"ACCORDING TO YOUR WORDS"
“According to Your Words”
(Jeremiah 42:4)
Sunday, August 30, 2020, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
I believe the message from God given to Jeremiah in Chapter 42 is just as true today as it was to the remnant in Judah. It is a message to the remnant in a time of national disaster. Today many in the church and the nation are looking to the world system (Egypt) for their deliverance in the midst of this shaking of nations. The hypocrisy of the Church will also be exposed in the days to come.
This past week Texas dodged the storm. We pray and send love to South Louisiana. However, the time has come for truth to be spoken. No longer can preachers gloss over God’s work with pretty words. Lake Charles is a city of casinos. A spirit of rape is over gambling. Also, it is a port for drugs, prostitution, and pedophile rings steered by Mafia and other criminal organizations.
Of course, we know there are good Christians there as well. The Lord will always provide for his own. We will be kept in the hour trial and days of tribulation. The storm was not as bad as it was projected. We are grateful for that mercy. We the Church must declare to the people of the land that God is a God of Judgment and a God of mercy. We must receive the salvation offered to us by Jesus Christ to receive the covering of His grace and mercy. We are not immune from the shaking that is on the earth; but we have this confidence that we will be kept in His Presence whether on earth or in heaven.
Rev 3:10: Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth
This past week, I was totally focused on my family and the journey to my home town in South East Missouri. For months, I have been in the Spirit focused on “what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” I have been listening, pressing in, and praying over our nation.
On my return, I felt like I didn’t have anything to preach today. Then the LORD began to show me His judgment over the cities of Portland, New York, Kenosha, Chicago and Seattle. The leaders and the community are decreeing their own judgment. “Be it unto you according to your faith.” Be it unto you according to your words. The same thing is happening in the N.F.L. and other sports leagues. They are decreeing their own judgment and demise. If fans don’t pay to see their games, no money comes into the industry. I suppose someone is paying them to go on strike. However, when they decide to play again, they have missed a season. They will be older and will never get that year back.
I remembered the Word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, chapter 42:4: I will pray to the LORD your God according to your words, and it shall be, that whatever the LORD answers you
After the fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon left a remnant in Judah. Jeremiah and Baruch were part of that remnant. I will back up with the story-line to chapter 37.
Jeremiah had been thrown in prison for prophesying the fall of Jerusalem and the captivity of the Jews.
Jer. 37:17: Zedekiah, the king sent, and took him out: and the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, Is there any word from the Lord? “
A secret interview: Once again Zedekiah sends for Jeremiah. This time he meets him at a temple entrance.
The solemn Hebrew oath is given “By the life of the Lord who gives us our lives”. Should Zedekiah break his word it would be assumed that he would be put to death by God for doing so. Jeremiah assures him that his life will be spared if he will surrender to the King of Babylon. Zedekiah refused. His sin would be a direct cause of Jerusalem’s downfall. Sin among men often create positions where there is no perfect solution or way out. We reap what we sow. Zedekiah lied to the prophet and lied to God. Jeremiah was held in the stockade until the city fell. Jeremiah was one of the Lord’s hidden ones (Col. 3:1-3).
Jeremiah’s circumstances (Ch. 40: 1-4) was that he was in chains, or manacles. He had to share the indignities and hardships of those who deserved a fate from which his warnings would have saved them. After his release, Jeremiah chose to go to his own people that were left in the land.
In chapter 42, where our story begins today, Jeremiah has been released from prison. The Captains of the forces of the remaining remnant of Judah came to Jeremiah for the Word of the Lord.
They were in a village near Bethlehem. They were preparing to enter into Egypt. The people had been explicitly warned by God that it would mean extinction. Jeremiah and Baruch were taken along by force. They went to Jeremiah and asked him to pray to give them the Word of the Lord.
Jeremiah 42: 4-6: Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard. Indeed, I will pray to the LORD your God according to your words, and it shall be, that whatever the LORD answers you, I will declare it to you. I will keep nothing back from you.” So, they said to Jeremiah, “Let the LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not do according to everything which the LORD your God sends us by you. “Whether it is pleasing or displeasing, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we send you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.”
They had already made up their mind that they were going to Egypt. They had no intention of obeying the Word of the Lord if it did not agree with their plans. Their request to Jeremiah is hypocrisy at the highest level. This is a warning to us today. If you have already made up your mind what you are going to do, do not go to a prophet and request the Word of the Lord.
When I realize someone is using my gift to try to get a “Word” that will confirm what they have decided to do, I won’t prophesy to them. I will only speak what I feel God is saying when a person is truly seeking God and will obey Him, or given a confirmation. If your decision is from the LORD, he will confirm it; but if it is not, then we must obey or come into judgment. Prophesy is not a parlor game like playing Quija board. The Word of the Lord is a serious matter. Until we obey the first directive, we will not be given another one.
After ten days, the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, then he called Johanan and all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, and said unto them, thus, says the Lord, the God of Israel unto whom you sent me to present your supplication before him;
If you will still abide in this land, then I will build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I repent of the evil that I have done unto you. Be not afraid of the king of Babylon of whom you are afraid; be not afraid of him, says the Lord; for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand. And I will show mercies unto you, and cause you to return to your own land. But if you say, we will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the Lord your God, Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell; And now, therefore, hear the Word of the Lord you Remnant of Judah; thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; If you wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there; Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which you feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof you were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there you shall die. So, shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: and one of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them. For thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel; As my anger and my fury has been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when you shall enter into Egypt; and you shall be execration (loathed, hated) and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and you shall see this place no more.”
The Lord has said concerning you, O’ you remnant of Judah; “Do not go into Egypt; know certainly that I have admonished you this day. For you dissembled (to go astray; to seduce; to deceive) in your hearts, when you sent me unto the Lord your God, saying Pray for us unto the Lord our God; and according unto all that the Lord our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it. And now I have this day declared it to you; but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, nor any thing for the reason he has sent me unto you. Now, therefore know certainly that you shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place where you desire to go and to sojourn.
Chapter 43:1-7: …when Jeremiah had made and end of speaking unto all the people all the words of the Lord their God…then spoke Azariah and Johanan…and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, You speak falsely; the Lord our God has not sent to you to say, do not go into Egypt to sojourn there….But Baruch…set you against us to deliver us into the hands of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death and carry us away captive to Babylon. So Johanan…and all the captains…and all the people, obeyed not…But Johanan…took all the remnant…even men, and women, and children, and the King’s daughters, and every person…Jeremiah and Baruch. So, they came into the land of Egypt…
All the judgments failed to bring humility and a fear of God. The reply of the Jews to Jeremiah showed their obstinacy and insolence.
The Lord had his answer and sign. Judgment was pronounced upon these impudent idolaters. The sign given to confirm God’s Word through the prophet Jeremiah was Pharoah-Hopra (priest of the son, priest of Ra.) was to be given into the hands of his enemies and slain. He was assassinated. The heathen King in whom Judah trusted was slain, and with him their false hopes of protection and deliverance.
Jeremiah, chapter 44, was the last recorded message of the prophet Jeremiah.
Prophetess Kathie Walters posted this 8/29/20: "BIDEN WILL be DEAD N THE WATER. TRUMP will make it to the shore amidst a lot of trouble, BUT when he steps on the shore, Moses will be there again for him. Remember to send lots of angelic help. Gabriel oversees Pence." God bless! (Kathie Walters)
Taught by: Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
Scripture from K.J.V. and N.K.J.V.