Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign welcome to Roots of Faith, the podcast where we grow one step closer to spiritual maturity and delve deeper in our understanding of God's Word. Each episode is rooted in Scripture, bringing clarity and truth to guide you in walking with Christ daily.
Today we reflect on Jeremiah 29:11 for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.
Join us as we uncover how God's discipline, love and perfect plans lead us to shalom, peace, completeness, and a future full of hope in Him. Now here's your host, guiding us with wisdom from God's Word.
[00:00:48] Speaker B: And in Jeremiah, Jeremiah was actually writing a letter of encouragement. It may not sound that way, but I want to pick up from verse 10 in chapter 29 because he's writing to the exiles at this time, Israel as well as Judah.
So all 12 tribes have now been taken into captivity in Babylon, and they are there. And I want to read beginning at verse 10, Jeremiah 29:10 says, this is what the Lord When 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.
Verse 11 says, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.
Plans to prosper and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart. God took Israel and then later had to even take Judah into captivity. He had to do that for correction. Quote someone said was discipline is correction. God's correction is an act of love, and love is never punishment. I thought about that when I looked at this passage in Jeremiah. Something that's been on my mind for a while. It comes up on my computer every time I pull up a certain program because I want to remember it. Especially verse 11. God used the captivity of Babylon to bring his people up short and to recognize that they were taken into captivity because they had departed from the lord. The northern 10 tribes had separated between Rehoboam and Jeroboam after Solomon died. And the northern 10 tribes said, well, you know, Jerusalem's down there. I don't want you to be like the people in Jerusalem. I'm going to set up a new place for you to worship. And so he set it up in Samaria. And the biblical account, as you go through Chronicles and Kings, tells you of the various kings and all they did that was so utterly opposite To God. You come down to the two southern tribes and you follow through the history of those southern tribes. And there were kings that followed after God and then there were kings that didn't. And finally you come to Josiah. Josiah who restored so much of what God had done and would celebrate what God demanded. And when Josiah died, Manasseh took over. And then there were a series of about four or five kings that came right after that, one after the other who totally went back and perverted the gospel and were like their fathers before them is what scripture says. Why put people into captivity? Why? Discipline. Why did you discipline your children? It was for correction. Scripture even says that it's there for correction, for reproof, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped, thoroughly furnished with every good work. God acted out of love for the people that he had set apart under the old covenant. He had set them apart as his treasure so that the world around them would see God and his power. Oops, what happened? You see, it's easy to say, oh, I'm following God and the perversions that are mentioned in the Old Testament. At the time coming in Israel and then in Judah itself, where even the tabernacle was defiled, God had to take and discipline his children. God doesn't sit there and say, eh, you're not gonna listen, I'm gonna throw you away. If we as human parents can't do that, how does God do that? He doesn't. He acts out of love, in discipline. Now, scripture teaches that when we come to the New Testament, and I use the word New Testament, it is a renewed testament or covenant that was made through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. You as a believer who professes that Jesus Christ is king and Lord and sacrifice, you are precious. The Lord has allowed that the wild vine, as he says, is grafted in. God has just set Israel aside for a while. There will be a time after the church is taken out and when Jesus Christ comes back for a thousand year reign, it will be in full testament of both covenants. And then I think, well, if Israel had to be disciplined, do we need to be disciplined? In First Peter, chapter one, in verses six and seven, it says this in the niv. In all of this, you greatly rejoice. Though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief and all kinds of trials. These have come. Why these have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith, of greater worth than gold which perishes even though refined by fire, may result in praise, glory and honor. When Jesus Christ is revealed, the testimony of the church, you and I are to be that testimony as precious children.
John in his letter in First John says, children of God. And so we are. Now, if we are the children of God, and God intends discipline as an act of love. And with love, it's never punishment, but it is God's working to test, to prove the genuineness of our faith. When I look at the church, not just this church, but I look at the church as a whole, there is so much that divides. There are those things that surely we would sit there and say, they're just like the times of Manasseh. They're just like the times when the temple was defiled. But now the body of Christ has the Holy Spirit living in them. We are the living temple. Even scripture says that. What does God need to discipline us? Discipline isn't always captivity. Discipline is a wide range. It's such a wide range because I don't think any of us want to necessarily go out and look for discipline. We don't want to go and sign up a sheet and say, here, test me. But you know what? The Lord, out of love, as an act of love, disciplines us, tests us in many different ways. And the problem with that is, is if we ignore that testing, if we ignore the lessons of discipline, if I do that, I am despising God's perfect plan to shape and prosper my life. That's exactly what verse 11 in Jeremiah 29 said. I know I have plans for you, declared the Lord plans to prosper and not to harm you. In Second Corinthians 7 and verses 8 and 9, it says, Paul was writing to the church at Corinth. It's his second, probably even his third letter at this point to the church at Corinth because there were problems in the church. And he says, even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it. I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while yet. Now I'm happy. Not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended. Notice that you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way. So do we actually pay attention when you're being disciplined? Reminds me of the kid. His parents put him in the corner and said, sit there. And the kid's response was, I may be sitting, but I'm standing up in my mind. Are we sometimes like that when what God wants to deal with us? God wants to take and refine us, to bring us to a point where we're more precious than gold that's refined by the fire. You will never find 100% gold, never. When it's refined and refined and refined. And all the dross that can be drawn off has been pulled off and it is gold. So that when you look at it, it's almost like glass. It's still only 99.9%. We call that 18 karat gold. Maybe when we're in times of testing and discipline, when God allows that in our lives, what do we do? Sit there and complain? Sit there and moan for a while and say, oh poor me. Maybe run around like chicken little sky is falling. Maybe we try to fix it. We have a DIY idea about I'm going to fix my problem. It may not be God's will for you to fix it that way, but we're so sure that we can fix it. Maybe we just give up and wallow at our self pity. That's all very dark that we've been talking about right now. And you can sit there and say, well, I'm not being tested right now. Matter of fact, everything's good. I'm very good. What does the Lord want to refine in you that you're ignoring what he wants to do? Well, that's me, so why should this matter? Follow me if you can here, Number one, you are a part the body of Christ. Having accepted Christ, you are part of the church. What does scripture say about if one part hurts? It says we all hurt. It doesn't matter whether you're a toenail, a toe or a very important part. As I was studying for this, I came across someone I had known in Bible college. The Lord gave him a very excellent ministry. Had several children who followed in their father's footsteps. In Crawford's ministry, he actually has led the chapels before NFL games. And the Lord is blessed. His son had taken up another ministry and the son's brother in law fell into sin while he was ministering. That is snowballed onto Crawford's son. And some very bitter vitriolic texts on X and Facebook even reflect on the Father. Well, Crawford didn't do it. His son Dylan didn't do it. It was the brother in law of his son. When one part hurts, then we all hurt because the parts make up the body. So I need to be disciplined, I need to be corrected. And how I take that correction is very important. And if the individual parts of a local body of Christ are not looking at the testing and discipline to make corrections. Then how can a local church reflect Christ? I'm not sitting here saying, I know there's great problems out here and I'm going to preach on you. No. Either. As a matter of fact, my whole concept in this is that we don't look for the discipline. We don't look at the opportunities that God is taking to correct us, even in small ways. So that indeed the testimony of the body grows to show Jesus Christ. And when I look at Jeremiah chapter 29 and verse 11, I was struck with a number of things. First of all, when it says in verse 11, I know the plans I have for you, literally it's saying, I myself as Jehovah God know intimately and experientially what I intend for your good. Were your children always good now? Was I a good child? No. But you see, God so loves us and he has a design and a plan.
Emphatically, he says, I myself know you.
And that's exactly what the word means. To know you intimately, to know you in a very personal way. He knows, it says in the Psalms, he knows our down sittings and our uprisings. It's a lot harder to sit down and get up anymore. But God knows us. And what he says here, it's not only that God knows us and knows us entirely. He knows your heart and God knows the suffering of his people. And he cares. That's what he said in Exodus chapter 2 and verse 25. So God looked on the Israelites and He was concerned for them. How much more so is he concerned that we who have the gift of Jesus Christ given to us, that we can go and clean and now have the Holy Spirit residing in us so that we are declared holy. That doesn't mean you just sprouted a halo. It means that you are separated unto the Lord. And he says, I know the plans that I have for you. Literally, the word means the intentions. The intentions that he has because of engaging in careful, thoughtful consideration, especially when analyzing, reflecting and meditating on you. Me, I had to laugh a little bit because one of the ways that this passage has been translated from the Old Testament in what became the Latin version, the Latin vulgate. The Latin word for he has plans is the word that we use for cogitate. And I just thought about it. God cogitated on me. God cogitated on you. God cogitated on what he wanted as a testimony in the church and what he wanted as a testimony in our lives. And he's the master designer. He makes no mistakes. He's absolutely just and motivated by that love that says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. God knew us so well and he knew Israel so well that back in the second giving of the law, in Deuteronomy chapter 4, it says, beginning at verse 23, Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he made with you. Do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the Lord your God has forbidden. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
After you have had children and grandchildren have lived in the land a long time. Now remember, this is when they've come right to the brink, ready to go in. Joshua is about ready to lead them over into the promised land. Moses is giving the second time repeating all that the law and it meant. And he says, after you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time, if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God and arousing his anger, God says, I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you this day, that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.
You will not live there long, but will certainly be destroyed. What's the history of Israel going into the promised land and the compromises? It says the Lord will scatter you among the peoples and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the Lord will drive you there. You will worship man made gods of wood and stone which cannot see or hear or eat or smell. But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him. If you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. And when you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in the latter days you will return to the Lord your God and obey him. And he concludes with this. For the Lord your God is a merciful God.
He will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors which he confirmed to them by oath. That's why I can confidently say that although Israel is set aside for a time, God has not forgotten Israel. And if you need any proof, look at Israel today. God has brought a nation that was spread throughout the whole world, that was in more than captivity, punished, decimated in so many places, vilified, and he's brought them back to the land. And I love the description when the Lord told Israel what their boundaries were going to be. They still don't have all the boundaries yet, because it says, from the Wadi of Egypt all the way to the river Euphrates will be theirs. There'll be no more problem about the west bank and the east bank because that is all of what God has given. And when God comes back and Christ returns for a thousand year reign, it will be with all of what God had promised to Israel. Well, what about us? Last I checked, I wasn't Jewish. But you know, I have a God who's given me a better covenant, a new covenant in Christ Jesus. I don't have to wait to go to the temple to pray. I can go in my closet to the Lord. I can go there anytime. And the Holy Spirit sanctifies, sets me apart. And then I was utterly surprised when I was studying this because if you look at the King James, it says that I know the plans that I have planned for you.
And then it says in the niv, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. But if you look in the King James, it says plans for peace. Now wait a second. So I'm quick looking over in my Hebrew Bible and I'm looking there and I said, what's the word? It must be a word for plans and plans for shalom. Several weeks back we talked about peace, perfect peace. And I told you in that passage in Isaiah chapter 9 that peace, perfect peace. The only way that you can translate that into English is peace. Perfect peace is actually shalom. Shalom, you're shalom. And I sit there and say, well, okay then I'm just going to have peace. No, the entire root of the word for peace and the whole concept is God in his covenant relationship with his people, both with Israel and with us in the New Testament, the new covenant designs for us to be complete in Him. Nearly two thirds of the hundreds of times that the word shalom appears in the Old Testament, it describes the state of fulfillment which is the result of God's presence. What did Paul say? Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. That's shalom, my friend. Because shalom means you are complete in Christ in his presence. And if I am complete in Christ in his presence and I need to be corrected, like every one of us needs to be corrected from time to time. Maybe it's a tap on the shoulder to remind you. Or like I had to do with the puppy the other day and puppy was nipping at me and I had A swatter in the nose. I don't want her to start nipping. We all need correction. I prefer the swat on the nose rather than the application of the Board of Education to the seed of knowledge. But nevertheless, if I ignore God's discipline in my life, if I don't even come to recognize that not only am I despising God's love for me and his perfect plan, but I'm also part of the body of Christ, and when one part hurts, the whole body hurts. Then he says, I gave you these plans. These plans are to prosper you and not to harm you. He says, to give you a future. Literally, it says, to give you a latter time. The times are refreshing where the latter reigns. God's giving us a latter time, a future, which he says is with him eternally. And he says, not only do I give you a future, but also hope. It's an expectation of God's answering. And verses 12 and 13 give you what should be the response. Now, I want you to pay very careful attention to this, because in verses 12 to 13, discipline should always be to redirect our focus of where we're going. In verse 12, he says, Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen. When we look at these passages, it's saying that we need to come to the Lord. And He. He hears an answer. Verse 13. And I've got to tell you this. In the original it says, you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. That first word he says, you will seek me, is intensive. It is the strongest way of saying, I am going to earnestly pursue knowing my relationship with God, that my life might be corrected so that I can live complete in shalom with Him. I'm not picking out fancy words and trying to change your thinking. What I'm trying to do is to tell you that God's promise is a promise of peace.
Peace, perfect peace that is promised to those that he loves. A peace that he promises to give so that we may live with Him. We have a future and undaunted expectation of our Savior. Does God expect any less in response from us today? No. Shouldn't it be even more? Since we know him as the One who has given to us the ultimate sacrifice of dying in our place.
Romans 12:2. You know well it says, and do not be conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, which is good and acceptable and perfect. We need to intensively seek the Lord, and we need to do it now. Today. I can think of no better words and it's why I chose this passage for today. We walk into a year I don't know that many of us ever expected to see. 2025.
We now stand on a threshold where we are to be the testimony of Christ. And what we need to do is to seek him so that the Lord can discipline us, so that we can become refined as the testimony. Because if one part hurts, then we all hurt. And so I'm asking you to first of all reject any spiritual complacency that you may be living in. Respond to God's grace. Prioritize what is the lasting significance in both this life and eternity to know Christ and to make him known. There's so many verses and I'm just going to rapid fire through a couple of them. Isaiah 55:6 says, Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call on him while he's near. Romans 13:11 and do this understanding the present time the hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. Christ's coming is nearer.
Second Corinthians 6:2 says, for he says, in the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.
I tell you, now is the time of God's favor.
Now is the day of salvation.
And in First Timothy 4:8 it says, for physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. When I was working through this, I wanted to shape just one clear sentence that would sum this up and that would be wake up, seek God wholeheartedly, and pursue with intense seeking a life of godliness today. For this moment is the critical opportunity to bring into alignment your life with God's purpose. Where is your life now?
Why does it matter? We indulge ourselves with self pity or anger and circumstances. We blame others instead of ourselves.
Instead of seeking the Lord, we turn away from the body of Christ instead of finding strength and bearing one another's burdens. That's what the body of Christ is for. That's what the local church is for. That is what the larger church universal is for.
And we lose the plans that God has provided for us. Plans for shalom, shalom, plans for peace. Plans to prosper and not to harm. A peace, completeness, a future and a hope in Christ.
Where do you find yourself today? Are there discouragements?
Have you turned them over to the Lord. Are there circumstances in your life that are testing you? Have you given them over to the Lord?
Are you seeking Him? You have a whole New Year, 365 days. Should the Lord tarry to seek him and to know his plans for you? When I thought about this and I thought through it, one of the things I did was it said, what do you aim this message to be? What's its whole purpose? And I had to put down God's discipline as part of his perfect plan to restore us to Himself where we continually seek him and grow deeper our intimacy with Him. Today, commit yourself to seeking the Lord intensely.
Change based on his dealing with you so that we together are a body, a local testimony of Christ Jesus.
Then, as part of the testimony, every place we go, can you commit to that today? Can you say in your heart, lord, I do want to know. I don't know how to seek you anymore. But Lord, teach me. Show me how I can grow deeper in the intimacy of my relationship with you. That is my prayer for myself, for my family and for my ministry so that I can encourage you to find the plans that God has perfected for you. And today that begins with you committing yourself to seeking Christ wholeheartedly.
[00:32:53] Speaker A: Thank you for tuning into this episode of Roots of Faith, a ministry of Lawn Evangelical Congregational Church in Lawn, Pennsylvania. We hope today's message has uplifted you and deepened your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, whether you're new in the faith or have walked with him for years, God's Word is always fresh and powerful to transform. If you were blessed by this episode, please share it with friends and don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an update. We would love for you to join us on Sunday at 10:30am at 5566 Elizabethtown Road, Route 241 in Long, Pennsylvania. As always, stay rooted in the Word, stand firm in faith and keep growing in.
