Come Follow Me 42
Introduction:
‘Hear Him’ in Your Heart and in Your Mind
Do you ever feel like you aren’t prepared to do what the
Lord calls you to do? Jeremiah did. But the Lord reassured him that his
preparation to be a prophet began before this world was. Think on that.
verse 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.
Will you set aside
your fears and do what the Lord asks you to do? Jeremiah did.
He warned Jerusalem’s
kings and priests that their pretended holiness would not save them from
destruction. The “child” who thought he could not speak came to feel God’s word
“in [his] heart as a burning fire” and could not be silent (Jeremiah 20:9).
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.
How is Jeremiah’s story your own story? God knows us and has a work for us to do.
Jeremiah 3:14 Our work includes the gathering of Israel one by one.
Jeremiah 1:8, 19 The Lord will be with us to protect us, preserve us, and fight our battles. He’ll give us success.
Read sometime: Jeremiah
Personal Study: Prophets are called to speak the Lord’s word.
Jeremiah 1:4–19
What is the role of prophets in your life?
Why do you want to
follow the prophet?
Personal Study: God
knew me before I was born.
Jeremiah 1:5 We have been foreordained to do a specific work here on earth.
Alma 13:1–4 High Priests were foreordained for their ordination here.
Doctrine and Covenants 138:53–56 There are those who were the noble and great ones who were foreordained for this latter-day work, to save the souls of men.
Abraham 3:22–23 Abraham was also chosen before he was born.
Foreordination;
Premortality,”
https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/ot/jer/1?lang=eng
Jeremiah was foreordained to be a prophet unto the nations—He is called as a mortal to declare the word of the Lord.
Jeremiah 1:5 We were the children of God in premortality. He knows us, and our Heavenly Parents helped us to prepare for our missions here. We have been foreordained to do a specific work here on earth.
Vs 8 Though we might be called upon to speak before multitudes, the Lord will be with us, to deliver us from fear and to help us share His message.
Personal Study: They have forsaken Me the Fountain of Living
Waters.
Jeremiah 2:13 What do the Fountain of Living Waters and
the broken cisterns represent? Do we prefer getting refreshment from water that
can never refresh us, or do we prefer the Lord Jesus Christ?
In chapters 2 and 7,
the people were forsaking the Lord, the Living Water. What about you? Are you
preferring Him, or forgetting Him? In what ways do you receive living water in
your life?
Family Section
What was life like in heaven before we were born?
Video for Introduction: Our Heavenly Father’s Plan
Does knowing the Plan influence how you choose to live?
https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/ot/jer/2?lang=eng
The
people of Judah forsook the Lord, the fountain of living waters—They worshipped
idols and rejected the prophets.
Vs 2 God remembers the
covenants we have made that bind us to Him. He remembers the steadiness of our
youth when we trusted fully in Him.
Vs 9 We are yet invited to
return to the Lord, even when we have forsaken Him and broken our covenants. He
wants us back.
Vs 11-13 Do we remember the first great commandment to love the Lord our
God with are all? Do we honor Him? Do we prefer Him? Do we remember Him?
Do we make things of absolutely no importance more important than
God in our lives? Do the heavens weep for us as they did for Lucifer?
Jesus is the fountain of Living Waters. Do not forsake Him. Don't
pick out and make for yourself broken cisterns or vessels that cannot hold any
water. These will leave you forever thirsty. If you drink the water that Jesus
gives you, you wlil never thirst, but will find a spring of water that leads
you to eternal life.
vs 14 Have we become slaves to our own choices. Have
our desires and preferences captivitate us?
Vs 17 If we are in bondage
to our own personal drugs of choice, whether physical or spiritual, aren't we
the ones who have enslaved ourselves? Remember, Jesus alone can set you free.
Choose Him.
Vs 18 You are of Israel.
Stop choosing the evils of the world, of the people who have not known God. You
know better. Act better.
Vs 20-23 Be honest with
yourself and with the Lord. It will take diligence to come unto Him with pure
heart and contrite spirit, seeking complete and continual repentance.
Vs 26-29 Be ever thankful for
the rebuke of the Lord. His chastisement is mercy and loving kindness. He is a
God that can save. Look for refreshment in Him, not in the works of your own
hands or the hands of others. Please with Him alwasy to take away your sin.
Vs 35-37 It is vain to
have trust and confidence that we are clean and in the right if we are not
living by the precepts of God.
Personal Study: The Lord will gather His people.
Jeremiah 16:14–15
The Gathering of Israel is more miraculous and monumental than the Exodus.
Hope of Israel
President Russell M. Nelson said: “You were
sent to earth at this precise time … to help gather Israel. There is nothing happening
on this earth right now that is more important than that [gathering]. … This
gathering should mean everything to
you.”
https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/ot/jer/3?lang=eng
Israel
and Judah defiled and polluted the land through wickedness—In the last days, the
Lord will gather the people of Israel, one from a city and two from a family,
and bring them to Zion. The
Gathering is ongoing.
Vs 12-16 We are to repent
and come unto Christ and invite all the world to do the same. As we are
gathered and live the higher law, the lower law will not be revisited. The
knowledge of the gathering will be known and spoken of even more.
Vs 17-18 Israel and Judah will all be gathered home to
their lands of inheritance. They shall not be at odds with each other any
longer. We will all be the Lord's.
Jeremiah 3:14–18 What inspires you about the Latter-day Gathering?
Vs 19 All this can
we have and do if we will call Jesus, My Father, and not turn away from Him.
Vs 22-23 Don't we all backslide. We slip up. We go back to those things in
which we hope to find comfort, even though they don't bring us comfort. God
promised that if we return to Him, He will heal our backslidings. We can forsake
and replace them. Come unto Him. Don't delay.
Salvation is found only in Jesus Christ. We can find it in any
other climb; just at His feet.
https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/ot/jer/7?lang=eng
If the
people of Judah repent, they will be preserved—The temple has become a den of
robbers—The Lord rejects that generation of the people of Judah for their
idolatries—They offer their children as sacrifices.
Jeremiah 7:2 How do you enter in at the gate to hear the word of the Lord and worship Him? Through baptism, the sacrament, and temple ordinances and covenants.
verses 2–11 Why does our inner commitment mean more that outward appearance?
Going to the temple and making covenants does not make us holy. Keeping covenants and honoring the Lord will make us holy.
Vs 18 We have been
asked to worship God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ. We are wrong if we
choose to worship others, even our Heavenly Mother. This is not the order that
has been given us to observe to do.
Vs 23 The instructions of
the Lord are simple unto us. Do not complicate them. Do not look beyond the
mark. Look to God and live.
21–23 What message does the Lord have for you in these verses?
Jeremiah 7:1–7 What are some of a prophet’s roles?
Family Section: Jeremiah 16:16 President Nelson compared the fishers and hunters in this verse to latter-day missionaries.
The Gathering of
Scattered Israel
https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/ot/jer/16?lang=eng
The utter
ruin of Judah is foreseen—Israel is rejected and scattered for serving false
gods—Fishers and hunters will gather Israel again, and the people will serve
the Lord—The gospel is to be restored.
Vs 14-16 Though Israel
and Judah were scattered, the Lord is gathering them again. The missionaries
are the fishers and hunters, and we are working to gather Israel.
Vs 21 I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The Lord.
16:14–21 What inspires you about the Latter-day Gathering?
https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/ot/jer/17?lang=eng
The
captivity of Judah comes because of sin and forsaking the Lord—Hallow the
Sabbath day; doing so will save the people; otherwise they will be destroyed.
Vs 5-8 Trust and hope in the Lord
and be blessed.
Vs 13-14 The Lord is our
hope and salvation. He is our Healer and Savior.
Vs 18 It is okay to pray
in righteousness of heart, like Nephi did, that the Lord hedge not up our ways
but the ways of our enemies. It's okay to want to be blessed.
Vs 24-26 Great blessings are available to all those who keep the Sabbath day holy.
Family Section: How
is Pottery Made
https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/ot/jer/18?lang=eng
Israel is as potter’s clay in the hands of the Lord—If nations repent, the Lord withholds the evil decreed against them—The people of Judah will be scattered.
Jeremiah 18:1–6 What can the Lord do for us? Who are we like clay in His hands?
Vs 6 The Lord is the potter, and we are His clay.
Isaiah 64:8: But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
Vs 8 Our nation can
again be healed, if the people are humble and repent and follow the Lord to
obey His and keep His law and statutes.
Vs 11-12 Do the people have no hope in Christ? Is this why they are wont to choose evil over good?
The Joy of Living a Christ-Centered Life
Israel,
Israel, God Is Calling
https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/ot/jer/20?lang=eng
Jeremiah
is smitten and put in the stocks—He prophesies that all Judah will be taken
captive by Babylon.
Vs 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.
Vs 12-13 We are tried and tested in this life. Sing praise and thanksgiving to the Lord for delivering you from evildoers.
Jeremiah 20:8, 10 Jeremiah’s teachings were often rejected.
Jeremiah 20:9 When the truth burns within us, and the power of God is upon us, we cannot remain silent.
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