[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR THURSDAY AUGUST 18

[Donnie Parrett]

DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR THURSDAY AUGUST 18

DAILY DEVOTION

Taking a Stand

And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in
the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether
it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God,
judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
Acts 4:18-20

As the Reformation and the teaching of salvation by grace through faith
alone began to spread, Martin Luther became the target of a campaign of
persecution and slander. He faced enormous pressure from both political and
religious authorities to recant his teaching. Eventually he was summoned to
Worms, Germany, in 1521 to answer charges of heresy. Luther refused to
relent and deny what he believed to be true. Fearlessly he said, "Unless I
am convinced of error by the testimony of Scriptures or.by manifest
reasoning I stand convicted by the Scriptures to which I have appealed, and
my conscience is taken captive by God's Word, I cannot and will not recant
anything. On this I take my stand. I can do no other. God help me."
Though we should not be arrogant or unwilling to listen to instruction and
correction, when we know that we are standing firm on what the Word of God
says, nothing should shake our confidence or cause us to abandon our
commitment to the truth. Many people treat uncertainty as a virtue, but it
is not. God wants us to know what is right and to clearly and firmly present
it to those around us. There is an urgent need in our day for a clear and
consistent declaration of what God has said. Paul wrote, "For if the trumpet
give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?" (1
Corinthians 14:8). The more the darkness grows around us, the more vital it
is to have clarity about the truth. God is looking for people who are
unwilling to allow anything to deter them from speaking the truth to the
world.
Nothing should be allowed to shake our commitment to stand for the truth.

___

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

A Christian who loves the things of the world will soon be a Christian who
is in bondage to the things of the world.

___

DAILY BIBLE READING

Jeremiah 22-24 New King James Version
Prophecies Against the Kings of Judah
22 Thus says the Lord: "Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and there
speak this word, 2 and say, 'Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, you
who sit on the throne of David, you and your servants and your people who
enter these gates! 3 Thus says the Lord: "Execute[a] judgment and
righteousness, and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor.
Do no wrong and do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, or the
widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if you indeed do this
thing, then shall enter the gates of this house, riding on horses and in
chariots, accompanied by servants and people, kings who sit on the throne of
David. 5 But if you will not [b]hear these words, I swear by Myself," says
the Lord, "that this house shall become a desolation." ' "

6 For thus says the Lord to the house of the king of Judah:

"You are Gilead to Me,
The head of Lebanon;
Yet I surely will make you a wilderness,
Cities which are not inhabited.
7 I will prepare destroyers against you,
Everyone with his weapons;
They shall cut down your choice cedars
And cast them into the fire.

8 And many nations will pass by this city; and everyone will say to his
neighbor, 'Why has the Lord done so to this great city?' 9 Then they will
answer, 'Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and
worshiped other gods and served them.' "

10 Weep not for the dead, nor bemoan him;
Weep bitterly for him who goes away,
For he shall return no more,
Nor see his native country.

Message to the Sons of Josiah
11 For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum[c] the son of Josiah, king of
Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, who went from this place:
"He shall not return here anymore, 12 but he shall die in the place where
they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.

13 "Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness
And his [d]chambers by injustice,
Who uses his neighbor's service without wages
And gives him nothing for his work,
14 Who says, 'I will build myself a wide house with spacious [e]chambers,
And cut out windows for it,
Paneling it with cedar
And painting it with vermilion.'

15 "Shall you reign because you enclose yourself in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink,
And do justice and righteousness?
Then it was well with him.
16 He [f]judged the cause of the poor and needy;
Then it was well.
Was not this knowing Me?" says the Lord.
17 "Yet your eyes and your heart are for nothing but your covetousness,
For shedding innocent blood,
And practicing oppression and violence."

18 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king
of Judah:

"They shall not lament for him,
Saying, 'Alas, my brother!' or 'Alas, my sister!'
They shall not lament for him,
Saying, 'Alas, master!' or 'Alas, his glory!'
19 He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey,
Dragged and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

20 "Go up to Lebanon, and cry out,
And lift up your voice in Bashan;
Cry from Abarim,
For all your lovers are destroyed.
21 I spoke to you in your prosperity,
But you said, 'I will not hear.'
This has been your manner from your youth,
That you did not obey My voice.
22 The wind shall eat up all your [g]rulers,
And your lovers shall go into captivity;
Surely then you will be ashamed and humiliated
For all your wickedness.
23 O inhabitant of Lebanon,
Making your nest in the cedars,
How gracious will you be when pangs come upon you,
Like the pain of a woman in [h]labor?

Message to Coniah
24 "As I live," says the Lord, "though [i]Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king
of Judah, were the [j]signet on My right hand, yet I would pluck you off; 25
and I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the
hand of those whose face you fear-the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
and the hand of the [k]Chaldeans. 26 So I will cast you out, and your mother
who bore you, into another country where you were not born; and there you
shall die. 27 But to the land to which they desire to return, there they
shall not return.

28 "Is this man [l]Coniah a despised, broken idol-
A vessel in which is no pleasure?
Why are they cast out, he and his descendants,
And cast into a land which they do not know?
29 O earth, earth, earth,
Hear the word of the Lord!
30 Thus says the Lord:
'Write this man down as childless,
A man who shall not prosper in his days;
For none of his descendants shall prosper,
Sitting on the throne of David,
And ruling anymore in Judah.' "

The Branch of Righteousness
23 "Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!"
says the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel against the
shepherds who feed My people: "You have scattered My flock, driven them
away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of
your doings," says the Lord. 3 "But I will gather the remnant of My flock
out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their
folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. 4 I will set up shepherds
over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed,
nor shall they be lacking," says the Lord.

5 "Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord,
"That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness;
A King shall reign and [m]prosper,
And execute [n]judgment and righteousness in the [o]earth.
6 In His days Judah will be saved,
And Israel will dwell safely;
Now this is His name by which He will be called:

[p]THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

7 "Therefore, behold, the days are coming," says the Lord, "that they shall
no longer say, 'As the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from
the land of Egypt,' 8 but, 'As the Lord lives who brought up and led the
descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the
countries where I had driven them.' And they shall dwell in their own land."

False Prophets and Empty Oracles
9 My heart within me is broken
Because of the prophets;
All my bones shake.
I am like a drunken man,
And like a man whom wine has overcome,
Because of the Lord,
And because of His holy words.
10 For the land is full of adulterers;
For because of a curse the land mourns.
The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up.
Their course of life is evil,
And their might is not right.

11 "For both prophet and priest are profane;
Yes, in My house I have found their wickedness," says the Lord.
12 "Therefore their way shall be to them
Like slippery ways;
In the darkness they shall be driven on
And fall in them;
For I will bring disaster on them,
The year of their punishment," says the Lord.
13 "And I have seen [q]folly in the prophets of Samaria:
They prophesied by Baal
And caused My people Israel to err.
14 Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem:
They commit adultery and walk in lies;
They also strengthen the hands of evildoers,
So that no one turns back from his wickedness.
All of them are like Sodom to Me,
And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

15 "Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets:

'Behold, I will feed them with wormwood,
And make them drink the water of gall;
For from the prophets of Jerusalem
[r]Profaneness has gone out into all the land.' "

16 Thus says the Lord of hosts:

"Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you.
They make you worthless;
They speak a vision of their own heart,
Not from the mouth of the Lord.
17 They continually say to those who despise Me,
'The Lord has said, "You shall have peace" ';
And to everyone who walks according to the [s]dictates of his own heart,
they say,
'No evil shall come upon you.' "

18 For who has stood in the counsel of the Lord,
And has perceived and heard His word?
Who has marked His word and heard it?
19 Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury-
A violent whirlwind!
It will fall violently on the head of the wicked.
20 The anger of the Lord will not turn back
Until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart.
In the latter days you will understand it perfectly.

21 "I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran.
I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in My counsel,
And had caused My people to hear My words,
Then they would have turned them from their evil way
And from the evil of their doings.

23 "Am I a God near at hand," says the Lord,
"And not a God afar off?
24 Can anyone hide himself in secret places,
So I shall not see him?" says the Lord;
"Do I not fill heaven and earth?" says the Lord.

25 "I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name,
saying, 'I have dreamed, I have dreamed!' 26 How long will this be in the
heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the
deceit of their own heart, 27 who try to make My people forget My name by
their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, as their fathers forgot My
name for Baal.

28 "The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream;
And he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully.
What is the chaff to the wheat?" says the Lord.
29 "Is not My word like a fire?" says the Lord,
"And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

30 "Therefore behold, I am against the prophets," says the Lord, "who steal
My words every one from his neighbor. 31 Behold, I am against the prophets,"
says the Lord, "who use their tongues and say, 'He says.' 32 Behold, I am
against those who prophesy false dreams," says the Lord, "and tell them, and
cause My people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did
not send them or command them; therefore they shall not profit this people
at all," says the Lord.

33 "So when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you, saying, 'What
is the [t]oracle of the Lord?' you shall then say to them, [u]'What oracle?'
I will even forsake you," says the Lord. 34 "And as for the prophet and the
priest and the people who say, 'The [v]oracle of the Lord!' I will even
punish that man and his house. 35 Thus every one of you shall say to his
neighbor, and every one to his brother, 'What has the Lord answered?' and,
'What has the Lord spoken?' 36 And the [w]oracle of the Lord you shall
mention no more. For every man's word will be his oracle, for you have
perverted the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. 37 Thus
you shall say to the prophet, 'What has the Lord answered you?' and, 'What
has the Lord spoken?' 38 But since you say, 'The [x]oracle of the Lord!'
therefore thus says the Lord: 'Because you say this word, "The oracle of the
Lord!" and I have sent to you, saying, "Do not say, 'The oracle of the
Lord!' " 39 therefore behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you and forsake
you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and will cast you out of
My presence. 40 And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a
perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.' "

The Sign of Two Baskets of Figs
24 The Lord showed me, and there were two baskets of figs set before the
temple of the Lord, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away
captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of
Judah with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to
Babylon. 2 One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe;
and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten, they were
so bad. 3 Then the Lord said to me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?"

And I said, "Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, which
cannot be eaten, they are so bad."

4 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 5 "Thus says the Lord, the
God of Israel: 'Like these good figs, so will I [y]acknowledge those who are
carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for
their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans. 6 For I will set My eyes on
them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them
and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. 7 Then
I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be
My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their
whole heart.

8 'And as the bad figs which cannot be eaten, they are so bad'-surely thus
says the Lord-'so will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, his princes,
the residue of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the
land of Egypt. 9 I will deliver them to trouble into all the kingdoms of the
earth, for their harm, to be a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse,
in all places where I shall drive them. 10 And I will send the sword, the
famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are [z]consumed from the
land that I gave to them and their fathers.' "

Footnotes
Jeremiah 22:3 Dispense justice
Jeremiah 22:5 Obey
Jeremiah 22:11 Or Jehoahaz
Jeremiah 22:13 Lit. roof chambers, upper chambers
Jeremiah 22:14 Lit. roof chambers, upper chambers
Jeremiah 22:16 Defended
Jeremiah 22:22 Lit. shepherds
Jeremiah 22:23 childbirth
Jeremiah 22:24 Or Jeconiah or Jehoiachin
Jeremiah 22:24 signet ring
Jeremiah 22:25 Or Babylonians
Jeremiah 22:28 See note at v. 24
Jeremiah 23:5 act wisely
Jeremiah 23:5 justice
Jeremiah 23:5 land
Jeremiah 23:6 Heb. YHWH Tsidkenu
Jeremiah 23:13 Lit. distastefulness
Jeremiah 23:15 Or Pollution
Jeremiah 23:17 stubbornness or imagination
Jeremiah 23:33 burden, prophecy
Jeremiah 23:33 LXX, Tg., Vg. 'You are the burden.'
Jeremiah 23:34 burden, prophecy
Jeremiah 23:36 burden, prophecy
Jeremiah 23:38 burden, prophecy
Jeremiah 24:5 regard
Jeremiah 24:10 destroyed