Last night we tackled Jeremiah 9. Chris, Aaron, Smitty, Zach, Danielmatt...LEw... were all part of the night...
We saw in this chapter how the God who will do "whatever it takes" had reached the end of the line with His people... He was now forced by their persistence in evil, to destroy their cities, culture, families, even kill many of them in the Babylonian Captivity...
In this book, God is giving his last set of warnings before sending the nation off for 70 years of captivity...
Here are Key verses from the chapter, and other references to them that we discussed:
Jer. 9:1--is this JEremiah talking, or God?
*Matt. 23:37-39
*John 11:35
*Gethsemane when JEsus wept and groaned in the garden...
Jer. 9:9
*God is yearning for other options, but must punish
*see Sodom and Gomorrha in Genesis 18-20. Read it thoroughly...Jer. 9:16-21
*See Zechariah 12:10-13:2
*this is us, here. We must learn to weep...to be poor in Spirit before the God who is calling us to complete holiness of love...
Jer. 9:7 The Crucible
*a discussion of how metal is refined through melting and skimming, which reduces it's apparent greatness and size.
*a discussion of how a plow tip, or sword is fashioned into usefulness through heating, flattening (pounding), folding, cooling, heating, flattening, folding, cooling... again and again in trials and disciplines...
*Ecclesiastes 3--this is a part of theseasons of life for a disciple of Christ....
*Romans 5--this is for glory and perseverance and hope...
*this is from the God who will do "whatever it takes" to get us lined up with him..
Jer. 9:27 and fllowing
*Ezekiel 16:49--the sin of Sodom...
*Micah 6:8
*Isaiah 58
*Luke 14
the only way to overcome the greed that led judah and jerusalem into this judgment is by sharing and giving our table and our lives to the cause of the poor among us... by abiding in the vine of Christ, bearing it's fruit... applying our faith to cry out to the Father to grant us the works of the Cross-life...
not by deciding what to do and what sounds good and just doing it... many go astray by takign their zeal too seriously... we must learn to wait and pray... in that waiting and praying, God will reveal our works...
Read John 3, especially the end verses
read ephesians 2, especially 7-11
think of phillipians 1 where it says He is faithful to complete the work
Think of Titus where it says to be eager for good works
think of Timothy and faith working itself out in love...
this is the goal of our teaching! Mercy!
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
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you know, vs. 25 at the end really stuck out to me...people only having a circumcision of the flesh...
i looked up circumcision in some of the epistles
Galatians 4:28-31
6:2-15
6:12-16
Colossians 2:20-23
circumcision has it's benefits, but if one does not have the right attitude about it, it is meaningless, and can even be a religious coverup for those who don't want to walk the way of the cross or obedience...
i see in my own life so many times i've tried to use religious symbols or shows to prove my identity or importance, or to avoid the way of suffering or humiliation. but we see in romans 9 that it's not about geneolgies and signs....
it's not even about what i can do...it's about a sober acceptance of God's grace, his longing for a sinner like me...and trying to use any sort of symbol of the flesh (such as circumcision) is pointless if there is no heart change there...
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