Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Avatar
0 Plays2 seconds ago

If you would like to download my FREE calendar for keeping track of your commitment to read the Bible every day, you can find that on my site, here:     https://www.inthefamilywaycoaching.com/pages/read-the-bible-in-1-year

Monthly memberships to support this event can be purchased on my site, here: https://www.inthefamilywaycoaching.com/offering_packages

Today's reading will cover Jeremiah Chapters 21, 22:1-9, and 34:1-7. Today we will read about King Zedekiah sending messengers to Jeremiah asking if God would do a miracle to save Judah from Babylon. God's answer is to remind the people that they are in this situation because of their sin, and if they want to live then they need to do what is right and good as well as surrender to the king of Babylon, otherwise they will die. In our discussion for daily application we will talk about doing God's will: doing what is right and fair, and not using God like a performer, whom we can look to for miracles while behaving however we want. We will look at Matthew 12:38-40. Some of the Torah Scholars and Pharisees told Jesus that they wanted to see a sign from Him. Jesus responded that it was an evil and adulterous generation that asks for a sign, and they would only receive the sign of Jonah. The king was asking for God to save Judah but his heart was not honoring or obeying God or looking to God for his salvation from Babylon. He only wanted God to save them by way of one of His miracles. We need to make sure that when we ask God about performing a miracle that we are coming to Him and asking for HIS will to be done, not our own.  

If you enjoyed today's reading and feel like God has lit YOUR light  today, please click the LIGHT button (it looks like a thumbs up or a heart) and consider subscribing to or following my channel, if you have not done so  already.

If you know someone who might be interested in reading the Bible with me this year please SHARE today's reading with them! It's never too late to join in! Let's help this event grow and together we can spread the word about reading God's Word! 


Recommended
Transcript

Introduction and Resources

00:00:03
Speaker
Well, here we are again. It's July 1st, and you are here with Robin at In the Family Way Coaching. And we're here for our daily Bible reading as we go through the Day by Day Kids Bible, written by Karen Henley.
00:00:16
Speaker
Thank you so much for joining me today, whether you are following along on your podcast or whether you're watching the video. I'm so glad that you're here. And welcome to Stevie. Thank you, Stevie, for joining this event.
00:00:28
Speaker
It was so awesome to see that you are now following the channel on YouTube. Thank you very much for being here. I'm so thankful that God has led you to be here.
00:00:40
Speaker
If you are following along on your commitment calendar, it's time to get that out and however you're marking that off because you're about to hear the Bible today.
00:00:52
Speaker
I do have July's calendar posted up there on the website, so if you are looking to download your own copy of the commitment calendar, feel free to head over there and do that because I've got it right up there and ready to go for you.
00:01:04
Speaker
You do not have to ah subscribe to anything or sign up for anything or enter your email address. Nothing. It's just there for you to download. I hope that you are, ah at least somebody is using that calendar and that you are enjoying it this year, even if you just need a calendar for your refrigerator.

Warnings to King Zedekiah

00:01:25
Speaker
Well, we are going to be picking up in the book of Jeremiah today. We are going to be covering Jeremiah chapter 21, a little bit of chapter 22, and a tiny bit of chapter 34.
00:01:37
Speaker
And today, our first section is entitled, A Way to Live, a Way to Die.
00:01:48
Speaker
Back in Jerusalem, King Zedekiah sent two men to Jeremiah. They said, Babylon is fighting us. Ask God about this, and maybe he will do something to make Babylon stop fighting.
00:02:04
Speaker
Jeremiah said to tell King Zedekiah these words from God. I am turning this fight against you. The people are fighting you outside the city walls, but i will bring them inside.
00:02:21
Speaker
I myself will fight against you with my anger, says God. I will kill people and animals in the city. They will die of sickness.
00:02:33
Speaker
Then I will give the people who are left to Babylon. I will give King Zedekiah to Babylon, says God. The king of Babylon will kill them.
00:02:45
Speaker
He won't feel sorry for them at all. I am showing you two ways, says God. One way is a way to live.
00:02:57
Speaker
The other way is a way to die. If you stay in the city, you'll die. But if you give up to Babylon, you will live.
00:03:09
Speaker
I have planned bad things for this city. says God. The king of Babylon will burn it down. These are my words for the king and his family, says God.
00:03:23
Speaker
Do what is fair every morning. Save people from others who are bringing them trouble. Help people who have been robbed.
00:03:34
Speaker
If you don't, I will be angry with you. And it's all because you have done what is wrong. I will bring you trouble because of your sins. the king's palace God told Jeremiah to go to the palace and give them this message.
00:03:55
Speaker
Hear what God says. Do what is right and fair. Don't do wrong. Be careful to obey my rules. Then your kings will come through the palace gates, says God.
00:04:12
Speaker
They will ride their chariots and horses. Their leaders and people will be with them. If you don't obey, i promise this, says God.
00:04:23
Speaker
The palace will turn into a pile of sticks and stones. You may be like the top of a mountain to me, but I will make you like a desert.
00:04:34
Speaker
Nobody will live in the towns. I'll send my people to get rid of you.

Consequences of Idolatry

00:04:40
Speaker
They'll bring their swords. They'll cut down your beautiful wooden posts.
00:04:45
Speaker
They'll burn them in the fire. People from many nations will pass this city. They'll ask why God did this to the great city. The answer will be that it's because they turned against God.
00:05:00
Speaker
They worshipped idols.
00:05:04
Speaker
Then God said to give King Zedekiah this message from God. I am getting ready to give this city to King babylon now king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
00:05:16
Speaker
He will burn it down. You won't get away from him. He will catch you. You will see him with your own eyes. He will talk to you.
00:05:27
Speaker
Then you will have to go to Babylon. But hear what God promises you, Zedekiah. You won't be killed. You will die in peace.
00:05:39
Speaker
The people will say good things about you. They will cry for you. So Jeremiah told this to King Zedekiah. All this time, Babylon was fighting Jerusalem.
00:05:54
Speaker
Only two other forts were left in Judah. And the people there were fighting too.
00:06:03
Speaker
That's the end of our reading today.

Call for Genuine Change

00:06:08
Speaker
So it sounds a little bit like what we've heard before, where God has warned the people that they need to surrender. And this was in response to their request for God to do some miraculous works to save them from Babylon.
00:06:25
Speaker
And God told them that this was being brought on because of their sins. He was not going to be doing any miraculous work for them. But more than that, we're going to look at the the wording in the Big Bible today for what they were asking him.
00:06:45
Speaker
They were not simply asking him if they would if he would save them. It's the way in which they worded it. You can tell how their hearts were. It says in verse 2 of Jeremiah chapter 21, where they have sent the messengers to Jeremiah,
00:07:04
Speaker
They are asking to deal with them according to all his wondrous miracles. They're miracles.
00:07:11
Speaker
the lord would deal with us and to wondrous miracles so that he would withdraw from us
00:07:19
Speaker
they are skin god to deal with them according to all his wondrous miracles they're hoping for miracles They are not choosing to do what God has been giving them a chance to do, to turn their hearts and do the right thing.
00:07:40
Speaker
They don't want to change what they are doing. They simply want God to send them miracles. So we're going to look also at Jesus when the people were asking him for signs.

Faith and Miracles: A Lesson from Jesus

00:07:56
Speaker
And this is going to come to us from the book of Matthew. chapter 12 and this is verse 38 through 39 through 40 rather so Matthew chapter 12 verses 38 and 39 and 40 it says then some of the Torah scholars and Pharisees answered Jesus
00:08:29
Speaker
Teacher, we want to see a sign from you. But Jesus replied to them, An evil and adulterous generation clamors for a sign, yet no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.
00:08:45
Speaker
For just as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.
00:08:58
Speaker
They are asking Jesus to prove that he is who he is by performing a miracle, a sign. And Jesus tells them that this is a bad thing for them to be asking for.
00:09:11
Speaker
His fruit was already showing that he was who he said he was. He had been doing miraculous things, but they want him to do them on command.
00:09:23
Speaker
Like he was a sideshow. And that's what the people are asking for for Babylon today. They're asking to be saved like God is simply there for them to simply dole out miracles all the time. And if they were trying to live off of the good graces that he had been showing to their ancestors for their righteousness, which we talked about the other day, is now the people will be held accountable, each person, for their own sins.
00:09:53
Speaker
that in the same way that a son will not bear the consequences for his father's sins, neither will the son be able to benefit from his father's righteousness.
00:10:04
Speaker
So we're seeing here that the the king is sending the messengers to go talk to Jeremiah. And as we mentioned, they don't want to change what they are doing. They simply want God to perform miraculous signs for them, to perform wonders, to deal with them as he had before with their miraculous with his miraculous wonders.
00:10:27
Speaker
but in the past when they called upon god to save them they were asking god and calling out god only you alone can save us and this is our this is your town your your country we are your people please nobody else can save us but you And here, their heart is not doing that.
00:10:48
Speaker
Their heart is simply saying, maybe God will give us some miraculous wonders and save us. We don't have anything else to ask for. We're in dire straits. We're big need here. Maybe he can just throw some miracles out there.
00:11:03
Speaker
So their hearts were not in the right place. And so for our daily application, we want to make sure that we don't treat God... as one who is simply there to do miraculous things for us.

Righteousness Over Superficiality

00:11:17
Speaker
We need to be sure that we are obeying God and that we are serving God and doing what we are supposed to be doing and looking for his will to be done, not simply doing things as we please and then asking him to bail us out with miracles.
00:11:33
Speaker
because that is not in accordance with his will. And here he has once again reminded them that they need to do right. They need to uphold the people who are being treated poorly.
00:11:44
Speaker
They need to help the people who are being robbed. They need to do what is right and good and fair. That is what God is looking for. And we've said it many, and many a time throughout this year.

Closing and Encouragement

00:11:57
Speaker
But that is what we are seeing in today's reading is that the people were still not doing that. They just wanted him to perform and take care of them. So I hope that you feel that God has lit your light today as we have read today's reading.
00:12:13
Speaker
And i would encourage that you would click that light button that looks like a heart or a thumbs up. Thank you for clicking that subscribe and follow button.
00:12:25
Speaker
Thank you for lighting the world to point the way to Jesus so that we can spread the word about reading God's word. And whether you are watching on video or listening on your favorite podcast, I will be here for everyone again tomorrow.
00:12:39
Speaker
I hope you have a fantastic rest of your day.