Maranatha Grace Church

Brothers and Sisters,

In the seventh month Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was of royal blood and had been one of the king’s officers, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah. While they were eating together there, ² Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him got up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword, killing the one whom the king of Babylon had appointed as governor over the land. ³ Ishmael also killed all the men of Judah who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Babylonian soldiers who were there. (Jeremiah 41:1-3)

Please read Jeremiah 41- 43.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

The fear of  the Jews who had gone over to the Babylonians kept Zedekiah from obeying the Lord. What fear would keep you from obeying the Lord? We need only fear God (Matthew 10:28), then every other fears will disappear from our lives. 

¹⁹ King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have gone over to the Babylonians, for the Babylonians may hand me over to them and they will mistreat me.”

²⁰ “They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Obey the Lord by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared. (Jeremiah 38:19 -20 )

Please read all three chapters Jeremiah 38 - 40.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

Are you ready to receive a true word from the Lord? The truth can be a bitter pill to swallow, but it is always better than a sugar pill if you want to get well. King Zedekiah rejected a true word from the Lord to his own detriment.

¹⁶ Jeremiah was put into a vaulted cell in a dungeon, where he remained a long time. ¹⁷ Then King Zedekiah sent for him and had him brought to the palace, where he asked him privately, “Is there any word from the Lord?”

“Yes,” Jeremiah replied, “you will be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.” (37:16-17)

In 2 Timothy 4:3 we read, "For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." 

They will have their own favorite celebrity TV preachers. 

Please read all three chapters Jeremiah 35 - 37.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

There is a pastor joke that says, “I quit my job almost every Monday.” Poor Sunday service attendance, criticism from the membership, a message that is not well received, these things can take a toll on most pastors, and make them want to quit.  All of us cannot be a Jeremiah, a fearless prophet; however we all can learn from him. A burning message from the Lord himself, and a deep compassion for the lost will help us overcome every discouraging thoughts. The secret is to stay close to God in prayer, in fasting, and in the reading of the Bible. Preacher must hear from God. 

³ Now Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him there, saying, “Why do you prophesy as you do? You say, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am about to give this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it. ⁴ Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape the Babylonians but will certainly be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and will speak with him face to face and see him with his own eyes. ⁵ He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, where he will remain until I deal with him, declares the Lord. If you fight against the Babylonians, you will not succeed.’” (32:3-5)

Please read Jeremiah 32 - 34. 

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

Every Christian loves Jeremiah 29:11-14. This is a promise for all time. The Lord is near but we have to seek him.

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29 - 31.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

Did the prophet Hananiah deliberately misled the people of God by giving them a false prophecy of peace. No preacher loves to preach about God's judgment, but there is a sad lesson  in the story of Hananiah that every preacher of the Gospel should pay attention to. Hananiah wanted to please the people, and it cost him his life.

¹⁵ Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord has not sent you, yet you have persuaded this nation to trust in lies. ¹⁶ Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you are going to die, because you have preached rebellion against the Lord.’”

¹⁷ In the seventh month of that same year, Hananiah the prophet died. (28:15-17)

Jeremiah 24 - 28.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

I think that Jeremiah should be a required reading for all who desire a position of leadership in a country. What God requires of the leaders is simple, "Administer justice every morning" (21:12). Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place." (22:3).

God sees everything, 

 “Am I only a God nearby,”declares the Lord, “and not a God far away?
 Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?”declares the Lord.
    “Do not I fill heaven and earth?”declares the Lord. (23:23-24)

Jeremiah 21 -23.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

Please continue to read with us. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to the spiritual truth found in the readings. 

Jeremiah 18 - 20.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

Do you want to be blessed? Don't put your trust in man, but put your trust in the Lord. 

⁷ “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
    whose confidence is in him.
⁸ They will be like a tree planted by the water
    that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
    its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
    and never fails to bear fruit.”

Jeremiah 15 -17.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

God is a merciful God. The people of God must learn to repent, and to repent  fast.

We acknowledge our wickedness, Lord,
    and the guilt of our ancestors;
    we have indeed sinned against you.
²¹ For the sake of your name do not despise us;
    do not dishonor your glorious throne.
Remember your covenant with us
    and do not break it. (Jeremiah 14:20-21)

Jeremiah 12 - 14.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

²³ This is what the Lord says:

“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches,
²⁴ but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 9 - 11.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

I heard someone once said God is not angry anymore. But surely he used to be angry with his people because of their wicked deeds. If God is not angry anymore would that mean he doesn't care anymore, and consequently doesn't love anymore? That can't be, because the Bible tells us that God is love.  

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ² “Stand at the gate of the Lord’s house and there proclaim this message:

“‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord.³ This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. ⁴ Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!” ⁵ If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, ⁶ if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, ⁷ then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever. ⁸ But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.

⁹ “‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, ¹⁰ and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things? ¹¹ Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 7:1-11)

Jeremiah 6 - 8.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

¹⁴ “Return, faithless people,” declares the Lord, “for I am your husband. I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion. ¹⁵ Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. (Jeremiah 3:14)

Prayer is a great privilege, but also a great responsibility. As long as we can pray, we bear some responsibility regarding what is going on around us. If a nation returns to God, he will give them shepherds after his own heart, including Haiti.

Jeremiah 1 - 5.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

Isaiah 64 - 66.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

An invitation to be an intercessor. You are invited to pray for your Jerusalem? I  mean your sphere of influence, your household, your family, your place of work, your neighborhood, and etc..God invites us to give him no rest, until he fixes our Jerusalem. 

⁶ I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem;
    they will never be silent day or night.
You who call on the Lord,
    give yourselves no rest,
⁷ and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem
    and makes her the praise of the earth. (Isaiah 62:6-7)

Isaiah 61 - 63.

May the Lord richly bless you!