We bless the Lord who in His great mercies saw the lukewarm state of his people and spoke through His servant to revive us again back to our first love. Indeed it was a message of love and correction, making us see the need to strive lawfully and not to serve God the way we want. And we are pleased to bring you the review.
Text: Jeremiah 30:10-11, Exodus 12:29-32, Joel 1:4-6, Jeremiah 45:3-5, Jeremiah 9:23, Deuteronomy 28:1-2,15, Jeremiah 29:17-19, Jeremiah 9:22, Job 23:12, Jeremiah 44:16-23, Jeremiah 36:21-30, Jeremiah 38: 4-6, Deuteronomy 48:63.
Truly, we are living in the age of lukewarmness as prophesied by the Bible, however, the message of God in every age will always rise to lift people out of the spirit of their age, thus making them worship God in the way that pleases Him. And that is why we are called -to serve Him! So if God by His divine love has elected you out of several people to serve Him, your effectual response is needed, otherwise, you will not be profitable to Him.
God called the Israel out of the nation of Egypt, and in Jeremiah 30:10, God made a handful promises to them saying that he will save them, he will deliver them, he will make them fearless, etc. but we see in verse 11 that God said that he will discipline them and they will not go unpunished when they offend.
THE GOD OF MERCY IS THE SAME GOD OF JUDGEMENT
God is a God of mercy, but God is also a God of discipline. Israel was a chosen nation but when they took God for granted, God did not take it lightly with them. The fact that you’re a predestined seed of God does not mean you can do anything you like, you should fear God and submit to him else he will show you the other side of him, , apparently this is not a threat but it is factual from the scriptures how God has dealt with the same people he has once showed his measureless love, and this is more reason why we need to fear him more because he is the same yesterday today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
The reason why God set you free is because he wants you to serve him, not yourself. Whatever you have should be beneficial to God, your money, education, etc. God gave you these things so that you may use it for him. Whatever you have that God does not benefit from is vain.
Many of us are yet to know the value of salvation, and maybe that’s why we still don’t prioritize Him above all we do. Yes, you may not lack, you went to school and are doing fine, all of that is on earth here. Even, many who are not saved have so much more than believers have, so that is not what salvation is about. God has given us what money cannot buy, something with eternal value. If only we could just imagine what eternity looks like, then maybe we’ll understand. We may not be as rich, but we have salvation, eternal life (nothing is greater than that) – Jeremiah 9:23. All that we have on earth is temporal and will fade away.
As a child of God, don’t try to modernize your faith, don’t turn the service of God into a social activity. God has done so much for us to take him for granted; the Bible says that he gave his only begotten son and we see how he suffered on the cross because of us, we see how the apostles suffered and lay down their lives for the gospel, we read stories of many who wholehearted served God, so we must know that we also have our parts to play, God is not going to watch you rubbish all these efforts. The ministry of Jesus is a persecuted one; if you are not persecuted as an individual or church, then you’ve probably not gotten it.
Sometimes, the challenges we face are not necessarily a result of our sin- it may be God taking you through a training, a test, to show if you really love God. If the devil does not leave you in time, don’t be weary, God wants to show his power. God said he will harden the heart of Pharaoh so that the whole world will know his power.
When you take sides with Jesus Christ, the enemy of Jesus becomes your enemy, the reproach of Jesus Christ becomes your reproach and ours, his. But if you love the world, then you would have to forsake Jesus Christ. You cannot take sides with Jesus Christ and be popular in the world.
Value what you have now because a time will come when it will become history. Know what is happening in your time so that you can tell the next generation. There is time for everything, if you miss an event when the time comes, you might never witness it again. For instance, a generation will come where women might not know what is called wrapper due to new inventions. Also, there was a time when preaching in buses was rampant in Nigeria but that time is past, you hardly see anyone rise to preach in buses or train anymore, the time of the prophet cannot repeat itself.
Because of Israel, God killed all the firstborns of a nation, held up the sun for three days, parted the red sea, caused darkness in the land, and many such wonders. After all of these, the people of Israel quickly forgot the goodness of God. God said he will not destroy them but they will not go unpunished. God is our father, he loves us, but he is the same God of discipline and judgement as much as he is a merciful and loving father.
God will not judge you if he has not, first, been merciful to you. God warned the nation of Israel severally and gave them countless chances to repent but they refused until it got to a point when Jesus had to say ‘I leave your house unto you desolate’. If you take God for granted, he will show you his judgement!
We read from history how the Jews suffered in the hands of the Germans- the holocaust, this was the result of the Jew’s disobedience, the fulfillment of Jeremiah 9:22, because they took him for granted. God is faithful and he will fulfil every Word of his.
Our prayer is that it will not be too late before we understand. May the Lord help us all!