The mother of all sins – Pride! It is the subtlest of all sins. Humility is a Christlike trait. No one who has ever met Jesus can be proud again. The righteous Savior bleeding for our sins upon the cross cures the sin of pride. The nations are proud, they will soon be humbled before the Almighty! Let’s humble ourselves before the Lord!

Jeremiah the prophet's assistant's name was Baruch. He was Jeremiah's scribe. He wrote down all the sermons Jeremiah preached, and he even read them to the people. He suffered because of it as well. Baruch was rejected and demoted. But God was watching and was going to reward him. It never pays to compromise with the world, our job, for money or promotion… all for what? The only real pay is to obey the Lord, and He will reward you!

In the Bible, Egypt a type of the world, the sinful lifestyle that Jesus saved us from. The Lord told the people, "You are to never go back there again!" Yet, in time of desperation and fear, the people were tempted to go back there for help. This was a disastrous decision. Any decision that moves us to trust in the old, sinful ways instead of the Lord will certainly lead to great regret!

The reality of LIFE is that we must choose between following the ways of the world or obeying God. The wrath of God is immensely more difficult than the wrath of the world. Which would you rather experience, the wrath of man or the wrath of God? There is a hard way and an easier way – the easier way is to obey God’s Word and let the chips fall where they may. Falling into the hands of an angry God is eternally terrifying. Falling into the hands of angry men is only temporary.

People have all kinds of reactions to the Word of God. Some ignore it, some receive it and obey, some reject it. The ones that receive and obey it are blessed; the ones that ignore it or reject it ultimately perish. The choice is yours. The Bible is an anvil that has broken many a hammer through the years. You will either be broken by the Word, or the Word will break you to pieces. It is best to fall upon the rock of God’s Word and let your pride and ego be broken, than for it to fall upon you in judgement and crush you to pieces.

The Bible is filled with promises to answer prayer. How often we neglect prayer to our own detriment. I'm certain that our lives would be so much richer and fuller if we were to continue to make our requests known unto God.

God does and will answer prayer! We often short-change ourselves because we do not pray. Prayer is a neglected discipline… until the time of fiery trial arrives. The furnace of heartache and pain sure does improve or prayer life! Whether good times or hard times – the Lord is a God who loves to answer prayer!

It is often difficult to realize God’s love. Be assured that He does love you! It is written in His eternal Word and sealed with His beloved Son’s blood. God not only tells you He loves you, He demonstrated it when He died on the cross and rose again from the dead for you!

Jesus warned us to be aware of false prophets and false teachers. We are to ‘test the spirits’ to see if they are of God. We are to judge whether someone speaks for the Lord or is a deceiver. We do this by comparing what the person says with Scripture! May the Lord give us more discernment as the age of deception is upon us!

When God judges, he separates the wicked from the righteous. As rotten fruit is rejected, so God rejects those who refuse to repent. As good fruit is received, so the Lord receives those who are righteous in Him, through the blood of Christ. God always preserves a remnant who remain faithful to Him and His Word. May we be faithful to the Lord!

Do you mark God’s Word when you read it? More importantly, does God’s Word mark you? The people got into trouble when they no longer took God’s Word seriously. But, those who take it seriously enough to mark it and let it mark them will be blessed!

These are amazing chapters! The Lord corrects those who have misplaced their trust in people who will fail them. God is forever strong and can make water come out of a rock if we needed it. Let's not depart from God, but continue to trust Him with all of our heart!

We often think that the way to goodness and prosperity for our lives is developing something new, novel and creative. The old saying goes, "If its true, it isn’t new; and if its new, it isn’t true." Nothing wrong with being creative and fresh, but God wants us to stay rooted and grounded in His Word that is from ancient times! Ancient wisdom for modern man! He tells us to ‘seek the old paths’. Those paths are tried and true! Tested and certain! The paths of the prophets of old, of His eternal Word, will never fail you and will always keep you true and good!

Backsliding is when we were once close to the Lord and we are sliding away from that commitment to the Lord. The Lord calls all the backsliders to turn back to Him and He will receive them.

The people had forsaken the Lord, they were backslidden. They once were so close to God, loved God, obeyed God. But now other things and interests have crowded out the things of the Lord. They were outwardly with God, but inwardly far from Him. The prophet is calling the people back to the Lord.

The call by God for Jeremiah to preach to the nations is quite amazing, given his age. He was but a very young man. We learn many lessons from this. God’s call upon a man or woman is also God’s empowering of that man! God gave Jeremiah all the grace and power he needed. Jeremiah was not alone, God was with him. As we go through the book of Jeremiah, we will learn that what energized Jeremiah was the Living Word of God. The Word of God burned in Jeremiah, he had to speak it, he couldn’t resist, it burned inside of him. He is known as the weeping prophet because he oversaw the death of a nation; the spiritual and moral decline of a once powerful nation! Sound familiar?