Jeremiah was told that his own people, those whom he tried to winsomely warn and call to repentance, were going to fight against him (1:17-19). His own community sought his life because of the fire in Jeremiah's bones to speak the word of the Lord (11:21; 4:19).

In the midst of greed, deception, false alliances, stubborn hearts, closed ears, stiff necks, and blatant, deliberate idolatry...

Jeremiah spoke the words that God put in his mouth

Jeremiah wept for the treachery of his people.

Jeremiah sounded the alarm and raised the standard at the temple gates and in the public square.


Jeremiah was a youth, but the Lord was with Him to deliver.

The true, living, eternal King continues to sound the alarm today.

Do you remember The Christmas Story?

My Dad always called me either "Buddy" or "Ralphie," which I suppose was in honor to this classic movie. My thoughts were turned to Ralphie's brother, Randy, this morning when I heard from Walt, the Youth Pastor of East White Oak Bible Church Senior High, that another snow storm was blowing through. I'm preparing to speak at their ski retreat this weekend in Winsconsin.

You see, yesterday was a cold day in Chattanooga... it dipped down into the 20's with some pretty intense winds. If you travel up to Covenant or the Overlook, the cross winds on Lookout Mountain can be a little brutal, but it isn't as bad as other places in the US right now. Walt informed me, via facebook, this morning that it was going to dip down to -20... let that sink in for a second. This weekend, at the retreat, it is going to be about 10 degrees. Therefore, I am planning on dressing up like Randy, at all times. Whether I'm skiing or hanging out in the lodge, or taking a shower I will look like this classic picture, unable to put my arms down.

Here are some things you can pray about:

1. At first I felt like we were going to go through I John, but the Lord has directed my attention to the topic of discipleship. We're going to walk through some of the principles addressed in Being A Disciple and Counting the Cost and Dietrich Bonhoffer's Cost of Discipleship. Pray that hearts will be fertile to hear what the word of God says on this weighty, unpopular topic. Weighty because of the implications, unpopular because of the clear line in the sand that is drawn!

2. Pray for Walt! He did a similar retreat last weekend with the Middle School.... nough said.

3. Pray for travel, both mine and the youth groups.

4. Pray for the worship, both the word and in song. I hear a EWOB has a pretty sweet worship band, so I'm excited to worship with them!

5. Pray that the Holy Spirit clearly communicates His Word through every aspect of the weekend. Pray that hearts are changed--disciples made, motivated, and willing to live and die for Christ.

5. Finally, and close to my heart... pray for my family as I'm gone.

Thoughts from this past weekend:

"Welcome to the Evil Conference...I'm Evil Ritchie"
God is in control... good, bad, and ugly.
I'm messed up!
Big TEAM, little me
It feels like Friday, but Sunday is coming.
Smelly Feet.
White rap
clap-clap-clap-clap-clap
do not be overcome by evil,
overcome evil with good
...pain is God's megaphone
God is a God of the nations--Ireland, Canada, and South Africa.
"We had a lot of craic and Bible study!"
"The devil wants to suck the grease right off of you!"
Evil and suffering get p-wned.

Great weekend. I pray it is the start of something huge, as students meditate on God's sovereignty in the midst of their pain, suffering... as they consider heaven... their citizenship... and Christ's call to carry the gospel through pain. I pray that the desire and hunger for God's Word will increase and never be satiated.

I came home to huge deadlines. I was supposed to take a Greek 3 final today, after hearing some guys from my old discipleship group give their senior talk (shout out Wilky!). I was reminded, once again, about the story of Job as I listened to my friend Wilky talk about spiritual adultery and being satisfied in Christ alone--pretty amazing considering where God is taking him these days. I came home and gathered all of the books I need for another paper... and saw a familiar face--"The misery of Job and the mercy of God" by John Piper. This book of several poems on the life of Job astounds me. The pictures and photos are amazing, but the implications and weaving of the story of Job are vibrant and hard hitting. An excerpt is included below, followed by the link for the full version.

To see what Job would do, and how

He might deal with his God. At last

He rose, and took a knife, and passed

It like a razor over all

His silver head, and tore his shawl

And robe, and fell face down upon

The ground and lay there till the dawn.

The servants knelt by him in fright,

And heard him whisper through the night:

"I came with nothing from the womb,

I go with nothing to the tomb.

God gave me children freely, then

He took them to himself again.

At last I taste the bitter rod,

My wise and ever blessed God."

Light candle one, and count the cost;

And ponder everything we've lost.

And let us bow before the throne

Of God, who gives and takes his own,

And promises, whatever toll

He takes, to satisfy our soul.

Come learn the lesson of the rod:

The treasure that we have in God.

He is not poor nor much enticed

Who loses everything but Christ.

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Poems/ByDate/1386_Job_Part_1/

Jeremy Lucarelli

God has orchestrated these days.

While Becky was dealing with a sick little one, I was off to Harrisburg/Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania this weekend. A group of Precept Trainers were invited to teach at West Shore Evangelical Free Church, an amazing facility with excited individuals! I taught through the book of Titus, teaching people how to study inductively. My class was energetic, excited and eager to learn the inductive method. They walked away from the weekend with the desire to continue being grounded and established in the word of God.

I also spent the weekend near the famed Chocolate Capital of the Word--Hershey, Pennsylvania. Our family would take a trip up to Hershey every year for the annual Antique Car Show. It has been awhile since all the cousins and grandkids were all together, but the place brought back a lot of memories. The smell of chocolate was in the air, though I never offically got to go in the town to see how much it had changed. There were chocolate kisses all throughout the weekend.

I was also spending the time away from home getting caught up on all of my school work. Most of my suitcase was filled with books. Each night I would leave my roomate, go to the lodge or the hot tub and read my book. One night, I was reading and had my Iphone playing my class lectures while I had my feet in the hot tub. I fell asleep, only to be awoken by the horrific sight of an extremely large, hairy man and his extremely large, hairy wife... at least I hope they were married. It was that akward, where am I... inbetween sleep and dream world. Thank God it was reality and not some sick dream!

The next night, though still scared from the previous encounter, I decided to brave the hot tub again. I had taught all day and was fighting off some sickness. Same situation--reading and listening to a lecture--when two ladies came in. They were laughing and cackling; pretty hard to ignore, though I had the lecture up all the way. They swam and I tried to ignore them for both their sake and mine. The next day, on the last day of the workshop, I had finished early... so I was sitting with another trainer, relaxed with my shoes off. As people were walking by, I noticed a familiar face. Without the mumu type bathing suit it was hard to determine, but I finally realized that the ladies from the night before were participants in another class. They walked by... I could tell they noticed me. One whispered to the other, but they were already passed. So, the one that missed me acted like she dropped something on the ground... eye contact! I laughed and so did she. Just goes to show, you never know who you're going to run into while you're in your bathing suit!

Voting for Righteousness K. Arthur

". . .I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity." 1 Timothy 2:1-2

How important is it that a Christian takes advantage of the privilege given him or her to vote? Or, as children of God, are we not to concern ourselves with "politics"? Wouldn't you think that if God urges us to pray for those in authority and if we have the opportunity and privilege of electing our leaders that He would expect us to exercise our governmental rights? Wouldn't it be our God-given responsibility as God-fearing people to uphold the biblical tenets upon which this nation was founded?

These are very turbulent days-and personally, I believe we are where we are because the Church has been apathetic about the Word of God and righteousness. Although we are meant to impact our society as salt and light first and foremost in our lives, have we instead infected our nation by giving it a distorted image of what it means to be a child of a holy God?

Righteousness exalts a nation; sin is a reproach to any people. We are a nation under great reproach and consequently we are living in turbulent times. If we don't cast our vote for righteousness in our own lives first and then in our nation, I fear what will happen to us.
Let me take you back in history for just a moment to another turbulent time so that we might see what part God plays in politics.

It was an unbearably hot day in the summer of 1787; just eleven years after America had declared her independence. Delegates from our thirteen states had gathered to create a historic document to unite them under one government. Sweat soaked their clothes so badly...they had to change their shirts twice a day! And their tempers, as torrid as the day, were flaring.
Men who were formerly side-by-side in their battle against England were now at war against each other! These states were anything but "united," and they weren't ready to be under any authority but their own.i

A personal letter from James Warren to a friend in England described America's condition at the time: "'Money is the only object attended to, and the only acquisition that commands respect. Patriotism is ridiculed; integrity and ability are of little consequence. . . .We are now in a state of anarchy and confusion bordering on civil war.'"ii (Does this sound troublingly familiar?)
At this historic meeting, Benjamin Franklin decided to give the document they were creating one last shot. He addressed George Washington and the assembly:

"'How has it happened, sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understanding? In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending Providence in our favor. . . And have we now forgotten this powerful friend? Or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?'"

There was dead silence in the room...but he was not finished, and now he turned again to Washington. "'I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: "that God governs in the affairs of man." And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?'"iii

In a day of "political correctness" when so many Christians are apathetic about taking a stand for righteousness, you and I need to be reminded of how God governs the affairs of men...how He cares about the state of our nation and longs for us to turn and return to Him, acknowledging His sovereignty.

We desperately need His merciful assistance in America today as never before. Yet we have to remember that God does not work apart from man, but through man. Before God took His people into captivity under Babylon (present-day Iraq) because of their sin, He sought for a man to stand in the gap and He found none (Ezekiel 22:30-but read the whole chapter)!

The turmoil in our country over moral issues and political rivalry commands our involvement. There must be a searching of our hearts, a genuine mourning for our sin. We must be fervent in prayer and strong and courageous in our stand. We must be willing to stand up as Benjamin Franklin did and dare to call America to turn back to Him! And one of the ways we will do that is through the people we vote for.

We must vote, and we must vote for those who have the greater fear of God and desire to uphold His absolutes. No candidate is perfect; nor do they do everything we want them to do. But we must align ourselves with the ones who have the greatest fear of God and His Word. It is not a matter of allegiance to a party; rather it is allegiance to God. God rebuked Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, with these words when he aligned himself with ungodly Ahab, king of Israel, to whom he was aligned by marriage, "'Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord and so bring wrath on yourself from the Lord?'" (2 Chronicles 19:2)

We can make a difference! The polls are our God-ordained opportunity to make a difference. And if godless leaders are voted in, in spite of our votes and prayers, then we will know we did what we could, and God will see and honor our obedience.

May the Lord bless you. May He continue to bless and preserve our great nation!
__________________________________________________________________
i Peter Marshall and David Manuel, From Sea to Shining Sea (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1986), pp. 17.
ii Peter Marshall and David Manuel, From Sea to Shining Sea (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1986), p. 17, citing Page Smith, The Shaping of America, New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1980, pp. 38, 24.
iii Marshall and Manuel, From Sea to Shining Sea, p 18.

All of us have countless examples of the relevancy of James 3. The word of God speaks on the topic of the tongue throughout it's pages. Life and death is in the power of the tongue...

James was the first book I taught within a Christian school setting. Freshly out of college, ready to right the wrongs of mis-understood Christianity, I packed my bags and headed to the Windy City. I will never forget that group of senior Bible students at Gray's Lake Christian Academy. The Lord won't let me forget the contents of James. The message continues to haunt my mind and my will, as the Great Counselor continues to sow the seeds of repentance where James' message is concerned. This ground has been tilled again and again. Last year I taught James to a group of Juniors at Silverdale Baptist Academy. This past summer I walked through the book with several students from around the world. Several Sundays ago, our church began to walk through the book. We hit chapter one right when the stock market went crazy, considering it all joy no doubt.

While getting caught up on some blogs, I came across this. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a silent movie is worth an infinite number. Consider the message. Pick up James and study it inductively. Go to Proverbs and determine what God says about the tongue. It is a message I, a hot-headed Italian, am continuing to learn.

Full circle.
Becky and I loaded up the gas guzzler and returned to my roots for a couple of weeks. Our time in NC started off with a Precept workshop at a sattelite campus of the church where I grew up. Though I didn't see any familiar faces from when I went to church there, it was a blessing to see some of the different Precept participants throughout the NC, VA and even Maine areas. The forty participants in my class were eager to discover truth for themselves, apart of the greater endeavor of 300 people being trained in inductive study throughout the entire weekend. As we used the book of Titus to determine how to study the Bible inductively, it was both humbling and invigorating to see so many people begin or continue to mine the depths of God's Word. It was humbling simply because I am so much younger than many of the participants. It is invigorating because the Lord is the teacher as students determine to accurately handle His word. He moves them past intimidation and fear towards excitement and wonder as they discover who God is and their responsibility to both uphold the sound doctrine and live the sound doctrine.

It was also a priviledge to have in attendance both my mom, the one who forced me to start studying inductively more than a decade ago; my sister, who honed in some of her mad study skills as apart of reflection time away from the kiddos; and even my first Precept leader from back in the day when I was 16.