Persecuted
8/16/2020
Jeremiah was part of a religious revival in the nation of Judah. People were feeling good about their country and their public displays of religious commitment. While Jeremiah was growing increasingly suspicious of this movement, another preacher was embracing the moment and riding the tide of popular public opinion. Join us for part five of Jeremiah: A Prophet for the City where we will discover that a prophet who is truly for the city doesn’t simply smooth things over, but rather, seeks to make things right.
Now Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. Then Pashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Benjamin Gate of the house of the Lord. The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord does not call your name Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side. For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon. He shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall strike them down with the sword. Moreover, I will give all the wealth of the city, all its gains, all its prized belongings, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them and seize them and carry them to Babylon. And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. To Babylon you shall go, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.”Then the word of the Lord came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
Jeremiah 20
Principles (KNOW THEM):
The task of a prophet is not to smooth things over, but to make things right.
The function of the church is not to make people feel good, but to make them good.
The call of the peacemaker is not to pacify, but to reform .
Practices (DO THEM):
Identify the thing you would rather ignore.
Find accountability and encouragement in community.
Press through the discomfort to find peace on the other side.
Daily Readings:
Day 1: Jeremiah 20-21
Day 2: Jeremiah 22-23
Day 3: 2 Chronicles 24-25
Day 4: 2 Chronicles 26-27
Day 5: Jeremiah 28-29
Day 6: Jeremiah 30-31
Day 7: Jeremiah 32-33
Suggested Resources:
Books:
Run with the Horses, by Eugene Peterson
Eat This Book, by Eugene Peterson
Recommended Sermons
Losing My Religion (2020)
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