Jeremiah 42:13-17 (5/1/24)

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Jeremiah 42:13-17 (5/1/24)

Momentum Killers

May 1, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Jeremiah 42:13–17

- Craig Groeschel has some great teaching about momentum.

- Newtons law of momentum – an object in motion tends to stay in motion, unless acted upon by an outside force.

- Momentum is something we should always have in our lives in business.

- If you have momentum, you should keep it unless you do something to kill it.

- Four factors that kill momentum:

- When things get difficult, we default to doing what’s:

- Safe

- Easy

- Known

- Comfortable

- This is what many in Israel were faced with after their friends were deported to Babylon.

- Nebuchadnezzar let many of them stay in the now Babylonian-controlled Israel.

- But there were threats from the surrounding nations, and the people were scared.

- Being in the center of danger in the middle of God’s will is the best place to be.

- Jesus said “I send you out as sheep among wolves.”

- Jeremiah gave them this word:

- vs 9-12 - “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea for mercy before him: 10 If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I relent of the disaster that I did to you. 11 Do not fear the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Do not fear him, declares the Lord, for I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 12 I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and let you remain in your own land.”

- If you’ve been following the Lord and delighting in Him, then wherever you are is your Promised Land.

- It may not be pleasant but stay there. Don’t leave.

- God will show you when it’s time to go.

- You'll know it's time for a move when the doors open easily and you don't have to push.

- Faithfulness where you are paves the way for you to be faithful where God will take you.

- God outlined what would happen if they chose to go to “greener pastures.”

- vs 13-17 - “But if you say, ‘We will not remain in this land,’ disobeying the voice of the Lord your God 14 and saying, ‘No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war or hear the sound of the trumpet or be hungry for bread, and we will dwell there,’ 15 then hear the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: If you set your faces to enter Egypt and go to live there, 16 then the sword that you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine of which you are afraid shall follow close after you to Egypt, and there you shall die.”

- God was very clear about what would happen if they didn’t stay put.

- But a false prophet arose (in chapter 43) and told the people that Jeremiah had prophesied a lie.

- They liked the easier message, so they chose disobedience, and it cost them dearly.

- Note - run from the prosperity preachers!

- So here’s the question for you - what is your Egypt?

- What is your default when things get tough?

- You need to define it so you can overcome it.

- EX: You know you need to lose 50lbs, so you start eating the right way and you feel momentum.

- Then it gets really hard.

- What habits do you default to at that point?

- Write them down, then define new habits you’ll do whenever you want to default back to those.

- If you go back to them, you’ll lose your momentum!

- EX: I defaulted to ice cream, so I replaced it with dark chocolate.

- EX: Buddy struggled with porn, so he replaced it with holding the Bible.

- Don’t default to what’s safe, easy, known, or comfortable or you’ll lose momentum.

Ezekiel 3:17 (5/22/24)

May 22, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Ezekiel 3:17

- Back in Bible times, there were walls around cities to protect the people inside. - They stationed men on the top to keep watch for the enemy and sound the alarm if they showed up to attack. - A watchman had a hard job - he’d have to wake people up with the alarm to protect them from the enemy. - But if he didn’t sound the alarm because he didn’t want to make people uncomfortable, it would cost him his life. - Ezekiel was a spiritual watchman - his one role was to hear from heaven and to warn the Israelites with what he heard. - He was to take notice and give notice! - vs 17 - “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.” - He was responsible to warn the people about their sin. - They were responsible to turn from their sin. - We can apply this in three ways: - 1) Be a watchman over your own soul. - Your conscience is your watchman. - Wake him up and keep him up! - 2) Be a watchman for your people. - Who are your people? - Family, community, etc. - 3) Be under a watchman at your church. - MLK - “The church must be reminded it’s not the master nor the servant of the state. Rather, it’s the conscience of the state.” - What would happen to you if your conscience went dark? - Pastors are to be watchmen.

Lamentations 2:19 (5/15/24)

May 15, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Lamentations 2:19

- When we’ve sinned and confessed, what do we do then? - This verse tells us. - The Israelites were on their way to Babylon, and there was no going back. - Regardless of repentance, the consequences remained the same. - Jeremiah shares five things we must do. - vs 19 - “Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin; pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger at every street corner.” - 1) GET UP! - Don't wallow around in self-pity. - You don’t have to “keep repenting.” - But you also don’t want to forget what you’ve repented of. - This memory will keep you from doing it again. - Get up! And then... - 2) GET ON YOUR KNEES! - Posture yourself before the Lord. - Submit in reverence to Him. - Dr. Towns at Liberty taught the importance of posture. - After you posture yourself, then… - 3) POUR OUT YOUR HEART TO GOD! - Pray fervently. - Don't hold anything back. - Pouring it out to God keeps you from pouring it onto others. - They can’t handle that weight. - God likes it when we come to Him in fervency. - 4) SURRENDER TO HIM! - This is what "lifting up your hands" means, like a child reaching for his dad. - Full surrender to God. - Acknowledge His sovereignty, Declare your dependency, and Surrender your will to Him. - 5) INTERCEDE FOR OTHERS! - Don't just pray about you, but others. - God is moved in a special way when we pray for His other kids. - This helps get us out of our own situation. - KEY - your discernment is your direction. - God shows us other’s faults so we can pray for them. - God will make a message out of your mess when you walk through these five steps.

Lamentations 5:14 (5/15/24)

May 15, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Lamentations 5:14

- One of the ways you know God is punishing a nation is when righteous leaders grow fewer. - That’s what happened in Jeremiah’s time. - They had leaders, plenty of them - but none righteous. - Look what happened: - vs 14a - “The elders are gone from the city gate…” - The church elders, the spiritual leaders of the day, were no longer in places of leadership within the nation. - Proverbs 29:2 - “When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.” - The gate is where business, education, and government took place. - It was the hotbed where the people gathered to exchange products, services, contracts, and ideas. - When Godly people occupy their place in the gate, bringing the rule of God to the place of business, education, and government, it opens the door for people to flourish. - We do not need to pull the most gifted people out of the workplace and put them into the church. - Let them stay in the workplace and effect change! - So what’s the result of good people abandon the gate? - vs 14b - “…the young men have stopped their music.” - Music has multiple positive effects, but two of them are: - It Connects you to others and it Soothes your soul. - EX: Worship song in church - all hearts beat together. - When young people make music they are having a good time. - Those times stop when Godly people abandon their post at the gate.