FOLLOWING JESUS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT?

Jeremiah 31-52
Watch a Bible Project video about Jeremiah  
31: The LORD will turn mourning to Joy … The New Covenant
32: Jeremiah buys a field during the siege … Jeremiah prays for understanding … They shall be My People; I will be their God
33: The LORD promises peace … The LORD’s eternal covenant with David
34: Zedekiah to die in Babylon 
35: The Obedience of the Rechabites
36: Jehoiakim burns Jeremiah’s scroll
37: Jeremiah warns Zedekiah … Jeremiah imprisoned
38: Jeremiah cast into the cistern … Jeremiah rescued from the cistern…Jeremiah warns Zedekiah again
39: The fall of Jerusalem…the LORD delivers Jeremiah
40: Jeremiah remains in Judah
41: Gedaliah Murdered
42: Warning against going to Egypt
43: Jeremiah taken to Egypt
44: Judgment for idolatry
45: Message to Baruch
46: Judgment on Egypt
47: Judgment on the Philistines
48: Judgment on Moab 
49: Judgment on Ammon…judgment on Edom…Judgment on Damascus…Judgment on Kedar and Hazor…Judgment on Elam
50: Judgment on Babylon
51: Utter destruction of Babylon
52: The Fall of Jerusalem recounted…the Temple burned…The people exiled to Babylon…Jehoiachin released from prison

Ponder: 
? With so many nations, including Judah, being judged by God, to whom does God’s promises of “turning mourning to joy, a new covenant, they shall be My people, I will be their God” apply? On what basis could these promises apply to people today?
~~~~~~~
Lamentations 1-5
Watch a Bible Project video about Lamentations https://bibleproject.com/videos/lamentations/
1: How lonely sits the city
2: The Lord has destroyed without pity
3: Great is Your Faithfulness
4: The Holy Stones lie scattered
5: Restore us to Yourself O LORD

Ponder: 
? What is the difference between lamenting the experiences of suffering judgment and lamenting our rejection of God and His faithfulness?
~~~~~~~
Jeremiah 35 is a fascinating chapter. Judah was surrounded and facing destruction from the Babylonians, Chaldeans, and Syrians. God told Jeremiah to call a family, called the Rechabites, to a Jerusalem meeting where he tested their obedience to God in an unusual way. Read it, only 19 verses. This test was an example to the rest of the Jews whose disobedience was resulting in terror and ultimate exile because they were “refusing to receive instruction and listen to God’s words.” If we want to “never lack our families to stand before God,” we should take most seriously “receiving instruction and listening to God’s words.”

God Asks Us: Jeremiah 35:13 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Go and say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will you not receive instruction and listen to my words? declares the Lord.

Ponder: 
? In what ways did the Rechabites stand out in their Jewish culture?
? How did their specific test demonstrate their overall response to God?
? Did God give the identical test to all the Jewish families? why or why not?
? Does God give us all the same instructions and tests?
? What “words to receive and listen to” is God giving us today?
? How is “receive and listen” related to “ponder?”