WEEK 42 [JEREMIAH 1-3; 7; 16-18; 20]
WEEK 42 [JEREMIAH 1-3; 7; 16-18; 20]
“Before I Formed Thee in the Belly I Knew Thee”
October 10 – October 16
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Transcript
Welcome back you guys.
Speaker:This is week 42 of Creative Come filed me for the Old Testament,
Speaker:and we're heading into the first of our two part series on Jeremiah.
Speaker:You're not very familiar with his story.
Speaker:I think you're gonna love it.
Speaker:It'll also break your heart to read it.
Speaker:It's a little bit like reading about job or a eddi or moron.
Speaker:They, you love them entirely for the men that they are and the stewardship
Speaker:that they manage to uphold despite incredible loneliness and adversity.
Speaker:We'll, we're gonna cover the first 20 chapters in this week's sections,
Speaker:but we're not covering all those chapters, so we'll bounce a little bit.
Speaker:Part of the reason we bounce is because he can get kind of hard to read.
Speaker:Jeremiah is an interesting book in that we get to know more about.
Speaker:Backstory, It's not so much just his teachings, it's about what it feels like
Speaker:to be a prophet who people won't hear.
Speaker:And I think it's really powerful as we dovetail it into Isaiah, cuz he
Speaker:experienced something really similar.
Speaker:Jeremiah is gonna be a prophet in the Southern kingdom for about 40 years.
Speaker:He crosses over the timelines of Lehigh, what you read about in the Book of
Speaker:Mormon, about the reign of King Zeta Kay.
Speaker:That's Jeremiah's time.
Speaker:In fact, he's got a lot of contemporaries, Ezekiel and Jose and Daniel.
Speaker:They just all have these different stewardships, which I feel like
Speaker:applies to us in a lot of ways.
Speaker:Uh, we all have.
Speaker:Different plots to manage in this mortal world.
Speaker:And sometimes you tend to look over at your neighbor's plot and you think,
Speaker:Why did I get this stewardship ? But I think it, there's a lot of power
Speaker:in finding out why he got it and how the Lord prepared him for it.
Speaker:Because I think it teaches me to remember that he must have prepared
Speaker:me for my, So watch for those themes.
Speaker:A few things you're gonna wanna see is why he stays.
Speaker:You're gonna learn a lot about what holds Jeremiah to his testimony,
Speaker:where it comes from, and how he holds onto it in tough times, which I think
Speaker:helps all of us in a hundred ways.
Speaker:So we'll focus there.
Speaker:You'll also find out the real purpose of stewardship.
Speaker:He teaches you to stop looking out and to keep looking up for that
Speaker:reassurance that we're seeking.
Speaker:And he'll teach you about what it's like to be a prophet of God, the
Speaker:loneliness of it, the difficulty of it.
Speaker:And then those moments of exalting joy that I imagine make it all worthwhile.
Speaker:Um, But it's hard.
Speaker:It's hard to read.
Speaker:And I think a lot of that is because he is a type of Christ.
Speaker:So just like we've done in every single book, I'll try and highlight the areas
Speaker:that will focus your eye on Jesus Christ.
Speaker:He is someone who is despised and rejected of men.
Speaker:He is someone who, his testimony comes from a deeper place
Speaker:and he will not be silenced.
Speaker:It is, uh, a powerful witness.
Speaker:So settle in, grab your scriptures, grab your notes, and let's get started.
Speaker:You guys,
Speaker:Chapter one, you're gonna get a little bit of backstory about Jeremiah,
Speaker:but you should understand that the book of Jeremiah itself is not
Speaker:necessarily in chronological order.
Speaker:You can tell that cuz sometimes they're about to head into Babylon
Speaker:and sometimes he'll mention the Syria.
Speaker:So I think we're jumping around in time a lot, but this is a critical
Speaker:chapter to understand how Jeremiah became the prophet that he'll become.
Speaker:And it all starts with understanding.
Speaker:Divine nature, like we're teaching our kids every single week.
Speaker:When you hear the young women say that theme, this is what we're
Speaker:trying to help our kids understand.
Speaker:And it comes in chapter one specifically in verse five.
Speaker:If you, if you see those first few verses, he talks about his story
Speaker:that he comes from a priestly family.
Speaker:He's young.
Speaker:A lot of scholars mentioned that he's probably in his late
Speaker:teens when he gets this moment with the Lord to know who he is.
Speaker:And that's powerful to me.
Speaker:It makes me think of him almost when I picture Jeremiah,
Speaker:especially in chapter one.
Speaker:I picture him like a missionary getting his call.
Speaker:That's how old he is.
Speaker:And he's got some kind of struggle and we'll get into it.
Speaker:But first you wanna learn about how he hears God.
Speaker:So in verse five, God speaks to him.
Speaker:It doesn't say that Jeremiah sought him out.
Speaker:I don't know how that, how that happened, but God comes to him in verse four and
Speaker:then in verse five he says, Before I formed the in the belly, I knew the
Speaker:before thou came as fourth out of the wo I sanctified the, and I ordained
Speaker:the A prophet unto the nation's.
Speaker:Plural nations, he's gonna cover a lot of ground.
Speaker:Um, and I just, there's so much you could unpack in this verse, but first, I
Speaker:love that it speaks of a premortal life.
Speaker:This is a very clear evidence that Premortal life is real, and
Speaker:that's rare in the Old Testament.
Speaker:So highlight that.
Speaker:I also love that it talks about forward nation.
Speaker:Elder Maxwell says, that's a doctrine that is almost impossible
Speaker:to understand with our mortal minds.
Speaker:So instead of trying to understand it all, we should just trust it.
Speaker:he, there's a great quote in the notes if you wanna go deeper, but he
Speaker:talks about how it is something that involves a lot of extra opportunities
Speaker:and heavier responsibilities.
Speaker:So just keep that all in your mind as you think about that idea of foreign
Speaker:nation specifically with profits.
Speaker:But I love that he has this moment of understanding that God has
Speaker:known him for a long, long time.
Speaker:It's what President Nelson's teaching all of us today that.
Speaker:We have known God for a long, long time, and when we see him again, we will
Speaker:be astonished at how familiar he is.
Speaker:And I get the feeling that's that's what he's experiencing right now.
Speaker:But he has some worries about being this mighty prophet to teach the nations.
Speaker:And you see that in six, then said, I ah Lord God, behold I
Speaker:cannot speak for I am a child.
Speaker:I don't think he means this, like metaphorically.
Speaker:I think he really has some kind of severe speech impediment.
Speaker:This is just me, my theory, but I think it's a lot like what
Speaker:we saw in with Moses and Enoch.
Speaker:They have.
Speaker:Real barriers to being this prophet that at least what they imagine
Speaker:a prophet to be and he's worried, what I love is what happens next.
Speaker:So you can see that God basically says to him, Whatever I say to
Speaker:you, you're gonna be able to speak.
Speaker:That's in seven for that shot.
Speaker:Go into all I send me and whatever I command, thou shall speak.
Speaker:Be not afraid is what you see in eight for I am with the to deliver the say Lord.
Speaker:If you know more about Jeremiah's story, He doesn't always get delivered.
Speaker:He doesn't have Red Sea party moments necessarily.
Speaker:He gets in stocks and has all kinds of trouble.
Speaker:Uh, but deliverance doesn't necessarily mean that you're immediately
Speaker:extracted out of your troubles.
Speaker:I learned the story, President, I especially when we were studying
Speaker:Moses, I read about this and he talks about how deliverance in God's
Speaker:terms means you will have, you'll be endowed with power to endure it.
Speaker:Well, and that I think is the kind of deliverance he's promising, Jeremiah.
Speaker:It's the same kind of promise he gave to Aite.
Speaker:Aite was still delivered even though he was not saved because he was given an
Speaker:endowment of power to endure his life.
Speaker:Well, and that's what you'll see, and I think it's powerful for me because there
Speaker:are times I wonder why I'm not delivered, uh, or why someone I love isn't delivered.
Speaker:And I think you have to remember what that word means.
Speaker:That it means you've been given power to manage.
Speaker:You've been given tender mercies and miracles to endure and to endure it well.
Speaker:So watch for that as you study his verses.
Speaker:Some other things I love is that his lips are touched, so
Speaker:he has this speech impediment.
Speaker:I don't know if he literally can't speak or if he has this, you know,
Speaker:like maybe has a speech impediment that makes him sound like a child.
Speaker:I'm not sure.
Speaker:But whatever happens, his lips are touched similar to what we saw with
Speaker:Isaiah and then all of a sudden he has clarity and it's so powerful to read it.
Speaker:The visual that came into my mind was brother of Jared.
Speaker:As weird as that sounds, you know, when he brings those smooth stones to the
Speaker:Lord, those clear, smooth stones that he's forged and then the Lord touches
Speaker:them and they are able to light the way.
Speaker:I feel like that's basically what he's describing with this miracle,
Speaker:that he's in a spot where he knows he can't speak on his own.
Speaker:He knows he's endured, I imagine mocking in all kinds of trouble, um,
Speaker:because of this impediment and then now all of a sudden, He can speak and
Speaker:he can speak as a prophet, and that's a powerful thing to, to cross over.
Speaker:I wonder if that's why the Lord calls so many men like Jeremiah, the Moses
Speaker:is the Enix, the Joseph Smiths, who are clear stones that are just waiting to
Speaker:be touched, um, that need that touch.
Speaker:What I think is so powerful about that image from in my mind is that
Speaker:I think Jeremiah will always know that it, that isn't him the same way.
Speaker:Those who were in the New Testament times and met the Mortal Messiah and
Speaker:were healed by him, knew that the leprosy didn't leave on the zone account, that
Speaker:it left because they were healed by God, and so therefore they testified.
Speaker:That's what Jeremiah will always know.
Speaker:That's gonna be critical information as we go further into Jeremiah's story,
Speaker:because he's gonna have some incredible hard struggles and he's gonna need
Speaker:this spiritual memory to feast on.
Speaker:And he does.
Speaker:Then he gets some instruction.
Speaker:So you can see in like 11, 12, 13 that he's, It almost sounds to me
Speaker:like, do you remember in the Book of Mormon when Lehigh and Nefi
Speaker:are in those tree of life visions?
Speaker:And the angel kind of guides them through and says, What's what CS though?
Speaker:And they have to kind of go back and forth.
Speaker:It almost seems like he's learning how to receive revelation or how to hear the
Speaker:voice of God because there's a little bit of an exchange and you can hear the angel
Speaker:or whoever it is, the Lord say, Well done.
Speaker:You guessed right, or you figured it out.
Speaker:And I think there's some coaching that's happening.
Speaker:He also talks about what's coming, that he's gonna need to speak about
Speaker:the destruction that's gonna come to Jerusalem because of Babylon.
Speaker:That's gonna be his big message most of his lifetime.
Speaker:And so he warns him about that.
Speaker:But given the fact that I am sure Jeremiah is afraid of being the deliverer of that
Speaker:message, he asked him not to be dismayed.
Speaker:That's around 17.
Speaker:Be not dismayed.
Speaker:I command the be not dismayed at their faces list.
Speaker:I can found the before then.
Speaker:. In order for him to have clarity of thought, he has to promise the Lord
Speaker:that he won't be dismayed, that he won't fear, he has to have this commitment.
Speaker:I'm gonna show up on the stage no matter what happens.
Speaker:That's a powerful promise.
Speaker:And then he says in 18 how he has made him for behold.
Speaker:I've made the, this day a defensed city, an iron pillar, brazen
Speaker:walls against the whole land.
Speaker:He has a promise and he knows now cause he has physical evidence.
Speaker:His mouth is working in a way it hasn't before, that he has protection.
Speaker:And then there's a promise to prevail.
Speaker:And you have to love this with everything we've learned from President Nelson.
Speaker:And they shall fight against the, but they shall not prevail against the,
Speaker:for I am with these, say the Lord to deliver the remember deliverance is a
Speaker:different kind of deliverance and it is something that will intimately acquaint
Speaker:Jeremiah with his Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker:And they will, He will come to know him in a way that few others can.
Speaker:So that's just the beginning, you guys.
Speaker:Let's jump into chapter two Next.
Speaker:Do you remember how we talked in Isaiah about how some of those chapters sound
Speaker:like the prodigal, the prodigal's father, that he is sorrowing for the loss of
Speaker:his son and hoping he'll come home?
Speaker:That's what I feel like when I read a lot of Jeremiah, because it's
Speaker:often speaking of this covenantal love that God has for his children.
Speaker:He's teaching Jeremiah about how much he loves the children of Israel and how
Speaker:he wishes they would come back to him.
Speaker:Their sins have created this wide chasm and he really wants them home, and what
Speaker:I love is what you see in chapter two.
Speaker:It's this pleading, in fact, It almost is haunting cuz he's, he's talking about
Speaker:how, how well he remembers his children.
Speaker:Remember when he thinks of the children of Israel, he doesn't
Speaker:just think about this generation and this time God sees all of it.
Speaker:And so he is lamenting their loss.
Speaker:So he talks about how, I remember the, the kindness of the youth.
Speaker:And three, Israel was holiness unto the Lord.
Speaker:And the first fruits of increase holiness to the Lord is what you see on temples.
Speaker:They, they are a select group that was intended to do incredible
Speaker:things and take light to the world.
Speaker:And he is so sad to see this separation.
Speaker:So in five of you hear him articulate it.
Speaker:They're gone far from me and have walked after vanity and then
Speaker:neither said that this is six.
Speaker:Where is the Lord that brought us up out of the lead of Egypt?
Speaker:It's that Neither said they part that kills me, basically is
Speaker:saying they don't even miss me.
Speaker:You know, I.
Speaker:Created these miracles and all this land and this beauty, and they don't
Speaker:even miss me the way I ache for them.
Speaker:I just as a parent, Ugh.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:It just pulls at your heartstrings.
Speaker:And then he talks about how they defiled this gift.
Speaker:It's in seven, they entered this land, they defiled my land and
Speaker:made my heritage and abomination.
Speaker:You're almost seeing Jeremiah articulate the Abrahamic covenant in reverse.
Speaker:He's basically saying you received all these gifts and you've rejected
Speaker:them slowly and you're so far apart it in a really tiny way.
Speaker:It reminds me of ever like on Christmas morning, you've spent months and so
Speaker:much of your budget trying to carefully get just the right things that you know
Speaker:your kids will be so excited about.
Speaker:And then you come down at 10:00 AM on Christmas after all the chaos and all
Speaker:those gifts are just dumped on the floor, covered in candy wrappers and
Speaker:you just sort of ache a little bit.
Speaker:You know what's gonna happen, but it just hurts.
Speaker:I feel like.
Speaker:That's what Jemiah is speaking about, that in an eternal way, that's how the Lord
Speaker:feels like I had all these plans for you.
Speaker:I had this great plan for you, and you have cast it aside.
Speaker:All these blessings that he spent infinite amount of time creating for
Speaker:them, they are rejecting and it hurts.
Speaker:So he talks about where that rejection is stemming from.
Speaker:A big piece of it is what you see in eight, that their leaders, their pastors,
Speaker:their teachers are leading them astray and not just a little bit of stray.
Speaker:You guys, they're like way off.
Speaker:They're worshiping idols.
Speaker:Again, we're gonna see child sacrifice by the end of this chapter.
Speaker:They're way off course.
Speaker:Um, and he's.
Speaker:Sorrowing about it, and he's not understanding the why, or if he
Speaker:does, he's, he's speaking to us to say like, How, How does this happen?
Speaker:And there's a powerful description of it.
Speaker:In 11, he says, My people have changed their glory for
Speaker:that, which does not profit.
Speaker:They exchanged their ability to have the priesthood and their posterity that they
Speaker:were hoping for, and all those Abraham Covenant promises for things that can't
Speaker:last , you'll laugh at me about it.
Speaker:When I was reading this, the visual that came into my mind is Sam.
Speaker:So Sam went to an arcade, he went with his own money and spent $35, I think,
Speaker:buying tokens, and then came home with 10 of those ridiculously cheap, like what
Speaker:you could find at a dollar store stone.
Speaker:Stuffed animals.
Speaker:Sam doesn't even like stuffed animals, but he came home so proud
Speaker:of his accomplishment that he had won all these stuffed animals.
Speaker:And all I could feel in my heart was like, Oh, Sam, you just spent $35 on
Speaker:something that probably cost five.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And I just sort of ached for him.
Speaker:Cause I knew at some point he was gonna wish he had the $35 back.
Speaker:But that's, I feel like they're coming to Lord with this.
Speaker:Like, brazen, we're great.
Speaker:Things are great.
Speaker:Look at my stuff to animals.
Speaker:You know, it's that kind of visual and he's.
Speaker:He's just, he can see where the road leads.
Speaker:In fact, that's what you get in 13.
Speaker:He says they've committed two evils.
Speaker:One, they've forsaken him.
Speaker:They've forgotten him and cast him aside.
Speaker:And two, they've replaced him with something else.
Speaker:It's the combination that's particularly awful.
Speaker:They haven't just forgotten God.
Speaker:They've replaced him.
Speaker:They've supplanted truth with this false religion and he compares it
Speaker:to cisterns that can't hold water.
Speaker:He's been teaching them through all these profits for all these
Speaker:generations about living water.
Speaker:It's this source of pure water that is purified by the mountain and
Speaker:will always continue to bubble up.
Speaker:And what they're saying is, no, we built this cistern and it's gonna be great.
Speaker:It's gonna hold all the water if you haven't seen a sister.
Speaker:And it's like a great big manmade structure to hold rain water usually.
Speaker:And if it's broken it, it can't hold anything.
Speaker:Not only that, but it's stagnant water, so it's gonna be prone to infection,
Speaker:it's going to have all kinds of trouble.
Speaker:People can pollute it and it is not a source of living water.
Speaker:And that's.
Speaker:That's what he's trying to teach them is you're turning to gods that
Speaker:cannot save and it's gonna hurt.
Speaker:When you turn the page, it goes a little further.
Speaker:He says in 19, then own wickedness shall correctly.
Speaker:I back Slidings shall reprove the, he uses that word lots of
Speaker:times back slidings because they are coasting the wrong direction.
Speaker:They are receding and remember God has it gotta progress.
Speaker:He wants us to progress and come closer to him all the time.
Speaker:And so to backslide is just painful to watch.
Speaker:But I think it's interesting that he says it's your own wickedness, that
Speaker:you'll feel like you, the consequences of your wickedness are going to.
Speaker:Be what teaches you a lesson.
Speaker:I don't think this is the Lord inflicting a whole bunch of harm.
Speaker:The Babylonians are gonna come because of this situation.
Speaker:There's wickedness and when there's wickedness, there's natural
Speaker:consequences and it's gonna hurt and he as a parent can feel it.
Speaker:He also still is mourning for them.
Speaker:So in 21 he talks about how he planted a who right seed.
Speaker:I love this phrase as a parent cuz I talked about this alive a couple
Speaker:weeks ago, but I really think that's my job as a parent is to plant.
Speaker:Divine seed and to do as much as I can to nourish that plant and to try
Speaker:and like help it, you know, put the plastic shelter around it so it can
Speaker:have a chance to grow in their youth.
Speaker:And then sometimes you guys, like they hate their teenage years or
Speaker:they'll read something on Instagram or who knows, all kinds of things.
Speaker:And all those years of plant nurturing just rushed aside.
Speaker:And you just find yourself thinking like, wait, I spent 20 years trying to teach you
Speaker:this gospel, and one person can say one thing at lunch, at school, and all of a
Speaker:sudden you don't have a testimony anymore.
Speaker:Like it's just this jarring thing.
Speaker:But what I love is the reference of a seed, because it's the same thing.
Speaker:Jeremiah is gonna teach us.
Speaker:This seed that appears to be completely obliterated now will regrow.
Speaker:It'll take generations for this to happen, but it will come back.
Speaker:I feel like that with our kids, that those seeds we plant have a promise
Speaker:that if they are planted and nurtured in their youth, when they're exposed
Speaker:to the right elements and the right.
Speaker:Sun, uh, whatever in their life, they choose to expose that soil to the sun and
Speaker:to the nourishment of the living water.
Speaker:It will grow again.
Speaker:It has to grow again cuz it's a holy, great seed.
Speaker:I just, I think that's what he's seeing here.
Speaker:It's that same ache you felt when he talked about what else could
Speaker:I have done for my vineyard.
Speaker:He knows this generation's gonna suffer and a whole bunch after it,
Speaker:but that there will be regrowth.
Speaker:Interestingly, they don't seem to have much hope.
Speaker:When Jeremiah tries to teach them, like in 25, they talk about how they have no hope.
Speaker:You're gonna see that a few times this week they don't believe in the
Speaker:saving power of Jehovah anymore, and it's, it's starting to take a toll.
Speaker:So in 27, he says, saying to a stock that will hurt my father and
Speaker:to a stone that I've brought me forth, they've replaced him with.
Speaker:Dalma idols is what he calls the things they have crafted with their own hands
Speaker:to sit that they're turning to those things for reinforcement and for strength.
Speaker:There's a lot we can learn from this guys cuz we tend to turn for tune to
Speaker:a lot of other sources for comfort and he's trying to warn us against it.
Speaker:But he talks about how in their time of trouble they're gonna come
Speaker:to him and, and want help and, and he won't be able to help them.
Speaker:I think this is really powerful.
Speaker:Cause sometimes I think in our efforts to teach our kids about the mercy
Speaker:and grace of Jesus Christ, which is infinite, we give them the impression
Speaker:that they can, they'll receive immediate help when they finally
Speaker:decide to turn to him and they will.
Speaker:But remember, deliverance through God doesn't necessarily mean.
Speaker:The waves part for you.
Speaker:It means, remember, especially with Moses, there was a whole cycle of
Speaker:time where the winds blew like crazy.
Speaker:That's what parted the waves and they had to go through a really hard
Speaker:faith challenge to, and to get the blessings of God on the other side.
Speaker:I think you see this in the Book of Mormon all the time where he talks
Speaker:about being slow to hear their cries.
Speaker:There's references in the notes if you wanna go a little bit deeper, but I
Speaker:think we have to teach both of those sides that yes, God will deliver, and
Speaker:yes, he will always be there, but it will take time and it will be hard.
Speaker:So choose the right road . Um, he also talks about how his people have
Speaker:forgotten him, and then you see a little bit about child sacrifice, that that's
Speaker:how far they've fallen around 34 or 35.
Speaker:We're gonna talk about it a little more in a couple more chapters, so
Speaker:I'm gonna go, gonna go too deep here.
Speaker:But I do think it helps you understand how offended God is, how far they've
Speaker:fallen, and that's important to set the stage for what we'll see in chapter three.
Speaker:Language in chapter three can sound a little bit hard, , but
Speaker:I think it teaches you how much.
Speaker:God loves his children, that he sees this betrayal.
Speaker:So personally, they've turned against him, turned towards idols, and he
Speaker:compares it to a harlett that basically that they were in this covenantal
Speaker:marriage like relationship with him.
Speaker:And he stayed and they strayed and brazenly strayed.
Speaker:In fact, he talks about, he compares them to two sisters.
Speaker:He basically says, You could have learned.
Speaker:So Israel will do this same process.
Speaker:They'll go first.
Speaker:They get scattered first, remember?
Speaker:So they worship idols, they turn to false gods, and they are carried off.
Speaker:And then later in time, Judah does the same thing.
Speaker:That's where we're at in time.
Speaker:So he's saying, Judah, how did you not learn from your older sister who
Speaker:you watched go through this process?
Speaker:But for me, the most powerful part of chapter three kicks in around
Speaker:verse 12 because this is where you see that the Lord who is aching
Speaker:and betrayed and offended and hurt.
Speaker:Still invites this covenantal group of children to come home.
Speaker:And I found myself a bit defensive . I was like, Why?
Speaker:Why do you keep inviting them to come back home?
Speaker:They are so far off and had so many opportunities.
Speaker:Why do you invite them home?
Speaker:And it teaches you about the character of Christ that he always will always.
Speaker:In fact, there's so many beautiful verses in this one.
Speaker:So if you look around verse 12, he says, Return thou back sliding Israel.
Speaker:For I am merciful, say at the Lord.
Speaker:And I will not keep anger forever.
Speaker:He will have anger for a season and they've earned that anger.
Speaker:But the it won't last forever.
Speaker:Doesn't not just sound like apparent to you, like, Yes, I will be mad when you
Speaker:tell me you did this wrong, but if you come to me and you tell me honestly what
Speaker:you did, my anchor won't last forever.
Speaker:I will always love you.
Speaker:You will always have a home here.
Speaker:He sounds like a parent to me.
Speaker:And it's just a.
Speaker:You know, you just, you feel for him.
Speaker:What I love is it so much, it teaches me about who he is.
Speaker:They, they can't just waltz back in the same way.
Speaker:We talked, I felt a couple weeks ago about the prodigal son can't just
Speaker:waltz back into his inheritance.
Speaker:I imagine they had some talks about how things were gonna change, and that's gonna
Speaker:happen with the children of Israel too.
Speaker:So he says in 13, You need to acknowledge your sins.
Speaker:If you're gonna return to me, you have to acknowledge that you
Speaker:have transgressed against me.
Speaker:And then in 14 turn, for I am married onto you, it's this invitation
Speaker:to repent and come back home.
Speaker:And isn't that character of Christ that he will always invite you back there.
Speaker:There is a gate, there is a path, and you have to be willing to
Speaker:walk it, but if you will walk it, he will invite you back home.
Speaker:It just reminded me of that song.
Speaker:Come on to Jesus.
Speaker:If you haven't seen the Madeline page version, I, I give you a link
Speaker:on to the YouTube video online, but.
Speaker:You know, she, in the music video, she's a waitress who gets yelled
Speaker:at and by a patron and then later sees that same patron caught under a
Speaker:car and everybody rushes to rescue.
Speaker:But the lyrics of those song, that song is what, What wells up in me?
Speaker:It's just this beautiful verbiage that says, no matter how far
Speaker:you've gone, I will be right.
Speaker:You're gonna need to follow my plan and come back in my way.
Speaker:But if you will do those things, I'm right here.
Speaker:And that's what the rest to chapter three is all about.
Speaker:It's about the Zion that will come.
Speaker:This generation will not choose it.
Speaker:They will continue to backslide, but in time, a long time,
Speaker:there will be Zion that comes.
Speaker:And this is what Jeremiah focuses our hearts on.
Speaker:It's, it's the the promise.
Speaker:So it starts around verse 15 or so.
Speaker:He starts talking about how when they come to him, he's
Speaker:gonna feed them with knowledge.
Speaker:I love this piece because I think it's a key to our repentance processes as well,
Speaker:that when we really want mighty change of heart, we have to learn the doctrine.
Speaker:We have to learn why we believe that Jesus Christ will forgive us every time.
Speaker:You have to dig deep.
Speaker:And so he promises.
Speaker:I'm gonna give you teachers, I'm gonna give you pastors.
Speaker:In fact, if you look in the footnotes, it says Bishops that he's gonna
Speaker:give you people who will help you in this repentance process.
Speaker:They'll feed you with knowledge and understanding if they use that
Speaker:knowledge of an and understanding.
Speaker:To come back to the covenant, then they'll start to have those blessings again.
Speaker:So he talks about how they'll be gathered in 17 and how they'll walk.
Speaker:The two houses of Israel will walk together again.
Speaker:They've been divided for a long time and now they're gonna come back.
Speaker:This is all that you know, before the savior comes again, that
Speaker:gathering phase that will happen.
Speaker:And then I love 19 thou shall call me my father and shall not turn away from me.
Speaker:From that point forward, once Zion is established, those hearts that
Speaker:have turned him will always be his.
Speaker:He, he will never return and neither will they at this point going forward.
Speaker:So in 22, you hear his plea return, you back sliding children
Speaker:and I will heal your back.
Speaker:Sliding.
Speaker:I love this promise because I've, I've taught the ysa a lot about repentance
Speaker:and my own kids about repentance, and this is the promise because sometimes
Speaker:they feel like they're so far off course that even if they came back, they're,
Speaker:they're set way back on the covenant path.
Speaker:You know, they, they've pictured this very linearly that even if they come
Speaker:back, they're, they have so much ground to make up because they didn't serve
Speaker:a mission or whatever their concerns are the lost time and they worry
Speaker:that they can't ever make up that ground and that's what he's teaching
Speaker:them in 22, Return you back sliding children, I will hear, heal your back.
Speaker:Slidings.
Speaker:He, it's not about this linear plan, it's about.
Speaker:I can heal all things.
Speaker:I love how the way other Kiron talks about this, how he can fix the unfixable.
Speaker:He can make up ground that you can't even imagine.
Speaker:We can't put our mortal limits on this immortal God, so we should trust
Speaker:that he can make up that ground.
Speaker:Uh, and that's a powerful thing to promise as you head into the next couple chapters.
Speaker:The summary that I wrote at the top of chapter seven is You cannot serve
Speaker:two Masters, cuz that's basically what Jeremiah is trying to teach the
Speaker:children of Israel in this chapter.
Speaker:In the intervening chapters that we had to skip over, he's giving
Speaker:them all the warnings about the destruction that is coming.
Speaker:It sounds a lot like Lehigh warning about the destruction
Speaker:of Jerusalem that is coming.
Speaker:And so we jumped now to this specific incident at the temple.
Speaker:So he goes to the temple, to all those who are worshiping there.
Speaker:Who are going through the motions of worshiping, but not with the right
Speaker:heart and not with the right intent.
Speaker:And he has some mornings for them, so he is directed to go to the gate
Speaker:and stand there and proclaim it.
Speaker:It feels a lot like the New Testament when the savior comes and cleans
Speaker:out the temple and tosses the tables of all the money changers.
Speaker:That's sort of what's happening here with Jeremiah.
Speaker:He's saying like, in three, amend your ways, your doings and I will
Speaker:cause you to dwell in this place.
Speaker:If I feel like most of these verses are not just a warning, they are, The
Speaker:change is not as hard as you think.
Speaker:, I feel like that when I teach the youth that they see repentance as
Speaker:this impossibly hard thing and a big piece of my job is to say it's, it's
Speaker:a, it's a shift, it's an amendment.
Speaker:It's not this radical change to your lifestyle.
Speaker:It's constantly daily amending, finding out where you're out of alignment and,
Speaker:and amending your waste, turning to him.
Speaker:That's what he is asking them to do, and I love the way he describes it.
Speaker:And instead of just focusing on the sacrifice, he says, If you thoroughly
Speaker:amend your doings, that's in five in six.
Speaker:If you oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, the widow, don't
Speaker:shed innocent blood in my house.
Speaker:Don't walk after other gods.
Speaker:Then I will cause you to stay here, not just in the temple, but in Jerusalem.
Speaker:This holy city that the Lord wants them to have.
Speaker:He says, These blessings I want to give you.
Speaker:So remember we've talked about this several times now, where God
Speaker:will always love these children.
Speaker:He will always invite them back into this covenant relationship.
Speaker:He just can't always bless them.
Speaker:It's the same thing we experience.
Speaker:He will always love you.
Speaker:He just wants to love and bless you.
Speaker:But we can't have those blessings unless we are obedient His commandments.
Speaker:And they're not right now.
Speaker:In fact, they're doing, they're speaking outta both sides of their mouth.
Speaker:So if you look at nine, will you steal murder and commit adultery and swear
Speaker:falsely and burn incense onto a false God?
Speaker:Walk after other gods who you know not, and then come to my house.
Speaker:You know, it's this brazen you.
Speaker:Really, That's how this is gonna go and.
Speaker:I think trying to call like Jeremiah's, trying to cash up past a big, bright
Speaker:light to say, Look at what you're doing.
Speaker:You're so far off course to how dare you stand before him in this house and
Speaker:demand that he help you and save you when you're blatantly turning against his ways.
Speaker:He talks about Aden of robbers.
Speaker:Sounds very similar to what you're gonna read in the New
Speaker:Testament about Aden of thieves.
Speaker:That this holy ground has become sick, wounded, and it needs repair, and if they
Speaker:don't repair it, it's gonna get destroyed.
Speaker:In fact, that's what he compares to Shiloh.
Speaker:So Shiloh is that area where the tabernacle stayed for a long
Speaker:time and that got destroyed.
Speaker:What he's trying to teach them with that metaphor is the temple
Speaker:itself is just a building.
Speaker:I mean, in that case it was a tent, but you know, it's just a structure.
Speaker:What makes it holy is the covenants and the priesthood.
Speaker:All those things make it holy ground.
Speaker:So if you cast those things aside, The temple itself.
Speaker:You know, it's kind of like the same way in our day.
Speaker:You see people who defile the temple at times somebody
Speaker:might spray paint the temple.
Speaker:The temple doesn't have like a superpower on its own.
Speaker:It is the house of God.
Speaker:So it's, you can get that feel here where he's saying, you think that the
Speaker:temple's gonna save you, or living in this city that's been promised to be
Speaker:this light on a hill will hold you.
Speaker:But that's all dependent on the hearts of the people who live in that city.
Speaker:And he's trying to kind of catch their eyes on that understanding.
Speaker:So he says how many prophets he sent in 13.
Speaker:I woke up early.
Speaker:I sent as many prophets as I could to try and teach you and you didn't listen.
Speaker:And then 16, therefore pray.
Speaker:Pray not thou for this.
Speaker:People neither lift up that cry nor prayer unto them.
Speaker:This is a shift in gears for Jeremiah.
Speaker:Uh, they've gone too far, basically similar to what we see in the book
Speaker:of Mormon with Mormon, that there is a phase where he's directed
Speaker:not to pray for them anymore.
Speaker:They've gone too far off and they will need to be destroyed.
Speaker:Um, and you can see why when you go a little bit further in 18,
Speaker:the their children gather wood.
Speaker:This is kind of haunting cuz by the end of the chapter you're gonna see that
Speaker:they're struggling with child sacrifice.
Speaker:So you get the feeling that maybe they are, you know, at least they're
Speaker:involving their children in this false worship, Having their kids gather
Speaker:wood for whatever they're doing and that that breaks the Lord's heart.
Speaker:Uh, millstones are heavy, you guys, so he's, he has very little tolerance for.
Speaker:Not, not just not teaching your children truth, but teaching them gross error.
Speaker:That is something that comes with heavy consequences.
Speaker:So he invites them in 23 to obey the voice.
Speaker:That's what he's asking.
Speaker:Obey my voice.
Speaker:Here's what I thought was really powerful about this, and I'll
Speaker:try to articulate it quickly.
Speaker:Basically what he's offering is he's saying, Love me first.
Speaker:Obey my voice and I will be your God.
Speaker:This is in 23.
Speaker:You shall be my people and walk in all the ways that I have commanded you,
Speaker:that I, that it may be well onto you.
Speaker:They're starting to distort the commandments.
Speaker:They're starting to set aside their love of God and love others instead,
Speaker:and it's causing their downfall.
Speaker:What it reminds me of is, so Jack, my autistic son, when he was growing
Speaker:up, sometimes it was particularly tricky with primary, cuz you only have
Speaker:primary teachers for a little short season and a lot of substitutes and.
Speaker:Primary was just hard.
Speaker:And I would have a couple teachers come to me and say, Oh, I love Jack.
Speaker:I love having Jack in class.
Speaker:And as a mom I was like, Yes, there's somebody who gets Jack.
Speaker:And you know, you just rejoice in that.
Speaker:And then I would go and pop into their class, or maybe even be the second
Speaker:person as a substitute sometimes.
Speaker:And you'd see their version of love was to let Jack do anything he wanted.
Speaker:Uh, and he's a pretty high functioning kid, so he would be like climbing on
Speaker:the tables and laying under chairs and yelling out in the middle of class.
Speaker:And I was like, No, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker:He can sit still.
Speaker:Like he can learn.
Speaker:Don't, this is not loving Jack.
Speaker:But in their mind, cuz they didn't understand they thought it was, And
Speaker:so then I had to kind of say, there are boundaries to really love Jack, it
Speaker:means you give him boundaries, you give him structure, you help him progress.
Speaker:That's what I feel like the Lord is trying to teach through Jeremiah.
Speaker:If you really.
Speaker:To really show that I love you.
Speaker:I am pushing you and channeling you towards progression, towards coming
Speaker:closer to who you are intended to be.
Speaker:And this I, I believe in all kinds of gods.
Speaker:And I open myself to any doctrine.
Speaker:And this idea of I'm gonna set the real God and his commandments aside,
Speaker:will never lead you to happiness.
Speaker:Wickedness never was happiness.
Speaker:That's what he is trying to teach.
Speaker:And I think it's really critical for us today.
Speaker:Cause I think in this world where you are told to have love for everyone
Speaker:and allow everything and it's, everything is fine and there's no
Speaker:wrong, that's basically Jack in a primary room jumping on top of tables.
Speaker:It is happiness, it is not progress.
Speaker:And the Lord knows for us to feel joy, we need to become like him.
Speaker:And that takes commandments, that takes funneling, and that's what
Speaker:Jeremiah is trying to teach them.
Speaker:So he sent all these profits to try and help and they just, Don't listen.
Speaker:In fact, I love what you see at the end of 24.
Speaker:And they went backwards and off forwards.
Speaker:That's what I felt in that primary room with Jack.
Speaker:He had just gone backwards and not forwards.
Speaker:Thankfully, there was ways to course correct and we could get him back on
Speaker:track, but it was that, that's what this passage taught me this week.
Speaker:Um, he talks about how often he's reached out to them, like in 27.
Speaker:I've reached out to them.
Speaker:I call onto them, but they will not answer.
Speaker:They've created abomination in this temple.
Speaker:They're doing things grossly wrong on holy sacred ground and that can't be tolerated.
Speaker:And so he warns about a fire that's coming that there will be trouble.
Speaker:Um, I commend them, not neither came they into my heart.
Speaker:That's at the end of 31.
Speaker:They're building alters.
Speaker:They're sacrificing children and.
Speaker:That can't continue.
Speaker:He has zero tolerance for the abuse of children.
Speaker:And you can learn more about that in the notes, but I, I think
Speaker:it's a powerful, strong voice.
Speaker:Um, and then one of the most haunting things about what
Speaker:they're losing is the lack of joy.
Speaker:So in 34 you can see that eventually Jerusalem's gonna get destroyed,
Speaker:and there will be no merth.
Speaker:The voice of gladness will be gone.
Speaker:They were intended to be a joyous delight some people, and they will
Speaker:experience sorrow in a profound way, and all of that will be gone.
Speaker:All of that joy and light and brightness will be gone as
Speaker:they get carried off into baby.
Speaker:There is a loneliness in Jeremiah's discipleship that
Speaker:just makes your heart hurt.
Speaker:It's what I felt when I read moron's words that as the last of the ne fights,
Speaker:that means he likely didn't have a wife and he didn't have children, or if he
Speaker:did, they didn't last as long as he did.
Speaker:And which Jeremiah, he's expressly directed not to have those things, Not
Speaker:to take a wife in this wicked place.
Speaker:Not to have children, not to celebrate with people, not to
Speaker:even lament or mourn people.
Speaker:He's supposed to lead this kind of isolated life.
Speaker:But what's particularly hard, I think about Jeremiah's stewardship is
Speaker:he's directed to lead this isolated life, but still live among them.
Speaker:So he's not like John the Baptist who lives in the wilderness right time,
Speaker:or you know, like he doesn't, he doesn't live apart, He lives among.
Speaker:But, but not really.
Speaker:And that's hard.
Speaker:That's a hard stewardship to manage.
Speaker:Um, but he honors it and then he continues to teach them as he sees their
Speaker:decline, he continues to teach them.
Speaker:Um, and it's just hard because I imagine he's watching
Speaker:people fall apart around him.
Speaker:We know he's gonna see death and he's gonna see destruction.
Speaker:Uh, but he's just, you know, when you're as a parent, when you can see your kids
Speaker:heading down a road that you can see so clearly where it, where it goes.
Speaker:And he, his stewardship is to continue to teach them even
Speaker:though they don't wanna hear.
Speaker:And then to watch, um, and, and see, uh, and be a witness to.
Speaker:What happens when you don't obey the commandments of God?
Speaker:That's Jeremiah's role is to basically teach us, because the people in his
Speaker:generation didn't learn the same way we saw with Mormon and Morona, that
Speaker:so much of their words were focused on us because his people won't hear
Speaker:and there's just this drought of joy.
Speaker:You know, they had a physical drought without rain, but I think.
Speaker:Drought of joy that he is also experiencing.
Speaker:That must be profoundly hard for Jeremiah to tackle.
Speaker:But he stays in his stewardship and he says, and around 11
Speaker:that they're gonna come.
Speaker:The children's Israel will come and say, Why have all these hard things happened?
Speaker:And the answer will be because your father's turned away from God
Speaker:and in fact you guys are worse.
Speaker:That's basically what Jeremiah says in 11 and 12.
Speaker:Um, and the result is this exile and slavery.
Speaker:But he brings up hope in the last half of chapter 16 where he
Speaker:talks about the gathering coming.
Speaker:One of the things I thought was really powerful is he sounds a
Speaker:little bit like President Nelson cuz he talks about the Red Sea.
Speaker:So this is around 14.
Speaker:There will be a point in the future when people won't keep talking about
Speaker:the Red Sea as the greatest miracle and the greatest deliverance story.
Speaker:The greatest story will be the gathering that comes.
Speaker:And this was cool to me cause I always picture, when I picture
Speaker:the gathering, we don't sometimes appreciate the miracle that it is.
Speaker:Imagine if you took like a.
Speaker:Big, big container of glitter , and you shook it outside and the winds
Speaker:carried it in all different directions.
Speaker:The gathering is basically promising that every single piece of glitter and
Speaker:all the glitter children generations later will be brought back into that
Speaker:container that, I mean, it's, that's the visual I have in my head when I
Speaker:picture the gathering, and it's going to be a greater miracle than the world
Speaker:has ever seen, and that's what President Nelson is speaking about right now.
Speaker:This invitation to watch for miracles, to be a part of the greatest miracle that
Speaker:is happening in the world is happening right now as we gather hearts to Christ.
Speaker:, and I love the way he describes how that's gonna happen.
Speaker:So this is around 16 where he talks about the fishers and the hunters.
Speaker:This is an epic missionary verse, right?
Speaker:He's basically saying that some will be gathered like fish in a net, that
Speaker:they'll be gathered in big groups and you know, missions that are like this,
Speaker:where you have lots of conversions.
Speaker:And then you have missions like my husbands that are much more like a hunter
Speaker:type mission, where it's just one to one.
Speaker:And I love it as a missionary story.
Speaker:I also really love it on the other side of the veil.
Speaker:Cause remember the gathering is anything on either side of the veil
Speaker:that brings people to Jesus Christ.
Speaker:So if you think about this verse in a family history way, oh my gosh,
Speaker:it's such a good verse because this happens with family history.
Speaker:There are times when you cast out Annette and you find a whole branch
Speaker:of a family tree that you didn't know existed or new technology comes
Speaker:forward and then all of a sudden we have records that we never had before.
Speaker:And it's like, you know, boats overflowing with phish and then sometimes in
Speaker:family history is like being hunter.
Speaker:You literally are digging for this one record or this one name and you,
Speaker:you get divine intervention after a season of hard and answers come.
Speaker:I love this verse for both and I think that's a really
Speaker:important thing to teach our.
Speaker:That the gathering is happening on both sides of the veil.
Speaker:And as much as I want them to be invigorated and excited, my boys
Speaker:took a tour of the MTC this week and I love how excited they are.
Speaker:I want that same excitement on the other side of the veil that they'll see
Speaker:themselves as fishers and gatherers and hunters on that side of the veil as well.
Speaker:So watch for that In chapter 16.
Speaker:Uh, he also warns about false gods and how that's gonna get in their way.
Speaker:And at the end he promises what will happen at the end 21.
Speaker:Therefore behold for this one, sorry.
Speaker:Therefore behold, I will this once cause them to know I will cause
Speaker:them to know my hand and my mind.
Speaker:And they shall though that my name is the Lord.
Speaker:When this gathering occurs, it will not just be geographical, it will
Speaker:be their hearts will know who he is.
Speaker:And that's a big piece of the gathering as well, that we're not just bringing
Speaker:people in, we're teaching them who he is, and that eventually they will know
Speaker:that all men will know there's just an easier road to get there in a harder one.
Speaker:And he's inviting you to take the easier one.
Speaker:Remember when I told you that I think Jeremiah is a very visual learner.
Speaker:Chapter 17 is where you see that come out in spades cuz he uses all these
Speaker:different metaphors to teach you things and some of them are phenomenal, you guys.
Speaker:So he talks about in verse one, how their inequities are engrave on their hearts,
Speaker:just how we've seen other prophets speak about how testimony can be engrave on
Speaker:your heart, your inequities can as well.
Speaker:What I think he's trying to teach the children of Israel is their sins are
Speaker:so deep because they've not only turned away from the light, but they've turned
Speaker:towards things like child sacrifice.
Speaker:But their sins are so deep that it's gonna take a long time for those wounds to heal.
Speaker:It will take generations upon generations for those wounds to fully heal.
Speaker:And he wants them to understand that they're trusting the arm of the flesh.
Speaker:That's what you see in five.
Speaker:But for me, some of the meatiest parts of this chapter are six, seven, and.
Speaker:First, he talks about the results of this trusting in the arm of the
Speaker:flesh, trusting in what man can do.
Speaker:He says, You'll basically be as a bush in the desert, a heath in the desert.
Speaker:You shall not see when good come, but shall inhabit the parched places in the
Speaker:wilderness in salt land and not inhabited.
Speaker:I feel this sometimes when my discipleship points that I stop seeing good.
Speaker:In fact, I start to doubt that goods even out there.
Speaker:Um, you start to plant yourself in parched places and then you're offended that
Speaker:there's no water and you start to think that maybe nobody has water, you know?
Speaker:Have you felt that with, I remember experiencing that with Revelation
Speaker:as a late teens, you know, early twenties kind of disciple, of course,
Speaker:that I started when I didn't get revelation the way I expected to, or
Speaker:I didn't understand it very well, I started to wonder if it was even real.
Speaker:Maybe you've had similar experiences, but I was like, maybe everybody's
Speaker:just making this up, or maybe even worse, they're not making it up and
Speaker:I'm the only one that can't hear it.
Speaker:I was planting myself in parched places and then saying, Where's the water?
Speaker:You told me the water would show up.
Speaker:And so he's inviting them to go to deeper, richer soil.
Speaker:That's what you see in seven and eight.
Speaker:It's this incredible visual.
Speaker:He says, Blessed it as the man that trusted than the Lord, and whose hope
Speaker:in the Lord is for he shall be as a tree planted by the waters that spread
Speaker:it out her roots by the river and shall not see when heat come with her.
Speaker:Leaf shall be green and she'll be and shall not be careful in
Speaker:the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
Speaker:They're literally living in a time of drought.
Speaker:That's one of the ways Jeremiah was hoping their hearts would turn.
Speaker:They just didn't.
Speaker:So he's using the visuals of those trees that you see that are planted by water.
Speaker:Those are still thriving.
Speaker:That could be you.
Speaker:What I love about this visual is this happens for me all the time where I feel
Speaker:like I'm living in a season of drought.
Speaker:Not all the time, that's maybe an extreme, but lots of times there are
Speaker:times when I'm like, Lift the drought.
Speaker:You know, I pray for miracles.
Speaker:It happens.
Speaker:Okay?
Speaker:I feel parched and dry, and I feel like oftentimes the
Speaker:answer is, Maria, look down.
Speaker:I've planted you right next to this well of living water, this river that
Speaker:is gently flowing around your roots.
Speaker:It's the same revelation I got when we, I was studying Elijah and learned that I
Speaker:need to see those chariots that I, I can't always see them, but if I pray to see
Speaker:the chariots he'll, he'll show me that he sent me all this relief and reinforcement.
Speaker:He's not gonna lift the drought.
Speaker:This cancer is not going anywhere, but he will send me this stream
Speaker:of nourishing water and if I will stay planted right there.
Speaker:In fact, if I will deliberately let my roots spread out, those
Speaker:are Jeremiah's words and sink deep into that rich, nourished soil,
Speaker:I'll have the nourishment I need.
Speaker:Rain doesn't always have to come from above.
Speaker:Sometimes the moisture you need comes from the soil.
Speaker:And oh, I can testify that's true, that there are these tender mercies
Speaker:and these miracles that flow around my feet as I endure this drought
Speaker:and my whole family does, right?
Speaker:And he's just inviting you to look at the fruit.
Speaker:There is still fruit to be eaten.
Speaker:There is still green leaves on those trees.
Speaker:Plant yourself by the living waters.
Speaker:Isn't that just an incredible image?
Speaker:And then he promises intent.
Speaker:Another powerful thing, he says, The Lord will search your heart.
Speaker:He will try your reigns.
Speaker:This is basically what you read in Alma.
Speaker:In fact, you go in the notes, you can see all these scriptures
Speaker:that I packed together.
Speaker:But this is teaching about the desires of your heart.
Speaker:That the Lord sees the desire of your hearts and he judges
Speaker:you based on the desires.
Speaker:That's really powerful doctrine for parents, because sometimes you guys,
Speaker:I can't see the fruit of my laborers at all, and he's so hard because you
Speaker:think he's gonna be so disappointed.
Speaker:And I probably, it's probably this, I probably made this mistake and this
Speaker:mistake, and you start to kind of tally up all the struggle and you think I'm a mess.
Speaker:And what he's saying is I, I'm not looking there.
Speaker:I'm not looking at the fruit.
Speaker:I'm looking at the desire of your heart.
Speaker:What did you want to have happen?
Speaker:What did you hope would occur?
Speaker:Where was your hope, Maria?
Speaker:And.
Speaker:Where the judgment comes.
Speaker:That's why you can prevail and still look like you're failing.
Speaker:If you look at a Benita situation, he prevailed in his moment, even
Speaker:though he was burned after testifying, he prevailed in that moment
Speaker:where he let his light shine out, literally shine out from his face.
Speaker:He never got to meet Alma.
Speaker:He never got to see the fruits, but he prevailed.
Speaker:You can prevail and still look like you have failed because it's all
Speaker:about the desires of your heart.
Speaker:In fact, Eler Maxwell has a great quote in the notes where he basically
Speaker:says not just that piece, but that God weighs how hard it is.
Speaker:I pictures like, you know, in the Olympics, how.
Speaker:They base your score on the degree of difficulty and how well you accomplish it.
Speaker:, that's what Eldor Maxwell is teaching.
Speaker:That the degree of difficulty for you to honor that commandment, for you
Speaker:to stick with that kid that's so hard for you to stick with the commandments
Speaker:of God despite the difficulty that that's factored into your judgment.
Speaker:And I just love that piece of the doctrine.
Speaker:So go on the notes.
Speaker:You can learn more about that.
Speaker:He invites them back to the living waters.
Speaker:He invites them.
Speaker:He says at some point they're gonna say, Where is God?
Speaker:This is in 15.
Speaker:Where is the word of the Lord?
Speaker:Let it come.
Speaker:Now, I love this cuz this is me a lot of times where I'm just like,
Speaker:You know, sometimes my discipleship will wane, and then when I need him,
Speaker:I'll get desperate and fall to my knees and be like, Where are you?
Speaker:You said you would come and he'll gently, you know, remind me that that takes some
Speaker:time to develop that relationship again.
Speaker:And that's where the children of Israel are.
Speaker:They're gonna, they're gonna fall to their knees and want him back,
Speaker:but they won't necessarily get him.
Speaker:And it's gonna take some time.
Speaker:And, but then Jeremiah in his humble way, basically says, I'm still here.
Speaker:I, I choose to stay.
Speaker:He's reminding the Lord.
Speaker:I think it says a lot about Jeremiah's heart, that he's
Speaker:always reminding the Lord.
Speaker:You're still my hope.
Speaker:Even if nobody else believes you.
Speaker:When you flip the page, you see this Hail Mary pass.
Speaker:Basically, it's like that.
Speaker:He's saying to the children of Israel, you still have a chance.
Speaker:You cannot fall farther than the light of Christ shines.
Speaker:Honor the SBA day, honor the Sabbath day, and he will call you his.
Speaker:It's this, you know, like if you've ever seen a half court shot in
Speaker:a basketball game when, when the buzzer's about to go, that's kind of
Speaker:what he's inviting them to do here.
Speaker:He's saying, You're almost out of time.
Speaker:Do this commandment and it might change things.
Speaker:It might save you.
Speaker:And they say no.
Speaker:That refusal of the children of Israel to take or catch that hail Mary pass
Speaker:must have been a heavy blow for Jeremiah.
Speaker:Cause he's still got a lot of his ministry to go.
Speaker:And again, remember, these aren't chronological.
Speaker:So I'm not sure these are all tied together.
Speaker:No matter where Jeriah is at in his ministry, he's dealing with that struggle.
Speaker:And I wonder if that's setting the stage for what we see in chapter
Speaker:18, because it seems like the Lord's teaching him in a new way.
Speaker:I, I think in my mind, I picture Jeremiah at a low point where
Speaker:he's wondering if anyone will hear and if it's even worth his time.
Speaker:And the Lord says, Come, this is what I love about 18.
Speaker:It is, um, it teaches me how, how the Lord parents his prophets.
Speaker:Because he says to him, Come to the Potters house and I'll speak to you.
Speaker:And if I were Jeremiah and I was frustrated already, I'd be like,
Speaker:Oh, what's at the Potters house?
Speaker:You know, like, there you just, But he doesn't, He goes, he goes to the
Speaker:Potter's house trusting that there must be something for him there.
Speaker:It's almost the way Nefi goes into the city not knowing
Speaker:beforehand the things he will do.
Speaker:He doesn't know what kind of revelation he's gonna get.
Speaker:He just knows that the Lord said, Take this next right step.
Speaker:The next right step is to go to a place where pottery is made.
Speaker:I want you to go there.
Speaker:Doesn't know why.
Speaker:He just goes cuz he is like nefi.
Speaker:He'll go and he'll do and he trusts that there's a reason behind it.
Speaker:And then he sees this cool object lesson play out in front of him,
Speaker:kind of similar to what we talked about last week at the end of Isaiah,
Speaker:that he sees a potter throwing clay.
Speaker:Now this is a potter who's got a spinning wheel.
Speaker:And if you've ever, I took ceramics three times.
Speaker:, I was, I was pro at ceramic.
Speaker:So this is the, you take the, you know, ball of clay that's wet and
Speaker:you have to throw it at the center.
Speaker:And if you hit even a little bit off center, your whole vase is gonna be wonky.
Speaker:So you don't keep making the vase, you scrape it off and you re-wet
Speaker:it and then you throw it again.
Speaker:And once you get it perfectly centered, in fact there's a
Speaker:whole conference stock on this.
Speaker:You guys, once you get it perfectly centered, then you can
Speaker:create this beautiful vessel.
Speaker:That's the object lesson that the Lord is using to teach Jeremiah.
Speaker:Here's what I think is so cool about this.
Speaker:Jeremiah is a prophet.
Speaker:He clearly knows how to hear the voice of God.
Speaker:But God is, he knows Jeremiah's eyes and he's like, You are a visual learner.
Speaker:I'm gonna show you something.
Speaker:He does this for me all the time.
Speaker:I can't even tell you the number of revelations I've received as I'm going
Speaker:about my weird mothering day to day life.
Speaker:He'll use things like Jack's experience in primary to teach me
Speaker:profound lessons about honoring God.
Speaker:He'll use things in a hospital or think like in my daily life to teach me in
Speaker:my language what he needs me to know.
Speaker:And I just think that's cool that even with prophets, that's how he teaches.
Speaker:So he, he gets the revelation he needs.
Speaker:Basically what the Lord is teaching is he's saying, Don't lose hope in me.
Speaker:I can do all things.
Speaker:If this potter can take a broken, you know, mess up piece of clay and rewet
Speaker:it and rero it and create a beautiful vessel, don't you think I can do the
Speaker:same thing with the children of Israel?
Speaker:Don't you think if they turn to me even a little fraction that I can.
Speaker:I can help them, I can reform them, reshape them.
Speaker:They're not gonna be the same vessel I intended them to be, but they can
Speaker:be a beautiful vessel, all the same.
Speaker:Don't lose hope.
Speaker:It's this beautiful message of reinforcement to a prophet who probably is
Speaker:struggling under the weight of rejection.
Speaker:And isn't that just kind?
Speaker:Uh, it just is the character of Christ to teach this way?
Speaker:I think so.
Speaker:He warrants them in eight.
Speaker:If that nation against whom I have pronounced, turned from their
Speaker:evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.
Speaker:There's jst all over the place.
Speaker:This is the Lord doesn't need to repent.
Speaker:This is him changing.
Speaker:He's relenting.
Speaker:He's setting aside the punishment they could have had.
Speaker:This is what I think is so fun about this.
Speaker:I think I've said this before, but I, I always picture.
Speaker:When I hear that phrase that Christ is the author and the finisher of our
Speaker:faith, I actually think of him like an author . I think of this with Heavenly
Speaker:Father too, that they're like the ultimate choose your own adventure author.
Speaker:They don't just have this one plan for us.
Speaker:They have an a myriad of plans.
Speaker:There oftentimes is a golden one.
Speaker:I think that he hopes we will take the same way.
Speaker:He's showing that I have a plan for the children of Israel.
Speaker:If they will honor my commandments, it's gonna be they
Speaker:can stay in this golden city.
Speaker:They can keep this temple and we will be good.
Speaker:There's a golden plan, but there's also this constant rerouting that if I veer
Speaker:off that plan, he will create a new one.
Speaker:If I get rammed by someone else's agency, in those intersections of agency that
Speaker:we've talking about, that we've talked about in the past, he will reroute because
Speaker:he's a choose your own adventure author.
Speaker:He's saying, Okay, Maria, you chose to go to BYU and not the U.
Speaker:Okay, here's this new plan.
Speaker:Let's get you on track.
Speaker:He can help me develop the characteristics of Christ in all kinds of ways.
Speaker:We've even seen it in the Old Testament where he can help you
Speaker:develop the characteristics of Christ through the repentance process.
Speaker:When you make big mistakes, he'll teach you in the desert and in the lush places
Speaker:he'll find you and he will teach you.
Speaker:You just have to have an open heart.
Speaker:But I love that understanding cuz in this chapter you see him sort of
Speaker:lay out, If the children of Israel choose this path, it looks like a new
Speaker:choose your own adventure chapter.
Speaker:If they turn to page 63, they're going to get this plan.
Speaker:If they turn, turn to page 84, they're gonna get this plan.
Speaker:And you, Jeremiah, are supposed to lay out both options.
Speaker:Isn't that just a, a simple way?
Speaker:Maybe that's just my simple mind, but I love that he
Speaker:articulates that in these verses.
Speaker:And he talks about their, their reaction.
Speaker:It's 12.
Speaker:They say basically to Jeremiah, We don't have any hope.
Speaker:We're gonna do our own thing.
Speaker:It just, they just sound like teenagers to me.
Speaker:And Jeremiah must be so frustrated after so many efforts where
Speaker:he's, he got this revelation.
Speaker:He knows direct from the Lord what to do.
Speaker:He went to the Potter's house.
Speaker:He, it's a really clear instruction.
Speaker:And then he goes and he teaches it to the people and they say, Actually,
Speaker:we're gonna do our own thing.
Speaker:Haven't you felt like that as a parent?
Speaker:, I feel like that lots of time where I'm like, I, I know this is the right choice.
Speaker:I prayed about it.
Speaker:I know this is what you're supposed to do.
Speaker:And they.
Speaker:Actually, I'm gonna kind of do my own thing and ugh, just right it,
Speaker:that, it just breaks your heart.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So they, he talks about in 15 that the people have forgotten him.
Speaker:They're burning inces, incense, they're stumbling in their paths.
Speaker:And so the result is hard.
Speaker:They're gonna be scattered.
Speaker:That's, that's the end result.
Speaker:Just like we saw with the northern tribes, they, they get scattered.
Speaker:That will happen with Juda as well.
Speaker:And so the rest of it talks about that.
Speaker:It also talks about how they turn against jeriah, similar to how your
Speaker:teenagers sometimes turn against you and say mean things in the moment.
Speaker:They're doing things to Jeremiah that are just awful and hard.
Speaker:They are digging pits for him.
Speaker:They are, these are his friends, his family.
Speaker:They are turning against him and he feels that, and it's, you can hear him ache
Speaker:a little bit by the end of chapter 18.
Speaker:I almost wish we didn't end on chapter 20 cause it's heavy guys.
Speaker:This is one of Jeremiah's Liberty jail type moments.
Speaker:Um, and it's hard to read what happens in verse one is, uh, the chief priest at
Speaker:the temple, it sounds like, or at least one of the high officials judges him.
Speaker:This is, you're gonna get a lot of Christ type images in your mind as you read in
Speaker:chapter 20 cuz he's mocked, he's beaten and he's put in stocks, left there
Speaker:overnight and then brought forth and.
Speaker:It just is sort of, sort of haunting because this happens right outside
Speaker:the temple, which is really similar to what happened to the savior.
Speaker:You know, he is in that exact same geographic, like within a mile ish,
Speaker:maybe even right there to where Christ had to stand before Roman leaders.
Speaker:And you know, I, I think this is a type of Christ moment for Jeremiah and it's
Speaker:hard to read because he's struggling.
Speaker:What's interesting is Jeremiah has some words for pastor who's this official.
Speaker:He basically says, Your, your name is changed.
Speaker:This is one of those times where a name is not changed for the better.
Speaker:If he's saying, The Lord calls you something else because now
Speaker:your name means something heavier, this is his a benini moment.
Speaker:You know where a Ben, I came out to Noah and said, You're
Speaker:gonna get burned just as I am.
Speaker:That's basically what he's saying to pastor, You're gonna get destroyed,
Speaker:Your family's gonna get carried into Babylon, everybody's gonna die.
Speaker:And all that does occur.
Speaker:But I think what's pivotal in this chapter is understanding.
Speaker:What's happening in Jeremiah's heart.
Speaker:So he basically says he reaches kind of a breaking point and he says in
Speaker:seven, Oh Lord, that has deceived me.
Speaker:And I was deceived that art's stronger than I and has prevailed.
Speaker:I'm in derision daily, everyone mocks me.
Speaker:He is, I think, shocked at how hard this calling is.
Speaker:I think every prophet experiences this.
Speaker:I don't know that personally, but boy, we've read a lot of them.
Speaker:Um, I think parents experience this.
Speaker:Don't you feel like that after, you know, people tell you about
Speaker:childbearing and people tell, then you're shocked at how hard it is.
Speaker:I remember seeing our first grandson come to be, you know, and that watching
Speaker:that labor process for Hannah and there was a point, that's my oldest.
Speaker:There was a point when I think she was shocked at how hard it was.
Speaker:And as a mom you just are like, I know, I'm sorry.
Speaker:It's gonna be worth it.
Speaker:Um, and that's where he's at.
Speaker:Uh, he's, it's so hard.
Speaker:And then in nine he says, Then I said, I will not make a mention
Speaker:of him nor speak anymore.
Speaker:His name, he, I don't think he's quitting.
Speaker:I think Jeremiah is thinking maybe he's doing more harm than good.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:Have you ever had that spot where you worry that the words you say by
Speaker:bearing testimony that you're, they'll, you're turning more people away?
Speaker:I've had that just recently where I'm like, Oh, by testifying in that moment,
Speaker:did I actually turn more people away?
Speaker:Cuz they really wanted me to say something more comfortable.
Speaker:And that's how I picture Jeremiah cuz I don't think he's
Speaker:quitting on being a prophet.
Speaker:He's just hurting.
Speaker:And he's worried that by other people, seeing how hard his life is and being
Speaker:mocked and beaten, that they're not gonna become disciples by seeing him.
Speaker:Um, that's my theory.
Speaker:And he says this, but his word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my
Speaker:bones and I was weary with forbearing.
Speaker:I could not stay.
Speaker:He is an un shaken saint.
Speaker:He cannot be shaken.
Speaker:The testimony that he has is so deeply like in the marrow of his
Speaker:bones, um, that he can't hold it in.
Speaker:In fact, it's exhausting to try and hold it in.
Speaker:If you've ever been in a situation where I, I was invited to be on a podcast once
Speaker:to talk about Jason's cancer situation, and they expressly asked me not to
Speaker:speak about the gospel and I ended up declining being on the podcast, cuz
Speaker:honestly, I can't talk about Jason's cancer and not talk about the gospel.
Speaker:They are so enmeshed in my brain and in my heart.
Speaker:I can't extract one from the other.
Speaker:And that's where he's at.
Speaker:He's like, I, I actually can't.
Speaker:I, I have so much in me.
Speaker:Remember, he's been touched.
Speaker:He's a stone, a clear stone that has been lit up by God and he,
Speaker:he can't keep that light back.
Speaker:It's not his light.
Speaker:It's just gonna come out.
Speaker:So he does.
Speaker:He continues to preach.
Speaker:His family turns against him.
Speaker:I mean, literally his familiars is what it said here.
Speaker:So it's his neighbors, his friends, his family.
Speaker:They don't just turn against him, They try to kill him.
Speaker:This is a nehi with his brother's moment, and it's hard.
Speaker:And he wonders if it's all worth it.
Speaker:He knows the Lord.
Speaker:So you see him 12, But oh Lord of hosts that trias the righteous,
Speaker:sexiest, that reigns of the heart.
Speaker:He knows this is a trial.
Speaker:He knows the Lord is still close, but he wonders just like joke
Speaker:did should I have even been born?
Speaker:That's what you'll see at the end of 20, where he's like, Why didn't
Speaker:you even let me live past the womb?
Speaker:Why didn't you just let me go?
Speaker:And it was that phrase about the womb that brought my mind
Speaker:back to where we first began.
Speaker:In Jeremiah one verse five where he talks about.
Speaker:I knew you before you got to that belly.
Speaker:I, I know you, I have anointed you.
Speaker:You have a work to do.
Speaker:It's that Moses moment, that Enoch moment that this phrasing.
Speaker:We don't have those verses right here, but that must have been brought back for me.
Speaker:It was a reminder of like what Oliver Cowdry had in DNC six where
Speaker:he was invited to cast his mind back on Revelation he already received.
Speaker:I kind of wish I could say that to Jeremiah right here.
Speaker:Cast your mind back and remember what you learned about why
Speaker:you came out of that womb.
Speaker:Why did you need to be a teacher at this place and at this time, even
Speaker:though it's so hard and there's no evidence of the good you're doing is
Speaker:all about you knowing there's this great quote in the notes about, I'm
Speaker:trying to remember who it's from.
Speaker:It's semi my margins, Hupy Brown.
Speaker:And he talks about the difficulty of Abraham's moment of severe trial with
Speaker:Isaac and that Abraham needed to know what he was made of, basically that it wasn't
Speaker:so much that God was trying to prove.
Speaker:Abraham to God was he was trying to prove Abraham to Abraham.
Speaker:And haven't you had those moments where you endure something so hard and then
Speaker:you take on extra callings or extra weight because you know what's the right
Speaker:thing to do, but you're scared of the weight and then all of a sudden you
Speaker:realize that like, Oh wait, I'm yolked in and this yolk is splitting this
Speaker:burden in a way that is amazing to me.
Speaker:Like it's this.
Speaker:That's where you get those miracle moments like we saw in the Book of
Speaker:Mormon, where you can't feel the burdens on your back or they're lighter.
Speaker:At least that's what he is inviting Jeremiah to understand.
Speaker:Um, but you have to let, you have to let your heart go into these hollow
Speaker:hard places with Jeremiah so that you can appreciate the man that he
Speaker:chooses to be in spite of all of them.
