@seekHm1st> Hi folks
@seekHm1st> If anyone is in the lobby, would you mind making an announcement?
@seekHm1st> Hi Sam
@seekHm1st> Hello EricM
Sam> hi sir seekHm1st
EricM> hey seekHm1st
@seekHm1st> Hi Splat
@seekHm1st> Okay folks....
@seekHm1st> Let's go ahead and get rolling.
@seekHm1st> Welcome to the CCNET Server Meeting and Bible Study.
@seekHm1st> I see a couple of new faces here.
@seekHm1st> Welcome.
Apple> hello
@seekHm1st> If you haven't been here before, this is how it works........
@seekHm1st> When we have announcements to give out.....those come first....
@seekHm1st> and then we fellowship in God's word and study
@seekHm1st> Tonight.....I really don't have any announcements of my own.....
@seekHm1st> So, if anyone has anything to bring up before we start...
@seekHm1st> Now would be the time :)
@seekHm1st> Anyone?
@seekHm1st> Okay.....
@seekHm1st> Usually, I teach through a Bible book.
@seekHm1st> That takes a while in this format
@seekHm1st> Months...in fact.
@seekHm1st> I have been prayerfully trying to decide which book to study next with ya'all
AmazingGrace> :o)
@seekHm1st> And as yet...I am thinking about Jeremiah
@seekHm1st> But...............
@seekHm1st> I would like feedback from you
AmazingGrace> ok
@seekHm1st> Does anyone have a book they have been dying to get into?
AmazingGrace> o/
@seekHm1st> Yes AmazingGrace?
AmazingGrace> Jeremiah :o)
@seekHm1st> lol
AmazingGrace> and bout David
AmazingGrace> done
@seekHm1st> Okay...anyone else have anything?
AmazingGrace> hehe
@seekHm1st> Now's the time, as I can pray and consider.......
@seekHm1st> Okay.......
@seekHm1st> This is what I will do.....
@seekHm1st> Tonight... I will proceed with a beginning to Jeremiah.
@seekHm1st> I don't know how far we will get....but that's what we'll do.
@seekHm1st> And we'
@seekHm1st> will take it from there
@seekHm1st> Let's open with a word of prayer.
@seekHm1st> Hi Bethel
@Bethel> hey seekHm1st
@seekHm1st> Father we come before you again Lord, as we open your word and look at one of the Major Prophets here.
@seekHm1st> Father, this is a man whom You used greatly.
@seekHm1st> He submitted himself to you and worked for you Lord during such a difficult time.
@seekHm1st> Yet Lord, even though times were hard, he remained faithful in the way that he was used by You.
@seekHm1st> We pray Father that You would minister to our hearts
@seekHm1st> and we pray that you would make us a blessing to those around us..
@seekHm1st> just as You made Jeremiah a blessing to the people around him.
@seekHm1st> Even though a very very few people showed any appreciation for the man and the God he served.
@seekHm1st> Lord we just pray that you would bless the time that we spend in Your word
@seekHm1st> and we ask that You would do these things in Jesus’ name.
@seekHm1st> Amen
Apple> Amen
<Sam> Amen.
Bethel> amen
Snapstur> Amen
@seekHm1st> Okay....the book of Jeremiah.....
@seekHm1st> Time to be depressed.....
@seekHm1st> lol
@seekHm1st> Not really.
AmazingGrace> llol
@seekHm1st> There are a lot of really cool things that go on in this book
@seekHm1st> And because we have the luxury of looking back...and seeing how God used the man
@seekHm1st> it is really cause for joy.
@seekHm1st> Let’s do a bit of background on the book.
@seekHm1st> Okay, first things first.....
@seekHm1st> It was written by.......?
@seekHm1st> Anyone?
Apple> Jeremiah
@seekHm1st> (Hint: starts with a J )
@seekHm1st> lol
@seekHm1st> right
Apple> lol
@seekHm1st> hmmmmm....
AmazingGrace> Jeremiah loll
@seekHm1st> might be best if I posted a couple of the first verses
@seekHm1st> Just a sec.
AmazingGrace> k
@seekHm1st> 1:1 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hellish, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin,
@seekHm1st> 1:2 to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
@seekHm1st> 1:3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month.
@seekHm1st> Okay.....so the book starts with Jeremiah mentioning "Anathoth"
@seekHm1st> This is kind of important because Anathoth was a priestly city.
@seekHm1st> . It was about three miles north and east of Jerusalem, and it was given to the priests by Joshua.
@seekHm1st> If you remember, in the Old Testament law in the first five books....
@seekHm1st> God had set up cities for the "priesthood"
@seekHm1st> Anathoth was one of those cities.
@seekHm1st> So this meant that Jeremiah came from not only a priestly city, but a priestly family too.
@seekHm1st> He was born into the tribe of Levi, and he could have been a priest.
@seekHm1st> He wasn’t only a Levite though, because he came from the “sons of Kohath” which is a priestly line.
@seekHm1st> Specifically, the sons of Aaron.
@seekHm1st> So, he could have been a priest, though it has never been recorded that he actually was.
@seekHm1st> The opening passage says that it was in the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign.
@seekHm1st> And Josiah was the last godly king of Israel
@seekHm1st> so basically Jeremiah began preaching and prophesying during the time of a revival
@seekHm1st> I say that because of King Josiah's family history
@seekHm1st> When Josiah took the throne, he was only eight years old.
@seekHm1st> His father had been murdered by his own servants in a palace plot
@seekHm1st> His father Amon, was most definitely not a godly king.
@seekHm1st> His grandfather Manasseh was the son of Hezekiah.
@seekHm1st> Hezekiah was a good king too.
@seekHm1st> Manasseh on the other hand..........
@seekHm1st> was a maniac.
@seekHm1st> Josiah's father Amon had continued to carry out Manasseh's warped policies.
@seekHm1st> Manasseh had turned the whole southern nation of Judah to horrendous forms of idolatry.
@seekHm1st> And the nation suffered for it.
@seekHm1st> Manasseh suffered for it.
@seekHm1st> He ended up being taken as a captive to Assyria........
@seekHm1st> and he repented
@seekHm1st> That is still a shocker to me.
@seekHm1st> But he did.
@seekHm1st> Josiah came along and turned things around.
@seekHm1st> He began all sorts of reforms.
@seekHm1st> He did a really good job of it......
seekHm1st> but.........
@seekHm1st> it was all "outward"
@seekHm1st> And the people's hearts were not really changed, and after Josiah died........
@seekHm1st> the nation just took a nose-dive
@seekHm1st> He died in 609 B.C. and in 586 B.C......Jerusalem was destroyed.
@seekHm1st> So, it didn't take that long for Jerusalem to be sacked and its people taken into captivity.
seekHm1st> That kind of change ought to be a glaring testament to us.
@seekHm1st> I will talk more about that as we go on.
@seekHm1st> About outward and inward change.
@seekHm1st> As it stands right now..........
@seekHm1st> the Book of Jeremiah is dated at 627 B.C.
@seekHm1st> In chapter one.
@seekHm1st> And remember.....the numbers grow smaller as we move toward the coming of Jesus.
@seekHm1st> Just as an aside........
@seekHm1st> totally off subject.
@seekHm1st> well.....not really
@seekHm1st> but......you see documents and stuff referred to these days as B.C.E.
@seekHm1st> instead of B.C.
@seekHm1st> B.C. stands for "before Christ"
@seekHm1st> B.C.E. stands for "Before the Common Era"
@seekHm1st> Before the Common Era is just a modern attempt at moving away from reverencing Christ
@seekHm1st> imho
@seekHm1st> But........
@seekHm1st> When you see...."B.C.E."....................
@seekHm1st> Think................
@seekHm1st> Before Christ Emmanuel
@seekHm1st> Works for me.
Bethel> good
BJinMeeting> :)
@seekHm1st> okay.....moving on lol
Sam> 8-)
AmazingGrace> llol
@seekHm1st> Okay, it says that he prophesied...let me put that back up
@seekHm1st> It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.
@seekHm1st> vs 3 there
@seekHm1st> Again Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 B.C.
@seekHm1st> In what we would call...July/August
@seekHm1st> That's the month of......
@seekHm1st> argh
@seekHm1st> Anyone remember the name of that month on the Jewish year calendar?
@seekHm1st> Just a sec.
@seekHm1st> Av
AmazingGrace> no
@seekHm1st> The month of Av
@seekHm1st> thank goodness for google lol
AmazingGrace> ha
@seekHm1st> It was the ninth of Av, and the Jews still celebrate that date as the date of the destruction of the first temple
@seekHm1st> and a number of other things in Jewish history
@seekHm1st> It is pretty interesting stuff. You all might want to do a personal study about that celebration
@seekHm1st> So that makes the length of time that Jeremiah prophesied about 41 years
@seekHm1st> Okay......
Apple> g2g ty Good Night...God Bless:)
@seekHm1st> THAT is the political setting that Jeremiah was prophesying in.
@seekHm1st> Believe me.......
@seekHm1st> I am leaving out a ton.
@seekHm1st> But let me end it with this.......
@seekHm1st> The temple was destroyed.
@seekHm1st> Wrecked.
@seekHm1st> And the Jews of that day believed that nothing would happen to Jerusalem because God's temple was sitting there.
@seekHm1st> It was like their ace in the hole.
@seekHm1st> It was as if they---in their hearts--were holding God's temple as a ransom against God's wrath.
@seekHm1st> And what happened?
@seekHm1st> It was sacked.
@seekHm1st> So God doesn’t
@seekHm1st> doesn't really care about the building too much does He?
@seekHm1st> The location, the edifice, amount to nothing.
@seekHm1st> It was the people's hearts.....that He cared about.
Bethel> yes
@seekHm1st> And whenever we are doing anything for the Lord.
@seekHm1st> Or anything period......
@seekHm1st> (It all needs to be for Him)
@seekHm1st> We need to seriously check our motivation.
@seekHm1st> And not rest on some sort of spiritual backup plan.
@seekHm1st> That means we need to seek Him first, and His glory.
@seekHm1st> Leaning on Him for all things.
@seekHm1st> Let's go ahead and close.
@seekHm1st> Father we thank You for who You are.
@seekHm1st> And that You know our hearts.
@seekHm1st> We thank You that You know all of our failings.
@seekHm1st> And that we are an open book to You.
@seekHm1st> Because we know enough of our hearts to know that we do not want justice.
@seekHm1st> And we know enough of our hearts to know that what we are getting instead from You......
@seekHm1st> is grace.
@seekHm1st> We love you God.
@seekHm1st> And we ask that You would bless the rest of our evening.
@seekHm1st> And we just give You all the glory Father.
@seekHm1st> In Jesus' name
@seekHm1st> Amen
Bethel> amen
@seekHm1st> Thanks everybody for coming
Snapstur> Amen
@seekHm1st> Appreciate it very much.