God You want me to do What?

 Jeremiah 27:1-7

Shall we set the stage in 2017 you are preparing to introduce yourself to a new boss, your fiancé’s parents, or the new President of the United States of America.  Now that’s a big deal, you are a little apprehensive and God tells you to dress in a way that does not add to your appeal.  That is not all; God has instructed you to say to that person or persons something that is not going to make them want to see you again unless it’s your funeral.

I bet some of you are contemplating, why would the Lord want me to dress in a way that would make me look foolish, or even make a terrible impression?  Then you allow how you would feel to kick in and tell your will if you obey it would look and feel foolish if you listened to God.  The next thing you know you are in charge of your life and wonder later what happened, why is my life such a mess?  Note: You have never made up your mind on anything; you made up your “Will”.  The mind gathers information; your emotions work on feeling they both send information to the brain that processes it and sends it to your Will.  As my friend Bill taught me “Will” is like a light switch, it makes a choice, yes or no.  One of Bill’s key concepts – Never look at your emotions as the main barometer of spiritual reality. 

Jeremiah learned at a very young age to obey, and that makes me wonder, did he have a friend or a parent that taught him some of the concepts that I learned from hanging around Bill and Anabel Gillham? 

Bill Gillham; “You must line your behavior upon God’s Word.  You must walk by faith, not by feelings.”  Bonus; “All knowledge is the outgrowth of obedience.  Everything else is just information.  Your information must be converted to knowledge, or it will do you no good.”

“A word from God to Jeremiah, In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord. Thus the Lord said to me: “Make yourself straps and yoke-bars, and put them on your neck. Send word to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the sons of Ammon, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon by the hand of the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. Give them this charge for their masters: ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: This is what you shall say to your masters: “It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomever it seems right to me. Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and I have given him also the beasts of the field to serve him. All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson, until the time of his own land comes. Then many nations and great kings shall make him their slave.”

Tomorrow shall we examine what is promised to those who obey, and to those who do not?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice