We're going to look at minor profits, but I want to do a preliminary lesson on profits, period. And so the wonderful count, Jeremiah 1, 7 to 10, Jeremiah 1, 7 to 10. And we will start there and go from there. But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child, for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee, thou shalt speak. Be not afraid for their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant." So the Lord is a prophet in Old Testament time. We're given a unction from God to serve, to go. Question number one, what would you do, what comes to your mind if you're handed a microphone and said, listen, I want you to give a speech and not just a speech. I want you to give a speech to people who are ungodly, and I'm going to bring judgment, which is something you'd really want to do necessarily. One survey said 41% of people feared public speaking more than anything else. Another survey came in second after snakes, and on another survey it was sixth. So perhaps even as merely, in some surveys, as merely as 50 people will list giving a speech as the most terrifying experience. And so you get more used to it. It doesn't ever come like, it's like playing the piano in front of public. You never get completely used to it. There's always, for me, there's that nervous part about that. I've never lost that, probably never will. But that, it gets better as time goes on, but you never get completely over it. It's like giving a speech, preaching. It's like, if you ever start taking it for granted, I can do that on my own, then you're sunk. Second question is this. What are three ways you would expect a foreign country to treat one of our country's ambassadors? I'm expecting what? To treat them nicely, right? Treat them with civility. Unless you've been a spy for 40 years for Cuba in our own country, then don't treat them with civility. What would you expect? You know that, right? We just caught a spy, just have been found out, who's been in our own government, part of our National Security Council, who's been working for Cuba for 40 years. We just found that out. He's 77 years old. So, yes. So, but our ambassadors, what would you expect our country to do if one of our ambassadors was attacked? What would our country do? Well, sanctions or I don't know what to do, depends on how bad it was. But so can you imagine when we send an ambassador out, we expect that country to do nicely. When the prophets went out, to preach God's words. Some of them were killed. Some of them were thrown in the pit. Some of them escaped terrifying things, but some did not. Isaiah was sawn asunder in two. So this was not some little small thing when God called a prophet to do something. So success of the Old Testament prophets, we'll go right through, outline prophets who ministered before Joshua. So question three, which we know, I believe, who was labeled the first prophet Way back. Almost to the beginning. Abel, Abel was the first prophet. Luke chapter 11, 49, just so you know. Is that what the pastor thinks or what the Bible says? Let's see what the Bible says. Far more important than what I say. 49, therefore also 1149, Luke said, said in the wisdom of the God, I will send them prophets and apostles and some of them, they shall slay and persecute that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar. So the first prophet was Abel. Before Joshua also, we're talking about Joshua's about, oh, let me ask you, give me a timeframe for Joshua, please. Timeframe for Joshua, that's on there for sure. So when was the Garden of Eden? Usher's chronology, when was anybody have an inkling? Very good, 4,004 exactly. That's what Usher said. BC, we're all the way down to 1,400 BC, time of Joshua. Moses is 1460, 1440 approximately in the general. Joshua, basically, so how many prophets do we have between then? Well, we have, number one was Enoch in Jude 14. Jacob, why would we say Jacob's a prophet? What did he do with his sons before he died? He gathered them all in, remember that? And gave a prediction of prophecy on all of them. And so he really was a prophet in that regard. In Exodus 3, we know this, question four, who was designated as Moses' mouthpiece? That is correct, because we find that Mr. Moses was a little bit hesitant to speak there, stuttered, et cetera, and so God gave him Aaron. Now, had God asked Moses to do a courageous thing? Can you give me a modern day equivalent of what God asked Moses to do? Pardon? Go in front of Hamas. So we think, we read the Bible, the scripture, and we don't think, but they were actually human beings. Moses would be, I'd have been afraid. I mean, I'd have been afraid to go down to the, I mean, he had been kicked out. He had a bounty on his head, right, from 40 years earlier. Perhaps it expired. I'm not sure how long it was. The statutes and limitations were on that. I don't think there was any. I'm just guessing. So, but to go down there and to proclaim God's, and let my people go. It wasn't like you've won the lottery and everybody in Egypt is going to get $500,000 extra dollars to spend at the Mall of Egypt. It was like let my people go. If you don't let them go, a lot of bad things are going to happen. So Moses actually functioned as a model of the prophets. God gave him what he wanted him to say, and Moses obediently said what God wanted him to say. So who ministered before Joshua? That's some ideas. And how about prophets then? Number two, who ministered during the judges? Following Moses, God kept the promise to send a succession of prophets who regularly reminded the people of his will. Question six, unfortunately, Israelites often stubbornly rejected the word of the Lord sent to them. How did God describe the people's response to his prophets? Let's look at Jeremiah, please. Chapter seven, verse 25. Jeremiah, if you're still in Jeremiah, as I still am, 725. How did God respond to that? 725, since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even sent unto you all my servants, the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck. They did worse than their fathers. They were stiff-necked. They just wouldn't listen. They were stubborn. I think we in America are stubborn. It seems like we wanted to go our own way so much. Now in 1 Samuel 3, the boy prophet comes on the scene, if you would, and then he develops probably what is called the company of prophets. I think Samuel has a large part with the company of prophets, if you would. 1 Samuel 10, we find them there, about verse five. So we have the prophets before Joshua, the prophets' time of the judges, and thirdly, prophets who ministered during and after Joshua. David. Now, a lot of prophets ministered during the kings of Judah. And I want to look at, for just a moment, why do we have this? Why did the 12 tribes of Israel divide into ten and two? And I thought, I learned, I just learned, I thought some interesting things here. What would you, first, sin of what? Sin of Solomon, right? Yes. Then Rehoboam, first then was David, was above Solomon, and then Saul was the very first king of the combined. So these four men are the only people who rule all 12 tribes. At one point, not very long, Rehoboam. But I've been, why did this happen? Why was there such a division and anger? The UNO, right? Israel fought. Judah and Israel fought different times. There was such anger and animosity. But if you look back, Jacob, all the way back to Jacob, who put Joseph in the pit? Ten tribes. who was, and then later on when the sons of Leah, and the sons of Rachel, because Rachel had who? Just Joseph and Benjamin. And so then we have, this divides out. Now you know the southern kingdom is made up of what, two tribes? Southern kingdom was made up of? Judah, Judah and Benjamin. And Judah is the tribe of what, wonderful king, David. And Benjamin has one that's been in, Well, in Judges 19, 20, that terrible story of the men abusing the concubine, he cuts her up, sends her all throughout Israel and says, this is all I'm going to do to you unless you come and fight against whom? Benjamin. And so there has been a rift, if you would, in the 12 tribes of Israel all the way back before they were even known as the 12 tribes of Israel. Benjamin was not even born when they put, I don't think, was Benjamin born when they put Joseph, I don't think he was. I don't think so. When they put Joseph in the pit, he might've been born, he's like 17 when he went in the pit. Anyway, there's been this rift. So when it comes to Rehoboam, David, has Solomon. Solomon is terrible, probably the most spiritually divisive one for all of Israel because of all his wives. He said, I'm going to take the... Ahijah meets him and says, I'm going to take the kingdom, rend it from you. I'm going to give part to Jeroboam. Solomon tries to kill Jeroboam. He goes down to Egypt and then Rehoboam becomes king. Jeroboam comes back and says, I want you to make it easier on us. He says, I'm gonna make it harder than ever and the ten tribes take the opportunity to leave the Davidic dynasty and Benjamin and go on their way so this rift of the and it's by the way this is 930 BC when they divide it's not just an overnight thing and I've been I struggle with this and as you well know the twelve the ten northern tribes went into captivity in 722 and The two southern tribes went into captivity in 605, 597, 586. And they split off. I'm telling you, there's been disagreement. We wonder why there's disagreement in Islam. They don't all agree at all. Our people don't all agree with one another at all. Mankind just has a hard time getting along. And so we find that, sadly, The kingdom is split, and a lot of kings come on the scene, and a lot of prophets do. That's question seven, that was the answer to question seven. What was the cause? It was sin, God said it was sin. As a matter of fact, according to this little, it says, God said, Judah, from the divine viewpoint, the vision of it was keeping God's judgment, God's commands, specifically commands prohibiting idolatry. He says in Isaiah 11, he will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel. He will assemble them and the scattered people of Judah. So one day, these 12 tribes will be working together again. It'll be when God puts them back together. But they separated out 930 BC, and then they went into captivity 722, 586. Question eight, did all the prophets mentioned in the Old Testament write books? Did all the prophets in Old Testament scriptures, write a book found in our Bibles. No, they do not. So we're going to call these non-canonical. Non-canonical. Canonical. The canon of scripture. God chose and man discovered. You want to call it that? God chose the books and man discovered the books. They realized what God had said. Found God's will. So the canon, they're non-canonical prophets. Then there are canonical prophets, ones that actually have books in the Bible. Non-canonical prophets, question number nine. What was perhaps the most famous was Nathan, and what was his courageous act? Nathan the prophet, 2 Samuel, chapter 11, a very terrible thing happens, very sinful thing. Bathsheba has a child, Uriah is dead, gonna have a child. Chapter 12, the child's born. David's miserable for a year. Nathan comes in, tells a story about a little lamb being taken by a very rich man. David gets really angry and he says, thou art the man. And David smitten, I think spiritually speaking. And so Nathan, can you imagine going to probably the greatest king ever saw or ever realized perhaps in the world and saying, you got sin. But God said, and thou art the man. And so Nathan was, I think he took it very seriously, the question there. I think he took it very, because he obeyed what God had said. The non-canonical prophet Gad ministered during David's time. Ahijah predicted the division of the kingdom. That's another non-canonical. Micaiah. Do you remember that Micaiah, I don't know how to pronounce his name specifically, but Micaiah, they had 400 prophets saying, go, battle Ahab. Micaiah says, no, you're not. If you go, you're going to die. And I think they hit him, and then they put him in prison. Nathan didn't get put in prison, but Micaiah did. And so these prophets were willing to risk their very lives, question 10, who are probably the two best known non-canonical prophets. Correct, Elijah and Elisha, the two best known, probably non-canonical prophets. They have no books named for them, although they are in scripture a lot. Elijah, he, I guess probably, what do you remember Elijah for? Elijah, what is he remembered for? Do you remember him for? Prophets of Baal, right, of Mount Carmel. What did he do after that? Chapter 19. He ran, he ran back, and then in chapter 19, Jezebel says, I'm gonna make your lives one of them, and he runs, runs away, but also there's the oar that never ran out, the crews that all, et cetera. That was Eli, that was, I'm sorry, the bread, the widow of Nain, Zarephath, one of those two cities, and he never kept eating until the thing was done. The widow's son, he raised from the dead, et cetera, God raised from the dead, and he even went to heaven without having to die. So, but there's no book named Elijah. And question 11, of course, Jezebel's threat. Question 12, what was Elijah truly the only one left? Was Elijah, remember he says, oh, I'm the only one left. No, there were 7,000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal. So Elijah was not the only one. And so Elisha was the inheritor. I wish that it sort of been a little bit different name because I really confused Elijah and Elisha because they're so close. Why do you think they, why are there so much Eli, El? Yeah, exactly. L. So if you wonder why there's so many names in the Bible with L, it's because it's a name for God. God whatever does this, et cetera. And so Elisha comes on the scene, does probably twice as many miracles as Elijah approximately. Why is that important perhaps? And if you see me when I go, wasn't that what it was? If you see me when I go, you're gonna get it. I wonder if that'd work for us. Says, if you see me go to heaven without dying, get a devil portion. Doesn't work that way anymore. So why did it work for Elijah? Because Elijah, I'm guessing, walks so close to God. God did different things in different eras. That was a different era. Page three, we find in all the way through. Now we have some canonical prophets who wrote books of the Bible. By the way, question 13 was about Jehu. Elisha and Elijah evidently also, they had the sons of the prophets, you remember? One of them was cutting a tree down and the ax fell off and killed somebody. We talked about that at work today, about the cities of refuge. A guy got killed, et cetera. Elisha brought it back up, et cetera, and different things they did. But the sons of the prophets were people who were like junior prophets, if we could use that word. And so Elisha sent one to Jehu. Now can you imagine being sent to Jehu? Would that be a little disconcerting, being sent to Jehu? I'm not sure why it's buzzing. Yes, why is it disconcerting, you think? What was Jehu seemingly? He drove furiously. It would seem perhaps he was a man of quick judgment. Lest you think that I am just making all that up. Let's look what the Bible says in 2 Kings 9. 2 Kings 9. Victor Borga licking one finger and using the other. 2 Kings 9. I got one to 10. It's a pretty long passage. Let's see what we find here. And he lashes the prophet called one of the children of the prophets. I'm in nine one and said, get up that my loins and take this box of oil in my hand and go to Ramoth Gilead. And when they'll come in together, look out there, Jay, who the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, and go in and make him arise from among his brethren and carry him into an inner chamber and then take the box of oil and pour it on his head and say, Thus said the Lord, I have anointed the king of Israel. Then open the door and do what? Flee. And Terry not. And so, 10, he finishes what he says, and the dog shall eat Jezebel and the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her. And he opened the door and fled. I think Jehu was a very no-nonsense person. He was willing to kill people at God's directive, was he not? Did you know he killed both the Northern Kingdom King and the Southern Kingdom King? So he was, and so that son of the prophet, and by the way, if you're just getting, I was told today, there were some errors, and it's the first time they've done this job, they don't really know what they're doing. And so, can you imagine you're the son of a prophet and you're gonna go talk to Jehu and tell him what you're going to do, and the prophets already told you now, when you say your peace, you better get out of there quickly. Reading between the lines. That would be a little bit nerve wracking for the son of the prophet. But that was Elijah and Elisha. And then we find some, the canonical, how many, question 14, who was the only canonical Old Testament prophet to write to? Jeremiah. Jeremiah and the Invitations. Otherwise, he wrote just one book. Now we call this, we call this Minor. Why are they called Minor? weren't very big. Basically, that's it. Brevity. In Old Testament times, they could be put on one scroll and they were called the 12. And so it's not that they're less important by any means. It's simply compared to Isaiah or Jeremiah or Ezekiel, they are so much smaller. One scroll, they're called the 12. Time frame, minor prophets ministered before the Babylonian captivity. What is the Babylonian captivity? What is that? Hmm, he's asking a lot of questions tonight Why is that because I want you us all doesn't know me any good for me to know So I want you to find out Correct now was that was it all Israel or just a part Yes, the Babylonian now was Israel and Babylonian captivity or was Judah Israel fell in 722 to Assyria Okay, and in five, eight, so we only have the Southern Kingdom still functioning. 605, Daniel. 597, Ezekiel. 586, everybody, the grandmother. They fall into captivity, and this right here begins the Babylonian captivity. 535, and why do I say that? Why is it specifically 605 to 535? 70 years. So whatever's left of Israel, Judah is called, it's all Israel. I mean, if you want to give it one big title, it's all 12 tribes, the tribes of Israel. Specifically, the southern two tribes were the ones that were left. And the same reason, what was the reason they all went? What was the reason? Sin. Idolatry, especially. Idolatry, called spiritual adultery. So they all went into captivity and that is And even when they were do you remember even when they were supposed to go back only what about how many went back when they went back from? 50 about 50,000 altogether all it went back from the whole Everybody's going to Babylon only 50,000 went back to Israel because they become so enamored With the Babylonian culture. I don't want to go back. I'm doing pretty well here So how many of us would move just to have a place of, we're going to be obedient to God? How many Christians today would pack up their bags and move to another state or somewhere because God has told us we need to go to Canada, Saskatchewan, the northern part to be specific, because that's where God is. And there's a revival up there and we need you to go there to serve us up there, serve God up there. I like it here. I got heat. It's a whole lot warmer than it is up there. Just thinking. The success of the Old Testament prophets, there's a purpose, they were seers, insight into the God-given purpose, two main terms, seer and prophet. In the older time, 1 Samuel 9, they're called a seer, go see the seer, that was also called a prophet, that means one who sees, a prophet, one who envisions, Amos 7, verse 12. As prophets, they had a title, A prophet emphasized the prophet's function. They were speaking for God, as Jeremiah did in Exodus 7. The Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a God unto Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. Thou shalt speak all that I command thee, and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land. So they're speaking for God. How does it, as we head toward the homestretch, how does the call upon the prophet in Old Testament time differ from the call upon the preacher or missionary of this era? Do you think a missionary or a pastor preacher needs to have a call from God to do that ministry? Yes. How does that differ from Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah? What, I believe God has called me to pastor. That's why I'm doing this, what I'm doing now. I have not had, God has not spoken to me audibly. I think some of these people he spoke to audibly, very possibly, in a dream or something. But I have, the Holy Spirit has told me and led me and that this is what I have, and the peace. I think today it's important to have peace. I can only have peace if I'm doing what, and you can only have peace if you're doing what God has called you to do. God's not called everybody to be a pastor, let me know what to preach to. But he has called all of us to serve whatever he has called us to. We need to have that peace that passes understanding, I've got to do what God has called us. The risingers feel called to the Amazon basin. So for them to have the peace of God, then they have to pursue that. You have to have God's peace. There is a call, I believe today, but not exactly like the call of the Old Testament. It was different, as you well know. A lot of it dealt with the Jewish people, but it was God's directive. And so that's what, but I'll tell you what has not changed is for the pastor today, thus saith the Lord." I must use what God has said because if you don't use that you have no the powers here. And so whether it was God audibly speaking or to the people, but he used the prophets to do that. Question 15, how do you think the cult, I already covered that one, let's go around and we're right there to the homestretch. As prophets, as seers, ethical preaching under the activities. Number one, ethical preaching. The prophets were divinely appointed as moral preachers. What a task it would have been to confront priests and kings. I ask you question 16, and you answer it for your own, the detailed predictions. The prophets also, which we mostly think of prophets as the prediction of things, Ezekiel 38, 39, but they did much more than that. They presented Jesus as two ways. Can you think with me as we close before I pray? What's the two main emphasis of Jesus the prophets of the Bible emphasized? almost directly contrasting. He's the suffering Savior. He's the victorious King. He's one in the same. I was reading, what you probably hear Sunday morning, how UNESCO in 2016 voted, which is part of the United Nations, that Israel has no claim whatsoever to the Temple Mount. And there were 26 or 24 countries voted for that, six voted against that resolution, the United States being one, and 26 abstained. But you think about it, Jews have no claim to the Temple Mount? Think back to Genesis chapter 14, when Abraham comes back and Melchizedek, who is the king of Salem, Jerusalem, who's the priest of the most high, I think it only can be Christ, priest of the most high God. And you're saying that Jesus, the ultimate Jew, who claims to be king of Jerusalem, and that the Israel has no claim historically to the Temple Mount, and yet Jesus said, or God said, that's his city. So it's mankind can do the strangest things. God remains the same. And so God calls the prophets and we'll talk next week. We'll talk about if you read ahead, if you've already read ahead, maybe read it again. Joel chapter one is discouraging. I have to tell you, they just come through a huge, a huge old pestilence. Trying to recover from that. Joel one next time, let's pray. Lord, I just thank you that you are the same and you have called people even today. You've called all of us in some capacity or another to serve you as your children. May we be faithful to do that. May you give us the peace that passes understanding as we yield to what you have called and asked us to do. Thank you for prophets of Old Testament and John the Baptist leading into the New Testament who are willing to even give up their lives if necessary to proclaim your word. May you give me boldness to declare your word and love to others. So many lost around us, may we keep our eyes upon you and look also the field is white on the harvest as people seek what's going on in the world today. So Lord, may you give us opportunities. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.