SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/26/2014
8:07 AM
My Worship Time Focus: A Message
about Judah’s Sins PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jeremiah
17:1-4
Message of the
verses: We begin a new section in
our study of Jeremiah as we look at the 17th chapter of Jeremiah.
Idolatry (Jeremiah 17:1-4): “1 The sin of Judah is written down with an
iron stylus; With a diamond point it is engraved upon the tablet of their heart
And on the horns of their altars, 2 As
they remember their children, So they remember their altars and their Asherim
By green trees on the high hills. 3 O mountain of Mine in the countryside, I
will give over your wealth and all your treasures for booty, Your high places
for sin throughout your borders. 4 And
you will, even of yourself, let go of your inheritance That I gave you; And I
will make you serve your enemies In the land which you do not know; For you
have kindled a fire in My anger Which will burn forever.”
Jeremiah was against the sins of Judah and in this 17th
chapter of the book he wrote he will name six sins that Judah is guilty of,
starting out with the sin that the Lord was so displeased with, the sin of
Idolatry.
In this section Jeremiah describes what and where Judah
worshiped that went against the Word of God, and the God of the Word.
Judah like the rest of Israel had great opportunities to
worship the one True Living God, the God of creation, the God who sustains all
of His creation, the God who would send His Son to pay for the sins of the
world, the God who made known His Word to the people of Judah so that they
could get to know Him and so that they could pass it along to the next
generation. However they decided to live
like their neighbors, the people that they were suppose to destroy, but failed
to, and so they worshiped idols, which displeased the Lord.
God is a jealous God, and this is not something that is
bad when it comes to the Lord. The first
of the Ten Commandments states “3
"You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 "You shall not make for yourself an
idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in
the water under the earth. 5 “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I,
the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on
the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6
but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My
commandments.” Israel knew this and yet
cared not to keep it.
My wife told me of some disturbing news that she heard on
the radio yesterday that “World Vision,” a ministry that she help to collect
money for, for a long time, and a ministry that we gave faithfully to for years
has decided to bow to the pressure of the homosexual movement and hire “married
homosexual couples” to work for them.
There is no difference with this organization and Judah in their sin of
idolatry for both sins are forbidden in the Word of God, and yet somehow both think
they could get away with it.
We will close with the Apostle John’s final admonition to
believers in his first letter that he wrote, “Little children, guard yourselves
from idols.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: May I do as John
writes and guard myself from idols.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to get me through the job that
I have to do this morning that it will bring glory to His name.
Memory verses for the
week: Philippians 2:5-10
5 Have this attitude in
yourself which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form
of God, did no regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied
Himself, taking on the form of a bond-servant, being made in the likeness of
men. 8 Being found in appearance as a
man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death
on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God
highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10
so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven
and on earth and under the earth,
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Peter” (John 21:3).
Today’s Bible
question: “In what city did Josiah
reign?”
Answer in our next SD.
3/26/2014 8:34 AM
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