After giving you a gentle intro to Jeremiah I believe now is the time to give you a little unfiltered prophetic preaching. This is the kind of message that almost got Jere killed. This is a message that is just as hard for me to swallow as it will be for you. The people Jere preached it to didn’t swallow it-they spit it out. Why?

I wonder how many people here like to be called a hypocrite? That term tends to make us irritated, agitated and in general frustrated with whoever calls us that. We tend to respond like: Them’s fighting words! How dare you call me that?! Well, you are too! God knew it and gave them to Jere anyways-why? Here’s a promise to ponder…

Just like… Jeremiah, God calls us to integrity.

In this series we are focusing on mental health and a pillar of mental health is integrity. Integrity is the state of being whole or undivided. If you have no integrity your mental and spiritual health will slide simultaneously. The inner person needs to match the outer person or you enter into a split personality. This can lead to severe mental stress and ultimately illness.

Whenever God’s people start to veer off course, whenever they start to say one thing and do another, put on a show to hide their true selves or intentions God intervenes. We get a spiritual Gut Check that seeks to realign our integrity. This is the function of our first line of spiritual defense. The Holy Spirit will convict us, we’ll feel the poke and prod of conviction in our gut as the spirit seeks to turn us around. You feel it in your gut…

If that gut check doesn’t work God plants a prophet in our lives. This is a person who’s calling in life is to give people intense gut checks-from God. They have a no compromise view of integrity. Sometimes God plants them right in your church. Maybe even as an usher who will meet you at the door. Imagine this is the scene that unfolds before us in Jere 7:1…