ISAIAH & JEREMIAH

Last night was our mid week service and how I enjoyed being with God's people.  One of our men gave a testimony.  It took 20 minutes to give, but what a testimony of God's grace to take a hardened career military man and bring him to faith in Jesus Christ.  Now he is growing in the Lord and it is a joy to see.    I'm finishing up Isaiah and going into Jeremiah today, so here are some highlights: 1) SEEK HIM AND CALL HIM NOW- Isaiah 55:6 says:  "Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near."  God is ready to listen, but are we seeking and calling upon Him?  I know we did that for Salvation, but God wants to hear from us on a regular basis.  Seek Him today in fellowship, Call upon Him today in prayer.  He is very near! 2) WE ARE THE PROBLEM- When we think God is not answering our prayers, often it is because we are the problem.  Our sins have caused a gap in fellowship.  Not relationship, but the sweet fellowship that God wants to have with us is obstructed.  The pipeline of blessing has been clogged, and it is our sins that have clogged it!  We are our own worst enemy!  The Bible says in  Isaiah 59:1-2  "Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:  2  But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear."  What is the answer?  Well we should confess our sins to our Savior.  Again, not for Salvation, but for sweet fellowship to be restored! 3) WHY ARE YOU CHANGING?  Sometimes there are things that need to be changed, but today we see Christians around us changing everything they once believed and practiced about holiness, church, person separation, soul-winning, etc.  Well, that has always been a problem in man.  We change what we once held dear and holy and we don't change what keeps us from God's blessings.  The problems are older than Jeremiah, but here is what he says: Jeremiah 2:36  "Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way?"  Be very careful what you choose to change in your life.   4) GOOD IDEA- Jeremiah 5:5 says:  "I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them: for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God:..."   To sit at the feet of great men of God is certainly the wisest way to learn!  It is a blessing to learn the things of God from men who walk with God.  In this verse it goes on to say that these men had "broken the yoke, and burst the bonds."  So not all great men are wise!  But, it is still the best idea you will ever have for growth.  Follow godly men (as they follow Christ)! 5) THE TEMPLE OF THE LORD.  In Jeremiah 7:4 it reads: "Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these."   He goes on to explain that the lying words are that "the temple of the LORD" being repaired is what will bless the nation.  No, the temple was a place for God to change the people and then the blessings would come.  Jeremiah 7:5-7  "For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;  6  If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:  7  Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever."    Just going to Church will not do.  We must learn and live out our faith for the blessings of God to rest upon us.  What a difference that makes!    Hope you have a blessed day!  Pastor Mike Mutchler