Sermon March 20, 2011 - Jeremiah 29:11-14 God has a plan
No Audio file this week, but here are my notes.
Message title: Jeremiah 29:11-14 God Has A Plan
The Big Idea for message: Even when we do not understand why things are happening, during the good and the bad, God has a plan.
Sticky Statement: Seek God with all that you have and He will restore you!!
Misc: Before I get started this morning, I have a service announcement. Some of us have been using the NIV translation for up to 25 years now. Well Zonderzan, the publisher, is updating the NIV Bible. They are coming out with a 2011 version. I tend to be a fan of reading different Bible versions, but I want to caution everyone. The 1984 version of the NIV is a good Bible, a few years back they came out with the TNIV version which was gender neutral in a lot of places that was not right. In some places it referred to God in a gender neutral way, I do not agree with that. Now the new 2011 NIV is based more on the TNIV than the 1984 version of the NIV, so it has roughly 3600 gender neutral references that many theologians say are wrong. I would encourage you to NOT buy the 2011 NIV, so if you are in the market for a new NIV Bible buy one soon and make sure it is the 1984 version.
Now let’s focus on what we are really here for, God’s Word.
ME (orientation):
As far back as I can remember I have had plans for my life. While they always included a wife and kids there are many parts of my life today that I did not plan for.
I had plans to be a math major and teach junior high school, I had even planned on staying in CA for all my life, I can tell you I never planned to have a brain tumor or to lose hearing in one ear. I can also honestly say that I can remember a time when my plans never included being a pastor.
WE (identification):
My question this morning is can any of you relate? Did you have career plans that did not pan out, lifestyle plans that have changed? I would be willing to bet that each of us have had our plans change over the years. Sometimes by our choice and other times due to things outside of our control.
If we look at the book of Jeremiah we can see that the same thing is true of the Jewish people in Jeremiah 29.
The year is 597 BC. God is judging the nation of Judah because of their unfaithfulness. The Babylonians have attacked Jerusalem. They’ve taken 3000 prisoners back to Babylon. Including the king, the court officials, and the craftsmen. And the Jews are saying “This isn’t supposed to happen to us! We’re the chosen people! We’re the apple of God’s eye! What is going on?”
Today, we’re going to see that God is accomplishing plans in our lives even if those plans aren’t what we were expecting. And then we will see how we should respond to God’s plan for our lives.
The Jewish people have a beautiful history of God coming through for them in times of crisis. In Exodus chapter 3:7, the Lord told Moses that “I have seen the misery of my people. I am concerned about their suffering at the hands of the Egyptians. So I’m going to bring them out of the land of Egypt.”
And that’s exactly what happens. In Exodus 14, God brings them through the Red Sea. 40 years later in Joshua 24, the Israelites inherit the Promised Land. God’s plan was accomplished in the lives of His people.
And in 2 Kings 19, the Assyrian army invaded the land of Judah. The people were scared. The commander of the Assyrian army said, “No one can deliver you out of the hand of the King of Assyria. Surrender to us now, and we will let you live!”
But Hezekiah prayed to the Lord. And that very night, an angel of the Lord went out and put to death 185,000 people in the Assyrian camp. Almighty God had come through once again! God’s word was accomplished in the lives of His people.
And so when the Babylonians invade the land of Judah in 597 BC, the captives are thinking, “This isn’t going to last long. God is going to come through for us like He always does! The prophet Hananiah said in Jeremiah 28 that in two years, God will break the yoke of the king of Babylon, and we will be free! We’re coming back home! Praise God!”
But in Jeremiah 29:1-6, Jeremiah writes a letter to the captives in Babylon. And basically, he says “You’re not coming home for a while. Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters. Be fruitful and multiply.” In other words, ‘You’re not ready to go home because I have plans for you right here in Babylon.”
Like the Jewish people in this story, we too are living in a world that is not our own. But we’re not ready to go home because God has plans for us right here in Babylon. He wants us to live for Him in this foreign land until he calls us home to the Promised Land.
GOD (illumination):
This brings us to our main portion of scripture this morning, Jeremiah 29:11-14
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
Chapter 29 is a Prophetic Letter from Jeremiah to exiles in Babylon
Jeremiah is refuting the words of false prophets and as we scan through the letter we find that there is a mixture of good news and bad news.
To begin with the Bad news is that I now you thought you would only be exciled for a couple of years, but the reality is it will be more like 70 years. Many of you who are alive today will not make it back home.
The Good news is in direct conflict with what they had been told before. Jeremiah is saying, don’t put your lives on hold, don’t wait to marry, and don’t wait to have children, Live Your Lives. God is pretty much saying that this is all part of His plan, embrace and make the best of it.
(Read Verse 11)
The exile is part of His plan
So is the restoration.
God has a plan for each one of us.
These plans are for good.
Does not mean we will not struggle and suffer.
“I know the plans I have for you” God is never uncertain about His plans – He knows them.
Unlike us – we have plans that do not happen
His plans happen and they happen according to His will.
“Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”
Israel thinks, God is going to wipe them out, Jeremiah is telling that that God’s plan is not what they fear.
While things may seem bleak now, there is a bright future ahead.
In the end everything works out for the best and according to God’s will.
Remember God’s plan is to bless us, we may not see it, but it will happen.
(Read 12)
God is telling the exiles to Seek Him and to Pray to Him.
This statement is also true for us. When we do not understand what is going on or think things are going the wrong direction, we must call out to God, we must seek Him, and we need to pray.
We are being told in this verse that God will hear our calls and He will hear our prayers.
One thing we learn from this verse is that if we do not call out to God, He cannot respond, if we do not pray to Him, He will not answer.
When things are tough
God will pull us to our knees, He wants us to depend on Him.
Being drawn to prayer is a good thing, it brings us closer to God, it causes us to seek His will, it causes us to depend on Him.
We must seek out God and His will, then and only then will He bless us.
(Read 13)
God does not want the exiles to worship him out of habit or out of obligation. He wants them to eagerly seek Him with passion.
What we are being told here is that we are not to just treat seeking God as some trivial thing we do, we must do it completely and whole heartedly. We need to seek God with everything we have with all that we are. As we seek God we need to approach it as if our entire existence depends on it, it needs to be done with all that we are.
God also wants us to seek Him with all of our heart! We need to truly desire Him and His will for our lives; we need to approach Him with passion. We need to approach Him as if He is everything to us
Have any of you ever struggled during your time of prayer? Have you ever had a wondering mind, maybe your prayers are repetitive, or you are only half paying attention to what you are doing. That is not what God wants!
He wants All of our attention, He wants every ounce of our strength, He wants us to pour all that we are into seeking Him.
We must seek God completely, with all that we are and in everything we do.
Heb 11:6 (Read)
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
Emphasize, “Rewards those who earnestly seek him”
Vs 13 that we just went through is about earnestly seeking Him
As we move on to vs 14 we get to see the reward.
(Read 14)
When the exiles seek Him and the time is right
He will restore them to their rightful place.
In our desperation and struggles
We will find God when we seek Him.
He will restore us to our rightful place
By His side
And in His will
We may wonder and go through trials but God will restore us to our rightful place, by His side and in His will if we seek Him.
Everything that happens in our lives is part of God’s plan!
Even the bad things, Israel was exiled as part of God’s plan, but as they began to truly seek Him and truly want His will to be done, they were blessed, they were restored to their home.
YOU (application): Seek God will all that you have and He will restore you!!
God has a plan for each of us! Yes those plans do have times of struggles and we may wonder what He is doing, but ultimately His plan is to bless us.
We do need to remember that for those plans to come to fruitian we need to seek God will all that we are, and in His time and in His way He will completely restore us. We will be by His side and in His will.
Romans 8:28 says
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”
As Christians we have been called into God’s service, if we Love God we will seek Him and love Him, He will bless us according to His plan.
WE (inspiration):
So no matter what are plans are of have been, we need to understand that God has plans for us. While our plans may or may not pan out as expected, God’s plans will work exactly as He wants them to.
As we live our lives and move forward as a church we need to Seek God with all that we are and He will show us the way. As a church we are going through a time of uncertainty and many of us in our own lives may be facing the same thing. We may be having struggles with how our plans are not working out or we might be wondering what God is doing in our lives.
Let Him use this time to bring you to your knees. Let this be a time where you pour all that you are into seeking Him and seeking His will. When it is all said and done God will use this time to draw you closer to Him and to align you within His will, and He will restore you to your rightful place along side Him.
Seek God will all that you have and He will restore you!!
Thanks for reading and God Bless!
Robert
Message title: Jeremiah 29:11-14 God Has A Plan
The Big Idea for message: Even when we do not understand why things are happening, during the good and the bad, God has a plan.
Sticky Statement: Seek God with all that you have and He will restore you!!
Misc: Before I get started this morning, I have a service announcement. Some of us have been using the NIV translation for up to 25 years now. Well Zonderzan, the publisher, is updating the NIV Bible. They are coming out with a 2011 version. I tend to be a fan of reading different Bible versions, but I want to caution everyone. The 1984 version of the NIV is a good Bible, a few years back they came out with the TNIV version which was gender neutral in a lot of places that was not right. In some places it referred to God in a gender neutral way, I do not agree with that. Now the new 2011 NIV is based more on the TNIV than the 1984 version of the NIV, so it has roughly 3600 gender neutral references that many theologians say are wrong. I would encourage you to NOT buy the 2011 NIV, so if you are in the market for a new NIV Bible buy one soon and make sure it is the 1984 version.
Now let’s focus on what we are really here for, God’s Word.
ME (orientation):
As far back as I can remember I have had plans for my life. While they always included a wife and kids there are many parts of my life today that I did not plan for.
I had plans to be a math major and teach junior high school, I had even planned on staying in CA for all my life, I can tell you I never planned to have a brain tumor or to lose hearing in one ear. I can also honestly say that I can remember a time when my plans never included being a pastor.
WE (identification):
My question this morning is can any of you relate? Did you have career plans that did not pan out, lifestyle plans that have changed? I would be willing to bet that each of us have had our plans change over the years. Sometimes by our choice and other times due to things outside of our control.
If we look at the book of Jeremiah we can see that the same thing is true of the Jewish people in Jeremiah 29.
The year is 597 BC. God is judging the nation of Judah because of their unfaithfulness. The Babylonians have attacked Jerusalem. They’ve taken 3000 prisoners back to Babylon. Including the king, the court officials, and the craftsmen. And the Jews are saying “This isn’t supposed to happen to us! We’re the chosen people! We’re the apple of God’s eye! What is going on?”
Today, we’re going to see that God is accomplishing plans in our lives even if those plans aren’t what we were expecting. And then we will see how we should respond to God’s plan for our lives.
The Jewish people have a beautiful history of God coming through for them in times of crisis. In Exodus chapter 3:7, the Lord told Moses that “I have seen the misery of my people. I am concerned about their suffering at the hands of the Egyptians. So I’m going to bring them out of the land of Egypt.”
And that’s exactly what happens. In Exodus 14, God brings them through the Red Sea. 40 years later in Joshua 24, the Israelites inherit the Promised Land. God’s plan was accomplished in the lives of His people.
And in 2 Kings 19, the Assyrian army invaded the land of Judah. The people were scared. The commander of the Assyrian army said, “No one can deliver you out of the hand of the King of Assyria. Surrender to us now, and we will let you live!”
But Hezekiah prayed to the Lord. And that very night, an angel of the Lord went out and put to death 185,000 people in the Assyrian camp. Almighty God had come through once again! God’s word was accomplished in the lives of His people.
And so when the Babylonians invade the land of Judah in 597 BC, the captives are thinking, “This isn’t going to last long. God is going to come through for us like He always does! The prophet Hananiah said in Jeremiah 28 that in two years, God will break the yoke of the king of Babylon, and we will be free! We’re coming back home! Praise God!”
But in Jeremiah 29:1-6, Jeremiah writes a letter to the captives in Babylon. And basically, he says “You’re not coming home for a while. Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters. Be fruitful and multiply.” In other words, ‘You’re not ready to go home because I have plans for you right here in Babylon.”
Like the Jewish people in this story, we too are living in a world that is not our own. But we’re not ready to go home because God has plans for us right here in Babylon. He wants us to live for Him in this foreign land until he calls us home to the Promised Land.
GOD (illumination):
This brings us to our main portion of scripture this morning, Jeremiah 29:11-14
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
Chapter 29 is a Prophetic Letter from Jeremiah to exiles in Babylon
Jeremiah is refuting the words of false prophets and as we scan through the letter we find that there is a mixture of good news and bad news.
To begin with the Bad news is that I now you thought you would only be exciled for a couple of years, but the reality is it will be more like 70 years. Many of you who are alive today will not make it back home.
The Good news is in direct conflict with what they had been told before. Jeremiah is saying, don’t put your lives on hold, don’t wait to marry, and don’t wait to have children, Live Your Lives. God is pretty much saying that this is all part of His plan, embrace and make the best of it.
(Read Verse 11)
The exile is part of His plan
So is the restoration.
God has a plan for each one of us.
These plans are for good.
Does not mean we will not struggle and suffer.
“I know the plans I have for you” God is never uncertain about His plans – He knows them.
Unlike us – we have plans that do not happen
His plans happen and they happen according to His will.
“Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”
Israel thinks, God is going to wipe them out, Jeremiah is telling that that God’s plan is not what they fear.
While things may seem bleak now, there is a bright future ahead.
In the end everything works out for the best and according to God’s will.
Remember God’s plan is to bless us, we may not see it, but it will happen.
(Read 12)
God is telling the exiles to Seek Him and to Pray to Him.
This statement is also true for us. When we do not understand what is going on or think things are going the wrong direction, we must call out to God, we must seek Him, and we need to pray.
We are being told in this verse that God will hear our calls and He will hear our prayers.
One thing we learn from this verse is that if we do not call out to God, He cannot respond, if we do not pray to Him, He will not answer.
When things are tough
God will pull us to our knees, He wants us to depend on Him.
Being drawn to prayer is a good thing, it brings us closer to God, it causes us to seek His will, it causes us to depend on Him.
We must seek out God and His will, then and only then will He bless us.
(Read 13)
God does not want the exiles to worship him out of habit or out of obligation. He wants them to eagerly seek Him with passion.
What we are being told here is that we are not to just treat seeking God as some trivial thing we do, we must do it completely and whole heartedly. We need to seek God with everything we have with all that we are. As we seek God we need to approach it as if our entire existence depends on it, it needs to be done with all that we are.
God also wants us to seek Him with all of our heart! We need to truly desire Him and His will for our lives; we need to approach Him with passion. We need to approach Him as if He is everything to us
Have any of you ever struggled during your time of prayer? Have you ever had a wondering mind, maybe your prayers are repetitive, or you are only half paying attention to what you are doing. That is not what God wants!
He wants All of our attention, He wants every ounce of our strength, He wants us to pour all that we are into seeking Him.
We must seek God completely, with all that we are and in everything we do.
Heb 11:6 (Read)
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
Emphasize, “Rewards those who earnestly seek him”
Vs 13 that we just went through is about earnestly seeking Him
As we move on to vs 14 we get to see the reward.
(Read 14)
When the exiles seek Him and the time is right
He will restore them to their rightful place.
In our desperation and struggles
We will find God when we seek Him.
He will restore us to our rightful place
By His side
And in His will
We may wonder and go through trials but God will restore us to our rightful place, by His side and in His will if we seek Him.
Everything that happens in our lives is part of God’s plan!
Even the bad things, Israel was exiled as part of God’s plan, but as they began to truly seek Him and truly want His will to be done, they were blessed, they were restored to their home.
YOU (application): Seek God will all that you have and He will restore you!!
God has a plan for each of us! Yes those plans do have times of struggles and we may wonder what He is doing, but ultimately His plan is to bless us.
We do need to remember that for those plans to come to fruitian we need to seek God will all that we are, and in His time and in His way He will completely restore us. We will be by His side and in His will.
Romans 8:28 says
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”
As Christians we have been called into God’s service, if we Love God we will seek Him and love Him, He will bless us according to His plan.
WE (inspiration):
So no matter what are plans are of have been, we need to understand that God has plans for us. While our plans may or may not pan out as expected, God’s plans will work exactly as He wants them to.
As we live our lives and move forward as a church we need to Seek God with all that we are and He will show us the way. As a church we are going through a time of uncertainty and many of us in our own lives may be facing the same thing. We may be having struggles with how our plans are not working out or we might be wondering what God is doing in our lives.
Let Him use this time to bring you to your knees. Let this be a time where you pour all that you are into seeking Him and seeking His will. When it is all said and done God will use this time to draw you closer to Him and to align you within His will, and He will restore you to your rightful place along side Him.
Seek God will all that you have and He will restore you!!
Thanks for reading and God Bless!
Robert
Good article shared..
ReplyDeletedifficult times