The Best Gifts Dads can Give Their Family

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Welcome to the Westside church’s special Monday Morning Coffee podcast with Mark Roberts. Mark is a disciple, a husband, father and grand dad, as well as a certified coffee geek, fan of CS Lewis’ writings and he loves his big red Jeep. He’s also the preacher for Westside church.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

Hello, and welcome to the Westside churches special Monday Morning Coffee podcast on this podcast, our preacher Mark Roberts will help you get your week started right. With look back at yesterday's sermon so that we can think through it further and better work the applications into our daily lives . Mark will then look forward into this week's Bible reading so that we can know what to expect and watch for. And, he may have some extra bonus thoughts from time to time. So grab a cup of coffee as we start the week together on Monday Morning Coffee with Mark.

Speaker 3: 0:52

Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to the Monday Morning Coffee podcast for Monday, June the 19th. I am home and you'd better believe that I've got some coffee. Severe jet lag. Man, that's a thing. That is a thing. It is hard to talk your body into changing from Israeli time to Texas time overnight, but I'm working through it. I'm excited to be home. I'm excited to be talking about daily Bible reading. Great to have the chance to preach yesterday. Hope you had a great Father's Day. I'm gonna jump directly to daily Bible reading. I think what I said yesterday for dads, I'm just gonna let that stand. I'm gonna let that stand. It's about leadership. It's about being what God called us to be. That's what we talked about yesterday. You know that. I know that. We just need to implement that. Whatever you were thinking about yesterday, I need to lead in this area. I need to do better in this area. Start today. Don't let that get left in the pew. Start it, start it, start it. Do it . Be the leader that your family, your wife, your children need you to be. And a big part of that is leading in daily Bible reading, which means we're talking about the book of Jeremiah. Let's get started. Monday's Bible reading is in Jeremiah the seventh chapter. Jeremiah seven, one to 10 is our Bible reading for today. Let me get a swig of coffee here. See, we can keep all this going. Jeremiah seven, one to 10, this is Jeremiah's, at least arguably Jeremiah's most famous sermon. It is the temple sermon and it may be, it may be that this comes after Josiah's reign. Really difficult to date all of this. And I'm placing it here. And we're gonna go talk more about Josiah this week because on Friday we're going back to the Book of Kings. This might come after Josiah. However, when Joha come leads the people back into idolatry. Uh , you know, if you've got a note in your study Bible that this is about a different time, a different king than Josiah, don't panic about that. It's just difficult to get all that lined up. I think this may fit well with why Josiah needs to make some reforms and what's going on prior to Josiah cleaning up the nation and helping the people on their way back to God, at least Josiah heads back to the Lord. We'll talk more about that as we develop his reign out of second kings. But the word comes today to stand in the gate of the Lord's house, chapter seven and verse two. And this sermon is all about a mistrust in the externals of religion. The people are viewing the temple as a talus man , as a good luck charm. It's a golden four-leaf clover as long as we have the temple of the Lord. Verse four, nothing bad can happen to us. I can't urge you strongly enough to think of Jeremiah seven in terms of the externals of religion that we trust in today specifically and especially the church building. It's so easy to decide because we have a big church building, we must be faithful to the Lord. God must be pleased with us. Aren't we amazing? Don't trust in externals and pay attention to what Jeremiah calls their attention to when he talks about stop oppressing the poor in verse six. Notice that that comes in front of even going after other gods. Stop your violence. Stop your idolatry. Stop exploiting the poor. Social justice is a huge deal to God. We need to think about that. Do we go to church, pat ourselves on the back at our fine worship center? Oh, look at this. It's got air conditioning and petted pews and there's so many of us. Aren't we just amazing? And then we don't care about our fellow man? Will you steal verse nine, murder, commit adulteries, swear falsely make offerings to bail and go after other gods. Jeremiah's sermon here is potent and vigorous. Maybe even as you look at verse 10, I wonder if people are coming to the temple to buy an indulgence to sin. You see the illusion there to the 10 commandments. You see the importance of people obeying God and not just going to church to soothe their consciences. Tomorrow we continue in this famous sermon with one of Jesus's most famous references. Do you know what Jesus says about Jeremiah seven? Tomorrow we read further in the temple sermon that Jeremiah is preaching. Welcome to Tuesday and Tuesday's. Reading is Jeremiah the seventh chapter verses 11 to 19. And that opens with Jeremiah seven 11 has this house which is called by my name, become a den of robbers, a den of robbers. The den is the place where thieves go to hide after they've committed their crimes. It's their hideout. And Jesus uses this verse in Matthew 2113 when Jesus says cleansing the temple, he says, you've made the temple into a den of robbers. He compares what's happened to the temple in his day and age to Jeremiah's day and age when they were actually worshiping idols in the temple. Talk about a sharp rebuke. Talk about getting people's attention. Sometimes folks act like Jesus wandered around saying things like be nice in pet puppies. And somehow he ended up getting killed. Hey, be nice in pet puppies. Doesn't get you on the cross. Jesus was crucified because he challenged the religious leadership of the day. Just like Jeremiah is challenging the religious leader of the religious leadership of the day. So then in verse 12, go to my place that was in Shiloh. What's the reference here? So glad to have the podcast. Maybe write this out beside in your Bible so that you'll have this here. Shiloh is where the tabernacle was first erected in Joshua the 18th chapter. And Shiloh is where the Ark of the covenant was captured by the Philistines in one Samuel chapter four. So Jeremiah says, if you think having the worship center, if you think having the wor church building is gonna keep God from bringing judgment, well you just go down there to Shiloh. They had themselves a church building. It was a portable church building. It was a tabernacle. And that didn't stop the Philistines. That didn't mean God miraculously preserved that city. No, the people were wicked. And as a result of that, God allowed that city to be overrun and the Ark of the Covenant was even captured. Now the Bible doesn't give us all the details about all of that. We sure would like to know exactly more like to know more about Shiloh and some of the things that go with that, but that's the reference. So now verse 15, I will cast you outta my sight. And verse 16 is just shocking. Don't pray for this people, what a thing to say. But Jeremiah's prayers cannot avert destruction because these people aren't listening to the word of God. They don't want to obey the word of God. As a result, all they can do is be judged. All that can happen now is judgment must fall. This is a very potent sermon and it is a sermon that deserves careful attention. We'll give it more attention in our zoom prayer and Bible study tonight. If you're a member at Westside, join us on the zoom tonight as we think through further what Jeremiah has to say in this temple sermon. Tomorrow we'll read more of it. Jeremiah seven continues on Wednesday. See you tomorrow. It is Wednesday and I am very excited about this Wednesday because my good friend Bruce Reeves will be here tonight to preach for us in our summer series. Bruce preaches in Conway for the Highway 65 Church. That's where my daughter, Sarah and my son-in-law Garrett attend and are members there. Bruce is a wonderful, wonderful preacher. He has a keen mind and I know he will do a great job. Bruce has done some writing in the area of apologetics that really triggered some of the things that we're doing this summer, and I'm excited for you to get to listen to him tonight. So right here is where you would expect to hear from Bruce Reece talking about his sermon tonight. But Bruce has been traveling and I've been traveling, so wasn't able to get all that synced together. I am though certain he's going to do a wonderful job for us tonight. I hope you're excited about this evening's lesson as well. But let's do some daily Bible reading before we get to church this evening. We are reading in Jeremiah the seventh chapter today, verses 20 to 26, our reading, Jeremiah seven verses 20 to 26. And there is a passage here that may jump off the page, bite you on the nose and make you think, oh my, the Bible is contradicting itself because in Jeremiah, in the reading today, in Jeremiah seven, in verse 22, God says, in the day that I brought them out on the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning by offerings and sacrifices. Well, what about that? Hey, the Book of Exodus, Leviticus and numbers are just full of regulations about sacrifices, on and on, all kinds of things about this offering and that offering, waive offerings, drink offerings, sin offerings. What do you mean you didn't speak to them about sacrifices? Is that right? Well, you have to keep this in context, verse 23. But this command I gave to them, obey my voice and I will be your God. It's not a contradiction, it's just a powerful way of saying that God's main point was that he wanted them to obey him and to honor him and to walk in all the ways that he had commanded them, not just fixate on sacrifices. And we, we talk that way today all the time. A wife may say to her husband, I I , I don't want you to bring me flowers, I just want you to care about me or to listen to me if there may be some marital problems going on. That doesn't mean that he should never bring her flowers. It just means he needs to put the emphasis on listening to her and caring for her that external signs of devotion are not as important as the heart. And that's 22 and that's 23 in our reading today. God wanted his people to listen to him, to care about him, to honor him. Instead, they're all focused on these sacrifices which they're offering in a temple that is polluted with idolatry. That's outrageous. Jeremiah says, you are not obeying God. Verse 24, you have not inclined your ear so much in Jeremiah about listening to God, which means obeying God. Then there's a wonderful summary of the history of the Israelites and it is not pretty. Verse 25 , I have persistently sent my servants the prophets to you. And you don't listen. You don't listen. That is a pretty good summary, I'm sorry to say of the people of God in the Old Testament. Are we doing better today? Don't let your Bible reading, just stay on the page. Need to get it off the page and ask yourself, am I honoring God? We'll think more about that as we complete Jeremiah seven tomorrow. The famous temple sermon comes to, its close in our reading on Thursday, welcome to Thursday. And we come to the conclusion of Jeremiah chapter seven. The reading for Thursday is Jeremiah 7 27 to 34 . And again, God is telling Jeremiah they're not listening. They are not going to hear your sermon in the sense that it will cause real change. So cut off your hair verse 29. That's a sign of mourning here. And Jerusalem is being personified as a woman. And then there's the discussion here of abominations in the temple, the supreme abomination verse 30 idols right there in the temple. We know that Manasa did that and that Josiah has to clean those out. And there's even been verse 31, human sacrifice. Oh my second Kings 21 6 specifically talks about that it was forbidden in the law. Leviticus, the 18 chapter, Deuteronomy chapter 12 and verse 31, horrible to think of human sacrifices. And so the valley of slaughter becomes in verse 32, the place where those who slaughtered babies will be slaughtered. And verse 33 is a direct quote right outta Deuteronomy 28, 26. I'm so glad we began the year in de Deuteronomy 28. If you had a diagram, a flow chart of the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 28 would be a huge box and just arrow after arrow after arrow would be coming out of it to various chapters in the prophets. Cuz they're always saying, this is the covenant, this is the covenant, this is what God promised. These are the blessings and these are the curses. And here they are. This is the curse. Dead bodies be food for the birds of the air. Just shocking to Jewish people that they would not be buried properly. That's very, very offensive. The beast of the earth just gonna come eat your dead body. And so the joy of the wedding in verse 34 comes to an end because a wedding carries that idea. There's gonna be a happy family here and there can't be a happy family to a nation that has sacrificed its children. So Jeremiah says, there's gonna be so many people that need to be buried. That big valley won't be a big enough cemetery for them all. What a powerful sermon Jeremiah seven really is. And it has lots of application to today, but I think it helps us see why a lot of people did not like Jeremiah's preaching. But tomorrow we read a man, we read about a man who I think loved Jeremiah's preaching. I think this kind of preaching is behind what we read about in Josiah's life. Second Kings 22 is where we're headed tomorrow. See you on Friday. Hey, it's Friday. We made it through the week. We made it through the week, pretty good news. And we are turning back to the historical account of this time in Judas history. And that means we're reading a about Josiah in Second Kings chapter 22. The reading today is Second Kings chapter 22 verses eight to 20. And this is stunning, but amazing all at the same time. And I'm, I always have trouble reading this, it it's very emotional when you think about the word of God being lost. And I, it , it , it's hard to hear that somehow God's word had completely vanished. I I I don't understand how God's people could get so far away from the Lord, but when you think about what we just read, the temple sermon in Jeremiah seven , they're worshiping idols right there in the temple. Do you think anybody cared about the law of God when you're doing that? Particularly the law of God that condemns you for doing those kinds of things? So the , the scrolls have been lost. This is not a Kodak . Sometimes we see, you know, Kyah carrying around the E s V of the Old Testament bound in black leather with guilt edges. And of course that's not the case. This is a scroll in verse eight says, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And then the book of the law is read to Josiah. And when he hears verse 11, the words of the book of the law, he tears his clothes. This is a very different reaction than we will see later on when we read, for example, about joka and when the word of God is read to him, a personal message from the prophet Jeremiah, he throws it in the fireplace and burns it. Jo Joko has a totally different attitude than Josiah does. I love Josiah so good. He tears his clothes and he is rendering his heart and not just his garments, we wonder exactly what is being read here. Maybe Shahan is reading from the book of Deuteronomy. And what he would've heard then from chapters four to 13 is all kinds of condemnation of the wicked things the nation had done. But particularly I think about chapters 28 to 32, that blessings and curses sections, Josiah must have been beside himself. And so he says, go verse 13 and inquire, is there anything that can be done? And the inquiry is sent to Holda , the prophetess. This is an important moment for us here. There are prophetess in God's word that would include Miriam and Exodus 1520. Deborah in judges four , four, the wife of Isaiah, the prophet and Isaiah eight and three Anna in Luke 2 36, and the four daughters of Philip the evangelist in Acts chapter 21 verses eight and nine. And the way this is just handled in such a casual fashion, she's just a prophet. And of course we're just gonna go talk to her and see what God has to say shows that nobody is freaked out about that and nobody is going to pieces because God is using a woman. God can use women. And maybe the first thing that we need to do if we're gonna be able to handle all that's going on among brethren today about the use of women and what women can and cannot do, is we just need to get over ourselves and, and, and stop getting so worried that a woman might do something in the kingdom of God that is absolutely not to advocate that a woman ever do anything that God does not authorize. We're talking about Bible authority and and thinking about the will of God, but maybe sometimes, maybe sometimes there's just a prejudice against women doing anything because we're afraid that if we let them do something, they're gonna just run to ridiculous extremes and do crazy stuff. Josiah doesn't feel that way. He doesn't say, well, we can ask Halda , but we're not gonna do that. Because if we ask Halda, the next thing you know, she's gonna take over the entire world and do all sorts of inappropriate things that God doesn't want a woman to do. He consults holda , she's a prophete, she's the one to talk to. And of course you're gonna ask, well, how about Zephaniah or how about Jeremiah? And we just don't know. We just don't know. Maybe Jeremiah's out in the country preaching and he's not available. Josiah clearly has urgency about this. I need to know what God has to say about this and I need to know right now. And Holda tells him because of his good heart, this terrible judgment that must come won't come in his life. Look at verse 19. Your heart was ent . You humbled yourself before the Lord. Think about that right there. Our preaching thing this year is about having a heart for God. We're fixing to advance into VBS and all the things that go with that because David has such a great heart for God. I can't wait to preach about that and talk about that and see our kids soaking in that. But Josiah has a heart for God. And if you want to know about how to have a heart for God, you need to be penitent and you need to humble yourself. And as a result, that judgment won't come during Josiah's life. What a great promise from hold of the prophet is . What a great blessing from God to Josiah because he is doing what is right. We'll continue to think about Josiah's reforms next week. We'll be in Second Kings chapter 23 and next week we get to read a prophet that yeah, most of us probably have not spent a whole lot of time with. So next week will be a great adventure in Bible reading. I'm excited about that and I know that you are as well. But that brings the podcast to a close, which is probably a good thing for somebody who's traveled out and coffee out and jet lagged out. But I'm glad that you're listening and I hope that you are following the podcast that you have subscribed or or rated and reviewed and followed and all the things that you need to do. So it'll just dump down automatically onto your device and we'll be right there ready for you on Monday morning. I sure do appreciate all the folks who make that possible for us at Westside. They work so hard to get all this to you, and I hope that you'll share the show, share the podcast with somebody else so they can be encouraged in their Bible reading as well. So until Monday, I hope that your Friday is wonderful and that the Lord will be with you today all day and I will see you on Monday with a cup of coffee.

Speaker 1: 21:21

Thanks for listening to the Westside church of Christ podcast. Monday morning coffee with mark . For more information about west side , you can connect with us through our website, just christians.com and our Facebook page. Our music is from upbeat.is that's upbeat with two P'S UPP , B E A T , where creators can get free music. Please share our podcast with others. And we look forward to seeing you again with a company coffee, of course, on next Monday.