"Come back to Me!" saith the Lord

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Led by Eric Gintert

Jeremiah 3:4-25

• vs 1:  A parable about giving our hearts to a god other than the One True God . King Solomon was "unequally yoked" (2Cor 6:14) with a woman who served many other gods and proceeded to worship and build temples for her gods. He went a whoring after other gods (1Chron 5:25).
• vs 3:  When we play with sin (aka "play with fire") like Samson did with Delilah, we don't think that we are doing anything wrong because no one is telling us we are wrong (Judges 16). It's become so normal that no one is ashamed anymore.
• vs 5:  Are you not fearful of what the Lord is going to do if you don't repent? See the example of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5).
• vs 6-8:  In this time Josiah was king and the country was rent in two: Judah and Israel. God pleaded that they would stop and just return to Him, but they wouldn't. Judah saw Israel do it and did it also. Just like we justify sin because another Christian does it.
• vs 10:  Judah was "playing church"; they had a form of godliness but denied the power thereof (2Tim 3:5).
• vs 12:  Loving one another would be to consider others who saw us doing wrong and tell them that we were wrong. Like David, whose sins are clearly displayed for all generations to read about, wrote Psalm 51 about how his sin was against God and he needed His cleansing.
• vs 13:  This is God's love, He is patient and long-suffering toward us.
• vs 14-16:  Zion is God's Holy Place and He promised to forgive and increase us if we confess and repent of our sins.
• vs 20:  The way to hurt a spouse the most is to commit adultery against them and the worldly recommendation would be to divorce. But when we've committed adultery against God, He wants us to come back to Him! Just as in the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15), all that pig mire and slop was our sin and wretchedness that we have taken part in. But God calls us Home.
• vs 23: We can seek earthly counselors and worldly comforters, but God is our salvation!

Revelation 3:14-20

• When we are backsliden, we are very likely to make lukewarm converts (who are not truly born again) because they will do the same things that they see us doing in our backsliden state. They do things that look good and sound good, but their heart is far from God (Matt 15:8). It is now hard to reach them because they have enough religion to feel good about themselves.

We are all Israel, we've all gone a whoring after other gods (tv, money, prestige, etc.). We've exalted ourselves to be as God (Gen 3:5). But then He sent someone... He sent Jesus and the Holy Ghost to draw us back to Him. But we must confess and repent of our sins to receive Him.

Prayer Requests
Melissa F.  -  positive group B strep test results; wisdom about taking antibiotics
Corinne G.  -  three fillings this week
Eric G.  -  wisdom about going to unemployment office
Ed G.  -  doctor appointment on May 15th
Jordyn G.  -  cancer tests in June
Bill L.  -  recovering from back surgery
Curtlins  -  moving to Florida 
Carol G.  -  find a job
Angie  -  breast cancer
Joel F.  -  lead services sometime