This is a Bible study session taught by Michael. It continues a series on Jeremiah and opens with several devotional detours before reaching Jeremiah 2:1–13.
Opening reflections
The “second voice.” Drawing on a friend’s teaching series on integrity, Michael points to Genesis 3. God gave one clear command, then a second voice asked, “Did God actually say?” He argues that all of history follows this pattern: God’s word competes with other voices and thoughts. He links this to:
- Daniel Amen’s “ANTs” (automatic negative thoughts)
- The Life-Changing Art of Self-Brain Surgery
- Don’t Believe Everything You Think and its PAUSE method
His point is that you don’t entertain false thoughts. You ignore them and replace them with truth (Romans 12:1–2). He uses Jeroboam as a warning: one fearful thought led him to set up idolatrous worship that shaped the northern kingdom until Assyria conquered it.
Movie recommendation. He recommends One Life, the true story of Nicholas Winton, who rescued over 600 Czech children before World War II.
Prayer reveals the heart. Building on Sunday’s sermon about Paul’s prayers in Ephesians, Michael reads David’s prayer from 2 Samuel 7. David responds to God’s promise of an everlasting house with humility (“Who am I, O Lord?”). He praises God’s greatness, remembers what God did for Israel, and trusts that God’s words are true. Michael contrasts this with Judah in Jeremiah, who forgot both who God was and who they were. He adds that praying Scripture and God’s character reminds us of the truth, and that writing out prayers can deepen them.
Recurring themes in Jeremiah
Michael reviews themes from earlier weeks:
- following “the dictates of their stubborn hearts”
- God asking “What do you see?”
- idolatry
He adds two new ones: spiritual adultery (Israel as an unfaithful bride) and false teachers.
He highlights Jeremiah 10:23: the way of man is not in himself. He sums it up with his own rhyme: “If you align, you’ll be fine; if you’re out of sync, life will stink.” He ties this to the blessings of obedience in Deuteronomy 28.
His “revelation” from last week: Israel was meant to be a light to the nations, a kingdom of priests, God’s servant, and a glory to God, and it failed. Isaiah’s servant songs show Christ fulfilling every one of those roles and becoming the new covenant itself. Believers now carry that work as “ministers of the new covenant,” with Christ in them. Fulfilling it means walking in love as Christ did and giving ourselves as a sacrifice (Ephesians 5:1–2). That is simple to state and hard to live daily.
Structure of Jeremiah 2–6. He outlines five messages:
- Judah as the faithless spouse
- There is still time to repent
- Disaster is coming if they don’t (the “last call”)
- God’s rejection
- The coming judgment
He explains that the 70-year exile reflected God’s integrity to his word and was ultimately an act of goodness, because it was the only thing that would get Judah’s attention.
Verse-by-verse: Jeremiah 2:1–13
- vv. 1–3: Jeremiah had to go and proclaim, so faith isn’t private. God remembers Israel’s early devotion in the wilderness, when they were “holy to the Lord.” Michael connects this to the call to holiness in Leviticus 19 and 1 Peter 1.
- vv. 4–5: “What wrong did your fathers find in me?” They chased worthlessness and became worthless, meaning fruitless. He links this to John 15, where bearing fruit is how we prove to be disciples.
- vv. 6–7: They didn’t remember God’s provision in the wilderness. This echoes his earlier series on remembrance.
- v. 8 (the key point): Every level of leadership failed: priests, scribes, shepherds and prophets. No one spoke up. The false prophets kept saying “we’re fine.” He traces this theme of false leadership through Jeremiah (13:25, 14:4, 16:19, 18:18, 23:16), Ezekiel 13, and the New Testament. The safeguards are intimacy with God and Scripture as the standard, along with understanding how the Holy Spirit works (1 Corinthians 12–14).
He closes by noting that, like Jeremiah’s day, many teachers today say “everything’s okay, you don’t have to change.” The real call is to repent and align with Scripture.
One small correction: near the end he says “1 Peter chapter 2” is about false teachers. The chapter he means is 2 Peter 2.