Deceitful Heart

History is full of examples of decay and reform; revolution and counter-revolution.  From politics and the economy to morality and religion, humans are in a continual battle for the right to define what is right. Is there an objective standard beyond human control or definition?  If so, who gets to determine what it is? Join us for part two of Jeremiah: A Prophet for the City, where we explore how Jeremiah confronted the counterfeit religious reforms of his day and what the church might learn from them today. 

Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.  He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. 

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.  He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” 

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? 

“I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” 

Jeremiah 17

Principles (KNOW THEM):

The root of sin is not rooting your trust in God. 

The fruit of sin is a fruitless life.

The cure for sin is to be transplanted by the stream of living water.

Practices (DO THEM):

Determine where your roots are planted by answering the following questions: 

• What do you worry most about?  
• What scares you?  
• Is there anything or anyone that if you lost, you would be utterly lost and hopeless? 
• Where does you mind go to be comforted and renewed?  

Get convicted of your sin.

Be transplanted by the stream of living water, Jesus Christ.

Daily Readings:

Day 1: Jeremiah 8-9 
Day 2: Jeremiah 10-11 
Day 3: Jeremiah 12-13 
Day 4: Jeremiah 14 
Day 5: Jeremiah 15 
Day 6: Jeremiah 16 
Day 7: Jeremiah 17 

Suggested Resources:

Books:

Run with the Horses, by Eugene Peterson
Eat This Book, by Eugene Peterson

RightNow Media (visit the Family Resources page):

Precepts for Life: Jeremiah part 1 and 2, by Kay Arthur 
Worldview: Thinking and Living Biblically, by Greg Laurie & others 
Intro to the Major Prophets, by J. B. Nicholson