Welcome back you guys.

This is week 42 of Creative Come filed me for the Old Testament,

and we're heading into the first of our two part series on Jeremiah.

You're not very familiar with his story.

I think you're gonna love it.

It'll also break your heart to read it.

It's a little bit like reading about job or a eddi or moron.

They, you love them entirely for the men that they are and the stewardship

that they manage to uphold despite incredible loneliness and adversity.

We'll, we're gonna cover the first 20 chapters in this week's sections,

but we're not covering all those chapters, so we'll bounce a little bit.

Part of the reason we bounce is because he can get kind of hard to read.

Jeremiah is an interesting book in that we get to know more about.

Backstory, It's not so much just his teachings, it's about what it feels like

to be a prophet who people won't hear.

And I think it's really powerful as we dovetail it into Isaiah, cuz he

experienced something really similar.

Jeremiah is gonna be a prophet in the Southern kingdom for about 40 years.

He crosses over the timelines of Lehigh, what you read about in the Book of

Mormon, about the reign of King Zeta Kay.

That's Jeremiah's time.

In fact, he's got a lot of contemporaries, Ezekiel and Jose and Daniel.

They just all have these different stewardships, which I feel like

applies to us in a lot of ways.

Uh, we all have.

Different plots to manage in this mortal world.

And sometimes you tend to look over at your neighbor's plot and you think,

Why did I get this stewardship ? But I think it, there's a lot of power

in finding out why he got it and how the Lord prepared him for it.

Because I think it teaches me to remember that he must have prepared

me for my, So watch for those themes.

A few things you're gonna wanna see is why he stays.

You're gonna learn a lot about what holds Jeremiah to his testimony,

where it comes from, and how he holds onto it in tough times, which I think

helps all of us in a hundred ways.

So we'll focus there.

You'll also find out the real purpose of stewardship.

He teaches you to stop looking out and to keep looking up for that

reassurance that we're seeking.

And he'll teach you about what it's like to be a prophet of God, the

loneliness of it, the difficulty of it.

And then those moments of exalting joy that I imagine make it all worthwhile.

Um, But it's hard.

It's hard to read.

And I think a lot of that is because he is a type of Christ.

So just like we've done in every single book, I'll try and highlight the areas

that will focus your eye on Jesus Christ.

He is someone who is despised and rejected of men.

He is someone who, his testimony comes from a deeper place

and he will not be silenced.

It is, uh, a powerful witness.

So settle in, grab your scriptures, grab your notes, and let's get started.

You guys,

Chapter one, you're gonna get a little bit of backstory about Jeremiah,

but you should understand that the book of Jeremiah itself is not

necessarily in chronological order.

You can tell that cuz sometimes they're about to head into Babylon

and sometimes he'll mention the Syria.

So I think we're jumping around in time a lot, but this is a critical

chapter to understand how Jeremiah became the prophet that he'll become.

And it all starts with understanding.

Divine nature, like we're teaching our kids every single week.

When you hear the young women say that theme, this is what we're

trying to help our kids understand.

And it comes in chapter one specifically in verse five.

If you, if you see those first few verses, he talks about his story

that he comes from a priestly family.

He's young.

A lot of scholars mentioned that he's probably in his late

teens when he gets this moment with the Lord to know who he is.

And that's powerful to me.

It makes me think of him almost when I picture Jeremiah,

especially in chapter one.

I picture him like a missionary getting his call.

That's how old he is.

And he's got some kind of struggle and we'll get into it.

But first you wanna learn about how he hears God.

So in verse five, God speaks to him.

It doesn't say that Jeremiah sought him out.

I don't know how that, how that happened, but God comes to him in verse four and

then in verse five he says, Before I formed the in the belly, I knew the

before thou came as fourth out of the wo I sanctified the, and I ordained

the A prophet unto the nation's.

Plural nations, he's gonna cover a lot of ground.

Um, and I just, there's so much you could unpack in this verse, but first, I

love that it speaks of a premortal life.

This is a very clear evidence that Premortal life is real, and

that's rare in the Old Testament.

So highlight that.

I also love that it talks about forward nation.

Elder Maxwell says, that's a doctrine that is almost impossible

to understand with our mortal minds.

So instead of trying to understand it all, we should just trust it.

he, there's a great quote in the notes if you wanna go deeper, but he

talks about how it is something that involves a lot of extra opportunities

and heavier responsibilities.

So just keep that all in your mind as you think about that idea of foreign

nation specifically with profits.

But I love that he has this moment of understanding that God has

known him for a long, long time.

It's what President Nelson's teaching all of us today that.

We have known God for a long, long time, and when we see him again, we will

be astonished at how familiar he is.

And I get the feeling that's that's what he's experiencing right now.

But he has some worries about being this mighty prophet to teach the nations.

And you see that in six, then said, I ah Lord God, behold I

cannot speak for I am a child.

I don't think he means this, like metaphorically.

I think he really has some kind of severe speech impediment.

This is just me, my theory, but I think it's a lot like what

we saw in with Moses and Enoch.

They have.

Real barriers to being this prophet that at least what they imagine

a prophet to be and he's worried, what I love is what happens next.

So you can see that God basically says to him, Whatever I say to

you, you're gonna be able to speak.

That's in seven for that shot.

Go into all I send me and whatever I command, thou shall speak.

Be not afraid is what you see in eight for I am with the to deliver the say Lord.

If you know more about Jeremiah's story, He doesn't always get delivered.

He doesn't have Red Sea party moments necessarily.

He gets in stocks and has all kinds of trouble.

Uh, but deliverance doesn't necessarily mean that you're immediately

extracted out of your troubles.

I learned the story, President, I especially when we were studying

Moses, I read about this and he talks about how deliverance in God's

terms means you will have, you'll be endowed with power to endure it.

Well, and that I think is the kind of deliverance he's promising, Jeremiah.

It's the same kind of promise he gave to Aite.

Aite was still delivered even though he was not saved because he was given an

endowment of power to endure his life.

Well, and that's what you'll see, and I think it's powerful for me because there

are times I wonder why I'm not delivered, uh, or why someone I love isn't delivered.

And I think you have to remember what that word means.

That it means you've been given power to manage.

You've been given tender mercies and miracles to endure and to endure it well.

So watch for that as you study his verses.

Some other things I love is that his lips are touched, so

he has this speech impediment.

I don't know if he literally can't speak or if he has this, you know,

like maybe has a speech impediment that makes him sound like a child.

I'm not sure.

But whatever happens, his lips are touched similar to what we saw with

Isaiah and then all of a sudden he has clarity and it's so powerful to read it.

The visual that came into my mind was brother of Jared.

As weird as that sounds, you know, when he brings those smooth stones to the

Lord, those clear, smooth stones that he's forged and then the Lord touches

them and they are able to light the way.

I feel like that's basically what he's describing with this miracle,

that he's in a spot where he knows he can't speak on his own.

He knows he's endured, I imagine mocking in all kinds of trouble, um,

because of this impediment and then now all of a sudden, He can speak and

he can speak as a prophet, and that's a powerful thing to, to cross over.

I wonder if that's why the Lord calls so many men like Jeremiah, the Moses

is the Enix, the Joseph Smiths, who are clear stones that are just waiting to

be touched, um, that need that touch.

What I think is so powerful about that image from in my mind is that

I think Jeremiah will always know that it, that isn't him the same way.

Those who were in the New Testament times and met the Mortal Messiah and

were healed by him, knew that the leprosy didn't leave on the zone account, that

it left because they were healed by God, and so therefore they testified.

That's what Jeremiah will always know.

That's gonna be critical information as we go further into Jeremiah's story,

because he's gonna have some incredible hard struggles and he's gonna need

this spiritual memory to feast on.

And he does.

Then he gets some instruction.

So you can see in like 11, 12, 13 that he's, It almost sounds to me

like, do you remember in the Book of Mormon when Lehigh and Nefi

are in those tree of life visions?

And the angel kind of guides them through and says, What's what CS though?

And they have to kind of go back and forth.

It almost seems like he's learning how to receive revelation or how to hear the

voice of God because there's a little bit of an exchange and you can hear the angel

or whoever it is, the Lord say, Well done.

You guessed right, or you figured it out.

And I think there's some coaching that's happening.

He also talks about what's coming, that he's gonna need to speak about

the destruction that's gonna come to Jerusalem because of Babylon.

That's gonna be his big message most of his lifetime.

And so he warns him about that.

But given the fact that I am sure Jeremiah is afraid of being the deliverer of that

message, he asked him not to be dismayed.

That's around 17.

Be not dismayed.

I command the be not dismayed at their faces list.

I can found the before then.

. In order for him to have clarity of thought, he has to promise the Lord

that he won't be dismayed, that he won't fear, he has to have this commitment.

I'm gonna show up on the stage no matter what happens.

That's a powerful promise.

And then he says in 18 how he has made him for behold.

I've made the, this day a defensed city, an iron pillar, brazen

walls against the whole land.

He has a promise and he knows now cause he has physical evidence.

His mouth is working in a way it hasn't before, that he has protection.

And then there's a promise to prevail.

And you have to love this with everything we've learned from President Nelson.

And they shall fight against the, but they shall not prevail against the,

for I am with these, say the Lord to deliver the remember deliverance is a

different kind of deliverance and it is something that will intimately acquaint

Jeremiah with his Lord Jesus Christ.

And they will, He will come to know him in a way that few others can.

So that's just the beginning, you guys.

Let's jump into chapter two Next.

Do you remember how we talked in Isaiah about how some of those chapters sound

like the prodigal, the prodigal's father, that he is sorrowing for the loss of

his son and hoping he'll come home?

That's what I feel like when I read a lot of Jeremiah, because it's

often speaking of this covenantal love that God has for his children.

He's teaching Jeremiah about how much he loves the children of Israel and how

he wishes they would come back to him.

Their sins have created this wide chasm and he really wants them home, and what

I love is what you see in chapter two.

It's this pleading, in fact, It almost is haunting cuz he's, he's talking about

how, how well he remembers his children.

Remember when he thinks of the children of Israel, he doesn't

just think about this generation and this time God sees all of it.

And so he is lamenting their loss.

So he talks about how, I remember the, the kindness of the youth.

And three, Israel was holiness unto the Lord.

And the first fruits of increase holiness to the Lord is what you see on temples.

They, they are a select group that was intended to do incredible

things and take light to the world.

And he is so sad to see this separation.

So in five of you hear him articulate it.

They're gone far from me and have walked after vanity and then

neither said that this is six.

Where is the Lord that brought us up out of the lead of Egypt?

It's that Neither said they part that kills me, basically is

saying they don't even miss me.

You know, I.

Created these miracles and all this land and this beauty, and they don't

even miss me the way I ache for them.

I just as a parent, Ugh.

Right.

It just pulls at your heartstrings.

And then he talks about how they defiled this gift.

It's in seven, they entered this land, they defiled my land and

made my heritage and abomination.

You're almost seeing Jeremiah articulate the Abrahamic covenant in reverse.

He's basically saying you received all these gifts and you've rejected

them slowly and you're so far apart it in a really tiny way.

It reminds me of ever like on Christmas morning, you've spent months and so

much of your budget trying to carefully get just the right things that you know

your kids will be so excited about.

And then you come down at 10:00 AM on Christmas after all the chaos and all

those gifts are just dumped on the floor, covered in candy wrappers and

you just sort of ache a little bit.

You know what's gonna happen, but it just hurts.

I feel like.

That's what Jemiah is speaking about, that in an eternal way, that's how the Lord

feels like I had all these plans for you.

I had this great plan for you, and you have cast it aside.

All these blessings that he spent infinite amount of time creating for

them, they are rejecting and it hurts.

So he talks about where that rejection is stemming from.

A big piece of it is what you see in eight, that their leaders, their pastors,

their teachers are leading them astray and not just a little bit of stray.

You guys, they're like way off.

They're worshiping idols.

Again, we're gonna see child sacrifice by the end of this chapter.

They're way off course.

Um, and he's.

Sorrowing about it, and he's not understanding the why, or if he

does, he's, he's speaking to us to say like, How, How does this happen?

And there's a powerful description of it.

In 11, he says, My people have changed their glory for

that, which does not profit.

They exchanged their ability to have the priesthood and their posterity that they

were hoping for, and all those Abraham Covenant promises for things that can't

last , you'll laugh at me about it.

When I was reading this, the visual that came into my mind is Sam.

So Sam went to an arcade, he went with his own money and spent $35, I think,

buying tokens, and then came home with 10 of those ridiculously cheap, like what

you could find at a dollar store stone.

Stuffed animals.

Sam doesn't even like stuffed animals, but he came home so proud

of his accomplishment that he had won all these stuffed animals.

And all I could feel in my heart was like, Oh, Sam, you just spent $35 on

something that probably cost five.

Yeah.

And I just sort of ached for him.

Cause I knew at some point he was gonna wish he had the $35 back.

But that's, I feel like they're coming to Lord with this.

Like, brazen, we're great.

Things are great.

Look at my stuff to animals.

You know, it's that kind of visual and he's.

He's just, he can see where the road leads.

In fact, that's what you get in 13.

He says they've committed two evils.

One, they've forsaken him.

They've forgotten him and cast him aside.

And two, they've replaced him with something else.

It's the combination that's particularly awful.

They haven't just forgotten God.

They've replaced him.

They've supplanted truth with this false religion and he compares it

to cisterns that can't hold water.

He's been teaching them through all these profits for all these

generations about living water.

It's this source of pure water that is purified by the mountain and

will always continue to bubble up.

And what they're saying is, no, we built this cistern and it's gonna be great.

It's gonna hold all the water if you haven't seen a sister.

And it's like a great big manmade structure to hold rain water usually.

And if it's broken it, it can't hold anything.

Not only that, but it's stagnant water, so it's gonna be prone to infection,

it's going to have all kinds of trouble.

People can pollute it and it is not a source of living water.

And that's.

That's what he's trying to teach them is you're turning to gods that

cannot save and it's gonna hurt.

When you turn the page, it goes a little further.

He says in 19, then own wickedness shall correctly.

I back Slidings shall reprove the, he uses that word lots of

times back slidings because they are coasting the wrong direction.

They are receding and remember God has it gotta progress.

He wants us to progress and come closer to him all the time.

And so to backslide is just painful to watch.

But I think it's interesting that he says it's your own wickedness, that

you'll feel like you, the consequences of your wickedness are going to.

Be what teaches you a lesson.

I don't think this is the Lord inflicting a whole bunch of harm.

The Babylonians are gonna come because of this situation.

There's wickedness and when there's wickedness, there's natural

consequences and it's gonna hurt and he as a parent can feel it.

He also still is mourning for them.

So in 21 he talks about how he planted a who right seed.

I love this phrase as a parent cuz I talked about this alive a couple

weeks ago, but I really think that's my job as a parent is to plant.

Divine seed and to do as much as I can to nourish that plant and to try

and like help it, you know, put the plastic shelter around it so it can

have a chance to grow in their youth.

And then sometimes you guys, like they hate their teenage years or

they'll read something on Instagram or who knows, all kinds of things.

And all those years of plant nurturing just rushed aside.

And you just find yourself thinking like, wait, I spent 20 years trying to teach you

this gospel, and one person can say one thing at lunch, at school, and all of a

sudden you don't have a testimony anymore.

Like it's just this jarring thing.

But what I love is the reference of a seed, because it's the same thing.

Jeremiah is gonna teach us.

This seed that appears to be completely obliterated now will regrow.

It'll take generations for this to happen, but it will come back.

I feel like that with our kids, that those seeds we plant have a promise

that if they are planted and nurtured in their youth, when they're exposed

to the right elements and the right.

Sun, uh, whatever in their life, they choose to expose that soil to the sun and

to the nourishment of the living water.

It will grow again.

It has to grow again cuz it's a holy, great seed.

I just, I think that's what he's seeing here.

It's that same ache you felt when he talked about what else could

I have done for my vineyard.

He knows this generation's gonna suffer and a whole bunch after it,

but that there will be regrowth.

Interestingly, they don't seem to have much hope.

When Jeremiah tries to teach them, like in 25, they talk about how they have no hope.

You're gonna see that a few times this week they don't believe in the

saving power of Jehovah anymore, and it's, it's starting to take a toll.

So in 27, he says, saying to a stock that will hurt my father and

to a stone that I've brought me forth, they've replaced him with.

Dalma idols is what he calls the things they have crafted with their own hands

to sit that they're turning to those things for reinforcement and for strength.

There's a lot we can learn from this guys cuz we tend to turn for tune to

a lot of other sources for comfort and he's trying to warn us against it.

But he talks about how in their time of trouble they're gonna come

to him and, and want help and, and he won't be able to help them.

I think this is really powerful.

Cause sometimes I think in our efforts to teach our kids about the mercy

and grace of Jesus Christ, which is infinite, we give them the impression

that they can, they'll receive immediate help when they finally

decide to turn to him and they will.

But remember, deliverance through God doesn't necessarily mean.

The waves part for you.

It means, remember, especially with Moses, there was a whole cycle of

time where the winds blew like crazy.

That's what parted the waves and they had to go through a really hard

faith challenge to, and to get the blessings of God on the other side.

I think you see this in the Book of Mormon all the time where he talks

about being slow to hear their cries.

There's references in the notes if you wanna go a little bit deeper, but I

think we have to teach both of those sides that yes, God will deliver, and

yes, he will always be there, but it will take time and it will be hard.

So choose the right road . Um, he also talks about how his people have

forgotten him, and then you see a little bit about child sacrifice, that that's

how far they've fallen around 34 or 35.

We're gonna talk about it a little more in a couple more chapters, so

I'm gonna go, gonna go too deep here.

But I do think it helps you understand how offended God is, how far they've

fallen, and that's important to set the stage for what we'll see in chapter three.

Language in chapter three can sound a little bit hard, , but

I think it teaches you how much.

God loves his children, that he sees this betrayal.

So personally, they've turned against him, turned towards idols, and he

compares it to a harlett that basically that they were in this covenantal

marriage like relationship with him.

And he stayed and they strayed and brazenly strayed.

In fact, he talks about, he compares them to two sisters.

He basically says, You could have learned.

So Israel will do this same process.

They'll go first.

They get scattered first, remember?

So they worship idols, they turn to false gods, and they are carried off.

And then later in time, Judah does the same thing.

That's where we're at in time.

So he's saying, Judah, how did you not learn from your older sister who

you watched go through this process?

But for me, the most powerful part of chapter three kicks in around

verse 12 because this is where you see that the Lord who is aching

and betrayed and offended and hurt.

Still invites this covenantal group of children to come home.

And I found myself a bit defensive . I was like, Why?

Why do you keep inviting them to come back home?

They are so far off and had so many opportunities.

Why do you invite them home?

And it teaches you about the character of Christ that he always will always.

In fact, there's so many beautiful verses in this one.

So if you look around verse 12, he says, Return thou back sliding Israel.

For I am merciful, say at the Lord.

And I will not keep anger forever.

He will have anger for a season and they've earned that anger.

But the it won't last forever.

Doesn't not just sound like apparent to you, like, Yes, I will be mad when you

tell me you did this wrong, but if you come to me and you tell me honestly what

you did, my anchor won't last forever.

I will always love you.

You will always have a home here.

He sounds like a parent to me.

And it's just a.

You know, you just, you feel for him.

What I love is it so much, it teaches me about who he is.

They, they can't just waltz back in the same way.

We talked, I felt a couple weeks ago about the prodigal son can't just

waltz back into his inheritance.

I imagine they had some talks about how things were gonna change, and that's gonna

happen with the children of Israel too.

So he says in 13, You need to acknowledge your sins.

If you're gonna return to me, you have to acknowledge that you

have transgressed against me.

And then in 14 turn, for I am married onto you, it's this invitation

to repent and come back home.

And isn't that character of Christ that he will always invite you back there.

There is a gate, there is a path, and you have to be willing to

walk it, but if you will walk it, he will invite you back home.

It just reminded me of that song.

Come on to Jesus.

If you haven't seen the Madeline page version, I, I give you a link

on to the YouTube video online, but.

You know, she, in the music video, she's a waitress who gets yelled

at and by a patron and then later sees that same patron caught under a

car and everybody rushes to rescue.

But the lyrics of those song, that song is what, What wells up in me?

It's just this beautiful verbiage that says, no matter how far

you've gone, I will be right.

You're gonna need to follow my plan and come back in my way.

But if you will do those things, I'm right here.

And that's what the rest to chapter three is all about.

It's about the Zion that will come.

This generation will not choose it.

They will continue to backslide, but in time, a long time,

there will be Zion that comes.

And this is what Jeremiah focuses our hearts on.

It's, it's the the promise.

So it starts around verse 15 or so.

He starts talking about how when they come to him, he's

gonna feed them with knowledge.

I love this piece because I think it's a key to our repentance processes as well,

that when we really want mighty change of heart, we have to learn the doctrine.

We have to learn why we believe that Jesus Christ will forgive us every time.

You have to dig deep.

And so he promises.

I'm gonna give you teachers, I'm gonna give you pastors.

In fact, if you look in the footnotes, it says Bishops that he's gonna

give you people who will help you in this repentance process.

They'll feed you with knowledge and understanding if they use that

knowledge of an and understanding.

To come back to the covenant, then they'll start to have those blessings again.

So he talks about how they'll be gathered in 17 and how they'll walk.

The two houses of Israel will walk together again.

They've been divided for a long time and now they're gonna come back.

This is all that you know, before the savior comes again, that

gathering phase that will happen.

And then I love 19 thou shall call me my father and shall not turn away from me.

From that point forward, once Zion is established, those hearts that

have turned him will always be his.

He, he will never return and neither will they at this point going forward.

So in 22, you hear his plea return, you back sliding children

and I will heal your back.

Sliding.

I love this promise because I've, I've taught the ysa a lot about repentance

and my own kids about repentance, and this is the promise because sometimes

they feel like they're so far off course that even if they came back, they're,

they're set way back on the covenant path.

You know, they, they've pictured this very linearly that even if they come

back, they're, they have so much ground to make up because they didn't serve

a mission or whatever their concerns are the lost time and they worry

that they can't ever make up that ground and that's what he's teaching

them in 22, Return you back sliding children, I will hear, heal your back.

Slidings.

He, it's not about this linear plan, it's about.

I can heal all things.

I love how the way other Kiron talks about this, how he can fix the unfixable.

He can make up ground that you can't even imagine.

We can't put our mortal limits on this immortal God, so we should trust

that he can make up that ground.

Uh, and that's a powerful thing to promise as you head into the next couple chapters.

The summary that I wrote at the top of chapter seven is You cannot serve

two Masters, cuz that's basically what Jeremiah is trying to teach the

children of Israel in this chapter.

In the intervening chapters that we had to skip over, he's giving

them all the warnings about the destruction that is coming.

It sounds a lot like Lehigh warning about the destruction

of Jerusalem that is coming.

And so we jumped now to this specific incident at the temple.

So he goes to the temple, to all those who are worshiping there.

Who are going through the motions of worshiping, but not with the right

heart and not with the right intent.

And he has some mornings for them, so he is directed to go to the gate

and stand there and proclaim it.

It feels a lot like the New Testament when the savior comes and cleans

out the temple and tosses the tables of all the money changers.

That's sort of what's happening here with Jeremiah.

He's saying like, in three, amend your ways, your doings and I will

cause you to dwell in this place.

If I feel like most of these verses are not just a warning, they are, The

change is not as hard as you think.

, I feel like that when I teach the youth that they see repentance as

this impossibly hard thing and a big piece of my job is to say it's, it's

a, it's a shift, it's an amendment.

It's not this radical change to your lifestyle.

It's constantly daily amending, finding out where you're out of alignment and,

and amending your waste, turning to him.

That's what he is asking them to do, and I love the way he describes it.

And instead of just focusing on the sacrifice, he says, If you thoroughly

amend your doings, that's in five in six.

If you oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, the widow, don't

shed innocent blood in my house.

Don't walk after other gods.

Then I will cause you to stay here, not just in the temple, but in Jerusalem.

This holy city that the Lord wants them to have.

He says, These blessings I want to give you.

So remember we've talked about this several times now, where God

will always love these children.

He will always invite them back into this covenant relationship.

He just can't always bless them.

It's the same thing we experience.

He will always love you.

He just wants to love and bless you.

But we can't have those blessings unless we are obedient His commandments.

And they're not right now.

In fact, they're doing, they're speaking outta both sides of their mouth.

So if you look at nine, will you steal murder and commit adultery and swear

falsely and burn incense onto a false God?

Walk after other gods who you know not, and then come to my house.

You know, it's this brazen you.

Really, That's how this is gonna go and.

I think trying to call like Jeremiah's, trying to cash up past a big, bright

light to say, Look at what you're doing.

You're so far off course to how dare you stand before him in this house and

demand that he help you and save you when you're blatantly turning against his ways.

He talks about Aden of robbers.

Sounds very similar to what you're gonna read in the New

Testament about Aden of thieves.

That this holy ground has become sick, wounded, and it needs repair, and if they

don't repair it, it's gonna get destroyed.

In fact, that's what he compares to Shiloh.

So Shiloh is that area where the tabernacle stayed for a long

time and that got destroyed.

What he's trying to teach them with that metaphor is the temple

itself is just a building.

I mean, in that case it was a tent, but you know, it's just a structure.

What makes it holy is the covenants and the priesthood.

All those things make it holy ground.

So if you cast those things aside, The temple itself.

You know, it's kind of like the same way in our day.

You see people who defile the temple at times somebody

might spray paint the temple.

The temple doesn't have like a superpower on its own.

It is the house of God.

So it's, you can get that feel here where he's saying, you think that the

temple's gonna save you, or living in this city that's been promised to be

this light on a hill will hold you.

But that's all dependent on the hearts of the people who live in that city.

And he's trying to kind of catch their eyes on that understanding.

So he says how many prophets he sent in 13.

I woke up early.

I sent as many prophets as I could to try and teach you and you didn't listen.

And then 16, therefore pray.

Pray not thou for this.

People neither lift up that cry nor prayer unto them.

This is a shift in gears for Jeremiah.

Uh, they've gone too far, basically similar to what we see in the book

of Mormon with Mormon, that there is a phase where he's directed

not to pray for them anymore.

They've gone too far off and they will need to be destroyed.

Um, and you can see why when you go a little bit further in 18,

the their children gather wood.

This is kind of haunting cuz by the end of the chapter you're gonna see that

they're struggling with child sacrifice.

So you get the feeling that maybe they are, you know, at least they're

involving their children in this false worship, Having their kids gather

wood for whatever they're doing and that that breaks the Lord's heart.

Uh, millstones are heavy, you guys, so he's, he has very little tolerance for.

Not, not just not teaching your children truth, but teaching them gross error.

That is something that comes with heavy consequences.

So he invites them in 23 to obey the voice.

That's what he's asking.

Obey my voice.

Here's what I thought was really powerful about this, and I'll

try to articulate it quickly.

Basically what he's offering is he's saying, Love me first.

Obey my voice and I will be your God.

This is in 23.

You shall be my people and walk in all the ways that I have commanded you,

that I, that it may be well onto you.

They're starting to distort the commandments.

They're starting to set aside their love of God and love others instead,

and it's causing their downfall.

What it reminds me of is, so Jack, my autistic son, when he was growing

up, sometimes it was particularly tricky with primary, cuz you only have

primary teachers for a little short season and a lot of substitutes and.

Primary was just hard.

And I would have a couple teachers come to me and say, Oh, I love Jack.

I love having Jack in class.

And as a mom I was like, Yes, there's somebody who gets Jack.

And you know, you just rejoice in that.

And then I would go and pop into their class, or maybe even be the second

person as a substitute sometimes.

And you'd see their version of love was to let Jack do anything he wanted.

Uh, and he's a pretty high functioning kid, so he would be like climbing on

the tables and laying under chairs and yelling out in the middle of class.

And I was like, No, no, no, no, no, no.

He can sit still.

Like he can learn.

Don't, this is not loving Jack.

But in their mind, cuz they didn't understand they thought it was, And

so then I had to kind of say, there are boundaries to really love Jack, it

means you give him boundaries, you give him structure, you help him progress.

That's what I feel like the Lord is trying to teach through Jeremiah.

If you really.

To really show that I love you.

I am pushing you and channeling you towards progression, towards coming

closer to who you are intended to be.

And this I, I believe in all kinds of gods.

And I open myself to any doctrine.

And this idea of I'm gonna set the real God and his commandments aside,

will never lead you to happiness.

Wickedness never was happiness.

That's what he is trying to teach.

And I think it's really critical for us today.

Cause I think in this world where you are told to have love for everyone

and allow everything and it's, everything is fine and there's no

wrong, that's basically Jack in a primary room jumping on top of tables.

It is happiness, it is not progress.

And the Lord knows for us to feel joy, we need to become like him.

And that takes commandments, that takes funneling, and that's what

Jeremiah is trying to teach them.

So he sent all these profits to try and help and they just, Don't listen.

In fact, I love what you see at the end of 24.

And they went backwards and off forwards.

That's what I felt in that primary room with Jack.

He had just gone backwards and not forwards.

Thankfully, there was ways to course correct and we could get him back on

track, but it was that, that's what this passage taught me this week.

Um, he talks about how often he's reached out to them, like in 27.

I've reached out to them.

I call onto them, but they will not answer.

They've created abomination in this temple.

They're doing things grossly wrong on holy sacred ground and that can't be tolerated.

And so he warns about a fire that's coming that there will be trouble.

Um, I commend them, not neither came they into my heart.

That's at the end of 31.

They're building alters.

They're sacrificing children and.

That can't continue.

He has zero tolerance for the abuse of children.

And you can learn more about that in the notes, but I, I think

it's a powerful, strong voice.

Um, and then one of the most haunting things about what

they're losing is the lack of joy.

So in 34 you can see that eventually Jerusalem's gonna get destroyed,

and there will be no merth.

The voice of gladness will be gone.

They were intended to be a joyous delight some people, and they will

experience sorrow in a profound way, and all of that will be gone.

All of that joy and light and brightness will be gone as

they get carried off into baby.

There is a loneliness in Jeremiah's discipleship that

just makes your heart hurt.

It's what I felt when I read moron's words that as the last of the ne fights,

that means he likely didn't have a wife and he didn't have children, or if he

did, they didn't last as long as he did.

And which Jeremiah, he's expressly directed not to have those things, Not

to take a wife in this wicked place.

Not to have children, not to celebrate with people, not to

even lament or mourn people.

He's supposed to lead this kind of isolated life.

But what's particularly hard, I think about Jeremiah's stewardship is

he's directed to lead this isolated life, but still live among them.

So he's not like John the Baptist who lives in the wilderness right time,

or you know, like he doesn't, he doesn't live apart, He lives among.

But, but not really.

And that's hard.

That's a hard stewardship to manage.

Um, but he honors it and then he continues to teach them as he sees their

decline, he continues to teach them.

Um, and it's just hard because I imagine he's watching

people fall apart around him.

We know he's gonna see death and he's gonna see destruction.

Uh, but he's just, you know, when you're as a parent, when you can see your kids

heading down a road that you can see so clearly where it, where it goes.

And he, his stewardship is to continue to teach them even

though they don't wanna hear.

And then to watch, um, and, and see, uh, and be a witness to.

What happens when you don't obey the commandments of God?

That's Jeremiah's role is to basically teach us, because the people in his

generation didn't learn the same way we saw with Mormon and Morona, that

so much of their words were focused on us because his people won't hear

and there's just this drought of joy.

You know, they had a physical drought without rain, but I think.

Drought of joy that he is also experiencing.

That must be profoundly hard for Jeremiah to tackle.

But he stays in his stewardship and he says, and around 11

that they're gonna come.

The children's Israel will come and say, Why have all these hard things happened?

And the answer will be because your father's turned away from God

and in fact you guys are worse.

That's basically what Jeremiah says in 11 and 12.

Um, and the result is this exile and slavery.

But he brings up hope in the last half of chapter 16 where he

talks about the gathering coming.

One of the things I thought was really powerful is he sounds a

little bit like President Nelson cuz he talks about the Red Sea.

So this is around 14.

There will be a point in the future when people won't keep talking about

the Red Sea as the greatest miracle and the greatest deliverance story.

The greatest story will be the gathering that comes.

And this was cool to me cause I always picture, when I picture

the gathering, we don't sometimes appreciate the miracle that it is.

Imagine if you took like a.

Big, big container of glitter , and you shook it outside and the winds

carried it in all different directions.

The gathering is basically promising that every single piece of glitter and

all the glitter children generations later will be brought back into that

container that, I mean, it's, that's the visual I have in my head when I

picture the gathering, and it's going to be a greater miracle than the world

has ever seen, and that's what President Nelson is speaking about right now.

This invitation to watch for miracles, to be a part of the greatest miracle that

is happening in the world is happening right now as we gather hearts to Christ.

, and I love the way he describes how that's gonna happen.

So this is around 16 where he talks about the fishers and the hunters.

This is an epic missionary verse, right?

He's basically saying that some will be gathered like fish in a net, that

they'll be gathered in big groups and you know, missions that are like this,

where you have lots of conversions.

And then you have missions like my husbands that are much more like a hunter

type mission, where it's just one to one.

And I love it as a missionary story.

I also really love it on the other side of the veil.

Cause remember the gathering is anything on either side of the veil

that brings people to Jesus Christ.

So if you think about this verse in a family history way, oh my gosh,

it's such a good verse because this happens with family history.

There are times when you cast out Annette and you find a whole branch

of a family tree that you didn't know existed or new technology comes

forward and then all of a sudden we have records that we never had before.

And it's like, you know, boats overflowing with phish and then sometimes in

family history is like being hunter.

You literally are digging for this one record or this one name and you,

you get divine intervention after a season of hard and answers come.

I love this verse for both and I think that's a really

important thing to teach our.

That the gathering is happening on both sides of the veil.

And as much as I want them to be invigorated and excited, my boys

took a tour of the MTC this week and I love how excited they are.

I want that same excitement on the other side of the veil that they'll see

themselves as fishers and gatherers and hunters on that side of the veil as well.

So watch for that In chapter 16.

Uh, he also warns about false gods and how that's gonna get in their way.

And at the end he promises what will happen at the end 21.

Therefore behold for this one, sorry.

Therefore behold, I will this once cause them to know I will cause

them to know my hand and my mind.

And they shall though that my name is the Lord.

When this gathering occurs, it will not just be geographical, it will

be their hearts will know who he is.

And that's a big piece of the gathering as well, that we're not just bringing

people in, we're teaching them who he is, and that eventually they will know

that all men will know there's just an easier road to get there in a harder one.

And he's inviting you to take the easier one.

Remember when I told you that I think Jeremiah is a very visual learner.

Chapter 17 is where you see that come out in spades cuz he uses all these

different metaphors to teach you things and some of them are phenomenal, you guys.

So he talks about in verse one, how their inequities are engrave on their hearts,

just how we've seen other prophets speak about how testimony can be engrave on

your heart, your inequities can as well.

What I think he's trying to teach the children of Israel is their sins are

so deep because they've not only turned away from the light, but they've turned

towards things like child sacrifice.

But their sins are so deep that it's gonna take a long time for those wounds to heal.

It will take generations upon generations for those wounds to fully heal.

And he wants them to understand that they're trusting the arm of the flesh.

That's what you see in five.

But for me, some of the meatiest parts of this chapter are six, seven, and.

First, he talks about the results of this trusting in the arm of the

flesh, trusting in what man can do.

He says, You'll basically be as a bush in the desert, a heath in the desert.

You shall not see when good come, but shall inhabit the parched places in the

wilderness in salt land and not inhabited.

I feel this sometimes when my discipleship points that I stop seeing good.

In fact, I start to doubt that goods even out there.

Um, you start to plant yourself in parched places and then you're offended that

there's no water and you start to think that maybe nobody has water, you know?

Have you felt that with, I remember experiencing that with Revelation

as a late teens, you know, early twenties kind of disciple, of course,

that I started when I didn't get revelation the way I expected to, or

I didn't understand it very well, I started to wonder if it was even real.

Maybe you've had similar experiences, but I was like, maybe everybody's

just making this up, or maybe even worse, they're not making it up and

I'm the only one that can't hear it.

I was planting myself in parched places and then saying, Where's the water?

You told me the water would show up.

And so he's inviting them to go to deeper, richer soil.

That's what you see in seven and eight.

It's this incredible visual.

He says, Blessed it as the man that trusted than the Lord, and whose hope

in the Lord is for he shall be as a tree planted by the waters that spread

it out her roots by the river and shall not see when heat come with her.

Leaf shall be green and she'll be and shall not be careful in

the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

They're literally living in a time of drought.

That's one of the ways Jeremiah was hoping their hearts would turn.

They just didn't.

So he's using the visuals of those trees that you see that are planted by water.

Those are still thriving.

That could be you.

What I love about this visual is this happens for me all the time where I feel

like I'm living in a season of drought.

Not all the time, that's maybe an extreme, but lots of times there are

times when I'm like, Lift the drought.

You know, I pray for miracles.

It happens.

Okay?

I feel parched and dry, and I feel like oftentimes the

answer is, Maria, look down.

I've planted you right next to this well of living water, this river that

is gently flowing around your roots.

It's the same revelation I got when we, I was studying Elijah and learned that I

need to see those chariots that I, I can't always see them, but if I pray to see

the chariots he'll, he'll show me that he sent me all this relief and reinforcement.

He's not gonna lift the drought.

This cancer is not going anywhere, but he will send me this stream

of nourishing water and if I will stay planted right there.

In fact, if I will deliberately let my roots spread out, those

are Jeremiah's words and sink deep into that rich, nourished soil,

I'll have the nourishment I need.

Rain doesn't always have to come from above.

Sometimes the moisture you need comes from the soil.

And oh, I can testify that's true, that there are these tender mercies

and these miracles that flow around my feet as I endure this drought

and my whole family does, right?

And he's just inviting you to look at the fruit.

There is still fruit to be eaten.

There is still green leaves on those trees.

Plant yourself by the living waters.

Isn't that just an incredible image?

And then he promises intent.

Another powerful thing, he says, The Lord will search your heart.

He will try your reigns.

This is basically what you read in Alma.

In fact, you go in the notes, you can see all these scriptures

that I packed together.

But this is teaching about the desires of your heart.

That the Lord sees the desire of your hearts and he judges

you based on the desires.

That's really powerful doctrine for parents, because sometimes you guys,

I can't see the fruit of my laborers at all, and he's so hard because you

think he's gonna be so disappointed.

And I probably, it's probably this, I probably made this mistake and this

mistake, and you start to kind of tally up all the struggle and you think I'm a mess.

And what he's saying is I, I'm not looking there.

I'm not looking at the fruit.

I'm looking at the desire of your heart.

What did you want to have happen?

What did you hope would occur?

Where was your hope, Maria?

And.

Where the judgment comes.

That's why you can prevail and still look like you're failing.

If you look at a Benita situation, he prevailed in his moment, even

though he was burned after testifying, he prevailed in that moment

where he let his light shine out, literally shine out from his face.

He never got to meet Alma.

He never got to see the fruits, but he prevailed.

You can prevail and still look like you have failed because it's all

about the desires of your heart.

In fact, Eler Maxwell has a great quote in the notes where he basically

says not just that piece, but that God weighs how hard it is.

I pictures like, you know, in the Olympics, how.

They base your score on the degree of difficulty and how well you accomplish it.

, that's what Eldor Maxwell is teaching.

That the degree of difficulty for you to honor that commandment, for you

to stick with that kid that's so hard for you to stick with the commandments

of God despite the difficulty that that's factored into your judgment.

And I just love that piece of the doctrine.

So go on the notes.

You can learn more about that.

He invites them back to the living waters.

He invites them.

He says at some point they're gonna say, Where is God?

This is in 15.

Where is the word of the Lord?

Let it come.

Now, I love this cuz this is me a lot of times where I'm just like,

You know, sometimes my discipleship will wane, and then when I need him,

I'll get desperate and fall to my knees and be like, Where are you?

You said you would come and he'll gently, you know, remind me that that takes some

time to develop that relationship again.

And that's where the children of Israel are.

They're gonna, they're gonna fall to their knees and want him back,

but they won't necessarily get him.

And it's gonna take some time.

And, but then Jeremiah in his humble way, basically says, I'm still here.

I, I choose to stay.

He's reminding the Lord.

I think it says a lot about Jeremiah's heart, that he's

always reminding the Lord.

You're still my hope.

Even if nobody else believes you.

When you flip the page, you see this Hail Mary pass.

Basically, it's like that.

He's saying to the children of Israel, you still have a chance.

You cannot fall farther than the light of Christ shines.

Honor the SBA day, honor the Sabbath day, and he will call you his.

It's this, you know, like if you've ever seen a half court shot in

a basketball game when, when the buzzer's about to go, that's kind of

what he's inviting them to do here.

He's saying, You're almost out of time.

Do this commandment and it might change things.

It might save you.

And they say no.

That refusal of the children of Israel to take or catch that hail Mary pass

must have been a heavy blow for Jeremiah.

Cause he's still got a lot of his ministry to go.

And again, remember, these aren't chronological.

So I'm not sure these are all tied together.

No matter where Jeriah is at in his ministry, he's dealing with that struggle.

And I wonder if that's setting the stage for what we see in chapter

18, because it seems like the Lord's teaching him in a new way.

I, I think in my mind, I picture Jeremiah at a low point where

he's wondering if anyone will hear and if it's even worth his time.

And the Lord says, Come, this is what I love about 18.

It is, um, it teaches me how, how the Lord parents his prophets.

Because he says to him, Come to the Potters house and I'll speak to you.

And if I were Jeremiah and I was frustrated already, I'd be like,

Oh, what's at the Potters house?

You know, like, there you just, But he doesn't, He goes, he goes to the

Potter's house trusting that there must be something for him there.

It's almost the way Nefi goes into the city not knowing

beforehand the things he will do.

He doesn't know what kind of revelation he's gonna get.

He just knows that the Lord said, Take this next right step.

The next right step is to go to a place where pottery is made.

I want you to go there.

Doesn't know why.

He just goes cuz he is like nefi.

He'll go and he'll do and he trusts that there's a reason behind it.

And then he sees this cool object lesson play out in front of him,

kind of similar to what we talked about last week at the end of Isaiah,

that he sees a potter throwing clay.

Now this is a potter who's got a spinning wheel.

And if you've ever, I took ceramics three times.

, I was, I was pro at ceramic.

So this is the, you take the, you know, ball of clay that's wet and

you have to throw it at the center.

And if you hit even a little bit off center, your whole vase is gonna be wonky.

So you don't keep making the vase, you scrape it off and you re-wet

it and then you throw it again.

And once you get it perfectly centered, in fact there's a

whole conference stock on this.

You guys, once you get it perfectly centered, then you can

create this beautiful vessel.

That's the object lesson that the Lord is using to teach Jeremiah.

Here's what I think is so cool about this.

Jeremiah is a prophet.

He clearly knows how to hear the voice of God.

But God is, he knows Jeremiah's eyes and he's like, You are a visual learner.

I'm gonna show you something.

He does this for me all the time.

I can't even tell you the number of revelations I've received as I'm going

about my weird mothering day to day life.

He'll use things like Jack's experience in primary to teach me

profound lessons about honoring God.

He'll use things in a hospital or think like in my daily life to teach me in

my language what he needs me to know.

And I just think that's cool that even with prophets, that's how he teaches.

So he, he gets the revelation he needs.

Basically what the Lord is teaching is he's saying, Don't lose hope in me.

I can do all things.

If this potter can take a broken, you know, mess up piece of clay and rewet

it and rero it and create a beautiful vessel, don't you think I can do the

same thing with the children of Israel?

Don't you think if they turn to me even a little fraction that I can.

I can help them, I can reform them, reshape them.

They're not gonna be the same vessel I intended them to be, but they can

be a beautiful vessel, all the same.

Don't lose hope.

It's this beautiful message of reinforcement to a prophet who probably is

struggling under the weight of rejection.

And isn't that just kind?

Uh, it just is the character of Christ to teach this way?

I think so.

He warrants them in eight.

If that nation against whom I have pronounced, turned from their

evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.

There's jst all over the place.

This is the Lord doesn't need to repent.

This is him changing.

He's relenting.

He's setting aside the punishment they could have had.

This is what I think is so fun about this.

I think I've said this before, but I, I always picture.

When I hear that phrase that Christ is the author and the finisher of our

faith, I actually think of him like an author . I think of this with Heavenly

Father too, that they're like the ultimate choose your own adventure author.

They don't just have this one plan for us.

They have an a myriad of plans.

There oftentimes is a golden one.

I think that he hopes we will take the same way.

He's showing that I have a plan for the children of Israel.

If they will honor my commandments, it's gonna be they

can stay in this golden city.

They can keep this temple and we will be good.

There's a golden plan, but there's also this constant rerouting that if I veer

off that plan, he will create a new one.

If I get rammed by someone else's agency, in those intersections of agency that

we've talking about, that we've talked about in the past, he will reroute because

he's a choose your own adventure author.

He's saying, Okay, Maria, you chose to go to BYU and not the U.

Okay, here's this new plan.

Let's get you on track.

He can help me develop the characteristics of Christ in all kinds of ways.

We've even seen it in the Old Testament where he can help you

develop the characteristics of Christ through the repentance process.

When you make big mistakes, he'll teach you in the desert and in the lush places

he'll find you and he will teach you.

You just have to have an open heart.

But I love that understanding cuz in this chapter you see him sort of

lay out, If the children of Israel choose this path, it looks like a new

choose your own adventure chapter.

If they turn to page 63, they're going to get this plan.

If they turn, turn to page 84, they're gonna get this plan.

And you, Jeremiah, are supposed to lay out both options.

Isn't that just a, a simple way?

Maybe that's just my simple mind, but I love that he

articulates that in these verses.

And he talks about their, their reaction.

It's 12.

They say basically to Jeremiah, We don't have any hope.

We're gonna do our own thing.

It just, they just sound like teenagers to me.

And Jeremiah must be so frustrated after so many efforts where

he's, he got this revelation.

He knows direct from the Lord what to do.

He went to the Potter's house.

He, it's a really clear instruction.

And then he goes and he teaches it to the people and they say, Actually,

we're gonna do our own thing.

Haven't you felt like that as a parent?

, I feel like that lots of time where I'm like, I, I know this is the right choice.

I prayed about it.

I know this is what you're supposed to do.

And they.

Actually, I'm gonna kind of do my own thing and ugh, just right it,

that, it just breaks your heart.

Okay.

So they, he talks about in 15 that the people have forgotten him.

They're burning inces, incense, they're stumbling in their paths.

And so the result is hard.

They're gonna be scattered.

That's, that's the end result.

Just like we saw with the northern tribes, they, they get scattered.

That will happen with Juda as well.

And so the rest of it talks about that.

It also talks about how they turn against jeriah, similar to how your

teenagers sometimes turn against you and say mean things in the moment.

They're doing things to Jeremiah that are just awful and hard.

They are digging pits for him.

They are, these are his friends, his family.

They are turning against him and he feels that, and it's, you can hear him ache

a little bit by the end of chapter 18.

I almost wish we didn't end on chapter 20 cause it's heavy guys.

This is one of Jeremiah's Liberty jail type moments.

Um, and it's hard to read what happens in verse one is, uh, the chief priest at

the temple, it sounds like, or at least one of the high officials judges him.

This is, you're gonna get a lot of Christ type images in your mind as you read in

chapter 20 cuz he's mocked, he's beaten and he's put in stocks, left there

overnight and then brought forth and.

It just is sort of, sort of haunting because this happens right outside

the temple, which is really similar to what happened to the savior.

You know, he is in that exact same geographic, like within a mile ish,

maybe even right there to where Christ had to stand before Roman leaders.

And you know, I, I think this is a type of Christ moment for Jeremiah and it's

hard to read because he's struggling.

What's interesting is Jeremiah has some words for pastor who's this official.

He basically says, Your, your name is changed.

This is one of those times where a name is not changed for the better.

If he's saying, The Lord calls you something else because now

your name means something heavier, this is his a benini moment.

You know where a Ben, I came out to Noah and said, You're

gonna get burned just as I am.

That's basically what he's saying to pastor, You're gonna get destroyed,

Your family's gonna get carried into Babylon, everybody's gonna die.

And all that does occur.

But I think what's pivotal in this chapter is understanding.

What's happening in Jeremiah's heart.

So he basically says he reaches kind of a breaking point and he says in

seven, Oh Lord, that has deceived me.

And I was deceived that art's stronger than I and has prevailed.

I'm in derision daily, everyone mocks me.

He is, I think, shocked at how hard this calling is.

I think every prophet experiences this.

I don't know that personally, but boy, we've read a lot of them.

Um, I think parents experience this.

Don't you feel like that after, you know, people tell you about

childbearing and people tell, then you're shocked at how hard it is.

I remember seeing our first grandson come to be, you know, and that watching

that labor process for Hannah and there was a point, that's my oldest.

There was a point when I think she was shocked at how hard it was.

And as a mom you just are like, I know, I'm sorry.

It's gonna be worth it.

Um, and that's where he's at.

Uh, he's, it's so hard.

And then in nine he says, Then I said, I will not make a mention

of him nor speak anymore.

His name, he, I don't think he's quitting.

I think Jeremiah is thinking maybe he's doing more harm than good.

You know?

Have you ever had that spot where you worry that the words you say by

bearing testimony that you're, they'll, you're turning more people away?

I've had that just recently where I'm like, Oh, by testifying in that moment,

did I actually turn more people away?

Cuz they really wanted me to say something more comfortable.

And that's how I picture Jeremiah cuz I don't think he's

quitting on being a prophet.

He's just hurting.

And he's worried that by other people, seeing how hard his life is and being

mocked and beaten, that they're not gonna become disciples by seeing him.

Um, that's my theory.

And he says this, but his word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my

bones and I was weary with forbearing.

I could not stay.

He is an un shaken saint.

He cannot be shaken.

The testimony that he has is so deeply like in the marrow of his

bones, um, that he can't hold it in.

In fact, it's exhausting to try and hold it in.

If you've ever been in a situation where I, I was invited to be on a podcast once

to talk about Jason's cancer situation, and they expressly asked me not to

speak about the gospel and I ended up declining being on the podcast, cuz

honestly, I can't talk about Jason's cancer and not talk about the gospel.

They are so enmeshed in my brain and in my heart.

I can't extract one from the other.

And that's where he's at.

He's like, I, I actually can't.

I, I have so much in me.

Remember, he's been touched.

He's a stone, a clear stone that has been lit up by God and he,

he can't keep that light back.

It's not his light.

It's just gonna come out.

So he does.

He continues to preach.

His family turns against him.

I mean, literally his familiars is what it said here.

So it's his neighbors, his friends, his family.

They don't just turn against him, They try to kill him.

This is a nehi with his brother's moment, and it's hard.

And he wonders if it's all worth it.

He knows the Lord.

So you see him 12, But oh Lord of hosts that trias the righteous,

sexiest, that reigns of the heart.

He knows this is a trial.

He knows the Lord is still close, but he wonders just like joke

did should I have even been born?

That's what you'll see at the end of 20, where he's like, Why didn't

you even let me live past the womb?

Why didn't you just let me go?

And it was that phrase about the womb that brought my mind

back to where we first began.

In Jeremiah one verse five where he talks about.

I knew you before you got to that belly.

I, I know you, I have anointed you.

You have a work to do.

It's that Moses moment, that Enoch moment that this phrasing.

We don't have those verses right here, but that must have been brought back for me.

It was a reminder of like what Oliver Cowdry had in DNC six where

he was invited to cast his mind back on Revelation he already received.

I kind of wish I could say that to Jeremiah right here.

Cast your mind back and remember what you learned about why

you came out of that womb.

Why did you need to be a teacher at this place and at this time, even

though it's so hard and there's no evidence of the good you're doing is

all about you knowing there's this great quote in the notes about, I'm

trying to remember who it's from.

It's semi my margins, Hupy Brown.

And he talks about the difficulty of Abraham's moment of severe trial with

Isaac and that Abraham needed to know what he was made of, basically that it wasn't

so much that God was trying to prove.

Abraham to God was he was trying to prove Abraham to Abraham.

And haven't you had those moments where you endure something so hard and then

you take on extra callings or extra weight because you know what's the right

thing to do, but you're scared of the weight and then all of a sudden you

realize that like, Oh wait, I'm yolked in and this yolk is splitting this

burden in a way that is amazing to me.

Like it's this.

That's where you get those miracle moments like we saw in the Book of

Mormon, where you can't feel the burdens on your back or they're lighter.

At least that's what he is inviting Jeremiah to understand.

Um, but you have to let, you have to let your heart go into these hollow

hard places with Jeremiah so that you can appreciate the man that he

chooses to be in spite of all of them.