SERVE GOD WITH YOUR WHOLE HEART

Here’s the Plan Jeremiah 24:5 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good. 6 For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. 7 And I will give them an 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 unto me with their whole heart.

To begin with brothers and sisters, Christian Friends, Well Wishers and Saints of God as we glint gleam and gaze at this glorious text I can look and see and observe the language in the Jeremiah 24 text I was compelled to use this anology to stay true to your Revival Theme. I have a fig tree at home and I se a few small green figs growing. Every year my fig tree produce figs. Some seasons have been abundant and some seasons have been average, but I noticed that when I got distracted and didn’t attend to it, that some good figs have ripen and fall to the ground, and some incects had gotten a hold of them. And I thought about this text, Brothers and sisters we’ve got to attend to the fruit that the Lord has prospered us with. The Lord showed the Prophet Jeremiah two baskets of fruit that were set in the House of the Lord. There are good figs and there are bad figs in the house of the Lord. There are good people and there are bad people in the house of the Lord. There are good people in the city and there are bad people in the city. There are good people in the neighborhood and there are bad people in the neighborhood. There are good people in the state and there are bad people in the state there are good people in the country and there are bad people in the country but make no mistake about it, the Lord knows them all. Bishop the Lord know the wolves that’s in sheep clothes. First Lady Thomas the Lord know them foxes that come to destroy the vine. All in the name of the Lord. Because the text say that The Lord showed Jeremiah two baskets of figs that were set in the temple.

Don’t miss that, Everybody that smile in your face don’t mean you no good. Everybody that says Amen all the time sometimes they have hidden agendas. Don’t be native because God sees and they think you can’t see. God will let you see the very bad figs that can’t be eaten. Because I’ve learned now that everything that shine ain’t gold, and everything that looks good to me ain’t good for me. Can I keep it real in here. A lady told me that I’d be a good fit for her, Bishop I said No I ain’t, You ain’t ruining my happy home. Because First lady Allen is the best thing that happened to an old bum like me. I ‘m all dressed up now, I’m all cleaned up now, I’m polished prim prime and proper now but back then when I was too mean to live and wasn’t fit to die and the Lord saved my soul and made me whole and sent me a help meet… I’ve been blessed every since.. ATCSA.

The Lord said Jeremiah there are two baskets one full of bad figs and one full of good figs. And this indicates, this informs us, this and even indict us because the two baskets represent Free Will. Everybody say Free Will. Free Will means that each and everyone of us can choose the baskets of good figs, or we can choose the basket of bad figs. It’s your thing do what your want to ( The Isley Brothers said) I can’t tell you who to sock it to. And God is like that too. God allow us to make choices. And what I’ve learned over all these years is that God will respect your choices. Nobody can’t make you do nothing that you don’t want to do. And Nobody can’t stop from doing something you not supposed to be doing. We all have Free Will.

And God says to Jeremiah listen to what I’m going to do with the exiled captives that listened. Watch how I bless the obedient crowd, and observe the tangible fruitful flavor I’m going to bestow upon the faithful followers.

First of all in Jeremiah 24:5 God says although they have been captives I did it for their Good. For Their Good. The song writer said everything that happened to me that was good God did it. That’s good but sometime some bad things have happened to me for my good , and God did it. Secondly In Jeremiah 24:6 The Lord is reassuring Israel that He is going to be Good to the remnant of captive folk that’s been hauled off to Babylon under King Nebuchanezzar. The word says in verse 6 For I will set mine eyes upon them for good. When God has a blessing for you, When God got His eyes on you for good, baby the devil in hell can’t stop your blessing.

Tell your neighbor : he can’t stop this

Because When we research the history of Jeremiah’s message you get the appreciation that Jeremiah is an honest preacher. Jeremiah will tell you the truth even when you don’t want to hear it.

And somebody asked How did Jeremiah get like that? It was the Lord (Everybody say It was the Lord.) Brothers and sisters The Lord chose Jeremiah when he was a little child. Because the bible says in Jeremiah 1:4 Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. 6 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. 7 But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. 8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD. 9 Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. 10 See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

In other words God fixed the script for Jeremiah from the begin. and you can’t run away from your calling! Jeremiah was called to preach the truth. I’m called to teach and preach the truth of God to the people of God because preaching is my business.

Listen Jeremiah went and proclaimed to Israel that their disobedience and their disloyalty and their blatant disregard and disrespect for God with idol worship to Baal will cause them to be punished for 70 years.

Briefly Jeremiah is a big time preacher and considered to be a major prophet of the Lord. The major prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. ATCSA. And God had a plan all along because the word of God says in Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. 14 And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

God had Jeremiah on a journey and there are several things that were profound, prolific, and prophetic. The other prophets are testifying and test -a -lying. Then God tells Jeremiah go tell the top preacher whose in charge of House of God to stop telling the people and the king what they want to hear and tell them what they need to know.

And too many people just want to hear what they want hear.. I’m living my best live I ain’t worrying about no you. And the lying preachers smote Jeremiah and put him in the dungeon. Boy it’s bad when you got to get beat up and put in prison for telling the truth. The Priests are rotten like them figs, the preachers are rotten like them figs, the prophets are rotten like them figs and they can’t stand Jeremiah. And Jeremiah wants to quit but the word of God in Jeremiah 20:9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. Jeremiah said I said I wasn’t gon tell nobody but I just couldn’t keep it to myself. I’ve got to tell it and the late great A Louis Patterson said I’ll bust wide open if I don’t preach God’s word. And Jeremiah has got to tell it.

Tell your neighbor: He got to tell it. Jeremiah told them that they had to go in exile and be under the king of Babylon and the Chaldean, Jeremiah said go there and live, go there and build houses build businesses, get married and have children, go there and be content with your situation and God will see you through. Tell your neighbor that God will see you through. Because back in Jeremiah 24:6 in the b clause the bible says that and I will bring them again to this land:

This means that whatever you been going through God will Bring you out. Won’t be bring you out? I you ain’t got no food on your table God will be Bread in a starving land. God said even in the land of exile I’ll prosper you. So stay where you are until God moves you to where he wants you to be. ATCSA. The text says “and I will bring them again to this land:” And the ones who were disobedient who wouldn’t believe Jeremiah’s prophecy The King of Judah was dragged beaten and burned . All of the royal fat cats who were building their houses and exploiting the common poor people and cheating the people out of their wages they got got.

Tell your neighbor: They got got too And the poor people who were obedient that went to Babylon in exile they were spared because they had suffered enough. I have a special term for that I call it SUFFER WELL. Brothers and sisters whatever you’re going through in this season Go On Through It. And Bishop Paul S. Morton wrote a song Lord what ever you’re doing in this season Don’t do it without me… And my special prayer for you is Lord Bless House of Praise FGMBC in this season . Church I want you to say Lord whatever you’re doing in this season don’t do it without us.

Because the c clause of the text say in Jeremiah 24:6 and I will build them, and not pull them down; In Psalms 127:1 Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. Brothers and sisters Let the Lord BUILD you up. Bishop the Lord will prepare a table before you in the presence of your enemies. Haters are going to hate but God will appreciate. God will build you up where you’re torn down strentehgten you where you’re weak lift you up where you’ve been down trodden God will build you up and not pull you down.… Y’all listen to me real good here. If you around somebody that every time they are around and all hell break loose, you need to find some new friends. I noticed that every time a certain preacher was around me that people started acting funny with me. I finally got somebody to tell me Rev that boy been talking about you like a dog behind your back. Some people, They smile in your face all the time they want take your place the O Jays called the Back stabbers. Oh but God said I will build them and not pull them down. You don’t need to be around nobody that’s pulling you down. Some people you’re going to have to cut loose.

I’m almost through and so Jeremiah 24:6 in the d clause says “and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.” Think about those two baskets of figs set in the temple. God will plant you. And when God plants you you’ll be rooted and ground in love, in peace, in harmony, in goodness, and in godly living. Believe it or not but your lifestyle matters to God. God used Jeremiah from a little child and ordered his steps in righteousness. It’s hard to teach talk and tell folk about being righteous and you’re Rev Do Wrong.

Then there is verse 7 in Jeremiah 24:7 And I will give them an 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 unto me with their whole heart.

I want my heart to be dedicated to the Lord and the service of the Lord. Paul said my heart’s desire is that Israel be saved.. David said thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. The Psalmist said I have sought thee with my whole heart.

Paul said in Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

God knows out heart. And word Heart in the Greek vernacular is the Kardia. Everybody say Kardia.

In modern term this is the study of the Heart. and we get the term cardiology. We go to our Cardiologist a person specializes in the heart to check on our heart.

and Saints of God there are a Plethora of circumstances and incidents and scenarios that point out the Conditions of the Heart. God’s Word is foremost authority on matters of the heart. God’s Word will teach us about our hearts. Because in actuality God knows our hearts better than we know our own heart.

In Jeremiah 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

God told Jeremiah to tell the people when you search for Me with your whole heart you’ll find Me

When God tell the Man of God to speak on matters of the heart, it’s for the people’s good. Some of us have heart conditions. And they are the Conditions of the Heart .

#1. God is not talking about Heart Burn like when the human body sends up stomach acid and you get a burning in your neck and chest and you get what they call heart burn, But that’s not what God is talking about. God is saying In Jeremiah 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

#2. God is not talking about Heart Trouble like when you have weak arteries and veins in your cardio vascular region and chest area and you began to have difficulty doing regular task and normal activities seem outrageously hard to do they called that Heart Trouble. but that isn’t what God is talking about He is saying In Jeremiah 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

#3. God is not talking about a Heart Attack like when that muscle that pumps the life giving blood that go through out our bodies the heart refuse to work another year another month another week another day another hour another minute or another second and it quits pumping blood it’s called a Heart Attack !!! That’s not what God is talking about

But God is saying through the prophet Jeremiah that The Heart is deceitful and desperately wicked and only God knows what’s in our hearts. And God says In Jeremiah 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

And God says all of this talk about good figs and bad figs, stuff being for your good and the things about me being good to you, and bringing you up and out, the things about building you and planting youm and making sure that you’re rooted and ground in the Lord was all that You would have a clean heart when you serve Me . The Lord say I’m talking about the Condition of your heart Its “A Heart Condition”

Tell your neighbor : It’s A Heart Thing

Because The Heart that the scripture is talking about is the one that carry our feelings our will our emotions and our intellect. It’s how we FEELLLL in the inner core of our life force. It’s the center around the circle around the circumference of what some people call our soul or our spirit. Which ever technical theological term you use your soul or your spirit God knows all about our hearts.

And I’ve held you’ll long enough but tah the last part of the text says And I will be their God and they shall return to Me Whole Heartedly.

the Lord had a plan in mind from the beginning. God said I know the thought that I have for you. If we just let go and let God, everything will be alright. Things might seems rough and the going may be tough but Jeremiah 24:5 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.