eve, with this new King,

you will listen, then God will repent.

Wow.

And one day if you realize that we have in

our hands the power to make God repent? Have you

ever thought of that? You know, we say prayer changes things.

We also say prayer changes people. But did you ever

realize prayer changes God? It's quite surprising. But Moses succeeded

as well. If you read an account in Exodus, chapter

thirty two, verse fourteen, Moses pray, and because Moses pray,

God repented the word use was repented. And you know

here when we see that if there is a definite

condition attached to it, if you will listen, if you

will amend your ways, if you will change your doings,

and you will put things right, then God will repent,

and the word repent simply just means God will change

his mind and he will not bring the national disaster

upon you. That is on the way, Allelujah, Praise the Lord.

And that here is the call, message and teaching of

this chapter, I believe. Okay, So you notice in just

that those statements that Jeremiah is making. Notice that firstly

it was a reminder of the past. And what was

the reminder. The reminder is you have had the law,

and you have had the prophets who came sent by

God who persistently reminded you of the past. That's the

first thing. And then notice also that it contains a

warning for the future because and of course we will

go to it as we read on later, and as

I explained, there was a warning of national disaster. If

you don't repent, something is going to ensue, and it's

not going to be good. There is a warning for

the future, but Jeremiah is primarily concerned with the present

and their response at the moment, and therefore for us

to go from just hearing to heeding, it is important

that I believe we are aware of the past, present,

and future and things will not just remain as white

noise in our lives. Because a lot of things remain

as white noise in our that people can say all

things were like whatever, you know, you just going once

I come out, because I believe sometimes we have no awareness.

We live as though we are hidden and sheltered, and no,

we know nothing. But can I tell you, as believers,

we are enlightened. Well, at least we're supposed to be enlightened,

because we have with us the revelation of God's word.

It is the revealed word of God.

And God's word doesn't just tell us one moment in time.

It's not just a historical book.

It's also a prophetic book which also prescribes how we

are to live our lives in the now, in the present. Amen,

And so how do we move from white noise to

really hearing and heeding? Well, I believe is to have

that awareness past, present and future. I will come back

to it. But you know, sometimes no, we think things

are just all settled and sealed. Sometimes we have that

everything settled, seal done, and God has set everything in

motion and everything is fixed and cannot be changed. Okay,

that is actually a philosophy called fatalism if we think

that everything is predetermined and inevitable. So unless we live

like that and really our cousins the majority faith is

like that.

They you always hear them saying it to.

Conduct is settled, it's pre determined, it cannot be changed,

is inevitable.

I don't believe in a God like that. I believe

in a God who says.

If my people change, if my people repent, I will

change my mind for me. That is a cooperative relationship.

It's not just top down palm like that. It doesn't

mean that there is inconsistency in God just because situations

can change. So as we're like, oh God can change

his mine, flus soll fical and it's God veryfficult, No

pray diy he changed his mind?

No, you see.

Essentially, God always acts consistently with his character. That is

something that we need to take, not off. He acts

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

if people will not listen, he.

Must punish them.

But it also means that if they will listen, he

can change his mind and not punish them. So he

has not changed his character one little bit. And it

is lovely to have a God who never changes in character.

Amen.

That is a God in whom we worship. He never

changes in character. But it is also lovely to have

a God who will change his mind if we repent.

And so there is an if there, and we thank

God for those ifs in statements like that. If not,

we're all doomed ready, right. So the warning about the

future which Jeremiah added is this, if you do not listen,

then this house basically he's talking about the temple and

the city will be ruined, will become desolate. Whole strong

words know he was using because you have to understand.

The crown in which he was talking to is the Jews.

And he actually dared to tell them that God would

not hesitate to destroy his own house and his own city,

because we are talking about the God of the Jews.

If they did not listen to him, he says, it

will be destroyed. In other words, no, you'll notice this.

The strength of a city does not lie in his

religious buildings, but in its correct That is what God

is 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 in it with the God who

first started it. That is the message. And so to

the jew they saw one thing I need to them,

It's like, oh, this is like religious. How can you

talk about the House of God and the city of

God like that? No, And the result was immediately, you know,

they plan they start depending his death. When they heard that,

they're like, oh, man, this guy to die. Capital punishment,

capital punishment. And that's why throughout the chapter after that

you see the word death occurs about eight times, and

it's always applied to Jeremiah.

Because they were plotting his death.

They twisted what he said so much that they taught

they actually had the case for capital.

Punishment for Jeremiah.

And I want you to notice that it was the

priests and the prophets, basically the religious people who did it.

Then they tried to get the officials or the authorities

to agree to the death sentence. This that not remind

you of someone and I tell you this, human nature

doesn't change. And the religious authorities were so angry at

this threat to their security. This man there to challenge

our city. Know that the temple, their livelihoods were affected.

Basically what it did was they all ganged up and

they reported him to the authorities, and they all alleged

that Jeremiah said this to them in the name of

the Lord, this temple would be ruined and this city

would be ruined. Now that was not what Jeremiah had said,

was it? Because he said if. And when they reported

his preaching, they kind of conveniently left out the if.

And you notice how twisted it is, because what they

have essentially done is they have turned a conditional statement

into an absolute statement. And that's a lie because that

did not happen. They said, this man has predicted that

certainly this house and this city will fall, but he

has said nothing on it. He said, if you are manual,

ways you can keep it. They conveniently left that out,

the condition in Jeremiah's prophecy. And you know why, because

Jeremiah was not prophesying against the temple of the city,

but actually he was prophesying against the people in it.

They said he had been preaching against the places when

he was actually warning the people, very very subtle. But

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 that he was going

to attack the place, whereas what Jesus was talking about

was people. Jesus was not talking about the place, and

so sometimes we get it all mixed up between holy

places and holy people, and so they twisted Jeremiah's words

and they thought they had a good case. So Jeremiah

found himself in court and he was had to defend

himself with no lawyer. Jazz like Jesus was given no

defense as well. But Jeremiah spoke, and thank God he spoke,

and he's not concerned about his safety because he just

went on. He's like, I'm going to say it as

it is. Here's a man that's now standing in court,

and I know that his prayer as a young seventeen

year old boy, God fortify me, came to pass because

he reminded them of two things, and this is what

he said. Firstly, I said, if you a man, your

ways and your doings, God can change his mind, because

he was prophesying about people, not places, so he was

trying to correct them, so he reminded them of that. Secondly,

he said this, if you decide to put me to death,

you will become murderous because I came, I shared the truth,

and everything I said is true. And so if you

kill me, you have essentially you essentially kill an innocent person.

So Jeremiah became a bold man. He was not afraid

to get up, stand up and say what is right.

And really, this is a man of God who really

God's fortification came upon his life. And so the authorities

gave the verdict eventually, and they're like, hey, this man

deserves it doesn't deserve to die.

Does that not remind you of someone how.

History repeats itself and Jeremiah and Jesus went through the

same thing with this difference.

You know what the difference is. Jeremiah was released. We

read it.

Actually he was released. Hallelujah, praised the Lord. Why why

was Jeremiah released? Well because there was a certain group

of older people who had good, nice, long memories. Hallelujah,

Thank God for good memories. And so the elders stood

up for Jeremiah, and they stood up and said, remember

there were some there who could remember all the way

back to the time of Micah, another prophet and earlier prophet,

and they said this, you remember Micah, he said the

same things.

He gat the same mornings as Jeremiah did.

And we back then they heard what Micah said, and

they changed their ways. And because they changed change their

ways and they changed their minds, God did not send

the disaster he promised. And so the elders remembered, and

they say, remember Micah. And then they also reminded the

people of another thing, because during that time that the

king Jehoiah Kime he really actually killed one prophet. His

name is Uriah. Again, I'm not making this up.

He's there. You go and read it slowly, Uryah.

So they are also reminding them, remember you Uryah, because

Uriah was actually Jeremiah's collique. They were both prophets, and

he was also speaking in the name of the Lord.

And he had heard that the king was going to

put him to death. So Uriah, out of fear, decided

to run away to Egyp.

But what did jehoi game do?

He sent Basically, he sent some hitmen to bring him back,

not to get an extradition order take him back from Ejim.

Brought him back to where he was and slaughtered him

and then threw him into the Kildren Valley.

I'm not kidding you.

It's there, and so the elders in the land, with

all their wisdom said, okay, now, what are you going

to do. I'm reminding you of some of these things.

Are you going to make Jeremiah like Micah listen and

put it right and escape the disaster? Or are you

also going to kill Jeremiah wrongfully like how you have

wrongfully killed you Rayah. And it was all these evidence

that have been presented. Jeremiah had spoken, the elders had spoken,

and the elders actually there was a spokesperson.

His name was a he Come. I'm not making this up,

is there? Okay? You read twenty four again.

Twenty six also spoke on Jeremiah's behalf, and we thank

god the elder spoke because the last sentence tells us

that the authorities released Jeremiah and the priests and the

prophets lost their case. Basically, the religious people lost their case,

and hence Jeremiah was now free to go on preaching

Alilujah praise a lot. Sounds like a nice, happy ending. Okay,

question is do you think it's a happy ending? Because

I want you to. I want to highlight this other group.

There is also a party. Okay, there is Jeremiah.

Uh.

There is the religious people, the prophets and the priests.

There is the officials. Okay, that's the authorities of the day,

and then there is also the people. You will see

these different parties.

Okay.

The people at the start of it were actually on

the religious authorities side because they were like, oh, yeah, man,

this flood did wrong. Yeah, let's let's let's let's go

after him. And then towards the end, after all the

different evidence was presented, suddenly you can see the people

moving towards the authorities ruling. They're like, oh, actually, yeah,

he didn't do anything wrong. And then you realize how

people can shift sites so easily. People one minute they

were saying, ah, he deserves to die. The next minute

he was saying, well, he has done nothing to these

of death. People are fickle and they switch from one

side to another, how easily they are sway. And that's

why doesn't this remind you of someone one mini at

the start of the week is Hosanna. Hosanna in the

highest towards the end of the week is one crucify him, crucify.

Him, And so the crowd shifts.

In this chapter, when he realizes the authorities are going

to release the prisoner they shifted, which raises this question

which way would the crowd go in the future after

witnessing all this. Would they stay with the authorities or

would they go with the priests and the prophets. And

I want to tell you that this story actually is

quite tragic because towards the end and the end, Okay,

I'm not going to explain so much of it, but

actually the end. You see the ending in Jeremiah twenty five, okay,

even though we are reading Jeremia twenty six, so it's

one of those things that's written a bit of back

and forth. But in Jeremaria twenty five we read that

the people did not listen. And so four years later,

now it's six zero five BC, and what has happened

in those four years? Had that been a repentance, had

that been turning around? Had that been a national reversal?

The answer is no. And once again, on the national occasion,

when all the tribes of Judah are gathered together, when

all the people are in Jerusalem, Jeremiah comes and he

says that now there is no more use. Now I've

come to deliver what is going to be absolute. Four

years earlier he had given a last warning. Now he

had only one message. It was no longer a manual always. Basically,

he came to tell them that it's too late. So

I'm almost done and I'm not going to end like this, okay,

But I want us to reflect as we start the year.

It's important for us to be ready. The band can

how do we move from hearing to heeding? And I

believe the answer is in the scriptures. I believe that

we are to learn from the past to live in

the present in anticipation of the future. It's very important

for us as believers to do that. 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.

Do you realize that as we start a new year,

we can't change the past. No one can change the past,

but you can change the present. And if you can

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

is the glorious freedom in which we live. Do you

realize that as believers, this is the freedom that we

now have because prior to us becoming believers, you know

that it was fatal.

That is the truth. I don't know how else to

sugar quote it.

But if it was not for Jesus, there is only

one eventual and inevitable outcome in our lives. That is death.

We all agree on that. I'm not making this up.

But the minute we say Jesus, I believe in you,

I put my trust in you. And because I put

my trust in you, now your righteousness comes upon me.

That is grace. That's why grace is undeserving. Nothing you

can do to cause you to deserve God's goodness in

your life to put his righteousness on you. But yet

he still does that. His grace is now upon us.

And I tell you this, what does that give?

First?

It gives us a choice, because previously we did not

have a choice. It was eventual. But when God's grace,

what we don't deserve, we get. Now we are here

at the trashhold of decision making time, and we make

decisions in the present, and every decision that we make,

you have a choice to do what is right or

to do what is not God's plan. But there is

a choice. And sometimes we're like, oh God, choice, I

don't want choice, not just do the right thing. But

God did not make us robots and programmers to just

do what is right.

Non He gave us that choice, and really that is love.

That is really love, because if it wasn't for God's

grace in our lives, we would not even have that choice.

That is why.

Actually, when I prepare this message to do start it off,

and that was when we actually all partic communion communion.

What is communion ever thought of that? It is present participation.

You're presently participating in preparing for the future by remembering

the past.

Some people think.

Communion it's just one of those routine things we do

once a man. Maybe some churches they do it all

the time, they do every week, but routine do just

take great symbolism, toss it aside and we are done. No,

you are essentially participating in the Lord's work presently until

because it says right the last part.

Until the day he returns.

Its present participation is not just some symbolic thing. As

we are partaking communion, we are presently saying Lord, I

am a part of your ministry the day you return,

and how are you doing that? We are preparing for

the future because we are looking forward. The New Covenant

is the promise that Jesus will return one day to

fully redeem his people by what by remembering the past.

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

There is power when we realize the past, make the

right choices in the present while anticipating the future. That

is how we move from just hearing white noise to

heeding what God has to do. And that's why when

you read and when you study teachings on communion, he says,

don't take it wantonly. Don't take it for fun because

you can essentially particke judgment upon yourself. Don't take it

lightly because I want you to know that as you

start the year. As you start the year, let us

not just remain hearers of the word. We can come

in week in and wake out and listen to a

message and it's like, okay, But can we like the

Book of James, from being hearers of the world, we

end up being doers of the world as well. From

just hearing, we are now actively participating, actively living out

God's purpose, God's plans, God's commands in our lives. This

is my prayer for each and every one of you

as you start the year. So from hearing to heeding.

What is it that we can do well? We are

believers and you are not yet the believer. In the

short wist time, I'm going to give you a chance,

because hallelujah, we thank God that there is always a chance,

a chance to be redeemed. And those of us who

have seized this chance, let's not take it for granted.

Because every day in the present, as long as we

are alive, is an opportunity for us to decide to

do what is right for God. This is what I

always mean when I say that, because some people ask me,

what do you mean? What do you mean? We have

a choice now to do what is right? That is

exactly what I mean. We have a choice now when

previously we had no choice. And we thank God. We

thank God for these chances that He has given us,

and so we can we can remember him. Everything is

in his word. Let's go back to God's word. Let's

stand and I want to pray for all of us

here today. I pray that we will not just live

our lives like as though. Okay, twenty twenty five is

going to be like twenty twenty four. Twenty four was

just like twenty twenty three, and it's just the same old,

same old, and we just go through this repetitive cycle

that has got no end to it, and you'll probably

just end and there's nothing much to look forward to.

Know.

I want you to know this, as believers in Jesus Christ,

not only do we have a past that is worth celebrating,

because the past is what has given us this future,

but we also have a future to look forward to,

which means right now, in the present, we have this

very opportunity to respond to the One True and Living God,

and he wants that of us to make choices for him.

And So Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray,

Lord God, that your children here Lord, will continue to

experience your goodness and your mercy. So, Lord God Father,

may we know never take you for granted. May we

never think that, oh, this is just the same old,

same old. But may we live in anticipation of what

you are about to do. And Lord, we know that

one day you will return gloriously, Oh Lord God. And

until that happens, so Lord, we all have a task

as your believers is to go and make your the

knowledge of Jesus Christ known to as many people as

we can, because The condition of you returning has always

been when the gospel of Jesus Christ is brought to

the furthest extents of this world, and every one has

heard this gospel, then O Lord God, you will return

and so farther. Help us to fulfill our role and

our responsibility.

Lord, we need you.

We can't do any of this without the Holy Spirit

in our lives. So Lord, I pray that you'll bless

your people this evening Haelujah. I want to give an

opportunity for those of us here to come up for prayer.

I know sometimes we don't always do it, but I

want to give our leaders a chance to pray and

minister to those who are believing for a breakthrough this year.

Let it not just be another cycle of doing life

like how it has always been, and hence there's nothing

to look forward to. If you are believing that God

is going to work a miracle in your life this year,

or you are hoping for it, you are yearning for it,

you are desiring for it. I want to encourage us

to come up to the front, allow someone to pray

with you, because every step that you take towards prayer

is a step of faith. Prayer in itself is a

step of faith because you are essentially talking to someone

who you can't see if you think about it, and

when you pray, you are exercising that little faith. And

that is what God constantly reminds us in scripture. He's

not asking us to show great faith. No, he saying

that faith as small as a mustered sin, is able

to move mountains in your life. If there is a

mountain in your life today, best for you to declare

that this mountain will no longer impede you right from

the very start of the year, that this mountain is

not bigger than your God. And I want to encourage

us today if that is you and you are believing

for breakthroughs this year, take those steps of faith forward

and I will pray with you. The leaders here will

pray you, jes Joel, different ones will pray alongside with you.

But allow us to minister together in prayer, because I

believe that is the best way to start this year.

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

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this week is good to be a good week, a

hit for you. God bless