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[ Silence ] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [ Music ]

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He's captain of the oceans. He's captain of the seas. He rides on every windstorm. And he moves in every breeze.

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I keep on telling you, God, he's a good God. God won't ever change. God is a good-- God is good.

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--ever-- Ever. --praises made. Mm.

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He's alpha and omega. He's the beginning and he's the end. He'll save your soul from a burning hell, and he will wash away all of your sins.

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I keep on telling you that God, he's a good God, and God won't ever change. God is a good God. ♪ I'll ever praise his name ♪

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♪ My, my, my, my, my God led ♪ ♪ The children of Israel ♪ ♪ Across the mighty Red Sea ♪ ♪ He led them to the promised land ♪

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♪ And he will do the very same for you ♪ ♪ I keep on telling you that God ♪ ♪ God is a good God ♪ ♪ God won't ever change ♪

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♪ God is a good God ♪ ♪ That's why I'll ever praise his name ♪ ♪ There's nothing too hard ♪ ♪ That my God cannot do ♪

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♪ He's fieldwork and miracles ♪ ♪ And if you need one ♪ ♪ He will work one just for you ♪ ♪ I keep on telling you that my God is a good God ♪

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♪ And God won't ever change ♪ ♪ God is a good God ♪ That's why I'll ever praise his name. God is a good God.

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God won't ever change. God is a good God. ♪ Best father ever ♪ ♪ Praise his name ♪

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- There were two baskets of figs arranged in front of the temple. One basket had very good figs, like the early figs, but the other basket had very bad figs,

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so bad that they could not be eaten. Two baskets of figs. Our destiny is determined by the choices we make, as well as the goals we pursue in life.

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Human judgment is not the final arbiter. God has the last word. And God moves in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps on the sea and rides upon the star. God permits

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his chosen people to be carried into Babylonian captivity. In 597, the Babylonians entered In 597, the Babylonians entered Jerusalem, raided the temple, and carried back to Babylon the elite, best educated and most skillful as captives. Ten years later, the Babylonians returned to crush the threat of Egypt, who were seeking

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to deliver Judah from Babylonian captivity. And this time, Jerusalem failed. Jehoiakim, King Judah, had died, and King Jehoiakim and other Jewish people had died. And the Babylonians and other Jewish leaders were deported to Babylon. So there were two deportations, two years apart.

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This last time the royal treasury was stripped, the temple looted but not destroyed. Jeremiah sees the hand of God in these events and develops what we may call an exile theology

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to confront the current interpretations of history that were rampant at that time. It's expressed in the account of two baskets of fees. One basket is made up of good fees, the other of bad fees.

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Now the popular prophets of the time had a particular theology of exile. people who were left in Jerusalem were considered

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the good figs by the popular prophets they're left in Jerusalem so God must favor them

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he favors them in a special way because they don't have to leave home Others are driven from home into exile, so they must be under a curse.

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That's what the popular prophet said. Those who were carried away to Babylon are the bad figs. They're punished by God by being subjected to Babylonian captivity.

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It's not surprising that this point of view is popular. We like to remain at home. But when one is in exile, one is away from home.

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And to some extent, all of us are exiles. We're away from where we ought to be. The exiles. And sometimes we're there for various reasons, but nevertheless, we're exiles.

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Mark Rich is an exile. He committed crimes according to the Justice Department of our state that would possibly They have brought a very heavy sentence, but he ran away. And so he can't come home.

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There's a great stir in the nation by many because President Clinton pardoned him, even though he has the right to pardon him. So, Mark Rich has two countries, I believe,

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Israel and Switzerland. where he can stay, but he can't come here without being arrested. That's the problem. It's just a rather miserable existence to be in exile, to want to come home and can't. But here, two baskets of figs, both of them,

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in a sense, left to another state of affairs that we would not desire. One group stays in Jerusalem, but still they have to kowtow to the king of Babylon.

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The other group is taken into Babylon. And they, they're integrating themselves into the life of the Babylonians.

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One is called by the popular prophets as good figs and the other bad figs. You know, we're real quick to put people in certain categories, little cubby holes, and say this is where they are fit. Bad figs, bad figs, good figs, good figs.

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Now, those who seem to have an advantage are looked upon with favor. I can remember during World War II that if you were walking around and you looked like you were healthy and you were of age, the question was asked, "Why aren't you in the Army?"

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And if you didn't have a real good reason, you were sort of put down by those. So I was asked that question. I was a ministerial student during that time. Good figs were the figs that went away to the army, enlisted in the army.

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The bad figs were those who tried to escape, go to some other country and get out of it. Bad figs. Good figs, bad figs. Among the popular prophets, the idea circulated that there were these two categories.

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And so here are two baskets that Jeremiah looks at. And God tells him that one is bad, one is good. Two groups, two groups. We have them today.

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In the school system, we have those who are the gifted. And many teachers that I talk with, they love to have a class filled with the gifted. And many look with dissatisfaction upon a class

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of the retarded. One of the admission officers at the Northwestern University in Boston was saying, you know, everybody wants to help the gifted, those who make good grades.

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But somebody needs to help those not so gifted. Good figs, bad figs. So these two groups of the favored and the unfavored, or the favored and the rejected.

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Two baskets. One represents the A students, the other the D students. That's the kind of exclusivity we teach and practice. It's in these two baskets of figs.

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And God speaks to Jeremiah saying, "Like good figs I will regard as good "the exiles from Judah, "whom I have sent away from this place

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"to the land of Babylon. "I will build them up, "not tear them down. "I will plant them and not pluck them up.

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"I will be their God, "and they shall return to me "with their whole heart." The plight of those who remain at home

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is not determined by the popular prophets. You know, it's a wonderful thing that we are not victims of the judges in the public, the public judges.

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It's a wonderful thing that they may write us off, say we can't make it, but God intervenes. The popular prophets have said that those who go away to Babylon,

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who've gone there to Babylon as captives, are bad figs. But God says, "No, no." He reverses it. "No, no, these are not bad figs.

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"These are favored by me in a special way "because they are the children "through whom God is accomplishing his divine work." accomplishing his divine purpose.

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They are the ones. Well, we get this whole matter sort of mixed up. So the Reverend, I'm confused. Good figs, bad figs, good figs going to Babylon,

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according to God, bad figs going to remain in Jerusalem. But if young people have it like that, You know, say, sort of slang, say, "You know, he's bad." "She's bad."

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And, "Man, that's really bad." So what do you mean? Well, when they say it's bad, that mean it's good. This is real good.

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And we think of when it's good, it's good, and when it's bad, it's bad. So in this exile community, God is building a new people.

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Through the exile community, God will raise up prophets that will reach new heights in making known his divine will.

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Those who remain in Jerusalem should not boast and exalt themselves over those who are carried away into captivity. Those who are in captivity are instruments

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through whom God works. And God has a future for his people. There are the continuities and the discontinuities of history.

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There are the ups and the downs, the zigs and the zags. But God works even when we are experiencing those zags as well as the zigs.

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He's in control, he's in charge of all that's happening. It's God at work in strange and mysterious ways, but God is at work in history. So some carry on the Lord's work

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and some do the devil's work. But life goes on. The good things are the ones through whom God is carrying out his intention,

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and so life goes on. Life goes on. His continuity, the continuity of God in human history is not in those who are seeking to replicate the past,

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Rather it is in those who pursue the dream of the future. So the fig tree blossoms and produces figs that are placed in two baskets. Mind you, the figs, some classified as good,

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some classified as bad, but they all come from the same tree, all from the same tree. God is at work in the exiles in Babylon. He is at work in restoring relationships. There is no escape from confrontation with the eternal. There's no escape from that.

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we must confront God. Whichever direction we face, whatever basket we find ourselves in, those who are deported and those who remain in the homeland

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are under God's care. So God identifies the good faith. His spirit enables us to perceive perceive divine judgment in history.

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Those who seem to continue in God's blessings are regarded as being the good things. Those who seem to be cursed are regarded as the bad things. You know, it's rather interesting that

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when one gets in the criminal justice system, you may be arrested and you're placed in jail. And the record is that most who get in that situation go back.

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If it's your first time, you're likely to go back a second time if you're placed in jail. And we're quick to classify them. The system is crowded today with African Americans.

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and they're quickly written off as bad figs. There was an article in US News and World Report a couple of weeks ago, maybe three, where a Round Rock teacher who did a study

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on African American males, And she came up with the conclusion that many teachers looking at the way a young African American male walks with a certain strut,

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and they put them in special ed. Bad figs just by strut. No, just by the judgment of humankind. A strut determines your destiny.

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A strut. But God says, "Look, Jeremiah, I see what you see. "You're my prophet. "You have vision that I've given you.

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"What do you see?" He said, "Lord, I see two baskets of things. "Yes, one of them the popular prophets called bad, "and the other they call good,

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and they call bad those that are permitted to be carried to Babylon, but Jeremiah, those are my people too. They're my people. And I am giving them an experience.

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You know, sometimes when you go through Babylonian captivity, you know, it may seem that there is no hope, but God has not abandoned his people. God loves us and he's concerned about us. And God never, never leaves the good figs to be spoiled.

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Good figs are still there in the basket. But that's the judgment of history. This is the scandal of the cross that the good figs are considered bad figs

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by the popular prophets of our time, and the bad figs are considered the good figs. We say so often that what is wrong seems to be right, And what's right seems to be wrong.

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But God has a way. God has a way of lifting up those that are looked upon as the bad fish. Abraham, yes.

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Go to a country that you have never seen. And leave your kindred at home. "Well Lord, I'm old, I'm a bad fig. And I have a wife who's barren."

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And he says, "Yes, but I'm going to make your seed as numerous as the stars." And Abraham leaves and goes to this place that enables him to become the father of the faithful.

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Bad fig, yes, but he becomes the good fig. The good fig is the bad fig. That's the scandal of the cross. Jacob, you scoundrel, you stole your brother's birthright,

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yes, but he becomes the father of a new people, a new generation, new figs, new figs. Well, let's look again here at Joseph, the littlest brother. But God uses Joseph in a special way to bless his people.

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And he, when his brothers turned against him, and he said, "You meant it for evil," Joseph tells him, "but God used it for good." That's the scandal of the cross.

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That's the scandal that David, David, the one who is out there keeping watch over the father's flock. Don't you have another son? Yes, he's out there doing that. He doesn't really matter. You don't want to see him. He's considered a bad thing for this kind of job.

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Say, "Yes, but we are not sitting down until you bring him here." And David comes and he's anointed as the next king of Israel. Good fig, bad fig. Bad fig, good fig. Well, the story continues in the New Testament.

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Goes on and on. Mary! Mary, hear this little peasant maiden. God has chosen you as the means through whom he will send the Savior into the world. Well Lord, I'm just a peasant man. How can this be?

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Well, it will be done by his Spirit. Good figs, bad figs. Jesus, his Son, comes upon this earth and he is the supreme manifestation of divine grace

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and he keeps company with bad people. Those who are rejected and those who are neglected. Those who are tax collectors. Those who are children who really don't count.

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Women who don't count. Diseased people who are pushed to the margin of society. He keeps company with them who are outsiders. Yes, bad figs, but in God's sight they're good figs.

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Good figs. Well, the wonderful thing is that God has the last word. Look at Samson. Samson was running around with prostitutes

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and yet God makes him a great judge. Good figs, bad figs. So God is good. No matter what's in this basket,

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no matter whether they're bad figs or good figs, God can take this root that's gone away into Babylon and God can bless them in such a way that they become the future hope of Israel.

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Thanks be to God that he's able to make us into new creatures. And God said, "I can do this because those good figs "in Jerusalem are not really faithful to me,

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"but those that you call bad figs that are really good figs that have gone away to Babylon, they are faithful to my word. And I'm going to take them and give them a new heart.

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And this new heart is going to enable them to have a new destiny. Thanks be to God. Which basket are you in?

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That's the question to ask yourself. In the basket of good figs that God has chosen Or in that basket of bad figs that cannot be eaten. Thanks be to God for this message that comes to us

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through the prophet of the good figs and the bad figs. I think that the question is determined by our heart. Lord, I want to be a Christian, not after Christian, but I want to be a Christian in my heart.

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In my heart, yes, in my heart. I want to be a Christian in my heart. And as we sing this old spiritual, there is one here today, outside the church,

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not rightly related to Christ. We invite you to come and unite with the people of God here at Ebenezer. Come.

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[MUSIC] The door of the church is open, the invitation to Christian discipleship. >> Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart. In my heart, in my heart, Lord I want to be a Christian in my heart.

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♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ Oh, in my heart ♪ ♪ Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart ♪ Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart, in my heart.

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Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart, in my heart. ♪ Lord, I want to be a Muslim in my home ♪ ♪ Lord, I want to be a Muslim in my home ♪ ♪ Lord I want to be humbled in my heart ♪

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♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ Lord I want to be humbled in my heart ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ Oh, in my heart ♪

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♪ My heart ♪ ♪ Lord, I want to be a prisoner ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ Oh, in my heart ♪

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♪ Oh in my heart ♪ ♪ Lord I want to be loved to thee ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ If you're looking to the hymnal,

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the first page where the church covenant appears, you want to read that. As a family of God, these are the things that we agree to do as his family here in the world.

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Let us read it together. Having been... [BLANK_AUDIO]