Statistics have their place, but often they do not tell the whole story. You may be successful in one category at the expense of a more important one. William Carey said, "I'm not afraid of failure. I'm afraid of succeeding at things that don't matter." Things will look different when we stand before the judge of all the earth. Such is the case in the lives of those featured in Jeremiah 23:23-32. Let me point out three things from this text.

First, there is a divine announcement. Jeremiah 23:23-24 reads, "'Am I a God near at hand' says the Lord, 'And not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?' says the Lord; 'Do I not fill heaven and earth?' says the Lord." This is a divine self-revelation. Does the fact that God is omnipresent (He is everywhere) and omniscient (He knows everything) cause you to be comforted or concerned?

Second, there is a divine arrangement. Jeremiah 23:25-29 reads, "I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, 'I have dreamed, I have dreamed!' How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, as their fathers forgot My name for Baal. 'The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; And he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?' says the Lord. 'Is not My word like a fire?' says the Lord, 'And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?'" God can hear what you say, and He knows what you think about His name and His word. Are you faithfully sharing the Word of God?

Third, there is a divine assessment. Jeremiah 23:30-32 reads, "'Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,' says the Lord, 'who steal My words every one from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets,' says the Lord, 'who use their tongues and say, "He says." Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,' says the Lord, 'and tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all,' says the Lord." God sees these presumptuous prophets as those without profit to His people. What will the Lord say about you?

Someone said, "Never go to a church that is more worried about keeping you as a member than telling you the truth." Jesus addresses those in the church of Laodicea in Revelation 3:17, "Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked." They did not measure what matters.

Dr. Franklin L. Kirksey, of Robertsdale, is the author of "Don't Miss the Revival! Messages for Revival and Spiritual Awakening from Isaiah.